Getting ready for the first day of preschool - Part 2

image taken by me and while I was clicking, I simply thought of children. Aren't children like these buds ?!

In part 1, I talked little bit about how to help older children get ready for their preschool. Now, I will share my experience with younger children or children who had never been to school before. Yes, it is their literally the first day of preschool. 

As I mentioned before that it is the hardest part of being a teacher, to develop that trust in a child at the first sight. I think it was easy for me as I strongly believe in the love and I had that privilege to be in it with some children. It is so true that a child is all about love, trust, purity and most of all communication. I had always seen in a child's eyes the thirst to express and talk. It's hard to see this though because every child is unique, for example - I remember once, it was also my first day as a teacher, one child would not leave his mom and come inside the classroom. He was fine on the orientation day but like I said, 1st day of school is always special. It was hard to get him into the classroom. What worked with him was my low and gentle voice with loads and loads of trust. 

Some tips that can possibly help children transition from home to school are communicating, reading, loving and building trust trust and more trust. It's a long life you have go with them. Unfortunately, for us - teachers, we have to save every moment spend with them. Those memories are like jewels saved for life ! I love and cherish every moment spend with all my students. It is hard because then they leave or sometimes I move to a different place, I guess, there is something called just do your karma. No, I just don't do it but cherish each moment of it! I think that's the beauty of life and living it - beautiful memories !

During the summer time, when you get that chance to be with your child, talk about different places to visit, for example- cabins, beaches, museums and then come school ! I am sure most of the parents must be doing this. It is nicer to keep talking about this, since you are building the curiosity in their minds. You can talk about everything about the world and they'll love it.

Read them books about school, friends and learning new things. This link will take you to all those books that can be a great help communicating your message. I personally love 'The Kissing Hand' by Audrey Penn, the must must have book in every home. And, I have seen lots of mothers doing this with their children before they leave, it seriously works ! 

The transition is tough only for that moment, and it becomes much easier gradually. One thing that helps is when parents and teachers connect with each other. See, the logic behind this is simple, children trust parents, it is a bridge of trust that is build between the teacher, school and parents, or I should say it's a flow of trust and children are in it. 

Children are very good observers. They notice the gate of the school, how they feel it, the other teachers, all the students of the school, everything. They are curious minds, remember, so they want to be in this environment, you have already communicated them about school, friends and learning. So, they want to be here. It is just that moment. Once that moment is clicked in the child's mind, then, you did it ! There will be a day when your children will not want to go back to home. Cherish each moment !

Getting ready for the first day of Preschool - Part 1

image taken by me

Seriously, it is the one and only day when I cry with the children. It's the most challenging part of being a teacher. It is also a day when I am very excited and look forward to. Some students come straight from their mom's shelter, for some it's their 2nd year while for others it's their last year. So, it's a mixed emotions time. And everyone help each other a great deal.

Summer time is a good time for preparing children for the next year or for their 1st day of preschool. Although, most of the schools have an 'orientation day' before the school starts, then, we have a week open only for our senior students, or for our old students, still, it's nicer if children do not get a big change in their schedule after summer vacations. So, to keep their emotion up to date it's nicer to have more organized and a planned summer.

In this part 1, lets start with the older children. I strongly suggest parents of the older children, to keep up with their reading schedules daily, for example, children should read Bob books daily or give them a small paragraph to read from any book, basically spend more time reading different kinds of books. The sleeping hours and nap time should be same ALL the time. I mean around the year. Parents should keep a good check on their eating and drinking milk habits. It is easier to maintain the sleeping and eating schedules with a older child. So, you can give him/er the rest of the time to work with some fun activities, for example, making things with Lego's, some science activities, start a challenging puzzle, or spend some good time in the library.

The most important thing parents can do is to keep them in touch with their school friends. Talk to them about friendship, good behavior, respecting elders and lastly, but not the least, how they can be a good helping hand to their younger friends, siblings and elders. We do the same in the school. In the group circle time we do lots and lots of talking by giving examples, reading books or while playing. 'I spy'  and a 'Detective' game are good games to play with children.

What I am trying to say is, keep the environment at home which motivates them to learn, for example, if you talk about values, science activities, friendship or math or reading, they will be curious and would like to know the methods to learn. In other words, be their role model. You must be thinking why during summer vacations only. Of course, you will be their role model for the whole life but you get an opportunity to spend more time with your children during the summer vacations, that's now ! Your children and you get to see each other now, as compared to the rest of the year. So, why not make the good use of it. This will give them an energy/motivation
to look forward to go to school in September, or they may encourage you to send them to a summer session.