By Sasha Sharma, a content writer at Educents.
At a very young age I realized I wasn’t a popular kid.
I wasn’t a social pariah, but I did struggle with making new friends. Kindergarten was especially tough — I had just started at a new school and I knew nobody. Throw in my troubles with the math curriculum at my new school and you have the recipe for what I’ve come to call my “Kindergarten Malaise.”
I knew not what made me feel so out of place — I only knew that I felt “weird.”
For many parents today, this “malaise” is a real issue. No two kids are alike — all kids learn and develop differently, even children in the same age groups. It’s what makes all kids so special and unique but it’s also what makes it difficult to figure out how your kids are actually doing.
Thankfully, a teacher alerted my parents to my social difficulties and spent extra time helping me with my math issues. But for most parents, social and academic growth charts can help pinpoint these struggles before they become problems.
So, do you know what your kindergartener should know?
These benchmarks for kindergarten age children are culled from research and good old life-experience. They can help you figure out where your kindergarteners might need a bit of your support, or where they might be gifted.
Social and Emotional Growth Chart
Kindergarten is often kids’ first introduction to formal schooling. It’s their first time interacting with new and diverse groups of peers and adults. It’s a scary experience — I remember.
But, kindergarten is also where the building blocks for self-awareness and emotional management are laid.
Emotional Management
As kids find themselves surrounded by new friends and mentors, it’s important that they:
- Learn to differentiate their emotions and to express them in socially acceptable ways.
- Learn to recognize more complex emotions like embarrassment, disappointment, frustration etc.
Of course, kids will need you to help steer the boat. After my kind-hearted kindergarten teacher reached out to them, my parents began taking me to participate in local little league games, and dance classes. Some of the people I met then are still close friends!
Most importantly, kids should begin to understand: Nobody benefits from a tantrum!
Empathy
At this age, kids should also start learning to empathize! They may not yet understand how to apply empathy to all their conversations, but:
- They should begin to learn how to read social cues and respond accordingly.
- They should begin to understand the mores of different cultures.
Respecting these new friends’ cultures and homes will help your kids learn to forge meaningful friendships with their peers and learn respect for the (deserving) adults in their lives!
The Academic Growth Chart
While your little ones expand their social world, they’re also laying the foundations to their academic success. They’re learning to read and do math in a much more formal way than they might have done before!
Counting Down
- Kindergarteners should be able to count to 100 by ones and by tens, and be able to read, say-out-loud, and write these numbers — in both numeral and word form!
- They should be able to translate these counting skills to counting objects in groups as well.
- By the end of kindergarten, they should be able to add and subtract numbers at least up to 20.
- It is especially important that kids understand the concepts of addition and subtraction as “combining with” and “taking away.” That logic will help them lay the foundation to understand the most complex ideas of multiplication and division.
- One thing kindergarteners will learn to understand from watching you, and other mentors is to add using their hands!
- Some other concepts that your kindergarteners should begin to grasp: weight, length, height, and distance!
- By the end of kindergarten, your little learners should also know their basic shapes: squares, triangles, circles, etc.!
Reading and Writing Benchmarks
While they are building some impressive math skills, other kindergarten benchmarks include working on their understanding of the English language along with their reading and writing skills!
- Kindergarteners should know their alphabet and learn to associate different letters with sounds — sounding out some simple three letter words (bigger ones if they’re ready!).
- They should also begin to take an interest in hearing stories, and reading stories on their own — with your help if needed of course.
- With this newfound understanding of simple books and stories — your kindergarteners should learn to capitalize and use lowercase where and when needed (don’t worry if it takes some time!).
- The most fun skill they will learn during this formative time in their life will be retelling stories — telling you how their day went, or a funny thing that happened in their math class!
Thanks to my wonderful kindergarten teacher Mrs. T and my parents, I was able to catch up to my peers pretty quickly. By the end of kindergarten I had a wonderful group of friends I treasured, and I definitely knew my numbers.
The following year I even placed in a local math competition!
Kindergarten is one of the most formative years of your kids’ lives. This is where they lay the foundation to building academic, and social and emotional success. As they begin to broaden their world to include more types of people from more and more walks of life — they will need you more than ever. These benchmarks are great guidelines to gauge kids’ performance, but the most important thing is to be supportive.
I still remember the day my grandpa got me my favorite “rainbow” ice-cream as a reward for counting all the way down to one hundred. I won’t tell you how many hours it took him to teach me how though.
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