Kindergarten Standards

English-Language Arts Content Standards

Reading

1.0 Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development

Students know about letters, words, and sounds. They apply this knowledge to read simple sentences.

Concepts About Print

• Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.
• Follow words from left to right and from top to bottom on the printed page.
• Understand that printed materials provide information.
• Recognize that sentences in print are made up of separate words.
• Distinguish letters from words.
• Recognize and name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Phonemic Awareness

• Track (move sequentially from sound to sound) and represent the number, sameness/difference, and order of two and three isolated phonemes [e.g., /f, s, th/, /j, d, j/ ].
• Track (move sequentially from sound to sound) and represent changes in simple syllables and   words with two and three sounds as one sound is added, substituted, omitted, shifted, or repeated e.g., vowel-consonant, consonant-vowel, or consonant-vowel-consonant).
• Blend vowel-consonant sounds orally to make words or syllables.
• Identify and produce rhyming words in response to an oral prompt.
• Distinguish orally stated one-syllable words and separate into beginning or ending sounds.
• Track auditorily each word in a sentence and each syllable in a word.
• Count the number of sounds in syllables and syllables in words.

Decoding and Word Recognition 

• Match all consonant and short-vowel sounds to appropriate letters.
• Read simple one-syllable and high-frequency words (i.e., sight words).
• Understand that as letters of words change, so do the sounds (i.e., the alphabetic principle).

Vocabulary and Concept Development

• Identify and sort common words in basic categories (e.g., colors, shapes, foods).
• Describe common objects and events in both general and specific language.

2.0 Reading Comprehension

Students identify the basic facts and ideas in what they have read, heard, or viewed. They use comprehension strategies (e.g., generating and responding to questions, comparing new information to what is already known). The selections in Recommended Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (California Department of Education, 2002) illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students.

Structural Features of Informational Materials

• Locate the title, table of contents, name of author, and name of illustrator.

Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text

• Use pictures and context to make predictions about story content.
• Connect to life experiences the information and events in texts.
• Retell familiar stories.
• Ask and answer questions about essential elements of a text.

3.0 Literary Response and Analysis

Students listen and respond to stories based on well-known characters, themes, plots, and settings. The selections in Recommended Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students.

Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text

• Distinguish fantasy from realistic text.
• Identify types of everyday print materials (e.g., storybooks, poems, newspapers, signs, labels).
• Identify characters, settings, and important events.

Writing

1.0 Writing Strategies

Students write words and brief sentences that are legible.

Organization and Focus

• Use letters and phonetically spelled words to write about experiences, stories, people, objects, or events.
• Write consonant-vowel-consonant words (i.e., demonstrate the alphabetic principle).
• Write by moving from left to right and from top to bottom.

Penmanship

• Write uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet independently, attending to the form and proper spacing of the letters.

Written and Oral English Language Conventions

The standards for written and oral English language conventions have been placed between those for writing and for listening and speaking because these conventions are essential to both sets of skills.

1.0 Written and Oral English Language Conventions

Students write and speak with a command of standard English conventions.

Sentence Structure

• Recognize and use complete, coherent sentences when speaking.

Spelling

• Spell independently by using pre-phonetic knowledge, sounds of the alphabet, and knowledge of letter names.

 Listening and Speaking

1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies

Students listen and respond to oral communication. They speak in clear and coherent sentences.

Comprehension

• Understand and follow one-and two-step oral directions.
• Share information and ideas, speaking audibly in complete, coherent sentences.

2.0 Speaking Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)

Students deliver brief recitations and oral presentations about familiar experiences or interests, demonstrating command of the organization and delivery strategies outlined in Listening and Speaking Standard 1.0.

Using the listening and speaking strategies of kindergarten outlined in Listening and Speaking Standard 1.0, students:

• Describe people, places, things (e.g., size, color, shape), locations, and actions.
• Recite short poems, rhymes, and songs.
• Relate an experience or creative story in a logical sequence.

Mathematics Content Standards:

By the end of kindergarten, students understand small numbers, quantities, and simple shapes in their everyday environment. They count, compare, describe and sort objects, and develop a sense of properties and patterns.

