What should my 4 year old know going into Kindergarten?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He should be able to open his own lunch containers, fasten his own shoes/coat, be completely potty independent including wiping. He should be able to transition from one activity to another, be able to get along in a group, be able to focus on something that isn’t his favorite.

Don’t worry about letters etc - he will pick them up and they are easy to teach to a kid who can do all the above.

I sort of disagree with the bolded. K is all about learning social skills and how to handle themselves in these situations.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the above about more focused on independent life skills than academics. My five year old goes to K has to learn how to get to know people's name, how to make friends, and how to speak up against something he doesn't like. He told me he didn't wipe himself after pooping because he couldn't get toilet paper out of the dispenser because it was near the end.

And the class is still doing sorting and letter sounding, your kid will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He should be able to open his own lunch containers, fasten his own shoes/coat, be completely potty independent including wiping. He should be able to transition from one activity to another, be able to get along in a group, be able to focus on something that isn’t his favorite.

Don’t worry about letters etc - he will pick them up and they are easy to teach to a kid who can do all the above.

This except I disagree on letters. Kids should recognize letters by name and be able to produce their sound. Also count to 20.

They should be able to write them too; or if they don't, be prepared to work with them during kindergarten. With our first kid, who is now a second grader, we bought into the whole "don't push him in preschool, he'll learn it" thing. Going into kindergarten he knew his letter sounds and was reading a bit but we had not worked seriously on letter formation. The preschool wasn't interested and he was very resistant. He could write the letters but it was a laborious process and not neat at all, and he used the wrong grip half the time. Kindergarten had the kids writing sentences from the beginning without teaching them how to form letters. His handwriting was illegible when he started and it was nearly illegible when the kids were sent home in March 2020. We worked hard with him over the following summer and fall and his handwriting is now passable but still needs work -- we're about to start that Handwriting Without Tears series everyone on DCUM recommends. Clearly we should have started earlier. I remember going into the kindergarten class for the meet the teacher thing in early fall 2019, and all the kids' work was up on the wall, and just about all of them except ours and one other had neat, legible handwriting -- at the beginning of kindergarten. So clearly they had learned at home or in preschool.

We are not making this mistake with number 2, who is 4.5 and will go to kindergarten next year. We have started practicing handwriting, reading, and counting. Very gradual, like 5 minutes a day, but it is something, which is more than we did with our first. It is so hard to catch up when you start to fall behind. My second grader still struggles more than he should and I feel that if we'd started earlier he would have built up those muscles sooner and not still be playing catch-up. (Which doing pandemic first grade at home didn't help either, admittedly.)

[Anonymous]

It's also useful to teach them how to recognize and write their names because sometimes they are expected to be able to recognize things with their names on them, and it's really helpful for them to be able to write their names on their work as well. I don't think PP's experience is typical (with most kids able to write legibly by the beginning of K -- that sounds unusual to me), but being able to write and recognize their names is very helpful to them and teachers.

But otherwise you don't have to teach them to write. Honestly, the best thing you can do is just put lots of age-appropriate art supplies in front of them so that they get use to manipulation writing utensils and build fine motor skills. That's actually more important to work on at home than trying to teach them specific letters because it's important groundwork that many people overlook. Your child will learn to write more quickly if they have the strength and dexterity in their hands.

[Anonymous]

-Count to 10
-Spell their own name and recognize it
- Holding a pencil or crayon
-Basic personal information (name, parents name, address, a phone number)
-Basic color and shape recognition
-Basic self care(potty independently, put on and zip up coat, blow nose, hang up coat & backpack, open lunch items)
-Sit for a short story (1Omins)
-Some letter recognition
-Listen and follow 2-3 step directions (ie put your backpack away and sit down and color)
-Indoor vs Outdoor voice
-How to wait patiently for a moments

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

How old will your kid be in K? 5? My kids were all 5 and I made sure they could all read going into K.

