Glen Education North Cheltenham

Transition to School

By Pamela, Anandhi and Annette,

Glen North Cheltenham Educational Team

We have been working with the children sharing ideas to help them with the transition to school.

We started in Term 3 by encouraging independent skills. This included:

• Children packing their own bags at the end of session.
• Children putting on their shoes after Yoga sessions.
• Children placing their own lunch boxes/drink bottles on trolley in the morning.
• We use the pack up song with a timer in it which seems to work really well to prompt the children to pack up the areas.
• Organising the buddies program with the school next door to help children engage with older children as some may not have siblings.
• Supporting children to follow verbal instructions, such as gathering for group time, which helps them to get used to listening.
• Using red and green choices – children will answer through their knowledge of these if you ask “was that a red or green choice”.
• Healthy eating books, discussions and games learning about the importance of fueling your body for physical activity and healthy teeth and bones.

During Term 4 we have continued to encourage further independent skills along with the following including:

• Group times focusing on emotions using picture cards and having discussions about how it may feel when we separate from our parents on the first day of school amongst other things. Children were eager to tell us how they may feel, some having siblings who have gone through this. We also talk about the importance of listening to the educators at group times – we don’t want to miss out on what could be coming up next do we? 
• Children putting their own name on the board on arrival.
• Children writing their own name on artwork.

• Reading books about school days.
• Children making their own books reflecting their transition to school journey.
• Setting up desks with school stationary and providing school uniforms and bags for the children to practice role playing.
• Guidance as to how to use the water wisely for example learning how to turn the taps on and off.
• As we are having water play more children need to change their clothing at times so encouraging them to do this independently.
• We have set up a SunSmart station where the children are encouraged to apply their own sunscreen.
• On costume days we encourage the children to do up their own buttons as many of the costumes have buttons.
• We encourage the children to put their own jackets on and try to zip them up independently.
• Cooking with the children helps them learn about hygiene, early numeracy skills and measurement.
• We share information with parents through conversations initiated by us asking how their children have been with the transition to school.  We tell them how the children have been sharing their experiences with us also which all seems to be positive.