NYC Kindergarten Prep: Prepare Your Child for Success
Understanding Kindergarten Admissions in NYC
Is your child ready for private school NYC kindergarten admissions? If you wonder how your child may be seen in the eyes of a kindergarten admissions director, it would be worth an assessment. Stephanie Sigal’s Manhattan kindergarten prep, as showcased in The Atlantic, offers just that and weekly kindergarten prep sessions.
In addition to in-person interviews and playdates, Horace Mann and Riverdale require children to take the FLI Test (First Looks Insights) to evaluate kindergarten readiness.
Schools may only meet with your four or five-year-old child for one short interview, so making the right impression is critical.
Stephanie’s Tailored Kindergarten Prep
Stephanie Sigal, a speech-language therapist, knows the skills your child is expected to present at Manhattan kindergarten admissions interviews and the FLI test. Stephanie’s tailored kindergarten prep assessment and ongoing sessions are conducted in your Upper East Side home or on Zoom.
Stephanie assesses how effectively your child interacts with an unfamiliar adult in person and/or online. She helps your child confront language, academic tasks, and FLI activities that may overlap with typical kindergarten interview tasks. Fun activities will be presented similarly to a kindergarten admissions interview and playdates.
Taking time to prepare for the rigorous Manhattan kindergarten admissions process and the FLI may create more options for the appropriate school placement for your child and a positive Manhattan kindergarten admissions season.
Areas of Focus in Kindergarten Prep
Personalized kindergarten prep sessions may include, but are not limited to:
- Attention and Transitions Between Activities
- Eye contact/Body Language/Confidence and Self-esteem
- Test-taking Strategies
- Conversation and language Skills (e.g., vocabulary, grammar, sentence length)
- Articulation/Speech Clarity
- Problem-solving
- Memory
- Critical thinking
- Social Skills (e.g., sportsmanship, sharing, taking turns in games, cooperating with rules, managing and understanding feelings, participating in a polite, enthusiastic manner)
- Math/Number Skills
- Reading/Upper/Lowercase Letter-Sound knowledge
- Rhyming
- Sequencing and Patterning
- Category Naming and Similarities
- Following Directions/Listening Comprehension
- Picture Book Discussions
- Sharing Personal Stories
- General Knowledge
- Fine Motor/Handwriting/Drawing/Pencil Grasp
- Gross Motor
- Shapes and Colors
- Imaginative Play
Enhancing Kindergarten Placement Options
Since 2001, Stephanie has helped children earn kindergarten admission to elite NYC area schools. Between 2020-2023, Stephanie’s students have enrolled at Trinity, Dalton, Horace Mann, Riverdale, Fieldston, Collegiate, Brearley, Chapin, Spence, Sacred Heart, Nightingale, and Greenwich Academy.
Empowering Parents in Kindergarten Readiness
As part of Stephanie’s kindergarten prep, she teaches parents how to help their children improve kindergarten readiness skills. Working on necessary skills may help improve your child’s preschool report and their chances of being the shining star at kindergarten admissions interviews and the results of the FLI assessment.
A comprehensive follow-up email after each session includes how your child performed and personalized at-home activity recommendations.
Kindergarten Enrichment
Kindergarten Prep can continue beyond interviews and testing to maximize reading, math, language, writing, and critical thinking skills throughout early elementary school.
Contact Stephanie for Kindergarten Prep in NYC
If you have concerns about your child’s performance at kindergarten interviews and testing, or if you just want to have your child experience what interviews and testing will be like so they can be confident and successful, please complete the form below. Stephanie looks forward to hearing from you!