{"id":85,"date":"2021-03-25T13:33:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T13:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/newportps\/?page_id=85"},"modified":"2021-04-26T12:41:02","modified_gmt":"2021-04-26T11:41:02","slug":"transition-to-p1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/fi\/newportps\/nursery\/transition-to-p1\/","title":{"rendered":"Transition to P1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Preparing Your Child for School &#8211; A Guide for Parents and Guardians<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The period before a child starts school for the first time can be an anxious time for parents.\u00a0 We have put together the following information as a simple guide to<\/p>\n<p>how you can best prepare your child for this exciting time in their lives!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Promoting Independence<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your child will really benefit from being as independent as possible when they start school.\u00a0 Of course teaching staff will always be on hand to help but children feel a real sense of achievement when they can accomplish things by themselves!\u00a0 Examples include being able to dress and undress independently, as this will really help with PE sessions.\u00a0 Learning to tie shoelaces can be tricky, so provide opportunities to practise this skill and also explore different types of fastenings, for example Velcro.<\/li>\n<li>Children in Primary 1 will also have access to an outdoor space throughout the day, so being able to put their coat on and zip it up independently will really help \u2013 as will being able to put on a pair of shoes or taking off their jumper when they get hot.\u00a0 It also means that they can get straight to their playing and learning without having to stop and ask an adult for help.<\/li>\n<li>Another important part of being independent at school is being able to use the toilet independently, including washing and drying their hands.\u00a0 It will also be helpful if they are able to blow their nose on a tissue and put it in the bin.<\/li>\n<li>Having lunch independently may also be new to your child.\u00a0 If they will be having hot dinners, practise using a knife, fork and spoon.\u00a0 If they are taking a packed lunch, practise opening the packets and containers of food they will be taking.\u00a0 Encourage them to help choose and make their lunch.\u00a0 Maybe they could use their new school lunchbox and water bottle when you go for a picnic in the park. This would enable them to practise opening their food and learn about their likes\/dislikes and suitable items for school lunches.<\/li>\n<li>Your child will also really benefit from having experienced being away from you for short periods of time, such as going to a friend\u2019s house to play.\u00a0 This will really develop their confidence and independence and stand them in good stead when it comes to saying goodbye on that first morning at school.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Social Skills<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Being able to interact appropriately with other children and share resources is a key skill that will help your child when they start school.\u00a0 Play dates with other children will help to promote these skills and you could arrange these with future classmates if possible.\u00a0 During the play date you can model useful social phrases such as \u2018my turn please\u2019 or \u2018let\u2019s share\u2019 and join in with pretend play to start the game off and then fade out as children get into character.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Communication and Language<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Many parents worry if their child will be able to tell the teacher if they need something or if they will make friends.\u00a0 Good communication skills underpin these abilities.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Listening and Attention Skills<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Your child will be given many spoken instructions throughout the school day and will need to be able to shift their attention from what they are doing to listen to what the teacher is saying.\u00a0 A lovely activity to promote this is to go on a \u2018listening walk\u2019 where your child listens for all the sounds around them in the park or town centre.\u00a0 You could also jot down all the sounds your child notices and talk about these back at home to retell the journey based on the sounds they heard.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Understanding Spoken Instructions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Classroom instructions often contain several parts for children to remember.\u00a0 A simple game of \u2018Simon Says\u2019 during long car journeys this summer could really help.\u00a0 Give your child an instruction to do, like \u2018Simon says put your finger on your nose\u2019 and see if they can follow your instruction.\u00a0 The game becomes more difficult as they are only supposed to follow your instructions if you start with the sentence \u2018Simon says \u2026\u2019 Can your child listen carefully and only follow the instructions when directed?\u00a0 The game can be made more challenging by building up to instructions with two or three steps for example \u2018Simon says touch your nose, then clap your hands and then put your hands on your head!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vocabulary Development<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At school, children will be expected to start extending their vocabulary, so it is a good idea to encourage your child to learn and use new words.\u00a0 You could play sorting games when packing a suitcase, as this is a great way to help word categorisation, which is important for vocabulary learning.\u00a0 Items can be sorted into different piles such as clothing, toys and things for washing ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>Outdoor \u2018treasure hunts\u2019 work well too.\u00a0 Collecting objects found on walks in the park or on the beach, help introduce new types of vocabulary such as describing words.\u00a0 Treasure can also then be used to create feely bags, where objects have to be described by the way they feel before revealing what the object is.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Narrative Skills<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Primary 1 age children will be encouraged to use language to organise and sequence ideas and events.\u00a0 Summer days are perfect for creating a photo journal of activities.\u00a0 Your child can then organise pictures into the correct sequence and retell the story in their own way.<\/p>\n<p>You can model important concept words like \u2018first\u2019, \u2018last\u2019, \u2018next\u2019, \u2018before\u2019 and \u2018after\u2019, and the correct use of past, present and future tenses of verbs, which typically will not yet be fully developed.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reading and Writing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Teachers do not expect children to know their alphabet or be able to write sentences when they start school.\u00a0 A good foundation in sound awareness skills such as rhyming and identifying what sound a word begins with would be helpful.\u00a0 Sharing songs and books is a really good way to support this.\u00a0 You could also say the sounds that letters make, along with their names as you come across them day-to-day.<\/p>\n<p>Encourage your child to develop an interest in books and other forms of text, for example comics, postcards, labels and posters.