[Anonymous]

So mine knows most letters and letter sounds and scored Below Level on DIBELS at the beginning of Kindergarten. If he had said a few more letters faster, he would have been "on level". I took the attitude of most here and thought he would be fine, but definitely did not expect to see below level. I don't really get the test expectations since thats what they are teaching in kindergarten and he is beginning to read CVC words now. This is in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He should be able to open his own lunch containers, fasten his own shoes/coat, be completely potty independent including wiping. He should be able to transition from one activity to another, be able to get along in a group, be able to focus on something that isn’t his favorite.

Don’t worry about letters etc - he will pick them up and they are easy to teach to a kid who can do all the above.

This except I disagree on letters. Kids should recognize letters by name and be able to produce their sound. Also count to 20.

They should be able to write them too; or if they don't, be prepared to work with them during kindergarten. With our first kid, who is now a second grader, we bought into the whole "don't push him in preschool, he'll learn it" thing. Going into kindergarten he knew his letter sounds and was reading a bit but we had not worked seriously on letter formation. The preschool wasn't interested and he was very resistant. He could write the letters but it was a laborious process and not neat at all, and he used the wrong grip half the time. Kindergarten had the kids writing sentences from the beginning without teaching them how to form letters. His handwriting was illegible when he started and it was nearly illegible when the kids were sent home in March 2020. We worked hard with him over the following summer and fall and his handwriting is now passable but still needs work -- we're about to start that Handwriting Without Tears series everyone on DCUM recommends. Clearly we should have started earlier. I remember going into the kindergarten class for the meet the teacher thing in early fall 2019, and all the kids' work was up on the wall, and just about all of them except ours and one other had neat, legible handwriting -- at the beginning of kindergarten. So clearly they had learned at home or in preschool.

We are not making this mistake with number 2, who is 4.5 and will go to kindergarten next year. We have started practicing handwriting, reading, and counting. Very gradual, like 5 minutes a day, but it is something, which is more than we did with our first. It is so hard to catch up when you start to fall behind. My second grader still struggles more than he should and I feel that if we'd started earlier he would have built up those muscles sooner and not still be playing catch-up. (Which doing pandemic first grade at home didn't help either, admittedly.)

You could say this about literally anything in school.

I'm thinking about taking Spanish. "Well, you should either know Spanish, or be prepared to work on it!"

My kid is registered for Algebra. "Well, he should either know Algebra or be prepared to work on it"

Pushing handwriting early can hurt the development of handwriting. Your kid followed a typical trajectory. They learned to write their letters in Kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:how to open his own lunch

This and all of the letters and the sounds they make.

[Anonymous]

Teach him to read. There is never a greater age to learn to read than at 4. The child still has lots of time, no formal schoolwork and the time to learn slowly. I taught all my kids to read before K and it pays off when they can read all the instructions for seatwork independently and gain an extra year of reading-to-learn. And all the people who pretend “it all evens out by third grade”, it doesn’t. The kids who were in the highest reading group at 5 stay in that same group (and usually the highest math group) by the time they get picked up in AAP.

[Anonymous]

Being able to follow directions. Go to the bathroom and take care of the undressing, wiping, flushing, hand washing,

All the info about parents, home etc should be memorized, stiched inside clothes

Should know where the rest rooms are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teach him to read. There is never a greater age to learn to read than at 4. The child still has lots of time, no formal schoolwork and the time to learn slowly. I taught all my kids to read before K and it pays off when they can read all the instructions for seatwork independently and gain an extra year of reading-to-learn. And all the people who pretend “it all evens out by third grade”, it doesn’t. The kids who were in the highest reading group at 5 stay in that same group (and usually the highest math group) by the time they get picked up in AAP.

Not really. Reading is overrated skill for a child entering kindergarten. What you should absolutely do from the time they are born is to read, read, read to them. They need to know about things and the world - content knowledge - in any language. Reading will get picked up in school. My kids have always been in magnet and top scorers...but...they had no idea about reading. They both learned in KG. And they both became independent readers when they were 8 yrs old. All that time, I was the one who was reading to them. Hours upon hours of story time.

[Anonymous]

How to wait their turn, how to not get upset when things don't go their way, how to ask for help.

[Anonymous]

How to use scissors or at least hold them correctly and what their last name is. I’m a school librarian and shocked by the number of kids that have no idea what their last name is!