Ready for kindergarten: author notes

With the start of school for most of the "big kids" right around the corner, it is not unusual for parents of children entering their prekindergarten year to go ahead and start thinking now what they will need to do to make sure their child is ready for kindergarten...

In this post, Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed., the author of Ready for Kindergarten! answers a few questions commonly asked when discussing her book so you can see how her book can be just the resource you need to get your child off to a great start in kindergarten when the first day of school comes back around next year!

Who is Ready for Kindergarten! written for?

Ready for Kindergarten! was written primarily for parents of preschool age children as a source of support for things they can do at home to help their child prepare for kindergarten. It is filled with simple tips that include a broad range of developmental and academic areas of readiness.  

Is your book a good resource for preschool and prekindergarten age teachers?

My book is an excellent resource for preschool and prekindergarten age teachers to have on hand as a refresher of the kinds of things they can be doing in the classroom as well as a valuable resource to share with parents. Many teachers highlight specific topics or passages in the book to share with parents at parent/teacher meetings or conferences.

My child already knows how to write his name and can even read simple books, so what else is there to worry about?

Keep in mind that you aren't just sending your child's brain to kindergarten but you are sending your whole child which includes the top of his head all the way down to the tips of his fingers and toes. Kindergarten readiness includes social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development which can sound complex but in my book, I have simplified the information so that it is not overwhelming but still comprehensively covers all areas of development.

My child is in preschool so isn't getting my child ready for kindergarten the teacher's job?

As good as your child's teacher may be, the reality is your child's teacher only has a limited amount of time to give your child all the experiences, support, and information he will benefit from in preparing for kindergarten.  Your child spends far more time at home than in preschool and you (as the parent) are the greatest influence on your child's interests, abilities, skills, attitudes, and overall readiness for kindergarten. As you invest time now in supporting and enhancing what your child is learning in preschool, you will be developing the critical practice of being an involved parent in your child's education both now and in the years to come...

Will your book give me step-by-step instructions on how to prepare my child for kindergarten?

As much as I wish there were a secret step-by-step recipe for kindergarten readiness, it is important to know that every child is unique in their abilities, interests, personality, skills, and development. Sure, there are some similarities among preschool age children but to prepare your child for a truly successful experience in kindergarten, it is important to tap into the unique individual your child is. So to answer this question; this book covers a broad range of skills that your child will need in clearly defined categories and subtopics. Your child will be developing many of the skill areas simultaneously rather than one step at a time and Ready for Kindergarten! focuses on the amazing, real, and broad range of growth and development that will be taking place throughout the time leading up to kindergarten.

How can I find out more about your book?

Ready for Kindergarten! is available through many online bookstores such as Barnes and Nobles and Amazon. If you view the book through the online distributors you will see that they have posted an amazing amount of details about what is included in my book. You can see the book along with many more details on Amazon by clicking the photo below...

 

Click here to see the book on Amazon!

You can also visit me over at Teach Preschool to learn a little bit more about my book!

Why did you write this book?

I have over 30 years of experience as an early childhood educator and so when Adams Media contacted me to put together a book for parents, I was excited about the challenge of taking all those years of experience of working with preschool and prekindergarten age children and putting them in one comprehensive but simple-to-follow book.

What would be the most important message you hope your book conveys to parents as they help their child prepare for success in kindergarten?

I will have to give you two....

1. That the most important gift you can give your child is a love for learning and the confidence to try.
2. To remember that your prekindergarten or preschool age child isn't in kindergarten yet so celebrate your child's progress by meeting him where he is at and save the kindergarten experience for kindergarten!

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Blooming art in the preschool classroom

By Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed. of Teach Preschool

As the flowers start to bloom, a whole new set of activities that you can do in the classroom start to bloom as well...



It is so exciting to bring the outdoors inside the classroom then see what you can do with it.  One of our favorite activities is flower printing...



The children simply dip the flowers in paint then make prints or use the flowers like paint brushes to add color to their paper...



Sometimes, I will hear teachers say, "But the children did this last year so we need to do something different."  My response, "The experience at age three will be completely different than the experience at age four because, in part, the children are developing new skills and a new understanding of their world!"



So perhaps your students painted with flowers last year - but I am here to tell you that repeating ideas can lead to new understanding and the mastery of processes so go ahead and invite your students to flower paint again!



Would you like to see what else you can do with flowers? Hop on over to Teach Preschool today to see more terrific ideas you can do with flowers!

