Firstly – an important distinction for our international audience!
Different countries refer to the education of a child at 5 years old using conflicting terms.
In the US, children usually attend Kindergarten for one year from the age of 5, and go on to 1st Grade and the rest of their schooling following this.
However in countries like New Zealand, Kindergarten is usually the term for pre-school activity as a 3-4 year old which takes place prior to starting school – and Primary Schooling begins with Year 1 at the age of 5.
Today we’ll be referring to this initial phase of our children’s education from the age of 5 as kindergarten which I’m sure will be most familiar to the majority of our community.
Now before we get to my Kindergarten Readiness Checklist, let’s cover some questions parents have asked me over the years, about how best to prepare their children…