What Should a Child Know Before Kindergarten?

This is a good question for his new school. Go see them now, not a few weeks before school starts, and talk to a K teacher. If they're a good school they should be willing and happy to talk to you; if they are resistant, that could be red flag that they're not forthcoming with and helpful to parents.

It's too bad that he was in a day care instead of a preschool with a little (not a lot!) of letter and number teaching. But that's water under the bridge. Just as important, if not more so, than ABCs is his social readiness for kindergarten. A kindergartener should be able to:

--Separate well from his parents to go to school (without excessive drama)
--Take directions from an adult who is not mom or dad or relative
--Get along well enough with other children to share toys and space without becoming overly possessive
--Verbalize his needs and feelings with words (rather than lashing out, hitting or having tantrums)
--Move from one activity to another (say, from playground time to going back indoors for story time, or from coloring to music class) when he is asked to do so, and without undue resistance or whining -- this is vital to keeping a class moving

That's just my personal list. I've seen kids of five who were academically smart and advanced and knew a lot, but who lacked the ability to handle a full day of kindergarten in some or all of these ways, and it was a real problem that followed them into first grade.

If he's socially ready in these ways, he should be OK, and the 123s and ABCs will come just fine if he wants to be at school and enjoys it.

Most Kindergarten teachers will tell you that they would like children to have the following skills upon entering "formal" school:
- Follow 2-step directions
- Participate in small group discussions
- Ability to sustain attention for 5-10 minutes (long enough to listen to a story)
- Age appropriate play skills (mostly cooperative), but with the ability to work independently for 5 minutes or so
- Basic "book and print" understanding... books are made up of sentences, which are made up of words, which are made up of letters. Someone called an "author" writes the story and the title is on the front. We read left-to-right and front-to-back. You can work on this by simply reading to him for 20 minutes each day.
- Fine motor skills that are developed enough to hold a "chunky" pencil and crayon
- Gross motor skills that will allow him to sit in a chair, on the rug and maneuver the classroom and playground safely.

Kindergarten teachers do NOT expect children to come to school in September with significant alphabet or numeric knowledge. That's all part of Kindergarten curriculum.

The very best thing that you can do for this little guy is to read to him every day, make sure that he is exposed to high-level vocabulary (don't "baby things down" to his level... take the time to explain big words) and make sure that he is used to working in small groups.

On our school district's website, they have a "Kindergarten Readiness" section. Perhaps this school does as well? Otherwise, your best bet is to call them and ask. Different schools have different standards.

He sounds ok to me, but that's just my opinion. Not every child goes to Pre K and not every daycare is allowed to 'teach' the children either so that being said, there are kids that don't get the full advantage of going to a structured Pre K environment. I would keep doing what you are doing by working with him and keep learning fun. Maybe buy a box of ABC and 123 flash cards and work on a letter a week and numbers 1-5 for recognition. Or some Pre school workbooks you can get at walmart or even staples would be good too and those will help him with having to follow instructions because it will say to color all the circles blue, squares yellow, etc. When he starts school, you can follow the lead of the school and practice what he is learning at home too to help reinforce the learning.

Just don't get pushy about studying and follow his pace too and he should do just fine!

S.

In my 25 years of experience, most 5 year old boys know a LOT more than they are willing to share. For instance.. I have a boy that can read anything. If he's in a mood to show off he'll show you. But a few months ago if I showed him letters randomly he would pretend he didn't know.

I have another boy that knows how to sound out very small words, knows most letters and he shows off for his mother a lot. But for me he acts like he doesn't know. He doesn't want me to make him work. He'd rather be doing puzzles, organizing toys, or babbling 100 miles per hour.

I have a 5 year old girl that didn't know very much a year ago. She's able to recognize many, many letters, all of them at one time or another. But she doesn't like to be put on the spot. She'll smile and dumb up. For her it's not even that she doesn't want to work. She likes her school work. I am guessing she will have test anxiety. She hates to make a mistake.

If your child understands that letters make sounds then the daycare has done a decent job and it's wrong of you to assume they aren't working with him.

Google "kindergarten readiness". Kids enter K at all different levels. They will all come out of K pretty much on the same page.

And I don't think that limiting academics due to fear of failure is ever a good plan.

PRESCHOOL KNOWLEDGE
1. Understand that books and other forms of print
have words written down that tell us things.
Reading to a child will teach this concept.
2. Identify some letters and numbers.
3. Know how to count 10 objects.
4. Know the names of things around the house.
5. Know the names of eight basic colors.
6. Name four basic shapes.
7. Know the names of common animals.
8. Understand basic safety rules.
9. Know about places in the community. (stores,
hospital, fire station, doctor’s office, etc.)
10. Know how to properly hold scissors and cut.
11. Know how to hold a pencil or crayon correctly
with their thumb and two fingers.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS
1. Understand simple questions and give simple
answers.
2. Follow simple directions like where to sit or
where to put a book.
3. Follow directions that have two parts.
4. Tell someone how they are feeling.

