Memo for parents on preparing their child for school

Even at the end of the last century, few parents thought about the preschool development of their children, entrusting this concern to educational institutions. But today we must have a good idea of ​​what a child should be able to do for school, and we cannot afford to waste precious time. The future first-grader must be provided with a certain amount of knowledge and skills, as well as provide him with the necessary psychological attitude.

Level of physical development

Before enrolling in 1st grade, children must undergo an interview with a psychologist, but they are not required to pass any physical education standards. But the successful adaptation of a child to new conditions largely depends on his physical fitness and health status. A new team, a change in routine, increased responsibility, the need to concentrate and withstand long classes - all this causes inevitable stress in a first-grader, even a well-prepared one.

The body’s internal resources, determined by genes and strengthened during the preschool period, help the body to withstand such a shake-up painlessly and quickly integrate into the intense school life.

The basis for the physical development of a child, in addition to classes in kindergarten, should be:

• walks and outdoor games several times a week;
• hardening procedures;
• child’s attendance at sports or dance classes.

Regular implementation of at least two of these points all year round will provide the preschooler with sufficient physical activity for the full development of the body and maintaining a healthy immune system. It is advisable to devote the summer, especially before entering 1st grade, to active outdoor activities - sports, hikes, games, and all possible assistance to elders in gardening work. Strengthening a child's health in this way is much more important than training reading or counting skills.

Computer games and mobile phone games can be harmful both in themselves and because the child uses them to replace other activities, including physical activity and walking. When limiting the time your child spends with gadgets, focus on the duration of his stay in the fresh air: it should not be less.

Cognitive skills

A normally developing, inquisitive child attending a preschool or studying at home usually accumulates enough knowledge and experience by the age of 6–7 to easily begin to master the school curriculum. Still, parents should make sure that the baby has sufficient intellectual baggage.

One of the main requirements for a first-grader is clear, correct speech. Defects in the pronunciation of individual sounds are not a reason for refusal to enroll in school, but they can significantly complicate the process of learning and socialization for a child. This is especially true for children who did not attend kindergarten. Therefore, before school, it is advisable to work on diction, and, if necessary, work with a speech therapist.

Before leaving the preschool educational institution, the readiness of children to study in the first grade is determined by a psychologist. During the interview, he asks questions that presuppose that the child has the following knowledge about himself and the world around him:

• Full name, residential address, names of family members;
• days of the week;
• seasons and months of the year, month of birth;
• directions - left, right, up, down, forward, backward;
• names of plants, vegetables and fruits, animals, colors of the rainbow, body parts.

In addition to testing general knowledge, a specialist can offer a task to test thinking and speech, for example:

• combine several objects under one concept (chair, table, armchair - furniture);
• identify an extra item from several proposed ones;
• arrange the pictures in a logical order, using them to compose a coherent story from several sentences.

Often during a conversation the child is asked the question: “Why are you going to school?” The answer is important not so much for the psychologist as for the future first-grader himself. The attitude with which he will go to study and what he will expect from school life depends on this. The task of parents and teachers of preschool educational institutions is to instill in the child a positive attitude towards her and awaken a craving for learning. This is facilitated by role-playing games, interesting school stories told by parents and older children, books and cartoons about school.

Many children at 6 or even 7 years old begin to worry before the commission, get lost, answer confusingly, or are generally embarrassed to speak. Therefore, the mother or someone close to him should be next to the child to support and encourage him. Home rehearsals and a positive attitude will help you overcome anxiety.

Don’t worry if your son or daughter did not answer all the psychologist’s questions. Regardless of how the child performs at the interview, he will still be accepted into first grade.

“School readiness” - a reminder for parents of future first-graders

“IS IT TIME TO GO TO CLASS...”

(memo for parents and future classmates)

When a child reaches 6-7 years old, parents have many questions regarding preparation for school. After all, simply buying a backpack, uniform and other school supplies is not all that is necessary for a child’s successful education. What should you pay attention to?

