P.E.I. libraries offer new tools to help kids get ready for kindergarten
More Island children reported to be struggling with basic skills before starting school
Saying more children have been starting kindergarten without essential skills, the P.E.I. Department of Education and Early Years has launched new resources to support families and help ease the transition to school.
Elizabeth Crawford, the department's manager of programs, said concerns have been growing among educators, families and schools that some children don't have the foundational skills they need to thrive in a classroom.
"Besides early literacy and numeracy skills, the challenges that many children are facing… would include things like social-emotional learning skills, self-regulation, as well as independence and self-care skills with things like dressing and toileting and mealtime," she told CBC's Island Morning.
She said there's also a need for support in other areas of development, including language, cognitive and other skills.
"We are seeing more children involved with screen time, less play-based activities... Getting outdoors would be an important component of being prepared in terms of fine motor, gross motor skills," Crawford said.
New resources aim to boost school readiness
To address these gaps, the department has launched a centralized website for parents suggesting resources, activities and toolkits to help kids prepare for kindergarten.
Crawford said that includes videos showing parents and caregivers how to help children practice foundational skills in everyday settings, such as on the playground or during mealtimes.
Among the new tools are kindergarten kits now available through public libraries. Parents can borrow them to help their children practise essential skills at home.
Krista MacEachern, an early childhood coach, said the kits were created in response to feedback from teachers and families that many children need extra support to eat independently, use the toilet and clean themselves, and dress themselves.
The backpacks include items like lunch containers with a variety of fasteners so that children can practise opening them, and a game that teaches kids how to sort trash into recycling, waste or compost.
"Everybody's lunch may look a little bit different, so the children's storybooks are really diverse and inclusive," MacEachern said.
The kits are available in English and French through public libraries across the Island. If there's none available at a nearby branch, parents can ask for one to be brought in.
Early preparation helps kids and teachers
Crawford said when children start kindergarten, they have to adjust to a lot of different things, like new routines, a new environment and unfamiliar peers.
"We can ease that cognitive load if they come to school with [skills] like learning how to hold a pencil or knowing how to count to 10, so that they have more time to learn those new routines without that constant overdrive of learning and be able to learn without frustration," Crawford said.
Being prepared also helps kids feel more independent and confident, she said.
"That frees space up for them to learn, have new friends and have that positive classroom culture for all the fun things that happen in kindergarten, including play," she said.
"We know that confidence builds that learning momentum. And if they have that learning momentum, you're going to have classrooms where children are participating and raising their hand, joining play groups. They're going to be welcoming challenges as they come."
On the other hand, she noted that when children aren't ready, teachers have to spend more time on basic routines and skills rather than diving into meaningful learning.
"It also impacts teachers in building that positive relationship with students right away... If they're very focused on, you know, managing disruptions or managing learning frustrations, it takes more time to build those positive relationships and build that positive classroom climate."
With files from Island Morning and Gwyneth Egan