Off to School! K Is for Kindergarten by Erin Dailey

ARE YOU COUNTING THE DAYS UNTIL KINDERGARTEN?

A IS FOR AT LAST!

B IS FOR BOUNCING BALLS!

Erin Dailey's K is for Kindergarten (Sleeping Bear Alphabet Books) (Sleeping Bear Press, 2017) takes the rising Kindertgartner through the all important alphabet of school doings all right, from A to Z, with C is for Classroom and D is for Directions (like those School Rules to follow), Q is for Quiet Time and T is for Terrific Teachers.

But this book not only offers practice in alphabetical order and initial sounds. but also includes a lot of work with numbers, shapes, and other concepts as well. Each letter's page features a Kindergarten Countdown and a Kindergarten Challenge with plenty to do. For example, the Letter A has kids marking the first day of Kindergarten on a calendar and the current day, counting the days between, and making a paper chain with the days' numbers in between on each to remove as the days count down. The Kindergarten Challenge tells them to count the days until the 100th day of school and mark it with an X as well, and then suggest they learn 100 new words, one each day, by then. Each of the activities is imaginative, with some hands-on activities and some intellectual concepts, and with something for everyone that children will especially enjoy along the way.

Joseph Cowman's muted retro illustrations offer an attractive alternative to the usual cartoon kids found in most Kindergarten stories, and this book provides a lot for parent and child to do, also offering an opportunity to draw out feelings about the start of school that will help ease the transition to Kindergarten.