Kindergarten Expectations

  • During his or her kindergarten experience, your child will experience many activities in all areas of development.

    Social:

    • Develop positive self-esteem.
    • Learn to work and play with others.
    • Learn to work independently.
    • Learn to follow directions and classroom expectations.
    • Demonstrate respectful and responsible behaviors.
    • Be polite and kind.

    Physical:

    • Learn to use classroom equipment and supplies appropriately.
    • Develop large motor skills involving body movement and coordination through running, skipping and rhythmic activities.
    • Develop small motor skills by using clay, tracing activities and cutting.

     

    What will my child learn in kindergarten?

    Reading Readiness

    Kindergarten is a critical time to lay the foundation for becoming a successful reader.  Your child will learn to:

    • Recognize and name both upper and lower case letters.
    • Correctly say each letter’s sound.

    Your child will learn basic concepts of print:                       

    • holding a book correctly;
    • tracking words left to right;
    • reading from the top to the bottom of the page;
    • identifying the front and back cover and title page;
    • understanding the correlation between spoken and printed words.

    Your child will learn beginning reading skills:

    • Identify initial and final sounds in spoken words.
    • Identify rhyming and non-rhyming words (sun/run vs. sun/man).
    • Determine word meanings from the way they’re used in a sentence.
    • Identify characters, setting, and key events in a story.
    • Retell stories in correct sequence.
    • Follow two and three-step directions using picture clues
    • Identify facts in non-fiction text.

    Writing

    Early writing skills are reported using one of five stages, showing continual growth from kindergarten through the primary grades.

    • Stage 1 involves pictures and scribbling.
    • Stage 2 moves your child to the use of random letters, sometimes with correct initial sounds.
    • Stage 3 involves the use of initial sounds or both the initial and final sounds—mostly  consonants (i.e., lk for like).
    • Stage 4 increases the use of vowels (lk becomes lik).  As the words become longer, students begin to show an understanding of multiple-syllable words.
    • Stage 5 uses many correctly-spelled words in multiple, related sentences.  

    Kindergarten writing objectives involve:

    • Generating story ideas as a class and drawing pictures to match.
    • Working as a group to draft a story.
    • Writing from left to right and showing space between words.
    • Writing the alphabet in both upper and lower case letters.
    • Writing first and last name on school papers.

    Mathematics

    • Count to 100.  
    • Identify and write numbers through 20 (in or out of order).   
    • Identify the symbols +, -, = and learn simple addition and subtraction through number 10.
    • Understand the concepts of above/below/between, smaller/larger, longer/shorter.
    • Identify and name shapes (circle, square, oval, triangle, rhombus, rectangle, and hexagon).
    • Sort objects by size, color and shape.
    • Create a variety of simple graphs.
    • Match numerals to sets of objects.

    Science 

    Introduction to:                                                     

    • Senses
    • Earth
    • Weather
    • Physical Science
    • Environmental Science

    Social Studies

    Understanding:

    • Community Helpers
    • Holidays and Seasonal Customs
    • Maps and Globes 

    Oral Language

    Strengthening oral skills by:

    • Increasing vocabulary
    • Speaking in complete sentences in front of groups
    • Using creative dramatics, puppetry, chart stories, recorded stories
    • Class discussions in small and large groups

    Art

    Using assorted art materials:                                       

    • Paints
    • Clay
    • Papers
    • Chalk
    • Variety of tools

    Music

    Involvement in:

    • Rhythm
    • Songs
    • Chants
    • Use of instruments