If school is just around the corner for your youngest, you probably want to ensure that they are ready for this big step in their lives. Too many parents believe it is solely the teacher’s job to educate their child. However, if you are bringing them into their first day of preschool or kindergarten without having worked on the basics with them, you are already preparing them to fail. You must teach them at home before they are taught in any classroom setting. Below are three ways to make certain that your toddler is ready for their first day of school.
Read to Them Early and Often
A child’s ability to read early on is the number one indication of academic success. It makes perfect sense that you should start reading with them as soon as possible. Read them a book every night before they go to bed. These books should be picture books with simple words that you can point to as they follow along. If you do something as easy as this, there is a very good chance that they will start learning some of those words entirely by sight alone.
Phonics and Decoding
While sight words are fine to practice with, you should also be doing a phonics and decoding program with your toddler as well. This can be as easy as having them identify letters correctly in the beginning. Next, you can have them learn the sounds that are associated with each letter. It will be just a matter of time before they are able to decode words correctly as long as they know these basics. If you are not sure about your talent for teaching phonics, there are workbooks that can be purchased for a couple dollars that will guide you through it step by step.
Music Lessons
You may be thinking that music lessons for toddlers are overdoing it a bit. But children at this age are like a sponge. They are able to soak in much more learning during these years than at any other time in life. On top of this, musically inclined children receive better grades in school. It has been proven that music lessons for toddlers are a great way to work on their memory and coordination not just for the instrument they are learning, but across all aspects of their lives. Plus, wouldn’t it be nice to have a child playing music throughout your household for years to come?