1. The readiness of the parents themselves

Psychologists say that the success of a first-grader’s adaptation and his subsequent education at school is largely influenced by the readiness of parents and their psychological attitude.

A negative result entails both excessive anxiety of adults and their indifferent attitude towards the new stage of the child’s life.

Of course, the organizational aspect is important. Purchasing school supplies, textbooks, uniforms, and backpacks is not only troublesome, but also pleasant. If the child takes a direct part in this, then a positive attitude towards school is guaranteed. After all, it is known that for many preschoolers, the external side of schooling acts as motivation.

Also, no less important is the health and safety of the future first-grader. To do this, take care of the following:

• Daily regime.

  After school starts, it will be different from what the child was used to in preschool. It is imperative to include walks in the fresh air. Homework should be completed in the afternoon, but not in the evening (preferably at 15-16 hours). Then the child will have time to take a break from school, however, evening fatigue will not set in.

• First grader safety.

  During the first months of school, your child will need to be dropped off and picked up from school. Therefore, many parents begin to rearrange their work schedule in advance so that they can do this. We should not forget about conversations about safe behavior on the street, traffic rules, which constantly need to be reminded to the child, even if he is with an adult.

• Learning to be independent.

  One of the main mistakes many parents make is doing their child’s homework. Most mothers and fathers want their baby to be the best student. Therefore, they try to help him complete the task perfectly, but in the end they simply complete it themselves. The result is completely the opposite effect - the child cannot do work in class, and accordingly, he brings in completely different grades from what adults expect. Psychologists and teachers recommend that adults only monitor the completion of tasks, giving hints only in extreme cases (if the student for some reason did not master the topic in class).

1. Child's physical readiness

Physiological readiness for school is an important component of a child’s overall development. This parameter is assessed by pediatricians who look at several criteria:

• Biological age.

  Experts pay attention to body proportions, which must correspond to age standards, the number of molars that have appeared, etc.

• Physical development.

  Body weight, height, and chest circumference are taken into account.

• General health.

  Pediatricians conditionally divide children into five groups. This is necessary for appropriate recommendations for further education, because there are children who may experience difficulties studying in a public school due to health problems.

The future first-grader will experience a change in daily routine, a significant increase in mental stress, and the establishment of new connections with teachers and peers. All this leads to tension in the functional systems of the child’s body, and therefore affects his health.

For successful adaptation, it is recommended to start physical training classes at least a year before entering school. This is especially true for children who do not attend preschool educational institutions.

1. The child's attitude towards himself.
   Self-esteem

Self-esteem is an important component of personality, which is formed directly in preschool age. It consists of the following components:

• intellectual;
• emotional.

For an older preschooler, the emotional component predominates. In other words, self-esteem is formed under the influence of adults’ attitude towards the child and his position in the peer group.

Any products of a child’s activity are inextricably linked with his personality. If an adult speaks negatively about the drawing, then the child transfers the negative assessment to himself.

In cases where parents or other members constantly criticize a preschooler and his work (even justifiably), there is a high risk of developing low self-esteem. As a result, the child develops character traits such as uncertainty and isolation.

The following recommendations will help you avoid problems with self-esteem:

1. Adults are the unquestioned authority for the child. Any evaluative statements negate the child’s own conclusions. Authoritarian statements from parents not only reduce self-esteem, but also lead to a lack of personal opinion already in adulthood.

Adults are advised to refrain from making categorical statements (“Mom knows best,” “Dad is not wrong,” etc.). Much more effective in such cases is the method of persuasion with argumentation of statements.

1. Adults need to competently evaluate the child’s activities. Any criticism should be presented in a gentle form and be aimed directly at the child’s work, without touching his personality. At the same time, you should encourage the preschooler by saying that next time he will definitely do better.
2. If something doesn’t work out for a child, then you need to help him, and in no case reproach him.
3. Adults should avoid comparing a child with peers, especially in favor of others.

