Education
What is a Kindergarten Readiness Program?
A Kindergarten Readiness Program is designed, with the individual child in mind, to best prepare him to successfully enter school and joyfully manage the “job of Kindergarten”.
Each summer Child Success Center has the pleasure of helping children acquire skills to manage their “job of childhood” through our Summer K-Camp (Kindergarten Readiness Program). K-Camp is the cornerstone of our Summer Learning Academy. Children entering kindergarten in the fall are facilitated by a learning specialist, who utilizes a curriculum designed by a team of occupational, speech and language, and educational therapists and psychologists. This unique curriculum has been carefully honed over the 7 years CSC has offered K-camp. It addresses each child’s unique strengths and stretches as they relate to kindergarten readiness and provides each child the opportunity to strengthen the foundations needed to successfully enter school and joyfully manage the “job of Kindergarten”.
Our learning specialists understand how critical it is that the foundation of development and learning be well integrated and efficient over the first 6 years of life. They come to K-Camp with an intimate understanding of each child’s learning styles. Our team gathers a history and is able to adapt the curriculum to create the “just right challenge” for each learner. More evolved reading, writing, spelling and math skills rely upon foundational attention memory, listening, language, visual and motor processing. Camp provides opportunity to grow in these areas as well as those of social learning, academic learning, gross and fine motor skill development, verbal communication, imagination and creativity, and the exploration of personal interests.
For children that have not attained pre-school level foundational skills such as the ability to wait, focus, attend, follow direction, easily adjust to new surroundings, collaborate, cooperatively negotiate in play, or are unable to grasp the relationship between sounds and symbols, K-Camp provides a fun, engaging and grounded environment where this foundational building process can occur via positive, successful social learning experiences.
Through a social learning lens, mindfulness-based practices allow the camper to explore group dynamics, practice transitions and develop skills to monitor changes in the environment. Skills are added to their toolbox for attending, being present and listening with their whole body, while creating a foundation for emotional balance.
CSC K-Camp is open to all children entering Kindergarten in the Fall, including those who have been in a preschool setting that has not exposed them to academic learning opportunities, those who have struggled with the job of preschool and those entering a new school setting which can be anxiety producing. In addition to preparing kids for a successful transition, K-Camp is a great time for socializing and making new friends.
The Child Success Center Kindergarten Readiness Program (K-Camp) has benefited many children over the past 7 years and their parents have been delighted with the results….
“I can’t say enough about K-Camp. My daughter attended K-Camp for two weeks and it gave her exposure to early literacy and numeracy, as well as provided a structured day that really prepared her for the kindergarten transition. As a parent, it gave me peace of mind that she would be ready to take the next steps.”
“My son had the best week at the Kindergarten Readiness Camp. He is starting Kindergarten in September after completing a year of TK so it was the perfect refresher midway through summer. The camp focused on academics but also social interaction, self-regulating, transitioning and much more. My son said they played fun games and he loved taking breaks and playing in the gym. For a boy who doesn’t love doing table work he said it was the best camp! I could not be happier.”
Additional information about Kindergarten Readiness Programs
Summer K-Camp (Kindergarten Readiness Program) at Child Success Center
Is Kindergarten Camp a Fit For Your Child?
Tips for Managing the Homework Routine
Taking the Stress Out of Homework
Most parents have experienced it – the daily after school battle to get their kids to sit and do their homework. There are so many distractions – TV, social media, phone apps, texting. The problem often becomes worse if a child is struggling in school to begin with.
Providing a child with a sense of control over his homework situation can help. Creating a visual schedule and a “to do” list creates a feeling of ownership of a set of tasks. Completing this list of tasks instills self-confidence and a feeling of capability and accomplishment.