SELF-HELP SKILLS
1. Know how to take off and put on their shoes
and jackets by themselves.
2. Do buttons, snaps, and zippers on the front of
their clothes.
3. Take themselves to the restroom, without help,
and remember to wash their hands and flush
the toilet after going to the restroom.
4. Blow their noses by themselves.
5. Wash and dry their hands and face by
themselves.
6. Feed themselves neatly using a spoon and fork.
7. Know how to open a door by turning the knob
and how to turn a water faucet on and off.

Personal information
Including first and last name, age, sex, names and relations of family members including mom, dad, sisters, brothers, and grandparents, her body parts, and names of her clothing articles

He will do OK. If the little one does not know some things he will catch up very easily. However, his mother, dad or yourself can teach him by PLAYING with him:
Count cheerios, pasta bows, balls, cups, etc together while having breakfast or having dinner.
Have him to cut and paste letters of the alphabet (with his own drawings or pictures from a magazine) and read them together.(help him and teach him to use the kids' scissor)
Read a LOT every time and every night
Play to make him follow instructions, give him a tray and make him to serve himself some snacks and fruits from a kitchen counter, etc.
Give him coloring books and encourage him to play with Legos, different shapes and sizes which it will improve his focusing and concentration, but be careful to choose those for his age (depend on the child)
Check the starfall.com and read together letters and sounds.
Teach him to write his name, go outside and walk, let him know the dangerous of streets (Stop, look and listen stuff),
Make him to draw "feelings" faces (write by them "happy", "confused", "sad", "mad" etc..) put them in the refrigerator, and play with those together.
I hope these ideas help a little bit. Just do not make him feel rushed, schools are for children to LEARN and teachers and there for that purpose, however these basic things will help him to feel more comfortable.
There are plenty of websites where you can find "kindergarten readiness" or the same school where the child will attend can give you the information. Do not get anxious, that will not help him. Do what I suggested you little by little very day like a game. He will have fun!

You're in GA so I would type "Goergia kindergarten requirements" in your search bar and go from there. Different places have different requirements. That would be public school requirements, at least. If you may do private school, I would phone and ask for the information.
Do make it fun and "quality time" not just school stuff. I taught my son how to count when he was 2 by singing a lot of songs (even the Plain White T's "I love you" song was 1,2,3,4) and while playing at the sand and water table, we would put 4 scoops of water and 6 schoops of sand, etc. Learn 1 letter a week. There's time. Start with A, and talk about it's phonetic sound, go for a walk or a drive and look for things that start with the letter A, get a chalk board or dry erase board and write a full A, then a dotted A, then one with less dots, then have him fill in the dotted ones, then make his own. Let him play, and then bring you a "show and tell" of something that starts with A. The Letter Factory is a little dvd that a lot of kids I know enjoy. Starfall.com has games that not only help him learn how to use the mouse and the coordination for that, but have alphabet recognition and phonics games. Once he's mastered those, he can go on to very basic steps in reading like "_at" and pictures of a cat, mat, hat, bat and you click the c for cat, etc. It goes on from there to beginner "books" online. Between the Lions: a pretty neat show that puts letters together to make words, and words together make sentences. I dvr that because it's never on when we're around the TV. Then we can just watch it when it's convenient for us. He should know the basic shapes: square, oval, circle, rectangle, triangle, diamond, pentagon, octagon and the basic colors. We would take walks around the block or to the park and if we were learning the color brown that day, we'd look for brown things on the way to the park, and whatever shape we were practicing on the way home. A candy when we got home if we found a shape that was the color of what we were learning that week (bonus "points"). Play games, lots, that develop listening and communication skills. (Simon Says; Red Light, Green Light; Blindfold them and make them listen to directions to make it through an obstacle course or around the house to a treat, etc). My son (now 4) was having issues last year getting his letters right. He could sing the song and knew most of the phonics because of The Letter Factory, but he'd draw a blank on letter recognition. So I got him an alphabet train puzzle, with a capital and lowercase letter and a picture like L l (pic of a lion). I've seen these be "real" trains and puzzles, and I bought the puzzle just because he already had 4 trains and I thought a puzzle would be good for more than just alphabet. He'd put the puzzle together bit by bit. Sometimes we had to take breaks, or we'd have to say Lion. la, la, lion. What says "L" and get the letter. We'd put a puzzle piece or three down, and start the alphabet song all over (A, B, C, now what? Looking for D). What's he into? My son was into Spiderman, so we colored spiderman everywhere, remembering what colors he is (red, blue!) and then what color is the bad guy, etc. When eating we would count. If he was being stubborn, a few times I would say "hmm. You can have as many skittles as you can count correctly". Wow, that got him to counting to 20 in no time. We had to move on to how many orange? How many green? DO read to him. Put your finger on the word and follow that way, so he can watch the letters making words, which make sentences, which make stories, and also that it is always left to right. When he sees a letter he recognizes, let him tell you. My son's favorite story was Hug, Hug, Kiss, Kiss and he thought that book was soooooo funny. I had to read it twice a day everyday for the longest time. Since he had the thing half memorized, I started making him call out a word in the middle of the sentence. I'd say "That's right!" and we'd sound it out and then go on a little bit and sound out another word. He was 3 when we started that (almost 4). Now we've got a little calendar for him and keep up with his "schedule" on the calendar (preschool/daycare M, W, F; soccer games M, Sa; kung fu class Tu, F; awanas W, church and family day Sun; payday for his allowance is Sa, and special days like "we're going to a movie on this day, or you'll see Pops on this day, etc) With that, and especially since we have a strong routine, he is learning his days of the week, what he does on what days, and that after Sunday a new week starts. Also, weather is something they talk about a lot in his preschool / daycare: sunny, cloudy, rainy, hot, cold, etc. Have fun. But yes, he needs to know how to write his name and to recognize his name among others (to pick out where his cubby is or whatever). Practice writing with him a few minutes everyday, especially the letter of the week. And on the last day of the week, say "Ok, we learned A, then B, now C. Let's write all 3 letters! I know it sounds silly sometimes, but really: you'll get a lot more out of him with games and fun than you will sitting him at a table. Have fun!

