Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist


While there’s no perfect formula for determining when children are truly ready for kindergarten, you can use this guide to see how well your child is doing in acquiring the skills found on most kindergarten checklists. Check the skills your child has mastered. Recheck each month to see what additional skills your child can accomplish easily. Young children change so fast. Remember that if your child can’t do something this week, she may be able to do it a few weeks later!

Listen to stories without interrupting 
Recognize rhyming sounds 
Pay attention for short periods of time to adult-directed tasks 
Understand that actions have both causes and effects 
Show understanding of general times of day 
Cut with scissors Trace basic shapes 
Begin to share with others 
Start to follow rules 
Be able to recognize authority 
Manage bathroom needs 
Button shirts, pants, and coats, and zip up zippers 
Begin to control oneself 
Separate from parents without being upset 

Speak understandably 
Talk in complete sentences of five to six words 
Look at pictures and then tell stories 
Identify rhyming words 
Identify the beginning sound of some words 
Identify some alphabet letters 
Recognize some common sight words like "stop" 
Sort similar objects by color, size, and shape 
Recognize groups of one, two, three, four, and five objects 
Count to ten 
Bounce a ball

If your child has acquired most of the skills on this checklist and will be at least five years old at the start of the summer before kindergarten, he or she is probably ready for kindergarten. What teachers want to see on the first day of school are children who are healthy, mature, capable, and eager to learn.


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