North Hills School District 2020 Get Ready for Kindergarten! Calendar of Activities for Prekindergarten Students 26 Fun With Letters Fun With Friends Skill: Read to your child! Skill: Separate from parents/care givers. Explanation: Building strong reading skills is fundamental to Explanation: Children will be able to separate from preparing your child for the future. Studies show that reading as a parents/caregivers with increasing ease family provides great opportunities for bonding. Activities: Activity: Explore the website below. If you have an iPhone, sign up for • Arrange a play date that lasts from one hour to ninety the app. (If you do not want to type in the whole address, you can do a minutes. Physically leave the premises once your child is google search for “1000 books before kindergarten.” comfortable. (Check Shaler Library’s programming for play group options.) http://1000booksbeforekindergarten.org/ • Use simple terms to let your child know what to expect. • Leave your child for short periods of time with a trusted adult. Have a routine for saying good bye. Quick good- byes lead to dry eyes. All by Myself Fun with Numbers Skill: Personal Hygiene Skill: Recognize letters and numbers Explanation: Children will be able to ask to use the bathroom, wipe, Explanation: Children will differentiate between letters and flush, and wash hands. numbers. Activities: Activities: • Give your child experiences using other restrooms away from • Mix a set of magnet or foam numbers and letters in a hat. home. Have your child pull them out and sort into piles of either • Teach independent bathroom routine and allow your child to letters or numbers. practice independently. • Look at a magazine or advertisement. Circle letters with one color crayon and numbers with a different color. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNUJs3GUlUQ Fun With Letters Fun With Friends Skill: Know how to handle and care for books Skill: Take turns and wait your turn. Explanation: Children will have the opportunity to choose and Explanation: Children learn how to be a good friend by experience new books sharing and taking turns. Activity: Request a library card: Activities: • Have your child get his/her own library card at a local • Give your child different examples of ways to library. Introduce yourself to the librarian and ask share: take turns with a toy, play with a tow about possible summer reading programs. Model how together, and use a timer. to handle a book, turn pages, recognize where the • Practice different ways to take turns with words and pictures are. family and friends. • Look for some of our Suggested Books at the library • Play games that require taking turns. • Check out your local library’s programming schedule. Many local libraries have fun activities for incoming kindergarten children. All by Myself Fun with Numbers Skill: All about tissues! Skill: Rote counting to 30 Explanation: Children will stay healthy by using a tissue to Explanation: Rote counting is the ability to count out wipe their nose, cover sneezes with a tissue and throw the loud from memory. This skill is the foundation for more tissue away advanced math concepts. Activities: Activities: • Have your child count in the car. • Model how to use a tissue, throw it away, and wash • Play games such as Hide and Seek hands. • Count how long an activity takes. Some examples • Allow your child to practice using a tissue are cleaning up, getting a drink, waiting in line, etc. http://www.viewpure.com/cvhR5-Mm3ck?ref=search Fun With Letters Fun With Friends Skill: Listen for rhyming words. Skill: Cope with a variety of feelings Explanation: Feelings are a part of our everyday lives. Being Explanation: Rhyming and reading support each other. able to identify and express feelings appropriately will help a Activities: child develop positive self-concepts and friendship skills • Pick a few favorite nursery rhymes and practice by removing the Activities: final word and asking your child to guess • Name and act out feelings with your child: frustration, • Read Dr Seuss books to your child nightly. Have him/her guess anger, sadness, joy, excitement. what words may come next that would rhyme with the current • Model and encourage your child to “use his/her words” to word in the story. Have your child say only the rhyming words express feelings. along with you when you are reading. Re-reading a book is a • Read and discuss books with your child: When Sophie suggested activity. Gets Angry by Molly Bang • Sing rhyming songs. • Give your child examples of how to handle feelings: draw • Play a rhyming game. picture, count to 10, take a breath, or tell an adult. http://pbskids.org/games/rhyming/ • Play games with your child. Let your child experience how to be a good sport whether he/she wins or loses. All by Myself Fun with Numbers Skill: Table manners are important in