And what does school-readiness mean anyways? School-readiness is the set of skills, competencies, and knowledge children need to be successful when they enter formal schooling.
Previously the focus has been to ensure students have a strong foundation in reading and math. We used to think kids were kindergarten-ready if they knew their ABC’s, 123’s, and could name a few colors.
Current research shows that strong literacy and numeracy skills in the early years remain strongly linked to later academic achievement outcomes (Duncan et al., 2007; Li-Grining et al., 2010). However, we now know that social-emotional skills such as, self-control, turn-taking and attention are also critical (Bodovski and Farkas, 2007; DiPerna et al., 2007), and motor and higher thinking skills such as creativity, problem solving, and imagination are of equal importance to academic skills. (Pan, Trang, Love & Templin, 2019).
However, according to the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS), 56% of the children, (which works out to 2.2 million kids), showed challenges in at least one key area of development before entering kindergarten. (Wertheimer et al., 2003).
So how do we build these foundational skills in children?
You play with them purposefully. You don’t need workbooks and math drills to build a child’s foundational skills and you don't need to schedule extra time to do it. By engaging them in rich, thoughtful play you will be building literacy, refining motor skills, developing emotional intelligence, and cultivating their number sense.
Earlybird provides you with low prep, evidence-based activities that use everyday items to ensure your child is ready for their first day of school.
