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Kindergarten Readiness Skills

A young girl with pigtails is intently focused on drawing or writing with a pink marker on a colorful table in a bright, green-colored room.

Kindergarten Curriculum 

The kindergarten curriculum will be provided to parents/guardians at the school’s fall open house. 

A young boy with curly hair wearing an orange shirt and smiling happily in a room with colorful posters on the wall.
The image shows a group of students sitting at a table in a classroom, engaged in what appears to be a learning activity. The students are focused on their work, with one wearing glasses and the other wearing an orange shirt. In the background, there is a woman standing, likely a teacher or instructor, observing the students.
A young boy wearing large blue headphones and glasses is holding a small pumpkin-shaped toy, with colorful storage containers visible in the background.

Before the first day of kindergarten— Getting off to a great start! 

Starting school is one of the most important events in a child’s life. Children who are prepared for kindergarten will have a rewarding and productive year.

As a family member/guardian, you can help your child develop the skills necessary for a great start in kindergarten. The following skills are considered “readiness skills.” Your child may not master all of these skills before starting kindergarten, but exposure to them will build a foundation for your child’s success. The skills outlined below are divided into five different categories: social and emotional, motor skills, speaking, reading and writing, and math. 

Supporting your child with social and emotional learning in school 

Develop self-awareness and self-management skills to achieve school and life success: 

• Several key sets of skills and attitudes provide a strong foundation for achieving school and life success. One involves students knowing their emotions, how to manage them, and ways to express them constructively. This enables students to handle stress, control impulses, and motivate oneself to persevere in overcoming obstacles to goal achievement. 

• It is critical for students to be able to establish and monitor their progress toward achieving academic and personal goals. 

Use social-awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships 

• Building and maintaining positive relationships with others are central to success in school and life and require the ability to recognize the thoughts, feelings, and perspectives of others, including those different from one’s own. 

• Establishing positive peer, family, and work relationships requires skills in cooperating, communicating respectfully, and constructively resolving conflicts with others. 

Demonstrate decision-making skills and responsible behaviors in personal, school and community contexts 

• Promoting one’s own health, avoiding risky behaviors, dealing honestly and fairly with others, and contributing to the good of one’s classroom, school, family, community, and environment are essential to citizenship in a democratic society. 

• Achieving these outcomes requires an ability to make decisions and solve problems on the basis of accurately defining decisions to be made, generating alternative solutions, anticipating the consequences of each, and evaluating and learning from one’s decision-making. 

A young girl with a sparkling bow headband is smiling brightly, surrounded by other children in a colorful, lively classroom setting.
A young boy with short dark hair is intently focused on writing or drawing at a table, with a blurred green background suggesting an indoor setting.

Developing Motor Skills

Practice and encourage the following skills with your child: 

Snapping, zipping and buttoning their own clothes, controlling scissors, crayons and pencils, putting glue onto paper, bouncing a ball, walking in a straight line, sitting with their legs crossed, climbing up and down stairs, and throwing, catching and kicking with control. 

Developing Speaking Abilities

Practice and encourage the following skills with your child: 

Speaking in complete sentences, asking for things that they need, asking questions, expressing ideas about things, describing objects or situations in their own words, and telling a story in their own words. Encourage your child to continue to speak in your home language. 

Developing Reading and Writing Abilities 

Practice and encourage the following skills with your child: 

Knowing first and last name, age, birthday, address, telephone number, recognizing and printing first name, enjoying listening to, and responding to, books and stories, holding a book and turning the pages, telling a story by looking at the pictures, retelling a story with a beginning, middle and end, recognizing rhyming words, identifying some letters, holding the pencil correctly, attempting to write letters and messages that include their own name, drawing a picture and talking about what is happening in it, singing a song and doing actions that go with the words, predicting what will happen next in a story, understanding concepts of time (yesterday, today and tomorrow), and understanding positional words (over, under, beside, in front, behind, between, middle). 

 

Developing Math Skills 

Practice and encourage the following skills with your child: 

Counting objects to 10 or more, recognizing basic shapes (circle, square, rectangle, triangle, diamond, oval), recognizing basic colors (red, yellow, blue, green, orange, brown, black, white), sorting similar objects by color, size and shape, completing puzzles with 12 to 18 pieces or more, and identifying and making simple patterns (circle, square, circle, square). 

Along with practicing the kindergarten readiness skills, you can help your child get ready for kindergarten when you: 

Speak positively about school, the teachers and learning, establish routines in your home (bed time, wake up time, get dressed, breakfast, leave for school), set up a study area in your home for reading and writing, talk and read with your child everyday to build vocabulary, knowledge and thinking skills, and encourage your child to share, take turns, express their wants and needs with words, and listen to others.