Transition%20from%20Pre-school%20to%20Primary%20school

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Transition from Pre-school to Primary school

• Welcome

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Running order

• Is your child ready for school?
• Preparation for learning
• Routine and the first day
• Toilet training
• Uniform
• School bag
• Lunches
• Pencil cases
• Homework

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Is your child ready for school ?
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The role of pre-schools
Pre-schools are well placed to develop childrens
emotional and social skills. Research has
highlighted the difference pre-schools can make
to childrens emotional and social skills and
ultimately school readiness.
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Is your child ready for school?

• Social Emotional maturity is more important
  than Academic ability (Ability to cope in
  different social situations and emotional
  steadiness)
• Can they play simple games with other children,
  share and take turns
• Every child is different but in general maturity
  is
• directly linked to age
• Remember, they are moving from a small, more
  intimate group to
• one that is larger

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• Is your child ready for school ?.....
• By law children can start school if they are four
  on or before September 30th.
• In a typical class there could be an age
  difference of 18 months
• The older child has over 20 more life
  experience
• The younger child is always competing with
  children who are older that them. As they mature,
  the older child also matures, so they have
  difficulty catching up
• Consider the long term implications 12 going to
  secondary school, 17 going to college

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• Being five or nearly five
• Your child is bigger than when they were four
  and
• being bigger nearly always helps !!!
• They generally have -
• Greater language usage, allowing them to be
  better understood by their teacher and friends
• Developed better hand-eye co-ordination and motor
  skills opening schoolbags, beakers, holding a
  pencil etc
• Greater emotional steadiness and
  concentration

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Younger children (Generally) -

• Have a shorter concentration span
• Slower to complete tasks
• Arent as competent at expressing their thoughts
• Sometimes difficult to understand be
  understood
• Get upset more easily
• Get tired quickly
• Find it difficult to negotiate
• They can be easily dominated and will often
  accept minor roles in games

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Preparation

• for
• learning

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Subjects
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English
Oral language, Reading and Writing
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Oral language

• The language curriculum emphasises developing
  listening and speaking skills in preparation for
  beginning of reading and writing
• It is essential for the social development of
  children. Children need language to perform
  common social functions- introducing oneself to
  others, greeting others and saying goodbye,
  asking and answering questions, giving and
  receiving messages, interacting with others and
  negotiating
• It is also necessary for their emotional
  development. They need language to express their
  thoughts and feelings

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Developing Language Skills
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• Use Descriptive Commentary
• In developing language skills children should be
  encouraged to
• Listen Explain Tell
• Talk Question Retell
• Play provides an ideal opportunity for children
  to use language, build their vocabulary and to
  acquire a variety of linguistic skills. Dont
  economise with language.

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Reading
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• Children are enabled to
• Listen to, enjoy and respond to stories, nursery
  rhymes, poems and songs
• Become familiar with a wide range of
  environmental print
• Learn to recognise and name the letters of the
  alphabet. Emphasis on the lower case in junior
  infants
• Develop an awareness of letter sound
  relationships and to fuse the sounds of letters
  into words
• Build up a sight vocabulary of common words and
  start reading graded reading books

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Preparation for reading
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Preparation for reading

• Read to your child. Story time encourages a love
  of books and creates an interest in reading.
  Predict what the story will be about, ask
  questions about the story and let your child
  retell the story
• Pay attention to the mechanics of reading i.e.
  Holding a book, turning the page, let your finger
  go under the words as you read from left to right
• Provide children with an opportunity to handle
  books

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Preparation for reading continued

• Say rhymes and riddles
• Reading is essentially about recognising
  similar, written and individual sounds and
  rhymes, the more highly developed childrens ears
  are the better e.g
• wall, fall
• Singing and saying the alphabet. Emphasis on
  the lower case. Point to each letter. Allow
  children to handle magnetic letters, soft letters
  etc..

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Writing
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• Children are enabled to
• Develop a satisfactory grip of writing elements
  pencil, crayon
• Learn to form individual lower case letters
• Understand the left, right orientation of writing
• Copy letters and write words as part of class
  activities
• Write his or her name

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Preparation for writing
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Primary schools do not expect children to be
able to write when they come to school. It is far
more important that small children have had
plenty of opportunity to build up the control in
their hands. When the teacher begins to teach
formal writing children with well developed
muscles will learn to write with ease. (Ready
For School M. Horan G OBrien )
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How to develop muscles for writing

• The assembly and pulling apart of construction
  toys
• Playing with dolls dressing undressing. (
  Buttons, laces zips)
• Manipulating pliable materials such as playdough
  and marla. ( Pushing, pulling rolling)
• Scribbling using thick crayons
• Painting
• Cutting

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Maths
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• Content for Junior infants
• Early mathematical activities including
  matching, classifying, comparing and ordering.
• Number including counting (0-10), comparing (
  sets of 0-5) and ordering (0-5). Read and write
  numerals 0-5, combine sets of objects, totals to
  5.
• Algebra including copying and adding to
  patterns of colour, shape, size and number.
• Measurement including working with length,
  weight, capacity, time and money.
• Shape and space including working with 2-D and
  3-D shapes.
• Data- including sorting objects and understanding
  and making charts and graphs.

