Let’s talk about Kindergarten readiness. As a former Kindergarten teacher, this is one of my favorite topics to discuss with parents and other educators! The purpose of this post is to share my thoughts on this topic and provide parents with a kindergarten readiness checklist to help!

If your child is starting kindergarten, be sure to check out this post: My First Day of Kindergarten Activity Book.

Thoughts on Kindergarten Requirements

First of all, there are many opinions on the subject and ideas about what should be required of Kindergarten students and how to know if they are ready! Let’s dive in!

When I taught Kindergarten, the school year started with pre-beginning of the year conferences. These conferences happened before the first day of school and they were SO powerful! It gave parents a chance to meet me one on one, ask me all of their questions and check out the classroom. It gave me a chance to get to know my sweet students, make them feel comfortable and quickly assess them individually.

The first year I taught, the whole experience honestly blew me away! It was crazy to see the differences between each child I met. One of the skills we assessed was alphabet knowledge. We showed students uppercase and lowercase letters and they told us letter names and sounds.

I met one child who knew the name of every uppercase letter, lowercase letter and all of the letter sounds…including long and short vowel sounds. WHAT? WOW! Then I met another child who struggled to even sing the ABCs.

Did both children learn and make tremendous growth in Kindergarten that year? Absolutely!

Were they both successful? YES!

I think we forget, young children, develop at different rates. This is normal. I repeat, this is normal.

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist

I understand parents that want to know some specific skills and things to focus on in regard to kindergarten readiness. In my opinion, it’s important to look at the whole child, not just a child’s academic performance. There are six areas of development I like to think about in regard to Kindergarten readiness:

• Early Literacy Skills
• Gross and Fine Motor Skills
• Language and Communication Skills
• Mathematical Thinking Skills
• Science, Music, Art, and Technology
• Social and Emotional Development

By looking at each of these areas together, we look at the whole child. By the way, I just listed those developmental areas in alphabetic order, not in order of importance. They are all important.

If you are the parent of a preschool child and you want to know more about these developmental areas and some skills associated with each; I have something just for you! The Preschool Skills Checklist looks at the six areas of development I just listed and provides a detailed list of skills to focus on. Join the other parents using this checklist to guide their preschooler’s learning.

Please understand that I am in no way, shape, or form telling you that your child needs to have these skills mastered to be ready for kindergarten. Many of them will be learned and practiced in Kindergarten and beyond! I am just trying to provide you with a helpful idea of things skills to think about in regards to your preschooler! Sound good? Grab the Preschool Skills Checklist now and target what skills your child needs today!

Play Based vs. Academic Learning

I am often asked what team I am on: Play-Based or Academic Learning. The truth is, I’m on both teams. I would say most preschools that I have seen combine these two approaches too. Children (and really adults) will always need play and unstructured time to use their imagination, create and have some open-ended time. I do think that developmentally approrpiate introductions to academic skills are beneficial for students and can happen through play and naturally in the environment especially in preschool. Usually, Kindergarten is more academic in nature but play should still be part of the day and approach to learning.

When should children start Kindergarten?

Here in the United States, different states have different age requirements for Kindergarten and some states don’t even require Kindergarten! At the time of publishing here in Texas, students who are 5 by September 1 of that year can start Kindergarten.

This can be a tricky call for parents who have students with birthdays in the summer or right around the cut off date of September 1. There are many different factors to take into consideration and this is a decision that deserves a lot of time and research. Here are a few things that are important to think about as you make this decision and decide if your child is ready for Kindergarten.

• What concerns do I have about my child starting Kindergarten?
• How is my child socially?
• What age will they be upon high school graduation?
• If my child doesn’t attend Kindergarten this year, will they attend another program?
• Will the child be the youngest in their class or the oldest?

I also highly recommend discussing the options with your school district! Different states and districts have different options available to meet the needs of your child.

What is taught in Kindergarten?

So what exactly will your child be learning in Kindergarten? It’s hard to say what your child will be taught because different countries, states, districts, and schools have their own curriculum. However, generally speaking, here are some academic skills you can expect your child to learn in Kindergarten:

• Letter names and their sounds
• How to put together letter sounds to read simple words
• Recognize common high-frequency words
• How to hold a pencil and form letters
• How to express thoughts and ideas through pictures and writing
• How to write their name and other simple words
• Oral counting to 20
• Recognizing and naming numbers
• How to write numbers 0-10
• Shape names and attributes
• Days of the week
• Months of the year
• Seasons

If you want to learn more specifically about what is taught in Kindergarten, I recommend researching the state standards for your state and checking out your child’s school website. Most schools have detailed information about their curriculum on their website!

Kindergarten Readiness Printable Worksheets for Preschool

I am a strong believer that children learn best through play. I do not think printable worksheets replace play. However, I am a teacher and parent myself and I understand that ready-to-print worksheets and workbooks are very helpful, especially if your background is not in education.

That’s why I created these free printable worksheets for you to print and use with your child that focus on some of the kindergarten readiness skills. These worksheets are focused on:

• Counting
• The letters of the alphabet
• Shapes
• Cutting
• Gluing
• Coloring
• Tracing

These are all skills that will be taught in Kindergarten and will benefit your child to be familiar with. You can download all of the free worksheets and start practicing with your child by clicking the picture below!

You might also like:

How to Make a Cutting Box
Alphabet Chart Activities
Sticker Activities for Little Ones
Free Counting Caterpillar
Magnetic Letter Activities