It is that time of year again. If you child is already 5 or
will be turning 5 on or before Oct. 1 (date depends on your
state) then it is time to start thinking about registering your
child for kindergarten. However this is also the time that many
parents begin worrying about whether or not their child is
ready for kindergarten.

First, it is important to note that entry to kindergarten is
based primarily on age. In most U.S. states that simply means
that if your child is or will be 5 years old on or before Oct.
1 (date may vary in some states) then your child must start
kindergarten that school year.

The good news is that most primary programs are designed to
take children with a variety of social, emotional, and academic
needs and work with them based on their strengths.

However we also know that children who start kindergarten with
a good grounding in six skill areas have a head start and a
higher success rate than children lacking these basic skills.

The skills that ease transition into kindergarten and help lead
to a successful kindergarten year fall into these basic areas:
cognitive skills, listening and sequencing, language skills,
fine motor skills, social emotional skills, and gross motor
skills.

Cognitive skills that will help your child be better prepared
for kindergarten include the usual suspects such as knowing the
alphabet, primary colors, shapes and being able to count to ten.


You should also work with your child to make sure she knows her
phone number, address, birthday, and age.

Some emergent literacy skills also include being able to
identify his own name in writing, writing his own name,
answering questions about a story, understanding that words are
read from left to right, knowledge of some nursery rhymes,
recognizing written numbers, and vocabulary.

Listening and sequencing are also important skills and this
includes the ability to follow simple directions, paying
attention, retelling a simple story in sequence, repeating a
sequence of sounds, and repeating a sequence of numbers.

In addition to the emergent literacy skills connected with
cognitive skills, there are also language skills connected to
relationships such as big and little, short and tall, more and
less, up and down, top and bottom, in and out, over and under,
front and back, and slow and fast.

While we often associate school simply with cognitive skills,
it is important that children also have fine and gross motor
skills as well as social emotional skills.

Fine motor skills include being able to tie shoes, hold crayons
with fingers, copy a straight line, copy a vertical line, copy a
circle, hold and use scissors correctly, cut on a line, button
buttons, work a simple puzzle (six pieces), and zip clothing.

Gross motor skills include hopping, jumping, walking a straight
line, skipping, galloping, throwing a ball or bean bag,
catching, clapping hands, and kicking a rolling ball.

Social emotional skills include sharing with others, getting
along with others, maintaining self control, verbal self
_expression, and the ability to take care of toilet needs
independently.

If your child has all these skills mastered then they are well
on the road to success in kindergarten. Don't worry if your
child has not yet achieved success with all these skills. You
can continue to work on the skills right up until the start of
school and certainly after school has started you can team with
your child's teacher.


About The Author: Deanna Mascle writes articles to help you
prepare your child for school and life. Learn more at
http://PreschoolersLearnMore.com

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