How are you getting ready for the first day of school?

Well...there are only a few weeks left until school begins again. I hope everyone is enjoying the break. I know the parents are excited to see school approaching; the kids, not so much.

What are you doing to get ready for school? Here are some suggestions:

• Let your child help you pick out a backpack (make sure it's big enough to carry everything (agenda, large library books, their lunch box/bag, emergency clothing)
• Have your child help pick out the clothes for their emergency clothing kit (underwear, pants, T-shirt, socks)
• Let your child have fun decorating their emergency clothes kit container (shoe-box sized plastic tub that is latch-locked and easy to open). They can help put stickers on it, their name, decals, jewels, etc.)
• Let your child chose what to wear on their first day of school. Hang it up in their closet (the complete outfit and underwear) so that it's ready to go for the first day
• Have your child practice printing their name (Upper case for the first letter, and lower case for the rest of the letters in their name)
• Have your child make a list of all the lunch foods he/she likes. Make a plan for what they would like for the first day of school.
• Make a plan for how you'd like to celebrate their first week back at school (e.g., go to the park on the Friday night or weekend after the school week, have a movie night by putting on a DVD favourite with snacks or to go out, have a family game night, etc.)
• Make sure to have those INDOOR shoes to be left at the school. Your child can help pick them out.

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO LABEL everything when bringing items to school.