Back to School Readiness

By Makena Wood, B.Sc Neuroscience student

Whether your child is entering school for the first time in the preschool or kindergarten setting, or returning to school a grade older, back-to-school season can be both exciting and challenging for many kids and parents. For kids, entering or re-entering the school setting after the summertime is a massive change in routine; the schoolyear presents a specific daily structure that many kids find challenging to adjust to. There are times to speak and times to be quiet, times to work and times to play, and times to eat or go to the bathroom. These changes are all manageable, and most kids will quickly settle into their new routine and know what to expect every day; for some kids, having a similar routine every day can be very calming and healthy. However, without the right support, some kids may lack what’s called “school readiness”, which challenges both their learning and social development. In this blog, I will introduce you to the concept of school-readiness, and how you can use resources from Building Brains Together to help prepare your child for school.

What is school readiness?

The American Academy of Pediatrics’ technical report on school readiness, written by Pamela C. High, MD, uses the 1991 “Ready to Learn” mantra to provide a clear definition of school readiness:

School readiness is based on 3 components: 1) the child’s readiness 2) the school’s readiness 3) support for readiness from the family and the community.

1)      The child’s readiness includes:

a.      The child being physically healthy and growing.

b.      The child developing typical motor skills.

c.      The development of social and emotional skills relevant for the school environment such as turn-taking, cooperation, empathy, and understanding appropriate ways to express emotions.

d.      The child expressing interest and curiosity when approaching learning.

e.      The development of language skills relevant for the school environment like listening and speaking, as well as an awareness of literacy skills like writing, story sense, and drawing.

f.        An awareness of sound-letter associations, spatial relations, and numbers. 

2)      The school’s readiness includes:

a.      Providing safe spaces for children of all backgrounds to experience smooth transitions between home, school, and early-learning programs, and to receive quality instruction that encourage success, achievement, and early intervention should students fall behind.

b.      Teachers that are encouraged to succeed, as well as to understand the need to be responsible, strong leaders for children, and to serve them in their communities while continually adjusting practices to meet their needs.  

3)      Support from families and communities for school-readiness looks like:

a.      Quality prenatal care for mothers and health care for children.

b.      Quality nutrition and physical activity for children.

c.      Quality preschool for children.

d.      Commitment from parents to helping their child learn.  

“An individual child’s school readiness is determined in large measure by the environment in which he or she lives and grows.” (p. e1009) 

History

Something you may not know is that Building Brains Together was once called “Building Brains and Futures”. Building Brains and Futures came about in response to the Alberta government’s assessment that children in Lethbridge were scoring below provincial norms for kindergarten readiness, and that children in Alberta were scoring below national norms in the same measure. To address this problem, Building Brains and Futures would go on to work in early learning sites within Lethbridge to develop curriculum to improve executive function and self-regulation skills, in turn offering better readiness for children at these sites entering kindergarten. We know now that our curriculum provides simple and effective ways for both parents and early educators to help children be “school-ready” and thrive in school environments as they continue to learn and grow. Building Brains and Futures eventually transformed into Building Brains Together, and we now work with and provide programming for people of all ages and walks of life with the goal of supporting and educating our whole community on how to keep their brains healthy and support the brain development of children and adolescents.

Key Takeaways and Resources

Parents play crucial roles in preparing their children for school by devoting time to support the development of executive function, self-regulation, social, and language skills. Parents are their child’s “first teacher” (High, 2008, p.e1009), and represent the difference between success and challenges later in their child’s academic and personal life. However, with great responsibility comes great reward, and Building Brains Together is here to empower you to support your child’s development.

Check out the following links from our website to explore our resources dedicated to improving executive function and preparing children for the demands of a school environment:

1.      buildingbrains.ca/children for our curriculum games, adolescent games, game videos, and information about implementing BBT curriculum in the classroom.

2.      buildingbrains.ca/courses to sign up for free online courses about brain development.

3.      buildingbrains.ca/events to find us in the community and talk to one of our staff members about your child’s needs.

4.      buildingbrains.ca/blog to read about other topics that may be relevant to supporting your child’s brain development.

References

 High, P.C., The Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care, & The Council on School Health. (2008). School readiness. American Academy of Pediatrics, 121(4), 1008-1015. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2008-0079