Skills For Kindergarten

Brayden had his first entrance exam for Kindergarten about two months ago. I wasn't in the room. Naturally I tried my best to overhear what I could, but I really couldn't hear much. I do know the examiner went through shapes, colors, counting (counting objects), and letters. There might have been more. Brayden got 100% on it, and the teacher seemed surprised to see that.

Here are some ideas of skills to help your child be ready for kindergarten, whether you plan to send your child to school or homeschool. There will be things on this list your child is able to do well. There will be others she can't do at all. Just be sure to give plenty of opportunity to practice. Also remember it doesn't all come at once. You can't expect perfection in your first practice session. Keep things natural and enjoyable.

Activities found on learning blogs like this one and in busy books are great for creating this environment for learning. I will comment on what Brayden is and isn't able to do so far. He is one month away from turning five.

SELF-HELP SKILLS

• Eats Independently: Check
• Uses Restroom Independently: Almost check. He does fine for peeing. I had him wiping his own bottom for pooping, then we moved and he decided he didn't like to do that and started holding it for days. A week ago, I told him he needed to start thinking about doing that himself again. He worries he won't be able to do it right. But he decided he was ready to learn and practice and has done it for a few days in a row. I am not sure we are out of the woods fully, but we are almost there.
• Washes Hands After Using Restroom: Almost check. Almost in that he almost remembers all of the time, but still needs reminders sometimes. But hey, lots of men get married and still need reminders right ;) (oh, and let me be clear, my husband doesn't, but my mom claims my dad did).
• Removes Outerwear Independently: Check
• Cleans Up After Self: Check
• Knows How To Care For And Use Books: Check
• Ask Questions When Necessary: Um, triple check
• Seeks Adult Help When Necessary: Check

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL SKILLS & APPROACHES TO LEARNING

• Curious and Tries New Things: Check. There are times he is nervous to try new things, but he eventually will.
• Takes Turns: Check. I wouldn't call him perfect at this at home. He is quite good at home, but not perfect. But with his peers, he is good at taking turns.
• Shares Materials: Check. Again, not perfect at home, but really close. He even shares everything with McKenna. When I think of where he was three years ago...it is quite amazing.
• Persists In Completing Tasks: Triple Check again. He has an amazing work ethic.
• Confident In Own Abilities: I would say so so. He has situations where he is fully confident in himself and thinks he is fabulous. He has been known to look in the mirror and tell himself, "I love you." He also has areas he is nervous and worries he will fail. I work with him to help him realize things take time and practice and that it is okay to mess up. A good illustration for this is soccer. For the first few games, he didn't want to kick the ball because he was afraid he would fall while kicking. He saw kids do just that and was nervous. We encouraged him a lot and by game four, he was kicking quite often.
• Listens While Others Talk: Depends on who "others" is. I know he is great for his teacher and authority figures. I think he has much room for improvement when it comes to his little sister. When they play together, he does pretty well, but if we are eating dinner and she is telling a story, he jumps in and corrects her or interrupts her, etc. This is an area I will focus on for improvement.
• Shows Concern For Others: Check
• Plays and Works Cooperatively With Others: Check
• Separates From Parent Without Undue Anxiety: Check. A year and four months ago, this would have been no unless he was with Grandparents. By the beginning of preschool (last fall), he was okay. He didn't freak out going to preschool or anything. Sometimes he would be nervous even to go to friends houses. He went and didn't cry, but I could tell he was reserved about it. So was I! lol. But today, he doesn't mind at all. And as a younger preschool-age, he didn't mind either.
• Knows Parent/Guardian's First And Last Name: Check
• Knows Own First And Last Name: Check

LARGE MUSCLE SKILLS

• Hops, Jumps, Runs: Check
• Bounces, Catches, Kicks, and Throws Balls: Check, though he isn't always graceful about it and I wouldn't call him perfect. But I think he is on track for his age.
• Can Run and Stop/Change Direction While In Motion: Check
• Participates In Simple Games: Check

SMALL MUSCLE SKILLS

• Can Control Pencils, Crayons, Scissors, Buttons, Books etc.: Check
• Hand-Eye Coordination like Building Blocks and Construction Playdoh: Check
• Simple Puzzles: Check

MATH SKILLS

• Counts To Ten: Check
• Creates Groups of Up To Five Objects: Check
• Places Like Items Together (red cars/blue cars): Check
• Plays With/Creates/Indentifies Shapes: Check
• Awareness Of Time (morning/night, before/after): Check
• Compares Objects Informally: Check

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

• Speaks In Complete Sentences: Check
• Speaks Clearly Enough To Be Understood By Unfamiliar Adults: Check
• Expresses Feelings and Ideas: Check
• Knows Poems and Songs: Check
• Listens Attentively & Responds To Stories and Books: Check
• Identifies Signs/Symbols/Logos In Environment: Check
• Identifies 10 Or More Letters: Check
• Writes Using Scribbles, Letter like Shapes, or Real Letters: Check

You can see that our biggest area with need for improvement is Socially. This is an interesting category because it is objective. You can subjectively tell if your child has songs or poems memorized, can count, can write, etc. But social skills are measured based on your own ideals/values.

My guess is his social skills would be to par with the majority of people out there for an almost five year old. But I tend to have high standards and want children who are very polite and motivated by the right reasons. I see room for improvement before I can say he is "checked" for "listening to others while they speak." He might not reach that check until he is much, much older.

He also needs help in accepting that he can't be perfect at something from his first try. I still work on this with his father on a daily basis (*wink*), so it isn't a battle I expect to win any time soon. But I do think it is an important lesson and I hope for him to accept it before too many more years pass by.

I think this is a great list to go over because it helps you see what needs to be worked on. Just typing it out helped me see better areas we need to make as target training areas.

These ideas came from a pamphlet written by my state office of education.