Get Ready for Kindergarten with this DIY Chart

Do you have a little one that starts school soon? Get ready for Kindergarten with this DIY chart that helps set visual goals and achieve them!

I know I should be ready. I’ve been preparing for this day for 5 and a half years now, but I’m just not. I’m just not ready to send my baby to Kindergarten! It was hard enough when Sophia started school 2 years ago, but I still had Moreaya at home. Now, no matter how much I want time to slow down, it’s time for my baby to head to school.

I will also definitely admit that we’ve been having a lot of fun this Summer. I suppose it is because Sophia has had two full years of school already so Summer has been the perfect break from learning. T

hat doesn’t work so well, though, when you have one starting Kindergarten. That’s because there are a number of milestones that your child should know before they head to school.

While we still have a few weeks left, I took it upon myself to really buckle down and get started on reviewing Kindergarten readiness skills and activities for Moreaya and I came up with this fun DIY chart that you can make too!

The chart is super simple and can be ready in a matter of minutes once you have all your supplies. I used a portion of a Tri-fold presentation board that I already had at home. I also picked up Post-it® Super Sticky Notes, Lined, 4″x6″, Bora Bora and Rio de Janeiro Color Collections, 4-Pack for my own lists for the chart and Post-it® Notes Cube Mixed Case, 3″ x 3″, Pink Wave and Orange Wave, 400 Sheets/Cube for the chart itself.

I found these colorful collections at my local Walmart in the school supplies section.

I based our Kindergarten readiness goals off a list that was given to me by our school’s teachers. You could also add in some personal goals or even make them a bit more difficult if your child has already mastered some skills.

I also love to laminate practice sheets with a Scotch Thermal Laminator for extra writing practice. It’s a great way for Moreaya to practice writing and have fun with writing with dry erase markers.

My girls couldn’t be more different. Sophia, my oldest, loves to show you what she knows. She loves to learn and often reads non-fiction books for fun.

Moreaya is the total opposite, focusing on having fun constantly. She sometimes makes comments that make me stop and look at her and say “I didn’t know you knew that!” I wasn’t totally sure how she would react to our Get Ready for Kindergarten Chart.

She couldn’t stop smiling! Every time I read her one of the Kindergarten goals on the Post-It® that she knew, she celebrated as she moved it over to the “I Know…” column. The act of moving the sticky note was a huge motivator for her and she was so proud of how many of the tasks she could already do!

Since she has already mastered most of the Kindergarten Readiness tasks, we use the chart as a way to practice. One area we haven’t started studying yet is sight words. I turned the board over and made another chart for these frequently used words to give her a jump start on Kindergarten.

These are taking a bit longer to master so I decided that we would be more likely to remember to practice every day if I kept her progress recorded in my daily calendar.

Did you know that you’re more likely to accomplish things if you write them down? Written Goals are 42% more likely to to stick.* You can make it stick with Post-it® Brand.

If you’re working with your child to get ready for Kindergarten, make a chart using Post-It® Sticky Notes! It’s a great way to practice and for your little one to see their goals being accomplished.

*Matthews, G. (2007). The impact of commitment, accountability, and written goals on goal achievement. Paper presented at the 87th Convention of Western Psychological Association, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.