Establish a set time for homework, after some quality movement time, and keep it consistent, helping to build the child’s internal sense of time. Organization is critical. Set aside a special place in the house for homework. Make sure this location is kept tidy and that all needed materials, pens, pencils, etc., are available. If a child is older, they can organize their own materials, helping to build executive function skills. Make sure the child is sitting at a desk that is appropriate for their body. Their feet should be flat on the floor or step stool, keeping their ankles and knees at 90 degrees. Shoulders should not be elevated and elbows should be at 90 degrees for proper ergonomic positioning. If a child is looking at a computer screen, his eyes should be looking at the center of the screen. Having to look up or down for a prolonged period of time can cause neck fatigue.
If a child struggles to keep track of homework assignments and related papers, creating a homework folder that goes back and forth with them to school can help. Making the teacher aware of this kind of folder means that everyone is working together on behalf of the child, with the ultimate goal of helping the child become independent with homework tasks.
Breaking up the homework time with a fun, healthy, crunchy snack wakes up the brain, helping to keep your child alert and on task. When a child is frustrated it is important for him to see that the parent or caregiver does not lose trust or sight of the end goal – completion of the task and success for the child. A parent or caregiver’s availability during the homework period can be beneficial to a child that is struggling, providing a wonderful opportunity for a parent or caregiver to help motivate the child to develop resilience, focus and perseverance when challenged. Joining the child on a walk outside or a card game during a break can provide an opportunity for the child to communicate difficulties he may be having.
Encourage children to read for 30 minutes a night. Be aware of visual distractions, sound or auditory distractions, and get the child to work with you to locate a physical space that helps their body feel calm and their mind focused. Set a timer so they experience the success of completing the task. Big beanbag chairs are often a great place for children to feel calm. Make sure the lighting is adequate to avoid eye strain. If a child is rubbing their eyes, blinking consistently, has watery eyes or is regularly losing their place on the page, a developmental optometry assessment may be required.
Parents should try to remember that homework is for practice. It allows a child’s teacher to know how a child is doing with his learning. It is important that a parent, who feels that his child doesn’t understand what is being asked of them or is struggling in some way, communicate that to the teacher. Resist the urge to do a child’s homework for them – it’s not helpful in the long run.
If a child seems to be consistently struggling at school or with independent homework, then seeking out a professional assessment with an Educational Therapist could be key to identifying a child’s particular learning style, strengths and weaknesses.
Preventing Summer Slide
Help your child avoid “summer slide” with some fun summer learning.
Summer slide, unfortunately doesn’t refer to that cool new apparatus on the playground. Summer slide is what happens when students forget academic skill sets over the summer break. In fact, statistics show that a child can lose up to 30% of their math and reading abilities, putting them behind about 2 years by the 5th grade.
Now while that sounds dramatic, it is also avoidable. The summer is meant to be a fun break from the rigors of academia, but there is much learning that can be accomplished during summer fun and down time, leaving your child ready to tackle the beginning of a new grade in the Fall.
Some children naturally love to read, and will find the time during the summer to relax with a good book. Other children who may have reading challenges, and therefore don’t really enjoy it, can benefit from a reading skills program, where highly trained educational therapists get to the root of the reading difficulty, and help a child, in a fun and engaging way, to develop that skill.
Also, look for ways to practice reading, letter and number recognition in everyday summer activities. The signs at the farmers’ market while buying farm stand produce, street signs and license plates during car travel on vacation, and reading a recipe for a session of cookie baking are all examples of ways to keep those reading skills polished.
Math isn’t always thought of as a “fun” subject, but think of all the wonderful things that could be counted in the summer. Stars in a dark sky over a campground, seeds in a juicy watermelon, fish in a clear cool pond, popsicle sticks, water balloons, sea shells on the beach and cherries in a bowl.
Some children have a more difficult time with numbers, and again, a well trained educational therapist will be able to identify the root problems of the difficulty, and work with a child to develop the skills needed to succeed in this area.
This summer, support your child’s learning by making it part of the summer family activity plan, or by allocating just a few hours a week to an enriched summer learning program – leave the summer sliding for the playground.
Child Success Center SPARK Summer Program for Reading
Child Success Center SPARK Summer Program for Math
Clinical neurologist Jerome Schultz, PhD, discusses how summer programs can help kids with learning disabilities by providing academic support during months without school. Watch video.
