Our transition to Reception and Primary School began long before our scheduled transition visits that occur this term. These visits are more “orientation” visits where the children become familiar with the space, facilities and people. Transition to school however, is a much longer process and one that began when our children first started Preschool. Lets take a look at how the children have been transitioning through the year and how we intentionally provide the children with experiences and opportunities to become confident and familiar as they commence Reception:

• We arrange for Reception teacher’s to do yard duties in the preschool. This allows relationships to start forming
• Visiting and borrowing from the library each week
• Our weekly Italian lessons with Signora
• Playing on the school oval and in the nature play space
• Our current Reception’s visit us to share their writer’s workshop books
• We visit Reception to show Reception teachers our writer’s workshop books
• joining the Reception’s for story time
• touring the school and locating the canteen and other facilities
• Popping in to say hi to Maria in the front office
• Venturing in to the office to chat with Mr Cowan and Mrs Johansen
• Attending Assembly
• Attending Community Prayer
• Participating in whole school celebrations
• Attending our school disco
• Using the school hall for our yoga sessions
• Visiting other classrooms and teachers to share our learning
• Using our “Project Time” to research what’s happening in the Reception rooms!

Project Time Visits To Reception:

As you are aware, the children love investigating, researching and collaborating. One of our Project Time topics this term has been exploring what it is like to be in Reception! Small groups of children visit the Reception classrooms then come back to share what they have learned and observed during that visit. Here’s a snapshot of one of our visits. We joined Mrs Rowlands’ class for Writer’s Workshop! Our Preschool children immediately felt at ease and that the could be successful – they know how to do this! As Lisa Burman writes in her article ‘Times Of Transition’ it is important to embrace continuity of learning, and to “create spaces that look a whole lot more like preschool and that embrace pedagogy that is playful, active and co-constructed. We want the child that begins formal schooling to enter their new classroom / learning space, take a deep breath and think, “Oh, it’s okay, I can be a strong learner here just like I was at Kindy”.

And that’s exactly what happened when we visited Reception! The children quickly saw what the Receptions were engaged in and were eager to join them. They grabbed some paper and began creating their books! A huge thank you to our Reception children who naturally assumed the role of mentors and assisted the preschool children in their book making by helping locate letters to write, suggesting ideas and offering many words of encouragement! At the end of our visit Mrs Rowlands invited the preschool children to join in the “sharing circle” for Writers Workshop. Some Reception children shared their books, modelling to the preschool children confidence in speaking and sharing ideas. The audience modelled how to listen attentively, appropriate questioning and feedback. Mrs Rowlands then asked if any preschool children wanted to share their books?

We were so proud as every single preschool child raised their hand eager to share! We are confident, capable risk takers!

What is Reception?

We asked the children what they know about Reception…

Elizabeth – it’s where you go after kindy

Sibella – you do some learning and practicing

Milla – children turning 5 go into that classroom

Judah – it’s after kindy when you are 5 or 6 years old

Liam – there’s lots of work!

Siena F – reading

Jesse – you grow up in Reception

Amelie – and make books

Charlotte H – and read books

Oliver – when you grow up and are 5 1/2 you grow up and learn more

Questions about Reception?

Jesse – I don’t think you see much people there!

Lauren – What’s going to be there?

Kifah – What’s the teacher’s name in there?

Molly – Which classroom are we going to be in?

Elizabeth – how many teachers are going to be in the classroom?

Molly – Where is the first aid room?

Reflections after the visit…

Molly – How did they do all that writing? Maybe they copied words!

Elizabeth – By sounding out the words.

Lacey – They keep on trying until they get it right!

Kifah – They practice and practice

Molly – They practice every day at home. They were writing sentences!

Jack B – Reception is good for people. You learn about lots of stuff and research and write lots of stuff

Sam – you meet new friends you haven’t played with before

Bronte – you learn stuff you don’t know

Sienna – you meet lots of new friends, you might play in the home corner

Here are some of the reflections we recorded in our journals after our visit:

We are often asked by parents what they can do at home to help their children prepare for Reception. Detailed below is further information about things you can do at home to support a smooth transition to Reception…

Literacy

The primary function of literacy is to communicate. Therefore, it is a vital part of a child’s overall development. Literacy is the foundation for doing well at school, socialising with others, developing independence, managing money and working. As children’s vocabularies increase and they use more complex sentences, their literacy skills emerge. At home, you can contribute to your child’s literacy development through simple tasks, such as:

• developing social relationships that draw on your children’s strengths, interests and prior knowledge
• providing rich literacy environments in which literacy is purposefully used and discussed
• communicating intentions clearly
• providing children with daily opportunities to explore and talk about a range of texts for different purposes
• reading together
• promoting writing for a purpose like book making, shopping lists etc
• looking at sounds e.g. how words can rhyme, begin and end with the same letters, be broken up into parts like syllables, be formed by blending different sounds etc.
• listening to music

Numeracy

Numeracy is the ability to apply maths concepts in all areas of life. Numeracy skills involve understanding numbers, counting, solving number problems, measuring, sorting, noticing patterns, adding and subtracting numbers and so on.

