Today’s kindergarten curriculum is significantly different than its intended purpose back in the 1830s. The original purpose was to socialize children but today most children are socialized prior to kindergarten due to attending daycare or preschool. Today, emphasis is placed on academics and cognitive learning skills. In addition, teachers assess the students in several key areas.
Prior to entering kindergarten, a child must show a degree of readiness. Being five years old is not always the benchmark signifying a student’s successful entry into the classroom. Many schools offer kindergarten screening to assess the child’s abilities as well as to give parents an idea of the skills the child should already have in place. This screening is not an intelligence test; it merely registers a child’s developmental levels in several areas. The entire process takes about 20 minutes and includes activities like drawing (to observe hand preference and fine motor coordination), visual and auditory memory, using language, body movements, like skipping and hopping, and building with blocks (to test hand-eye coordination and perception).
The following list contains basic kindergarten readiness skills:
- Follow directions
- Complete tasks (when asked the first time)
- Work independently
- Begin to share with others
- Listen to stories without interrupting
- Manage bathroom needs
- Dress without assistance
- Wash and dry hands
- Stand and hop on one foot
- Throw and catch a big ball
- Use eating utensils
- Hold and use a pencil
- Trace a line
- Cut using scissors
- Speaks understandably
- Converse in complete sentences (5-6 words)
- Know basic colors and shapes
- Count by rote to 10
- Counts groups (up to 5 objects)
- Sort objects by color, shape and size
- Knows full name
- Recognizes first name in print
- Can identify letters in own name
- Recognizes some letters
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