Kindergarten: Get Ready!! How to Prepare for a Successful Transition

by Deb Kraft and Dorothy Heitjan

Q: My child will be entering Kindergarten next year and we would like to help him prepare for this experience.  What suggestions would you be able to offer to help make this a positive, prepared process for him?

A. It is vital in the preschool years to provide your child with the experiences that will build the foundation for later success in school.  Keep in mind the amazing developmental changes that occur in a child's body and brain during the preschool years.  In order to help your child build these neural connections, parents should provide:

• A variety of hands on experiences-dig in the dirt, cook, build, paint, sculpt.  These types of activities foster curiosity and vocabulary development.
• Unstructured time to move and use the body-play on the playground, jump, swing, run.  Using the body not only promotes the essential skill of body awareness which is needed for understanding right vs. left, but also understanding of prepositional  concepts.
• Use toys that encourage imagination or thinking•plain blocks, old clothes for dressing up.  This is important for development of social language and imagination.
• Limit screen time-TV, computer, hand held devices.  Less time looking at a screen means more time engaging in real life interactions which teach a multitude of skills!
• Establish a good home routine•healthy meals and snacks, set bedtimes. School is all about routines.  Important for Kindergarten and beyond!

Kindergarten is your child's first experience in an elementary school setting.  Kindergarten bridges working one on one with parents and working together with peers in small and large groups.  Excellent kindergarten programs address the social and emotional as well as the academic needs of your child.  They provide opportunities for your child to play and learn in structured and unstructured situations.  Kindergarten provides hands-on experiences to enable your child to connect what they already know to their new learning.

Expectations for kindergarten students have changed drastically in the last ten years.   Many are former first grade skills.  Michigan Kindergarten State Guidelines and Expectations (GLCE's) now include reading and writing.  Sight words as well as emergent spelling skills are included.  Knowing what a word and even what a sentence looks like in a story as well as reading and writing their own words and thoughts are expectations.  

These skills are at the emergent or beginning level.  There are also new GLCE's for math, social studies and science.   Our students will recognize characteristics and patterns, know numerals to 100, count by twos and fives to thirty, and express story equations with drawings and numbers.  School funding for Michigan schools has declined and student-teacher ratios have increased.  Grosse Pointe Public and Harper Woods Public Schools now provide full day kindergarten programs to meet many of these needs. 

An excellent read for parents is Outliers The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell.  While researching those who attain phenomenal success, Gladwell has determined factors that help all of us reach our potential.  Many of these factors were effective very young.  Others are common sense:  the more you do something the better you get.  The 10,000 hour rule makes the difference between good and impresario!  The world has become very competitive and the activities you provide for your child now will affect your child's future.

Enroll your child at your school district's administrative offices.   You will need to provide a birth certificate, immunization records and physical examination forms (in September), and proof of residency.   You should enroll your child as early as possible.  By enrolling your child, you are placed on the public school mailing list and will receive important information by mail.  When enrolling your child, you may have to choose between programs.   Current Kindergarten programs include the traditional half-day program as well as all-day programs (ADK) or extended day programs (EDK).

Until then, enjoy talking, playing, riding, cooking, building, and exploring with your child every day!

Save The Date

'Kindergarten: Get Ready!' presented by The Family Center
Thursday, November 18, 2010
7:00-8:30pm  
Barnes Early Childhood Center, 20090 Morningside Dr., Grosse Pointe Woods.  
Grosse Pointe Public School System presenters: Deb Kraft, Kindergarten Teacher and Dorothy Heitjan, Early Childhood Program Teacher and Speech Pathologist
Fee $5 per family
Register Early online at www.familycenterweb.org!  
Or contact The Family Center at 313.432.3832 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Celebrating a Decade of Commitment to Community Families 2000-2010
The Family Center serves as the community's hub for information, resources and referral for both families and professionals. The Family Center is a non-profit organization founded to promote a deeper understanding of the role of parents and others in supporting our youth to become competent, caring and responsible community members.

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The Family Center, 20090 Morningside Drive, Grosse Pointe Woods, MI 48236.