Getting ready for kindergarten

[natale1980]

What does a child need to know to start kindergarten? He won't start until Fall 2010 but I thought I would start to get him ready now.

-natale

 

[MJAJmom]

My son is finishing up his year of kindergarten this week!! Aside from academic things, the most important thing was independence. For example:

- bathroom (need to do everything by himself - pants down, potty, wipe, pants up, zips/snaps, wash hands, dry hands)
- clothing (need to put shoes on/off, tie or velcro shoes, put jacket on/off along with gloves/hats)
- lunch (open/close lunchbox, juice boxes, thermos, tupperware)
- identity (know name, address, phone number, parents name, birthday)
- backpack (knowing what's inside, what needs to be brought into classroom, what needs to come home, where to store gloves)

The other thing I would recommend is practice writing and drawing. Stick a pencil, crayon, chalk in their hands constantly!!!

 

[Mrsdennison]

My dd just finished K up too.

Writing first, middle, and last name is good to know.
Counting 1-100.
Identify penny, nickel, dime, quarter.
Letters and sounds
Colors and shapes

Some of the first sight words(popcorn words) I, we, go, the, can, see, he, she, was, here, where, you, .....
Sing the days of the week and the months of the year.

Our K teacher had a wide ability range of students that started off. My dd could write her first and middle name and all but the last three letters of last name. She would forget once she got there. However the teacher was happy to have kids that could write their name. Some students didnt even know how to hold a pencil.

Mrsdennison

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Has he or will he be attending preschool? It's important for kids to learn to be in a group. In kindergarten they need to know how to line up and walk in a line, wait for their turn during activities, wait for their turn to speak, etc. I work in a preschool class and we emphasize these skills. It also amazes me how many kids don't know how to wash their hands. You put soap on their hands and they just stand there and look at it. Or they try to rinse it off without rubbing. And you give them a paper towel and they immediately put it in the garbage without drying. I always appreciate it when kids know the steps for properly washing their hands.

Also remember that kindergarten is more academic than it used to be. It's good to work on colors, shapes, letters and numbers.

 

[disykat]

I've taught K and just a heads up if you're working on names - Capitalize the first letter only followed by lower case. Kindergarten teachers don't expect all the kids to have mastered their names coming in, but the capital letter thing was really hard to break! Like everything else, names are something we work on all year long!

People are right on the money that independence skills are the biggest thing along with listening, following directions, etc. You can easily take care of the needed "academics" during your conversations, play, and reading time with your child. Playing basic games (candy land, shutes and ladders) is a great way to work on following directions, taking turns, playing fair, etc. while working on basic colors and counting.

Don't get too freaked out if he's not "interested" in letters,etc. Mine weren't. Make it all about play and let him take the lead.

 

[WantToGoNow]

My dd will be going to Kindergarten in the fall. When we registered her, they gave me a handout of what she needed to know before she began, what they will work on while she's there and what she should know at the end of the year.

"Before your child enters Kindergarten they should:

- Recognize, read and write their first name.
- Have some knowledge about the letters of the alphabet.
- Know how to hold a book, turn the pages, etc.
- Look at a story and know what the general story is about.
- Be familiar with nursery rhymes.

While your child is in Kindergarten continue to:

- Work with them on correct letter formation.
- Read with them every day.
- Help them with things that come home from school.
- Review the letters of the alphabet.
- Help them learn their sight words.

By the end of Kindergarten your child should:

- Write sentences on his/her own using sight words.
- Begin to read on his/her own.
- Form all letters correctly.
- Have a good knowlege base of early math skills.
- Be able to write numbers and count to 100 on his/her own."

Then on the back of the flyer is a Kindergarten Checklist.

"My child can:

- Recognize his/her own name.
- Tell a story by looking at the pictures.
- Handle a book with care.
- Listen to a story without interrupting.
- Make a prediction about what will happen next in the story.
- Recognize rhyming words.
- Name some capital and lowercase letters.
- Hold a pencil correctly.
- Write his/her name with a capital at the beginning and the rest in lowercase letters."

 

[EthansMom]

Around here, they want kids to recognize their letters and numbers, shapes, colors, etc.. Also, the kids should be able to write their name with a capitol and lower case letters.