Number Sense

1.0 Students understand the relationship between numbers and quantities (i.e., that a set of objects has the same number of objects in different situations regardless of its position or arrangement):

1.1 Compare two or more sets of objects (up to ten objects in each group) and identify which set is equal to, more than, or less than the other.

1.2 Count, recognize, represent, name, and order a number of objects (up to 30). 

1.3 Know that the larger numbers describe sets with more objects in them than the smaller numbers have.

2.0 Students understand and describe simple additions and subtractions:

2.1 Use concrete objects to determine the answers to addition and subtraction problems (for two numbers that are each less than 10).

 3.0 Students use estimation strategies in computation and problem solving that involve numbers that use the ones and tens places:

3.1 Recognize when an estimate is reasonable.

Algebra and Functions

1.0 Students sort and classify objects:

1.1 Identify, sort, and classify objects by attribute and identify objects that do not belong to a particular group (e.g., all these balls are green, those are red).

Measurement and Geometry

1.0 Students understand the concept of time and units to measure it; they understand that objects have properties, such as length, weight, and capacity, and that comparisons may be made by referring to those properties:

1.1 Compare the length, weight, and capacity of objects by making direct comparisons with reference objects (e.g., note which object is shorter, longer, taller, lighter, heavier, or holds more). 

1.2 Demonstrate an understanding of concepts of time (e.g., morning, afternoon, evening, today, yesterday, tomorrow, week, year) and tools that measure time (e.g., clock, calendar). 

1.3 Name the days of the week. 

1.4 Identify the time (to the nearest hour) of everyday events (e.g., lunch time is 12 o'clock; bedtime is 8 o'clock at night).

2.0 Students identify common objects in their environment and describe the geometric features:

2.1 Identify and describe common geometric objects (e.g., circle, triangle, square, rectangle, cube, sphere, one). 

2.2 Compare familiar plane and solid objects by common attributes (e.g., position, shape, size, roundness, number of corners).

Statistics, Data Analysis, and Probability

1.0 Students collect information about objects and events in their environment:

1.1 Pose information questions; collect data; and record the results using objects, pictures, and picture graphs. 

1.2 Identify, describe, and extend simple patterns (such as circles or triangles) by referring to their shapes, sizes, or colors.

Mathematical Reasoning

1.0 Students make decisions about how to set up a problem:

1.1 Determine the approach, materials, and strategies to be used. 

1.2 Use tools and strategies, such as manipulatives or sketches, to model problems.

2.0 Students solve problems in reasonable ways and justify their reasoning:

2.1 Explain the reasoning used with concrete objects and/ or pictorial representations. 

2.2 Make precise calculations and check the validity of the results in the context of the problem.

Section 1.01   Physical Sciences

1. Properties of materials can be observed, measured, and predicted. As a basis for understanding this concept:
   
   
   1. Students know objects can be described in terms of the materials they are made of (e.g., clay, cloth, paper) and their physical properties (e.g., color, size, shape, weight, texture, flexibility, attraction to magnets, floating, sinking).
   2. Students know water can be a liquid or a solid and can be made to change back and forth from one form to the other.
   3. Students know water left in an open container evaporates (goes into the air) but water in a closed container does not.

Section 1.02   Life Sciences

2. Different types of plants and animals inhabit the earth. As a basis for understanding this concept:
   
   
   1. Students know how to observe and describe similarities and differences in the appearance and behavior of plants and animals (e.g., seed-bearing plants, birds, fish, insects).
   2. Students know stories sometimes give plants and animals attributes they do not really have.
   3. Students know how to identify major structures of common plants and animals (e.g., stems, leaves, roots, arms, wings, legs).

Section 1.03   Earth Sciences

3. Earth is composed of land, air, and water. As a basis for understanding this concept:
   
   
   1. Students know characteristics of mountains, rivers, oceans, valleys, deserts, and local landforms.
   2. Students know changes in weather occur from day to day and across seasons, affecting Earth and its inhabitants.
   3. Students know how to identify resources from Earth that are used in everyday life and understand that many resources can be conserved.

