School Sparks - Kindergarten Readiness

Children strongly believe what they tell themselves. As a result, if they believe they can do something, they will be happy and willing to try it and to persevere through any challenges. One of the most important things parents and educators can do for children is to help begin their self-fulfilling cycle of success.

In honor of Presidents’ Day, Joshua and I hosted a “Letter Day” play date. We invited six of his school-aged friends over and I asked each mom to bring a few magazines or catalogs they wouldn’t mind ripping apart. In advance of the play date, I bought ten sheets of poster board and, using my mom’s tips for introducing the 26 letters, I wrote each one of the ten letters she recommends introducing first on each of the poster board sheets: B, M, F, D, S, P, V, T, Z, and J. Although the letter J is #13 on the list, I did swap it in for the letter L (#9 on the list) at my son’s insistence. It was just too hard to argue with his logic: “Mom, J is for Joshua and I’m going to be at the party.”

After many years of introducing kindergarten students to the 26 letters and their sounds, I found that 3 simple principles helped all students learn this information quickly and easily.

• Introduce the letters in a particular order
• Plan for the complex
• Let your child set the pace

For us, trips to the grocery store are adventures in the unpredictable. I try to go early in the day before the rush of people stopping by on their way home from work. While my younger son is still enthralled with just sitting in the front of the cart and happily plays while I shop, Joshua alternates between grabbing everything he can reach and playing with items I’ve already picked. So I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Grocery Detectives game (see my mom’s “No Time to Learn” post).

Years ago, a little boy named Jack in my preschool classroom told his mom that he wasn’t learning anything in school. Jack quickly clarified after his mother’s confused pause: “I don’t have time to learn anything, I’m too busy having fun.”  This story stuck with me for years as evidence I was doing something right. My students always had their share of “pure play” and spent plenty of time on the playground during recess. The rest of the day? Jack’s non-stop fun was actually a structured learning plan (in disguise) honed over years of teaching preschool children.