Is your child about to head to kindergarten? Kindergarten will be a fun year filled with learning for your child. Your kindergartener will learn new social skills, as well as educational skills in reading, writing, and math. Out of all of these skills, a lot of emphases will be placed on both reading and writing. Continue reading to learn which reading and writing skills your kindergartener will need to know.
Print Concepts
One of the first reading skills your child will need to learn has to do with print concepts. These are all the basics of reading, like going from left to right and top to bottom. This also includes turning the pages in the correct order and identifying the different parts of the book (front cover, back cover, title page, etc.). Go over these vital print concepts with your kindergartener to help build a foundation in reading.
Letters, Sounds, & Blends
Your kindergartener will be expected to identify both uppercase and lowercase letters, as well as all of the sounds associated with each letter. After learning these basics, your kindergartener will move on to blending sounds together into single-syllable words. The individual sounds in a word like C-A-T will need to be identified, and then your kindergartener will need to be able to blend the sounds into the words “cat.” Practice these essential skills with your kindergartener using flash cards and games.
High-Frequency Sight Words
Sight words are important in kindergarten. As your child learns to read, there will be some words that can’t be sounded out. Unfortunately, these words cannot wait for a later grade level because they show up too often in the text. Knowing these high-frequency words on sight will help your kindergartener read more quickly. The best sight words to practice include words like the, of, to, you, she, is, etc. You can ask your child’s teacher for a list of sight words to practice this school year.
Basic Writing Skills
At the beginning of kindergarten, your child will begin writing using basic concepts such as letters and pictures. To practice basic writing skills, have your child first draw a picture. The act of drawing the picture and adding details will help inspire your child’s imagination and will develop the idea they want to write. After drawing the picture, have your child “write” something, even if it’s just a few letters that don’t make any sense. Ask your child to dictate what was written to you, and then write the sentence yourself. Eventually, your child will be able to write more letters and words as these writing skills are developed.
Reading and writing are both important skills your child will learn this year in kindergarten. This can be very overwhelming for a five-year-old, so do your best to help your kindergartener develop these important skills.