Preparing For Kindergarten Success: Kindergarten Orientation How to Prepare for Kindergarten with Mrs. Muncy 2012

Meet Mrs. Muncy Welcome to Kindergarten, I am Jamie Muncy. This is my fourth year here at Willard North and my fourth year in Kindergarten. I graduated from Missouri State University in 2008 with a degree in Elementary Education and Early Childhood Education. I have been married to my husband, Kyle, for almost a year now. I have two wonderful step-sons, Gabe (6) and Grayson (3). We love traveling and spending time outdoors. We have a dog named Benjamin, and two cats. Kindergarten is a special year and I promise to try my best everyday for your children. I can’t wait for August! Jamie Muncy

How Can I Help my Child Get Ready for Kindergarten?  Provide a daily routine that includes regular times for meals.  Establish a bedtime that gives your child eight or more hours of sleep at night.  Wean your child from taking a nap.  See that your child has opportunities for rigorous physical play, outside when possible, every day.  Help your child develop independence in dressing, eating, and personal hygiene.  Interact frequently with your child each day by talking and listening.

 Take your child to a variety of places, such as the library, the park, the grocery store, the post office, etc.  Provide toys, games, and household items that encourage exploration, manipulation, and dramatic play.  Provide opportunities to play with other children.  Encourage social values such as helpfulness, cooperation, sharing, and concern for others.  Demonstrate and encourage common expressions of courtesy (please, thank you, excuse me).  Establish reasonable limits for behavior and hold your child to them.

 Read to your child every day!!  Provide books, magazines, and other print materials.  Provide opportunities to play alphabet games, read alphabet books, and talk about letter names and sounds.  Provide pencils, markers, and blank paper and encourage drawing, scribbling, or writing.  Invite your child to help with grocery lists, grocery shopping, sending cards, etc.  Read poems and sing songs together.  Let your child tell you a made-up story during bath time, dinnertime, riding in the car, etc.

What Should my Child Know and be Able to do Upon Entering Kindergarten? Here’s a checklist: Care for Personal Needs  Can blow nose, cover sneeze  Is independent in using the bathroom  Can wash own hands  Can snap, button, zip or belt own pants/jackets  Can take off and put on own coat  Recognizes own possessions: jacket, lunchbox, backpack, etc.  Can eat without assistance  Will put toys away when asked

 Please keep your child’s INDEPENDENCE in mind when purchasing clothing. Try to avoid items that are tricky or complicated for your child.  We do NOT teach shoe-tying in kindergarten! Please work with your child at home to learn this skill.

Social / Emotional  Will listen to an adult and do as told  Can cooperate with other children  Can play with other children without hitting, biting, etc.  Can sit for short periods (15 minutes)… this does not include watching T.V. or playing video games  Can follow rules  Understands and follows oral directions  Identifies age  Separates from parents by appearing comfortable and secure without parents

Language  Speaks in complete sentences most of the time  Understands vocabulary related to position, size, and comparison (like/different, top/bottom, first/last, etc.)  Makes simple predictions and comments about a story being read Cognitive  Shows an interest in books and reading (looks at books, listens to books read to them)  Holds book and turns pages correctly  Knows some songs and rhymes  Participates in rhyming games

 Identifies some capital and lowercase letters, especially those in the child’s own name  Demonstrates awareness of letter sounds  Pretends to read and write  Knows first and last name  Can recognize and write first name  Can sort objects that go together  Identifies colors and can play “I Spy” with colors  Identifies shapes and can play “I Spy” with shapes  Identifies numbers up to 10  Counts in sequence up to 20  Understands concepts of more and less

Motor  Holds a pencil correctly  Holds scissors correctly and cuts with control and intention  Copies figures such as a straight line, circle, square, and +  Demonstrates gross motor skills such as hopping, jumping, running, and catching a ball

Parent Test If you read aloud to your child this week, draw a body on your paper, for you have begun to build a very basic part of him.

Parent Test If you read stories about someone like himself or a neighbor like yours, put arms on the body. You have helped him find his place and to reach out and enrich his world.

Parent Test If you and your child read for a special purpose-to look up a phone number, to read a recipe, to follow a road map, etc. Put a head on his shoulders, you have given him a key to unlock information.

Parent Test If you read a comic, a cartoon, or a funny story to your child, put a hat on his head. You have given your child something extra that adds color to his life, and planted the seeds of a sense of humor.

Parent Test If you have read to your child about something that is new to him, perhaps about different customs, values, or a new environment, put legs on his body, you have helped him to walk out into the world.

Parent Test If you have read a variety of fantasy, fairy tales, folk tales, true tales and stories of make believe, put clothes on your child, you have added new dimensions to his life.

Parent Test If you have shared a poem with him, put a sun in the sky, you have brought beauty into his life…and color too!