Low self-esteem often leads to problems in a first-grader’s adaptation to a new team. Such children may receive the social status of “rejected” or “isolated.” At preschool age, parents can still correct self-esteem. If you discover a problem in the first grade, it is advisable to contact a school psychologist who will help correct the situation.

1. Intellectual preparation for school

Several factors are included in intellectual readiness for school. Ideally, a child entering first grade should have the following characteristics:

• Have the necessary knowledge about the world around you;
• Good orientation in time and space;
• Be able to compare groups of objects, identify essential and non-essential features;
• Be able to compose simple texts based on an image and a group of pictures;
• Understand and follow verbal instructions;
• Have developed fine motor skills (the ability to hold a pencil, have simple drawing skills);
• Have stable voluntary attention.

General awareness

By the age of 6-7 years, a child should already have a fairly broad knowledge of the world around him. A preschooler should know:

• your full name;
• home address, city and country in which he lives;
• basic traffic rules;
• family members, their names, occupation;
• primary colors and shades;
• seasons, their signs;
• professions.

In addition, the child must be able to count forward and backward within 10, be able to compare numbers, and solve simple problems (“more by...”, “less by...”). A preschooler should have developed concepts about sets, shapes and sizes, and magnitude.

Ability to navigate in time and space

Time and space are specific concepts that are most difficult for preschoolers to grasp. This is because they are not tangible and children cannot “see” them. Therefore, in classes with future first-graders, special attention should be paid to spatial orientation.

By the start of school, the child must:

• know the seasons and their signs;
• be able to name the months of the year;
• navigate the days of the week, parts of the day;
• know the concepts of “left” and “right”;
• be able to determine the location of an object (above, in front, behind, around, between, etc.)

To form temporary concepts

, the following questions and tasks should be included in classes:

1. If you have breakfast in the morning, then you have lunch... (in the afternoon).
2. What time of day comes after evening?
3. What time of day is it between evening and morning?
4. What is the name of the third day of the week?
5. If today is Friday, what day of the week was yesterday?
6. Name the autumn (summer, winter, spring) months.
7. What time of year is your (mom, dad, sister) birthday?
8. What time of year comes after spring?
9. What time of year do we build a snowman? Why?

The use of proverbs, poems, and riddles about time categories contributes to a better assimilation of these concepts.

To study spatial references, you should consider various illustrations. An adult can ask a child questions like “Where is this or that object?”, “What is next to ...?” and so on. For this purpose, it is effective to use the “Herringbone” exercise. The preschooler is asked to draw a tree in the middle of the sheet. After he does this, the adult asks to draw a mushroom under the Christmas tree, a sun above the Christmas tree, a bunny next to it, etc.

To develop spatial concepts

Children are offered graphic dictations. They are made on checkered sheets, where you need to make a pattern according to the prompt. The adult gives instructions: one cell to the right, two up, one to the left, etc.

Memory development

Involuntary memory in a preschooler is normally sufficiently developed. In other words, he remembers very quickly what interests him or evokes any emotions. At the age of 5-6 years, a child is just beginning to form voluntary memory. This type of mental process involves making efforts to remember some material. At school, without a doubt, the teacher will rely on voluntary actions.

The future first-grader’s visual-figurative memory predominates (based on illustrations and visual material) and verbal-logical memory is just beginning to form. In order to determine the level of development of the cognitive process, you can use the “Play pictures” exercise.

The child is shown 5-6 pictures on a sheet for a few seconds. Then the sheet is removed, and the baby is asked to name the objects that he remembers. Children with well-developed memory name all objects (1 mistake is allowed).

Psychologists recommend the game “What has changed.” For 10 seconds, the preschooler looks at the arranged toys, then turns away. The adult changes the location of some objects, and the child must name what changes have occurred.

Development of thinking

The development of logical thinking will help a child to be successful in school. A future first-grader must have the following skills:

• Be able to analyze;
• Perform comparison;
• Establish patterns;
• Identify cause-and-effect relationships;
• Summarize objects according to certain characteristics.

