Children in kindergarten should be able to speak loud enough for others to hear and clearly enough that others understand them. They should use complete sentences and be able to share ideas with others. Children also need to be able to ask and answer questions and should be able to describe objects. They need to know that they should raise their hand and wait to be called on before talking in class.
Kindergarteners should be able to listen attentively and repeat back instructions and follow directions with up to two steps. They should also be able to put the events of a story they have listened to in the order in which they happened and be able to retell the story once they have heard it.
Kindergarteners should recognize both the upper case and lower case letters, know the sounds that all the letters make, recognize a number of sight words and be able to use these sight words to write a short sentence. They should be able to sound out words based on the initial sound and word patterns and should be able to recognize rhyming words. Students should be able to sort sight words into categories, such as shapes, colors and types of food.
Before completing kindergarten, students should know how to write both their first and last names and write short sentences made up of the sight words they know. This means they need to be able to write all of the letters in both upper case and lower case. Kindergarteners should also know how to write numbers up to 30.