getting ready for kindergarten

Check with the school. You don't want your daughter to be the only one with a pencil box or a back pack or any other piece of status that has to be transported in a strange place.

I'd save any little treats for her triumphant homecoming. Kindergarten teachers discourage individual goodies. Ask her what she'd like for her very first after school snack.

Help her choose an outfit that she can manage by herself in the lavatory. Pick a hair style that can't become a nuisance

Rehearse the big day with her. How she'll get to school. What will happen. How she'll get home. Ooze confidence that she will have a wonderful time.

Believe me, Booklover, you will survive the experience.

Great question since I will be (or rather my daughter) will be going through the same thing this fall.

One thing I did (but will probably be too late for you) was I brought her on a tour of the school in June so she could she the kids and all the school has to offer. She was so impressed with the library, the gym, etc. that her Pre-School does not have. I definately think this has helped peak her interest and excitement. Maybe you could bring your child around the school and playground even though the kids are out for the summer.

I am also interested to hear what other parents suggest.

Thanks noddy & linkat. She has been on a tour of the school, when we went in the spring for kindergarten screening. I will try to check in with the teacher about supplies--they sent us home a whole packet of info, but this topic isn't mentioned at all. I guess I can get the teachers at school about a week before students are actually there? (This based on my experience of growing up as the child of a teacher, not from any experience with this district.)

If supplies aren't mentioned, skip supplies. Imagine the chaos of 20 new kindergarten students and 19 pencils and 17 erasers (of various degrees of desirability) and a missing teddy bear....

Don't complicate First Day.

Re: getting ready for kindergarten



Take her by the school now and look at where her classroom is, where the cafeteria is, the office, nurse's room, etc. Find out from the office when her teacher is likely to be in(they set up their rooms usually the 2 days before, and sometimes they take more time settingup than that) and pop in for a quick visit. Kindergarten teachers are the friendliest people in the world! It's always nice to make their acquaintance ahead of time.

Also, make sure you mark her items, each crayon, each pencil as well as the box. Kids will need all the colors for assignments, and she will need to have them in her box. My experience as a mom(and I've had 4 in kindy so far, w/#5 starting Aug 1) is that they WILL lose a crayon on the floor at some point... and if it is marked w/her name, it will be returned to her to replace in her own box.

Also, lay out her clothes for school the night before. If you set up that habit now, at the beginning of kindergarten, you may be able to prevent her from becoming a girl who changes her clothes several times in the morning before she gets out the door. (This habit drives me batty! And my 13 year old does it as well as my 6 year old.)

Thanks for the excellent advice, princesspupule! We have definitely instituted the one-outfit-per-morning rule in our house, as she would change into a new dress about every hour, if that wasn't the case.

Three things.

1. New L.L. Bean backpack with headphone port.
2. Gameboy Advance SP with Monkeyball.
3. Buy all her clothes at Abercrombie & Fitch.

I thought you might enjoy this article I read in Boston's Sunday paper.
"Kindergarten scares parents more than child"
Here are some highlights - and if you want to read the entire article, I included the link.
As the parents dropped Kaya off at the schoolhouse doors, the questions lingered.
''Did we do the right thing? Was this the best school? You just never know," said Kaya's dad, Peter. Sending young children off to school for the first time is a rite of passage every new parent faces. For the Bos family, the preparation began long before Kaya's first day of kindergarten last September.

The parents believed the key to their child's academic success was finding the right classroom with the right teacher at the right school. The parents did know their daughter's likes and dislikes, helpful information for families looking for the right kindergarten. Her mother talked to other parents for guidance, quizzing them about certain schools and their staffs. She looked for a school where a few of Kaya's friends planned to attend so her daughter wouldn't feel so alone in the new classroom.

On the first day, Leslie and Peter Bos walked with Kaya to the campus, just 15 minutes away by foot. When they arrived at the school playground, Kaya spotted her day-care buddies. And while the little girl was off making new friends, her mother peppered the teacher with last-minute questions. ''I really tried to keep my anxieties to a minimum," she said." But the teacher was really good about it." While Kaya's father tended to the twins, her mother had planned to walk her daughter into the classroom the same way she had done at day care. But she followed the other parents' lead, leaving her child at the schoolhouse door. Unlike her first day at day care, there was no leg-hugging or tears. ''Kaya was ready to leave me and kiss me goodbye," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2004/07/25/kindergarten_scares_parents_more_than_child/