Before your child's first day at kindergarten, she should have a vocabulary sophisticated enough for her to articulate her feelings, which becomes important when resolving the inevitable disputes with other children. She should also be comfortable constructing a basic oral narrative and be able to recount the day's events and summarize stories and lessons. Children also need active listening skills to be able to understand and follow basic instructions from their teachers, along with the self-discipline to pay attention to their teachers during story time and other classroom activities.
Children should have a rudimentary understanding of numbers, being able to count to ten while understanding the specific quantity which each number signifies. Your child should also be able to recognize and name different colors and shapes, as her teacher will introduce her to basic data organization concepts through classifying and sorting objects based on these criteria.
Your child will learn basic writing skills during her year in kindergarten, so it's important for her to have the fine motor control to hold a pencil or a crayon, and the finesse to write individual letters and numbers. She'll also be engaged with arts and crafts activities which require her to have sufficient manual dexterity to use objects such as safety scissors. Children must be able to walk or run, and be able to navigate stairs without assistance. Your child should also be skilled enough to put on her jacket, mittens and other outdoor clothing on her own, and be able to hang up her coat when she returns to the classroom.
By her first day of kindergarten, your child should be able to recognize the letters of the alphabet and know the sound associated with each letter, as the ability to learn new words through sounding out individual letters is key to developing her reading skills. Children also need to understand the fundamentals of books that adults take for granted, such as knowing that the words in books are read from left to right, beginning at the top of the page and ending at the bottom.
Kindergarteners are at an age when they're naturally self-centered, but your child needs to be able to play and interact harmoniously with other children before she enters school, and she'll be expected to share and take turns with her classmates. She should also know the fundamentals of courteous behavior, such as saying "please" and "thank you," and respecting her classmates and their belongings.