P1 Preparation

The year is ending soon and those born in 2008 will be going to Primary 1 next year. Have you prepared your child for P1?

Some parents may still believe that there is no need to prepare for P1. However, I beg to differ. P1 is a big change from preschool. Without proper preparation, your child will need to handle both culture shock and academic expectations.

My eldest child formally started his P1 Prep with me in September this year. He is going to P1 next year. There are mainly three key subjects and two non-academic skills I focused on.

The subjects are:

- English
- Math
- Chinese

The skills are:

- buying food at the canteen
- taking down notes in his handbook


English Prep

Basic reading skills are expected at P1. (Read that again.)

We are no longer in the era where the first few difficult words are 'one', 'two', 'three' and 'four'. Nowadays, they learn words like 'croak', 'scream' and 'paddled' in P1. If your child does not have basic reading skills, he is in for a shock. Many words will be difficult for him.

To help the child, I will recommend the following:
- basic phonic skills
- read with the child to boost his reading skills
- make spelling a common thing at home by giving surprise spelling (like in the lift or car)
- watch good children programs which teaches English words to boost his vocabulary (I recommend Alphablocks and Super Why. Search Youtube for them.)


Math Prep

Basic arithmetic skills are expected at P1. Counting to 10 is a very small topic in P1 and it is covered in one or two lessons. 

Your child is also expected to learn basic addition and subtraction quickly in the first semester. So, preparing them will help to relieve some stress when they are going through this topic.

To help your child, you can do this:
- use base-10 cubes to introduce counting and addition
- model adding by counting forward
- model subtracting by counting backwards
- make sure your child know what is the meaning of 'sum' and 'difference'
- other important keywords include 'altogether', 'more than' and 'fewer than'


Chinese Prep

For this I am not an expert, but I am very sure that learning Hanyu Pinyin before P1 is very beneficial to the child. So, prepare your child in Hanyu Pinyin for Chinese.


Canteen Skills

A small story here. When I was a teacher, I saw some children struggle to buy food at the canteen. They did not know what is the price of some food and insisted that they have enough money for it at the stalls. Or some were simply too scared to buy food.

Help your child in this by simulating a canteen at home. Prepare paper plates and bowls with cornflakes or biscuits. Put up some prices and give the child some money to buy the food. Do this a few times and your child will be ready to 'attack' the canteen in school.


Note-taking Skills

In my opinion, this was the most neglected skills I saw in P1 students during my teaching days. Most of the children were not able to take down notes from the whiteboard or require a long time to take down the notes.

Help your child by:
- giving him some instructions to copy into a small book everyday (Some examples are "Throw away the used toothpaste tube tomorrow." "Buy a present for Grandma on 30 October." "Bring socks to KidsAmaze on 20 October.")
- giving one-sentence dictation at home

P1 preparation is important and it will help your child tremendously to adapt to the primary school environment.



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