While every child is unique, and every Centre different, the role of the daycare in helping prepare Preschoolers for Kindergarten is always important. Here are some ideas to help your students (and their parents) get ready for this transition:
- Talk to your Preschoolers about the upcoming change and the new things there will be able to do in Kindergarten.
- Set up your dramatic play area with "school" props. That way, children can interact with these items, or play out certain scenes. Learning Resources and Melissa & Doug make some great sets!
- Read books about going to Kindergarten/school during storytime and be sure to leave them out in your reading centre for children to read in their own time.
- Identify unique challenges in your preschoolers and work on them. Perhaps Joaquin needs to work on his personal pronouns, Ayesha needs to work on her listening/following direction, etc...
- Talk to the parents about ways they can help. They can visit their new school, read stories at home, start a new routine, and most importantly, talk about this transition in a positive way!
While these can help your Preschoolers prepare, the best way to help is to focus on your program. Ensure that your activities are always targeting the development of the whole child. Lead activities that foster all aspects of development at the same time.
For example, if you do add school props to your dramatic play section, children can create their own classroom, organize a lesson play, mark a test, and so on. This simple act of adding new props provides plenty of rich opportunities for learning and calls upon all aspects of development that your Preschoolers will use in Kindergarten.
How do you help your Preschoolers prepare for this big transition? Comment below with your suggestions!