Preparing for Kindergarten

Recommended Kindergarten Entrance Skills

Is your child ready for Kindergarten? Parents are each child’s first teacher. This list will help you prepare your child for Kindergarten.

If your child is able to do the skills listed below, they will be off to a good start in Kindergarten. Please share this information with other parents of Preschool age children so our Finley children can get a good start in Kindergarten. For your information, at the end of the Kindergarten Year your child will be expected to be reading sight words, blending phonetic words, counting to 100, recognizing and counting numbers to 30 as well as doing simple addition and subtraction. They need to have many skills before coming to school in order to do well in Kindergarten.

These are the recommended skills for children who are entering Kindergarten:

stack of booksReading Skills

  • Says or sings the alphabet
  • Recognizes at least 14 upper and lower case letters
  • Listens to and talks about a story (events, characters, answers questions)
  • Uses rhyming words
  • Recognizes his/her name by sight

blocks with numbersMath Skills

  • Recognizes, counts, and orders numbers 0-10
  • Recognizes 8 basic colors: red, blue, black, orange, yellow, green, purple, brown
  • Recognizes 4 out of the 9 following shapes: rectangle, circle, triangle, square, hexagon, cylinder, sphere, cube, and cone
  • Rote counts to 20 or beyond

pencilWriting Skills

  • Writing his/her first name (first letter capital, the rest lowercase)
  • Copies letters, words, shapes, and designs

two children with speech bubblesOral Language Skills

  • Orally spells his/her first name
  • Speaks in complete sentences
  • Communicates clearly
  • Asks and answers who, what, when, where, why, and how questions
  • Says/sings various nursery rhymes and songs
  • States first and last name

scissorsFine Motor Skills

  • Uses scissors and pencils
  • Cuts a straight line easily
  • Colors neatly

two children with puzzle piecesDaily Living Skills

  • Able to tie, snap, zip, and button
  • Able to attend to a story or activity for approx. 10 minutes
  • Plays and shares well with other children
  • Follows 2 or 3 step directions
  • Manages own bathroom needs