Characteristics of Kindergarten and Primary School Bridging Program

I. What is bridging between kindergarten and primary school?

The term "bridging" refers to the educational process of smooth transition between kindergarten and elementary school. There are two meanings, one is the narrow sense of the articulation is focused on the second semester of kindergarten; the second is the broad sense of the articulation of kindergarten and primary school throughout the entire 3-6 years old preschool stage.

3-6 years old is the child's golden learning sensitive period, so it is recommended that parents carry out through the kindergarten three years of education, so that the child better grasp of knowledge, more seamless adaptation to the elementary school, the child can accept the way, step by step to improve the child's ability, so that they unconsciously cultivate interest in learning and good learning habits, rather than wait until the child to kindergarten class or kindergarten to primary school in the summer and then to prepare for the surprise.

Why do we need to do this?

In April 2021, the Ministry of Education issued the "Guidelines on vigorously promoting the scientific convergence of kindergarten and elementary school" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), which called for comprehensively promoting the implementation of kindergarten and primary school school readiness and schooling, slowing down the gradient of the convergence, and helping children to smoothly realize the transition from kindergarten to elementary school, and pointed out the direction of the kindergarten and elementary school to do a good job of convergence work.

The convergence of kindergarten and primary school is a major transition period faced by young children in the course of their development. The kindergarten period is mainly to play and ability development based education, while primary education is mainly formal coursework and static knowledge learning based education, the difference between the two education needs children's physical and mental adjustments to adapt to, due to changes in educational conditions and living environment, are bound to face many new problems, young children have to work hard to adapt to new environments, to establish a new set of behaviors in order to meet the adaptive circumstances of the needs.

So, effective early childhood and primary school convergence can help young children adapt to elementary school life better and faster, and can make young children enrolled in school, physical, mental, emotional, social adaptation and learning adaptation have good development, so as to smoothly realize the transition from kindergarten to elementary school.

Three, a few major misunderstandings, parents must pay attention to avoid

First of all, it is strictly prohibited to learn the elementary school curriculum, education-related regulations and policies have been clearly stipulated: it is strictly prohibited to elementary school held any form of entrance selection test, it is strictly prohibited to elementary school year one for any reason to compressed or accelerated course progress.

Secondly, for kindergarten children directly teach the content of the lower grades of elementary school, just let the child in the kindergarten to the elementary school in the first and second grades of the part of the content of the finished. It may seem that the child grasps more knowledge than other small children, but in fact, it is against the law of children's learning and development, and after school the child will feel that it is easy to learn in elementary school, and does not have to be very attentive or work very hard, so that the child will form bad learning habits and attitudes.

Third, simply let the child learn the content corresponding to the main subjects of elementary school, such as increasing the proportion of mathematics, language reading and writing, English learning, young children's indoor and outdoor games and sports activities, social interaction and communication activities, art and creative activities correspondingly reduced. This kind of inappropriate convergence will make the child to produce an aversion to learning, the child in kindergarten on the tired, scared, and tired of learning, which is very unfavorable to the elementary school and the subsequent stage of learning.

So it is very important to do a good job in the science of kindergarten-primary bridging, it is directly related to the children's ability to realize the smooth transition from kindergarten to elementary school, and it is related to the children's physical and mental health and lifelong development.

Four, early childhood convergence, convergence what?

The focus of the convergence work is not on the preparation of knowledge, but on how to stimulate children's interest in learning, arouse their curiosity about knowledge, cultivate children's active learning attitude, develop good learning habits, and build up the courage to overcome difficulties. Therefore, the interface between kindergarten and primary school should be based on the development of young children, follow their age and psychological characteristics, and emphasize the cultivation of interests, habits and abilities. The Ministry of Education issued the "kindergarten school readiness education guidance points", clearly pointed out the following four major aspects:

(1) is physically and mentally ready to guide the child to aspire to elementary school life

Suggested that parents at home and the children to talk more about elementary school, such as elementary school learning how life is different from the kindergarten, and their own childhood anecdotes of going to school, etc.; you can also make the children to get in touch with elementary school students around them to help them get an initial understanding and build positive expectations for school.

(2) Preparing for life and helping children develop good habits

Parents are advised to cooperate with kindergartens in adjusting their work schedules, reminding children to go to bed early and get up early, and enter kindergarten on time; at the same time, they should set an example by influencing their children with a regular work routine. At the same time, they should guide their children to develop good hygiene habits in their daily lives, such as washing their hands consciously, not reading or writing in an environment with too much light or darkness, using computers, cell phones and other electronic products for no more than 15 minutes, and paying attention to eye hygiene, and so on.

(3) It is social preparation, cultivating children's good social skills

Creating a good social atmosphere, encouraging young children to interact and cooperate with others, cultivating a sense of abiding by the rules, paying attention to the cultivation of civilized etiquette habits, and taking the initiative to greet peers and teachers.

(4) is learning readiness, focus on cultivating children's interest in learning

Interest is the best teacher, young children have a strong interest in learning and basic learning ability helps to adapt to the new knowledge of different subjects after school, new skills, more active, persistent and engaged in learning.

The 5-6 year old child is in an important period of learning habits and interest development. Developing good study habits, stimulating children's desire to learn, and fostering a sense of time, task awareness, and self-control can help children enter elementary school life with greater ease and lay a good foundation for lifelong learning.

Preparation for school is not a matter of completing the transmission of "fixed knowledge", not advancing, not jumping ahead, but of strengthening the interest in learning, the desire, the ability and the quality of preparation on the basis of comprehensive development.

V. How families can prepare for primary school

(1) Don't let the family bear too heavy a burden for the child's schooling

The distance between home and school is too far, or the financial pressure on the family is too great, and this will put the child under pressure - the pressure of having to carry the entire family to school for themselves is too great. Even if parents don't talk about it, children can feel it, and that's not healthy for a young child's development.

(2) Celebrate your child's transition to a new level by throwing him or her a party

Taking pictures of the whole family or having a potluck dinner before your child goes to elementary school is a great way to celebrate, and to make him or her feel that going to elementary school is a joyful and worthwhile celebration.

(3) Involve your child in the process of preparing for primary school

Parents can take their children to the entrance of the elementary school where they will be attending, and if allowed, enter the school to familiarize themselves with the environment and look at the classrooms, the library, the playground, and the restrooms. Familiarizing yourself with the elementary school environment ahead of time will make your child feel less unfamiliar and more at ease when entering the school. You can also involve your child in the preparation process of purchasing school bags, stationery and uniforms for elementary school, so that your child can feel that going to elementary school is his or her own business.

(4) Parents must avoid giving their children negative hints

Some parents, from communicating with other parents, have learned that some children have difficulty adapting to elementary school and become anxious, and by revealing this worry in the presence of their children, they give their children a hint of the difficulty of going to elementary school; on the other hand, some parents, from communicating with other parents, have learned that some children have difficulty adapting to elementary school and become anxious, and by revealing this worry in the presence of their children, they give their children a hint of the difficulty of going to elementary school. At the other end of the spectrum, over-exaggerating the idealization of elementary school is also undesirable, and may make the child feel a sense of loss after the actual school day. Parents should be careful not to use negative words to scare their children (e.g., "Just be naughty and let the teacher punish you when you go to school some day! and so on), so that the child has a sense of pressure and resistance to elementary school life.