\u00a0 You could visit your local library and encourage your child to choose books they would like to listen to and look at.\u00a0 Read with your child and discuss what you have read, for example, ask what they liked about it.\u00a0 Consider reading books about \u2018starting school\u2019 with your child.\u00a0 Use these to discuss all the fun activities they will be doing at school.<\/p>\n<p>You can also develop an interest in reading by reading notices and labels when away from home and postcards or greetings cards from family members or friends.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Name Treasure Hunts\u2019 can be a fun way of getting your child to recognise their name.\u00a0 Write your child\u2019s name on pieces of paper and hide them around the house.\u00a0 Encourage your child to find them all.\u00a0 Other names (or words) can then be introduced to encourage your child to look carefully at each letter of their name.<\/p>\n<p>A good foundation to being able to write is to develop your child\u2019s fine motor skills.\u00a0 This is because good fine motor skills enable a child to hold a pencil firmly as they are writing.\u00a0 There are many resources that could support the development of this skill on the Internet, just search for \u2018fine motor skills\u2019.\u00a0 Threading is also a great way to develop fine motor skills, whether it is with beads or buttons, or making necklaces out of dried pasta.\u00a0 Weaving wool around a cardboard template or strips of card through each other are also other simple activities that you could do at home.\u00a0 As is playing with handheld construction toys, small toys and cutting and sticking activities.<\/p>\n<p>If your child is ready and interested in writing, encourage them to write simple words, begin by focusing on your child\u2019s name as this will also help them with reading and name recognition.\u00a0 Encourage them to write their name into greetings cards, onto artwork they have done or onto letters and postcards for friends and family.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mathematical Development<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Counting Verbally and One to One<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Being able to count verbally will be of great benefit to a child starting school.\u00a0 One to one counting can also be done incidentally throughout the day, for example counting steps as your child climbs the stairs.\u00a0 You can count anything, for example how many lampposts are on the street, how many houses have a red door, how many pieces of fruit are in the bowl (and how many we had yesterday), how many pencils fit in the pencil case, etc.\u00a0 You can also do this when giving things out for example:\u00a0 \u201can ice cream for you, an ice cream for Susie and one for me \u2013 1, 2, 3 ice creams!\u201d\u00a0 Encourage reliable one to one counting by showing your child how to point to each item as they count, or to move the items as they count so they do not count each item more than once.<\/p>\n<p>This will help your child understand what numbers mean.\u00a0 Ask them to find the same amount of different items.\u00a0 For example, find 3 spoons, 3 hats, or 3 socks.\u00a0 You can also sing counting songs or rhymes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shape, Size and Quantity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You could go on a shape hunt to see how many circles, squares, rectangles and triangles your child can find for example square windows, circular plates, and rectangular posters.\u00a0 You could look for patterns too.\u00a0 Talk about the shape and size of objects, e.g. big car, little car, round ball, square table, rectangular book and ask your child questions such as \u2018Can you pass me the biggest box?\u2019, or \u2018Which one is the smallest shoe?\u2019.\u00a0 Play with blocks and encourage your child to think about size, colour and shape.\u00a0 Also play with containers and ask, \u2018how many socks can you fit in the box?\u2019, \u2018Which container holds the most, or the least, sand\/water etc.?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Number Recognition<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A number hunt is a fun way to look for numerals on doors, on clocks, buses, cars, signs at home, at the shops or on TV.\u00a0 You could also play \u2018I spy\u2019 but with numbers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other Things to Bear in Mind:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use everyday experiences as learning opportunities, for example take your child with you to the shops.\u00a0 They can learn about reading and writing as you write and follow a shopping list.\u00a0 Practise their listening and memory skills and extend their vocabulary by helping you to collect named items, learn about numbers, counting and money when helping you to pay for items, learn about their local environment on the way to and from the shops etc.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage your child to help you with simple jobs around the home, for example gardening, tidying up, baking and cooking.\u00a0 This will help them to develop coordination and listening skills as well as independence and self-confidence.<\/li>\n<li>Explore different ways of being creative \u2013 colouring and drawing with pens, pencils and crayons, painting, cutting and sticking materials together, building models with \u2018junk\u2019 materials like cardboard boxes or construction toys like Lego, exploring sounds made by instruments or \u2018noise makers\u2019 (for example rice in an empty yoghurt pot) and listening to and moving to music<\/li>\n<li>You could invite a friend to play at your house for a short while.\u00a0 This will hopefully make the settling in process a little easier as they will already have a familiar face in the school or class.\u00a0 This will also help develop their communication and social skills.<\/li>\n<li>Remember that everything your child wears or takes into school needs to be named \u2013 this includes coats, scarves, gloves, hats, shoes and toys.\u00a0 Consider buying iron-on name labels as a quick way to name everything at once or use a permanent laundry marker.\u00a0 When naming shoes, also help your child to know which shoe goes onto which foot by drawing half a picture (like a smiley face) into the left shoe and the other half of the picture into the right shoe \u2013 when the shoes are placed correctly the picture will look complete!<\/li>\n<li>Ask your child to help name their uniform\/clothes and school equipment like drinks bottle and lunch box.\u00a0 This will aid name recognition and help them to identify things which are theirs!<\/li>\n<li>Most schools offer fruit as a snack during the day.\u00a0 Encourage your child to try a range of different fruit to explore their likes and dislikes and also practise peeling bananas and oranges.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage your child to be active.\u00a0 Help them to explore climbing equipment in a local park, play running games, practise riding a bike or a scooter and play simple games with a ball or Frisbee.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Preparing Your Child for School &#8211; A Guide for Parents and Guardians The period before a child starts school for the first time can be an anxious time for parents.\u00a0 We have put together the following information as a simple guide to how you can best prepare your child for this exciting time in their 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