What is Kindergarten Readiness at Harbor Day?

Kristin Rowe
No single factor determines whether a child is ready to start school, but rather it is a combination of physical, social, and cognitive criteria. A child’s ability to think logically, speak clearly, and interact well with other children and adults are all critically important to success in school. When trying to determine if your child is ready for kindergarten, don’t worry about whether or not he or she has mastered specific skills. Instead, consider his or her readiness to learn. How well is your child able to communicate and listen? Is your child able to get along with other children and adults?

Each February Harbor Day screens all kindergarten applicants for readiness for the HDS kindergarten program. Harbor Day School’s Kindergarten Readiness screening takes place in the kindergarten classrooms. Students are assigned to a session in groups of 10 to 12 during the morning or afternoon over four days. Faculty involved in the screening include our kindergarten and first grade teachers, the school psychologist, the math and language arts specialists, the PE teacher, and the Director of Lower School. One kindergarten classroom is set up for free play and the students are observed as they interact with each other and with the adults in the room. The other classroom is set up in stations that give the screeners a chance to interact with students in several readiness skill areas. These include: Number Concepts, Auditory Skills, Visual Skills, Language Concepts, Paper/Pencil Skills, Gross Motor Skills, Verbal Reasoning, and Following Directions. Some skills can be taught, but others are mastered only as a child is developmentally ready to acquire them.

Parents are the most important factor in fostering school readiness for their children. There are common sense things you can do to help prepare your child. Read, rhyme, and play games with your child. Make reading a daily family activity. To encourage number awareness, play dominoes and board games. Develop routines and choose regular times for your child to eat, play, and sleep each day. Foster independence and accountability by giving them age-appropriate chores and simple choices. Encourage the development of basic skills by working with your child to help him or her to recognize letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. Expose your child to learning experiences and look for opportunities to broaden your child’s horizons even beyond preschool such as visiting a museum or a farm or enrolling in an art or science program. Encourage socialization. Promote your child’s social development by inviting friends to go on outings and encouraging your child to share, express feelings, practice taking turns, and follow simple directions.

Finally, kindergarten marks the start of a child’s formal education. It is important to make sure that when your child begins school he or she is developmentally ready to learn and participate in classroom activities. The readiness screening administered at Harbor Day has proven to be a strong predictor of the cognitive, social, and physical level of students and has proven successful in determining which students will prosper at Harbor Day. The admissions team looks forward to sharing a few hours with all of the kindergarten applicants and encourages all parents to set aside time to review the findings of the assessment after the screenings.

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Kristin Rowe is the Director of Lower School and Admissions at Harbor Day.
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Harbor Day School

3443 Pacific View Drive
Corona del Mar, CA 92625 Phone<title><script type="mce-text/javascript"> (function(a,e,c,f,g,h,b,d){var k={ak:"984895077",cl:"EfBCCP-Fv3UQ5ZzR1QM"};a[c]=a[c]||function(){(a[c].q=a[c].q||[]).push(arguments)};a[g]||(a[g]=k.ak);b=e.createElement(h);b.async=1;b.src="//www.gstatic.com/wcm/loader.js";d=e.getElementsByTagName(h)[0];d.parentNode.insertBefore(b,d);a[f]=function(b,d,e){a[c](2,b,k,d,null,new Date,e)};a[f]()})(window,document,"_googWcmImpl","_googWcmGet","_googWcmAk","script"); </script><head><body>1-949-640-1410<html></html></body></head><br><br><br>
949-640-1410
Harbor Day School is a co-educational private independent K-8 school established in 1952.