YOUR EDUCATION
NEWS FROM OUR WILLIAMSON COUNTY SCHOOLS
WILLIAMSON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
Get Ready, Get Set, Go…to
Kindergarten!
by Susan Charest school didn’t start for 25 minutes, and we only had a five-minute car commute. While in the school’s car-rider line, I looked into my review mirror, and I couldn’t see my son. I looked over my shoulder and found him lying like a flatten possum on the car floor. A teacher that was working the car rider line opened the door and tried to pry him off the floor. After unsuccessful attempts, the teacher spoke these unwelcomed words, “Ms. Charest, you’ll need to park and bring your son into school.” I walked him into class as he yelled, “I can’t do it,”and clung to my leg like Velcro. It took somewhere between a couple of teachers to an army of school faculty to remove him from my leg and keep him from running out the exit doors that were located at the end of the Kindergarten corridor.
Our son’s first day of Kindergarten was 391 days ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. As the school bus accordion doors swung open, our son lifted his untied sneaker onto the first step, he looked at the bus driver and then me, and whispered, “I can’t do it.” He dropped his backpack to the ground and then blazed a trail, heading for the hills. Actually, it was one hill, about a football field away. I caught (tackled) him and waved the bus driver on. My son responded, “that was a close one, looks like I’m staying home - I’ll have another pop tart.” I smiled knowing that
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These stressful school days continued somewhere between a week and a semester until we met Ms. Carrie Jones, School Counselor of Clovercroft Elementary. Ms. Carrie’s gentle guidance and persistence grew our son’s confidence, as his new friendships and love to learn blossomed. It didn’t happen overnight, but after creating a plan that made him responsible for a classroom job, utilizing a reward chart at home, reading The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn - his protest ended. It was also of great help to have a new classroom friend share a seat on the bus and a love for Nintendo. I recently contacted Ms. Carrie to see how to better prepare your preschoolers for Kindergarten in the hopes that you would
never have to blaze a trail, away from the school’s doors, to catch (tackle) your child. (SC) How do you create an “I can do it” attitude? (CJ) Kindergarten is a beautiful step toward the goal of becoming a successful contributing citizen. When we begin with that goal, it supports all that we do and say to our children. As parents, we need to keep in mind that doing for them something they are capable of doing for themselves sends the message, “You can’t do this on your own,” and keeps them from independence. We can set them up for success by teaching them how and why we’re doing things. Conversations during routine activities are great independence builders because we have the opportunity to teach reasoning skills that they can transfer to future situations, beginning with the backpack. Packing up the backpack and placing it where it needs to go should be your child’s responsibility at home, just as it is at school. Allow them to put their lunch box (with water bottle closed tightly) and school folder/binder (with returning papers) in their backpack. Use this time as an opportunity to coach them how things can travel to and from school in an organized way. (SC) What are some ways to calm fears and comfort separation? (CJ) Believe in their success, focus on things they’ve already learned and the independence they’ve already developed, tell them they are going to love K. Begin a goodbye ritual that says, “I believe in you, have a great day, and I will look forward to hearing your school stories after school.” When our children were little and they cried, they got our attention. We want to ensure that we don’t lead them to believe that crying, complaining, or worrying gets more attention than their ability to be independent, learning to learn, and being a kind friend. When you say goodbye, you could say, “I can’t wait to hear what was great about your day. You can make it great!” This empowers your child to know that they can make choices to have a great day and they’ll