Every child is different, but a typical preschooler should do the following:

Count to 20 (may still confuse/skip 15 or 16, practice while washing hands or going up steps.)

Write their name or a couple letters of their name, including first letter. At least first letter of name!

Identify about 1/2 the alphabet. Have letter/sound connection for a few letters (know that letter s sounds like /s/. Most kids get s, t, d, b first.)

Should be able to count 7 or 8 items. A lot of almost kindergarteners can count 15 to 20 items, but 7 or 8 is fine.

Estimate 3 to 5 items. (Hold 3 blocks/grapes/whatever in your hand and ask: How many? They should not have to count to know, they should just know there’s 3 of them.)

Addition and subtraction really depends on how parents/preschool teachers work with child and I don’t think it’s a big deal if they don’t know it. My preschoolers work with small objects and fingers; we do addition/subtraction together and they understand it.

Spelling is not important at this age. Reading: should know the cover of a book, left to right progression, and that the text is what’s read, not the pictures. Most of my almost kindergarteners know simple sight words like good, we, will, dog, cat, mom, dad, yes, no. But it’s not a big deal if yours doesn’t.

Colors and shapes: this one they really should have by now. At least 8 colors and 6 shapes. Colors are obvious, shapes can be square, rectangle, oval, circle, semicircle, crecsent, rhombus (a diamond, but I have to teach my kids rhombus) star, heart, triangle, pentagon, hexagon, octogon and trapezoid. I know it looks like some crazy shapes are in my list but when you play with pattern blocks you see a lot of these shapes. Why not teach the name of it?

They should be able to create a tower of 10-12 small cube blocks, hop on one or both feet, balance on one foot for 5-10 seconds, walk on a line in heel-toe fashion, jump over an object, and avoid things while running.

They should be able to do a 2 part pattern, i.e. red/blue/red/blue. Many can do a 3 part pattern, i.e. circle, square,triangle,circle,square,triangle.

They should sequence 3 sizes (put small, medium, large in order)

I think that gives you a good idea of a typical child entering kindergarten.

100 or at least to twenty then the rest by 10s.

Write all letters in upper case and lower case, cause they will be ahead if they already know that.

Adding numbers on fingers is a good start. That way they can grasp the concept. Once they do, let the count with beans or other objects so they can visualize. Then introduce subtraction.

All colors and shapes.

Read name and maybe a few words like cat, dog…but that’s not important in preschool. I have a preschooler and I’m working on all of those things so she will be ready next year.

All the above academic-based answers above are very good, especially _scarlet_begonia’s.

Any good kindergarten teacher will tell you that counting, colors, shapes, etc are secondary to other attitude and behavior factors. Sure, counting to 20 is a good indicator, but an experienced kindergarten teacher would prefer a student who came to school every day prepared to learn, who could sit still for 30 minutes and play nice in the sandbox.

Look at it this way. What features would you look for when hiring an employee? Do you want an 140 IQ who won on Jeopardy, but is loud and arrogant? Or would you prefer a solid, reliable employee, who mastered your systems and processes and was productive in a few weeks?

My daughter just got into kindergarten. And when she was in preschool they had them learn colors & shapes and she counted to 15 (but I’m sure it varies for each kid). She doesn’t know her math yet, I think they learn that in kindergarten. She’s also learning how to write her alphabets in kindergarten as well as her first and last name. In preschool (in her class), they didn’t really teach her that. All they showed her was the different colors, shapes, days of the week, etc…. And for reading, well my daughter cant read yet, she just recognizes the letters on the page. They learn how to read in kindergarten.

As u can see many people have different ideas about what a child should and shouldn’t know before kindergarten. For me children have plenty of time to learn all these things. They are certainly not the most important things for your child to learn. I firmly believe a child has the foundation for their whole personality by five years of age. Your child will need to have their confidence and social skills well developed by this age or I am afraid this will hinder their whole development. Hence: If a child is too shy to ask their teacher for help and is over looked. A child is shy and quiet not causing any fuss then they can be over looked as they aren’t quite given the attention of the children with learning difficulties or the attention seeking child…… This is also the case with friends…. If your child is not confident enough to make friends then they will struggle for most of their life…… These two qualities go hand in hand and are by far the most important qualities a child can learn b4 school….. The rest will come with time…..

DO NOT PUSH THEM WHATEVER YOU DO !!!!!!!! each child is like a flower that grows at a different rate, book learning and especially writing the letters, a child has not fully developed enough to master writing the alphabet until they are 7 and neither do they master all the sounds like saying th and some others, let them be, let them play, expose them .I am a retired preschool/elem teacher and a very firm believer in learning and all,but to push a child is far far far worse than learning a bit late,when a child is ready,they will learn, oh my, strong opinion here, we are ruining our kids by pushing them leave the preschoolers alone, their job is to learn thru play, large motor skills must be learned before these others .

By the END of kinder:

Write numbers 1-30

Identify upper and lower case letters

Sounds of each letter

Shapes, colors

Beginning addition

Common sight words

Word families (sat/hat/cat……map/tap/cap, etc…)

opposites

If your child can write his/her name, count up to 20, identify colors and shapes by the 1st day of kinder…..your WAY ahead of the game. DO NOT get carried away, though. Learning is a process. Won’t happen overnight.

why wait till kindergarten to begin to teach a child to count to 100, or know the alphabet or how to write. teach a child as much as possible as soon as possible and continuously. knowledge is the prescription for human well being.

At least basics are required in our child to move from preschool to kindergarten..