Kindergarten Readiness
Date :
Wednesday, April 06 2011
Source:
Autourina Mains
Many public schools around the state conduct kindergarten readiness screenings in March and April. Often times I have parents asking me, "Is my child ready for Kindergarten? Should I hold them back a year?"
These are great questions to ask a preschool teacher and one of the ways I answer the parents is by pulling out their child’s portfolio and sharing with them their child’s works, skills and screening results. We make a portfolio for each of the preschoolers at the beginning of the year and use it to collect the child’s work throughout the year. The portfolios are a wonderful way of showing the child’s progress and growth throughout the year. The portfolios include samples of child’s cutting skills, drawing skills, and foundational skill levels. For the developmental skills, the local Child Development Centers conduct annual screenings; however we also do a very quick informal screening using a tool I have created myself. The tool gives us basic information about some of the foundational skills the child needs to have in order to enter school.
The tool checks the child’s cutting skills, alphabet recognition, number recognition, shape recognition, color recognition, writing skills (can the child write his/her name), and rhyming skills, rote count, and object count. This simple tool helps us know each child and be able to plan lessons that can help each child improve and master skills. We conduct the screening three times a year and keep a copy of it in the child’s portfolio. It is always exciting to see the child’s growth and progress as we conduct follow up screening. This is also useful information to share with the child’s kindergarten teachers, or at an IEP meeting (Individual Education Plan for children with disabilities) because it shows the child’s skills in a very positive way.
If you are teaching preschool, it is never too late to start a portfolio for your preschoolers. I just buy one-inch binders (usually can find them for under $1.00) and start collecting activities the children do throughout the week (all throughout the year). We do a lot of journaling so the children draw and write about their drawings. Journaling is a wonderful way of allowing preschoolers express their thoughts and it promotes early literacy skills. We also collect any cutting activities they do to track their small motor skills.
If you are a parent of a preschooler then you can create a portfolio for your child as well. As the child brings home his/her work from preschool, collect them in a binder and at the end of the year, you will have a great collection of his preschool year. I still have my children’s preschool portfolios…they used to love to sit and ‘read’ them (look at them).
As for holding children back, I rarely ever recommend it. I truly believe that our public schools in Wyoming provide very high quality education with highly educated and qualified professionals. As a parent I could not have asked for better partners than our public schools in educating my children. I truly believe that each parent knows their child best and should trust their gut feeling. There is research for and against holding children back. Review the kindergarten screening results and visit with the kindergarten teachers and the preschool teachers to help you make the right decisions for your child and you.