Hi There,
How do you know if your child is ready for Kindy? emotionally and academically?
Did you do anything to prepare them for school when they turn 5?

Thanks,

Ask around your group of friends or playgroups and try to find another child who is also attending the same school. A few play dates together may help them both settle on the big day.

I also drove past the school as often as I could or walked past if possible.

HTH, Carolyn

Hi,
i am not doing much to make mine ready for school. I have mentioned school, and told her where she will be going, i know lots of mums that teach their kids different things to get them off to a good start at school, but i think that the school will run to their own schedule, and if i hot house my child too much they will simply be board until the rest of the kiddies catch up.
Mine is a bit awkward socially, but i don't know any other kids that are going to the same school, so i think i will just pay close attention on orientation day, and hopefully set up a few play dates with other parents then. Let me know if you think of anything else to do, cause i am winging it a bit myself
Cheers Rach

Our preschool teacher suggested things such as making sure they can unwrap their own lunch, tie their own shoes, and practice introducing themselves to children they do not know ("Hi my name is ....would you like to play?" etc)

I dont think my DS is ready for school next year, but he is a late Dec baby and I think by law we are required to send him no later than the year he turns 6.

I havent done anything specifically (yet), but I have a friend with a child starting in the same year as mine...and she has already taught him to read and count to 100 :S. But I figure that she is the minority .

Closer to the date I will make sure he can
- tie shoelaces
- cut in straight lines and on lines
- recognise his own bag & personal belongings
- open lunch boxes and containers etc
- know our phone number & address
- talk about respecting teachers and others

DD has been at the school for several years, so DS is already familiar with what school is and where it is and that there are lots of children there etc.

how do you go about teaching a 4 year old how to tie their shoelaces? I had a real block on this myself and didn't learn until I was 8.

Is there a stressfree way to teach it?

DD goes to daycare 2 days a week and they are doing Preschool readiness program with her.

The kind of stuff they are learning are:
How to write their name, The letters of the alphabet-Both big and little (They learn a new letter each week), How to write their numbers (She can write 1-10 now), How to count to 100-which I assume is done each week as she comes home and counts her 30's, 40's etc..
They are also learning how to draw shapes, How to cut out shapes, pictures etc.
Another things is to make sure they are fully TT (wees and poos that is, not necessarily nights)

A few of the kids she goes to DC with will be going to her Kindy next year. They have someone fromt he school come down to the DC towards the end of the year to have a chat and they also have the orientation days later on in the year.
We go past the school almost daily and she knows that is where she is going next year. She is very excited about it. As for tying shoelaces-That isn't something I've thought about-Her shoes are either buckles or laces or pull on atm. She has been learning how to tie her belt on her dressing gown for a while, so i might teach her how to do a bow and then work it in on the shoelaces a bit later down the track?

I just send mine to school when they are the correct age to start!

My 4yo goes to kinder and whilst I do help her with her letters, numbers and reading, make sure she can look after her toileting, lunch tin or whatever, I do this as more life skills, rather than specific to kinder. I figure her teacher will tell me if there are problems or things we need to work on so I am not too fussed. I would not be keen to hold them back based on my own judgements of whether they were ready.

It's a shame this isn't enforced. Why should my child who is just 5 and the right age have to compete with 6 1/2 year olds who have been kept back so they are over ready?

Unless there is a real reason why your child isn't ready they should be in their own age group. Imagine if you put your older child in a younger age group at footy, athletics or basketball or something, it wouldn't be allowed as it wouldn't be fair on the younger ones.

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OT, but it is enforced well in my state. If you hold them back they will probably only end up in the higher class when they start. I think you need a pretty good reason or a guidance officer assessment to get around it. I've got a boy born 10 days before the cut off and whilst it is not ideal, I figure someone has to be the youngest. IT is quite a big thing leaving the decision to the parents with no clear guidelines around what to look for.

Velcro!!!!

In Vic, our Kinder teachers give us a good idea if our kids are ready to start Prep the following year. It's a bit early to be thinking about it too much now though, as in 10 months kids can develop a huge amount.

I gave my little boy a shoe lace and we punched some holes in cardboard. He used to go in and out of the holes as we would drive in the car.

Then I simply punched holes in the shape of the shoelace pattern on sneakers. We numbered them and away he went. He played with this all the time in the car or if we were waiting at the doctors.

After this, we simply helped him learn to tie them. He was interested enough at that stage.


THEN..... his Nana bought him velcro school shoes! Sigh

I absolutely love this idea, and am going to give it a try if you don't mind. Sometimes this site has the most innovative mummies and i am very grateful

My nearly 6yr old doesnt know that yet. He is one of the oldest in this Preprimary class (year before year 1)

Last year before he started kindy, we met up with another little boy as they 'clicked' at the open day and me and his mum got along so well.... And then by the time my DS started kindy he was happy to be left as he has a friend there

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The only things I think they NEED to know ..
- how to recognise their own name. Writing it is useful, but the most important thing is to be able to recognise it.

- able to open lunch, and any lunch containers, and be able to split their food up into recess and lunch. If you have recess first, some kids will eat the majority of their food at recess and then have nothing left for lunch.

- how to take jumpers off and on (you have time for this one as they wont be wearing on early in the year

- tie shoelaces OR send them in velcro. A friend who is a kinder teacher really likes velcro .. she says she wastes so much time either waiting for the kids to very slowly tie their shoes or asking her to tie. And honestly, she says she hates tying laces because the kids walk around with them undone, or long, dragging on the ground, and can get really really eeewwww.

But really, I've never done anything to prep them for school. All of my girls have/do attend preschool. And that's what preschool is for ...
- learning to be in a classroom with a teacher
- they take their own lunch so are practicing that
- encouraging independent toileting, looking after belongings
- doing the craft and learning how to hold a pencil, use scissors etc.
- learning all the social interactions that they need to start learning.

Our preschool teachers are great with school readiness, always willing to talk and let me know if anything is lacking, or needs a bit more attention.