Getting Kids Ready For School

Recently I've been busy getting my program ready for the start of school. Teachers, parents, and students the country over have been buying and organizing supplies and making a variety of plans.  You see plenty of tips about what classroom supplies to buy kids, but the most important aspect of preparing children for school happens in the years before kindergarten.  Prenumeracy and Preliteracy skills are necessary for a successful start to school and are learned at pre-schools and homes in a variety of ways.

Prenumeracy and Preliteracy skills are necessary for children to learn math and reading and range from sorting materials, having a conversation, and holding a pencil.

This being a literacy blog I'll focus on explaining the 6 main preliteracy skills and how to develop them.

Vocabulary
Knowing the names of things is an important precursor to reading.  Most children enter kindergarten knowing 3,000 - 5,000 words.  The more words a child knows the more prepared he or she is for school and the easier reading will be. 

• Using precise language when talking to children helps expand their vocabulary.  Instead of pointing and saying "Bring those here" use object and place words like "Bring the plates to the table." 
• Make sure children spend time outside of the house and point out the names and titles of the animals, people, buildings, and objects you encounter.
• Read a variety of fiction and non-fiction books with your child.  Some books, like Fancy Nancy are created to expand children's vocabulary.
• When speaking to your child occasionally use words they don't know.

Remember children can't expant their vocabularies unless they encounter new words through conversations and experiences.

Narrative Skills
Being able to understand and tell stories and describe things, narrative skills, are necessary for children to understand what they are reading.  Being able to differentiate between the beginning, middle, and end of events and to explain this are important for reading and other cognitive functions.

• Ask children questions about their day.  Help them find and explain the sequence of events by asking questions like "What did you do first?" and "What happened next?"
• When reading to children, or watching a TV show or movie, ask children to summarize the story and explain their favorite parts.

Print Motivation
Print motivation is the interest in and the enjoyment of books.  Some children naturally have a higher print motivation, but it is something that should be fostered in all children. A child with print motivation will play with books, pretend to read, and enjoys being read to and trips to the library.  Between natural inclination and my parents reading to me a great deal my high print motivation kept me liking books despite my learning disabilities and helped me (eventually) become an avid reader.

• Point out and read words everywhere you see them, on signs, cereal boxes, newspapers and everything else.
• Take children to group stories times at libraries and book stores.
• If possible make story time and every day activity.
• Take children to the library and help them find stories they'll enjoy.
• Make sure to keep reading enjoyable by not forcing children to sit still for longer then is natural for them.

Print Awareness
Print awareness is knowledge of how books and writing works.  Children with print awareness know that text is read from left to right and that pages are read top to bottom.  They know that the print on the page matches up with what is being read to them.  Over time children will learn that capital letters signify names and starts of sentences and that punctuation ends a sentence.

• Point to words when reading them.  Make sure to do this with text outside of books to.
• During story time run your finger along under the words so your child sees how words match up with what you're saying.

Letter Knowledge
Letter knowledge means learning the alphabet.  Its learning the names and sounds of individual letters.  You can start teaching letter knowledge to babies before they begin fully talking.

• There are a variety of books and activities made to teach letter knowledge.  Letter blocks, carpets, and alphabet books are ways to introduce your child to letters as babies and toddlers.
• Describe the shapes of letters: B has two bellies, M is two mountains.  Make sure to find ways that make sense to the individual child.  You can also ask kids what they think the letters look like.
• For pre-schoolers try drawing letters in the sand, snow, flour, or while playing with markers and chalk.
• Remember to keep things fun.  The point is to get children comfortable with letters.  Few children have the patience or ability to learn actual spelling befor turning 5 and entering kindergarten.

Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is knowing the sounds that make up words. It includes being able to hear and create rhymes, to say words with sounds left out, and putting two words or word parts together to make another word.

• Play silly word games that makes use of rhyming. Like "Anna, bananna, fe fi fofanna". 
• Lots of children books are written in rhyme, make sure to read some with your child.
• Say words with pauses between the syllables. "Rab" - "It" "Wat" - "Er"