Robin Altschul's Blog

I recently came across an article in the October edition of Parenting magazine that I found to be very informative.  In my experience working with children just beginning their educational careers, this seemed to be a great checklist of skills that need to be mastered prior to starting their Kindergarten year.

 A commonly asked question by parents is, "What does my child need to be ready for kindergarten?"  Libby Doggett, Ph.D., the executive director of Pre-K Now, a Washington, DC-based group working to ensure high-quality pre-K education for all 3 and 4 year olds suggests the following:

 To be ready for kindergarten, a child should:

- be able to sit in a circle and stand in line.

-have the social and emotional skills that will allow her/him to learn and to navigate life in a classroom.  This includes such things as being able to share and take turns, and knowing how to work in na group and wait for short periods of time while someone else speaks

-have a good command of at least one language, whether English, Spanish, Vietnamese or whatever the family speaks at home

-recognize at least 10 letters..recognizing all the letters of the alphabet is great, but around half of them is a good start.  He/She should know that print carries meaning and that print is written from left to right and top to bottom.

-be able to count up to ten and have the ability to recognize those numbers

-be able to write his/her first name (does not have to be neat)

-be able to identify some words that start with the same letter sound and the ability to rhyme.

-be able to identify the basic colors and shapes