Ten and a half weeks. That’s how long my daughter has between pre-k and kindergarten.
The last five years have flown by, and soon I will be walking my little one down the long school hallway and entrusting her in the care of her teacher for seven hours each day. My momma heart isn’t quite sure I’m ready for that just yet, and I’m not sure that my daughter knows exactly what she is walking into.
So, I am determined to use this last summer before kindergarten to make sure she has lots of fun, but is also fully prepared for what this fall will bring.
First on my list is summer school. Our local school district offers a free summer school program for the month of June. My little one will be spending the first four weeks of summer learning how a kindergarten classroom works. She has already told me recess is the best and she doesn’t like the school lunch, so clearly she is focusing on all of the really important things.
At home, we have purchased a giant kindergarten workbook at Costco and lots of flashcards thanks to the Target Dollar Spot. We do math facts in the car in between sing-alongs to Taylor Swift. We work on sight words and we rhyme words every chance we get. Let’s go, Joe. Grab a hat, Pat. We have a lot to do, boo. She loves to practice school with her workbook and still thinks the flashcards are a game, so she gets to learn and play at the same time.
Soon we’ll be making our way over to our favorite little bookstore to find the perfect “Night Before Kindergarten” book. I already have several on my shopping list. After our recent visit to the Clifford exhibit at Crown Center, I’m super excited to read Clifford Goes to Kindergarten.
We are using this summer to master tying her shoes and practicing opening all of her own packages and drinks that will be going in her lunchbox. That may sound silly, but trying to master sticking a straw in a juice pouch without it going out the other side is a life skill at age five. I’ll be packing a lunch when we go to the park, Worlds of Fun, and the zoo this summer so that she can get lots of practice.
Our calendar of after school activities and meetings is getting tweaked. While in half-day pre-k it was easy to schedule lots of after school activities without really worrying about if we were too busy and if it was all just too exhausting for her. She could always take a nap in the afternoon if she was too tired. Now, with full-day school, I’m going to take a hard look at what time we get home each night and try to make sure that, while I want her to have fun and get a chance to do all the activities she loves, we aren’t doing it at the expense of her getting enough sleep and downtime each night. A good schedule and a solid bedtime routine will benefit all of us.
I’m certain that after this summer she will be ready to rock her kindergarten year.