My DS7 could read when he started Kindergarten. DD5 can read also (and starts Kindergarten in the fall). I've found the Leapfrog video "Talking Letter Factory" (we have the Leapster version) to be really great for teaching kids their basic phonics. Then I taught them to string the phonic sounds together to sound out words using the Now I'm Reading phonics books by Nora Gaydos.

At our school, beginning reading is taught in Kindergarten. While it's not necessary for a child to know how to read when he/she starts Kindergarten, I found that having the basic skills (letter recognition, basic phonics) gave my son a leg-up on academics.

 

[mjkacmom]

Here, they really need to know letters, number (and how to make them), shapes, colors, some basic phonics, write their name, address, and telephone number, and some basic sight words. I would say 99% attend 2 years of preschool.

 

[megthewonderful]

My dd will be going to Kindergarten in the fall. When we registered her, they gave me a handout of what she needed to know before she began, what they will work on while she's there and what she should know at the end of the year.

"Before your child enters Kindergarten they should:

- Recognize, read and write their first name.
- Have some knowledge about the letters of the alphabet.
- Know how to hold a book, turn the pages, etc.
- Look at a story and know what the general story is about.
- Be familiar with nursery rhymes.

While your child is in Kindergarten continue to:

- Work with them on correct letter formation.
- Read with them every day.
- Help them with things that come home from school.
- Review the letters of the alphabet.
- Help them learn their sight words.

By the end of Kindergarten your child should:

- Write sentences on his/her own using sight words.
- Begin to read on his/her own.
- Form all letters correctly.
- Have a good knowlege base of early math skills.
- Be able to write numbers and count to 100 on his/her own."

Then on the back of the flyer is a Kindergarten Checklist.

"My child can:

- Recognize his/her own name.
- Tell a story by looking at the pictures.
- Handle a book with care.
- Listen to a story without interrupting.
- Make a prediction about what will happen next in the story.
- Recognize rhyming words.
- Name some capital and lowercase letters.
- Hold a pencil correctly.
- Write his/her name with a capital at the beginning and the rest in lowercase letters."

I received the same list of things here in NH. I have one son in Kindergarten right now and another one going in the fall. I think the list is very accurate.

 

[DISNEYNV]

I would definately get him into a preschool program of some sort before entering K. We looked into many but the best and MOST affordable for us was a church Pre-k program. It was three days a week for two hours each day. My DD got loads of socialization skills, learned a lot for the upcoming Kindergarten year and made some new little friends. If you can swing it I would recommend a preschool introduction to a group setting and that will also let you know if he will be ready socially, cognitively and emotionally to start Kindergarden next year

Good luck and have fun with learning

 

[Queen of 3 princess]

Seems different places have different rules. You should probably contact the school and see what you should be working on. Here in Michigan school cutoff is Dec birthday's. Maybe thats why they don't need to know as much as some of the other poster's have said. Here you need to know some Upper case and Lower case letters, count to 10, shapes, colors. It's nice if they know how to right their name but some don't. You actually don't need to know all of the above things either. I think it's more if you can follow directions and how you are socially. They don't test for sight words or letter sounds. They teach them in school.

 

[mom2aredhead]

Here, you're not "required" to know anything before Kindergarten, but like someone else said, there are some things to learn beforehand that will make it much easier for them when they start.

Bathroom - Know how to go, start to finish, all by themselves, no matter what they are wearing and what they need to do in there.

Lunch and snack time - straw in juice box without squirting all over the place, open and close water bottle, unfold the foil around the sandwich without dropping it, open a ziploc bag, take the top off the tupperware, etc.

Dressing - Button/snap/zipper sweater or jacket, put on hat and gloves, put own backpack on.

AND (one I never thought of) - know how to get the sleeves back the right way if they go inside-out when they remove the jacket. My son's Kindergarten teacher once mentioned something about having to "right-side in" 30 sleeves a day the first few weeks it got chilly.

 

[disykat]

I also think the list above is accurate, however PLEASE remember that the list is still a wish list not a requirement! These are skills they continue to work on throughout K as well.

My boys are both bright, attended preschool, but just weren't that interested in some aspects of that list. One of my boys wrote his name in the wrong order half way through Kindergarten, but he survived! Even though I know better, I still stressed about it. Now I miss it because it was so cute - I still call him Grygo sometimes (for Gregory.)

