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Store displays are filled with backpacks, shiny sneakers and piles of brightly colored notebooks. The smells of crayon wax, pencil shavings and pink erasers are in the air. It’s time to start thinking about getting the kids ready to go back to school.
You’re likely in the midst of all the shopping that the season entails, searching for the right kind of colored pencils and negotiating how much you’re willing to spend on one pair of shoes. Of course, it helps for kids to dress the part and carry the right supplies, but being ready for school requires something more.
We asked teachers what they wish parents would do to prepare kids for this annual transition. Here are their suggestions.
Reestablish routines.
“Whatever you can do to get them waking up and going to bed at a normal time — that alone is just huge,” Bryson Tarbet, a former music teacher who is now an instructional coach in Columbus, Ohio, told HuffPost.
The first weeks of school can be exhausting for everybody, Tarbet added, so anything you can do to help kids get back into the rhythm of the school year can make things easier.
Read every day.
With younger children, parents should spend a little time each day reading with them. “It’s a great way to boost their reading skills and enjoy some quality time together. We often see a ‘back to school dip’ with children who haven’t read at all and have spent a lot of time on screens,” Lana White, a teacher and co-founder of We Tutor Young Minds, told HuffPost.
“Just five minutes a day helps reinforce vocabulary, comprehension and listening skills. These then feed into writing skills and overall confidence in English,” White said.
“Research shows students spend around six weeks relearning material in the new school year,” Tiffany Williams, a literacy intervention specialist, told HuffPost. “Considering the current literacy crisis in the U.S., this is one of the best things a parent could do for their child before the school year begins.”
Children who are more proficient readers can read aloud to you or to themselves. You can encourage older kids to read by making books available, taking regular trips to the library and designating time for reading and having screens turned off.
Find opportunities to practice fine motor skills.
Encourage kids in lower grades to practice fine motor skills by having them use scissors, work on puzzles, draw and use play-dough or clay. “These activities can help improve their hand-eye coordination and make tasks like writing and using classroom tools easier,” White explained.
Encourage independence.
If you have an incoming kindergartener, start with making sure your child can use the bathroom on their own.
“As teachers, we are not allowed to assist students in the bathroom or in cleaning up or changing after an accident,” Kellie Barragan, a teacher of kindergarten and first grade in California, explained to HuffPost.
“I’ve encountered situations where students did not know how to use a toilet and wipe because they only had bidets at home,” she said, “and other situations where students were terrified of the loud flushing sound of a toilet and would have accidents to avoid using the bathroom.”
It’s also a good idea to practice having kids open the kind of food packaging that you will be sending in their lunch so that they don’t have to wait for an adult to assist them.
Give kids responsibilities.
Doing chores at home can prepare kids for classroom responsibilities, such as being a line leader. Matteo Enna, a kindergarten teacher in California, recommended that parents “create opportunities for their child to perform new tasks that are age-specific. For example, a second grader can begin the task of preparing their own lunch.”
Prepare them to advocate for themselves.
Kids should also know how to ask for help if they are sick, lost or need help with schoolwork or resolving a peer conflict. “School can be overwhelming when it’s new, and you’d be surprised at how many students shut down because they have no idea how to ask for help in different situations,” Barragan said. You can help them practice by talking through potential scenarios (“Who would you go to? What could you say?”) and role-playing.
Reassure kids that the adults in their school building are safe and are there to help them. Even if your child wasn’t assigned a first-choice teacher, parents “should ensure that their child knows we are all on the same team,” Barragan said.
Center kindness.
Instead of calling children out only when they do something unkind to someone else, parents can have conversations with their kids about what kindness is — what it looks and feels like.
Enna recommends the book “How Full Is Your Bucket? for Kids” as a starting point for these kinds of discussions.
“Oftentimes I think we ask kids did they make a friend today, and maybe we can reframe the conversation,” Enna said. Instead, we can ask kids about ways they showed kindness to others and others showed kindness to them.
Talk positively about school.
When you mention school throughout the summer, especially in the weeks leading up to the return, try to focus on positive aspects. You might ask your child which friends they are looking forward to seeing again or what skills they’re excited to work on in the coming year.
“This can help a child feel more focused and motivated,” White said.
“Parents speaking positively about school to their child can help alleviate anxiety their child might be feeling,” she added.
Picking out new clothes and school supplies together is another way to build excitement.
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