February Break marks an important transition at our school for both Preschool and Pre-K students.  At this time of year, we start to see some really exciting things emerge and as spring comes into bloom, so does your child!  This emergence of new skills, milestones, and interests, comes hand-in-hand with new challenges.  Anticipating these pitfalls and knowing how to address them makes all the difference! This week we’ll be sending some examples of what we expect to see over the next couple of months.  We’ll span several developmental domains and share what it looks like at school, what to look for at home, and how to help your child through the inevitable frustrations that come with this rapid “season” of development.

Today, we’re kicking things off with…

Independence:

The importance of age-appropriate independence can’t be overstated. Some children develop the desire to become more independent very young (“ME DO IT!”), while other children seem to insist on having grownups do everything for them, despite knowing how to do things themselves. There are some wonderful guides for working on this here! The expectations at 3 and 4 are vastly different from what you can expect at 5 and 6, but you can absolutely still work to build their competence and desire to be more independent. At home, one of the best ways you can foster this is by having a routine.

Children THRIVE on a Routine!

Having a set, predictable routine allows your child to anticipate what’s next. This means they can follow through on tasks and activities without constant prompting and reminders from you.  If you don’t already have a daily routine, you can find some really awesome ideas here.  Find something you like, print it out, introduce it, and follow it this week.  When your child asks what’s next, head over to the routine and walk through it with them.  If you planned some outings, try to keep them in a predictable time slot.

Solo Play is Essential for Your Child (and YOU!)

One block of time we HIGHLY recommend including in your child’s daily routine is free play.  This should be a window of time where they play solo, quietly in their rooms.  This is the epitome of independence!  It’s important to know that TV, tablets, and video games do not provide the same benefit as free play.  Screens tend to occupy 100% of a child’s bandwidth so it doesn’t count as flexing their independence.  In their free play time, they would be playing with toys, looking at books, dressing up, doing puzzles, coloring, etc.  If they track you down to play with them, remind them that free play is solo.  Keep it short if they struggle.  A 30-minute block is a great start. It’s also a great idea to build in a 30 minute block for “Quiet Time.” More on that later this week though ;)

Buttons, Zippers, Laces- Oh MY!

When we talk about independence, playing solo (independently of you) is huge, but we also mean having the ability to manage self-care, hygiene, bathroom, and meals. This means helping your child to understand the concept of what’s expected, but also working to ensure they have the fine motor skills to do the tasks required of them, in the time allotted. (Preschool parents: your children have so much more time to learn this, so follow along for your knowledge, but please don’t rush your child on this!) 

Kindergarten is a big change in a lot of ways.  Focusing strictly on the need for independence, its important to know that the classroom ratio will be anywhere from 1:18 to 1:25. Students will be expected to use the bathroom, wipe themselves, wash hands, and return to class without any assistance. When it comes to meals, students have approximately 22 minutes (but closer to 17 minutes in reality) to eat their lunch. At HSJ, we do begin to help them get down to business and eat a bit quicker, however many children at this age are unable to open their own bags, boxes, bottles, and containers. Also- some students are having to borrow spoons, forks, plates, and straws for their meals daily.  These are things we of course happily provide, but if they don’t have those items in their bag next year it will cost them time to track it down.  When that lunch bell rings, that’s it.  Time is up.  Which brings us to…

HSJ’s February Break Kindergarten Lunch Challenge

This week, we are asking parents of Pre-K students to pack your child’s snack and lunch as you normally would for our school day.  Rather than letting them graze throughout the day, plan a snack time and a lunch time (10:30 and 1:15, respectively at HSJ) When snack time or lunch comes, join them, but hang back and observe as they begin to eat. Can they get their lunch bag open quickly and easily?  Are they struggling to get lids off? Are they asking you to open chip bags and granola bar wrappers? Did they make a B-Line for the Oreos? (Yes. Yes, they did.) 

Here’s a sobering fact: The lunchroom staff to student ratio is about 1:50. Help opening and closing items and nutritional guidance for this portion of their day is not readily available.  It is entirely possible for your child to open their lunch bag, eat a package of cookies, guzzle a juice box, and close up shop- bolting to recess on a tank full of sugar. Because of this, you may decide to be more selective about what goes into their lunchbox until they are making strong choices independently.

As we wrap up this year, our goal is to work collaboratively with you to ensure that your child is able to open and close all items, make healthy choices, and eat within the (absurd) time constraints by the time they make it to that cafeteria.

Please let us know how you did in the comments below! Sometimes this challenge can be eye-opening!

Good luck!
Miss Jill and all the HSJ Teachers :)