WHO IS YOUR KINDERGARTEN CHILD?
Kindergarten children have a growing sense of independence. Yet they also may be somewhat anxious as they branch out to new horizons. Five- and six-year-olds can be very enthusiastic about their endeavors. They love new places, new ideas, and new bits of information. Remember that as five-year-old children become six-year-olds, changes will occur rapidly in their growth and development.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
- Vary greatly in height and weight.
- Increased motor activity, may appear restless even when seated.
- Short attention span, may easily be distracted by things in the environment around them.
- Coordination is not yet fully developed.
- Large muscles are usually developed, are quite good at adding movements such as clapping, skipping, and hopping while they are talking or singing.
- Fine motor skills continue to develop; cutting is a skill that needs practice.
COGNITIVE/LEARNING SKILLS
- Learn best through touch, exploration, and movement, through activities that engage the whole child, and through the presentation of concepts one at a time.
- Display increased ability to sequence things in time, enjoy hearing about the past.
- Reading skills are emerging.
- Enjoy boisterous play.
- Enjoy dress-up, fantasy stories, and puppet plays.
- Interest expanding beyond themselves and their immediate families.
- Show-and-tell often a favorite activity.
RELATIONSHIPS
- Typically get along well with all classmates.
- Begin to understand rules, the concepts of winning/losing and working together.
- Have difficulty losing, often will walk away from a team game and pout when losing.
- Often view the teacher as always right.
- Affirmation of their abilities and dignity as persons vital to their development.
- Often play best with friends in pairs rather than in larger groups.
RELIGIOUS GROWTH
- Natural sense of wonder and awe fosters a sensitivity to the sacred.
- Imagine God as a human person; form an image of God from parents, guardians, and other significant people in their lives.
- Experience God's love through parents or guardians and other family members.
- Prayer comes naturally, enjoy ceremony and ritual.
- Comfortable with formal and spontaneous prayer.
- Interpret Bible stories and other stories literally, cannot derive the symbolic meaning of stories.
GROWING AS CATHOLIC CHRISTIANS
The kindergarten year is a wonderful time for teachers and catechists to support families in developing the Catholic identity of their children. It is a time to celebrate simple rituals and the traditions of the Church. Kindergarten is a time to introduce the children to a beginning faith vocabulary and provide a readiness for future catechesis in the faith of the Catholic Church.
Here are a few points to keep in mind:
- Awareness of the Church limited to experiences at home and in the parish.
- Most of the children probably were baptized as infants, have likely seen photos or videos of their baptism.
- Experiences of attending Mass on Sunday will vary--some have attended regularly; others, occasionally; others may never have been to Mass with their families.
- Some of the children may have been to the First Communion or Confirmation of an older sibling.
- The children's experiences of parish life will vary and will be defined by their families' participation in parish life.
We asked a group of kindergarteners what they would like a parent to know about them. Here's what they said:
- you would let me go first.
- you would let us act out the stories we hear.
- you would let me move around the room.
- you would read more stories to us.
- you would know that I do not like to lose a game.
- you would do a lot of different things.
- you would smile every day.