How to prepare your child for school

In the Russian law on education there is only one requirement to the future first-grader - age from 6.5 to 8 years. There are no mandatory skills that need to be tested before school. But, as a rule, parents want their child to be able to study with pleasure. Therefore, it is worth checking whether he is ready to receive new information and communicate with others and whether he has the simplest self-service skills.

How to mentally prepare your child for school

The first question that should be asked to a future student is whether he wants to go to school, whether he is waiting for the start of classes. If he is curious and ready to learn new things, everything is in order. If the child is afraid, his mood deteriorates sharply and he does not want to talk about school at all, problems may arise. In this case, you should calmly, without reproaches and accusations, talk with the future student and find out what he is afraid of.

You can go to school with him, sit in the classroom where lessons will be held, talk with teacher, if there is such a possibility. And to show that there is nothing terrible in the classes - but there will definitely be a lot of interesting things.

If there are older students in the family or among the child's friends, you should ask them to tell the future first grader or first grader how they themselves got used to school life. What they were afraid of, what seemed incomprehensible, and what they liked from the very beginning of their studies. This will add confidence to the future student.

Under no circumstances should you be afraid preschooler future study. If he is not acting like the perfect boy or girl in the picture, do not say: “Wait, you will go to school - they will teach you discipline there! And they will quickly wean you from screaming and indulging! Such phrases can cause fear and completely discourage the desire to go to first grade.

What basic ideas about yourself and the world should a child have?

The first grade does not require serious skills. But basic knowledge is necessary. Here is what applies to them.

1. Surname, name and patronymic. Both his own and his parents. The child must know exactly what his name is, how old he is, what the names of his relatives are.
2. Location. First of all, this is a home address - his child should know it by heart. As a rule, today not everyone has landline phones, so it will be great if a first grader knows the mobile numbers of family members. Do not rely on the recording of contacts in the child's phone: mobile phones sometimes run out of power. A student should learn at least one number of an adult who can be contacted: moms, dads, grandmothers, older brother or other relative.
3. Names of the native city or town, region or republic and country. A first-grader should imagine in which part of the world he lives. It will be great if he can name other cities of his country, as well as several states.
4. Calendar elements. These are the seasons month names and days of the week. The child should know what date it is today, what day of the week it will be tomorrow and whether winter will come soon.
5. Time display. It's great if the first grader understands what time it is and how to find out. It is very good if he knows when the lessons start, what time they will end and what the clock will show when he comes home.
6. Basic abstract concepts. These include knowing what “right” and “left” are, the ability to distinguish between the main geometric figures - circle, triangle, square, rectangle, oval. The child should remember the most common colors, and even better - be able to distinguish between shades.
7. Basic knowledge about the environment. This is information about the most common plants, animals, birds, fish, insects. About vegetables and fruits, about the main products and how to get them. About the landscape of the area where the student lives.
8. Basic information about society. This is information that a resident of each city or village needs to know. It's great if the student knows how to use transport, when to contact doctorwhere to get food and clothes, in which case you need to call emergency services. Here you can also add information about the holidays that are celebrated in the family and in society.
9. Important safety rules. They talk about them at school, but it’s better for the child to know: you can’t play with fire, eat unfamiliar berriesleave the front door to the apartment open. And one more thing - that you should never, under any circumstances, go out with strangers. In the same paragraph, it is worth adding the basic rules of the road.

That is, the first grader must imagine how arranged the world around us and how to live safely in it. And know who to contact if you have a question or a problem.

Parents should constantly communicate with the future student. Talk about the world, about people, about society. Tell stories about different life situations and think together how best to act in them for all participants.

It will be useful to read fairy tales and watch cartoons together, and then briefly retell their plot.

And also - to discuss what they liked and did not like in the actions of the characters, what the heroes of the fairy tale learned and how the child himself would act in their place. You can ask the future student to give advice to this or that character and explain why he considers his own way of acting to be the best. So in a playful way, the child will learn to make decisions - even if for now only fabulous. At the same time, he will develop a speech and practice arguing his point of view.

While walking, you should pay attention to the world around you: trees and shrubs, a growing house at the nearest construction site, special equipment. And tell the child what the plants are called, why cars drive, why you need to dig a hole to plant a tree. Such knowledge is gradually accumulated and eventually combined into a single picture of the world.

