Let’s Get Ready with Cedar Valley Publishing

In honor of National Kindergarten Day, I am on a mission to help get kids excited for that first day of school.  For those of you with children getting ready to start in fall, let’s start now with some things you can do to help foster a positive relationship between yourself (as a parent), your child and their school: 

• Make an appointment to visit the school with your child to turn it into a fun adventure;
• If your school will let you, visit your new teacher inside the classroom with the current class and go to lunch in the cafeteria;
• Involve your child each step of the way!  Asking them if they would like hot or cold lunch and explain that hot lunch is made at school and cold lunch is made at home and brought to school in a lunch box to eat in the cafeteria;
• If you live near school, do frequent “drive-bys” and point out the school and playground;
• If you can, during off-school time, stop and play on the equipment or practice walking up to the door pretending it is the first day of school;
• Share stories with your child about your days in Kindergarten:  “Mommy used to play on the monkey bars, do you know which one is the monkey bars?”;
• Ask your child questions to get them excited and talking about school;
• If the public is welcome, visit the school and school library, to get your child familiar with the new school layout;
• Check the school schedule to see if they have any spring events coming up that would interest your child and get involved now;
• Find other families that will be attending the school and plan some summer fun together.  If you don’t know anyone at the school, call the school for direction;
• Join the PTO/PTA!  This is a MUST and a great way to build a network of friends at home and school;
• Start reading everyday for 15 minutes with your child - start practicing this now, as this will be a requirement when they begin school;
• Start making those doctor appointments for immunizations, eye and dental visits;
• Make sure your child is familiar with the kindergarten curriculum:  the alphabet mixed up; numbers 0-10 mixed up, basic colors, shapes, coin, counting objects to 10 and how far they can count to 100.
  Practice will make for a great first day of school;

Share, in our comments, what you are doing to get your child ready for Kindergarten and we will randomly select a winner to receive a copy of Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten!

Stacey Kannenberg is The Get Ready To Learn Mom.  She is a MOM (first and foremost), an author, publisher, consultant, speaker, motivator, keynote, spokesmom and Mom CEO of Cedar Valley Publishing and her three books:  Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten, Let’s Get Ready For First Grade! and the Spanish/English Edition of Let’s Get Ready For Kindergarten! iA Prepararse Para Kindergarten have sold over 60,000 books inside homes and schools globally.