Ready Set School!
There are lots of ways you can help your child prepare for school life. Here are some additional tips you might like to try at home.
1. Encourage independence and instruction following – From hanging their coat up to eating their lunch independently, encouraging and rewarding these and other skills will fill your child with confidence and pride in their abilities.
How?
Create a penny or a marble jar at home, so they can be rewarded each time they carry out a basic task like getting dressed, helping make their bed, washing their hands and so forth. They can spend their pennies at the shop or trade marbles for ‘golden time’ to use on their favourite activity.
When they have friends over to play, set up a little picnic in the garden and let them eat their own packed lunch. Also give them some food to share out amongst themselves to encourage generosity.
2. Help them to hold a pencil correctly – This will speed up their development and writing capabilities. It will also allow them to move forward and focus on the words without the frustration of learning to hold the pencil at the same time.
How?
Organise lots of drawing and writing activities at home – helping with the shopping list, making cards for family and friends, counting out and writing down the number of things in different rooms e.g. four chairs, two pictures etc.
3. Recognise their name and possibly even try to write it – This can be challenging so early on but once mastered, they’ll feel amazing at having their own identity! It also helps to ensure that they lose less of their things at school! (Always a bonus!)
How?
Ask your child to write their name as well as they can on all their drawings. Pop their name up on a white board or pin board in the house and point it out or make a rhyme up using one of the letters each day. Flash cards are also helpful for this and are good visual way to link letters together.
4. Reassure your child that school is the start of an exciting journey – Many children find those first few weeks at school challenging, especially without you by their side. This is perfectly natural but be sure to congratulate them on their efforts.
How?
Arrange a special family tea to celebrate their first week at school. Or perhaps a new book to read at the weekend. It is tempting to arrange lots of play dates early on to encourage friendships but be mindful how tiring the early days can be. They have plenty of time ahead to build and enjoy these new friendships. Finally, congratulate yourself on shaping and preparing your child for school life. Don’t be sad they are growing up, treasure this next stage and capture their stories and special moments in a diary or through photos to look back on in years to come.