Hello parents! Your little ones just finished an amazing kindergarten year and I wanted to share some helpful suggestions as someone who teaches first grade.
The main thing isn’t really about school subjects. We go over lots of stuff again in first grade anyway. What’s really hard for kids is dealing with more rules, sitting still longer, and doing things by themselves. This has gotten tougher over the past few years.
HOUSEHOLD TASKS
Give your kid regular jobs around the house. Some every day, others a few times per week. Simple stuff like feeding pets won’t really help them get ready for the harder work in first grade.
Try things like folding washcloths, making their bed, picking up toys from common areas, or helping with dishes. You can slowly give less help and expect them to finish faster. They’ll need lots of showing and practice at first and that’s totally normal.
I don’t really like giving rewards or allowance for basic chores. These are just things we all do as a family. If they argue about helping at home, they’ll probably give me trouble in class too.
TAKING CARE OF THEMSELVES
Work on morning routines where they do more by themselves. Practice the same steps every day, then slowly step back and let them handle more.
Kids this age should pick out clothes, get dressed, and set up their toothbrush without much help. If you’ve been doing everything for them, start small and gradually do less.
Getting bathroom stuff done alone is really important. They won’t be perfect but they need to try wiping by themselves. This helps them feel more grown up and ready.
SOCIAL SKILLS
Kids get upset and can’t handle big emotions yet. That’s okay but work on ways to calm down and feel better.
Talking about feelings is great but also teach them what to do when they feel mad or sad. Sometimes kids get stuck feeling bad and need help moving past it.
If your child doesn’t have brothers or sisters, make sure they know how to share, wait their turn, and work things out with words. Board games like Candy Land or Go Fish are perfect for this. Don’t let them win every time.
SCHOOL SUBJECTS
Keep practicing letter sounds over the summer. I care more about sounds than letter names. You can do this while reading books or looking at signs.
Counting from 1 to 20 is great but 1 to 10 is absolutely necessary.
Knowing what numbers 1-10 look like
Basic shapes and colors
Play sound games like “I’m thinking of a word that goes /d/ /o/ /g/ - what is it?”
Help their hands get stronger for writing by coloring, playing with blocks, or drawing with chalk.
Please teach them to put caps back on markers!
Hope this helps! I can’t wait to meet my new first graders next year!
This is spot on. My kids struggled most with the independence stuff, not the academics. We started having them pack their own backpacks and lay out clothes the night before. Made mornings way smoother.
We turned cleaning up into a race against music - my son picks a song and tries to finish putting away his toys before it ends. We started doing this last year and now he actually asks to clean his room sometimes. Same with getting ready in the morning; we made it like a challenge where he tries to beat his own time from the day before. It takes the pressure off both of us and he feels proud when he does it himself.
What caught my attention was your point about not rewarding basic chores. I tried the reward route with my older kid and it backfired completely. She wouldn’t do anything unless there was something in it for her. With my younger one, we just talked about how families help each other and it stuck much better.
The bathroom independence thing is huge. My son’s teacher mentioned that so many kids still needed help with basics that should have been handled at home. We practiced the whole routine at home until he felt confident. It’s awkward to talk about but teachers really appreciate when kids can manage this stuff alone.
One thing that surprised me was how much the emotional regulation mattered. My daughter could read fine but would fall apart if she made a mistake on an assignment. We worked on taking deep breaths and trying again, which helped her bounce back faster when things didn’t go perfectly.
This really hits home for me. My 5 year old just finished kindergarten and I’m realizing how much I’ve been doing for him. He can barely get his socks on without me jumping in to help. We’ve been working on simple chores but I keep second-guessing myself about whether to push harder or back off when he resists. The emotional regulation part scares me the most. He has these complete meltdowns when something doesn’t go his way and I’m not sure I’m teaching him the right coping skills. Do you have specific techniques that work well for helping kids calm down? I worry he’ll have a breakdown in class and not know what to do.
My daughter was really struggling with the transition to first grade until we realized she needed more practice doing things on her own timeline. We made a visual chart showing her morning routine and she loved checking off each step. What really worked was letting her mess up a few times - like forgetting to brush her teeth - and then talking about how it felt to remember on her own the next day.
The chores thing is so true. My kids started helping sort laundry and loading the dishwasher, and I noticed they became way more confident about following directions at school. It took forever at first but now they actually enjoy being helpful.