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Preparation for Maths
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• Early mathematical activities
• Matching - snap, matching pairs of objects!
• Classifying - putting similar objects in groups
  e.g same colour, shape, texture, animals, birds
  etc
• Comparing according to length, width, height,
  quantity e.g The 3 Bears
• Ordering ordering objects by length or height.
  Build towers, use cut outs.
• Number
• Counting rhymes and songs 5 little ducks etc.
  Birthdays for teddies, play shop ( 2 apples etc),
  count objects.

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• Algebra
• Make simple patterns using beads, pegs, shapes
  and printing
• Measurement
• Length long/short, tall/short, wide/narrow,
  longer/shorter
• Weight heavy/light, balance, sort objects into
  heavy or light objects
• Capacity full/empty, holds more/holds less
• Time morning/evening, night/day,lunchtime,
  bedtime, early/late, days of the week, yesterday,
  today, tomorrow, seasons, birthdays
• Money recognise and use coins up to 5 cents

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Sample Routine

• Infant day - 900- 1.40
• Small break-1050-1100
• Big lunch- 1230-100
• First week - 900-1200
• Early to bed.... 12 hours sleep !
• Tired children -
• Get upset easily
• Are irritable
• Have a shorter concentration span

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Punctuality

• Morning
• Children can be intimidated walking into a class
  already in progress
• Children who are late miss out on activities
• It interrupts the class
• Evening
• Children become anxious if they see other
  children being collected they are left behind
• Attendance
• 183 days in school year. 20 days unexplained,
  school must notify the National Education Board.
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First Day

• If youre feeling upset, dont show it!!!
• Dont arrive too early on the first day...
• Settle them at a desk with toys. On signal, say
  see you later!
• If theyre upset, use distraction e.g start
  playing with the toys on their desk
• Dont peek in the window/door!!

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Toilet Training

• Your child should be fully toilet trained
• Children should know how to wipe, flush wash.
  Hygiene is extremely important as they share
  toys, crayons , paintbrushes etc..
• Provide them with opportunities to use cubicles
• Practice at home with uniform on
• Accidents at school
• Headlice

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School Uniform

• Coats
• Independence (Labels)
• Shoes
• Velcro shoes or buckles are best
• Tracksuit
• Worn on P.E. days. Policies vary.
• Boys trousers
• Elasticated waistlines.
• Weather
• The joys of the changes to Irish weather!!

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School Bag

• Zip bags are easiest to open and close.
• Clips, drawstrings are difficult to manage
• Wheelie bags
• Independence
• Key rings
• Check size of books first.

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Lunches

• Lunchbag and box
• -Water proof fabric zip up.its
• -Box that fits in easily
• Drink
• -Bottle / easy to open carton. Avoid beakers
• -Fits easily into lunchbox / side pocket.
• Contents
• - Sandwich/wrap, fruit (easy to eat e.g peel
  oranges, berries, bananas, cheese
  strings, yoghurts.
• - Spoons for yoghurts.
• - Easy to open containers.
• Healthy Eating
• - Check School Policy

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Pencil cases

• Style
• Side zip works best.
• Contents
• - Twistables
• - Triangular junior grip pencils
• Rubber
• Topper
• Books Transparent covers
• LabelsLabel everything your child brings in to
  avoid upset.

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Play pretend school

• Have a trial run or ten !! with their school bag,
  lunch box, uniform coat at home.
• Children cannot become independent if they cannot
  manage the equipment you provide
• Nothing succeeds like success!! 

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Homework

• No distractions
• Writing before colouring
• Oral homework is equally important
• Should take around 10 - 15 minutes
• Realistic expectations

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Finally.

• Treat it as a natural step in your childs life
• Children take their outlook on school from you so
  if your experience was not a happy one, your
  child does not need to know !!! Make it
  upTheirs will be different..
•  

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QUESTIONS? Thank you all for your attention.
Lorraine Fitzpatrick