How can you help your child set the tone and prepare for another great year of growth? After a year of disrupted learning and adjusting on the fly for teachers, parents, and students, we now have a chance for a fresh start. Read on for 4 tips on how to help prepare your student for a successful start to the 2021-2022 school year.
Foster Excitement – Model genuine excitement for the school year and the school staff and it is sure to be contagious. What you say and how you act about school at home directly affects the attitude your student brings into the classroom.
Looking for other ways to generate excitement and positivity for the school year? Make “Back to School” fun and go shopping together! If it’s overwhelming to think about taking your student along for an entire back to school shopping trip, then just go for one or two items. Maybe it’s a new backpack or lunch bag or maybe it’s a fun folder or notebook. Make it an academic item and discuss how it can be used to help them this year. An item to help them stay organized, a fun folder to make them smile and help to stay positive at school, a lunch box to carry food to help fuel their brain, etc.
Set Goals – Talk with your student about how they are feeling about the upcoming school year. What are they excited about? What are they nervous about? Take the time to set goals together. Aim for 2-3 goals. It may help if you have one or two in mind to help guide them. Goals should be tangible, things you can check in on and encourage as the year progresses. They should also be attainable. Short term goals are encouraged because we want our children to feel successful! Make a goal for the first 2-6 weeks of school and check in frequently. Remember to encourage your child along the way. Equally important is to remember that it is okay to fall short of our goal. If this happens, talk about what happened and what can be done differently. Decide if the goal should be adjusted or if it’s prudent to mentally reset and keep working toward the same goal for the next 2-6 weeks. The goal is GROWTH not perfection.
Plan for Struggles – We all face challenges; the trick is knowing how to face and overcome them. Discuss with your student what to do when they need help. Are they comfortable talking to the teacher or asking a friend? Role play can be an effective tool. Have your child be the student and you be the teacher (or vice versa). Let them practice approaching the teacher to ask for help or advocate for themself. This is an important life skill and a great opportunity for you to coach them through it. Talk about appropriate times to approach the teacher and how to do so respectfully and confidently. In addition to turning to a teacher, encourage your child to turn to trustworthy friends and other students as a resource. Kids often feel great stress to perform or compete against their friends. Encourage them to support one another and help each other out.
Prepare to Organize – Be prepared to check in with your student after the first day or first week of school to talk through an organization system. Some teachers have specific ways they want their materials organized, while others allow for the students to have autonomy. Many students need explicit and concrete help getting organized. Take the time to either walk through this process with your child or have them share and show off to you the system that they have developed.