Is My Child Ready For Kindergarten?

  • Is My Child Ready For Kindergarten?
     


    Many parents worry about when their child will be ready for Kindergarten. We have found the following list a good gauge of whether your child will be ready next year. In many ways, the social skills are most important; we expect to work on the academics, but if a child is not ready socially, it becomes very hard to meet their academic needs or the needs of others.   

    Social Skills

    • Shares and takes turns with others
    • Waits their turn in a group setting
    • Sits quietly and listens in group setting
    • Follows directions
    • Demonstrates basic good manners while eating
    • Respects other students and adults
    • Respect the belongings of others and class items
    • Expresses thoughts and feelings clearly
    • Has had some experience being away from family members for short periods of time


    Academic Skills

    • Says the alphabet
    • Recognize own name, and letters in name; it's a plus if they can write their first and last name
    • Recognizes and identifies as many letters as possible (A-Z)
    • Rote Count to 100
    • Recognize numbers and identifies 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
    • Count items to 10
    • Name the basic colors (blue, red, yellow, purple, green, orange, white, brown, black)


    Physical Skills

    • Care for personal needs (Use restroom, wash hands, fasten clothes, wipe nose, etc.)
    • Walk up and down stairs
    • Use pencils and crayons
    • Use scissors & glue stick
    • Stack blocks
    • Put toys and class items where they belong


    And a Note About Reading:
    We can't emphasis enough how important it is to read to your children every day. You can make it a special time by letting the child choose the book to be read, and ask them questions about the story as you go - this will also help them develop good comprehension skills, which are needed throughout life. 


    Go to http://topics-az.parenthood.com/articles.html?article_id=1716 to read more about this topic.

    Enjoy these early years together, they grow up so fast! We have never seen a case where waiting an extra year hurt a child if you're in doubt.