In my last post, I shared an introduction to what I like to call The New Kindergarten. Though the idea of all the changes to the Kindergarten curriculum might seem daunting and scary, I want to assure you that preparing your child for Kindergarten shouldn’t be daunting and scary.

I want to emphasize that while it might seem that we are doing a lot more “work” in Kindergarten now than the Kindergartners of yesteryear (i.e. us, parents) did, the work that we are doing are tasks that most Kindergartners can learn to do and they are developmentally appropriate. Therefore, as a Kindergarten teacher, all I want is for my students to come in with a solid, developmentally on-target foundation of skills that we might build on in the classroom and throughout the school year.

In other words, and let me make this very clear, we do not expect students to enter Kindergarten reading and writing! Nor do we expect them to be solving addition and subtraction problems or doing other skills that we will teach this year. Of course, if your child enters Kindergarten and can do one or more those things, we will gladly take them in and teach them at their appropriate level, but for the most part, here is what we would hope to see in a beginning Kindergartner:

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  • Identifies all or most uppercase letters
  • Identifies many or most lowercase letters (the b/d, p/q/g confusion is normal and takes a bit to solidify, typically by about 7. It has to do with learning and memorizing the rules of print, when our brains are wired to write in either direction. This is why you will sometimes see 5 year-olds write their name in mirror image without even trying! Check out this neat snippet from BBC News about this!)
  • Names many letter sounds, especially for letter sounds that are clear from the letter name — i.e. it’s easy to understand that T makes the /t/ sound, but harder to understand that W makes the /w/ sound, because “double yoo” starts with /d/
  • Writes his first name with a capital first letter and lowercase letters for the other letters
  • Recognizes his name when printed and recognizes some environmental print (i.e. the Target sign or the grocery store logo)
  • Has some understanding of rhyming: he may not be able to produce spontaneous rhymes, but could pick out a pair of rhyming words with about 50-65% accuracy
  • Has some understanding of alliteration: again, he may not be able to produce spontaneous words that start with the same sound, but could pick out a matching pair with about 50-65% accuracy
  • Knows how to look at a book — i.e. can hold the book facing the right direction (not upside down or backwards) and turn the pages.
  • Makes up stories based on the pictures in a book, in other words, he understands that the pictures hold meaning and that the words will match the pictures in meaning.
  • Knows how to listen to a story and answer basic questions during a conversation throughout the reading
  • Retells stories with basic plot and details
  • Knows how to share and talk about an event in his life.
  • Knows how to draw representational objects, people and scenes, with room for interpretation from the little artist.

  • Counts to 20 accurately
  • Recognizes numerals 0-10
  • Usually matches 1:1 while counting up to 10 objects — in other words, he can point to each object and say the next corresponding number, resulting in the correct total
  • Has a basic understanding of less and more, bigger and smaller, and other comparative words and features
  • Knows colors and basic shapes
  • Begins to sort objects (all the red ones, all the squares, etc)
  • Describes what is same and what is different

  • Follows two-step directions
  • Follows rules and routines
  • Handles transitions from one activity to the next
  • Attempts to solve problems with peers using words, seeking adult help when needed
  • Comfortably interacts with other children
  • Participates in group activities
  • Takes turns and shares
  • Shows an interest in learning
Okay. So, I know I said I hoped you’d be pleasantly surprised when reading this list, but I realize the sheer length of it can be daunting! I want to assure you again, though, that these are things your child should be able to learn prior to entering Kindergarten. And your little ones should be able to learn most of these things simply by interacting with you and interacting with the world around them. In fact, Lil’ CB is 3 and can do more than half of these items, and he’s learned them from soaking up everything we read and talk about…and I’m not saying that to be a braggy momma (I promise!), but just to show that you truly don’t need to skill and drill your kiddo prior to Kindergarten.  In my next post, I’ll share some more specific ways you can help prepare your child for the New Kindergarten. Stay tuned!