A few people were wondering if what their children were doing was normal so I thought I'd use my son's Kindergarten report card to show what has to be known here by the end of the year. This might show you what most 5 year olds are learning.

I'm just going to list everything:

• Alphabet recognition (upper and lower case)
• letter sounds (haven't started yet this year)
• Sight words (haven't started yet): I, of, was, on, here, it, to, me, like, we, and, see, she, come, am, he, are, go, a, in, can, the, said, is, at, my, up, look, you, have
• Beginning sounds in words (start after winter break)
• recognize numbers 0-20
• rhyming words
• word awareness (awareness of words in a sentence)
• sound blending (blends sounds into a word)
• segments words (separates sounds in a word)
• identifies parts of a book
• identifies basic punctuation
• directionality (left, right, top, bottom)
• one-to-one matching (when asked to point to printed text as it is read orally)
• differentiates between letters, words and spacing in written text
• retells a story
• oral language (understands and uses age appropriate language)
• prints first and last name
• counts to 20
• knows basic colors
• identifies circle, square, triangle, rectangle
• sequences numerals 0 to 10
• identifies, continues and creates patterns
• sort sets by color, shape and size
• count number of objects in a set to 10
• knows forward/backward, in/out, front/back, right/left, above
• graphing
• knows longer, heavier, straight, ordinal positions
• time - morning, afternoon, night, yesterday, today, tomorrow, telling time to the hour
• money - names of coins and values
• using up to 10 concrete objects the student demonstrates the concepts of addition and subtraction

With the exception of just a few things, DD has known all of this stuff since (before?) she was 2. She doesn't write her full name or tell time yet and we haven't introduced money or graphing. Otherwise...eeesh. Thanks for sharing.

ETA: I just noticed it actually says "tells time to the hour"...so I guess I can check that one off too.

I have to say, that our kindergarten goals were a bit more academic. Kids had to skip count by 2's, 5's, 10's. Count and identify #'s to 100 and learned many, many more sight words. They had sight words and were learning alphabet sounds, etc from day 1. Every child did a little "research project" on the animal of their choosing. Our kindergarten teachers sent out a letter than kids should know how to identify letters before they get there. It was a very open ended classroom with extra projects and reading available.

The bad part was that 1st grade goals seemed only slightly higher and not nearly as open ended.

I wish our school had those same goals

Here's a sample of the report card where I am for K (note it loads REALLY slow):

Kindergarten Report Card PDF

I notice that down on page 4 it has the reading levels. They have DS listed as J or K right now (he has to complete each level before moving up - he tested in the 3rd grade). And I have to chuckle at the sight words b/c DS is the only now 1st grader to get the 200 sight words completed award on his first day of class.

Here is first grade

DS is already a 3-3+ in the 4th quarter requirements on most of these. I won't even post 2nd or 3rd (the end of the rubric grading system), but you get the picture.

I just cannot wait until GT pullout in January!!!

Thanks for posting this - very interesting. I am not sure my DS3 can identify the coins (never really tried) and he still needs help with writting his name (but can technically do it).

Lots of people LOVE our school! Their test scores actually look very similar to the gifted magnet we applied to (whatever that means). They just don't do much if anything for HG+ kids unfortunately. Nice community too.

Physical ability to write and ability to write one's name is two different things, just for the record. Your DS probably physically "writes" like a 3 year old, which would make you think he needs more help, when in fact, he just needs his body to catch up to his brain!!!

Wow, Hmm I guess I can't wait to get my son's K report card to see what it looks like.

But according to the above K report card my 4 yr old dd is mostly good even up to the 4th Q in most cases! My 5 yr old ds is reading in a mid 2nd grade level (or was in Sept when he took the STAR reading test) but I'm not sure how that falls in the reading levels your school uses.

I just checked and my 4 yr old knows 13 of the 18 high frequency words provided by my 5 yr olds teachers. Not sure if this is all the words they 'need' to know by end of year or what but I do know so far all they have worked on: I, my, like, and see.

I guess maybe I should more seriously consider she may be gifted too.

I think our public schools are pretty similar to the above (or a combination). I had trouble finding where they introduce time/money. Both DDs started K at 4 in a montessori school that seems to mainly teach about a year ahead from what I can tell (from the above lists and similar), although for social studies and science they may just be more in depth vs accelerated.