I got a Texas Guide Curriculum and copied it and that is what I go by in my Day Care but I find a lot of boys just want to play and not learn. Nothing then I can do. We do ABC's every day say it and I will write them on the chauk board over and over. Then I have then do it on the chauk board. I go to Staples and get work books either copy the pages or have then do their own. We do colors and shapes. My 5 yr old knows how to write a lot of words and is doing adding and subtracting. She knows big and small and things alike and things different. I have taught her to tie her shoes, she is very advanced but when another boy left to start school mom was told a lot of kids know nothing so it does not matter and that was in Trophy Club. I still believe the more they know the better. I have a coupld programs on the pc too and they do drag and drop and learn a lot on there. Puzzles,I think this 5 yr old will be readying in the next couple months. She knows the days of the week and working on months. But I find girls love doing this stuff and boys do not. Good luck and repeating over and over evenually even those not interested learn. I had a child never seemed to be paying attention then was saying ABC's at home and shocked parents. G. W

My oldest knew his letters, sounds, could write, numbers some addition, and recognized a some words, was starting to read, knew shapes, colors,

My youngest just turned 4 and is in preschool (he has another year left) he knows about 60% of his letters, can write his name, recognizes a handful of words, knows his numbers up to 20, a little addition.

I don't know I'm sure it varies by child and how much parents work with their children at home. Most of these things my kids learnt at home they learned school rules and social interaction at preschool. My boys like to know things. My youngest is trying to read he wants to know what sounds letters make, and he'll randomly ask you during the day what x+y= and usually he remembers the answer. He loves to play on PBS kids there is one game that asks you to click on letters (I think it's super why) we also have a few alphabet games (go fish, a dr. Seuss game,)

he's in a daycare, not a pre-school. it's not their job to teach him.
i like the mom's idea. get him into a good school. but i'd talk to THEM first about what their kindergarten expectations are.
don't sit this little guy down and start drilling him. the big push to have kids fully literate prior to kindergarten is already backfiring. what next pre-pre-K? post delivery curricula?
read to him. pick a letter for each day and incorporate it (organically!) into your day (on D day have dumplings, dates and deviled eggs, point out ditches, dandelions, dogs and deer, have him wear dungarees and a derby hat). have him count cups and tablespoons when you cook, and then work on doubling and halving the recipes. learning should be part of life, and it should be FUN.
khairete
S.

I have a two year old son and he is in a home daycare. He has grown tremendously with his knowledge of letters, numbers, speech, and shapes. I am a teacher, so you know I am working with him alot! I have to remind myself not to overwhelm him. He is ready for kindergarten already, except for writing. I will not force that because he is soon to be three. What has worked for me are flashcards with the upper and lower case letters together. You can go to Walgreens, dollar store, or teacher's store. The ones I have came from Walgreens. You can also get books that have the letters in it. Whatever his favorite cartoon characters are, you can get something with that in it to excite him. Also, LeapFrog has a DVD video that my kids love! It is called The Amazing Alphabet Amusement Park. It has songs that periodically stop and sing about five letters upper and lower at a time. I got that at Target. Also, Nick Jr. Moose A Moose has been a great teacher as well if you have cable. One last thing, you can look in the kids section if you have comcast on demand to see letters and numbers under Baby Genius (I think that is the title). I hope this is very helpful. Your boyfriend has to put in daily time for his son to practice, practice, and practice. Constant repetition is a must in order for him to retain it and call out numbers and letters randomly. Keep in contact because I am an early childhood teacher. I have taught 3rd grade for six years, but I have knowledge and experience of younger children.

