Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Gearing up for Kindergarten...my Baby will be 5 in February- EEK!

kindergarten2

As the realization starts to hit me that my Big Girl will be 5 in TWO SHORT MONTHS- I have to re access where we are at in her learning in order for her to be prepared for her school days.

She is currently in Pre-K and frankly, she is bored out of her mind.  She is only attending two days a week and basically we are paying for socialization at this point.  It is good for her to have "friends" but has left me feeling pretty guilty for NOT testing her for Kindergarten this school year.

She is smart as a whip- although I am kind of bias because she is my kiddo!  She pays attention (OK, sometimes) and comprehends.  This past year we lost our two pets, a few months apart, and its so hard to explain and understand being an adult.  This kid is asking me all sorts of questions about heaven and death and what happens to our body when we die and our souls- what 4 year old knows about a soul?

Since she has been born, we have joked that she has been 'here' before.  Most days I truly believe this!

So, gearing up for Kindergarten time - here is the list (and a SPECIAL Thank You to www.ICanTeachMyChild.com who I am sharing this from!)

Personal and Social Development

Approach to learning
  • Shows eagerness and curiosity as a learner
  • Persists in task and seeks help when encountering a problem
  • Is generally pleasant and cooperative
Self-Control
  • Follows rules and routines
  • Manages transitions (going from one activity to the next)
  • Demonstrates normal activity level

Interactions with Others
  • Interacts easily with one or more children
  • Interacts easily with familiar adults
  • Participates in group activities
  • Plays well with others
  • Takes turns and shares
  • Cleans up after play
Conflict Resolution
  • Seeks adult help when needed to resolve conflicts
  • Uses words to resolve conflicts
Language and Literacy
Listening
  • Listens with understanding to directions and conversations
  • Follows one-step directions
  • Follows two-step directions
Speaking
  • Speaks clearly enough to be understood without contextual clues
  • Relates experiences with some understanding of sequences of events
Literature and Reading
  • Listens with interest to stories read aloud
  • Shows interest in reading-related activities
  • Retells information from a story
  • Sequences three pictures to tell a logical story
Writing
  • Uses pictures to communicate ideas
  • Uses scribbles, shapes, and letter-like symbols to write words or ideas
Alphabet Knowledge
  • Recites/sings alphabet
  • Matches upper-case letters
  • Matches lower-case letters
  • Identifies upper-case letters
  • Identifies lower-case letters
Mathematical Thinking
Patterns and Relationships
  • Sorts by color, shape, and size
  • Orders or separates several objects on the basis of one attribute
  • Recognizes simple patterns and duplicates them

Number concept and operations

  • Counts to 20
  • Counts objects with meaning to 10
  • Matches numerals
  • Identifies by naming, numerals 0-10

Geometry and spatial relations

  • Identifies 4 shapes- circle, square, rectangle, triangle
  • Demonstrates concepts of positional/directional concepts (up/down, over/under, in/out, behind/in front of, beside/between, top/bottom, inside/outside, above/below, high/low, right/left, off/on, first/last, far/near, go/stop).

Measurement

  • Shows understanding of and uses comparative words (big/little, large/small, short/long, tall/short, slow/fast, few/many, empty/full, less/more.
Physical Development
Gross-Motor Skills
  • Pedals and steers a tricycle
  • Jumps in place, landing on two feet
  • Jumps consecutively- 7 jumps
  • Balances on one foot for 5 seconds
  • Hops on one foot 2-3 hops
  • Hops on one foot- 6 ft.
  • Throws a ball with direction- 5 ft.
  • Catches a thrown ball with arms and body
  • Climbs a playground ladder
  • Skips smoothly for 20 feet

Fine-Motor Skills
  • Stacks 10, one-inch blocks
  • Strings 4 1/2″ beads in two minutes
  • Completes a seven piece interlocking puzzle
  • Makes a pancake, snake, and ball from play dough
  • Grasps pencil correctly
  • Copies:  vertical line, horizontal line, circle, cross, square, V, triangle
  • Copies first name
  • Prints first name without a model
  • Grasps scissors correctly
  • Cuts within 1/4″ of a 6″ straight line on construction paper
  • Cuts out a 3″ square on construction paper
  • Cuts out a 3″ triangle on construction paper
  • Cuts out a 3″ circle on construction paper
  • Uses a glue stick appropriately
  • Uses appropriate amount of glue for tasks

The Arts
Creative Arts
  • Identifies 10 colors:  red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, black, white, brown, pink
  • Uses a variety of art materials for tactile experience and exploration

Music/Movement
  • Participates in group music experiences
  • Participates in creative movement/dance
Creative Dramatics
  • Makes believe with objects
  • Takes on pretend roles and situations

The good news is, as of this day- we are right on target!  Go Girl!

Now my nerves for the big day and all my anxiousness because working full time I am going to miss it!  It already sucks that i am missing SO much of Pre-K.  Hopefully these little ladies know that everything we do is for them!

Bring on Kindergarten, she is READY!








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