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Is my Five-Year-Old Ready for Kindergarten?
Kindergarten should be an exciting and rewarding experience for both
children and their parents. While there is no perfect checklist to determine
when your child is truly ready for kindergarten, the following list will
give you an idea of the necessary skills a child should have mastered in
order to receive the greatest benefit from their kindergarten experience.
Remember, age is only one factor in determining kindergarten readiness.
Social, emotional, cognitive and physical development should also be taken
into account.
Your kindergarten-ready child should be able to:
Social and Emotional Development
• Use words instead of being physical when angry or frustrated
• Listen to stories without interrupting
• Follow two-step directions
• Ask for help when necessary
• Pay attention for short periods of time to adult-directed tasks
• Stay with an activity to completion
• Initiate and sustain appropriate play with other children
• Begin to share with others and understand taking turns
• Comply with rules, limits, and routines
• Be able to recognize authority
• Interact appropriately with adults
• Respect the rights, property, and feelings of others
• Begin to control themselves
• Dress themselves (button shirts, pants, coats, and zip up zippers)
• Manage bathroom needs independently
• Separate from parents for extended period of time without being upset
• Attempt new tasks knowing it’s okay to make mistakes
Motor Skills
• Hold scissors correctly
• Holds a pencil, crayon or marker properly
• Put together a 10-12 piece puzzle
• Ride a tricycle
• Run, jump, and skip
• Walk backwards
• Try to write, scribble, or draw
Language
• Speak in complete sentences of 5-6 words
• Use descriptive language
• Sing and/or recite nursery rhymes
• Pretend, create, and make-up songs and stories
• Talk about everyday experiences
• Tell or retell stories
• Enjoy having books read to him/her
• Ask questions
• Verbally and appropriately respond to a topic
• Express her/his ideas so others can understand her/him
Academic
• Look at pictures and then tell stories
• Identify some alphabet letters
• Count to 10
• Correctly count at least 3 objects
• Identify own first name in writing
• Attempt to print own first name
• Recognize and identify 5 colors
• Understand concepts such as in/out, under/on, on/off, front/back
• Participate in art and music activities
• Know her/his body parts (head, shoulder, knees, etc.)
• Draw a picture of her/himself including head, body, arms, and legs
• Use words like bigger, smaller or heaviest to show comparison
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What is the cut off date for children entering Kindergarten?
Your child must be 5 years old by September 1st in order to enter
Kindergarten for that current school year. Therefore, if you feel your child
is ready, your child might enter Kindergarten at the age of 4 (turning 5
before September 1st). Just remember that every child is different. Some
children are ready for the structure of school while others need one more
year to mature.
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Can Mrs. Stevenson use my help as a volunteer?
I encourage parent volunteer help. On the first 1/2 day of school I will
have you fill out a parent volunteer form so I can see when and if you are
available. I understand that everyone cannot offer time in the classroom,
but can work on things at home, attend special events and send in items for
special activities throughout the school year. My goal is to have the
parents that can volunteer in the classroom come on a regular basis and work
with stations and small groups of students. Throughout the school year there
will be a variety of special classroom activities and celebrations. I
encourage you to attend these functions when possible and to support them by
sending needed supplies or treats. Your support of school activities makes
your child feel important and sends the message that you value school and
learning.
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Is school attendance in Kindergarten important?
Your child’s regular and prompt attendance at school is crucial to his/her
success. I can’t emphasize this point enough!!! Most Kindergarten learning
activities are group oriented and involve interaction with classmates.
Therefore, it is next to impossible to make up work at home. Please view
school as priority, and see to it that your child attends every day except
in cases of illness or emergency.
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What do I need to do if my child's transportation needs to change for one day?
If you plan to pick up a child that normally rides the bus, you must send a
written note signed by a parent or guardian. Do not rely on your child to
tell me this information, because children often become confused and relay
messages incorrectly. If no written note is received, your child will be
sent home by his/her usual method of transportation.
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Will my child need to wear tennis shoes to school?
The children will be going out for recess every day unless it is raining or
extremely cold. Please keep this in mind when helping your child select
clothing for the day. For your child’s safety, tennis shoes must be worn
during P.E. classes. If your child wears sandals or some other shoes to
school, send a pair of tennis shoes with them in their backpack so they can
change shoes and be able to participate safely in P.E. activities for that
day. Otherwise, they will not be able to participate in P.E. activities for
that day.
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How should I send money to school?
On occasion it will be necessary for your child to bring money to school.
Always send money in a sealed envelope with the following information
written on it:
~1. Your child’s first and last name
~2. The amount of money
~3. The purpose for the money (lunch, book fair, etc).
~4. My name – Mrs. Bruner
With around 20 students to keep track of and several reasons to collect
money, this is a tremendous help and reduces the likelihood of errors. Also,
if the envelope is left on the bus or dropped in the hallway, this
information will help the money to be returned to my classroom.
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What is a Scholastic Bookclub order?
Your child will be bringing home a form to order books about once a month.
If you wish to order, simply fill out the form and send the correct amount
of money or a check made out to Scholastic in an envelope.
These orders are provided as a convenient way for parents to buy quality
books for their child at a low price. As an added bonus, for every dollar
that is spent on books, our class earns bonus points, which are used to
purchase books for classroom use. This is a win-win situation because you
get quality literature at a low price and you are helping to provide quality
literature for the classroom. Of course, you are never under any obligation
to order any books.
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What is Highlight's Magazine?
An order form for a magazine called “Highlights” will be sent home twice a
year to see if you would like to subscribe. Even if you do not want to
subscribe, please mark “no” and send it back because points are given for
the number of forms returned, not for how many subscribe. However, it is a
great children’s magazine and I highly encourage you to subscribe.
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Am I allowed to bring something in for my child's birthday?
Birthdays are special occasions for young children. If you wish, you may
bring treats for the class on his/her birthday. Please send a note a day or
two in advance, so I can give you an exact number of children in the class
and set aside some class time for the celebration.
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