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Supporting a Preschooler's Successful Transition to Kindergarten
(Worth Repeating March 2020 and May 2019 Tip with a few updates for books and links to visit! Link to previous Tips here.)
Learn more about kindergarten in FCPS.
 5 Things to Know or Do:
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Connect families with their child’s base school. Encourage them to build healthy home-school connections, attend orientation, join the PTA, visit the school website, sign up for News You Choose, and ask about summer activities for rising kindergartners in order to begin building positive relationships before the first day of school.
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Talk positively to children about starting kindergarten. Have children share their feelings and ask questions too.
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Read stories about kindergarten, and/or create a class book about kindergarten. Consider using the familiar language of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and include photos of the schools children will be entering in the fall. As children gain knowledge, plan dramatic play activities related to the kindergarten experience.
- Regularly facilitate activities that support the development of children’s self-regulation skills.
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Providing meaningful information about rising kindergarten students to the base school. Information about children’s strengths, areas of development requiring additional support and successful strategies used in the early childhood setting can help ensure a smooth transition.
 4 Children Read Alouds
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We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan Higgins ( Fairfax Library). When the class pet bites the finger of Penelope, a tyrannosaurus rex, she finally understands why she should not eat her classmates, no matter how tasty they are.
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All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold ( Fairfax Library) Illustrations and simple, rhyming text introduce a school where diversity is celebrated and songs, stories, and talents are shared.
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School’s First Day of School by Adam Rex ( Fairfax Library) "It's the first day of school at Frederick Douglass Elementary and everyone's just a little bit nervous, especially the school itself"-- Provided by publisher.
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Our Class is a Family by Shannon Olsen (No Fairfax Library availability; Amazon) “...a book that will help build and strengthen that class community. Kids learn that their classroom is a place where it’s safe to be themselves, it’s okay to make mistakes, and it’s important to be a friend to others...”
 3 Links to Visit
- Fairfax Futures: Paving the Way to Kindergarten (PDF)
- VKRP: Supporting Readiness Skills
- VKRP: Fall Family Resource Packet (English); Fall Family Resource Packet (Spanish) (pdf)
 2 Videos to View
- Fairfax County Office for Children: Stepping Into Kindergarten (youtube)
- Head Start | ECLKC: Transitions from the Children's Perspectives
 1 Point to Access Research
- University of Chicago: Research Report: A Community Effort to Support the Transition from Pre-K to Kindergarten (pdf)
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