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Jayne Kulikauskas
August 4th 03, 04:10 AM
"Mamasamba" > wrote in message
...
> My dd will be starting kindergarten in a few weeks. Does anyone have
> any advice on how best to prepare her for it?

There are a lot of picture books about children starting school or going to
school, for example _Spot goes to School_. It might help to read some of
those together and discuss them. They talk about what activities children
are likely to encounter and some of them also talk about the feelings they
might have.

Jayne

Sue
August 4th 03, 05:45 AM
Have you been to the school to meet the teacher and check out the room yet?
Possibly set up a tour of the school. The only other thing I did was just to
talk with them and tell them what they would be doing, things they could
expect and so on.
--
Sue
mom to three girls

Mamasamba > wrote in message
...
> My dd will be starting kindergarten in a few weeks. Does anyone have
> any advice on how best to prepare her for it?
> --
> Margie

Donna Metler
August 4th 03, 11:43 AM
"Henry W. Moritz" <moc.ishcm@ztiromwh> wrote in message
news:sLjXa.58415$Ho3.8804@sccrnsc03...
> You know, our local school had a kindergarten camp. It meets at the local
> elementary school for a couple of hours in the morning and is intended to
> ease the kids into kindergarten, including visits to various elementary
> schools, tours, and chances to meet all of the teachers at the school,
> including the kindergarten teachers. It seems to be working great for my
> daughter. Perhaps your school might have something like this? At the
very
> least, I think it would be useful to visit the school, meet the teacher,
and
> see the classroom.

Our kindys do staggered entry. Instead of coming the first week, the kids
come in small groups on one assigned day. The teacher does some "testing"
expecially on language skills, gets to know the child, the children come
around and meet all the different teachers, learn where the cafeteria is,
the office, the library and the bathrooms.

>
> "Mamasamba" > wrote in message
> ...
> > My dd will be starting kindergarten in a few weeks. Does anyone have
> > any advice on how best to prepare her for it?
> > --
> > Margie
>
>

LFortier
August 4th 03, 12:54 PM
Mamasamba wrote:

>My dd will be starting kindergarten in a few weeks. Does anyone have
>any advice on how best to prepare her for it?
>--
>Margie
>
>
Practice, practice, practice. :-)

Start your morning routine a week or so before the big day. Let her
pick out the backpack and lunchbox, if needed. Go to the school and
look around a bit, if she's never been. Talk about how she'll get there
and home. If your school has a "meet the teacher day", go, meet your
teacher and look around the campus a bit. My oldest figured out the
layout of the school long before I did.

I emphasized to my girls that if they had any problems, any adult at
school, not just their teacher, would be able to help them.

And for you. . .don't be alarmed if it doesn't go completely smoothly.
My second especially was a bit overwhelmed and had quite a few tears
for the first month. It passed.

Good luck.

Lesley

Henry W. Moritz
August 4th 03, 02:05 PM
"Mamasamba" > wrote in message
...
> On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 02:43:36 GMT, "Henry W. Moritz"
> <moc.ishcm@ztiromwh> wrote:
>
> >You know, our local school had a kindergarten camp. It meets at the
local
> >elementary school for a couple of hours in the morning and is intended to
> >ease the kids into kindergarten, including visits to various elementary
> >schools, tours, and chances to meet all of the teachers at the school,
> >including the kindergarten teachers. It seems to be working great for my
> >daughter. Perhaps your school might have something like this? At the
very
> >least, I think it would be useful to visit the school, meet the teacher,
and
> >see the classroom.
>
> So your dd is entering kindergarten too? Mine did attend preschool
> last school year and finished bug camp recently. The camp was held at
> her preschool and even though there were a lot of new children for
> her to meet it was in a familiar setting and one teacher was the same.

If you're lucky, some of your daughter's preschool friends may even attend
the same kindergarten.

> I hope to get a chance to visit the school and meet dd's teacher, that
> remains to be seen. Haven't heard much from them yet.

You might want to consider going ahead and calling them up. It wouldn't
hurt and you never know, you might not be on their contact list for some
reason.

