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.
- Be able to print their first name
- Be able to sing the Alphabet and name at least 10 of the letters out of sequence
- Be able to count to 20 and recognize numbers up to 10
- 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)
- Be able to re-tell a story (Beginning, Middle, End)
- Know the basic colors & shapes
- Be able to cut a straight & curved line
- 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.