Today I overheard some young parents talking about kindergarten entry. The mom said she had to pry her child off her. When she left he was in tears.

When I smiled and told them that I used to teach kindergarten they asked what they could do to help him.

My advice was to look through his school bag and find something to talk about. Do not just ask them about their day. If a child is asked about his/her day the response will probably be minimal. If you can find something he/she did to discuss it may lead to more conversation.

When I taught kindergarten, I got all the addresses from the office and sent each child a letter to welcome them to my classroom.

One year my story for the day was “Corduroy.” In the story he has a pocket. I asked each child to bring something to share that first day. It had to fit into their pocket.

I found out from the parents how excited their children were to pick out something from home to bring to school. That child came to school with a purpose. It made for a smooth transition.

Other times I included a picture to color. Once again, this child was to bring it to school that first day. As they came through the door they had something to hand me. Of course, some of the children forgot. That was fine I told them to bring it the next day. They usually did because they wanted to see their work up on the board.

I had a bulletin board ready for their work that they brought. I immediately hung it up. There was something about seeing their work displayed that was soothing for each child.

It is kind of like when a child brings something from school that you put on the refrigerator. A word of caution here — if you put something up do not leave it there too long. Exchange it for something new. That lets your child know that you are interested in their work.

When my own children were in school I assigned each of them a drawer in the secretary I had in the living room. Of course, that meant that I lost some storage space, but that practice saved many tears.

If a child needed something brought home a while ago they went to their drawer. If they had done what they were supposed to have done, whatever they needed was there.

It taught them a little bit of organization. That helped a lot down the road.

Organization is something that must be taught. It does not happen automatically. I remember one day when my principal walked through the door to observe me. I was teaching second grade. When he read my plans, he noted that I was teaching the children to set up a paper for an assignment. I had them write the numbers of the questions they had to answer leaving enough space for each answer. The paper was ready for their homework when they were ready to do it.

He was surprised. He said, “You actually teach them how to write their paper? I had no idea!”

There are many skills that are taught in the early years.

Parents this is one way you can help your children. If the teacher has not done this, show your child how to set up a paper to make their work easier.

Every year of school there is a certain transition. The child must get used to listening to a new teacher or teachers. Listening is a skill. The child needs to learn how to listen to the new teacher. Each teacher handles things differently.

I used to spend the first week teaching my students how to listen the way I wanted them to listen. One activity had a lot of reading. I found students often did not read thoroughly either. It was set up with some crazy things to do such as standing up and turning around. If the child read to the end, they found that they really did not need to do all of things. All they needed to do was write their name on the paper and turn it over. I could tell their reading skill by what they did.

Sometimes I read them a passage and asked them to do a certain task. That helped to gauge their listening skill. Often, I gave multiple things to do to see how well they listened. That helped me develop future assignments.

Education is a process. It is not a one-time thing. Each setting for the child is different. The child needs to learn to assess each situation and respond accordingly.

I loved my job. It was truly enjoyable to see the “light go on” for a student and realize that he understood a concept that you were teaching. It was a good thing I was a patient person because not all of my students learned a concept at the same time. That is a very common thing. Students learn at their own pace. We as teachers had to adjust our program to fit all of their needs. Many times, it was a real challenge, but that is what made teaching such a wonderful job.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, Pa. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.