Preparing for primary school.

splishsplash

I still remember the watery eyes and quivering lips the first day I dropped my eldest off - I mean the mums, of course, the kids were fine! We were ushered out the door and told 'Don't look back!'. Sound advice, I think about half the mums were heartbroken.

Regarding resources, I used to buy workbooks in the school supplies shop which supported coursework at school. We started with a routine from the first day - home, dinner, out for an hour, the writing part of the homework, supper, then relax with spellings/reading. Then freedom for a couple of hours before bed!

Homework shouldn't be too arduous at first, but can quickly involve things like draw a picture of... make a musical instument... dress as a tree tomorrow...:eek: so I'm sure your 'crafty' stuff will be incredibly useful.
It is, of course, tradition that you will be told about these little surprises ten minutes before bedtime:rolleyes:

Re the lunchboxes, mine always bought schoolbags with them included - a lunchbox (usually complete with spoon) and water bottle. They were always plain plastic. I put fruit in a sandwich bag separately, so that skins/cores could be put back in the bag safely (banana and schoolbooks just do not mix ).

I second the play-dates, as many as you're up for and as soon as you like. Children are very fickle and clicky from early on (although I saw that more with my DDs than DS). Be prepared for total confusion regarding the current 'status' of any classmate.

I think schools make a huge effort to ensure small children like coming to school, and generally they look forward to it (although there can be the odd wobble in week 2 or 3 when fatigue catches up with them - clears quickly with an extra early night or two).

Best of luck, it's the start of a new chapter in little man's life!

Gingham_Ribbon

Do people generally change their dinner time to cater for ravenous kids coming home at 3.30, or do you provide a snack and have dinner at the usual time? We usually eat about 5.30pm.

Lovely idea about having friends round. The thing I'm most worried about is making sure I'm organised. PE kit on the right day, pack-up made at night, uniform clean and ironed in plenty of time etc. SO different to play clothes being thrown on and just going out when we decide to.

foreversomeday

Re: labelling, I remember my mum sewing name tags into everything - including all my school knickers! They were plain white, until my dad dyed half of them blue in the wash, and for some reason separate to my weekend knickers.

Pooky23

I work with Reception age children and some important things I would suggest are:

1. Encourage independence with dressing/undressing (if he isn't already confident doing so). They will need to get changed for PE by themselves, change shoes etc and it is chaos with 30 children in a class. Keeping clothes together in a pile rather than strewn around the room too. Also show him how to turn his t-shirts or trousers the right way round if they are inside out!

2. Make the parting in the morning brief and resist the urge to peer in the window and wave! The children usually settle faster if they can't see Mum through the window.

3. After the initial few weeks, ask him if he would like to invite a friend or two to tea, to encourage his friendships.

4. He is likely to be very tired for the first term and especially so in the run up to Xmas. Keep after schools activities to a minimum and have a good bedtime routine with early nights.

5. The best thing you can do to encourage your child with reading is to share a book each day with him. As he begins to learn words he will point these out to you. Talk about the pictures and encourage him to tell you what he thinks happens next in the story.

I hope this helps and that it all goes well for you.

Kelinik

The only thing I'd want to add is to check your little ones book bag every day for letters/invites/reading/spellings. So often they can be given something in the morning and forget about it completely by home time and my kids schools are awful for mentioning briefly at the bottom of a letter that there will be an inset/non uniform day/parents assembly/info session with barely any notice - I got caught out a few times when my eldest was in yr R. Asking 'any letters today?' doesn't always get an accurate answer either lol, a few times the girls forgot they'd had a party invite from a friend and I'd end up being that awful Mum that doesn't reply!

As for talking about their day my youngest wants to tell you everything including how many times she's been to the loo and what colour William-who-got-sent-home's sick was whilst my elder one has never been forthcoming with anything about her day, not even now she's older. The way I see it is with my two is whilst I'll always ask and be interested school is their time away from me so if they don't want to share that's fine. So I would say don't be disheartened if you get replies of 'I can't remember' or 'don't know' when you ask what songs they sang or who he played with at break time but likewise be prepared to have the whole day, including the bits you'd rather not know, poured out at you in one breath the second he gets out the door lol!

mrcow

Why don't you let him pick his own lunchbox? It's a fun part of starting school.

He'll deceide himself whether he likes the look of the characters. Disney have really cool lunch boxes with Cars etc - he's a four year old so he's heard of those?

I certainly wouldn't be getting him a desk etc :eek: He's not going to be writing essays for homework just yet. It's far more likely that he'll be bringing books home to read and/or spellings to it with you to do. Homework is supposed to be fun (if you get any at all) making it formal and having to sit up a desk on your own to do it sounds like a fast track way of taking any fun out of it in one foul swoop.

With regards to talking about his day, just have a chat about your days when you all sit down for dinner together in the evening or when you walk him home from school. You tell him what you did and he tells you what he's been doing. Don't be surprised if he doesn't have a lot to tell you - usually they think that year R is just "playing"

pavlovs_dog

Hey GR. if you like the idea of a laptop lunch, dont forget to google bento, you will double your number of hits. there's a good thread on OS (of all places ), i believe it was started by Aurora. Flickr is fab if you have an afternoon to spare and are looking for inspiration on how to make them look beautiful

i remember you saying your son is a grazer, so perhaps it might be an idea to have a snack available when you collect him from school in case he is too hungry to wait until tea time.

my final suggestion is to get yourself a launch pad. be it a shelf, a cupboard, a corner of the hall, make sure you have somewhere where everything you will need the next day can by left. that way, there is no frantic search in the morning for PE kit, book bag, mini ribbon's favourite toy and your car keys. everything is there, orderly and ready to go. (unfortunately it doesnt mean you and the kids will be, but hey anything is a help at that time of day )

Spendless

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

Do people generally change their dinner time to cater for ravenous kids coming home at 3.30, or do you provide a snack and have dinner at the usual time? We usually eat about 5.30pm.

I struggled with this at first, but this is what suits us. A snack for kids when they get in. I'll sit with them with a cup of tea, but family meal times when Mr S gets inm which is 5.45 IF he is working locally. If he is away o/n, going to be late in from work, I eat earlier with the children. I like our meal times to be family time for us, which is why we eat together as much as we can.

whatatwit

It sounds as though I am the only one who bought the sew in name tapes and then cuts them out of too small stuff and re-sews them into new.

If you have 2 littlies, you often see woven tapes with just a surname in capitals, works well for anything you manage to hand down.
Obviously works better if you have a more unusual name....don't know how many Ribbons there are at school. :rotfl:

Violetta_2

Those Sharpie pens are great for putting names on things , think they are cheap in HomeBargains if you can get to 1. It's 2 years off for my dd not looking forward to it. Wish I could just keep her with me, lucky I know how selfish that is. I'd take a few tissues in your pocket on his 1st day in case you get a bit teary. All the best for your little man.