Parent Kindergarten Transition Checklist
The following is a checklist of activities you, as a parent, will need to do before your child transitions into Kindergarten, during the transition period and after your child has entered Kindergarten.
Before Leaving Preschool
1. Where will your child attend kindergarten?
2. Is your child enrolled for fall?
3. Do you have copies of your child's records? (Some information may be obtained from pre-school)
4. Do you know about your child's school?
- Rules and Regulations?
- Discipline and Behavior Policies?
- Goals for Kindergarten?
- Communication Between School and Home?
- Transportation?
- Meals?
- Learning Goals by the end of Kindergarten?
- Teacher's Name?
Before Starting School
1. Have you visited the school with your child?
2. Have you talked with your child about the good things about going to school?
3. Have you arranged for the necessary school supplies?
4. Have you established a routine that includes meal time, time to talk, bedtime and reading time?
5. Have you made sure the school has current phone, address and emergency contact numbers?
First Month of School
1. Have you made sure your child attends on time every day?
2. Does your child eat breakfast and lunch?
3. Have you met the teacher?
4. Do you know when conferences, report cards, and other school activities are?
5. Do you know ways to help your child do well in school?
6. Do you encourage your child to do well in school?
7. Do you praise, congratulate or reward your child for doing well in school?
Rest of School Year
1. Have you met with the teacher to discuss your child's progress?
2. Have you received your child's report card?
3. Have you taken steps needed to improve your child's success in school?
4. Do you know where your child will attend school next year?
5. Do you have a list of summer activities from school, parks, library, social service agencies?
To download a printable version of this checklist, click here.
Kindergarten Readiness Expectations for Parents
Below is a list of skills that Kindergarten teachers would like to have children experience before they enter Kindergarten.
This is a long list, but children are NOT expected to have mastered all of the skills listed!!
A. Physical Domain
The child can/does:
1. Cut simple shapes using proper scissor grip
2. Hold pencils and crayons appropriately to write and draw
3. Perform hygiene tasks independently: toileting without accidents, washing/drying hands using soap and water, and blowing/wiping nose using tissue appropriately
4. Clean up after snack: trash, crumbs, spills wiped
5. Sort similar objects by shape, size, and color
6. Return toys to proper storage when finished with play
7. Dress him/herself: zip shirts and coats, button shirts and coats, put shoes on correct feet, and tie, velcro, zip, or snap shoes/boots
8. Control materials using paste and glue without excessive mess
9. Demonstrate motor control: skip, gallop, run, jump (one foot to another), hop (two feet), catch large balls (basketball size), bounce balls (two hands), clap hands, touch fingers (hand to hand/same hand finger to finger), carry a solid tray or plate of items steadily, and alternate feet going up and down stairs
B: Intellectual Domain
The child can/does:
1. Demonstrate appropriate book handling skills: front from back of the book, top/bottom of the book, starting point of the story, left to right/page to page, and difference between pictures and letters
2. Find basic colors in a room: red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, white, black, and brown
3. Name basic colors when shown a picture of the color: red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, white, black, and brown
4. Engage in new activities without distress
5. Understand that print has meaning
6. Identify basic shapes: circle, square, triangle, and rectangle
7. State full name when required
8. Respond to name when called
9. Know necessary personal information: phone number, address, parent/caretaker name, and birthday (month and date)
10. Recognize own belongings
11. Identify some letters and numbers by name and symbol
12: Print own name (Using both upper and lower case)
13. Recognize own name in print/text
14. Retell familiar stories, songs, nursery rhymes: follows story sequence and identify rhyming words
15. Recall simple number sequence/objects from pictures viewed
16. Draw simple recognizable illustrations of ideas/experiences
17. Complete simple puzzles: can replicate/complete a simple pattern
18. Copy simple shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle
19: Identify body parts (point to and name 5 body parts): knows own gender
20. Know left from right
21. Understand directional terms: up, down, in, out, front, back, top, bottom, beside, next to or next
22. Listen and follow one and two-step directions
23. Speak in complete sentences (five to six words minimum)
24. Follow Rules
25: Understand common opposites (hot and cold, fast and slow, etc.)
26. Demonstrate understanding of general time of day (morning, afternoon, etc.)
27. Associate events with changing seasons/time of the year
C. Emotional Domain
The child can/does:
1. Express feelings and ideas to adults other than parents
2. Demonstrate patience/maintains self-control
3. Demonstrate responsibility for self and personal things (hangs up coat, keeps track of things, etc.)
4. Demonstrate/express enthusiasm
5. Respect others rights, property, supplies and materials
6. Respect authority
7. Respond to and interacts positively with teachers
8. Retain a level of comfort in the absence of parents for long periods
9. React positively to learning experience and welcomes new challenges
D. Social Domain
The child can/does:
1. Talk with and listen to others
2. Play productively alone and with others
3. Make friends
4. Participate appropriately in group activities
5. Share and take turns: tolerates others around him/her and claims reasonable share of attention
6. Enter into conversation
7. Meet visitors without fear
8. Request favorite stories/listens attentively
9. Respect space/property of others
10. Focus and attend to story, presentation, another's conversation, etc. for 5 minutes or more without disruption
To download a printable version of this checklist, please click here.
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