HopkinsParent Blog

The year of ECFE is coming to a close, and our Kaleidoscope preschool will be ending the school year program at the end of May. This serves as a reminder to be sure to get your registration in for next year’s programing–the earlier you register the more likely you are to get your first choice class. However, there will be a large number of “graduates” from the early childhood program in May.  These children will be anticipating a year of kindergarten when the long summer days shift into frosty autumn mornings. As parents we look forward to this big milestone–there is so much about starting school to be excited about!  We also want to be sure that our children are prepared to meet the expectations of the school system. The Early Childhood School Readiness Team for Hopkins Schools shared some of the basic skills–academic, social and emotional–that students should come prepared with when they first walk into the school with their backpacks, new crayons and pencils, and likely a quickly beating heart.  Knowing what the teachers will be looking for ahead of time, parents can work with their children over the summer to help them meet these goals.  That first day of school, we can then be sure that we have given them all we can to help ensure their success: a huge hug, a confident smile, and the early foundational skills they will need to feel at home in their new kindergarten classroom.

Letter Skills:

• Write name using upper case first letter and lower case letters for the rest of the name
• Know letters and the sounds of those letters–don’t need to know every letter, but should know letters of own name
• Recognize some common “environment” words: Stop, In, Out
• Draw simple shapes (circle, square, straight and curvy lines)

Filed under: Early Childhood |