To make or not to make a butterfly

By Deborah of Teach Preschool

A couple of weeks ago, we explored butterflies and caterpillars through a variety of different experiences. In the process of exploring butterflies, I had planned for my students to make a coffee filter butterfly...

But then I attended a workshop at the IAEYC early childhood conference where the speaker demonstrated the process of dripping liquid water color on a coffee filter, much like we had done in the classroom only we added food color to water to drip on our coffee filters and our coffee filters were much smaller...

After my students completed dying their coffee filter all different colors, then we set the coffee filters aside to dry for a few days...

Once the coffee filters were dry, the plan was to turn the colorful coffee filters into butterflies using a clothespin (which the children also painted)...

While I was attending the workshop, the speaker held up her colorful coffee filter and said something like, "Teachers - once the children finish coloring the coffee filter, don't turn in to something like this!" and the speaker proceeded to turn the coffee filter into a butterfly - just like I had planned to do...

The speaker clearly stated that once the children had completed dying their coffee filters, the process of art was now  done, complete, finished, and did NOT need it turned into anything else...

.After attending the workshop, I went back to my classroom to try and decide if I should or should not let the children complete the process we had started by turning their colorful coffee filters into butterflies.  I thought about it for several days actually.

On one hand, I believed that since the children were going to fan fold their coffee filters then add their own clothespins - that it was still a part of the process. On the other hand, I worried that I was some how sending the message that all that work they did to dye the coffee filters was not really considered a piece of art unless we now turned it into a butterfly.  Like I said, I was now confused as to what the right thing to do would be...

In the end, I decided to complete the process as we had originally planned to do...

I invited the children to fan fold their coffee filters and then place their painted clothespins onto the coffee filter so they could take home a colorful coffee filter butterfly...

,s

I don't know if going ahead to turn the coffee filters into butterflies was the right decision or not but my students enjoyed folding the butterfly wings and were very excited to take the butterflies home...

More from Teach Preschool

To read more about what my preschool class is doing everyday, hop on over to Teach Preschool today!

This is a hole lot of sensory play

By Deborah J. Stewart, M. Ed. of Teach Preschool

You will always find some kind of sensory play going on in my classroom and on this particular occasion, the children explored a familiar product in a "hole" new way...



I simply cut a few holes, large enough for the children's hands to fit through, in the bottom of  shallow cardboard boxes. When the children first came in the room one child asked "Why are there holes in those boxes?" And often times, when a question comes up like that, I just point and say, "That is what you are going to figure out all by yourself!"...



I set the boxes upside down in shallow trays along with beans and a few cups.  The trays were there to help contain the beans as the children poured and scooped the beans in and out of the holes...



For those of you who like the idea of holes in boxes but do not prefer to use beans, then think "outside of the box" a bit and see what else you could add. You could add sand, seashells, or pretty much anything that invites children to explore what lies beneath those holes...



The children also decided to try the boxes with holes on our light table...



There is just something about looking through or reaching through a hole that interests young children...



More from Teach Preschool...

To read more about what my preschool class is doing everyday, hop on over to Teach Preschool today!



This idea was inspired by...

This idea was completely inspired by Tom over at Sand and Watertables! If you are running out of ideas for exploring sensory, then you will find all that you could ever need by visiting Tom's blog!

Links to others who tried this too...

Sensory Bin with a Hole-y Top from Exploring the Outdoor Classroom

Weather Watchers in Prek!

Shared by Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed. of Teach Preschool

Here in the midwest, we have been experiencing extreme changes in weather. During the month of February we have had sunny days in the upper 60's to snowy and cold days in the mid 20's to windy and rainy days.  This past week, many communities were hit by some pretty ugly tornadoes as well...

I tell you this because it isn't only adults that notice extreme weather patterns, young children do to and it is a good idea to talk with children about weather patterns and weather safety in a way that is nonthreatening yet meaningful and realistic...

Talking about weather

We talk about the weather in our classroom every single morning. One child goes to the window and tells us what the weather looks like today. They are to choose two words - one word that tells us the temperature (cold, hot, warm) and one that tells us the weather pattern (sunny, cloudy, rainy)...

We use the two words (well sometimes we end up with a few extra words but we manage to squeeze them all in) in a simple little tune...

Weather, weather, weather, weather,

What will the weather be today?

(Sunny) and (cold), (Sunny) and (cold),

That's what the weather will be today!

Integrating information about weather into your day

We also read books that talk about different kinds of weather. Reading age appropriate weather related books and having casual conversations about the weather opens doors for communication about different types of weather and why the weather changes and even some of our fears when it comes to stormy weather...

There are so many wonderful ways to explore the weather through math, science, art, and music...