When entering school, a child must know such groups of objects as “fruits”, “vegetables”, “furniture”, “dishes”, “transport” (distinguish between air, land, water), etc.

To develop logical thinking, the exercises “Exclude the unnecessary” (the child must justify the choice), “Name in one word”, “What happened before”, etc. are used.

Development of attention

Attention, like memory, is predominantly involuntary in a preschooler. Children are only interested in objects that seem visually attractive to them or that interest them for some other reason.

To develop voluntary attention in future first-graders, psychologists recommend asking children to think out loud more often.

To develop attention, games familiar to everyone from childhood are used, such as “Edible - Inedible”, “We were at the zoo...”, etc. The classes use the tasks “Find the differences between the pictures”, “Find a pair of identical images”.

Speech development

Speech is of great importance in the overall development of a child. Children who speak poorly tend to become shy and withdrawn. They are passive in class and rarely participate in the social life of the school. In addition, incorrect pronunciation in oral speech and insufficiently formed phonemic hearing lead to errors in writing.

A child entering first grade must know and be able to:

• Pronounce all speech sounds clearly, do not make mistakes when pronouncing complex words (illustration, construction set, etc.) and sentences.
• Hear and differentiate sounds, distinguish where the sound is in a word (at the beginning, middle, end).
• Divide words into syllables.
• Correctly change word forms and form new lexical units. For example, “juice from apples” - “apple juice”, “strawberry jam” - “strawberry jam”.
• Call objects diminutively - affectionately (mushroom-mushroom, bush-bush).
• Name actions, select antonyms (wide - narrow, high - low) and synonyms.
• Write a detailed story based on an illustration or group of pictures.
• Explain the meaning of a certain word.

Speech development can be stimulated not only with special activities, but also in daily communication with the child. Effective in this direction is the use of “Continue the story” exercises. In preschool age, great attention should be paid to reading books to children. This activity should be given at least 30 minutes a day.

Development of imagination

To develop imagination, a child needs practical experience and an expansion of ideas about the surrounding reality. For example, in games, preschoolers are often given verbal instructions. In this case, the child will subordinate his actions to them and do something purposefully. The preschooler must express the presented images in some way: sculpt, draw, speak, etc.

Imagination should not be considered as ordinary fantasy. It should be aimed at creating some kind of product of activity: a drawing, a craft, a story.

When developing imagination, it is necessary to focus on the fact that it should be a unique reflection of the surrounding reality. Creative activities are an essential and indispensable element of general preparation for school. Lessons on developing imagination should include exercises “Write a fairy tale”, “What would happen if ...”.

Let's sum it up

Any classes with preschoolers should be conducted in a playful way, since play is the predominant activity at this age. Under no circumstances should a child be forced to study, which will lead to a negative attitude towards learning and towards school itself.

You should not place too much of a burden of promises on your child: “you must be an excellent student,” “study only for 5s.” If a first-grader cannot meet these parental requirements, then he becomes anxious, withdrawn, and painful. Adults must understand themselves and explain to the child that a grade is not always a perfect evaluation system. And even if he didn’t get what he expected, next time he will definitely be able to do better.

Many parents are very worried when their child is going to first grade. In such cases, it is necessary to remember that children “read” the state of adults. Excessive anxiety can be passed on to the baby, as a result of which the already difficult period of adaptation will be complicated by additional problems. Therefore, parents need to exhale deeply and calmly watch as their baby takes his first step into adulthood.

The material was prepared by the teacher of MBDOU No. 7:

Korchagina Irina Pavlovna

Practical knowledge

No one obliges parents to teach their child to read and count before school. But according to statistics, more than half of first-graders already know how to do all this, and many school programs take this fact into account, focusing on the majority. From a practical point of view, this is justified: it makes more sense to bring a few guys up to the general level and move on, rather than dwell on familiar topics for a long time.

Specialized schools (lyceums, gymnasiums) may have special requirements for future first-graders in certain subjects. The best way out in this case is to attend preparatory courses at the exact educational institution where you plan to begin full-time schooling.

