My daughter starts Kindergarten in less than a month.  While I am not ready to let my baby enter the big world of Kindergarten, I am confident I have paved the way for this milestone, and am certain she is ready.  …but what exactly does “kindergarten readiness” look like, really??

Whether you’re sending your first or fifth child into kindergarten, it’s never an easy time. You have a lot of pressure on your shoulders to make sure your child knows certain concepts before you send them off. There are some things you can start doing now to prep your child for Kindergarten in the fall.

Signs of Kindergarten Readiness

1.  Letter Sounds – Every child entering kindergarten should have practice with their letter sounds. You’ll want to start teaching them their letter sounds by making sure they know the alphabet first. Knowing the alphabet plus their letter sounds is one way a kindergartner starts the reading process. You can help your child learn their letter sounds by repeating them on a daily basis, using flash cards, hands on activities, and even playing educational computer games.  I started each of my kids with a simple ABC puzzle, and as they placed the letters in the puzzle, I would help them identify the letter, and it’s sound.  “Oh, ‘t’ says /t/ like ‘turtle’.”
2. Reading & Writing – Kindergarten is all about learning to read and write. There are so many activities your child will do in kindergarten to help them learn these skills. However, there are also several things you can do as a parent to help prep your child for learning these skills. The number one thing you can do is always read to your child at every chance you get. Secondly, let them explore with writing. Their words might not always make sense, but they will increase their knowledge of writing as well as get their writing form down.  My daughter loves writing messages right now, and I interfere as little as possible with spelling.  We go through each sound and she writes out her words sound-by-sound.
3. Independence – If there’s one thing your child needs to learn for kindergarten it is about independence and self sufficiency. While it may be common for you to help them with things now, it’s important that you let them learn how to do things on their own. To help make your child a little more independent, let him or her do small things on their own. You get to decide what the independence factor is as it’s your child, but it is time to loosen the reigns just a little bit.
4. Relationship Building – For one of the first times in your life, you will be sending your child off to make his or her own relationships. Your kindergartner will form a bond with their teacher and classmates. You can prep your student for this by allowing them to be in situations where they can make friends on their own. You won’t always be there to help them make friends, so it’s important to let them learn to create this bond on their own.

These four tips will help your child learn a few basics before heading off to kindergarten. Just remember that it’s not just about the academics, but the social and emotional growth as well. What tips would you add to this list?

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