Are you in your Kindergarten era?

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Submitted by Jewel Wiesinger-- Are you in your Kindergarten era? Do “you need to calm down”? “Shake it off?” Are you worried your child will into a “Blank Space” in a new place?

If you recognize the pattern to these questions, you may not only be in your Kindergarten era, but also your Taylor Swift era…

Now that we are in the midst of kindergarten registrations, please do calm down, shake off the worry about a blank space, and enjoy the time remaining prior to August because we are here to help you through the Kindergarten era!

At Huntington Learning Center –Fort Mill, we work with students of all ages across all subject areas. Prior to opening our first center in Weddington over 8 years ago, our Executive Director was in the public school system as a school psychologist. Although it seems like yesterday, a little more than three years ago, I personally asked myself if my own 4/almost 5-year-old daughter (the tricky August birthday) was ready for kindergarten. My husband and I made the personal decision based on my knowledge of development and academics for my daughter to attend Transitional Kindergarten, commonly referred to as “TK.” This was the best decision for our family and we do not regret it, but it was a very HARD decision. My little girl is now 8.5-years old, in her Taylor Swift era, and in the second half of second grade. We know that the TK year was best for her with no question…NOW.

Across the Carolinas, kindergarten registration has started and come August, a fresh batch of kindergarten students with nervous moms and dads will walk through the door. As an educator and mom of the 8-year old Swiftie, we know even more now than before. For this reason, we have compiled a list of kindergarten readiness skills across every area of development.

In order to be ready for kindergarten your child should be able to:

• Manage own bathroom needs

• Dress themselves (buttons, zippers)

• Open lunch containers and ziploc bags

• Clean up after themselves (some prompting is totally appropriate)

• Handle routine and authority figures outside of family members

• Separate from parents

• Sit and attend an activity for 10-15 minutes

• Follow 2 or more step directions

• Play independently and in a group

• Use complete sentences when speaking

• Mimic stories and songs

• Hold crayon/pencil using thumb and pointer finger

• Turn pages in a book from left to right

• Recognize print is read from left to right

• Write first name with capital and lowercase letters (a mixture is acceptable)

• Recognize letters and knows some letter sounds

• Count to 10 with one-to-one correspondence

• Write some numbers between 1 and 10

• Sort and organize objects

Huntington Learning Center – Fort Mill is ready to help your rising kindergarten or student on any other grade level develop the skills, confidence, and motivation for success!