After last weeks parent/teacher conference for DD4, I'm still surprised that I can be shocked by the teachers. Just when I think I get it, I am presented with some new bit of information that blows my mind. Examples, 2 digit addition by a 4yo (no carrying) and the cat in the hat being too long for a 6yo......

Here we go again,

I think you are right about this. I am fairly certain that he just needs a little more time for the fine motor skills to continue to develop. He will make the letters out of other objects, which tells me he understands how to form them.

Wow, this is really similar to what my mom sent me from their school....DD is 2.7 and has completed all but 3 thing on thr list although she has started to do each of those things, just doesn't have them mastered!

Molly - take the / out of the first "quote".

Wow! My dd is farther along in her "kinder" skills than I thought! And yes, we have the "writing like a 3 year old" issue here! Her body isn't up to speed with her brain either! LOL!

The kindergarten goals here are more advanced. My nephew's class is already reading sight words, spelling, and dictating stories that they then copy. Our state is not highly ranked either, but I'm surprised that they haven't started the sounds. Sounds are typically done in preschool around here, and started again in the first week of kindergarten.

The skill that is often a challenge for a young K child, or a skipped K child that has mastered the academic portion, is the motor and/or fine motor skills. A child may be able to even write short stories, but their printing lags. They hold their pencil heavier or press too hard or have the wrong grip; some draw letters instead of forming them in the proper order which slows them down even more. (It can be hard to break habits when you have a kid that loves to write.) Come first grade they need to write fast enough to pass the timed drills.

For this reason sometimes it is better to skip first than K. But some HG kids, and especially PG kids may never have a good fit due to asynchrony.

I do think that the stated curriculum is not necessarily the same as what happens in each classroom depending on the teacher and mix of kids. For example, I have noticed since we moved DD8 to public school that some teachers seem to "meet" the requirements and assume that those that need more will learn anyway and others will actually be able to provide more for the kids who need it.

Wow, those first goals are low.

I'm hoping that if DS is able to skip into 1st they are good about not penalizing him for his handwriting realizing that that will just come with practice.

I know that in DSs class at the rate they're going they'll just finish this list by the end of the year. And like a lot of people that responded here he knew most or all of this before he was 3.

the goal list posted first here sounds similar to my schools, however i know a kindergarden teacher and she says that most kids come in knowing half, and many all, of the curriculum, but its the job of the kindergarden teacher to bring all the kids up to a similar level so they can just GO in first grade. That kindergarden is an "equalizer" because all the kids come from different backgrounds, full-time preschools, dayscares, no preschool, etc. So its my feeling that i would not necessarily use any list like this as a developmental checklist.

It's good to know how many other kids in the room can do most of the items, and if they are supposed to sit quietly while the teacher helps the others catch up.
Grinity

Our school groups by ability so every classroom teaches at least the state curriculum, but some go further. My son's K class last year was doing addition, subtraction, patterns and numbers to 100. They were also tested on telling time to the hour and half hour and counting money (he had not learned this at home).

All the kids were reading and doing the AR program by the end of the year. They were tested on the Dolch list -- 100 sight words and the kids breezed through it so the teacher gave out the next 100 words. They learned lots of songs and poems. His favorite part was the math competitions they had at the end of the day.

The curriculum was not terribly challenging for my son, but many things were new to him. His reading improved greatly and he started writing little stories. The math moved too slowly so we supplemented with Singapore at home.

Like most of your kids, DS5 taught himself the alphabet, colors, shapes and numbers at around 9 mos. old, read books and started writing at 2, cursive writing at 3, story writing at 4 multiple digit addition and subtraction, etc. He has an amazing memory. He has become our unofficial GPS. He always loved to learn. I thought school would be a breeze. Boy, was I wrong! He just started kindergarten last month and is not doing so well. While, he is starting to play and talk with the other kids, he still prefers to be on his own or playing with the older children or talking with the teachers. He does not like to pay attention and often goes into his own imaginary world. However, just when the teacher thinks he is not listening, she would ask him questions and he is usually able to answer correctly. There are times too when he would completely ignore questions or answer "I don't know." to the simplest questions. Questions that he is more than capable of anwering. The teacher thinks that there could be a "comprehension" or "processing" problem. This is very difficult for me to believe because anyone close to him knows that he is very aware of everything and often remembers discussions by adults while he was playing a few feet away. We were recently surprised when he corrected his dad while his dad was talking to a friend in our language which he does not speak. No one in our family or friends think he cannot fully comprehend but this teacher got me to doubt myself. Is it true? Am I in denial? Do any of you have a problem with your bright kids not paying attention in school and not "performing" for their teachers? He tells me he is scared to make mistakes. How do you deal with this?