a social setting Skill: Shapes and foster acceptance of others. Explanation: Shape recognition is an important math Explanation: Children will be eating lunch at school with a large skill because shapes are all around us. The shapes we group of children. learn about in kindergarten are: circle, square, rectangle, triangle, diamond and oval. Activity: Eat at least three meals a week at a table with your Activities: family. Model how to… • • Stay in the chair Go on a shape hunt! Use the flash cards listed • Chew with mouth closed above and find items in the house that are the • Use a napkin and utensils corresponding shape. • Stay at the table until everyone is done • Use sidewalk chalk and draw shapes of various • Ask to be excused sizes. Name the shapes while drawing. • Clean up when done (take plate to sink, throw away napkin, etc) http://www.tlsbooks.com/shapeflashcardscolor.pdf April Fun With Letters Fun With Friends Skill: Recognizing alphabet letters Skill: Speaking and Listening Explanation: Reading is the foundation of all learning. Letter recognition Explanation: The ability to introduce oneself and actively is an essential building block to reading. participate in a conversation contributes to social development, Activities: safety in the school setting and the world. • Find letter puzzles for your children. Name the letters with your Activities: child. • Have your child repeat after you, “Hello, my name is • Make letters with play-doh __________ (first name) __________ (last name).” • Make letter books using magazine pictures • Model ways to be a good listener: look at the person who • Have your child look for the letters in his/her name on road signs is talking & wait your turn to speak. • Let your child play with magnet letters on a refrigerator or cookie • Practice being a good listener during family meals. sheet. Name the letters while playing. • Spend screen-free time talking as a family. • While eating Scrabble Cheez-Its, name the letters with your • Model how to share information with others: speak loudly child. enough to be heard and use an inside voice http://www.starfall.com • Ask open-ended questions such as, “What was your favorite part of the day? Why?” • Simple games: How many kinds of animals can you name that live in the sea? How many things can you name that fly? Take turns sharing as a family so your child can be the listener and the speaker. All by Myself Fun with Numbers Skill: Dressing self Skill: One-to-one correspondence Explanation: Children will need to prepare to go outside for recess, Explanation: Children will understand that each object being transition from school to home as well as from home to school. Children counted represents one more. (Example: When counting three cars, will need to: each car gets one number, 1-2-3.) • Recognize items that belong to me: coat, backpack, boots, gloves, Activities: hats, etc • Bounce a ball. Count bounces • Zip, button, snap. Put shoes on, Put coat on • Count the steps as you walk up and down. Each step gets a Activities: number • Practice with lacing cards, games and string beads • Count items in your cart while shopping. • Practice zipping, buttoning, and snapping clothes independently • Make play-doh eggs for chickens using number mats: • Allow extra time for your child to put on and take off his/her coat, shoes, etc., EVERY day! http://makinglearningfun.com/themepages/ChickenPlaydoughMats.htm • Create a prop box for dress up and pretend play. Fill it with old http://www.abcya.com/number_match.htm jewelry, shoes, hats, boots, etc Fun With Letters Fun With Friends Skill: Identify alphabet letters Skill: Manners Explanation: Children sing the alphabet song without thinking Explanation: Saying please and thank you is such a small thing that about each letter. These activities will help children recognize goes a long way in creating social intelligence. each letter in the alphabet and identify missing letters. Activities: Activities: • Read and discuss books such as: The Berenstain Bears Forget • Sing the alphabet song. Try saying the alphabet without singing Their Manners by Jan and Stan Berenstain, Clifford’s Manners by it. Norman Birdwell, Emily’s Everyday Manners by Peggy Post and • Sing the alphabet song while pointing to each letter Don’t Forget Your Etiquette by Nadine Westcott. • Sing the alphabet song but skip a letter. See if your child can • Have your child write a thank-you not to someone. identify which letter was skipped • Role play shopping at the supermarket, saying “excuse me”, to get • Write letters of the alphabet on pieces of paper. Hide them past someone, “please” when asking for an item, ad “thank you” around the room. Have your child find and identify the letters. when receiving the item. As an extension, put the letters in order once they have been • Count together throughout the day, how many times “please” and found.