Is Kindergarten Camp a Fit For Your Child?
Kindergarten Camp will help your child discover his love for learning!
Kindergarten Camp is for any child that has one (1) of the following needs:
- Support in the transition to kindergarten
- Skills when adapting to a new environment
- Creation of meaning and enjoyment while learning
- Development of handwriting and fine motor activities
- Identification of phonological awareness and early reading processes
- Focus on academics while being at a developmental preschool
By taking an educational therapy approach and incorporating research-based programs, the Child Success Center Kindergarten Enrichment Camp offers your child a unique, summer learning experience, while having great fun in our state-of-the-art sensory motor gym in Los Angeles, California.
K-CAMP is an individualized experience, with highly trained learning specialists looking at the “whole child” while meeting the specific needs of each child. Campers will work with a learning specialist to explore their learning journey. During the K-CAMP learning adventure, each child will be helped to develop confidence when taking the first steps toward reading, writing, attending to a new routine and being socially involved. Our approach allows visual and auditory integration, providing the child with a thorough learning experience and understanding from many areas of the brain.
K-CAMP provides a balance of educational, classroom-like experiences and positive social development opportunities. Our team utilizes the hugely effective Social Thinking® (Attributed to Michelle Garcia Winner as creator of the Social Thinking Methodology) curriculum that builds the body & brain awareness that is supportive to learning exploration. Our gymnasium provides a fun, interactive and comfortable learning environment for children. With success comes the joy of seeing your child adapt to new circumstances, thrive socially, develop the necessary skills to succeed in school and learn effectively and happily.
K-CAMP will ignite your child’s learning journey whether the goal is remediation of skills and/or enrichment, all while having great summer fun!
Much of the CSC Kindergarten Camp program is based on the following areas of learning and acquisition of skills.
- Social Thinking® & Whole-Body Listening – develops skills in focusing, listening, auditory cohesion and attending to the body in group and learning situations. Addressing whole-body listening can allow the child to understand the role of their brain in an array of experiences. (this is incorporated in all learning endeavors)
- Auditory Discrimination – increases the understanding and ability to discern between the differences in sounds. Sounds make up words which make up sentences and passages. Discrimination is important in all areas of learning- reading, writing and visual/auditory integration. Understanding discrimination can often bring about comfort and confidence in the reading process.
- Auditory Memory – increases ability to develop phonemes, words and sentences and retain and recall information that is presented orally.
- Phonological Skills – evolve through learning sounds and developing phonological awareness through sound-symbol relationship, blending and segmentation, and incorporating visual, auditory and motion into the learning process.
- Handwriting – includes letter and number formation, sequencing, and development of healthy, adaptive handwriting practices.
EXPECTATIONS OF SCHOOLS
Common Core Standards have clearly upped the stakes when it comes to what skills your child will need to have in his academic and social tool belt upon entering Kindergarten. The expectations for these young children are high and include age appropriate proficiency in reading, writing, listening and collaboration. The CSC Kindergarten Camp program addresses all of these areas while maintaining a fun and stress-free environment your child will look forward to each day.
This program, including its teacher or leader, is not affiliated with, nor has it been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by Michelle Garcia Winner and Think Social Publishing, Inc.
“Social Skills” and Early Childhood Development
Social skills plays a significant role in learning development and the educational experience.
One might correctly assume that Social Thinking® (Attributed to Michelle Garcia Winner as creator of the Social Thinking Methodology) is the process by which we interpret the thoughts, beliefs, intentions, emotions, knowledge and actions of another person along with the context of a situation to understand that person’s experience or perspective, and how to react accordingly. But Social Thinking® skills also play a significant role in learning development and the educational experience.
Learning instances can provide a number of potentially challenging “social” situations – group interactions, self-regulatory expectations, knowledge of body awareness, social exchanges and an understanding of listening. By using the social thinking model, we promote growth in areas that are critical for a learning foundation and are vital to successfully managing many life endeavors and day-to-day situations.