Check

When testing the knowledge of a preschool educational institution graduate, a psychologist usually asks him to count from 1 to 10 and back. The child must also be ready:

• count from a given number, for example from 5, in forward or reverse order;
• compare two numbers within 10 (more/less);
• name the “neighbors” of a given number.

These skills are enough to start learning arithmetic operations in the first grade. On the other hand, if a child completes such tasks quickly and without thinking, parents should not interfere with the further development of mathematical skills, even if schooling has not yet begun. By the time they reach the first grade, many children will already be able to add and subtract within 10 or even 20, and count in tens up to 100 or more.

Make sure your child knows the basic geometric shapes well - circle, triangle, rectangle, square.

Reading

According to psychologists, reading speed is the most important factor influencing academic performance. A poor reading student spends a lot of time trying to understand a task instead of starting to think about how to complete it. Before going to school, a child must have at least minimal knowledge of the grammar of his native language:

• be able to distinguish between vowels and consonants;
• identify hard and soft sounds by ear;
• name the location of a given letter - at the beginning, middle or end of a word;
• find words starting with the given letter;
• have an understanding of syllables, be able to read them.

The reading technique of first-graders is checked already in the first half of the year, and the next time - in the spring, in April or May, to identify the dynamics of indicators. This takes into account not only the number of words read per minute, but also the understanding of the meaning of the text and intonation expressiveness. The better your child reads before school, the easier it will be for him to learn in all subjects.

Do not force your child to read under any circumstances - this may cause him to develop a persistent dislike for books. We need competent motivation based on the individual characteristics and interests of the preschooler.

Letter

The ability to write quickly and correctly is directly related to the level of development of fine motor skills. If the writing utensils do not obey the child’s hand, daily practice in copywriting will turn into pure flour for the child. Homework in the first grade is of a recommendatory nature, but without intensive training it is impossible to learn to write well.

To master the program in this subject in full, a preschooler needs to be able to:

• hold writing utensils correctly: pen, pencil, brush;
• shade large and small figures without going beyond the contours;
• outline the details of the drawing evenly;
• carefully paint over small outlined spaces without leaving gaps;
• repeat simple elements of writing (sticks, hooks, loops);
• write large and small block letters and numbers.

In the preparatory group of kindergarten, teachers give future graduates similar tasks. If the child has no problems with them, then everything will be fine with writing at school. And if not everything works out, then parents should pay more attention to the development of the baby’s fine motor skills.

If your child doesn’t like to draw, work with him on three-dimensional or flat modeling, cutting and appliqué. Group activities will help arouse interest in coloring (the proven effect of joining the majority will work).

Memo for parents on preparing children for school

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Readiness for school is the level of physical, mental and social development of a child that is necessary for successful mastery of the school curriculum without compromising his health.

Therefore, the concept of “school readiness” includes:

– physiological readiness – good level of physical development

- psychological readiness - sufficient development of cognitive processes (attention, memory, thinking, perception, imagination, sensation, speech), learning ability

– social readiness – ability to communicate with peers and adults

All three components of school readiness are closely interrelated; deficiencies in the formation of any of its aspects in one way or another affect the success of schooling.

In addition to classes in kindergarten, we recommend playing with children at home to consolidate acquired knowledge and skills.

Moms and dads of future first-graders!

You can play these games with your children at home:

Name it in one word

The game is played with object pictures or with toys. The point of the exercise is to teach the child to correctly use generalizing words. An adult puts pictures on the table and asks them to name them in one word. For example,

1) fox, hare, wolf, bear - animals;

2) bed, chair, sofa, armchair; - furniture;

3) pine, spruce, willow, maple - trees, etc.

Name three things

This game develops verbal and logical thinking in a child. The presenter (first an adult, and then one of the children) names a word (for example, furniture) and throws the ball to one of the players, who must name three objects that can be called with this one word (for example, a chair, a table, a bed). Whoever makes a mistake pays forfeit.

