We would like to start today's post by answering a few questions from the K3 children.
The K3 children who are coming to the end of their kindergarten years have a myriad of imaginations and aspirations for the new stage of Prep school life that they are about to enter.
For the parents of these children, there may be a concern about the 'the transition to prep school'.
What is 'the transition to prep school'? We would like to have a discussion with each of you today about this topic.
The transition to prep school does not begin in K3. After children enter school in K1, they are naturally supported in their physical and mental preparation, social and life preparation, and learning throughout the kindergarten grades. The process of living, playing, and learning in kindergarten prepares children for life in primary school and far beyond.
Children learn to eat independently, play with friends respectfully, and explore a range of experiences in kindergarten. During their K3 year, children will be provided with some more targeted bridging activities to prepare them for their coming transition to primary school. For example, children in K3 will work on a list of things they want and need to learn to do independently. The children learn about primary school life according to the contents of this list.
In order to prepare children for the transition to prep school, they are supported in developing their Learning habits and Care of Self abilities, improving their Reading skills, helping them with mental preparation and so on, rather than a one-sided preparation of knowledge and skills.
Learning Habits and Self-Care
In kindergarten and everyday life, we encourage children to try and do as much as they can independently. For example, we encourage them to pack their own school bags, which strengthens their sense of responsibility and ownership over their personal belongings. We have also pushed them to learn to tie their own shoes and zip or button their own jackets and sweaters. Children who often do things like this have stronger fine and gross motor skills. These skills transfer to other areas of their lives, like improved pencil holding for writing and hand eye coordination.
It is essential for strong future learning, academic and self-interest, that children develop a love of reading. Through reading we can learn about anything we want, and we can learn about life and ideas through different times in history and different cultures. Good reading habits are best developed while young. Daily reading, in and out of school, with and without others, helps not only to develop increasing skills and understanding, but also to develop interest in new things and new ways of thinking.
Phonics skills are the bedrock of reading comprehension. Although the children display a range of skills, abilities and interests, they all have phonics lessons and activities to help them to build and boost their skills. From beginning sounds, to middle and end sounds, blending to read and segmenting to write, and on to more complex sounds, the road to reading should be one of fun engagement and exciting progress. It is also something that children can participate in at home with their family.
Show and tell, mark-making
Show and tell has numerous learning benefits for young children. Apart from the fact it helps develop essential communication and listening skills, it also encourages emotional development as they share their interests, home lives and those things that bring them joy with their peers. The children have done really well showing, telling, sharing and playing together. For some children, it’s hard to share their favourite things, but we are so proud of the maturity and friendship they showed.
Mark making is an emergent skill that forms the foundation for writing and if interest continues, Art. Young children build their fine motor skills through sensory experiences as well as colouring and drawing. Over time, these drawings become more apparent to adults, although they nearly always have meaning to the child.
In K3, children continue to love drawing, however, drawing becomes more of a social activity, with children often drawing multi-board pictures with their friends. It is a great way for children to express themselves, and should be encouraged at school and at home.
Before the transition to Prep School, K3 teachers pose various questions to the students as topics for discussion.
Children think about what Prep School will be like and how it might differ from their familiar PreSchool routine. When will I have lunch? What can I do during free periods? When do I finish school for the day? These questions spark more discussions and their overall interests in moving up to the next level. This motivates K3 students to learn and prepare as much as they can for the transition to the new environment.
We will also be inviting our K2 and K3 parents on next Wednesday morning for a Transition Open Morning 'From Pre to Prep'.
All parents are welcome to come! We will be talking with you about your child's growth and facing every challenge along the way.
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