To develop logic, it is worth guessing riddles and even inventing them with your child. Will be useful and elementary math problems They help develop thinking and memory. You can solve them right during your walks: for example, count how many pigeons are sitting on the ledge. And then answer how many there will be if two more doves arrive.

Developed fine motor skills will help you learn to write faster. A future student should draw more often, sculpt from plasticine, cut simple shapes out of paper with scissors. Before the New Year will be great with the child cut snowflakes. Well, if winter is far away, you can stock up on colored paper and cut out flowers, leaves or abstract patterns.

What Information Skills Should You Develop?

They are needed to study new topics for the child and effectively absorb knowledge. Here are a few of the main ones.

1. The ability to briefly convey the meaning of what is heard or seen. Not all children before school know how read, and this skill is not considered mandatory. But the ability to understand what the teacher is talking about and literally convey the essence of the story in just a couple of sentences will definitely not be superfluous. Also, the ability to tell what the child sees in the picture and what, in his opinion, will happen to the characters he sees next, will not hurt.
2. The ability to combine similar things or concepts. As a rule, first-graders know that an apple, a pear, a tangerine are fruits, and a doctor, a computer master and an accountant are professions. It will be great if the child can combine other, more complex concepts. For example, he will understand that hockey, team ski relay, ski jumping and football are kinds of sports. But if you ask him what is superfluous on this list, he can remove football, because it is a summer sport. And in no case do not say that the child is wrong if he removes ski jumping, because in this sport, participants compete alone, and in all others they compete in a team. This is also the correct answer.
3. Learn to ask questions if you don't understand something. If a first grader does not learn something the first time, this is normal. He may not talk about it at school. But it will be great if he is at home will tellthat something is not clear to him, and ask adults to explain. This is much better than if he keeps silent and does not understand the topic. After all, then the misunderstanding will only accumulate. Because of this, interest in learning may disappear and there will be a reluctance to go to school at all.

All these skills will help the student not to get confused in any situation that may arise in the classroom.

And here the same exercises as in the previous paragraph will be useful. You can regularly play simple intellectual games with your child. For example, in "edible-inedible». Or, during a walk, classify the surrounding objects according to some pre-selected feature.

For example, name all the red objects that you meet. Or all products that are manufactured in factories and plants. Or anything that starts with P. You can come up with many such games.

It is worth encouraging the child to ask questions - both in the case when he did not understand something, and if some conclusion seemed wrong to him.

What self care skills should you teach your child?

Usually first-graders who went to kindergarten are quite independent. If the child was at home, it is worth checking whether he is able to take care of his basic needs.

Pupils spend a long time without parents or other relatives. Therefore, adults should make surethat the child will be able to spend several hours without contact with loved ones. If it is difficult, you can agree that he will call at recess and tell you how things are going.

The student will be calmer if he knows: mom or dad are waiting for his call and will support him if necessary.

The child should be able to change shoes and carefully put away clothes and shoes in the wardrobe. It seems to be elementary. But it often happens that the child was not attentive enough or was just in a hurry, so he left his street shoes in the hall without a bag or forgot where he hung the scarf. And then, after the end of the lessons, one is unsuccessfully looking for the left shoe, the other is looking for the lost hat, the third cannot find the bag for changing shoes.

In addition, first-graders need to feel confident in the school cafeteria. Also, know where to wash hands before meals or after a walk, and be able to use a public toilet. Some children at home may have problems with this at first, so parents should pay special attention to such skills.

It is worth teaching the future student not only to neatly put clothes and shoes on a hanger. He will be more confident if he can quickly and in the right order fasten his sneakers or boots, put on a coat or jacket and do not forget about the scarf. Perhaps, before the child was not always attentive, and one of the adults could help him. Now it’s worth making sure that the student can handle everything on his own.

Having submitted documents for enrollment in the first grade, parents should take a short tour of the school for their child. You can look into the dining room, and into the wardrobe, and into the toilet. And answer all the questions that the future student has, and if necessary, tell him how he will have to act.

If parents have doubts about whether the child is ready for school, you can discuss this with a child psychologist.