Getting Ready for Kindergarten

Kindergarten is an exciting time for children and their parents.  As your child moves from preschool or daycare to Kindergarten they may need you to help prepare him or her for this big step.  You may be able to build their confidence by doing family activities to help your child learn what school will be like.  Over the next several weeks before school  begins on Tuesday, September 3rd you may want to try some of the following activities:

·     Doing art projects with your child and incorporating the use of crayons, markers, glue, scissors, paint, and other supplies will help him or her to be familiar with activities he or she will do in school.

·     Math activities such as counting pennies, grouping items into similar categories, matching numerals with numbers of items, talking about time, and discussing differences in sizes of items such as big, little, small and large.

·     Reading books together.  The Public Library is a great source for choosing books at random or about a particular topic your child is interested in, such as dinosaurs, dogs, animals, or space travel.

Columbia School District is offering all day Kindergarten, Young 5’s, and Preschool for your children.  We believe that all day Kindergarten and all day Young 5’s program are successful in providing additional learning opportunities for our students.  The additional time allows teachers to expand and advance our curriculum providing increased academic experiences for our Kindergarteners and Young 5’s.  Our teachers are excited about the growth and achievements they see in our children who participate in all day Kindergarten.

Since beginning all day Kindergarten we have seen many benefits.  Our students learn to read in Kindergarten and they are excited when they get an opportunity to read to each other.  They are able to work on additional math facts and learn about how to count coins.  The students count pennies, nickels, and dimes.  They also have an opportunity to work with guided writing strategies.  Many of the current standards and benchmarks are very similar to what used to be taught in first grade.

Transitioning from preschool or daycare to Kindergarten or Young 5’s is a big step for children.  If you haven’t had an opportunity to register your child for one of these terrific programs, please stop by Columbia Elementary or call 592-6632 or email Mrs. Powell @ deb.powell-principal@myeagles.org or lori.hunter@myeagles.org.   Together we are Building a Brighter Future for our Students!