What should my child know before entering kindergarten?

What are Kindergarten Power Standards?

These are a list of skills that children should master before their first day of kindergarten. As parents, we can help by preparing our children is so many ways. We can talk with them, sing to them, listen to them and comfort them. We can practice new skills with them, like writing their name or counting items in the store, and model good behavior - like listening, caring, waiting and sharing.

Here's a list of Power Standards developed by the Riviera Beach Prekindergarten Collaborative, which is a joint effort between local kindergarten teachers and child care directors.

• Knows first and last name
• Recognizes the emotions of self and others 
• Recognizes and controls own behavior 
• Uses words to communicate feelings
• Shows beginning problem solving, including offering potential solutions
• Attends to a task for up to 5 minutes 
• Able and willing to share
• No longer requiring a nap during the day

• Follows two-step directions (“Put on your shoes, and get your coat.”)
• Engages in back-and-forth conversation with adults and friends
• Able to express themselves and be understood by adults and friends using new vocabulary and details
• Asks and answers questions with adults and friends

• Enjoys looking at books 
• Retells or reenacts a story 
• Recognizes simple rhyming words (bat/cat)
• Identifies individual sounds within a word (identifies “mmm” as first sound in “mop”)
• Names most upper and lowercase letters 
• Recognizes most letter sounds 
• Uses scribbles to put thoughts on paper
• Writes first name

• Counts objects one at a time up to 15
• Creates small sets of objects (groups items and identifies how many)
• Reads and writes numerals 1-30
• Identifies basic shapes

SOURCE:

Riviera Beach Prekindergarten Collaborative