Q&A: What should my daughter know entering kindergarten?
Question by KristenM: What should my daughter know entering kindergarten?
My daughter is 4, and this is her last year before kindergarten. I am just curious what she should know entering kindergarten. Also, would it be more beneficial to put her into a pre-school this fall or spend her last year at home with me? I never went to pre-school, and I did fine, but I don’t know how it works now.
Best answer:
Answer by Juice=)
She should know her colors her shapes her sounds her letters and at least be able to count to 10 she should also know her home phone, address, birth day month and year, Mom and Dads name, Last name, and Her name of course and how to write her 1st and last name . And thats about all. 
And the last part of your Q after the word also i dont get it. But i hope i helped anyway
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
This is such a popular question. I’m glad people are considering what their children “should” know and are working toward it…because, in truth, Kindergarten expectations are definately higher than we were in school.
If you live in the states, I recommend that you check out your state’s Kindergarten Curriculum. This is usually what they aim for by the end of Kindergarten-it will definately give you a goal to work toward.
Basic Concepts:
Colors—go beyond the basic colors… discuss and explore with color mixing and adding white/black to make shades. Young children pick this up so quickly!
Shapes—go beyond the basic shapes and include octagon, hexagon, pentagon, sphere, rhombus, trapezoid, etc. Again…they pick this up very well
Math—1:1 correspondence; rote counting to at least 30 but most 4-5 year olds can hit 100; counting with meaning at least to 10 but again, they can usually get to about 30; patterning…start with ABAB but move on, “story problems”/intro to addition/subtraction, sequencing, seriation, comparing-measuring, understands the cocept of zero, introduction to parts and wholes, classification, first and last.
Science: Five senses, what living things need, what’s natural and what’s man made, body parts…for the most part we want them to be CURIOUS, be problem solvers, be persistant.
Language: Listens and comprehends, plays with sounds/rhyming, can create complete sentences, can retell story, can tell about something that is important to them, beginning sounds, syllables, print/book awareness, letter knowledge, beginning to identify high-frequency words, ENJOYS READING, attempts to write, should definately know how to write their name, dictates, …
Social-Emotional: emotions, can separate from adult with no problem, will join in groups/is comfortable with other children, can control volume of speech, stays involved with a chosen tasks, is aware and respects what others wish, shows empathy, takes responsibility of behavior, shows self-discipline, etc.
I won’t include large motor since this is something that usually comes very natural to preschool children.
Of course, this list in not complete but it definately gives you an idea.
As for whether or not to send her to preschool… I am definately a fan of preschool. But this is your own decision… has your child been with her peers without a parent? Have you been going to story times and playgroups? Preschool is very much “social”. When we went to school, Kindergarten is where we learned the social side of things…now so much is expected in Kindergarten that children that have experienced social-school expectations tend to benefit…because there really isn’t that much time to teach it. I find that in most Kindergartens…the teachers need to be able to “jump right in” that first week of school. Good luck in your decision making!