Hmm that is interesting about the cursive writing. My DS can read cursive which really freaks people out. I have NO idea how he learned it. I guess most of the letter look close enough to printed ones. ?

Has he been tested yet? Sounds to me like he is completely bored. My son pays almost no attention in school.

My DS can as well. And yeah, I have no clue how either.

i wanted to add to my previous post (about kindergarten being an "equalizer")..that i just don't think its fair to judge our kids' level based on these goals, as many NG are doing great against them too. Sometimes threads that start like this start to sound insulting to what NG kids are doing, and to their credit, its usually much much more than these types of lists, that may be bare minimums. (sorry horrible run-on sentence)..My daughters kindergarten class is reciting poetry, learning about the world, singing songs, doing sign language, and that isn't even on the stated goals. I really never thought i'd say it, but i really like kindergarten.. its wonderfully un-schooly and just what she needed. Now even better that they let her finally pick a "big-girl" library book.

He has been tested a few months ago by a psychologist I got thru the internet. He did not do very well. The doctor and her office were not very kid friendly and she said DS5 was very underscored because he was not focused on the test. The curious thing was that he didn't want to answer the easier questions but were correctly answering questions for 10 yo's. He also was not tested for reading and writing.
When he was 2, an MD had diagnosed him with autism but I don't really see any autistic characteristics. Now that he is a little bit older, I am even more convinced that he was misdiagnosed.
As for boredom, when I brought it up to his teacher, her response was: "bright kids do not get bored".
As for cursive writing, we were all amazed how at 3, he just started doing it without anyone teaching him. To this day I don't know how he learned it.

Mostly agreeing with you Renie1. Reading this thread I thought how important it is to be careful here. These are probably baseline goals, and its important that I don't get carried away with how 'smart' my 4 year old kid is compared to these. DS8 could have done most of them on his head before aged three, but although deemed gifted today, is only mildly so. DS6 who wasn't so far at age three, has blown past him since.

I do agree that comparing a child to a list like this is not helpful from a LOG point of view, though it may be helpful from a will-K-work-for-my-child point of view.

Or perhaps I am just willing to embrace almost anything that supports my premise that DD would not do well in K, since K was one of the worst experiences of my own life and thinking about it still makes me angry to this day. I do recognize that I have a strong bias there. And I am very well aware that she is not me and that if we were to send her to K she would not have my awful teacher.

I certainly didn't post this to insult non-gifted kids. I can only speak from my experience here and like I said before this is exactly what my son is learning in K right now. And again I can only wish that he had the same Kindergarten experiences as some of your kids. Just this morning he cried not to go to school because it's so boring

For the record, I didn't mean to insult non-gifted kids either, as I am a parent to one (or at least a child who would be deemed ND by her brother's "standards"). I know for the items I posted, they are pretty much dead on, as this state uses the CRCT, and they hardly waiver from what needs to be learned based on each grade's CRCT level.

Though I'm not using that listing to say "my kid is smarter than that kid", I did find it useful in my own personal assessment of dd. I figured she was near an "end of K" level and that listing gives aide to that assessment. I think our district has a bit more on the academic side too - K kids learn up to 100, for example.

Not meaning to insult anyone either, or suggest their kid is at any particular level or not. I agree that, if you speak to the Kindergarten's teachers, and they agree these are their expectations at the end of K and that children should not be further ahead, then the school would probably not be a good fit for a child who has already achieved them. It's just that I personally find those goals so low for a child of average I.Q, that in themselves, without further investigation, I wouldn't assume anything about the school or my child's abilities regarding Kindergarten.

Our state provide information on what they should know by K in booklets. One might look on a state ed. website.