Separation Anxiety in Preschoolers

I would like to know if your child is having anxiety about going to school and how are you helping him/her cope. CJ, my four year old son, was adamant that he was not going back to school because he doesn't want a new teacher nor does he want to meet the new kids in his class. That was until I started talking to him about the neat things he was going to learn about in PreK - things like space, cowboys, Indians and dinosaurs. I told him I felt a little sorry for the girls in his class because it seemed like they would be learning mostly "boy" things. Apparently, that is what he needed to hear! Suddenly, he became very interested in his new class and wanted know all about it. Of course, he did tell me that he is not coming into my classroom since there will be new kids in there too. One baby step at a time I guess ;)

• Are you talking with your child about what s/he can expect in school?
• Will your child met with his/her teacher(me) in advance?
• Does your child have any ways to cope with meeting new people and being separated from you?
• Does s/he know what s/he can do when feeling scared or overwhelmed?
  
• Are you reading any books about school? (Such as "The Kissing Hand")
  
• Are you practicing/pretending what it will be like at school? This helped my son a lot last year. I would pretend to be his teacher and we would practice meeting each other for the first time. We also practiced saying good-bye and I told him "mommy goes away, but mommy will always come back!"