Get your kindergartener ready for the 1st grade

Q: My daughter, Olivia, had an OK year in kindergarten, but she's not reading like some of her classmates. Her teacher says not to worry, but I do. Are there flashcards, workbooks or online courses we can do this summer to catch her up as she enters first grade?

 

A: I'm with the teacher. Lots of kids don't read as they exit kindergarten, so she's not behind. Don't make her feel like she is. Pushing her with flashcards or online drills can do more harm than good. Do devote the summer to play.

Yes, play. Researchers know that play is an essential component in learning to read. Play helps kids develop background knowledge so they can link the words to things they've experienced. That helps them make meaning out of those symbols we know as letters.

Unfortunately, over the objections of child-development experts like David Elkind, author of "The Hurried Child" (DeCapo, 2006), play is being stripped from kindergarten to make more time for explicit reading instruction. Many kids are suffering as a result.

I sent your question to top-notch California educators, Allan Yeager, a kindergarten specialist, and Kitty Ritz, a National Board of Professional Teaching Standards Certified first-grade educator. Here's their Rx for Olivia.

"Most important," says Yeager. "Turn off the TV and other devices and go outside as often as possible." Get up close and personal with nature. Visit a park, trail, creek side, farm, plant nursery or pond. Look for wildlife and talk about what you see. Visit live animals in a zoo, farm, shelter or pet store to observe similarities and differences.

"Be physically active," says Ritz. Swing on swings on a playground; build castles on a beach or in a sandbox. Run, roll down a grassy hillside. Swim in a pool or play in shallow water. Play games to improve balance -- walk on a balance beam or stand on one foot and flap your arms like wings. Enjoy water play: fill and pour into containers of various sizes.

Visit the library to check out books and attend summer story time. Get Olivia a library card and "make a big deal out of it," advises Yeager. "It's the ultimate learner's permit!"

Sing songs and recite rhymes -- especially Mother Goose. Count out loud as far as you can go. Practice clothing skills: lacing shoes, zipping zippers and buttoning.

Hit the library and garage sales for picture books to read together. Find a good list of titles in "Ready For Reading: A Handbook For Parents Of Preschoolers" (Allyn and Bacon, 2000).

Ritz and Yeager recommend "Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom, Ages 4-14" by Chip Wood (Northeast Foundation for Children, 2007). Its charts and descriptions of developmental traits and physical, social, language and cognitive growth patterns can help you understand key benchmarks in Olivia's elementary-school experience.

And don't underestimate your own need to play, says Stuart Brown, MD. His book "Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul" (Penguin, 2009) makes the case to goof off a little this summer with Olivia.