Most of that list is easily accomplished just by reading regularly to your kids. If your child is being tested they may tell him/her to hold the book and read the pictures to them. A child familiar with being read to will know how to hold the book, start at the front, and tell a basic story from the pictures.

 

[princessmom29]

My DD is starting private school K in August. Their requirements are set requirements. If you don't pass the readiness test you must attend Pre-K or choose another school. She asked on the eval to:
1. Identify shapes and colors
2. Write first and last name
3. Identify all capital and lower case letters by sight.
4. count to 100
5. Use a pair of scissors to cut basic shapes
6.color a picture
7. draw a preson
8. Walk a balance beam
9. skip
10. walk backwards.
11. Buton, zip and tie on cards.
12. Tell a story form pictures
13. complete several puzzles. In some she was given a choice of pieces and asked to identify the one that was missing from the puzzle.
It was scored on a 100 point scale and the cutoff was 75.

That being said our public schools are not allowed to "require" any prerequesite skills for K and many students come in not knowing colors, shapes, how to hold a pencil, or even sing their ABC's. This is why DD wil be in a private school. Because of all thge standardized testing done in our district the kidswho are ahead of the game often go by the wayside to catch up the ones who know nothing.

 

[alloyd1170]

Also, they should know their phone number, full address, birthdate, parents' names... Would be a good idea for them to know that stuff anyways, and earlier.

 

[prov3v56]

I have taught K in CA for the past ten years and a lot of the advice already posted is very good. Here are a couple of suggestions of skills that I would be very excited about if my new students had each fall. We have preschool standards in CA and some of those are also listed below.

Being able to recognize and write their first name. (Capital for the first letter and lowercase letters for the rest.)

Recognizing the letters in their name.

Knowing how to hold a pencil correctly.

Knowing how to properly use scissors correctly.

Understanding the importance of following the rules at school and waiting their turn.

Being able to use the bathroom alone. (All of the suggestions above concerning this are great.)

Reading the numbers 1-10 and being able to count 1-10.

Knowing basic colors and shapes.

Understand the concept of rhyming (very important in developing phonemic awareness skills later in the year).

Being able to carry their own backpack and taking responsibility for it and its contents.

Be able to separate from parents at the beginning of the day. (I know this one is usually harder for the parent than the child, and I know this because I have a child in K this year as well, but if we as parents put on a brave face and show our children that school is the best place to be it will go a long way in making the transition from being at home to being at school a lot easier for them.

I am sure there are many more, but as I only have 11 more days of school (who's counting ) I have forgotten a few.

 

[hedgehog2owl]

Tomorrow at 3:10 pm my Prekindergartener will officially become a Kindergartener

Everything prov3v56 said matches all the readiness sheets we've been given. Except they are support to know all letters and sounds and count to 20

try going to starfall.com too, just playing the games is an awesome way to introduce letters and start pre-reading skills (they use phonic awareness) You can also buy a set of BOB books.

And read to your child every day!

 

[Alesia]

I'm a pre K teacher.

I agree with all of the other posters here, but wanted to add on thing:

Let your son cut with scissors. Everyday.

It's amazing how many people don't think of this, but it does wonders for their motor skills. I always let my DD cut the newspaper up. She would cut every single picture out of it.

 

[HerdOHuds]

My son is finishing up his year of kindergarten this week!! Aside from academic things, the most important thing was independence. For example:

- bathroom (need to do everything by himself - pants down, potty, wipe, pants up, zips/snaps, wash hands, dry hands)
- clothing (need to put shoes on/off, tie or velcro shoes, put jacket on/off along with gloves/hats)
- lunch (open/close lunchbox, juice boxes, thermos, tupperware)
- identity (know name, address, phone number, parents name, birthday)
- backpack (knowing what's inside, what needs to be brought into classroom, what needs to come home, where to store gloves)

The other thing I would recommend is practice writing and drawing. Stick a pencil, crayon, chalk in their hands constantly!!!

I taught 1st grade for 6 years and before that reading with all levels (thru 6th) for 6 years and I wholeheartedly agree with this post! Independence is key.

The only thing I would add is to make sure your child knows how to hold scissors and can do the open-close-open needed to cut. He/she may not be super at following a line (or 'keeping the car on the road' as we said) but should have some concept of how to manage them.

Good luck!