Graphic dictation

For the exercise you need a squared notebook sheet and a pencil. At first, it is advisable for the child to put dots so that he knows where to start the pattern. Before starting the exercise, let the child show where his right and left hand are. Explain to your child that you will dictate patterns to him, and he will draw in small cells. The patterns can be anything, but it’s advisable to start with something simple, for example:

One cell up. One cell to the right. One cell down. One to the right.

Encourage your child to finish the pattern themselves to the end of the line. Then you can give more difficult tasks, for example, two cells up, one to the left, etc.

Attention task

The child is asked to draw 10 triangles (or any other shapes to begin with) and paint over, for example, the second, seventh and ninth shapes (or any others in order).

What changed?

7 pictures or toys are laid out in front of the child (to begin with, 3-4 are possible), he must remember how they are located. Then the adult asks the child to close his eyes, at this time swaps 2 (then more) pictures (toys) or removes one (or more) of them. The child is asked to open his eyes, he must notice what has changed.

Fourth wheel

This exercise can be done in several ways:

1) with pictures: an adult lays out 4 pictures depicting objects and says to the child: “Here three pictures fit together, but one does not fit them. Show her. Why is she redundant? For example, a cat, a dog, a swallow, a mouse (the swallow is extra, because it is a bird, and the rest are animals) or any other pictures

2) with surrounding objects: an adult draws the child’s attention to any objects at home or on the street and asks what is unnecessary and why. For example, a chair, table, cup, bed.

3) with words: the adult names four words and asks the child which word is extra and why. For example, nose, ears, glasses, eyes.

Find an object with a triangular (square, rectangular, round) shape

The game develops the child's perception of form. The child is asked to find and name objects of a given shape in the environment or in a picture. For example, triangular in shape: a stand for a pan, cookie cutters, a cap for Parsley, a Christmas tree, a roof for a house. Whoever names the most objects of a given shape wins.

Magic bag

Small objects of various shapes are placed in the bag. The child is asked to put his hand into the bag, select an object and identify it by touch. Then he takes the object out of the bag, examines it and talks about it: what figure it resembles.

First, simple geometric shapes are placed in the bag, and then more complex ones - objects and toys, which the child guesses by examining their shape by touch.

Hatching

An adult draws any geometric figure (circle, square, triangle, rectangle) and draws 1-2 lines in it (horizontal, vertical or diagonal), at the end of which one arrow is drawn (so that the child understands in which direction to hatch the figure) . The child finishes the shading started by the adult, and the adult at this time makes sure that the child draws in the right direction and that the lines are straight and even.

Sequence of events

The child is asked to use pictures to tell about an event, and is asked what happened first, what happened next, and how it all ended. The more detailed the child tells, the better; it is advisable that he speaks in complete sentences.

If you don’t have such pictures at home, you can talk to your child about how his day in kindergarten went, what happened in the morning, afternoon and evening, what he and the kids did, what they ate, what new and interesting things he learned in kindergarten that day .

You can read a short fairy tale or story to your child and ask him to retell it in detail and consistently.

Wishes to parents

1. Work with your child systematically

(2-3 times a week), it is advisable to conduct classes at the same time.

2. The duration of each lesson for children 6-7 years old is no more than 30 minutes.

3. It is better to draw (write), read, paint, sculpt, cut, glue at the table. You can study for 10-15 minutes at a table, 10-15 minutes on a mat. This allows you to change your position and relieves muscle tension.

4. Do not work with your child if he is not feeling well or is actively refusing to study.

5. Start your lesson with your favorite or easy-to-do tasks. This gives the child confidence in his abilities.

6. Treat your child’s difficulties and failures calmly and without irritation. Do not scold or shame your child for failures.

7. Encourage your child if he doesn't succeed. Patiently explain anything that is not clear.

8. Be sure to find something to praise your child for during each lesson.

9. Do not force your child to repeatedly repeat tasks that do not work out. In such cases, you should return to similar, but simpler tasks.