Getting Ready for your Child's First Day of School

In just a few weeks your child will be starting school. You both are anxious and excited! What can you do to have him/her ready? Well there are many things that parents can do to get their children ready for that great adventure of starting formal schooling. To start, help your child to “have fun” with language: play with letters, words, and sounds. Talk, talk, talk, to your child. As the first day of school approaches encourage your child to talk about school, what is he/she going to learn, about making new friends, and other exciting things that would happen in school. Read, read, read, to your child. Take your child to the public library, bookstores, yards sales, and get books he/she seems interested in and read it to him/her. Read the books as often as your child want to hear them, and encourage him/her to “read” portions of it to you. Help your child make connections with the story. This is an excellent way to help your child to develop reading comprehension skills. Connect the reading to what happens in real life. If you’re reading a book about sea animals, for example, relate that to a trip to the beach. Teach him/her nursery rhymes, sing songs together. Use the newspaper, magazines, and other type of print to cut out letters, make an alphabet chart; write your child’s name and other family members’ names. Help to develop his/her fine motor skills by helping him/her to trace letters, cutting and pasting, coloring, etc.

Remember, you’re your child’s first and most important teacher: Have fun!