Is Your Child Ready for Kindergarten?

Prepare Them With These 20 Skills  https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/school-life/grade-by-grade/preparing-kindergarten.html

1. Identify some letters of the alphabet.
2. Grip a pencil, crayon, or marker correctly.
   Smith recommends the “Pinch and Flip” method:
   “Lay the pencil flat in front of the child with the lead pointing at the child,” he says. “Have the child pinch the pencil like they would pinch somebody else and flip the pencil back toward the child with the eraser going over the hand. Then rest it on the middle finger.”
3. Write their first name using upper- and lowercase letters, if possible.
   Smith says that writing names is good practice for learning letter cases.
   “Parents should make it very clear that uppercase letters are for the first letter of a name and lowercase letters are for the rest of the letters in a name,” he says.
4. Learn sounds corresponding to vowels and consonants.
   A foundation in phonics begins when you’re tracking words with your finger as you read aloud to your child. For brushing up on phonics, the 10 books in Bob’s Book Set #1: Beginning Readers is a great tool for use before school starts or as a supplement to classroom learning.
5. Recognize some common sight words, like “said” and “do.”
   Sight words are high-frequency words — among the most common in the English language — that do not follow the general rules of spelling and syllables, making them difficult for students to decode. 
6. Be able to recognize names of colors and parts of the body.
7. Recognize and produce rhyming words.
8. Repeat full name and birthday.
9. Recite the days of the week and months of the year.
10. Classify objects according to their size, shape, and quantity.
    Classification skills are the building blocks of important math concepts. With Little Skill Seekers: Sorting & Matching, children practice and hone these skills by sorting, matching, and grouping objects.
11. Count to 10.
12. Listen attentively without interrupting and raise hand to speak.
13. Follow multi-step directions.
    Smith offers this simple example for use at home: "Go to the kitchen, get a spoon, and bring it to me."
14. Work together with a friend or in small groups on a team project.
15. Use scissors, glue, paint, and other art materials with relative ease.
16. Manage bathroom needs.
17. Get dressed.
    Kindergarten is a great time for weaning off assistance in everyday routines that kids can perform themselves. Exhibit A: Zipping up a jacket. 
18. Clean up after self.
19. Separate from parents easily.
20. Know how to interact with a book.
    “It’s really helpful if students know how to hold a book and turn a page,” Smith says.