Preparing for Kindergarten
Parents often wonder what the teacher will expect of their child. Expectations, as well as programs differ among schools, but some skills appear to be common for children to be ready to learn the academic skills in Kindergarten.
On the first day of school, teachers want to see children who are healthy, mature, ready and eager to learn.
What should I work on prior to Kindergarten starting?
What are the concepts my child is expected to know prior to coming to Kindergarten?
- Children are able to follow simple rules and directions/instructions
- Children will be able to demonstrate self control
- Children are able to recognize authority
- Children are able to concentrate and maintain focus on a task for up to 20 minutes
- Children are able to take care of their personal needs and personal belongings such as, hang up their own clothing, put on outer clothing, put away their work materials (crayons, glue, pencil, etc...)
- Social skills and self-control such as sharing and taking turns will be emphasized. These skills help children get along well with teachers and other children.
On the first day of school, teachers want to see children who are healthy, mature, ready and eager to learn.
What should I work on prior to Kindergarten starting?
- Practice buckling belts on school uniform shorts and pants (children are expected to do this independently)
- Practice tucking school polo shirts into pants/shorts
- Practice dressing yourself with jackets/sweaters
- Practice putting on shoe if it comes off and begin to learn how to tie shoe by “doing the part I know”
- Practice opening lunch box and taking out snack / lunch
- Practice repacking lunch box to put things away
- Practice sitting and listening to stories
- Practice predicting what will happen next in the story
- Practice answering questions about the story to aid in developing comprehension
What are the concepts my child is expected to know prior to coming to Kindergarten?
- A child ready for Kindergarten can: print his/her name (first letter uppercase, remainder of the letters lowercase), as well as recognize name in print.
- A child ready for Kindergarten can recognize and name basic colors.
- A child ready for Kindergarten can recognize and name numbers up to 10, even when they are out of order.
- A child ready for Kindergarten can count “how many” in a set up to 10, pointing to each object as counted, then state how many there were in the set.
- A child ready for Kindergarten can count by ones to at least 20.
- A child ready for Kindergarten can recognize and name basic 2 dimensional shapes: square, circle, triangle, rectangle, heart and oval.
- A child ready for Kindergarten can recognize most of the letters of the alphabet (uppercase and lowercase), as well as recite the alphabet in order.
- A child ready for Kindergarten can recite simple nursery rhymes such as Jack and Jill, Hickory Dickory Dock, Humpty Dumpty, etc…
- A child ready for Kindergarten can listen and identify words that rhyme.
- A child ready for Kindergarten can hold a book the proper way, follow the print from left to right and turn the page to read the next page.
- A child ready for Kindergarten can:
- state his/her first and last name (stating first, middle and last name required for Kindergarten)
- state parent’s first and last name
- state address (city and state) and begin to practice zip code (required for Kindergarten)
- state telephone number
- state birthday (month, day) and begin to practice year (required for Kindergarten)