Section 1.04   Investigation and Experimentation

4. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:
   
   
   1. Observe common objects by using the five senses.
   2. Describe the properties of common objects.
   3. Describe the relative position of objects by using one reference (e.g., above or below).
   4. Compare and sort common objects by one physical attribute (e.g., color, shape, texture, size, weight).
   5. Communicate observations orally and through drawings.

History-Social Science Content Standards

Learning and Working Now and Long Ago

Students in kindergarten are introduced to basic spatial, temporal, and causal relationships, emphasizing the geographic and historical connections between the world today and the world long ago. The stories of ordinary and extraordinary people help describe the range and continuity of human experience and introduce the concepts of courage, self-control, justice, heroism, leadership, deliberation, and individual responsibility. Historical empathy for how people lived and worked long ago reinforces the concept of civic behavior: how we interact respectfully with each other, following rules, and respecting the rights of others.

K.1 Students understand that being a good citizen involves acting in certain ways.

• Follow rules, such as sharing and taking turns, and know the consequences of breaking them.
• Learn examples of honesty, courage, determination, individual responsibility, and patriotism in American and world history from stories and folklore.
• Know beliefs and related behaviors of characters in stories from times past and understand the consequences of the characters' actions.

K.2 Students recognize national and state symbols and icons such as the national and state flags, the bald eagle, and the Statue of Liberty.

K.3 Students match simple descriptions of work that people do and the names of related jobs at the school, in the local community, and from historical accounts.

K.4 Students compare and contrast the locations of people, places, and environments and describe their characteristics.

• Determine the relative locations of objects using the terms near/far, left/right, and behind/in front.
• Distinguish between land and water on maps and globes and locate general areas referenced in historical legends and stories.
• Identify traffic symbols and map symbols (e.g., those for land, water, roads, cities).
• Construct maps and models of neighborhoods, incorporating such structures as police and fire stations, airports, banks, hospitals, supermarkets, harbors, schools, homes, places of worship, and transportation lines.
• Demonstrate familiarity with the school's layout, environs, and the jobs people do there.

K.5 Students put events in temporal order using a calendar, placing days, weeks, and months in proper order.

K.6 Students understand that history relates to events, people, and places of other times.

• Identify the purposes of, and the people and events honored in, commemorative holidays, including the human struggles that were the basis for the events (e.g., Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Washington's and Lincoln's Birthdays, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day).
• Know the triumphs in American legends and historical accounts through the stories of such people as Pocahontas, George Washington, Booker T. Washington, Daniel Boone, and Benjamin Franklin.
• Understand how people lived in earlier times and how their lives would be different today (e.g., getting water from a well, growing food, making clothing, having fun, forming organizations, living by rules and laws).

STANDARD 1

Students demonstrate the motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities.

Movement Concepts

1.1   Travel within a large group, without bumping into others or falling, while using locomotor skills.

1.2   Travel forward and sideways while changing direction quickly in response to a signal.

1.3   Demonstrate contrasts between slow and fast speeds while using locomotor skills.

1.4   Create shapes at high, medium, and low levels by using hands, arms, torso, feet, and legs in a variety of combinations.

Body Management

1.5   Create shapes by using nonlocomotor movements.

1.6   Balance on one, two, three, four, and five body parts.

1.7   Balance while walking forward and sideways on a narrow, elevated surface.

1.8   Demonstrate the relationship of under, over, behind, next to, through, right, left, up, down, forward, backward, and in front of by using the body and an object.

Locomotor Movement

1.9   Perform a continuous log roll.

1.10 Travel in straight, curved, and zigzag pathways.

1.11 Jump over a stationary rope several times in succession, using forward-and-back and side-to-side movement patterns.

Manipulative Skills

1.12 Strike a stationary ball or balloon with the hands, arms, and feet.

1.13 Toss a ball to oneself, using the underhand throw pattern, and catch it before it bounces twice.

1.14 Kick a stationary object, using a simple kicking pattern.

1.15 Bounce a ball continuously, using two hands.

Rhythmic Skills

1.16 Perform locomotor and nonlocomotor movements to a steady beat.

1.17 Clap in time to a simple, rhythmic beat.

STANDARD 2

Students demonstrate knowledge of movement concepts, principles, and strategies that apply to the learning and performance of physical activities.

