School readiness

[Jaymom]

Hi moms! I was wondering—what kinds of things do you teach your little ones before they start school? Things like potty training, phonics, numbers, etc. I’d love to hear what worked for you! DS starting school next year.

How to use the toilet independently.
How to put on their coat independently.
How to recognise their first name when it is written down.
How to follow simple instructions ("come and sit on the mat")
How to open and close their lunch box/bag and any food packets inside.
That's pretty much the important stuff.

I started getting dd to go to the toilet at the same time as before school, recess, lunchtime just so her little bladder was on track. And sat her down to eat at those times, too.

I did very little in the way of literacy skills etc. Just read and sang to her a lot.

Independence is important when starting school, as there will likely just be one teacher and one TA for up to 30 children. Potty training is a given as unless SEN they won’t be able to go in nappies, but they will also need to be able to independently use the toilet by themselves and take themselves to the toilet when they need to go. Also things like putting on their own coat and doing it up, and opening their own food if taking a packed lunch.

Other things that are useful but should hopefully be practiced in nursery before school starts are sitting down in a group for carpet/circle time, listening to the teacher, recognising letters and the basic phonics sounds for the letters, recognising and writing their own name, counting, being able to play with others and taking turns.

Independently toileting (including wiping)
dress themselves in school uniform
dress themselves in PE kit
being able to do their own shoes (please don’t send them in laces until they can tie them!)
able to open their lunch box
able to open all the containers in their box (I’m looking at the omie lunchboxes particularly!)
able to repack their lunch box after eating
pack and unpack their bag a few times so they know where to find things
Master blowing their nose

To know their full name and be able to introduce themselves
To know their own dietary requirements (obviously school will support, but simple things like a dairy free child knowing yoghurt usually has dairy and not trying to convince people that they eat it at home etc with no awareness it could kill them!)
To be able to say when they are injured and simply what happened (toe hurts, fell down etc.)

Able to recognise their own name (beyond just first letter guessing!)
Have some understanding of the five principles of counting (better to have the principle and only be apply it to 3 than to rattle off to 100 with no understanding)
To know what scissors are and what we use them for (too many children are “protected” from them and therefore don’t know they are sharp or what their purpose is)

Listen to stories
Play turn taking games (orchard)
Be able to play independently for 5,10,15,20 minutes (without an adult’s involvement/steering) ideally occupied with the same task for the duration (I.e not “flitting” without adult intervention