Do You Know How For You and Your Child
To Be Prepared for Kindergarten?


Enroll your child in our Preschool!

Note: 
Kindergarten Registration for Chesterfield County Schools will be on April 19, 2012. For more information on registration and what you will need to bring with you, see this pdf link:
Count Down to Kindergarten


What can you as a parent do at home to prepare your child for Kindergarten?

Work with your child on basic skills such as the ones listed below
to reinforce what (s)he is learning in Preschool.

Skills to work on:
  •   speak clearly enough to be understood
  •    know his name, address, phone number, and parents' full names
  •    be happy away from home
  •    handle all his personal needs, such as going to the bathroom and tying shoes
  •    play well with other children, share toys and games, and respect others'
       property

  •    make simple choices
  •    express his own needs and wants in an age-appropriate manner
  •    follow rules, especially safety rules
  •    follow a series of three directions
  •    tell the right hand from the left
  •    use crayons, paints, paste, and clay appropriately
  •    draw rather than scribble
  •    tell or retell a story
  •    answer questions about a short story
  •    listen to a story for at least five minutes
  •    work independently for five or more minutes
  •    listen to a rhyme and hear similarities and differences
  •    recognize similarities and differences in the sizes, shapes, and colors of
       objects

  •    copy simple shapes
  •    compare objects by size
  •    bounce and catch a ball showing the hand-eye coordination necessary for
       reading and math


Other skills to work on can be found in the following article





Kindergarten Readiness Checklist






















These articles and more can be found here: Your Kindergartener







How They Grow in Kindergarten


Where They Are
The average five-year-old is enthusiastic, helpful, and conforming. He:

  • Attempts only things he knows he can do.
  • Needs attention, affection, and praise.
  • Is energetic and fidgety.
  • Has a short attention span.
  • May show opposite extremes of behavior.
  • May become less well-behaved as the school year progresses.

Where They're Going
At five years old, your child is learning to understand herself. You can help by encouraging her as she:

  • Develops a positive, realistic self-image.
  • Learns to respect herself.
  • Begins to understand her own uniqueness.
  • Gains awareness of her feelings.
  • Learns to express feelings.
  • Learns how to participate in groups.
  • Begins to learn from her mistakes.

Read more on FamilyEducation

DO YOU KNOW?
Do You Know?
  • Listen to stories without interrupting
  • Recognize rhyming sounds
  • Pay attention for short periods of time to adult-directed tasks
  • Understand actions have both causes and effects
  • Show understanding of general times of day
  • Cut with scissors
  • Trace basic shapes
  • Begin to share with others
  • Start to follow rules
  • Be able to recognize authority
  • Manage bathroom needs
  • Button shirts, pants, coats, and zip up zippers
  • Begin to control oneself
  • Separate from parents without being upset
  • Speak understandably
  • Talk in complete sentences of five to six words
  • Look at pictures and then tell stories
  • Identify rhyming words
  • Identify the beginning sound of some words
  • Identify some alphabet letters
  • Recognize some common sight words like "stop"
  • Sort similar objects by color, size, and shape
  • Recognize groups of one, two, three, four, and five objects
  • Count to ten
  • Bounce a ball
Check back for more "Do You Know?" facts and tips!