Movement Concepts

2.1   Explain the difference between under and over, behind and in front of, next to and through, up and down, forward and backward, and sideways.

2.2   Identify and independently use personal space, general space, and boundaries and discuss why they are important.

Body Management

2.3   Identify and describe parts of the body: the head, shoulders, neck, back, chest, waist, hips, arms, elbows, wrists, hands, fingers, legs, knees, ankles, feet, and toes.

2.4   Explain base of support.

Locomotor Movement

2.5   Identify the locomotor skills of walk, jog, run, hop, jump, slide, and gallop.

Manipulative Skills

2.6   Explain the role of the eyes when striking objects with the hands, arms, and feet.

2.7   Identify the point of contact for kicking a ball in a straight line.

2.8   Describe the position of the fingers in the follow-through phase of bouncing a ball continuously.

STANDARD 3

Students assess and maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health and performance.

Fitness Concepts

3.1   Participate in physical activities that are enjoyable and challenging.

Aerobic Capacity

• Participate three to four days each week in moderate to vigorous physical activities that increase breathing and heart rate.

Muscular Strength/Endurance

3.3   Hang from overhead bars for increasing periods of time.

3.4   Climb a ladder, jungle gym, or apparatus.

Flexibility

3.5   Stretch shoulders, legs, arms, and back without bouncing.

Body Composition

• Sustain continuous movement for increasing periods of time while participating in moderate to vigorous physical activity.

Assessment

3.7   Identify indicators of increased capacity to participate in vigorous physical activity.

STANDARD 4

Students demonstrate knowledge of physical fitness concepts, principles, and strategies to improve health and performance.

Fitness Concepts

4.1   Identify physical activities that are enjoyable and challenging.

4.2   Describe the role of water as an essential nutrient for the body.

4.3   Explain that nutritious food provides energy for physical activity.

Aerobic Capacity

4.4   Identify the location of the heart and explain that it is a muscle.

4.5   Explain that physical activity increases the heart rate.

4.6   Identify the location of the lungs and explain the role of the lungs in the collection of oxygen.

Muscular Strength/Endurance

4.7   Explain that strong muscles help the body to climb, hang, push, and pull.

4.8   Describe the role of muscles in moving the bones.

Flexibility

4.9    Identify the body part involved when stretching.

Body Composition

4.10   Explain that the body is composed of bones, organs, fat, and other tissues.

STANDARD 5

Students demonstrate and utilize knowledge of psychological and sociological concepts, principles, and strategies that apply to the learning and performance of physical activity.

Self-Responsibility

5.1   Identify the feelings that result from participation in physical activity.

5.2   Participate willingly in physical activities.

Social Interaction

5.3   Demonstrate the characteristics of sharing in a physical activity.

5.4   Describe how positive social interaction can make physical activity with others more fun.

Group Dynamics

• Participate as a leader and a follower during physical activities.

Visual and Performing Arts: Music Content Standards.

1.0 ARTISTIC PERCEPTION

Processing, Analyzing, and Responding to Sensory Information Through the Language and Skills Unique to Music

Students read, notate, listen to, analyze, and describe music and other aural information, using the terminology of music.

Read and Notate Music

1.1 Use icons or invented symbols to represent beat. 

Listen to, Analyze, and Describe Music

1.2 Identify and describe basic elements in music (e.g., high/low, fast/slow, loud/soft, beat).
2.0 CREATIVE EXPRESSION

Creating, Performing, and Participating in Music

Students apply vocal and instrumental musical skills in performing a varied repertoire of music. They compose and arrange music and improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniments, using digital/electronic technology when appropriate.

Apply Vocal and Instrumental Skills

2.1 Use the singing voice to echo short melodic patterns.
2.2 Sing age-appropriate songs from memory.
2.3 Play instruments and move or verbalize to demonstrate awareness of beat, tempo, dynamics, and melodic direction.

