R
eaders are made starting from the moment
they’re born, and the work continues until
they begin kindergarten. The transition from
preschooler to “schooler” can be emotional and
difficult for both parent and child, especially
if you’re unsure whether your young student
is ready to sit in a kindergarten classroom. By
reading, playing and talking consistently in
your home from birth to “bookworm,” you can
effectively prepare your child for school. Here’s
what your child should be able to do before he or
she begins kindergarten.
1. Say/sing the ABCs. Children should be
confidently sounding out their letters in the
alphabet. This is how you know they’re ready to
start putting it all together to sound out words.
2. Recognize some sight words. These are words
that children should learn to recognize without
sounding out the letters. The sight words are highly
common and foundational words that a child can
use to build a vocabulary. Easy examples include
“to,” “the,” “he” or “and.”
3. Point out letters while out and about.
Use opportunities in the car or at the grocery
store—really, anywhere—to gauge how well they
recognize letters out of a storybook context.
They may notice a letter that’s in their name,
or their siblings’ names and say “There’s a little
n!” This is a good sign they’re ready to move
forward.
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4. Write his/her name. Of course, this is
something students will practice frequently
in kindergarten. But if they can write their name
before they’re in school, even better. It doesn’t
need to be perfect. Be sure to encourage them in
their writing as well as their reading! Praise them for
specific improvements in their letter-writing.
5. Listen well. They’re about to enter a world where
their teacher will give them lots of instructions
about what to do and how to do it. Make sure
they can pay attention long enough to listen
to directions—it will be valuable in their reading
journey!
6. Understand how a book works. Not only should
they know that books are special, they should know
how to properly hold it. Your child should have a
sense of a typical book’s structure—that it has a
beginning, middle and end—and that it contains
characters, conflicts and resolutions. Though their
vocabularies will not be advanced enough to say
“conflict” and “resolution,” they will understand that
a character has a problem and must do something
in order to fix it. If they grasp that, they’re well on
their way to reading successfully.
Keep in mind that every child is gifted differently,
and every child learns at his or her own pace. That
is nothing to fret over! Your child may be able to
perform all or just some of these tasks by the first
day of kindergarten, and that’s 100 percent okay.
With daily practice, constant encouragement and
wonderful instruction from MISD educators, your
student will be on track to reading success.
Sources include the PBS Parents blog and Teach
Mama blog.