What are some of the skills that I can work-on with my young pre-school child to prepare him for Kindergarten?

Question

kindergarten

reading

reading skills

pre-school

childhood

education

transitional kindergarten

early learning

books

letters

Answer 1

This is the Common Core English Language Arts standard for California, which includes some good suggestions on how parents can support: https://www.scoe.net/castandards/Documents/parent_overview_ela_k-2.pdf

Tips:

1. Daily reading to your child will help build a good habit (I suggest 15-20 minutes a day -- take your child to the local library and choose books together).
2. Help your child with phonics. CVC words (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant), like D-O-G or C-A-T are a good start.
3. Encourage your child to express him/herself and to describe a picture
4. Not English related, but help your child learn how to independently open packaging if he or she will be eating lunch at school.

Answer 2

In order to prepare your pre-schooler to have a successful year in Kindergarten there are several skills you can help him/her with at home. Here are some ideas on what you the parent can do; read to your child for 5-10 minutes daily. It can be as simple as talking about the pictures they see in the book! You can talk about the colors you see, and the feelings that the characters express. When you do this, it opens up a conversation with your pre-schooler and it gets them curious about what they are reading (or seeing). Also, read books with rhymes since children love repetition!