Compose, Arrange, and Improvise

2.4 Create accompaniments, using the voice or a variety of classroom instruments.

3.0 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT

Understanding the Historical Contributions and Cultural Dimensions of Music

Students analyze the role of music in past and present cultures throughout the world, noting cultural diversity as it relates to music, musicians, and composers.

Role of Music

3.1 Identify the various uses of music in daily experiences.

Diversity of Music

3.2 Sing and play simple singing games from various cultures.
3.3 Use a personal vocabulary to describe voices and instruments from diverse cultures.
3.4 Use developmentally appropriate movements in responding to music from various genres and styles (rhythm, melody).

4.0 AESTHETIC VALUING

Responding to, Analyzing, and Making Judgments About Works of Music

Students critically assess and derive meaning from works of music and the performance of musicians according to the elements of music, aesthetic qualities, and human responses.

Derive Meaning

4.1 Create movements that correspond to specific music.
4.2 Identify, talk about, sing, or play music written for specific purposes (e.g., work song, lullaby).

5.0 CONNECTIONS, RELATIONSHIPS, APPLICATIONS

Connecting and Applying What Is Learned in Music to Learning in Other Art Forms and Subject Areas and to Careers

Students apply what they learn in music across subject areas. They develop competencies and creative skills in problem solving, communication, and management of time and resources that contribute to lifelong learning and career skills. They also learn about careers in and related to music.

Connections and Applications

5.1 Use music, together with dance, theatre, and the visual arts, for storytelling.

Careers and Career-Related Skills

5.2 Identify and talk about the reasons artists have for creating dances, music, theatre pieces, and works of visual art.

Visual and Performing Arts: Dance Content Standards.

1.0 ARTISTIC PERCEPTION

Processing, Analyzing, and Responding to Sensory Information Through the Language and Skills Unique to Dance

Students perceive and respond, using the elements of dance. They demonstrate movement skills, process sensory information, and describe movement, using the vocabulary of dance.

Development of Motor Skills and Technical Expertise

1.1 Build the range and capacity to move in a variety of ways.

1.2 Perform basic loco motor skills (e.g., walk, run, gallop, jump, hop, and balance). 

Comprehension and Analysis of Dance Elements 

1.3 Understand and respond to a wide range of opposites (e.g., high/low, forward/backward, wiggle/freeze).

Development of Dance Vocabulary 

1.4 Perform simple movements in response to oral instructions (e.g., walk, turn, reach).

2.0 CREATIVE EXPRESSION

Creating, Performing, and Participating in Dance

Students apply choreographic principles, processes, and skills to create and communicate meaning through the improvisation, composition, and performance of dance.

Creation/Invention of Dance Movements 

2.1 Create movements that reflect a variety of personal experiences (e.g., recall feeling happy, sad, angry, excited).

2.2 Respond to a variety of stimuli (e.g., sounds, words, songs, props, and images) with original movements.

2.3 Respond spontaneously to different types of music, rhythms, and sounds.

3.0 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT

Understanding the Historical Contributions and Cultural Dimensions of Dance

Students analyze the function and development of dance in past and present cultures throughout the world, noting human diversity as it relates to dance and dancers.

Development of Dance 

3.1 Name and perform folk/traditional dances from the United States and other countries.

4.0 AESTHETIC VALUING

Responding to, Analyzing, and Making Judgments About Works of Dance

Students critically assess and derive meaning from works of dance, performance of dancers, and original works according to the elements of dance and aesthetic qualities.

Description, Analysis, and Criticism of Dance 

4.1 Explain basic features that distinguish one kind of dance from another (e.g., speed, force/energy use, costume, setting, music).

5.0 CONNECTIONS, RELATIONSHIPS, APPLICATIONS

Connecting and Applying What Is Learned in Dance to Learning in Other Art Forms and Subject Areas and to Careers

Students apply what they learn in dance to learning across subject areas. They develop competencies and creative skills in problem solving, communication, and management of time and resources that contribute to lifelong learning and career skills. They also learn about careers in and related to dance.

Connections and Applications Across Disciplines

5.1 Give examples of the relationship between everyday movement in school and dance movement.