In the midst of our PreK search, we found ourselves looking at a few kindergarten options. This “Kindergarten prerequisites” list especially stood out…
1. sing the alphabet song correctly (all 26 letters and l, m, n, o, and p as five distinct letters) Mads is well on her way…as shown here:
2. recognize and name all 26 letters of the alphabet when seen in print and not in alphabetical order There was a point where Mads was insisting that “2” was “S”, but I believe that’s been “fixed”
3. Count accurately from 1 – 20 Her teacher tells me that she can count 1-20 in Spanish, so I think we’re okay here.
4. Recognize the numbers 1 – 10 when seen in print and not in numerical order I think we’re good to go here, we’re also working on zero, too.
5. Count up to ten objects accurately This is an area we need work…Mads usually starts with two and likes to count objects more than once.
6. Spell his or her own name If she sees the letters, she is able to spell her name and pronounce it “Madeesohn” (with a Spanish accent)
7. Print his or her first name with good control Again, if she sees the letters, she can trace or copy it, but on her own, not so much.
8. Cut easily with scissors Ha!
9. Identify simple shapes such as a circle, square, triangle, and diamond Not only can she id shapes, she can id grandma’s car (VW Beetle) and the color, daddy’s car (Volvo SUV) and the color. She can identify mommy’s car by brand insignia only.
10. State personal information such as age, place in family, birthday, phone number, address Something to work on. Mads knows her age (“thfree”), knows all about birthdays (just doesn’t know when it is) and can recognize her house (yes, HER house, not mommy’s, not papa’s, not Lucie’s)
11. Match one object with another S & I both have memory-matching games on our iPhones. Mads’ memory impresses me!
12. Identify words which sound the same and words which do not I figure she gets enough of this when we read to her…her favorite stories as of late are: Curious George, Make Way for Ducklings and The Three Little Pigs.
13. Listen to and follow simple two-step directions She listens alright, it’s the following of those instructions that’s the tricky part.
14. Hop and jump Just as she was turning 3, she starting hopping and jumping off everything! I can tell she really loves the hopping and jumping, but it still makes me nervous. As she reminds us every now and then, “Mommy, I jumped on the couch. I break my arm.” Lesson learned.
15. Bounce, throw and catch a ball Catch – maybe if the ball is big enough?