Last updated 2026-09-15. Written by the TernQuest team. This checklist is for parents of children in kindergarten through 5th grade who want the first month of school to set up the rest of the year, without adding a second job to their evenings.
What should parents do in the first 30 days of school?
Direct answer: Five things: get the daily routines steady, open a line to the teacher, start a reading habit that survives busy weeks, refresh the handful of skills the new grade assumes, and use back-to-school night to ask questions you actually need answered. Everything else (supplies, clubs, the perfect lunchbox) is optional.
| Week | Focus | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Routines | Bedtime, morning and after-school order are the same every day |
| Week 2 | Teacher contact | You know how the teacher communicates and have said hello |
| Week 3 | Reading habit | Reading happens at the same time daily without a fight |
| Week 4 | Skill refresh and back-to-school night | You have asked your questions and know the one skill to work on |
Quotable version: "The first month of school is for routines, one hello to the teacher, and a daily reading habit; everything else can wait."
How do I set routines that hold up?
Direct answer: Pick a bedtime, a wake time and an after-school order, write them down where the child can see them, and keep them the same on every school day. Routines fail when they depend on the parent remembering; they hold when the sequence itself is the reminder. Start them in the first week, before tiredness sets in.
Morning
- Clothes and bag ready the night before, by the door.
- Same wake time every day, including the days you do not have to.
- Breakfast, then teeth, then shoes. Same order.
After school
- Snack first. Hungry children cannot do anything else.
- A short break to move (outside if possible).
- Then homework or reading, at the same spot every day.
- Then free time.
The order matters more than the timing. If your child knows that homework always comes after the snack and before screens, the nightly negotiation mostly disappears. If it does not, our post on a homework routine for elementary kids goes deeper on the stalls and fights.
Evening
- Screens off well before bed so sleep is protected (the American Academy of Pediatrics' guidance emphasizes consistent limits that protect sleep for school-age children).
- Bag packed, the next day's clothes out.
- A book, then lights out at the same time every night.
How should I communicate with the teacher?
Direct answer: Early, briefly and in the channel the teacher prefers. In the first two weeks, send one short note introducing your child (one thing they love, one thing that is hard for them, anything the teacher should know) and ask how the teacher likes to be contacted. After that, save messages for things that matter and read everything the teacher sends.
What to include in the first note:
- Your child's name and what they like to be called.
- One strength and one thing you are working on ("still building confidence in math").
- Any practical detail: allergies, pickup arrangements, a new sibling at home.
- The question: "What is the best way to reach you, and how often do you send updates?"
Then, when something comes home you do not understand (a reading level, a math term, an unfamiliar assignment), ask. Teachers would rather answer a quick question in September than untangle a misunderstanding in January.
How do I build a reading habit that lasts?
Direct answer: Attach it to something that already happens every day (after the snack, before bed), keep it short enough that nobody dreads it, and let the child pick the book. For kindergarten and 1st grade, that means you reading aloud or listening to a narrated book together; for 2nd grade up, some independent reading plus you still reading aloud sometimes. Consistency beats length.
| Grade | What reading time looks like |
|---|---|
| K | You read aloud; child retells; a few minutes of letter sounds or blending |
| 1st | Child reads a short decodable book to you; you read a longer one to them |
| 2nd | Child reads alone for a stretch, then talks about it; you read aloud a chapter book |
| 3rd–5th | Child reads their own choice daily; you still read aloud a book above their level when you can |
If your child resists, the fix is usually easier books, more choice, or audio and narrated books so the story arrives without the effort; see my child hates reading for the nine things that help. And keep reading to them even after they can read alone; the reasons are in why you should keep reading aloud to older kids.
Which skills should I refresh at the start of the year?
Direct answer: The few skills the new grade assumes your child already has. Teachers review, but a child who arrives with last year's core facts still fresh spends the first month learning rather than catching up. Ask the teacher what they assume; the table below is a starting point based on California Common Core expectations, and your school's pacing may differ.
| Entering | Refresh in math | Refresh in reading |
|---|---|---|
| K | Counting to 20, naming shapes | Letter names, rhyming, hearing first sounds |
| 1st | Counting to 100, adding within 10 | Letter sounds, blending CVC words, first sight words |
| 2nd | Adding and subtracting within 20, place value to 120 | Digraphs and long vowels, reading short books with fluency |
| 3rd | Adding and subtracting within 100, skip counting by 5s and 10s | Two-syllable words, retelling with main topic |
| 4th | Multiplication and division facts within 100, fractions on a number line | Main idea and details, using text evidence |
| 5th | Multi-digit multiplication, equivalent fractions, decimals | Summarizing, theme, inference with evidence |
Pick one item from each column, not the whole row. Five minutes a day for two weeks is enough to shake the rust off. The grade checklists tell you what each year expects in full, starting with the kindergarten math skills checklist.
Where a learning app fits: a short daily game can do the refresh reps on the days you are too tired to run flashcards. TernQuest maps its games to these same California Common Core standards and is free for one child; but if your child's summer was screen-heavy, the best back-to-school move is fewer screens and more reading on the couch, not another app, and you should skip it for now.
What should I ask at back-to-school night?
Direct answer: Questions the teacher can answer in a sentence and that change what you do at home. Skip "how is my child doing" (it is too early and too public); ask about communication, homework, how progress is reported, and the one thing you can do at home.
A short list to bring:
- How do you prefer parents contact you, and how quickly should we expect a reply?
- What does a normal week of homework look like, and how long should it take?
- How will I find out my child's reading level and math progress, and when?
- When are parent-teacher conferences, and how do we prepare?
- What is the one thing families can do at home that helps most in your class?
- What should I do if my child is stuck on homework: help, leave it, or write a note?
Write the answers down. The conference questions themselves are in 12 questions to ask at parent-teacher conferences, which is the next event on the calendar.
What can wait until October?
Direct answer: Almost everything that is not on this page. Extracurriculars, tutoring decisions, reorganizing the desk, the debate about which app or workbook to buy: all of these are better decided once you have seen a month of real school and heard from the teacher. The first 30 days are for routines, reading and relationships.
One caution in the other direction: if your child is unhappy about school in a way that is not settling by the end of the month, or if homework is producing tears every night, do not wait. Message the teacher and say exactly what you are seeing.
Related reading
- A homework routine for elementary kids — the after-school block in detail.
- Kindergarten math skills checklist (2026) — the first of the grade checklists, for what the year expects.
- 12 questions to ask at parent-teacher conferences — the next conversation with the teacher.
Next step
If you want a daily refresh that runs itself on busy nights, TernQuest is free to start for one child and covers reading and math from PK through 5th grade. Set the routines first; the app is the last item on the list, not the first.