I don't think it is what the child knows that is most important in Kindergarten. What is most important is that he is starting school with his peers. If he is not quite 5 yet he will be one of the younger in his class, but since he is currently in day care he will already have the social skills needed to fit in. The learning will come naturally as his class is immersed in the different subjects that are taught. If he is behind at all he will quickly get caught up. Just keep reading to him everyday and play fun games that involve numbers/letters.

My 4 and 1/2 y/o was required to take a "DIAL" (Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning) test prior to enrolling in next year's kindergarten class. Check to see if your school district also requires this test. It will give you a better understanding of where your bf son is currently so you will know what area's he needs to concentrate on. Keep in mind each district may have different requirements, and our child is enrolled at a private school pre-k and will continue on in this school, so they could have a whole other set of standards. But to give you general idea of what our child was tested on and had to pass prior to kindergarten enrollment : Our daughter was required to not only recognize the alphabet and know them phonetically but also to write both upper and lowercase alphabet. They are expected to be able to count to 100, write from 1 - 20, count the number of items on a page and pick the corresponding numeral, (five ladybugs=5), they also had to answer basic addition/subtraction questions, tester would have them count out 8 blocks then instruct them to remove 3, how many are left, or add 5 and now how many do you have, write their entire name using proper capitalization (one of the biggest mistakes people make is to teach their child to write in all uppercase. It makes it very h*** o* the child to have to then go back and learn lowercase and remember to use uppers for capitalization). She had to be able to recite her home address, breaking it down by house number, street name, city, state, zip and country. Also had to recite home phone number, names of her parents, siblings, her age. She had to be able to point out the various shapes, repeat patterns - the tester would build a small structure out of blocks, dd had to copy that exact pattern, leaving spaces where the tester did. They also would have colored blocks and create a pattern of blue, green, red, yellow, blue, green, then she had to complete the pattern by placing a red then yellow block. She had to cut out various lines, curved, straight, zig zag, as well as precision cut out a dinosaur. She also had to be able to draw circle, square, triangle, diamond (that's a toughy), and a rectangle. They had a board similar to what eye doctors would use, they'd move one circle to a picture of a fireman, then my child had to pick out the other pictures that would go with a fireman, like the firetruck, hose, boots, etc. They did that with police, fireman, doctor, dentist, waiter, teacher, crossing guard, and several others that I just can't remember. They asked her to point out the various parts of her body when they called out the body part, like where is your knee, elbow, thigh, shin, toes, fingers,....she did great with all that but they stumped her on knuckles..lol. (I have to admit I thought to myself...SERIOUSLY...knuckles, who'd of thought :) They also had pictures of grouped similar items like 8 bananas but all various sizes. They would ask her to pick out the tallest, smallest, thinest, fatest, etc. Also tested spacial recognition, like put the red block under the green box or between the 2 blue boxes, etc. Then they moved into the Motor activities, she had to be able to hop on one foot for a certain period of time, then the other foot, then had to be able to jump up high enough to touch a beanbag that was about 1 1/2 foot over where her extended arms would be. Then she had to be able to throw and catch a ball, not a baseball but not as big as a basketball either. She also had to be able to skip. Since my daughter attends preschool where she was tested they already knew she could use the bathroom by herself, unpack her backpack, unpack her lunch box, clean up her lunch table, play well with others, put on her own shoes, jackets, follow 3 part instructions, transition between activities, etc. I will tell you I'm a WAHM that had my child home with me most days until full time preschool this year. While I worked with my child to educate her, I ONLY did it in fun ways where she really didn't realize she was learning. I'm not one to force it on my child. If it's not fun she's not going to want to do it. We learned to write in shaving cream on the patio table. I would spray the table with shaving cream and then we'd trace our letters, numbers, shapes, etc in there with our fingers. (kinda like finger paint but easily sprayed off with the hose). I know you're not suppose to but I'll admit...we play with food here :) If Mommy gave you 3 carrot sticks and you ate 1 how many do you have left now? And we make up silly songs to remember things like our phone number and address. The key thing is it HAS to be fun, no pressure on them or they will not want to do it. Good luck and God Bless!