If a child is feeling socially uneasy, struggles to verbalize and identify needs, feels disconnected within a group or has trouble self-regulating, that child may find it difficult to learn and derive meaning from learning experiences. These situations arise daily for so many children, and if social skills are left un-addressed, a child can fall further and further behind socially and academically, creating loss of self-esteem and creative potential.
We expect children to enter into a multitude of situations, some new, some routine, and our goal is for them to have the skills to thrive and find themselves successful, comfortable and confident in doing so. Social thinking development provides this opportunity for success.
Child Success Center’s Friendship Club is designed for the child, ages 5-8, who is having a difficult time navigating the social landscape of the classroom or group setting and/or building friendships. The program is designed to use a multimodal approach of positive reinforcement, flexible behavior systems, floor time aspects, mindfulness practices, and the Social Thinking®curriculum, “We Thinkers – Social Explorers™” for early learners.
This program, including its teacher or leader, is not affiliated with, nor has it been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by Michelle Garcia Winner and Think Social Publishing, Inc.
Handwriting – Dying Art or Important Skill?
Is handwriting a dying art or is it still an important skill to master?
“My child’s handwriting is illegible. Do I need to do anything about this? Why do many children struggle with handwriting legibility? Does my child really need to learn handwriting?”
There has been some discussion recently about the viability and necessity of learning penmanship skills. Yet research shows that writing by hand engages the brain and is a vital component of literacy. Since handwritten testing throughout the school system is unlikely to change any time soon, learning to write quickly and clearly is an important means to an end. With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, the emphasis and expectations placed on classroom note-taking and expository writing in grades K–5 is greater than ever.
Whether a child prints or uses cursive writing, it must be legible to convey correct test answers, thoughts, instructions, etc. throughout his academic career and life. Therefore “hand writing” is a skill that must be learned and serves many purposes besides legibility.
While we may take the ability to write correctly for granted, many support skills must first be learned requiring the hand, eyes and brain to work in harmony. This becomes more challenging when a child is experiencing a delay in certain areas of development. This in turn can leave a child with feelings of frustration, decreased confidence and success, and often results in avoidance of the very repetition necessary to build skill.
The years between the ages of 3 and 5 are the time your child will build the motor coordination required to develop the dexterity, hand strength and endurance to shift from a fisted grasp to an adult 3 finger, (tri-pod) dynamic grasp that will allow them to control the pencil with ease.
In order to successfully engage in the Kindergarten curriculum, the foundations for a successful pencil grasp and control need to be in place. Core strength for body control to sit up right and arm strength to hold the paper still and stabilize the writing arm need to be well developed before the art of learning handwriting can occur. Their eyes need to work together to hold a focal point and track and be ready to shift gaze across the paper and from the board to the paper and back with ease. The visual memory system needs to be strong to retrieve the images of letters and begin to make sense of what they are seeing by adding meaning through the matching of sounds with each symbol. Reading and handwriting are a partnership – when one grows the other gets supported.
So why do some children struggle with handwriting and how do we help them?
When this very complicated neurological process has a hard time coming together, a child can be left with feelings of frustration and decreased confidence. Fundamental skills are often learned in the form of play for children and not work. They are driven to continue activities by feeling good and having fun. When the activities in the preschool years such as cutting, drawing, beading, climbing and catching a ball are not easy for them they often have the choice to avoid them, thus not engaging in the repetition actually needed to master the skill.
Teachers and parents may not notice that the child is avoiding these types of play especially if the child is exceptionally verbal and engaging. As adults, we need to be aware that children need to have healthy exposure to activities that will develop their nervous systems during the pre-school years in preparation for activities such as handwriting.
How do I know if my child will get past his difficulties?
Development is an individual process as each child has their own unique brain and their own sets of natural gifts and challenges. When engaging in general activities, parents and teachers can help children by:
- Making the child feel emotionally safe and excited to engage in the activities they may want to avoid.
- Grade the activity down to a level the child can easily engage in.
- Keep the activity as child driven as possible.
