Preparation for kindergarten

Gathering information from the school that your child is going to attend is essential. Most Preschool or Kindergarten school have readiness checklist. This list will help prepare your child and foresee how they evaluate your child's skills. Using these guide will help parents better understand what the expectation the school have and how ready your child is before entering the preschool.

• speak clearly enough to be understood
• be happy away from home
• handle all his personal needs, such as going to the bathroom and tying shoes
• play well with other children, share toys and games, and respect others' property
• make simple choices
• express his own needs and wants in an age-appropriate manner
• follow rules, especially safety rules
• follow a series of three directions
• tell the right hand from the left
  
• use crayons, paints, paste, and clay appropriately
  
• draw rather than scribble
  
• tell or retell a story
  
• answer questions about a short story
  
• listen to a story for at least five minutes
  
• work independently for five or more minutes
  
• listen to a rhyme and hear similarities and differences
  
• recognize similarities and differences in the sizes, shapes, and colors of objects
  
• copy simple shapes
  
• compare objects by size
  
• bounce and catch a ball showing the hand-eye coordination necessary for reading and math

As a parent we can help our child to establish better skill level so that are ready and set for challenges that might come before them before entering a preschool or kindergarten program.

Checklist for Kindergarten Readiness

Like any parent we are constantly learning new material and information about our child. So you ask when is it the right time for my child to enter a Kindergarten school or preschool program? Believe it or not there is a list that can help in making this decision for your child's educational needs. There is no perfect formula in making such decision but you can use this checklist to assure your child's performance in acquiring the skills below.

• Listen to stories without interrupting
• Recognize rhyming sounds
• Pay attention for short periods of time to adult-directed tasks
• Understand actions have both causes and effects
• Cut with scissors
• Trace basic shapes
• Begin to share with others
• Be able to recognize authority
• Button shirts, pants, coats, and zip up zippers
• Begin to control oneself
• Speak understandably
• Talk in complete sentences of five to six words
• Look at pictures and then tell stories
• Identify rhyming words
• Identify the beginning sound of some words
• Recognize some common sight words like "stop"
• Sort similar objects by color, size, and shape
• Recognize groups of one, two, three, four, and five objects
• Bounce a ball
• Count to ten
• Identify some alphabet letters
• Show understanding of general time of day
• Start to follow rules
• Manage Bathroom needs
• Separate from parents without being upset

Basically if the child has acquire most of these skills from the checklist and they are at least four years of age they should be ready for kindergarten. If your child shows healthy, mature, capable and eagerness to learn it must mean a degree of readiness. Teachers love to see children who are eager to learn and show responsiveness in the classroom environment.

We hope this topic is helpful for all parents and if other parents have other opinions or advice do drop us any comment. We love to hear from you at Garden House Preschool Blog.