A Preschooler's Kindergarten Prep

This week began my daughter's first full week of Accelerated Pre-K and I never thought I would be so excited about homework! Beginning this past Tuesday she will be sent home with a homework folder every week to be completed and returned on Friday! Her folder contained some worksheets for her to practice writing her numbers.

Tracing then practicing writing her numbers!

The focus for the week is on the letter C! She had to color a coloring page featuring a Cook. We discussed the letter C and sounded out the word. She was also supposed to explore her environment and find things that began with the letter C. We chose to flip through a magazine and look through the pictures until she found things that began with the letter C. At first she seemed hesitant and kept saying, "I don't know" but with some gentle encouragement she quickly began to point out pictures with the letter C. Her favorite? Chicken nuggets!

I've heard some teacher friends stress the importance of practicing some basic skills before your preschooler starts kindergarten and using scissors was one of the skills frequently mentioned. Last month when the stores were flooded with school supplies and back to school sales, I stocked up on all my basic necessities but also grabbed a pair of red kid friendly safety scissors. Since Emily was supposed to find objects that began with the letter C and we were finding them in the magazine, I handed her the scissors to let her cut them out. 

 

To be honest, she struggled and became quickly frustrated. She was quite the little sponge, watching me as I explained to her how to hold them but she lacked the coordination to cut accurately at first. As a parent, I wanted to jump in and do it for her, but as a teacher I knew I had to let her try on her own. Again, with some gentle encouragement and reassurance, she was able to tackle the task of cutting out the objects on her own. But this was a learning experience for the both of us. I know a kindergarten teacher has her hands quite full with a class full of five year olds so any way I can better prepare my daughter the better it will be for her, the teacher, and the other students. So I found some scissor practice worksheets online that I think will be very helpful as my daughter develops her skills. 

Apple Cutting Practice on Confessions of a... Homeschooler

The most important part of this first homework assignment that we worked on together wasn't the actual work. To me, school has always been very important and it has always been something that I thoroughly enjoyed. I wanted to instill that same love of school and desire to succeed in my daughter. I explained to her how important homework was and why our focus should be on finishing it completely as soon as possible before doing anything else. This wasn't our first experience on working on things together. For as long as I can remember we have read stories together, colored in coloring books together, painted together and even worked on flashcards together. We have three workbooks, two preschool ones and one kindergarten, that we work on frequently. I can only hope that my first experience as a teacher will be successful. That's what I wish for my daughter. 

First Day Activities

This book would be great introduction on explaining classroom rules. A Kindergarten teacher must keep in mind that not every student has been in a school setting before, meaning that the words "criss cross applesauce" and "line up" have very little to no meaning to them. The first day of class should really focus on setting expectations, outlining the rules and setting guidelines on what is expected. The teacher must of course serve as a good role model!

A fun activity to start the day and to assess your students' skills would be a basic coloring page. This coloring page could be saved and used later in a portfolio with a mid-year comparison as well as an end of the year comparison that both the students and the teachers can appreciate!

Another first day activity could be "The Many Pieces of..." activity. Students will write their name at the top of the page (which helps the teacher assess where the student stands on this skill) on their own or with the help of the teacher. As a teacher you can prepare for this prior to the first day by putting a dashed outline of their name that the students can simply trace. This would make the activity less time consuming and will greatly help the students who have had no prior school experience. A word bank can be provided for the advanced students and students who are lacking in school experience can simply illustrate their activity. The teacher then can label or caption the artwork. 

Welcome Message

My name is Ashley Frado and I welcome you to my teacher blog! Through this blog I will familiarize myself with the various tools and resources that are available to myself as well as post articles and projects that I am working on or developing for my kindergarten class. Please make yourself familiar with my blog and check back frequently for updates! Enjoy!