Core Language
Skills Children
Should Have Before
Starting School
Social skills are very important for
children to learn. In school, children will be expected to adapt to new
situations, communicate with a teacher and other students, and play with others
on the playground or in class. Social skills are how children
learn to communicate their emotions, understand how others are feeling, and
understand facial expressions.
Here’s a quick list of specific social
skills that children should have by the time they start school:
Uses words to solve problems and conflicts
Follows one-step directions
Follows simple rules
Asks for help
Interacts appropriately with adults and other children
Participates in clean-up activities
Takes responsibility for his/her own items and respects those of others
Demonstrates increasing self-control
Is able to express feelings in words and begins to regulate emotions
Adjusts to new situations
Uses “please” and “thank you”
Language
Skills
Language is one of the main ways
children learn when they’re in school. It is important that children have these
skills in order to succeed in school:
Talks in sentences
Retells a story that was just read to him/her
Identifies numbers and letters
Identifies at least five or six colours
Uses past and present tense verbs
Recites/sings common nursery rhymes and songs
Combines two ideas in sentences
Concepts
While in preschool, children learn many
and begin to understand even more concepts about time, categories, and objects
in space, to name a few. Specifically, these skills include:
Sorts by categories (size, shape, color)
Identifies objects that are same and different
Understands some prepositions (in/out, over/under, on/off)
Understands time concepts such as yesterday, today, tomorrow
Some Things
Parents Can Do At Home
One of the most important things I tell
my students’ parents is to make sure to do some activities that facilitate this
learning at home. It doesn’t have to be anything complicated or expensive
at all. Just implement it into daily routines that are already
established! The children may not even realize they’re doing some work.
Ask the child to identify the “red book” or the “green barn” while
reading.
Ask questions about what the child did yesterday and what he/she will do
tomorrow.
Ask the child to briefly retell the story you just read to him/her.
Sing songs or rhyme while cooking or at bath time.
Go on a walk and find as many things as you can that are green (or any
colour).
Emphasise concepts such as size, colour,
or shape while the child is playing.
