School Readiness Skills for Kinder - 2nd grade

We break down the real-life skills that help kindergarten through second grade kids feel confident and capable at school, from zipping coats to handling lunch and supplies. I share simple ways to practice responsibility, classroom behavior, and fine motor skills at home without trying to do everything at once. 
• independent skills for personal responsibility
• following one-step and two-step directions with fun practice ideas 
• taking turns

Just some of the ideas in this episode, listen for more!

If you have any questions or need a sounding board, you can message me on Instagram at BeTheirParent. If you found this episode helpful, follow, set up automatic downloads, review, and share. I’d appreciate it. 

Transcript

Setting The K To 2 Focus

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi, I'm Sheila and I'm here to help you be their parent. Last week's episode was all about the things that our kids need for school, whether they're going into kindergarten or 12th grade, it's just those skills that they need to be successful students. This week we're going to focus on our kinders through second graders and some of the skills that they need specifically for those grades. So I broke them down into some different categories and let's get started.

Personal Responsibility At School

SPEAKER_00 0:33

So the first one is personal responsibility. Now, this is all the things that they need to be able to do to manage themselves. And it's all the things, right? Um, but some of the top things are clothing that they can do, buttons and snaps and zippers, especially to zip up their own coat. And if you live somewhere that's really cold and gets snowy, that they know how to put on all their winter gear and in the appropriate order, right? We don't want them putting on their gloves and then trying to zip up their coat. That's just not gonna work. So um helping them to know all of that. Now, that's not something they need to know in September, but it's what we're working towards, right? And then when it comes to shoes, if they can't tie their shoe well, buy them velcro shoes until they can do their shoes well. And there's lots of ways you can practice this, but sending them to school, especially in kinder, when they can't tie their shoe, that's really hard for the teacher to manage 20 kids with shoes that need to be tied. So um help the teacher out, send them in velcro, and then keep practicing. And then when they're successful, then just celebrate by getting a brand new pair of tennis shoes that they can tie themselves. Now, when it comes to food, you also need to be proactive on this one. If they are buying lunch at school or they it's free lunch and everybody gets lunch at school, you know, you need to practice the things that they are going to have there. So if milk is coming in a carton, you need to teach them how to open a carton effectively. If their milk comes in a box, then how they can insert the straw. They need to know how to do that. Sometimes schools give out pre-packaged things, whether it's crackers or some fruit or veggies come prepackaged. Um, teach them to look for the little notch so that that's where that's your sign where to tear, and then to tear gently and carefully so your food doesn't go flying. I mean, it's one thing if your apples go flying, but a whole another level if you're sending goldfish and chips flying everywhere. Um, now if your kid is going to take lunch to school most of the time, then you are going to want to practice using the things you're sending them with. So help them to practice opening and closing the packages that you're using, whether it's a juice pouch or a thermos. Um, if you're sending Ziploc baggies, you'd be surprised at how many kids don't know how to use a Ziploc baggie. So how to open it, and then if they need to reseal it, how that works. Um, if you're sending a container, like say your kid does leftovers, that's great. Um, but make sure they know how to open up that Tupperware, rubber made, whatever you're using the lid so they can get to it, but then also that they know how to put it back on effectively because there are always leftovers. And if they don't put that lid back on to seal everything back in well, and then the lunch gets jostled, you're gonna have yourself a big old mess inside that lunchbox when they get home. So help yourself out on that

Following Directions And Sharing

SPEAKER_00 3:48

one. Now, when it comes to just some basic skills that kids need as a student, these are the some of the top things for that, and that's following simple directions. And I'm just talking one and two-step directions. You know, you might want to practice this and do the thing of play, you know, the old school game, Mother May I, and really help them to hone in to listen to the directions and follow them completely. Or you give them a task and then you tell them, okay, I need you to take this toy to your room and put it on the shelf where it goes. When you're done, come back and let me know so I can check your work. So, one, it's being real specific about what you want them to do. And two, it's giving them accountability so they know that they need to come back and let you know that they're done, and they don't get sidetracked and just start playing with something else that they see in their room. And then that you're gonna make sure that they did a good job because that's what teachers do, right? We give an instruction, we want them to do an activity or a worksheet or whatever, and then we check their work. So this would be a great way to practice that, and it's not quite so um demanding, right? We're we're looking at making this somewhat fun, but also helping them to recognize this is important. Um, another one is respecting materials in the classroom. There are, depending on your teacher, some teachers they're going to um have let the kids have their independent supplies, but there are a lot of things that are shared supplies. And especially in the kinder and first grade classrooms, teachers often do centers. And so a kid is gonna do that center for a little while, and then like 10 minutes later, they're gonna go to another center. So teaching your kid that it's important to take care of those things so that the next person can use it, and that maybe in later in the week they'll get to do it again, right? So we want to make sure we're taking care of it and we're leaving it the way we found it so that it's accessible for the next student. Um, and then also the importance of leaving school supplies at school. I had a lot of students who very much loved all the things that we used in my class, and so they often would take things because they were just so excited about it. So we had to review often that I taught the whole school and everything I used was for all 400 plus kids, and we needed to leave them in the classroom. Um, another thing that you need to teach them, and there's actually two that kind of go together, and that's taking turns and that they don't always get to be first. Now, they might be an only child in your home or they're the oldest and they're kind of used to things, you know, working out their way. Um, it's just not possible in a classroom of 20 kids, especially if all 20 coming in, think that way. So help your kids to understand that they've they're gonna have to take turns, they're not always gonna get to be first, and everybody does get a turn. So we need to practice being patient. And one of the great ways to do that is to play games. Now, the flip side of that is you've got to be careful if your kid's not a very good loser, right? Then you may have to make it work so that they win. Um, or that you just kind of, you know, let that be another learning experience of you're not always gonna win. So, but games are a great way to do that. And then just to review with them as they get ready to go to school each morning, especially the first few weeks of, you know, today you're going to, you know, maybe be last in line, and that's okay. Um, you're gonna have to wait your turn at the drinking fountains, you know, all those things. Um, but just to help, you know, the kids to remember it's not all about me, right? Um, and then the next thing is to help your kids to know how to use their words if they need something back, whether it's a toy or a crayon or whatever. Um, if they had it first and another student takes it from them, they need to ask with words to get it back. And if that doesn't work, they need to get a grown-up. Please, please, please teach your children it is not okay to hit to get something back. They need to go get a grown-up if they can't solve it themselves. Um, that would help a lot. Um, kids these days, they just tend to just take whatever it is they think they need. So help your kid to advocate for themselves to be able to get their item back. And then you need to teach your kid that they need to not take from someone else. They need to ask. And the other student may say no, thank you. And then you got to figure out something else. Or it may be they say no, thank you, but it is something that should be shared. And it's been a while that that student has had that item. Then teach your kid to go to the grown-up and say, hey, I'd like a turn and they're not letting me. You know, so there's a balance there, but helping your kids to know using words is far more effective, and getting adult help when their words don't work is so much better than them hitting. All

