“Is my child ready for Kindergarten? What does that even mean?” Here’s my high-level perspective as a parent + teacher (who’s been at it for 35+ years).
Learn
The first days of Kindergarten are incredibly important. It’s imperative that we, teachers, establish expectations and routines while earning the trust of your child, at the very beginning. With empathetic discipline and a dose of gentle humor, our goal is to develop a tight and sophisticated social community from day one.
Our focus in Kindergarten is on supporting social integration and social success.
Basic Concepts
What is “Kindergarten Readiness”?
It’s a quality of openness, mixed with curiosity and kindness that makes for a wonderful young learner. As a teacher, attributes I look for are:
- Willingness to learn
- Adaptability
- Cooperation
Children enter Kindergarten with a wide range of skills – some will be “ready to go”, others will need to learn some or many of these skills. It’s helpful to think about these skills in the context of social + emotional readiness and pre-academic readiness.
| Social + Emotional Readiness | Pre-Academic Readiness |
Social learning is a core part of Kindergarten, and having these skills “ready to go” in Kindergarten makes social integration easier (rest assured, teachers are here to support the learning process as needed):
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Children enter kindergarten with different learning styles and a wide range of experiences. Although parents often ask about milestones, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. But, in general, teachers look for the ability to:
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Social skills that often require practice, but should be attained by school year-end:
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Deep dive on more pre-academic skills. |
| Deep dive on more social + emotional skills. |
Keep reading for more practical strategies on What You Could Do in our complete Kindergarten series:
FYI – Independent Schools of the San Francisco Bay Area uses this checklist for student evaluation as a data point.
And Remember
Kindergarten will often be a child’s first experience in a large institution – it can be a monumental transition. Expect your child to be very tired for the first month or two. Be kind to them – they’ll be working very hard.