School Readiness Sunshine is a term that refers to an easy transition into school. It is best for your child that can be facilitated with forward planning and the help of educational resources.
Early learners must participate in activities that develop excellent skills required for optimal learning, as this helps ensure your child is ready for school.
If your child has a deficit in one of the key areas of school readiness, they may struggle to keep up with their peers, leading to negative schooling experiences and a less-than-perfect start to their education.
School readiness can encourage by ensuring that your child is participating in a series of activities and programs that actively develop the good skills required to facilitate optimal learning in a school environment.
Let’s check out five key areas of school readiness.
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Social Skills
Most parents only think of the academic side, but it’s important to remember that school is an inherently social environment. Social skill is absolutely crucial to ensuring your child’s success and navigating social interactions in a new and unfamiliar school context.
Some of the social skills that are important to develop before starting school involve cooperating and getting on with peers (e.g. sharing, taking turns, and respecting personal space).
School readiness ensure your child has well-developed social skills by the time they start school. It allows your child to make friends and enjoy socializing in the school environment.
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Emotional Skills
Starting school is an emotional time for young children, as they must navigate an entirely new environment without the support of their parents throughout the day.
Some of the emotional skills your child should have gained from the School Readiness Sunshine program include the ability to easily separate from their caregiver at drop-off and confidently navigate new environments on their own.
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Physical Skills
Gone are the days when children sat in their seats all day at school (we now know this is not a good way to learn anyway!) Your child’s school day will involve plenty of physical activity during class and break times.
Ensuring they have great physical skills before starting school that allows them to keep up with their peers -literally!
Before starting school, your child should be able to run, climb and balance. Good physical skills will allow your child to participate confidently in the majority of physical activities and games undertaken by Kindergarteners.
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Language Skills
Communication is an essential skill for starting school. Children who are verbally delayed may struggle to keep up with lessons and even integrate with their peers.
By the time they start kindergarten, your child should be able to answer and ask questions, maintain conversations with both adults and peers, and accurately follow clear directions from the teacher.
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Self-Help Skills
In the classroom, there may be one or two teachers to a large group of children. This means your child must be able to perform self-help skills for themselves, or they will find themselves in difficult and possibly upsetting situations.
Before they start school, your child should be toileting independently and able to tidy up after themselves.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned list of School Readiness Sunshine skills may seem intimidating. Still, these skills should be included in any high-quality preschool or school readiness program.
School readiness programs have created a rich curriculum to give your child a head start in life and a great start to their schooling career.