In this first of four age-defined MegaSkills packages, Dr. Dorothy Rich establishes and provides means of enhancing three measures of a child’s readiness for the classroom environment:
· Social and group skills
· Organizing skills
· Ability to handle disappointment and frustration

In addition, Dr. Rich places heavy emphasis on the importance of learning habits and language skills.

The key element in preparing a child for the classroom, she says, is parental involvement. Methods are suggested for engaging parents – even parents whose own school experience was less than satisfactory – in home-based activities that teach concepts vital to the classroom.

The book and video point out how rich the average home is in learning tools, from a telephone to teach numbers, to a cardboard box to teach organization and spatial relationships to a blank sheet of paper for teaching the basics of fractions and a cereal box for teaching counting and colors.

The challenge of engaging parents in a joint teaching process with the school system, literally from the child’s birth, is addressed, along with means of maintaining the parent-school linkage.