The School Year Cometh

On this last day of July, my brain is shifting to thoughts of the upcoming school year and the new things I'll implement within my classroom. Usually in August I start working on creating my Teacher Binder and begin taking trips to school maybe once or twice a week. This year because of working on scheduling with my partner in crime, SPG, and our Principal, TP, and also because of our new Math Curriculum that arrived (HOORAY!) I've already been out to school and in "school mode" for a few weeks.

The first thing I do to plan for a new school year is begin to build my teacher binder. This year I'm trying a new format, and hope it makes for a more useful information center than previous versions. Next I look at my parent letters to see what I need to change or update, and get those printed and sent to the office so they can be sent to my families. Then, I do a whooooole lot of pinning. I am a pinterest fanatic. While pinning I often get sidetracked by my favorite teaching blogs and looking for quality *free* printables to use in the classroom. While searching the internet for other things, I came along some ideas that I thought would be helpful to parents and thought I'd share them with you!

Every year I field questions from parents on how to prepare their child for Kindergarten. If you have a child enrolling in Kindergarten this year and you're wondering what to do to get them "ready" try thinking about simple things that will help prepare them for being in a classroom with 20-ish other students. Tasks such as opening or sealing Ziploc bags, buttoning clothes, working zippers, putting on coats/sweaters/jackets/snow pants, taking care of bathroom needs, opening juice boxes, cleaning up messes after eating (food on the tables, milk spills, etc.) would all be ways to help your child and make our classroom run a little smoother.

Another great skill to practice is fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are the coordination of small muscle movements with the eyes. Generally, this would be anything that utilizes the muscles in your hands and fingers. Visit The Imagination Tree for 40 easy ideas to do at home to strengthen these skills. The more developed their fine motor skills are, the easier it will be to hold a pencil, write, tie shoes, and do all sorts of other things!

Another aspect of getting ready for Kindergarten is the academic side of things. Ideally, it's great if your child knows how to write their name (even better if they are using the correct letter case), names the letters in their name, and is familiar with the alphabet or knows the alphabet song. It's also helpful if your student can count to 10, identify some numbers, count objects when asked "how many" and name a few basic shapes. These will be the concepts we're focusing on as the year starts out, so the more you introduce and discuss those concepts at home, the easier their shift to full day Kindergarten will be.

One of my favorite resources to share with you is The Measured Mom. She has LOTS of free resources for preschool through 2nd grade, and many wonderful ideas to share! She has a Master’s in Education, but is now a stay at home mom, and quite honestly I don't know how she has the time to create as many resources as she has. But however this wonder-woman has done it, I am thankful, and sing her praises. So-if you're in need of some ideas, or materials, please visit her blog and look around!

If there is something specific you're looking for, please let me know and I'll do my best to find resources to accommodate your need. Here's to another wonderful year of teaching the Kinder's of the world!