- If you are struggling to work with your child consult an Occupational Therapist. OT’s are highly trained in assessing the foundational neurological processes that are the base for all play and learning. They are able to let teachers and parents know if the struggle is rooted in lack of exposure, a mild delay that will catch up on its own, or truly an inefficient processing system that needs guidance and the right support to spring board into a positive outcome.
- If in doubt, ask.
Simple things you can do to help your child with his handwriting skills:
- Make sure your child is seated in a chair and at a table that allows for an upright posture with their feet firmly on the floor. Keep the ankles, knees and hips bent at approximately 90 degrees.
- Encourage the non-dominant hand to support the paper.
- Take a small cotton ball and place it under the 4th and 5th digits and secure it into the palm to help build the separation of the 2 sides of the hand to increase pencil grasp.
- Play bouncing, throwing at a target and catching games.
- Draw letters on each other’s back and try to guess the letters.
If left un-monitored, children may begin to:
- Have a negative relationship with learning
- Write a few words instead of the many ideas and thoughts they would like to share
- Have decreased confidence and self-image related to written work.
- Spend valuable brain energy on the handwriting process instead of the thoughts and ideas and learning process
Handwriting should be fun and requires the whole brain and the whole body.
The “Handwriting Club” at Child Success Center is a program customized to meet each child’s needs. Program is designed and run by licensed and highly skilled Occupational Therapists and features multi-sensory strategies, whole brain learning, and the extremely successful Handwriting Without Tears® program.
For more details or to enroll, call Child Success Center at 310/899-9597 or e-mail: enroll@childsuccesscenter.com
Related articles:
Teachers Still See Need for Cursive Writing
Handwriting Club at Child Success Center
Child Success Center Announces “Handwriting Club” for 2014
There has been some discussion recently about the viability and necessity of learning penmanship skills. Yet research shows that writing by hand engages the brain and is a vital component of literacy. Since handwritten testing throughout the school system is unlikely to change any time soon, learning to write quickly and clearly is an important means to an end. With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, the emphasis and expectations placed on classroom note-taking and expository writing in grades K–5 is greater than ever.
Whether a child prints or uses cursive writing, it must be legible to convey correct test answers, thoughts, instructions, etc. throughout his academic career and life. Therefore “hand writing” is a skill that must be learned and serves many purposes besides legibility.
While we may take the ability to write correctly for granted, many support skills must first be learned requiring the hand, eyes and brain to work in harmony. This becomes more challenging when a child is experiencing a delay in certain areas of development. This in turn can leave a child with feelings of frustration, decreased confidence and success, and often results in avoidance of the very repetition necessary to build skill.
The years between the ages of 3 and 5 are the time your child will build the motor coordination required to develop the dexterity, hand strength and endurance to shift from a fisted grasp to an adult 3 finger, (tri-pod) dynamic grasp that will allow them to control the pencil with ease.
The “Handwriting Club” at Child Success Center is a program customized to meet each child’s needs. The program is designed and run by licensed and highly skilled Occupational Therapists and features multi-sensory strategies, whole brain learning, and the extremely successful Handwriting Without Tears® program.
For more information or to enroll, call the Child Success Center – 310.899.9597 or email: Enroll@childsuccesscenter.com
Read complete article: “Handwriting – A Dying Art or Important Skill?”– by Melissa Idelson, Director, Child Success Center
Get Set for Kindergarten Program
Preparing your child for kindergarten.
One of the greatest challenges in the young life of most children is making that initial big step into Kindergarten. Many parents who have had their little ones in preschool believe that Kindergarten is somewhat akin to preschool and that significant academics really don’t kick in until 1st or 2nd grade, but that is far from reality. With the introduction of the new Common Core Standards, the bar is being raised and children entering Kindergarten must be more prepared than ever. In recent years, California Kindergarten curriculum has shifted to become far more academically skewed than in past decades and now more than ever, it’s very important to have all children properly prepared for these greater new challenges. To successfully excel in their new setting, children must achieve and master certain educational and social skills to adequately adapt and grow in a more accountable and often faster paced setting.
