Are You Ready?

Children ready for school have usually lived in healthy families that support their early learning and development. These families are called "strong families."

Some of the key ingredients of strong families are loving relationships and safe, healthy home environments. Strong families are better able to cope when times get hard.

Whether they live in large cities or small towns, whether they make a lot of money or not that much, every family has strengths!

Learn more: Family Functioning

Children who are ready for school are physically healthy.

Routine healthy practices like regular check-ups by a doctor and dentist, good nutrition, and plenty of physical activity help with a child's physical well-being.

Monitoring screen time such as television and computer or video games is also important to a child's health.

When children are physically and emotionally healthy, they learn best.

Learn more: Child Health

Children whose developmental needs have been met are generally ready for school. When parents know the developmental milestones, they can help children develop to the best of their abilities.

Smiling, crawling, and using simple sentences are some important milestones of development.

It's important to remember that children grow and develop at different rates. Simple screenings can help parents know where their child is developmentally.

Learn more: Child Development

For most children, kindergarten
is the first time they are "out in the world" on their own. The first year of school marks the end of early childhood for children.

Kindergarten can be a time of exciting transition - for young children, parents, and the school! How children do in kindergarten
sets the stage for how they'll do throughout their school years.

It's important that young children
are ready for school - and schools are ready for children.

Learn more: K-Transition