Standard skills for Preschool and Kindergarten

The following list of skills is based on nationally recognized standards that will help parents ensure that their child remains at or above the standard.

What your child should learn while in preschool:

• State his/her name, age and birthday
• Identify some colors and shapes
• Count from 1 to 10
• Recognize and name numbers from 1 to 10
• Understand the use of ordinal numbers (i.e. first, second, third)
• Understand the concept of “same” and “different”
• Recognize and name most upper and lower case letters
• Tell stories
• Express thoughts and needs verbally
• Identify parts of his/her body and basic articles of clothing (example: shirt, socks, shoes)
• Identify familiar buildings (example: hospital, school, store)
• Engage in pretend play
• Be able to follow simple two step instructions
• Sit still while listening to a story
• Use child sized scissors
• Kick and throw a ball
• Play with other children and share toys
• Be comfortable in group settings

What your child should learn in kindergarten:

• Count by ones, fives and tens to 100
• Understand one to one correspondence when counting (i.e. counting one object per number)
• Recall simple addition and subtraction facts with answers up to 10
• Understand that clocks are used to measure time.
• Identify and write upper and lowercase letters from A-Z
• Understand that letters can be combined to make different sounds
• Summarize or retell a story that you have read to him/her
• Write his/her first and last name
• Name the days of the week and the months of the year
• Follow classroom rules and take turns
• Correctly hold a pencil or crayon
• Cut with scissors along a straight line