P.E.I. libraries offer new tools to help kids get ready for kindergarten

Thinh Nguyen · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 17, 2025 12:51 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Saying much children person been starting kindergarten without indispensable skills, the P.E.I. Department of Education and Early Years has launched caller resources to enactment families and assistance easiness the modulation to school.

Elizabeth Crawford, the department's manager of programs, said concerns person been increasing among educators, families and schools that immoderate children don't person the foundational skills they need to thrive successful a classroom.

"Besides aboriginal literacy and numeracy skills, the challenges that galore children are facing… would see things similar social-emotional learning skills, self-regulation, arsenic good arsenic independency and self-care skills with things similar dressing and toileting and mealtime," she told CBC's Island Morning.

She said there's besides a request for enactment successful different areas of development, including language, cognitive and different skills.

"We are seeing much children progressive with surface time, little play-based activities... Getting outdoors would beryllium an important constituent of being prepared successful presumption of good motor, gross centrifugal skills," Crawford said.

New resources purpose to boost schoolhouse readiness

To code these gaps, the section has launched a centralized website for parents suggesting resources, activities and toolkits to assistance kids hole for kindergarten.

Crawford said that includes videos showing parents and caregivers however to assistance children signifier foundational skills successful mundane settings, specified arsenic connected the playground oregon during mealtimes.

Among the caller tools are kindergarten kits present disposable done nationalist libraries. Parents tin get them to assistance their children practise indispensable skills astatine home.

Krista MacEachern, an aboriginal puerility coach, said the kits were created successful effect to feedback from teachers and families that galore children request other enactment to eat independently, use the toilet and cleanable themselves, and dress themselves.

The backpacks see items similar luncheon containers with a assortment of fasteners truthful that children tin practise opening them, and a crippled that teaches kids however to benignant trash into recycling, discarded oregon compost.

"Everybody's luncheon whitethorn look a small spot different, truthful the children's storybooks are truly divers and inclusive," MacEachern said.

The kits are disposable successful English and French done nationalist libraries crossed the Island. If there's nary disposable astatine a adjacent branch, parents tin inquire for 1 to beryllium brought in.

Early mentation helps kids and teachers

Crawford said erstwhile children commencement kindergarten, they person to set to a batch of antithetic things, similar caller routines, a caller situation and unfamiliar peers.

"We tin easiness that cognitive load if they travel to schoolhouse with [skills] similar learning however to clasp a pencil oregon knowing however to number to 10, truthful that they person much clip to larn those caller routines without that changeless overdrive of learning and beryllium capable to larn without frustration," Crawford said.

Being prepared besides helps kids consciousness much autarkic and confident, she said.

"That frees abstraction up for them to learn, person caller friends and person that affirmative schoolroom civilization for each the amusive things that hap successful kindergarten, including play," she said.

"We cognize that assurance builds that learning momentum. And if they person that learning momentum, you're going to person classrooms wherever children are participating and raising their hand, joining play groups. They're going to beryllium welcoming challenges arsenic they come."

On the different hand, she noted that erstwhile children aren't ready, teachers person to walk much clip connected basal routines and skills rather than diving into meaningful learning.

"It besides impacts teachers successful gathering that affirmative narration with students close away... If they're precise focused on, you know, managing disruptions oregon managing learning frustrations, it takes much clip to build those affirmative relationships and physique that affirmative schoolroom climate."