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Basic skills needed to start Kindergarten

Many people have asked me what a child should be able to do before entering Kindergarten. Here are a few basic skills needed that will ensure your child has a good start in school and will also make their Kinder teacher very happy.

  1. Be able to print their first name
  2. Be able to sing the Alphabet and name at least 10 of the letters out of sequence
  3. Be able to count to 20 and recognize numbers up to 10
  4. Be able to have one to one correspondence with numbers up to five (e.g. if you ask your child for five crayons, they count & hand you five crayons)
  5. Be able to re-tell a story (Beginning, Middle, End)
  6. Know the basic colors & shapes
  7. Be able to cut a straight & curved line
  8. Be able to follow simple two step directions

If your child is able to do all of these things, they are off to a great start. If not, don’t panic. They will learn all these things and more, but it will require more time & patience on your part as well as extra help from the teacher.