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Things To Do Before School Starts

Here are some activities to enhance early readiness skills before the start of school. Please note; Each child is a unique and special individual who develops at their own rate. Age, developmental progression, general health, educational background and special needs are just a few of the factors that play an important role in ability and overall performance. These are just suggestions of things to do. If you find your child is frustrated or reluctant, progress with small steps. Remember you do not want them to be frustrated and become negative toward school. A little time each day will build a foundation for early readiness. Any projects made at home can be shared throughout the year for Show and Tell.

Fine Motor Development

• Practice printing your child’s name; stress top to bottom and left to right progression of print.

• Begin printing letters and numerals. If your child has mastered this move on to words and draw a picture to correlate with the word. Make a picture book.

• Develop fine motor skills: trace lines and objects, color within the lines, cut on the lines, play with clay, practice lacing beads.

• Practice tying shoes; zipping and buttoning coats/jackets.

Gross Motor Development

• Walk, dance, run, jump, climb, bike and play!

Math Skills

• Practice counting; start with 1 through 10 and progress through to 30 and higher.
• Introduce recognizing the numbers.
• Match numbers with objects in a set.
• Sort objects and make patterns with them.
• Review geometric shapes; circle, square, triangle, oval, rectangle.
• Introduce the calendar.
• Review colors.
• Introduce ordinal numbers through tenth.
• Review math terms: more, fewer, before, after, between, above, below, longer, shorter, and smaller, and larger.

Literacy Skills

• Review basic letter recognition.

• Introduce letter sounds.

• Practice saying the alphabet with your child.

• Read stories and ask questions about the story and point out commonly used sight words.

• Make a collage of items that start with a specific letter of the alphabet to make and alphabet book.

• Encourage your child to speak in full sentences using descriptive terms.

• Plan outings that will foster vocabulary development.

• Review full name, address and phone number.

• Play games with rhyming words.

Social Studies Skills

• Make an All About Me collage/book.
• Make a Me bag puppet.
• Draw a picture of your family or make a family tree.
• Make a picture of your house.
• Review your birthday and favorite family traditions. Save pictures and artifacts to share.
• Discuss why we have rules. Make a Kindergarten Constitution to share in class.
• Review safety rules.
• Make a fire safety poster to share.
• Read stories to your child that will build good citizenship: sharing, kindness, feelings, etc.
• Brainstorm ways to be kind at home and in school. Make a kind deeds chart.
• Identify the characteristics of our flag and facts about New Jersey and the United States.

Science Skills

• Review the four seasons.

• Make a book about the characteristics of the four seasons.

• Research favorite: animals, dinosaurs, insects, fish and their characteristics and homes.

• Identify weather patterns that are characteristic to certain areas of the United States. Chart or graph the weather.

• Review the keys to good health: nutrition, dental, exercise etc. (Make a poster to share).

• Review conifer and broadleaf tree life cycles.

• Go on a nature walk and observe seasonal characteristics and make a book about it.

• Adopt a tree in your neighborhood and chart the seasonal changes.

• Identify plant needs and raise one inside your home.

Kindergarten Literacy & Fingerplay Activities

• Family Literacy/Monthly Guide
  This document will provide ideas to promote reading readiness. Seasonal themes are highlghted with books and activities for learning fun .
  Sample Literacy Studies.pdf
  
   
• Author Study/Literacy Activities
  This document will provide book titles and activities that will focus on a specific author. These activities will promote early literacy skills.
  Monthly Link Activity.pdf
   
• Fingerplays & Songs
  Each day the children share in a variety of songs and fingerplays. Fingerplays are short poems that are accompanied by finger motions. These activities are wonderful for developing many skill areas. When children learn action songs and fingerplays they learn about number, color, size, order, body parts and sequence. They also learn muscle control and manual dexterity as well as rhythm of music and speech. These activities also reinforce the ability to follow directions, new vocabulary, listening skills and the auditory discrimination of sounds. All of these areas are essential for early childhood development. Throughout the year I will be sending you some of our fingerplays and songs for your enjoyment with your child. To download, click on any of the documents below:

•  Sample Literacy Studies (pdf)
•  Monthly Link Activity (pdf)
•  Fall Finger Plays & Songs (pdf)
•  Halloween Songs & Fingerplays (pdf)
•  Thanksgiving Songs & Fingerplays (pdf)
•  Winter Fingerplays & Songs (pdf)
•  Holiday Songs & Fingerplays (pdf)
•  Spring Songs & Fingerplays (pdf)