What Should I Teach My Kindergarten Child If I Am Homeschooling?

12:44 PM

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Words)

Are you new to homeschooling (due to the pandemic)? If you are taking on this new role of mom/homeschool teacher, you are probably scrambling to figure out what in the world you are suppose to be teaching your kindergarten aged child. As a former kindergarten teacher, I had a parent contact me before school started this year, and they had no idea what they needed to be teaching their child in order for them to stay up with their peers. I knew that they were struggling, so I dug out this list that I used in my kindergarten classroom to keep me on track. This is MOST of what I taught in kindergarten, although this is not everything. Feel free to use this list as a guide for your teaching!

If you aren't familiar with the online store Teachers Pay Teachers, you should check it out. You can purchase curriculum created BY teachers FOR teachers (or homeschool parents). There are millions of things to choose from from including worksheets, games, digital activities and more. They are only a few dollars each. Here is a link to my Teachers Pay Teachers Shop. My teaching materials are geared towards preschool, kindergarten, or first grade students. Hopefully you can find something that will work for you and your kiddos.

Good luck with your new adventure. You will do great!

My lists are by Quarter! This is what I assessed my kinder kiddos on at the end of each quarter. You can use this list to keep your child on pace if you are homeschooling and need some guidance.

First Quarter

Writing First Name (Using Lowercase Letters With Capital First Letter)

Being Able to Name At Least Half of the Alphabet

Recognizing Rhyming Words

Reading Sight Words

Recognizing Numbers to 10 (Out of Order)

Counting to 20

Comparing Numbers to 10

Naming Basic Shapes (Circle, Square, Triangle, Rectangle)

Know Positional Words (Beside, Behind, Between Etc.)

Second Quarter

Writing First and Last Name

Naming All Alphabet Letters (Out of Order)

Recognizing and Producing Rhyming Words

Being Able to Produce Half of the Letter Sounds

Identifying the Characters, Setting, and Major Events in A Story

Tell What An Author and Illustrator Do

Recognize Numbers to 20 (Out of Sequence)

Count to 40

Compare Numbers

Create Sets to 15 (Counting out sets of objects to 15)

Write Numbers to 15

Name the Basic Shapes (Circle, Square, Triangle, Rectangle, Hexagon, and Rhombus)

Put Shapes Together to Create Bigger Shapes (Such as 2 Triangles to Create a Square)

Adding to 5 (Using Objects and Without Objects)

Counting By 10's to 100

Basic Measurement

Third Quarter

Produce All Letter Sounds

Read and Write CVC Words

Write Simple Sentences Correctly (Spaces, Capitalization Punctuation)

Read Emergent Readers

Count Forward From Any Number

Count to 70

Write Numbers to 30

Add to 10

Make 10 From a Given Number When Added

Adding to Five Fluently (From Memory)

Identifying 2 & 3 D Shapes (Cone, Cube, Sphere, Cylinder)

Fourth Quarter

Write Sentences and Simple Paragraphs

Read Emergent Readers

Read Sight Words

Use Short and Long Vowel Sounds

Use Digraphs SH, CH, TH

Recognize the sounds of OO and EE

Recognize the sound of ING

Count to 100

Write Numbers to 100

Subtract Within 10

Fluently Subtract Within 5 (From Memory)

Solve Addition and Subtraction Word Problems

Place Value (Ones and Tens)

Here is a general list of sight words that you can use in kindergarten!

a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you, all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, they, there, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes

Yes, this list looks overwhelming! Keep in mind, this list covers the entire school year. Take it slow. Work through each quarter (8 weeks). Work at your child's pace.

Here are some resources that may help!

Kindergarten Basics Pack

Alphabet Poems

Alphabet Pocket Chart

Sight Word Books

Counting to 10 Activities

Sight Word Sentences

Grab these and MANY more kindergarten activities in my Teachers Pay Teachers Online Shop! I hope my list of quarterly goals gives you a little guidance as you begin your homeschooling year. Good luck!

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Crystal McGinnis

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September Themed Simple Sentences for Kindergarten

9:07 AM

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Kindergarten students need a lot of simple, predictable, repetitive text, in order to develop those beginning reading skills. They need to develop tracking print, using picture clues, return sweep, sight word awareness, and so much more. A few years ago I started creating these sets of simple sentences to give my kinder kiddos the practice they need. I have a set for each month, including September. This September set includes apples, Grandparent's Day, back to school, and more! We will use these for morning work, whole group reading, and small reading groups. These could be bound together to create a book or folder and placed into student book boxes for a future familiar read. I included a version with tracking dots, and a version without. You choose!

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Crystal McGinnis

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Word Family Poems for Shared Reading

5:40 AM

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Words)

Do you teach word families in your classroom? Word families are an important skill to teach when teaching reading development. Word families can be taught in a variety of ways, including using poetry. I created this set of 21 word family poems to use each week when we practice a new word family. I will display the poems using our projector and we will learn the poem together. I will then give the kiddos their own version. They will read the poem, find and highlight the word family words, and then place the poems in their poetry notebook. You could also write the poem on chart paper to create a whole group lesson that can be displayed in the classroom. Check out a few of my word family poems below. You can grab a copy to use in your classroom here.

I also created this set of poems in a pocket chart version. After learning the poems, the students put the poems together in the pocket chart during center time. Check out the pocket chart version here!

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Crystal McGinnis

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Apple Sight Word Poems for Shared Reading

7:57 AM

to Read (

Words)

We are only a couple weeks away from September! In Kindergarten, September is all about the beginning of Fall and that includes APPLES. I try to incorporate apples into many of my lessons throughout the month, including my shared reading lessons. We try to tackle one or two new poems each week. Here are a few examples of the SIGHT WORD POEMS that we will use. We will share them whole group and then create a poetry notebook with them. These notebooks are perfect to keep throughout the year as a familiar read for the kiddos. You are welcome to use these in your classroom. Here is the printable version. You can write them on chart paper if you choose.