Teachers Tips: Back to School for Preschool and Pre-K

Gabrielle Fischer Posted On Sep 13, 2017

As every parent knows, transitioning to a school schedule after the summer vacation ends, can be a challenge for many young children. They have a new routine, new teachers to get to know, and new classmates in their preschool or Kindergarten class.

As teachers, we have developed a few tricks to making the back to school transition easier for kids in our classroom. First and foremost we know that maintaining confidence and feeling successful helps kids transition to a new year at school. At school, children should start the year reviewing concepts that they are familiar with and be encouraged to share their knowledge about all the things they already know in order to boost their self-esteem. This is why in our Pre-Kindergarten class, we start the year with a unit on colors and a unit on families. All children know at least their primary colors, and they all know the members of their immediate family. Starting with units that students are comfortable with and knowledgeable about, allows them to easily express their knowledge with their teachers and peers. The results of this transition are felt all year, we know that maximizing the trust and success our students feel in these early days translates into a greater willingness to take risks when learning new concepts later in the year.

Parents always ask us…..what should I be doing at home? Here’s what we say:

Bring on the open play toys: blocks, play dough, and dress up clothes allow kids to play without feeling like there is a right or wrong way to express themselves.

Smile, listen and have a chat: encourage your child with positive feedback as they play, will maintain a feeling of success. Listening to your child as they play, will allow you to get a glimpse into how they are handling their transition to school. Talk with them after playtime to ask how they are feeling.

Set up a daily routine: Set expectations by making a daily routine – you can even make a daily chart so kids know what time they wake up, eat and what they have to do (get their backpack) to get out the door to go to school!

Learning is where we play:

10 Easy Organization Tips for Back to School!

Smarts & Crafts: 3 Fall Themed Crafts for Preschoolers

Dollars & Sense! Teaching Kids Skills That Pay the Bills

Related Posts You Might Enjoy

Patria Lincoln | Posted on Feb 19, 2020

Scissor Skills for Tiny Tots!

“Be Careful! Scissors are DANGEROUS!” or something along those lines is what parents usually shout when they see their little ones holding scissors in their hands. While I don’t disagree with the statement by any means, I want to share all of the ways scissor skills are so important for development, as well as all of the fun ways we can incorporate underlying scissor skills into everyday play…even for the youngest of our learners!

Using scissors efficiently requires a lot of motor planning, coordination, and dexterity. Before a student can successfully use scissors, there are many underlying skills that can be worked on and strengthened so that we can set up the student for optimal success. There are so many ways that we can interact and play with our kiddo’s to help develop the many different motor control areas!

Grasp/Release:

Activities that promote opening and closing of the hands and fingers such as using tongs, tweezers, clips, squeezing, etc.

Two-handed Coordination:

Activities that promote the use of both hands together such as tearing paper and peeling and sticking stickers.

Hand and Finger Strengthening:

Dough, putty, tweezers, tongs, spray bottles, stress ball squeezes, etc.

Visual Skills:

Activities that promote active and intentional use of the visual system such as eye-spy, hidden pictures, following targets with eyes (rolling a ball and following eyes, marble tower, etc)

When introducing scissors for the first time, spring loaded scissors are extremely helpful and can ease the introduction. The spring mechanism will “bounce” back the blades to reduce the amount of strength and coordination required, therefore, allowing kiddos who do not quite have the strength or coordination to still be able to cut! The best part is that once they outgrow the spring, you can “turn it off” and use them as normal scissors.

Scissor Skills for Tiny Tots Pink Stencil

As a School-Based Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA/L), we are often checking out the progression of scissor use in kiddo’s and here is a general milestone timeline that we use as reference.Starting at/around:

25-26 months

We like to see kiddos snipping with scissors in one place

37-38 months

Cut a piece of paper in half

41-42 months

Cut out a 5” line within ½” of the target

49-50 months

Cut a 3” circle within ¼” of the target for 3/4^th of the circle

53-54 months

Cut out a 3” square within ¼” of the line

Scissor Skills for Tiny Tots Cutting Purple Line

While development isn’t always linear, we often see a general progression as outlined and the underlying skills are very important in achieving these skills.

Here are some fun tips and hacks to help your little ones practice their scissor skills:

Start with “snipping”. practicing small snips will help promote practice, as well as success! We want our kiddo’s to feel like they are successfully cutting and expecting them to open/close and move forward can be tricky at first.
Using a more restrictive paper such as cardstock or thicker paper can help with control (much easier to hold the paper steady than flimsy paper or thin material). You can also steady the paper for them to reduce the amount of work and coordination.
Along with restrictive paper, you can also use restrictive materials such as dough, putty, straws, paper plates, index cards, etc.
Teaching “thumbs up” when holding the scissors by placing a small sticker or Washi tape to remind them which side is up – tell them to make sure they can see their sticker.
When teaching the forward motion aspect, make it fun! Pretend like the scissors are alligators, trains, cars, etc and have them cut across a path or road.

Trace Ace Scissors has been a great addition to my therapy toolbox. With my little preschool students, we had fun learning to use a stencil. Mini crayons help reinforce proper pencil grasp as they color, stencils help incorporate the use of the two hands together, and we used cardstock paper so that it would provide more resistance and help stabilize the paper as they cut with the spring loaded scissors. Scissor Skills for Tiny Tots Materials 2