Getting School Ready in Minnesota
Children learn through a variety of activities and experiences. While there is no perfect formula to know when a child is ready for kindergarten, this guide can be used by parents, caregivers, and teachers to make good decisions in preparing a young child for kindergarten. Checklists and helpful hints are provided in this guide to help you prepare a child to be a confident and successful learner.
Children benefit when their families participate and are involved in their learning and development. And yet, ALL – parents, caregivers, schools, and communities – contribute to the well being of children. Learn more about getting your child school ready in Minnesota from the topics below:
Social & Emotional Skills
Social & Emotional Skill-builders
Word Skills
Word Skill-builders
Number Skills
Number Skill-builders
Learning Skills
Learning Skill-builders
Safety and Health Skill-builders
Support For My Family, Culture, and Language
Communication Among the Grown-ups in My Life
Social & Emotional Skills - a checklist of general expectations for children
Children entering kindergarten should be able to take care of themselves and their personal things, and work independently. This includes:
- Hang coat on a hook
- Put on and take off shoes
- Use the bathroom independently
- Pick up toys and put them in appropriate places
- Follow a daily routine
- Separate from caregiver and adjust to new settings
- Choose activities independently
Children entering kindergarten should learn to make friends, solve problems with others, show empathy, and negotiate. This includes:
- Join one or more children in play
- Interact easily with familiar adults
- Begin to recognize and respond to others emotions
- Use words and phrases, such as "Can I play with you?", or "Please stop. I don't like that."
Children should also have a growing sense of self to take risks as a learner. Such as:
- Showing increasing self direction and independence
- Beginning to have a sense of family and tradition
"I need to feel excited and comfortable about starting kindergarten."
Things that you can do:
- Let me know you're excited about me starting kindergarten
- Give me a chance to visit my school before I start
- Listen to my thoughts and ideas about school
- Help me pretend I'm in school
Things that you can do:
- Pay attention to me and listen to my ideas
- Help me feel good about things I can do
- Praise me for my strengths
- Be patient and let me develop at my own pace
- Teach me that all of my feelings are okay, but not all of my actions are okay.
- Teach me ways to calm myself when I get frustrated
Things that you can do:
- Teach me to follow directions by giving me simple steps
- Help me to learn how to share with other children, stand in line, wait my turn and sit in a group
Things that you can do:
- Show me ways to make new friends
- Help understand how I can be friends with children who are different than me
- Teach me to use words when someone hurts my feelings, such as "Please stop. That hurts my feelings."
Things that you can do:
- Talk with me about the things I find interesting
- Teach me how to know when it's my turn to speak and when I need to listen
- Teach me to use words to describe my feelings and needs, and when to use them
Children entering kindergarten should be able to listen to stories and have conversations.
- Listen and understand stories, conversations, and directions
- Start conversations
- Ask and respond to questions
- Recognize rhyming words
- Use a growing vocabulary
Children entering kindergarten should be able to recognize their name, interact with stories, re-tell stories, and make guesses using pictures.
- Recognize and name some letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name
- Guess what will happen next in a story using pictures as a guide
- Begin to show an interest and understanding in written language by asking “What does that say?”
Children entering kindergarten should be able to hold a pencil, write their names, and express themselves using pictures.
- Use scribbles, shapes, and pictures to represent thoughts or ideas
- Begin to copy or write their own name
“I need to be familiar with words and books.”
Things that you can do:
- Teach me new words.
- Show me words and symbols in my language and the sounds they make.
- Read to me, take me to the library, and bring me books and magazines.
- Ask me questions about stories to help me understand their meaning.
- Sing songs and teach me rhymes.
- Write down my words or stories as I tell you.
Children entering kindergarten should be able to count, sort, classify, and create patterns.
- Count objects, such as cups, when setting the table
- Sort objects by color, size, or shape
Children entering kindergarten should be able to identify colors and shapes around them.
- Describe simple shapes
- Identify colors
- Play matching games
Children entering kindergarten should use language to describe math concepts.
- Use language to describe time, such as “today or tomorrow”
- Describe people or objects using “big, little, short, tall, long,” etc.
“I need to know shapes, sizes, and colors.”
Things that you can do:
- Give me things to sort by shape, size, or color.
- Help me find and name shapes and colors all around me.
Things that you can do:
- Help me play counting games.
- Let me count things at home.
- Show me how numbers are used around me.
Children entering kindergarten should have experiences through play to become confident learners.
- Be flexible and imaginative in play
- Play for a period of time
- Stay with a task when faced with a challenge
- Use new ideas in solving problems or exploring objects
- Try to figure things out
- Seek and/or accept help when needed
- Apply knowledge and experiences to new situations
Learning Skill-builders - Helpful hints for parents, caregivers, and teachers
“I need to be excited about learning.”Things that you can do:
- Encourage me to explore with my senses – to see, touch, hear, smell, and taste.
- Give me fun, exciting choices.
- Give me lots of time to figure things out.
Things that you can do:
- Give me activities that hold my interest.
- Help me explore and try new activities.
- Help me learn step by step.
- Teach me that making mistakes is part of learning.
- Show me different ways to understand my world.
“I need to be safe and feel safe.”
Things that you can do:
- Help me practice saying my name, address, and phone number.
- Teach me about crossing the street and watching for cars.
- Teach me about not talking to strangers and who is a safe person to ask for help.
Things that you can do:
- Teach me the words to tell other grown-ups when I need to go to the bathroom, or when I am feeling sick or hurt.
- Help me learn to go to the bathroom and wash my hands by myself.
- Teach me to dress and tie my shoes.
- Encourage me to try things before I ask my teacher for help.
Things that you can do:
- Make sure I eat healthy food, get plenty of rest, and dress for the weather.
- Take me to all my medical check-ups and make sure I see the doctor and the dentist before I start school.
- Teach me how to brush my teeth.
Things that you can do:
- Help me to pick up, hold and use pencils, crayons, markers, paintbrushes, and scissors.
- Help me make things with blocks, paper, cardboard, and tape.
Things that you can do:
- Encourage me to run, jump, climb, dance, and move to music as I am able.
- Give me time each day to play outdoors.
- Encourage me to play and limit my TV and computer time.
Support For My Family, Culture, and Language
“I need to feel good about my family and culture, and to learn about other cultures.”
Things you and my school can do:
- Show me books, tell me stories, and sing me songs about my culture and other cultures.
- Take me to places that teach me about my culture and other cultures.
- Use the language(s) I know to help me understand and learn.
Things my school can do:
- Put up welcoming signs in the language I speak at home.
- Learn about my community and culture before I arrive.
- Let my family know who to go to with ideas or questions.
- Invite us to participate in the school, classrooms, and PTA.
Things my school can do:
- Understand that school may be my first introduction to cultures and languages other than my own.
- Let me know if my classroom teacher and others at school can speak my home language.
- Invite my family and me to share information with my teacher and classmates about my family or culture.
- Support my family culture by putting me in a class with other children who share my home language and culture.
- Let me know that speaking my language strengthens all my language skills.
Communication Among the Grown-ups in My Life
“My school experience will be best if my early childhood educators, kindergarten teachers, school staff, parents, and family members work together to help me learn.
Things you and my school can do:
- Share with each other.
- Share things happening in my life that might affect how I feel and act.
- Participate in Early Childhood Screening.
- Find out about any special abilities and needs I have.
- Learn about school and community services.
- Volunteer at school.