Books or TV helping kid navigate first day of school

August 18, 2024 3:59 PM

I'm trying to help my relatively shy kid navigate the first day of kindergarten. She has been in a 5-person class until now, so a class of 15 may feel like a lot. Any favorites?

One particular thing she could use some help asking for space (e.g. saying no to a hug). But just in general, I'm looking for first day of school stuff, "yes it's overwhelming, but just take it step by step and you'll figure it out" messages, and stuff about navigating social situations. As a format, the Daniel Tiger format with situations and songs, or children's books generally, are perfect.

posted by Spokane to Human Relations (4 answers total)

I like the book "The King of Kindergarten" by Derrick Barnes.

The Boundaries Song is great, and there are lots of fun homemade videos of little kids singing it if you search on social media.

I put my shy kid into a drop-in daycare for a couple days during in the last week of summer. It was about 15 kids which was a great way to practice being around larger groups of kids, with more staff than a kindergarten. I think it helped bridge the skills and comfort a bit. There may be one in a corporate area of your town - in my city there's a chain of them and they accept very short term registrations.

A few skills that may be worth practicing:
- Going into unfamiliar bathrooms alone (take her to a few stores, let her try navigating the bathroom, wiping, flushing, and washing hands alone with you outside the door). My kid and his friends all found their kindy bathroom scary and intimidating because it was a bit dark inside, the toilet was high, there was no stepstool, the toilet paper holder was hung at an adult distance from the toilet so they had to jump down from the toilet and walk to it before wiping, the taps, soap dispenser, and paper towels were all different from home, and the flush was loud.
- Changing shoes without assistance.
- Unpacking lunch and snacks from lunchbox / backpack, opening the packages and containers alone.

Good luck!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 4:13 PM on August 18 [1 favorite]

These might be a risk, simply because her teacher might read them to her class! However, when I worked at an elementary school some of these were popular "first-day-of-school" choices:

The Day You Begin
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten
First Day Jitters
The Kissing Hand
All Are Welcome
Wemberly Worried
The Name Jar
posted by VirginiaPlain at 4:21 PM on August 18 [1 favorite]

There is a fabulous book "Starting School" which is for this very situation and is by the same couple that wrote and illustrated Each Peach Pear Plum.
Seconding the Miss Bindergarten series.
posted by mutt.cyberspace at 4:30 PM on August 18 [1 favorite]

Elmo and Ms. Rachel may be able to help.
posted by sardonyx at 8:38 PM on August 18 [1 favorite]