9 Things Your Kid Really Learns in Kindergarten
Love them or hate them, the Common Core State Standards are being swiftly implemented into schools and programs throughout the country, and although its ultimate goal is to prepare students for college and their careers, it all starts early. Kindergarten early.
1. Their ABCs
Under Common Core, all kindergartners should be able to recite all of their ABCs. Not only that, but they should be able to read them (in uppercase and lowercase fonts) and recognize long and short vowels.
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2. Reading Comprehension
Whether it’s reading time in class or right before bedtime, kids should be able to answer questions about the book and through Common Core, will learn how to point out the answers by referencing different details in the story or book.
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3. Rhyming Skills
And it’s time for the reading skills to improve too. By the end of kindergarten, kids should be able to read dozens of three-letter words. The Common Core specifically lists rhyming words as part of that requirement. Words like pot and hot or bed and red should easily be spotted.
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4. Letter Writing
After reading comes writing. By the time they start first grade, kids should be able to write most lowercase and uppercase letters.
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5. Writing Names
Take it one step further, and kids should be able to write their own names and other short, consonant-vowel-consonant words. Great Schools also notes that kids should “phonetically or inventively spell simple high-frequency words they often see or hear (e.g. the, go, she, like, play).”
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6. Writing Styles
When it comes to reading, recognizing the differences in types of writing (opinion, explanatory, and storytelling), is another major point of the Common Core. Kids will even be able to write a couple of sentences of each style of writing.
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7. Addition up to 10
And more than just comparing numbers, kids should be able to know all the two number combinations that add up to make 10. They can figure it out using objects, fingers, or drawings – anything works!
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8. Shapes in the Environment
Finally, when it comes to shapes, kids will be able to use the names and descriptions of shape to describe other objects around them. For example, they will be able to say that “the screen is a rectangle,” or “the wheel is a circle.”
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9. Shapes in the Environment
Finally, when it comes to shapes, kids will be able to use the names and descriptions of shape to describe other objects around them. For example, they will be able to say that “the screen is a rectangle,” or “the wheel is a circle.”
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