Children develop their social skills in kindergarten by becoming open and collaborative learners. They learn to cooperate and resolve disagreements.
By the end of kindergarten, kids should know all 26 letters of the alphabet and the sound each one makes. They should also be able to read about 30 high-frequency words, or sight words.
Language
Children’s earliest years are when their language learning is most effective. They need ample opportunities to hear, speak, and read.
By the end of kindergarten, kids will recognize and write 26 letters (both uppercase and lowercase), the sound each makes, and 30 high-frequency words (“sight words” like the, an, and is). They’ll also learn about number recognition, ordering, and counting.
Early foreign language study helps set the stage for academic success. At Fay, kindergarteners take two or three days a week of world language classes that focus on French or Spanish.
Math
Kindergarten students need ample opportunities to represent joining (addition) and taking away (subtraction) situations with concrete objects. They should also use representations that are not limited to concrete materials, such as drawings, acting out, lists, and number sentences.
Kindergartners learn how to count, and they start to understand that teen numbers are 10 + a number between 1 and 9. They develop an understanding of addition by solving problems with physical objects, then they can begin to solve word problems. They learn to recognize shapes, and they start to compare shapes by identifying their features. These learning experiences can be fun and build a solid foundation for math. Students learn best when they are engaged in their own learning. This can be done through playful games and activities.
Social Studies
Social studies learning helps children understand how they fit into the world around them. This includes learning about their family and community as well as key concepts in world history and geography.
Kindergarten students also learn about different cultures, celebrations, and traditions from all over the globe. This encourages children to embrace diversity and respect for others.
Educators need to provide experiences that foster young children’s curiosity and understanding of the social world. This includes providing meaningful, relevant, and varied experiences that incorporate content area reading, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and the development of interpersonal communication. It is also important to promote democratic or civic engagement in the classroom and in the community (Mindes, 2015). Integrating social studies learning throughout the curriculum provides students with the opportunity to become capable, collaborative learners who develop their own questions and investigate topics of interest.
Science
Kids begin to learn about science through exploring the world around them. For example, they may watch snow melt, observe water changing from liquid to solid and back again or feel the textures of different materials.
Kindergarteners also explore the similarities and differences of plants and animals and their identifying characteristics. They might study weather, comparing temperatures from one day to another and across seasons.
Help kids develop a curiosity about the world by encouraging them to observe and communicate their observations. It’s important for students to be able to understand abstract concepts such as the speed of light and why a leaf changes color in the fall. Provide them with lots of concrete examples or use video resources such as the standards-linked NGSS “illustration of practice” videos.
Physical Development
From kicking and squirming to grasping objects, children’s physical development is an essential part of their learning. Children’s physical skills build upon each other and support cognitive development.
As children develop physically, they build strength, gain muscle control and improve coordination. Providing healthy meals, adequate exercise and rest and keeping children free of environmental toxins like cigarette smoke is key to supporting their physical health.
During kindergarten, students typically continue to develop both their gross motor skills, which involve whole body movement, and fine motor skills, which require the coordination of small muscle movements. While every child grows and develops at a different pace, most will acquire the following gross and fine motor skills throughout the year: