Congrats parents! Your child is heading to Kindergarten very soon and you may be wondering, “What do kids needs to know before Kindergarten?” I've taught Kindergarten for 5 years and have a few suggestions to help make the transition into Kindergarten easier for both you and your child! These are 10 skills every child should know before Kindergarten and they are NOT all academic!
Nowadays, you may be thinking that your child needs to be reading before they enter Kindergarten. That is completely NOT true! The purpose of Kindergarten is to give your students a solid foundation in basic phonics, reading, writing, and math skills, but more importantly my goal as a Kindergarten teacher is to foster social interaction and learning.
Here are 10 skills that every child should know before Kindergarten
Respect and Manners
One thing I made sure to help my students understand is how to talk to others- especially adults! Some children have rarely talked to adults, except for relatives. We want our students to treat every adult that comes into the classroom with respect, no matter if they are the teacher, a specials teacher, parent volunteer, admin, etc.
Children should be respectful when asking permission or using their manners to say “Please” and “Thank you”. I want them to be able to ask for help if they need it and be polite when doing so, instead of yelling, “Teacher! I can't put my jacket on!” You can practice using manners with your child and having them ask for permission or help politely.
Taking turns
Playing board games like Candy Land is a great way to practice taking turns. In Kindergarten, your child will need to be able to play academic games in a group of students independently. There are always some kids who really struggle with the concept of taking turns and this will lead to arguments and disrupted learning. As a teacher, I show my students to sit in a circle or line and to go in order to take turns.
Following 2 step directions
As teachers, we know how to give directions to our students so they understand and can do it on their own. I do expect my students to be able to follow simple two step directions when coming into my classroom. For example, “Put your backpack on the hook and sit down on the carpet.” As the year goes on, they will be able to follow more complicated, multi-step directions, but this start will be so helpful.
How to use pencil and scissors
Your child will be using pencils and scissors daily in Kindergarten, as it helps build fine motor skills and proper handwriting. They need to hold the pencil properly and be able to cut using scissors. Your child's teacher will be able to tweak their ability to do both, but it is very difficult for an improper pencil grip to be fixed. As for scissors, they should know where their fingers go and be able to open and close and cut papers.
To practice pencil grip, have your child pinch a pencil using their thumb and index finger. The other three fingers curve behind the pencil, with the middle finger helping stabilize the pencil. You can watch a YouTube video on how to help your child hold the pencil correctly here. Have your child practice drawing lines, curved lines, shapes, and letters to get a feel for writing.
To practice using scissors, make sure their thumb is in the thumb hole and they have 3-4 fingers in the other. Using their other hand to hold the paper, line the scissors up and open and close their hand to show them how. They can practice cutting more by cutting straight or curved lines.
Opening their backpack and items in their lunchbox
After you pick out a backpack and lunchbox for your child, make sure they are able to open and close it by themselves. Put a few items in their backpack and practice taking them out, then closing it afterwards.
For lunch, I highly recommend using a Bento box (the one my daughter uses is linked below), or some other container that they only need to open once, rather than using a bunch of tupperware or baggies. Anything that you put inside the lunchbox should also be able to be opened by your child. There will probably not be many teachers helping the students open things during lunch time, so they may have to wait. A few items that tend to be difficult for students to open are granola bars, string cheese, yogurt, milk containers, and anything wrapped in plastic.
You can practice having “lunch” with your child at home. See what they need help with opening and either unwrap those things before hand to place inside a Bento box or easier to open tupperware or show them how to open it themselves.
Using the bathroom completely independently
Kindergarteners need to be able to use the bathroom with no help. Many kids will come in needing help unbuttoning their pants or go potty with the door wide open or need extra reminders to wash their hands. Teachers will go over bathroom procedures first thing on the first day of school, but anytime a student needs help buttoning or unbuttoning, or reminding them to shut the door, takes away from our learning time.
Cleaning up after themselves
The majority of kids who come into Kindergarten are able to clean up after themselves without being asked. In the weeks or months leading up to Kindergarten starting, make sure they clean up after they play, eat, or switch activities at home. Really praise them when they are able to do this without being asked. Kindergarteners will be expected to clean up their table, throw away scraps, clean up after lunch, and tidy up their activity during centers. I always play clean up music to help them clean up faster, so you could try that too!
Write their first name
One of the first day activities I do is have each student write their first name. I take note of who is able to write it correctly, while using an uppercase letter to start and then lowercase letters. We do practice writing first names the first week or so of school, but it is really important they can spell their name and also write the letters mostly correct. Remember, nothing needs to be perfect, but having that foundation helps!
Find this page in the Kindergarten Morning Work binder here.
Know the letters of the alphabet
If a child knows all the letters (and sounds!) of the alphabet, my job as a Kindergarten teacher much easier. When kids come into Kindergarten with that foundation, it is easy to focus on phonemic awareness and then transition into phonics, eventually reading and spelling words. Here's a fun YouTube song to practice the letters of the alphabet.
For more hands-on ways to practice letters, check out this post here: 10 Simple Letter Recognition Activity Ideas
Can count to 10 or beyond
Here's the main basic math skill that your child should know before Kindergarten: counting to 10 (or 20). If they can recognize and match numbers that's even better, but the main goal is that they can count. Here's a great YouTube video to practice counting to 10.
That’s honestly it! The 10 skills every child should know before Kindergarten are mainly not academic. I tell parents to not worry about too much about the academics before Kindergarten, your child's independence will help them succeed more than knowing how to read!
Want more ideas on skills that your child should know before Kindergarten?
You can find more ideas on this YouTube video here: How to Prepare your Child for Kindergarten