Transition Strategies for Early Childhood Programs 

Ideas for Preschool Programs: 

1. Have a "photo" album of the new school (kindergarten). Pictures might include: the front 
entrance, the school bus (inside and out), the block area, class pet, and pictures of teachers. 
These albums go on the preschool book shelf. This gives the preschoolers some concrete pictures 
to look at, often. Be sure to include all the schools in your school district, where your children 
might be attended next year. 

2. Arrange a class field trip to the kindergarten Make it short and pleasant. 

3. Have extra copies of "open house" notices the kindergarten publishes available at the 
preschool. (Joint effort to publicize) Post them on parent bulletin boards. 

4. Encourage the kindergarten teachers to do home visits prior to the start of school. One school 
district starts kindergarten 4 days later than the rest of the grades. This allows the kindergarten 
teachers to schedule and do home visits with their new children. This is a great way to get to 
know about the child and his/her family before school entry. 

5. Be sensitive to the 'systems change' the preschool parents go through as the kindergarten 
process starts. It's especially difficult for some first time parents. It is a new school and way of 
school operation to learn. Plus letting go of their little one is just that much more at the 
kindergarten level. Teacher sensitivity to this is very important to help the parents to usher into 
the next 'stage.' 

6. Read a lot of books about going to kindergarten. 

7. Alumni Visits: Have a few children who are in kindergarten who were in Head Start (PS, day 
care, etc.) last year come back and tell the children about kindergarten. Have the children prepare 
their questions ahead of time. 

8. Develop a portfolio of the child's work to share with the new teacher. 

9. Develop a "Positive Profile" of the student (A picture of ______, A passport for _________). 

10. Idea from a program that is a feeder to many elementary schools: At our College preschool 
and Kindergarten, the children live in many different school districts, so we can't actually take 
trips to the many schools they will attend. We decided that it would still be valuable to visit a 
nearby elementary school, just to show them a big school, with a cafeteria and many rooms. We 
also "play school" for a week at the end of our Kindergarten year. We bring individual desks into 
the room, request that children raise their hands to speak or to go to the bathroom, introduce 
them to worksheets, have them line up to go outside, pledge allegiance, etc., etc. (These are all 
new experiences to kids in our developmentally appropriate Kindergarten.) The children enjoy 
this experience (especially having their own private desk!) and we hope it makes first grade a 
little less strange for them the following fall. 


11. Continuity between programs: A national Head Start organization has highlighted the 
importance of continuity between programs as an important element of successful transitions 
between preschools and elementary school. If many of the kindergartens in your community are 
developmentally appropriate, it would not be appropriate to bring desks into the room as part of a 
transition. But in the example above, if the schools to which the children are transitioning are 
very traditional, such a practice makes sense. Being aware of the composition of the program 
that children will go to makes it possible to include activities that will be most effective at 
transitioning them to the next step. Perhaps increasing the communication between the staffs of 
sending and receiving schools can be a catalyst for change so that more child-centered 
approaches may grow at all levels! 

Ideas from School Districts: 

Take the children to visit the elementary school. One district has the children go to the 
auditorium where the principal gives a VERY short welcome. Then the children are divided into 
groups of about 5-6 and third graders are tour guides to show the children different parts of the 
school. Children get to: spend about 10 minutes in the kindergarten rooms looking around with 
the teacher; go to the gym and play for a few minutes; see different classrooms in the school; 
walk through the library to see ALL THE BOOKS; end up in the cafeteria where the children 
walk through the line; get milk and cookies; and sit to eat them. This seems exciting to the 
children as they talk about it for the rest of the school year. 

2. Friends in kindergarten: Make sure that some of the peers/friends from this child's class are 
assigned to the kindergarten class...if possible. 

3. Visits by both receiving and sending teachers to classrooms. Communication about the 
strengths of individual children is very important. 

4. Teacher Luncheon: District invites Head Start teachers to a luncheon provided by the school 
district. Head Start and Kindergarten teachers enjoy lunch together and get to know each other, 
they spend the afternoon in a shared staff development activity. 

5. Another district sponsors "Kinder Parties" in which students are invited for a couple of hours 
of activities in which they get to ride the bus, have lunch in the cafeteria, and meet the teacher. 
Eight children attend at a time which gives the teacher time to observe them and get to know 
them. While children are getting introduced to the classroom and teacher, parents spend time 
with the principal learning about school policies and other information. (Funded through Title I 
dollars) 

6. Summer School Programs: A three-week program for preschool, Head Start, early 
intervention, K-2 children. The program is activity, theme-based. 20 children are assigned to 
three adults who spend a great deal of their time getting to know children and observing them. 

7. School district sponsors a parent meeting for families sending children to kindergarten and 
parents whose children are currently in kindergarten. Kindergarten families share with preschool 
families things that helped prepare their children for kindergarten. They report that the parent's 


perspective is different from the district's perspective and different, important issues are raised at 
this meeting. 

8. Present a Web Cast!: District produced video and slide footage which was web cast to the 
community. It included pictures of the kindergarten, information about screening, etc. This 
program was produced by high school media classes. This idea has the advantage of reaching 
families who may not be able to attend an in-school program, but could gather the information 
from work or home internet connections. 

9. Traveling slide show: Produce a slide show of your program. Highlight classrooms, areas of 
the rooms, and individual children. This too could be sent home to families who could not attend 
in-building events. 

10. Home visits: kindergarten teachers visit homes of incoming children. They meet parents and 
children in an informal setting. They may ask children to share some of their favorite toys, ask 
questions that help them to understand children's interests, and listen to parent information and 
concerns. 

11. Early Start: kindergarten children come to school the week before school begins. Six children 
and their parents come to the classroom at a time where they are introduced to the kindergarten 
day and meet the teacher. The first day of school in this district, each child is greeted as the bus 
arrives at school by an adult who escorts the child to his/her classroom. The local women's club 
volunteers to help with this effort so that there are enough adults to greet each child. 

12. Parent/Teacher Dinner: In June or August, parents of entering children are invited to school 
for a dinner. They are escorted by the Head Start (preschool, day care, EI) Program teachers who 
also attend. Current teachers and kindergarten teachers are with parents as the district describes 
the school program. After the descriptive part of the meeting, a guest speaker presents 
information of interest to parents and teachers. (Literacy development was the topic last year). 

13. Staggered Entry: The first three days of school, only 1/3 of the kindergarten class attends. 
This gives the kindergarten teacher an opportunity to get to know children in a more relaxed 
atmosphere. The fourth day of the week, they all come together for the first time.