Fine Motor Skills That Matter

SPEAKER_00 8:52

right, some other things that they are going to need, definitely work on some of those fine motor skills. How to hold a pencil, a crayon, a marker, um, how to use scissors correctly. Um, I had a lot of kids going the wrong way. So um help them to know how to cut with scissors and how to cut on a line. And just draw some lines on a paper, just let them go at it. And then also, you know, make sure they understand that you only cut what the teacher gives you or what mom and dad give you. That that's it. That's the rule we used in our house, and that helped mostly. Um, and then when it comes to glue, most teachers use glue sticks. We just, it's less messy than the liquid glue. But we also ran into the issue where most glue sticks are purple, and so a lot of kids think that they need to use it like a marker and cover the whole piece of paper with purple. Um, teach your kids that you don't need to do that and that just wastes glue. You know, show them that they can just do the corners of their paper and maybe an X across the middle, and that should be enough. Um, if something really needs to go down well, then maybe a little bit of more glue on the edges, and then it should be perfect, right? Um, also teach them that if it's a little piece of paper, instead of leaving the paper on the table and rubbing the glue stick on it and glue getting on the table, instead hold the glue stick in your hand, put the little piece of paper on top of the glue stick and rub it and then pull off the piece of paper and then stick it to what you need to stick it to. Um, they might get a little more glue on their hands, but that's more easily washed off than the desk. And then also coloring. Um, we have a lot of kids that come in and don't understand that the lines are there for a reason. And also that just scribbling is good enough. So helping them to see that lines do matter and that we're trying to stay within the lines while we color, and that we need to try to cover as much of the white as we can. That way they don't rush because that's what a lot of kids do. They just throw on some color, it's literally scribbling, it's it's not really coloring. Um, and then they're like, I'm done. And you know, half the kids are just getting started. So that's the perseverance and that's attention. So helping our kids to understand that they need to give some effort to it to do their best job.

Home Support That Boosts Reading

SPEAKER_00 11:17

And now some things you can do at home that are primarily home things. And one of them is listening to them read. And you're like, but Sheila, they should be reading at school. They are, but having a caring adult listen to them and really help them out will go a long ways in increasing their skills in reading. Understand that as teachers, when we have 20 kids in our room, we don't always get the chance to listen to them very often with intention. Like we hear them read, but we're not always able to just like really sit and pay attention often, right? It may only happen a couple times a month. So you doing that, you might actually start to notice something that you could then bring to the teacher's attention, and then they can maybe help mitigate whatever that issue might be to help your child be successful.

Names Phone Numbers And Safety

SPEAKER_00 12:11

And then the next part is kind of tricky, but I your kids need to know these things. Um, they need to know their first and last names, not just their nicknames. And that's because they can sometimes get lost out at recess, and then they a grown-up tries to talk to them, and all they can get out of them is their nickname, and now they're trying to figure out where they go. Um, also what grade they're in, because then that's the other issue. We can be talking to a child and they're acting like they don't know anything going on at school. And so you assume they're a kindergarten when really they're a first grader. So um, helping them to know those things are really important at school, as well as their teacher's name. That can go a long way to helping us help them. And then they also need to know your first and last name and phone number. You just never know when they might need it. And so that's just something you can start practicing. If you put it into a little jingle, that is super helpful. Um, then it helps them for it to stick in their heads.

Start Small And Build Skills

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Now, remember that your kids do not have to have all of these skills when they go to school. If just a third of families would work on these that are in K2, then all those classes would just work so much more efficiently. They would be so much more productive, just having that handful of kids that can do these things well. Now, you know your kids best. So work on these things as you have time and what works best for your family. Also, don't do them all at once. Pick one skill, start working on it, and after a little bit, move on to another skill, and then just revisit the first one now and then, and then just keep building. You're gonna be amazed at the things your kids are able to do if you just give them the opportunity to try it. If you have any questions or need a sounding board, you can message me on Instagram at BeThereParent. If you found this episode helpful, follow, set up automatic downloads, review, and share. I'd appreciate it.