Its almost time for kids to head back to school and if you have a child who might be starting kindergarten you may be wondering if they are ready to go.<\/p>\n
While some basic academic skills (being able to talk, understand sounds letters make, and identify numbers, directions, colors, and shapes) will help, being ready for school isn\u2019t just about academic readiness. Instead, a child\u2019s social and emotional development are likely even more important. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) states<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cSeveral qualities that are necessary for children to be ready for school are physical and nutritional well-being, intellectual skills, motivation to learn, and strong social-emotional capacity and supports.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Kid who are ready to start kindergarten are usually able to:<\/p>\n Not all kids develop these skills at the same time, but they may still be ready to head to school. Also, children come from a wide variety of backgrounds. The AAP also reminds us that:<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the responsibility of the schools to be ready for all children and to work with families to make the school experience positive for all children, even those who may be at varying stages of readiness. School programs should be flexible and adaptable to each child\u2019s level of readiness.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That means schools need to be ready to teach all kids who are kindergarten age \u2013 regardless of their preparation. Your child may be ready to start school but may not have mastered a few of these milestones yet. Or your child may have special educational needs. When they start kindergarten, it\u2019s helpful to advocate for them by communicating with their teacher. Let the teacher know about their strengths, the areas where your child may need some help, and your family and home life.<\/p>\n Well before kindergarten, your child\u2019s education starts at home. You can help them be ready to transition to kindergarten by focusing on a few \u201cRs.\u201d Nope, not Reading, \u2018Riting, and \u2018Rithmatic.\u00a0 You truly don\u2019t need to teach your child to read and write before<\/em> kindergarten starts!<\/p>\n But the American Academy of Pediatrics hopes that all parents will follow their “5 Rs” of early education<\/a>. These<\/em> Rs help children learn, have a positive self-image, and be resilient as they face challenges:<\/p>\n If your child has a birthday near the cutoff age for school enrollment, you may be struggling to decide whether your child is ready to go to school. First, check with the school district. In many districts today, when your child is within the age range for kindergarten, they need to start at that time. Otherwise, they may be placed into first grade the following year.<\/p>\n If you have concerns, talk with their preschool teacher and your pediatrician. Know that there aren\u2019t answers that apply to everyone, but in most cases, it\u2019s to their advantage to start school when they\u2019re at the required age. Once they start, keep in communication with your child and their teachers to help ensure they\u2019re having a positive experience.<\/p>\n The American Academy of Pediatrics: While some basic academic skills (being able to talk, understand sounds letters make, and identify numbers, directions, colors, and shapes) will help, being ready for school isn\u2019t just about academic readiness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[283,430,604,400,492,69,547,466],"class_list":["post-3842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-school","tag-back-to-school","tag-child-behavior","tag-child-development","tag-development","tag-preschool","tag-preschoolers","tag-school","tag-toddler-development","ages-grade-school","ages-preschool"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1732303234:6"],"_edit_last":["6"],"_thumbnail_id":["3843"],"bonfire_pageloader_display":[""],"slide_template":["default"],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_wpb_vc_js_status":["false"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["90"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["3"],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["default"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":["291"],"wpfp_favorites":["450"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1732303231"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":["[]"],"_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":["[\"\"]"],"_yoast_wpseo_wordproof_timestamp":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["Is your child ready for kindergarten"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Its almost time for kids to head back to school and if you have a child who might be starting kindergarten you may be wondering if they are ready to go."],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["74"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"],"ase_mapbox_style":["openstreet"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3842"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4747,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3842\/revisions\/4747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
Resources for Parents:<\/h3>\n
\n<\/strong>The Power of Play<\/a>
\nDevelopmental Milestones of Early Literacy<\/a>
\nIs Your Preschooler Ready for Kindergarten?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"