All Day Kindergarten Curriculum
Age 5 Years to 6 Years, 6:00am – 6:00pm Monday-Friday
Programs
Kindergarten Program
Kindergarten Curriculum & Milestones
We work hard to make sure your children have everything they need to begin their lifelong journey toward constant learning, and we provide them with the tools needed to actually enjoy school and look forward to every day.
Social & Emotional Development
This school year, kids don’t just make friends and express their feelings. They also start understanding complicated things like right and wrong. Many 5-year-olds also:
Want to act like their friends and seek their approval
Become jealous of other people spending time with “their” friends
Follow the rules most of the time and may criticize kids who don’t follow the rules
Enjoy showing off; they’ll sing, dance, or be silly to get attention
Want your approval and to be taken seriously
May have tantrums or get angry if they think they’re not being listened to
Start to understand why it’s helpful to share and get along with other kids
Language Development
By the end of their fifth year, many kids talk a mile a minute. They’re able to understand and can use thousands of words—usually in sentences five to eight words long! Most 5-year-olds have the language skills to:
Use words to argue and try to reason with people (because is a commonly used word)
Use most plurals and pronouns
Tell stories, jokes, and riddles, and may understand simple puns
Talk about opposites and compare things (“That black cat is smaller than the white one.”)
Talk about things that are going to happen and things that have already happened (using tense and time correctly)
Follow simple multi-step directions
Cognitive Development
Kindergartners think in fun and creative ways. They also start to learn facts and begin to grasp some basic academic concepts. Many kids can recognize words by sight, like the and me, and they can begin sounding out three-letter words, like hat. By the end of kindergarten, many kids can also do things like:
Recognize and name colors and basic shapes
Know the letters of the alphabet and letter sounds
Recite their name, address, and phone number
Understand basic concepts about print (like knowing which way the pages go and that words are read left to right and top to bottom)
Know that stories have a beginning, middle, and end
Count groups of objects up to 10 and recite numbers to 20
Stick with an activity for 15 minutes and finish a short project
Make plans about how to play, what to build, or what to draw
Physical Development
You may have noticed that kids are pretty active at this age. You may even have trouble keeping up as they begin to run, hop, skip, and jump without tripping over their own feet. Most kindergartners are able to do things like this by the end of their fifth year:
Walk on their tiptoes and heel-to-toe like on a balance beam
Jump rope and pump their legs to swing alone
Stand and hop on each foot
Catch a ball the size of a softball
Start to move in more coordinated ways, doing things like swimming, dribbling a basketball, or dancing
Use one hand more than the other (this is sometimes called “hand dominance”)
Hold a pencil using a tripod grip (two fingers and a thumb)
Cut out basic shapes with scissors; may be able to cut a straight line
Use a fork, spoon, and knife easily
Remember that all kids develop at their own pace. Your child might not yet do all the things on this list. But if your 5-year-old hasn’t met most of these milestones, talk to your child’s doctor and teacher.