Kindergarten Essentials
 

What are the Kindergarten Essentials?  Essentials are Kindergarten objectives taken straight from our North Carolina Standard Course of Study.  These objectives are ones that are "essential" for a Kindergarten student to have mastered before moving on to First Grade.  As I am teaching lessons, the students and I talk about which essential we are focusing on at that time.  As essentials are practiced and mastered, our class puts a star next to the one that we have completed. 

 
What your child should be able to do after the First Semester in READING:

 

I can listen to, talk about, draw pictures about and act out stories.

 

I can follow directions heard and seen.

 

I can use what I already know to understand the story (what will happen next).

 

I can understand books that are read and heard.  I can tell beginning, middle and end and details and setting.

 

I can read a story I have written.  I can use letter sounds and pictures to read simple stories.

 

I can use what I already know to tell what will happen next.

 

I can use capital letters for the word ā€œIā€ and the first letter in my name.

 

I can tell the order of the story.

 

I can tell which stories are real and make believe.

 

I know the parts of a book.  I can point to the words as you read. 

 

I can find letters, words and sentences in a story.  I can find the title of a story.  I can tell what the author and illustrator do.

 

I can tell the name and sounds of the letters.  I can tell that letters make words and words make sentences.

 

I can tell the uppercase and lowercase letters.
 
What your child should be able to do after the First Semester in MATH:

 

I can show and use positional words.

 

I can match numbers to sets (0-10).

 

I can sort objects and explain one likeness and one difference at a time.

 

I can make and understand graphs.

 

I can use graphs to answer questions.

 

I can name and make patterns.

 

I can make and name basic shapes.

 

I can tell how two things are the same and different.

 

I can talk about and explain numbers.
 
What your child should be able to do after the Second Semester in READING:

 

I can ask and answer questions to predict the story.

 

I can make connections from what I heard, read and have seen to what I know.

 

I can use new words in speaking and writing.

 

I can spell words correctly or by sounds.

 

I can tell how words sound the same and different.

 

I can read sight words and name the sound at the beginning of a word.

 

I can use describing words in writing and speaking.

 

I can use the naming words and action words in writing and speaking.

 

I can use different types of sentences.  I can write left to right and top to bottom. 

 

I can write most letters and some words.
 
What your child should be able to do after the Second Semester in MATH:

 

I can solve story problems and explain.

 

I can tell what place an object is in.

 

I can share equally between two people.

 

I can count objects up to 30.

 

I can tell how shapes are the same and different.

 

I can estimate amounts less than or equal to 10.

 

I can read and write numbers to 30.

 

I can name the days of the week, months of the year, seasons and tell what comes before and after.

 

I can compare objects using words.

 

I can complete puzzles.
 
What your child should be able to do at the End of the Year in WRITING:

 

I can write my first and last name.

 

I can draw a picture that matches my words.

 

I can write about a given topic.

 

I use spaces between my words.

 

I use punctuation at the end of a sentence.

 

I can copy words from the environment.

 

I can write two or more thoughts.

 

I use capital letters at the beginning of a sentence.

 

I have legible handwriting.

 

I use sight words in my writing.