Question for nursery school teachers

[Jackshouse]

I am a teacher or rather an ex secondary teacher and I know I am cheeky asking this here so thanks for your time.

DD will be going to school nursery in September. What do I need to make sure she can do by then? She already goes to a private nursery and is reliably toliet trained.

Get dressed
Coat on and off
Shoes on and off
Recognise name
Have a go at writing name
Happy to sit for a story

Oo carry a tray of food is good too
Pour some water
Peel a tangerine etc

Thanks she will just be doing half day sessions at nursery.

I supect in some ways I may have been babying her but she can do most of the list already.

• I need to work on making her dress herself. She can do it but she is lazy and as she will hopefully have sibling in August I need to get that sorted well before they arrive.
• We will keep working on her name but her pencil control is not great. She can recognise it when it written down.
• Will try some tangerines as well.

The only thing that school nurseries beside us require is that she can use the toilet unaided.

Even in Reception year (I'm informed by the head of Early years in our local school) they are not fussed about writing etc.

Ideally she will be able to listen to a story, take turns (with a bit of help) hang her coat up, choose what she wants to do.

I am a teacher who has taught in EYFS and KS1 for my whole career. Children who can speak and listen when they start nursery have a massive advantage. So do children who have had plenty of experiences - nothing fancy but if they have used money, been on a train or a bus, looked after an animal etc then they also have a big advantage over those who have been glued to a screen since birth with not much interaction.

Parents always ask me what they can do at home to support. Experiences and language are everything. Much mor important than knowing numbers, reading or writing. We can teach them that. We can't make up for a lack of good experiences as easily.

ThisIsNotARealAvo that’s good to know and tallies with some training I did recently on reading and inference.

Sounds like I am doing the right thing but maybe should take her along on more mundane trips to the shops rather than just doing toddler friendly activities/

Ooh, this thread is what I was looking for! I have a two year old and am generally a clueless parent . My DD goes to nursery 2 days a week and I’d like her to start at a pre school nursery next year and was feeling a bit clueless about what she should be able to do for herself by then.
Any suggestions as to good “experiences”? I’m at a loss for what to do with her some days.

In term time she goes to nursery two days a week, gymnastics one morning and we are about to start toddler group.

Experience are things like
going to the card shop to buy grandma a birthday card, buying new shoes, looking in the pet shop, going to a cafe, making a cake, going to a farm or museum, going to the library etc. I keep putting off going on a bus.

In theory my aim is to do the stuff that nursery can’t but my aim and reality are not always the same.

Write and post a letter to dh, so they see it going in the box and get to experience it being delivered too. Then they practitioner being read so it was writing for a purpose.
Going on a train is good too.

Do not worry about being able to write her name! Only 2 of my 64 children came in able to do that, most are not ready and its better to focus on developing fine motor skills and mark making with anything they enjoy. I value self care skills, the ability to convey their needs, talking about stories and integrating with others.

I work in a school nursery. My tips are;

Getting dressed or at least putting coat and shoes on.
Enjoying stories
Being able to sit at a table for a short time.
Enjoying puzzles and basic board games.
Socialising with other children.
Being able to talk to adults other than family.

And as pp said as many experiences as possible, don’t have to be fancy or cost loads just everyday life experiences.

Oh and books books books!! Reading with someone or looking at books by themselves makes such a difference to vocabulary and other communication and literacy skills.

Ooh very helpful! Many thanks to nursery teachers for comments, I hope you’re finding this as useful as me OP .

Shame being a first time parent isn’t like being an NQT. I wouldn’t mind observing some experienced parents and having them observe me! Wish I was as confident with parenting as I am with teaching

TinyTeacher at least in parenting you get to decide what is important to teach.

I used to find being able to sit crossed legged if possible for a story. Some classes I had didn’t have much ‘carpet’ room, so having children sat cross legged took up less space than having them sat with their legs out in front of them.