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Breadcrumb

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist

Know whether your child is prepared for Kindergarten by checking the following milestones

Language Skills

  • Talks in sentences
  • Speaks loud and clear to express wants and thoughts
  • Uses sentences that have two or more ideas
  • Knows and can say some common nursery rhymes and songs (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)
  • Pretends, creates, makes up songs and stories in play
  • Tells or retells stories and/or everyday experiences
  • Asks questions and expresses curiosity
  • Describes people, places, things and events with some details
  • Uses question words (Who, What, Where, Why, How) to get help or learn more about something (Why does a giraffe have long neck?)

Reading Skills

  • Looks at books or pictures on their own
  • Pretends to read books by using the pictures
  • Identifies the front, back and title page of a book
  • Able to connect to signs and symbols within their environment (Stop Sign)
  • Recognizes rhyming words (cat-hat)
  • Begins to sound out words (Hop = H + O + P)
  • Recognizes some common words in print
  • Recognizes many uppercase and lowercase letters
  • Recognizes some letter sounds
  • Describes some characters and their actions by using details from a book
  • Relates stories to personal experiences
  • Puts events of a story in order

Social Skills

  • Uses words to solve problems or conflicts
  • Identifies appropriate solutions to a problem
  • Uses words like please, thank you and excuse me
  • Follows simple one and two-step direction(s) (Example: Please wash your face before bed. Please wash your face, then brush your teeth before bed.)
  • Stays with an activity to completion
  • Is able to ask for help
  • Interacts appropriately with adults and peers
  • Listens, shares, and takes turns with other children
  • Participates in clean-up activities
  • Is able to dress self
  • Able to follow a routine/schedule for personal health, eating meals and going to bed
  • Follows simple safety rules
  • Able to identify emotions in themselves and others (I am upset because you took my turn. You are mad because I made a mess.)

Writing Skills

  • Uses words to solve problems or conflicts
  • Asks you to write words or notes to others
  • Draws a picture about a story read or heard
  • Attempts to write own name and recognizes own name in print
  • Adds details to writing and/or picture with help
  • Answers questions about their writing/pictures
  • Copies shapes of letters when writing
  • Attempts to draw series of letters to represent a word

Things You Can Do at Home

  • Read daily with your child and ask questions about what you read (In English and/or your home language)
  • Give them chores around the house (Cleaning up trash and/or helping with dishes)
  • Establish routines for daily events such as bedtime and meals
  • Play games as a family to practice taking turns and staying on task
  • Have your child practice putting items into groups by size, shapes, and/or color
  • Encourage your child to be independent by dressing themselves, brushing teeth, or washing face after meal times
  • Connect reading to daily experiences
  • Set up play times with friends so your child can practice social skills and problem solving
  • Provide opportunities for your child to play
  • Have them practice repeating and following specific directions
  • Have your child point and count objects to practice number sequence (Count how many apples you put into the cart while at the store)
  • Talk about what school might look like

About the Wichita Literacy Coalition

The Wichita Literacy Coalition is facilitated by the Public Policy & Management Center at Wichita State University and brings together key stakeholders in Wichita to create and implement a collective plan to increase Kindergarten readiness for children and families experiencing the greatest need. Find a list of all the coalition partners, as well as more resources, on the WLC website.

WLC Resources

Download Checklists