Some things to look for in the “Kindergarten-ready” child:
- Follows words left to right and top to bottom
- Understands that words are separated by spaces in print
- Recognizes and can name all upper and lower case letters of alphabet
- Demonstrates basic knowledge of letter sound correspondence by producing primary sound made by most consonants
- Holds a pencil with an adult grasp – 3 fingers with control of the pencil from the fingers
New Program to Help Kids “Be Prepared” for Kindergarten with Proper Skills
To help those who may need additional support, Child Success Center announces it’s new “Get Set For Kindergarten” program, a fun, interactive opportunity to prepare your child for Kindergarten. The program will help children develop confidence while taking the first steps toward handwriting and reading. The huge gymnasium at Child Success Center turns “learning” into “play” and all activities will inspire creative interests and offer hands-on fun through touching, exploring and games.
Small groups are now forming – call to reserve your child’s spot and help ensure the best start possible to a positive and successful academic experience.
Back-to-School – Working with Teachers to Identify Speech and Language Problems
Kids are Going Back to School – Working with your child’s teacher to identify speech and language problems early on is critical to ensuring his/her success at school.
As children return to the school classroom and play yard this year much will be expected of them in the areas of oral communication and listening skills. While the summer time offered great opportunity for children to build the sensory motor skills needed for playing and learning, they also had a break from the often complicated auditory and language world that school presents them.
If you have had concerns about the rate of your child’s speech acquisitions, their attention, socialization, ability to follow direction, answer questions, verbally problem solve, express themselves and emotionally handle communicating with their environment and those in it, we suggest you talk to your teachers at the beginning of the school year to make them aware of your concerns and to discuss ways to help your child be successful. As parents we know more about our children’s strengths and challenges than anyone else. Give your teacher a head start by meeting with them either before school starts or within the first 4 weeks. Often when children struggle with sensory motor and or speech and language processing their behaviors can be misinterpreted as personality traits; Controlling, sensitive, shy, aggressive, avoidant, rigid. Truth be told, these behaviors, if not properly identified, can hamper a child’s academic success as early as pre-school. We are setting students up for success if we identify and support as early as possible.
Knowing who to turn to for information is key. Seek guidance from your school, pediatrician, friends and online. You will find answers. Sometimes it is very clear what your child’s speech and language needs are… “my child cannot say the “s “sound.” Other times it is not so clear… “My 3 year old is hitting at school, not using words to communicate easily and is always on the go.” The combination of Sensory Integration trained Occupational Therapists and Speech and Language Therapists working together is often critical when searching for the underlying root of the challenges your child is presenting with. A collaborative therapy center offers you, the parent, with guidance and a whole child approach as your child grows.
Not all communication challenges are rooted in a speech and language disorder. But it is imperative that this be ruled in or out through a thorough assessment process. If you child is under the age of 5 it should be a play based assessment and your child should be made to feel as relaxed and comfortable as possible in a new environment. Make sure that the environment has play space and is not a small office. If your child is older make sure the therapist is skilled in identifying language based learning challenges and works closely with an educational therapist as these services often work side by side.
For more information on speech and language development and age related indicators that your child may need help please refer to this chart .
Speech and Language issues by the numbers:
Speech or language problems can lead to reading and writing difficulties which in turn lead to serious educational consequences.
- Some 17-20% of children in the United States have difficulties learning to read.
- More than 70% of teachers believe that students who receive speech and language services demonstrate improved pre-reading, reading, or reading comprehension skills.
- Most poor readers have an early history of spoken language deficits.
- A recent study reported that 2nd graders who read poorly had phonemic awareness or spoken language problems in kindergarten.
- About 41% of fourth grade boys and 35% of fourth grade girls read below grade level.
- Overall, communication disorders affect approximately 42 million Americans. Of these, 28 million have a hearing loss and 14 million have a speech or language disorder.
***Statistics provided by ASHA (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association http://www.asha.org/)
Changes in California Education May Offer Reasons to Consider Summer Academic Camps
California’s new Common Core Standards go into effect with 2013-2014 School Year.
You may be busy gearing up for summer, but one thing is certain: It’s not too early to start thinking about the fall season – especially if your child will be starting Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade. The Kindergarten and early grade experience is in the midst of significant changes. For that matter, every grade level is going through dramatic changes, but we’ll focus on our younger scholars for this discussion.
Kindergarten – A New Kind of “Kid Stuff”
One of the greatest opportunities, and also challenges, of a child’s young life is the transition from a preschool into an elementary school environment. For children who are about to enter a new world of academia, this summer will mark the end of an era and the beginning of their “real” relationship with education and learning. Many aspects of Kindergarten will be entirely new for them. The school will be bigger, there will be more time sitting at a table, more focus on letters and numbers, more time handwriting, more time listening, and definitely, a great deal more structure. The days will be longer and there will likely be more independence required as part of the overall classroom routine.
Many think of Kindergarten simply as snacks, naps and playtime but, actually, it’s significantly more challenging than it used to be. In an effort to help students prepare for a more competitive job market upon graduation, California is joining 44 other states in a transition to a more rigorous academic curriculum called Common Core State Standards, which dramatically affects all levels of education, starting with Kindergarten.
California lawmakers put the wheels in motion with approval of the new scholastic standards in 2010 – and by 2015, all elementary school curriculum is expected to be well on the way to completing the transition. What this means to your Kindergartner is that she or he will be learning aspects of language, math and reading skills at levels formerly slated for higher grades. Knowledge of these changes has clearly started to reach parents, with many feeling encouraged to ensure their child attends a preschool, transitional Kindergarten or other appropriate alternative, which will better prepare them for the challenges ahead.
If your child is heading off to Kindergarten this fall, or if your grade-schooler has struggled in any way during the current school year, here are a few tips regarding summer camps that can help your young one to be prepared for school in the fall.
- First and foremost, the summer months are and should be a time for play, exploration, creativity and fun. However, blend these carefree experiences with camp or summer class experiences that will benefit your child through the years of grade school ahead.
- Think twice about what kind of organized summer activities you select for your child. Every year parents shell out hundreds and hundreds of dollars shuffling kids from one summer camp to another – ranging from soccer camp to cooking and anything imaginable in between. If you are currently pondering the best summer camp investment to benefit your child’s growth and development, remember that there are long term advantages in ensuring their early scholastic years establish a strong foundation on which to build a lifetime of learning.
- For children entering Kindergarten there are one or two week summer Kindergarten readiness camps featuring effective and award winning learning programs such as Handwriting Without Tears and Zoo phonics. These tools are fun, engaging and very effective in helping kids learn.
- For kids who will be entering first, second or third grade who are having even slight challenges with math, reading or handwriting, similarly, there are summer learning “fun” classes that can tune-up and improve an area needing help using fun and entertaining techniques. Additionally, some summer academic programs include activities involving a full multi-sensory kid friendly gymnasium. Studies show that kids learning retention improves greatly when the curriculum is enhanced with physical activities that exercise motor skill abilities.
- Grade school preparation camps can directly improve a child’s comprehension and retention skill-set, which in turn will work wonders to build their confidence and bolster self-esteem upon entering a new grade.
- Parents of kids who attended a “play-based” curriculum preschool, or whose child struggled at all with routine preschool activities, may want to consider a professional evaluation for their child to ensure that he or she is ready for kindergarten by the fall.
- Parents should also remember that the stronger academic demands placed on kids can create new stresses they have to deal with, which can influence behavior, self-confidence and their social skills. If you are already faced with challenges in these areas, don’t be afraid to seek out extra help for your little one to obtain techniques and/or therapy to help overcome the issues before the new school year compounds any problems.
Ultimately, enjoy and get the most out of summer this year. But, along with your family vacation of a lifetime, the epic barbecue cookouts and neighborhood block parties, remember to keep an eye on the new school year and make sure your kids start the journey off in full academic stride.
To learn more about the Kindergarten Readiness Camp at Child Success Center, click here.
For more information on The Summer Academy at Child Success Center, click here.