Given children’s natural dispositions to learn about numbers, they should be encouraged to freely explore and practice their abilities in a range of unstructured activities both at preschool and at home. These learning experiences should be enjoyable and developmentally appropriate so that children stay engaged in the activity and do not get discouraged.

Families can foster their child’s numerical knowledge by creating meaningful experiences with numbers at home. This can include:

• playing board games and other activities involving experiments with numbers
• blocks, puzzles and shape making
• creating spontaneous educational moments that encourage the child to think and talk about numbers. Numbers can be introduced in several domains, including play (dice-throwing games), art (drawing a number of stars), and music (keeping a tempo of 2 or 3 beats).
• solving problems together e.g. what is more expensive?
• analysing and making sense of information – for example, how many wins does my team need to get to the top of the competition?
• understanding patterns – for example, what number would the next house in this street be?
• recognising numbers in every day life e.g. clocks, remote controls, road signs, house numbers, sporting scores, radio stations etc..
• helping set the table
• filling a water bottle
• dividing food into equal shares
• comparing things of different sizes – ‘big’, ‘small’ and ‘medium’
• using words to describe where things are – ‘over’, ‘under’ and ‘next to’
• Use a growth chart or marks on a wall to measure your child’s growing height, and describe to your child what you’re doing.
• Involve your child in cooking. Your child can help stir, pour, fill and mix. This will help your child learn to count, measure, add and estimate.

When you talk with your child about numeracy, it helps them understand how and why maths is useful. For example, this happens when you point out:

• big and small (size)
• high and low (height)
• heavy and light (weight)
• fast and slow (speed)
• close and far (distance)
• first, second and last (order).

Independence

Starting school can bring about feelings of nervousness and doubt for a child – it is a big step in their (and their family’s) life.

Independent children have been provided with the belief that they are competent and capable of taking care of themselves. They have been given the guidance to find activities that are meaningful and satisfying to them. They have the freedom to experience life fully and learn its many important lessons.

Independent children are intrinsically motivated because they are allowed to find their own reasons to achieve.

An adult’s responsibility in fostering independent children is important. Their responsibilities revolve around providing your children with the opportunity, means, and support to pursue their goals, love, guidance, and encouragement in their efforts. The practical means include ensuring that your children have the materials needed, proper instruction, and transportation, among other logistical concerns.

It also includes giving their best effort, being responsible, staying committed, and giving an achievement opportunity a realistic try, as well as being cooperative and expressing appreciation and gratitude for others’ efforts.

Independence is not something that your children can gain on their own. Rather, it is a gift you give your children that they will cherish and benefit from their entire lives.

Through independence, children get to enhance their many skills, learn right and wrong, develop their personality, and make decisions. To learn the ways of life, children need to experience life. This way, they will grow up strong, ready to take on life challenges, emotionally secured, and happy.

Resilience

Building a child’s resilience comes through the development of their social and emotional skills, which include coping skills. These are the same skills that will help children deal with stress.

Resilience partly comes from factors internal to the child. A resilient child has social and emotional competencies for their age that help them to name their feelings, manage their emotions, be aware of other people, solve problems, and make good decisions. A child’s unique temperament or personality will have some bearing on this. Some children learn social and emotional skills quite easily, whereas other children require more support. Certain children are more easily upset or distressed than others when confronted by a difficulty.

Adults play a really important part in their modelling and approach during stressful times. Children learn (and take cues) from the adults around them, so it’s important for adults to be mindful of how they approach stressful situations and the skills they use to resolve challenges. They can also play an active role in supporting children during stressful times. They can do this by facilitating problem-solving steps to work through situations positively. Over time, these skills can then be developed by the child so they are able to more independently resolve difficulties. Chatting about what happened afterwards can also help to reinforce the learning and remind the child that things can turn out okay even when it’s been a bit stressful.

Below, are some simple tips on building one’s resilience:

• Making connections e.g. how to make friends, including the skill of empathy, or feeling another’s pain
• Helping your child by having him or her help others
• Maintain a daily routine
• Take a break e.g. while it is important to stick to routines, endlessly worrying can be counter-productive. Teach your child how to focus on something besides what’s worrying him.
• Teach your child self-care
• Move toward your goals e.g. teach your child to set reasonable goals and then to move toward them one step at a time.
• Nurture a positive self-view
• Keep things in perspective and maintain a hopeful outlook
• Accept that change is part of living

Have a wonderful week everyone!