Starting school means a big change for children, no matter if the summer holidays are over or if the first school day of a child’s life is imminent. But if you take a few rules into account, the changeover becomes a piece of cake for everyone involved.
Preparing Your Child To Start School
There are many ways to prepare children for the beginning of school so the first day after holidays will be easier for them to manage.
Visit the school:
If it will be the first school day for your child, it is recommendable to visit the school that it will attend in advance. This might be on an organised open day or an informal visit. Your child gets the opportunity to see the rooms, the playground and talk to its future teachers.
Talk about school:
Talk to your child about school topics and how exciting it is to go there. Talk about your first day at school and how much you enjoyed it. Maybe you have some photos of your first day of school that you can show your child. Answer your child’s arising questions in detail.
Play games:
Eventually, your children would like to play schools. Role-games are perfect to familiarize your kid with the routines of school and show them in a playful way the role distribution of teachers and students.
Involve your child in preparing school materials:
In order to prepare a child for the upcoming start of school, it is important to involve it wherever possible. Check the mails and lists you surely received from school and summarize with your child a list with all important items you need to buy. Visit the stationary store and let your child choose its working materials where possible, like rubbers, pencils, the lunch box and of couse the school bag.
Familiarize your child with numbers and letters:
Probably your child has already come in contact with numbers and letters and you have talked to him about it. Now, just before school starts, you can intensify this once again. Whenever you are on tour, encourage your child to point out numbers and letters on signs and buildings and make it a game. This improves their confidence and gives them the opportunity to expand their knowledge playfully. It is also recommendable to read a lot of books to your child. In addition, you can familiarize your child with letters and numbers while paint, draw and do craft activities together. Furthermore, your child becomes used to keep sitting and concentrating for a short time.
Change bedtime and wake up time step by step:
During holidays, the children’s daily rhythm changes. In the evening they stay awake for a long time and on the next morning, kids may get up quite late. Of course, when school starts, that can not be the case anymore. However, from one day to the next, the kids’ daily rhythm can not be changed. You should do this step by step. At least one or two weeks before school starts, begin to bring the kids earlier to bed and wake them up earlier. Every day they should go to bed and wake up 15 minutes earlier than the day before. Calculate, when you have to start doing this, to reach the required time on the first day of school.
Celebrating The Beginning Of School
In most countries, school enrollment is not celebrated very much. In Germany, however, the day a child is enrolled is made very special. On this day, the child is at the center. In the school there is a big party for the new first graders, in which also the pupils of the higher grades, all teachers and the families of the new pupils are involved.
To welcome the new first graders, they give speeches, sing songs and present performances. Previously, every child gets a school cone filled with little gifts like school materials, toys and candy from their parents. The school cones are normally unpacked at home, after the celebration at school.
After the official welcoming ceremony, the children are assigned to their classes and teachers. With their teacher, the children enter the decorated classroom and are allowed to be accompanied by their parents. Then the parents normally leave the room and the class teacher introduces himself to the students and explains everything important to them.
At the first day of school there are no common lessons for the first graders. After a short time in the class room the pupils are welcomed by their parents again and go home.
Arrived at home, the enrollment party goes on. Most families invite all their relatives and organize a large buffet with delicious food. Now, the child is allowed to unpack the school cone to admire all the gifts. While eating, chatting and playing, the whole family enjoys this special day together.
Impressions of a German enrollment celebration:
Through the enrollment party, the child is appreciated and it is conveyed to him that it is something special and beautiful to be a first grader now.
First Day Jitters
The first days can be an anxious experience for some children and their parents. They enter an unknown room with so many new faces of children and adults they have never seen before. And maybe even Mum and Dad shed a little tear. It is totally normal that some kids become shy and frightened in a new situation like that and start to cry. In the following we have some tips on how you and your child can master the first days of school successfully.
Act confident yourself:
If you seem anxious and unsure about leaving your child, your child will pick up on that and start wondering if there really is something to worry about.
Be consistent with good byes:
Surely your child will receive a warm welcome from the teacher. You can give kisses and say good bye. The teachers will help your child to find his way in the classroom.
Make sure to say good bye when you leave:
Trying to sneak out when the child is busy and not looking, may soetimes make the children panic a few minutes later, and may make seperation even more difficult the next day.
Arrive on time:
It seems to be easier on most children if they arrive just before the classroom door is opened. This way they can enter the classroom together with their friends. It can be much harder when they arrive after all the other kids have settled into activities.
Seperation problems sometimes show up on the second or third day:
just when you thought you were getting off easy, it may be common for children to have difficulties when there are major changes at home. Let the teacher know if there is anything happening at your house that you think is important for them to be aware of.
The beginning of school will surely be an exciting but amazing experience for your child!