If your kid is gearing up for preschool, never fear! We have great tips to help you prepare them for the school days to come.

With summer winding down and fall in sight, the reality that your child will be starting preschool may be sinking in. Much of preschool involves play and loads of fun, but arming your child with early academic foundations—in an engaging and enjoyable manner—can help set her up for preschool success. Try some of the ideas below.

Sorting Objects
Sorting objects is an important skill that will be tackled in preschool, so prepare your child with some sorting activities that you can practice at home. Purchase a bag of multi-colored buttons, pom poms, or paper clips, and set out a six-cup muffin tray. Explain to your child that together you will practice putting all of the same color object into a single muffin cup. Make sure you model a few first. You should start by putting all the yellow buttons in one cup, blue ones in another, green in a third, and so forth. Then have her practice sorting on her own and praise her when she has successfully sorted all of the objects. Of course, as a bonus, this activity will reinforce color recognition, so you may want to review colors if need be before beginning this exercise.

Counting and Number Recognition
Counting and number recognition are also important early-learning skills. Strengthen these skills by integrating counting exercises into your everyday life. For instance, if you are at the supermarket, ask your child to count the number of apples or oranges as you put them into a plastic bag. When you remove items from your shopping cart and load them onto the checkout belt, have your child count each one to work on one-to-one correspondence. He can count the number of clothing items you put in the washing machine, papers you need to complete for work, keys you have on your key ring, and so on. To add some number recognition practice, try playing a “game” where you label individual cups 1-10, with one number on each cup. Ask him to go around your house and find one item to put in the “1” cup, two items to put in the “2” cup, and so on. The more fun and engaging you can make these activities, the better!

Letter Recognition
While your child will likely learn more about letters once the school year begins, you can give her a prelude with some fun letter recognition games. Purchase a bag of plastic or foam letters and put them in a bowl. Write out the alphabet on a sheet of construction paper, then point to a letter and ask your child to “scoop up” that letter using a ladle or spoon. You can also try using chocolates for another fun letter game. To play this game, write two sets of single letters on small white stickers (two A’s, two B’s, etc), then attach them to the bottom of Hershey Kisses or other chocolates. Together, you can play a game of Memory. First you flip over one chocolate and identify the letter, then flip over another chocolate and try to find the letter match. Your child goes next, then you, and so on. The first player to find the most letter matches wins!

Problem-solving
Problem-solving is a skill that will continue to play a role throughout your child’s academic career, so it’s helpful to start building this skill at a young age with some fun activities. Try playing “Guess the Item” with your child, where you give her a set of clues and she needs to try to identify the object. For instance, you might say, “I’m thinking of something that’s furry and has four legs and a tail,” and ask her to guess the object (dog) or “I’m thinking of something that’s long and thin, has an eraser at the top, and as a point at the end” and ask her to guess the object (pencil). If she struggles to guess the object, give her clues: For example, “you can write with it or sharpen it” for a pencil, or “it often wags its tail or drinks water out of a bowl” for dog.

Following Directions
Your child will need to follow a lot of directions once he starts preschool so try some exercises at home to improve this skill. You can play the traditional “Red Light, Green Light” game with your child, but with an added twist. Like the classic game, green means go and red means stop, but try throwing in some additional colors for added following directions practice. For instance, you may tell him that blue means bark like a dog, white means scratch his head, and pink means hop on one leg. Throwing in some of these other colors as directives will teach him to listen carefully and follow the directions appropriately. Simon Says is another fun game you can play to build this skill. Your child must listen to the “commands” and follow the directions accordingly.

With preschool around the corner, your child is about to endeavor on an exciting academic journey. Teach her some key skills before the school year begins to help make the transition to school smooth, engaging, ‎and successful.‎

The post Skills To Develop Before Starting Preschool appeared first on EBL Coaching.

Back in the day, kindergarten brought visions of dramatic play, circle time, sumptuous snacks, and class pets. “Academic” instruction was minimal, and emphasis was placed on social, emotional, and creative growth. Yet with our current age of rising academic standards and testing demands, kindergarten has now become, in essence, the “new” first grade. If your child is on the young end of his grade, you may be considering holding him back from starting kindergarten, the “redshirting” option that has become increasingly in vogue. Yet before you jump on the bandwagon and opt for this choice, carefully consider all of the implications.

Maturity
To thrive in today’s kindergarten classrooms, children must be able to stay in their seats for extended periods of time, remain focused during lessons, and follow multi-step directions. Socially, they need to share appropriately,  take turns, and know how to interact with their peers. Some kids are just not emotionally ready for these increased demands. Due to the redshirting effect, in certain cases, as much as a 16 month age gap can exist between the youngest and oldest kids in a class. Being the youngest, least “mature” child in the classroom can feel overwhelming to a youngster, as she may not know how to interact appropriately with kids who are significantly older. Ultimately, she can feel confused and sad, and can develop a poor self-esteem. On the flip side, kids who are on the oldest end may find it hard to socialize with and relate to kids who are significantly younger. Being on the very end of either side of the age spectrum can have its challenges.

Academics
Standardized testing has become a reality in most districts around the country. Schools are held accountable for their students’ performance on these exams and, as a result, structured learning has been “pushed down” so that more academic work is covered at a younger age. Play-based kindergartens have been replaced with rigorous, acadamic-based curriculua, with schools hoping to boost test scores and increase performance. Kindergarteners “back in the day” may have been expected to learn very basic skills such such as letter and number recognition, but in many classrooms they are now expected to fully read, write stories, and solve math problems by the end of the year. Certains kids thrive with these rising academic demands. Yet for others, it’s a recipe for disaster. These children, who are not quite ready to jump into the current kindergarten demands, may benefit from the “gift” of an extra year.

Special Needs
Some kids are held back from starting kindergarten due to what are perceived as “developmental delays,” even if their age falls into the appropriate cut off date. Yet some of these kids may in fact have real special needs, rather than generic delays, and, moving into kindergarten could open up a plethora of special education services that could truly help them. Holding these children back actually creates a disservice to them. Instead of being evaluated and subsequently receiving appropriate services, they are instead held back, losing a year of valuable instruction and services.

What to do?
The decision of whether or not to hold your child back can be a stressful one. A 2006 University of California study indicated that elementary school students who are amongst the oldest in their classes scored 4 to 12 percent higher on standardized math and science tests over the youngest kids in their grades. Yet other studies show that the benefits of holding kids back are significantly reduced after the beginning of elementary school and that by the time kids reach third grade, skills usually even out. ‎Ultimately, there is no clear cut answer. Only you truly know your child. Observe your child interacting with other kids. Talk to her preschool teacher about how she socializes with per peers, follows directions, and pays attention. If you feel she is mature enough and ready for the demands of kindergarden, then go for it. But if you feel she is not quite there – socially, emotionally, or academically – then give her that extra year.

Ultimately, you will make the right decision for your child.

The post Is Your Child Ready for Kindergarten or Should You Wait? appeared first on EBL Coaching.