The Ready Freddy Kindergarten Club Curriculum was
developed by OCD to
enhance kindergarten readiness for both children and parents. The
purpose of the program is to get children and
parents excited and prepared for the transition to kindergarten. For
many
children, kindergarten represents their first experience with formal
education outside of the home; for others, it means getting to know new
teachers, new friends, a new building, and a new set of rules. The
transition
sets the tone for how well children will do in school, but almost half
of
children who start kindergarten have difficulty with the transition
(Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta, & Cox, 2000). Without proper transitions,
children
can experience high levels of anxiety and exhibit "early and persistent
school
failure, behavior problems, low levels of parent involvement, and a
widening
gap in their academic achievement." (Schulting, Malone, and Dodge, 2005)
Involving parents before kindergarten is
one of the most promising ways to help children make a smooth transition
to
kindergarten that will get them off to the right start in school
(Pianta,
Rimm-Kauffman, & Cox, 1999; Henderson & Berla, 1994).
The K-Club curriculum
is divided into six sessions. Each session has a different theme
focusing on a
topic important to helping children transition to kindergarten. For
example,
the focus of Session 1, “Get Ready, Freddy”, is about the importance of
recognizing that every child is unique with different strengths and
needs and
parents role in advocating for their children.
Each session
has…
- An
Introduction for
explaining the focus of the session to parents and children
- A
Parent-Child Activity for
encouraging quality parent-child interactions and modeling activities
that
promote school readiness
- A
Parent Activity for
providing parents with the information they need to support children’s
transition to kindergarten
- A
Child Activity for exposing
children to the kinds of experiences and expectations they’ll encounter
in
kindergarten
- A
Read Aloud for
demonstrating how to promote children’s love for books, content
knowledge, and
vocabulary by reading stories
- A
Take Home Activity for
encouraging parents to continue and practice lessons at home
Parents who have attended
K-Clubs say,
- “It
prepared
me to see what my child would be facing so that anything she didn’t
grasp there
I could help her with.”
- “It
stopped
me from crying when I put him on the bus. It let me communicate with
other
people. It also helped me to organize all my paperwork and the papers he
worked
on in K-Club.”
- “He
learned
his numbers (to 100). He’s head of his class. It brought him out of his
shyness. Before, he wouldn’t talk to anyone.”
- “Before
I
didn’t care what time he went to sleep. Now, I make him put up his
homework so
it doesn’t get lost, set the alarm so I can get up in time to get him
up, set
his clothes out the night before.”