Building Independence

• Pack snacks and lunches together while at home using containers and lunch bag. Practice opening and closing containers, as well as unzipping and zipping up lunch bag.

• If your child is not yet eating independently, practice at meal times.

• Practice getting dressed and undressed independently (jackets, shoes, zippers, buttons). Safety measures say to stay at least 1 metre from others whenever possible.

• Work with your child so they can put their belongings away in their backpack and hang their jacket on a hook.

• Practice things that will keep them safe at school like proper hand washing, how to wear a mask properly, how to store their mask when not using, and encourage staying at least 1 metre from others.

• Give your child opportunities to use child scissors, write with pencils, use markers, and glue.

• Practice recognizing and writing their name.

• Have your child participate in tidy-up time at home. You may want to incorporate some sorting, as well.

• Toileting is done independently in Kindergarten. Practice all of the steps of using the washroom, from wiping, to flushing, to hand washing, independently. Educators will help in the case of an accident by giving children clean clothes from their cubby in which to change.

• Read some books about starting Kindergarten. Here is a list of books found on YouTube: Kindergarten Here I Come by D. J. Steinberg; Miss Bindergarten gets ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate, First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, Countdown to Kindergarten by Alison McGhee, The Night before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing, On the first day of Kindergarten by Tish Rabe. Click on the pictures below to watch the books.