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Important Skills to Teach Your

Parents are often unaware of some of the basic skills that their children need to know before they leave Kindergarten. These mini lessons can be taught during the school year or even before the child has entered Kindergarten.

The most important thing is to be patient…each 'lesson' will take time and energy. Download a checklist of the skills and check off each as your child masters the skill. Provide a small reward for each skill mastered.

  1. How to clean him/herself after using the toilet (both pee and poo!)
  2. Name of each article of clothing: sock, shirt, pants, sweater, vest, jacket, tights, etc.
  3. Name of the body parts: nose, mouth, neck, head, arm, leg, knee, ankle, thigh, toes, fingers, elbow, heel
  4. Ability to button his/her own clothes
  5. Recite his/her phone number aloud (cell phone number may be preferred)
  6. Flush the toilet and wash hands after using the bathroom
  7. Say 'thank you' and 'please' and use good manners (and, to do so without being prompted!)
  8. Recognize first as well as last name in print
  9. Tie shoelaces (this is a very difficult skill and you may want to begin teaching this particular skill in March as dexterity isn't there until around then)
  10. Identify beginning sounds of words (i.e., What sound is at the beginning of dog? /d/)
  11. Recognize and identify the numbers 0 to 30 (look at the house numbers, street signs, etc.)
  12. Recognize geometric shapes (circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, hexagon, sphere, cube, cylinder)
  13. Identify rhyming words and be able to come up with another rhyming word when a word is given(cat, hat, fat, sat)
  14. Recognize the upper-case letters of the alphabet in any order
  15. Recognize the lower-case letters of the alphabet in any order
  16. Identify ending sounds in words (i.e., What sound is at the end of bug? /g/)
  17. Find examples of things that come in number combinations (five: five fingers on a hand, two: two chopsticks, four: four bases/plates on a baseball field)
  18. Sort objects and match up pairs (i.e., have your child match up all the shoes in your closet)
  19. Tell right from left (directionality; i.e., Which button do you use on the computer mouse?)
  20. Identify vowel sounds in the middle of a word (i.e., What vowel sound is in the middle of hat? /a/)
©1999–2011    Sherry
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