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Transitioning to Kindergarten: A Toolkit for Early Childhood Educators is a comprehensive resource for educators that includes tools and materials to help implement strategies to facilitate and enhance children's transition to kindergarten. Whether you are a school administrator, pre-K teacher, child care provider or kindergarten teacher, you will find practical and easy-to-use tools, materials to pass along to parents, and resources and guides to steer you through the process. Transitioning to Kindergarten: A Toolkit for Early Childhood Educators is free to download. You can print it in color or black and white. You will need the free Adobe Reader to open the toolkit files. If your computer does not already have it, you can download it at http://www.adobe.com. You can use everything in the toolkit, or just pick a few pieces that will be most helpful for your particular situation. Each part of the Transitioning to Kindergarten toolkit can also be downloaded and printed separately. Cover
Introduction
School Readiness
Get Ready to Read!
Parent Resources
Transition resources on the Web
Training guidelines
Training PowerPoint presentation Introduction School Readiness How do you know if a child is ready for kindergarten? The time that you spend with a child every day can give you lots of information about how he or she is progressing. Many states and school districts have developed kindergarten readiness checklists for their educators to use. The kindergarten readiness indicators checklist in this section is an example of what some states are using. It has been developed to help you ensure that the educational experience of the children in your care gets off to a good start. Here is what you will find in this section. You can use all of the resources listed here, or just choose what will be most useful for you. Kindergarten Readiness Indicators Checklist
This is a short checklist that helps you keep track of skills that children have mastered as they move through the pre-kindergarten year. You can use one checklist for each child, and check off skills in the fall, winter and late spring. Some children will not possess all of the skills included here, but that will not prevent them from entering school. This is simply a list of skills that will give you, as an early education professional, a place to begin in preparing children for entering kindergarten. Kindergarten Readiness Indicators: Observation and Activity Guide
This is an in-depth guide to the kindergarten readiness indicators. It helps you know what to look for when you observe a child and gives you a place to write down your observations. The guide also includes some ideas for skill-building activities for each skill that can be done with a child who needs some help. Creating an "Early Learning Passport"
Use this helpful guide to create an "Early Learning Passport" for each child. Drawing and Writing Sample Template
Use the template at the end of this section several times during the year to collect writing and drawing samples from each child. Get Ready to Read!
The Get Ready to Read! screening tool is a 20-item early literacy screening tool for young children in the year before kindergarten. It was developed in conjunction with the National Center for Learning Disabilities by some of the country's top reading researchers, and is available in English and Spanish. To date, an estimated 345,000 4-year-olds have been screened using the tool. Introduction to the Get Ready to Read! screening tool How to use the Get Ready to Read! screening tool. How to score the Get Ready to Read! screening tool. What I learned about this child from the Get Ready to Read! screening tool. Get Ready to Read! skill-building activities. Try the free online version of the Get Ready to Read! screening tool. Order the print version of the Get Ready to Read! screening tool. Parent Resources Research shows that when parents and families are involved, children and schools are more successful. This section contains resources to help you reach out to families, and keep them involved as their children move through the pre-kindergarten year and into kindergarten. The resources in this section are available in both English and Spanish. Introduction to the parent resources (English) | Spanish version Getting to Know My Child: A Guide for My Child's Kindergarten Teacher (English) | Spanish version
This is a booklet for parents to fill out and give back to you, with a letter at the beginning that you can sign. You can then include the completed questionnaire in an Early Leaning Passport that you give to a child’s kindergarten teacher. Send this home with a date when it should be returned to you, or fill it out with parents during a face-to-face meeting. Get Ready To Read! Skill-Building Activities (English) | Spanish version
Use this set of activity cards to make take-home packets or for ideas to try at home. You can send them home all at once, or send home a few each month. This section also includes an introduction to the activities for parents. Getting Ready for Kindergarten handouts
There are seven of these handouts for parents on different aspects of early childhood development. You can give one out each month with your newsletter over the course of the year, or give them out at parent meetings. Getting Ready for Kindergarten: Language Development (English) | Spanish version Getting Ready for Kindergarten: Learning and Thinking (English) | Spanish version Getting Ready for Kindergarten: Beginning Reading (English) | Spanish version Getting Ready for Kindergarten: Beginning Writing (English) | Spanish version Getting Ready for Kindergarten: Numbers and Counting (English) | Spanish version Getting Ready for Kindergarten: Physical Development (English) | Spanish version Getting Ready for Kindergarten: Social and Emotional Development (English) | Spanish version Next Steps: What to Do If You Are Concerned About Your Child's Literacy Development (English)
This is a useful resource to give out when a you and/or a parent has concerns about a child. Transition resources on the Web Training guidelines Training PowerPoint presentation
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