This week, we explored the weather by creating some weather word wall art...

Weather Drills

This week, many preschools found themselves having to head to a place of shelter due to tornado warnings.  Taking the time to have a plan for bad weather and to practice weather related drills is something every preschool program should be doing.  By practicing with the children, the children (and teachers too) will know what to expect and it can take away some of the anxiety or confusion.

Keep weather drills nonthreatening for young children. Perhaps have a stormy weather kit ready to go filled with crayons, paper, water bottles, cups, snacks, books, songs, and other items that you will need to keep little hands occupied while waiting out a storm...

March is a wonderful time to talk about the weather. We will be doing much more with weather throughout the month in my classroom.  I invite you to come on over to Teach Preschool throughout this month and see what else we are doing with the weather!

Weather Links from Teach Preschool

Exploring Weather in Preschool

Black and White make Gray Clouds

Graphing the Weather

PS. I would love to hear any tips you can offer up in planning for and dealing with inclement weather in your program. Leave a comment below!

Making the transition from product to process focused art

By Deborah J. Stewart, M.Ed of Teach Preschool

Debbie Clement recently wrote a terrific article on the topic of Product versus Process art where she creatively and clearly clarifies the difference between the two approaches and then goes on to describe the value of process-focused art in the preschool classroom...

The transition to move from product-focused to process-focused art isn't an easy task for many, if not most, teachers in the preschool classroom and there are many reasons why. Let's take a look at those reasons and see what can be done to help smooth the transition from product-focused to process-focused art...

A lack of experience with process-focused art

For those who lack experience with process-focused art, it can seem overwhelming and non-productive at first. To provide quality process-focused art experiences for young children, you have to start at the beginning and invite the children to simply explore the materials you provide. As the children are given the freedom and time to explore the materials, their skills and abilities to constructively manage and creatively use those materials will build over time.

You also have to understand where your children are developmentally so you can plan processes that they will want to try. In order to keep young children engaged in the process, you have to come up with ideas that are age appropriate, inviting, and interesting. Coming up with successful process-focused art experiences takes commitment, effort, time, and lots of trial and error along the way.

The inability to justify the process

Another reason teachers struggle with transitioning from product to process-focused art is the inability to justify the process. Trying to explain to parents why most of the artwork coming home looks like one big blob after another can be difficult. One tip that will help with this is to start with the planning phase. When planning an art activity, answer the question; "what will the children do?" instead of "what will the children make?" This will help you focus on the process and then talk about the process with others.

The next time an adult walks in the classroom and says, "What did the children make today?" You  will be prepared to say, "The children figured out that..." or "We are making great progress on..." or "We explored the use of..."  Describing the process will naturally lead to a discussion on what the children learned or gained from the process and keeps the conversations open ended and focused on growth and development. Answering the question with "We made a tree today" pretty much wraps up any real potential for an exciting conversation about growth and development...

The internal struggle

Another part of transitioning is recognizing and managing the internal struggle to control the art experience. Perhaps you like the artwork on your wall to look a certain way. Perhaps you have certain expectations about how the children should use the materials you set out. Perhaps you love something you saw on Pinterest so much that you want to reproduce the exact same artwork.

In order to transition from product to process-focused art, you have to start by reflecting on your own attitudes about the role of art in your classroom.  Is the art experience in your classroom about what you need or is it about what the children need? Is the art experience in your classroom about what you love or is it about what the children  love? Is the art experience in your classroom guided by what you find easy to clean up and manage or is it guided by what will keep the children engaged, challenged, and interested....

My personal experience in the transition to process-focused art

Implementing process-focused art has been a fairly new experience for me this school year and I learn something new every day.  There are days when I don't get it exactly right, but my students are so processed-oriented now that they quickly remind me of what really matters to them.

I have watched my students go from sampling the materials to embracing the materials. I have watched my students go from using too much glue on everything to self-regulating the amount of glue they need to complete a process.  I have watched my students go from mixing every color of paint on the table to selectively mixing the colors to produce a desired result.

We have higher level conversations about about our artwork than I have ever had or even thought of having before in a preschool classroom.  One of my students said it best last week while we were exploring a new kind of easel painting. She said, "Wow, we are like real artists" and as I watched them paint, I had to agree - they were truly were like real artists.

If you would like to see more about what our classroom is exploring, I invite you to join me over at Teach Preschool.

By the way, I highly recommend these plastic bottles (pictured below) for painting with your students. I have been using them all year long and absolutely love them.  I purchased mine from Walmart in the kitchen utensil isle....