Ericka Kammerer
August 4th 03, 03:10 PM
toto wrote:


> Maybe it's different now, but I knew who my kid's teacher was
> as soon as we enrolled. Of course we only had one K class
> at the time. If there had been more, I think I would have visited
> all of the K classes the year before and requested the teacher
> I believed fit my kids best. But I don't know if you can do that
> now.


You probably can in some systems, and it's probably more
likely in private schools, but I think you probably can't in
most public schools--not because the schools would object, but
because they don't know. At our school, they don't do class
assignments until the last possible minute because they don't
know their total enrollment until then. In fact, despite
lots of advertising about enrolling early, they often have
a bunch of parents show up with kindergarteners to enroll them
the day school starts! Because they don't know the enrollment,
they don't even know for sure how many teachers they'll have.
In two of the last three years here, they've had to open another
kindergarten section to accommodate a late influx of kids *after*
school started. One might ask why they don't just leave a
little slack so that they can accommodate extra kids, but if
they did that, the impact throughout the system would be
substantial in terms of having to pay for more teachers than
they need. Given that budgets are tight, they're not
willing to do that. It's frustrating not knowing, but under
the circumstances I'm not all that sure what they can do about
it that wouldn't have other negative side effects. In fact,
here you don't even know morning or afternoon kindergarten
until the last minute because once they have (relatively) solid
enrollment figures, they send them to transportation to figure
out how to juggle bus routes to determine who gets morning or
afternoon kindergarten! Frankly, I don't know how parents who
have to juggle with daycare manage the uncertainty.
WRT choosing teachers, it's obviously tough when you're
not absolutely sure what teachers will be there. We generally
know *some* of the teachers, but if a teacher has left over
the summer or if enrollment figures dictate adding or losing
a teacher, you don't really know what the options are. Our
school, however, does welcome letters describing what sort
of teacher you think would work best for your child. I've
had good luck with that. They really seem to make an effort
to use all the information they have to make the best placement
decision they can.

Best wishes,
Ericka

toto
August 4th 03, 04:33 PM
On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 10:10:21 -0400, Ericka Kammerer >
wrote:

>WRT choosing teachers, it's obviously tough when you're
>not absolutely sure what teachers will be there. We generally
>know *some* of the teachers, but if a teacher has left over
>the summer or if enrollment figures dictate adding or losing
>a teacher, you don't really know what the options are. Our
>school, however, does welcome letters describing what sort
>of teacher you think would work best for your child. I've
>had good luck with that. They really seem to make an effort
>to use all the information they have to make the best placement
>decision they can.

I am glad my kids grew up before this was a problem. The public
schools they went to had a very stable teacher and staff. A few
people left here and there, but most seemed to stay at the school
for a long time.

As for requesting teachers, their public school was fine with that
for the most part. Different people liked different teachers. I
requested my kids be in one fourth-fifth grade teacher's class and
there were those who hated him. He was rather unusual in his style,
but my kids both think he was the best teacher they had until high
school when my son had three or so others who he believes were
as dedicated. Not many parents did request specific teachers, but
I did for 4th grade for both my kids. And some requested not to have
the teacher I liked for my kids.






--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..
Outer Limits

Ericka Kammerer
August 4th 03, 05:50 PM
toto wrote:

> On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 10:10:21 -0400, Ericka Kammerer >
> wrote:
>
>
>>WRT choosing teachers, it's obviously tough when you're
>>not absolutely sure what teachers will be there. We generally
>>know *some* of the teachers, but if a teacher has left over
>>the summer or if enrollment figures dictate adding or losing
>>a teacher, you don't really know what the options are. Our
>>school, however, does welcome letters describing what sort
>>of teacher you think would work best for your child. I've
>>had good luck with that. They really seem to make an effort
>>to use all the information they have to make the best placement
>>decision they can.
>
> I am glad my kids grew up before this was a problem. The public
> schools they went to had a very stable teacher and staff. A few
> people left here and there, but most seemed to stay at the school
> for a long time.


