Kindergarten is a time of exploration, play, and absorbing from the world at large. Children at this age are like eager little sponges, soaking up knowledge at lightning speed.
What to Teach in Kindergarten
You don’t necessarily need to teach your child at this age, as he or she will learn from playing and doing. However, the following list provides insight into how you can support his development.
Kindergarten Language Arts
By the end of kindergarten, your child should be able to recognize and identify both the lowercase and uppercase letters of the alphabet. Your child should also be able to recognize the sounds all the letters make and some phonetic sounds.
Kindergarten Reading
Reading to your child for even a few minutes per day encourages a continued love of books and aids word recognition. By the end of this year, your child should recognize about 30 sight words (short, high-frequency words).
Kindergarten Math
By the end of the kindergarten year, your child should be able to recognize and identify the numbers up to 30 and count up to 30 aloud. He should also be able to add to a sum of 10 and subtract from numbers of 10 or less.
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Kindergarten Writing
By the end of this year, your child should be able to write a variety of short, simple words, such as those with two consonants and one vowel. She should also begin to write short, simple sentences.
Kindergarten Shapes and Colors
In kindergarten, children learn or reinforce their knowledge of colors and shapes. They should also be able to classify objects by shape, color, size and texture.
Kindergarten Science
For kindergarten, your child should learn about the world around him as well as basic facts about topics such as the seasons, weather, sun, moon and stars, plants, and farm and domestic animals.
Kindergarten History
During kindergarten, your child should learn about different types of communities, customs, and traditions. He should understand that people live in different parts of the world, grasp holidays and special occasions, and view and grasp the marking on simple maps.
Kindergarten Art
Children at this age and stage continue to explore art using different colors and mediums. Your child should be able to express emotion and tell a simple story through drawings.
For more details on what to teach when you homeschool kindergarten and the other 13 grades, check out our Year-by-Year Teaching Guide for Homeschoolers:
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Also published on Medium.
My mom told me I actually started reading at age 2 or 3 🙂 I was interested in learning, apparently. Thanks for the tips!
These are some great ideas even if you child leaves the home for kindergarten. Our daughter was not even close to challenged in her first two years of school. I think it’s because we did so much at home.
Nice to have a list – thanks! My son is in pre-K now, but I see him making progress toward these in the second half of the year 🙂 I admire your patience in home-schooling.