What a kindergartener needs to know before starting school

Heading to Kindergarten is exciting and overwhelming to many people, parents and kids alike. Your child will learn many things this year, and not all of the lessons will be academic lessons. These are just a few of the things your child will need to learn in Kindergarten to advance to the next grade, and what they will need to know to succeed in the grade.

It’s helpful to have a base knowledge so that your child isn’t caught off gaurd. Common Core Standards will require that before leaving Kindergarten students will learn:

Number names and the count sequence

Count to tell the number of objects- Once your child is able to count to 10, take like objects (like marbles or dice) and place them in groups, then have your child count how many are in the group.

Understand addition and subtraction

Work with numbers 11-19 to gain foundations for place value- Do this during the second week. Show your child higher numbers and teach them how to count and write them on scraps of paper, so as not to use clean sheets for practice.

Identify and describe shapes

Analyze, compare, create, and compose shapes

Know letter names and be able to identify and write both capital and lower case letters
Know basic words by sight/Sight Words
Placing sight words in sentences

You can test your child on all of these things before they even go to Kindergarten, though. There are great apps to download, games to play, and even crafts you can make that will help your child learn their numbers, the alphabet, shapes, and even sight words.

Visit CommonCoreStandards.org for more tips for parents.

Aside from CCS, your child will face social situations where they will need to learn new things, too. In Kindergarten, kids will be expected to learn to follow directions, learn boundaries with children and adults, and learn how to obey rules. They have to learn to follow a schedule and to transition between activities smoothly. If your child has never been to school or in a daycare, this is something that can be hard to learn, so you will need to work with them on this.

For motor skills, your child will be tested on the following before classes begin, during the school year, and as a final test:

Developing visual motor skills and hand-eye coordination

Practicing proper writing posture and pencil grip

Printing letters and numbers within defined spaces

Practicing correct letter formation

Cutting straight and curved lines

Writing first and last name, using a capital letter followed by lowercase letters

Tracing

Coloring inside the lines

Maneuvering their own zippers, buttons, etc.

Throwing and catching a ball

Balancing

Jumping (one and two feet)
Skipping
Running

Parents want their child to succeed.  Preparing your child to go to school and learn is always a good thing. Just guide them in knowing their letters, numbers, work with them on art projects and tying their shoes and you will be giving your child a step up for the year. To help your child with these things, practice at home before and during the year. It’s great for kids to have parents help teach them the tools that they will need for the coming years. Did you prepare your child for kindergarten? Did you put them in a preschool program that did prepare them already?