At our school there's a core of teachers who've been
there for a long time. I think one of the kindergarten teachers
who just retired had been there more than 20 years. But some
years there's only one kindergarten teacher, and other years
there are three! So she stayed, but the others varied somewhat.
It's similar with the other grades. Living near Washington DC,
the population is more transient than average, so that contributes
to the unpredictable enrollment in the entire county. I don't
feel like our school has a lot of turnover, but even if there's
only instability contributing to half a dozen teachers coming
and going, that's still nearly every grade likely to be affected.
And sometimes the new teachers are the good ones ;-) In fact,
last year when Colin went to kindergarten he got the new teacher
(whom I'd have never known to request), and she was just *perfect*
for him--much better than the teacher who'd been there for years,
even though she was a very good teacher. I guess it's just
life in a fairly transient area.

Best wishes,
Ericka

toto
August 5th 03, 12:21 AM
On Tue, 05 Aug 2003 08:15:48 +1000, Daye > wrote:

>On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 10:10:21 -0400, Ericka Kammerer >
>wrote:
>
>> In fact,
>>here you don't even know morning or afternoon kindergarten
>>until the last minute because once they have (relatively) solid
>>enrollment figures, they send them to transportation to figure
>>out how to juggle bus routes to determine who gets morning or
>>afternoon kindergarten!
>
>When I lived in the US (in TN, TX and AL), the kindergartens were all
>day. They had a shorter day, but it was all day. Is this just
>specific to the areas I lived in or has it changed??

Specific to the area.

My kids did have a full day option, but the town to the north of us
has only half-day (and it is 2 1/2 hours which is less than some
preschools)

All day kindergartens where not available here until the early 70s
and then not all of the schools offered that. It seems to go back
and forth depending on funding.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..
Outer Limits

Ericka Kammerer
August 5th 03, 03:04 AM
Daye wrote:


> When I lived in the US (in TN, TX and AL), the kindergartens were all
> day. They had a shorter day, but it was all day. Is this just
> specific to the areas I lived in or has it changed??


It varies from place to place. Actually, even in our
school district, it varies from school to school. I do think
that full day kindergarten is gaining in popularity overall,
though.

Best wishes,
Ericka

Teri
August 5th 03, 05:34 PM
"Mamasamba" > wrote in message
...
> My dd will be starting kindergarten in a few weeks. Does anyone have
> any advice on how best to prepare her for it?
> --
> Margie

We're starting Kindergarten too. My son, tho', is showing some signs of
anxiety. We're kind of low profile about it here at home - but it seems
everywhere we go *someone* is making a big deal about it - Dentist: Oh, is
this the *kindergarten* check-up? (no, well, yes - just scheduled visit, ya
know) Dr. Oh, is this the *kindergarten* checkup? (no, well, yes - just
scheduled well-visit). The World: Are you excited for *kindergarten* - did
you get your *kindergarten* back pack. etc etc. I think the emphasis on
the word kindergarten is kind of stressing him out (as in, 'don't sign me up
mom, I don't want to go' ... when he really loves school). We've been
taking him to the playground on the school grounds to get him comfortable
there - making it seem like a familiar place. Also - trying to make a point
to walk around the neighbor hood and get together with the children who will
be attending his school. We have lots of friends who aren't in our
district --- so we're trying to find people who are. Good luck, Margie.
Teri

Beth Kevles
August 5th 03, 10:36 PM
Getting ready for kindergarten ...

If the school offers an orientation, attend it. If they don't, try to
visit the school before classes start.

Talk about what they'll do in kindergarten. If you know a first grader
from the school, ask about the daily schedule. (It should be something
like walk in, put away belongings, circle time, pledge of allegiance,
etc.)

If you know any other entering kindergarteners, make playdates with
them.

As far as possible, make sure he feels as though he knows what
kindergarten will be like. (Hence going through the schedule, meeting
friends, attending orientation.)

I took both my kids to school the first few days, and then switched to
the schoolbus. (I was just as curious about their kindergarten as they
were!)

I hope he has fun. He probably will.
--Beth Kevles

http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.