Stepping Up To Kindergarten

It’s more than just ABCs.

- Julia Pelly

As kindergarten approaches, it can be both exciting and scary for families. Open houses and meet-the-teacher events provide a lot of information about the school year but many parents leave without knowing exactly what their child will be learning in kindergarten.

Most parents understand that their child will develop basic academic skills throughout the year, but what they may be less familiar with is how teachers help students to develop a whole new set of social and emotional skills.

“Having strong social and emotional skills help your child develop a willingness to approach difficult tasks, get along well with others and develop a love of learning without fear,” says Lacy Kline Van Ever, a kindergarten teacher who has worked with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools to write lessons that explicitly teach social and emotional skills.

If your child is heading to kindergarten soon, check out the list below for academic, social and emotional knowledge and skills you can expect to see develop throughout the year, and the ways that you can support this development at home.

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

In preschool, many children learn to identify letters and the sounds that they make. In kindergarten, the goal is for children to begin to understand that letters go together to form sounds and that sounds combine to make words. By the end of the year many kindergartners are reading words and short sentences.

Throughout the year, kindergarten teachers work hard to “create a culture of reading and a love for books” says Shekeria Barnes, school administrator at Socrates Academy Honor School of Excellence.

At home:

Barnes recommends that parents support early-literacy development by exploring books with their children and exposing them to language in their everyday life.

MATH SKILLS