Kindergarten Readiness

Kindergarten readiness has always been a passion of mine. During the summers, I teach pre-kindergarten to students who have never had preschool and are entering kindergarten in the fall. The majority of these students are largely unprepared for the demands of kindergarten; both academically and socially.

Kindergarten can be incredibly demanding for those students who are not well-prepared. When students are not "ready to learn", they struggle to find success academically. To help provide parents, families, and students with explicit expectations and goals for kindergarten readiness, I created the Kindergarten Readiness Handbook.

Kindergarten Readiness A to Z Chart FREEBIE

At first, I began with my Kindergarten Readiness A to Z Chart (which is also a FREEBIE in my TpT store). This serves as a quick parent guide for getting students ready for kindergarten, both socially and academically. I give this out to parents at our Kindergarten Information Nights that we have a couple months before registration (the winter before the start of kindergarten). The chart is also the second page in my Kindergarten Readiness Handbook, to give a quick overview of goals. Click the link to download the Kindergarten Readiness A to Z Chart FREEBIE (link to my TpT store/product).

From this chart, I created the Kindergarten Readiness Handbook. The handbook has a built-in parent guide that explains not only what the goals/expectations are, but also why they are important and gives some extra tips on how to help their students at home. I give the Kindergarten Readiness Handbooks out at our "spring visits". In my district, our spring visits are when we invite all of our soon-to-be kindergarten students for a quick assessment. At the visits, we have parents fill out quick questionnaires, we (try to) answer all parent questions, and we quickly observe and assess the students to help us create our class lists.

In giving the handbooks out to our soon-to-be kindergarten students, I hope to see more confidence, social skills, and academic preparedness in my students come the fall. The handbook features student activity pages as well as flash cards that can be used throughout the summer and kindergarten year. Last year, I even gave many handbooks out in the fall to those students who may have registered late or did not make it to our spring visits.

The Kindergarten Readiness Handbook would also be a great resource for parents of three to five-year-olds who are looking for explicit goals to work on with their little ones, or who are curious about kindergarten expectations.

Enjoy! :)