what should a five year old know?

Answer 1

You are correct in saying there are many different opinions about what a 5-year-old should be able to do. There is a good reason for that: Not all 5-year-olds are the same! It is amazing to think that some schools and teachers feel that at the magic age of 5 that all children will be able to do the same things when many of them learned to walk and talk at very different stages of their earliest years. Just as there is a developmental range for learning these very first skills, there is also a range of time for kindergartners to learn beginning skills related to letters and numbers.
While many kindergarten teachers would like all children to come into their classes already knowing all their letters and the basic ten numbers, the truth is that developmentally many children are not yet ready to know these things until sometime during the kindergarten year. The goal might be best set for the end of the year so that children have the gift of kindergarten time and instruction to learn these skills within the context of a play-based program. But it is important to remember that there will always be some children who do not learn these skills even by the end of the 5-year-old year.

The time to start worrying about a learning problem would be if problems continue into the first-grade year. Of course there are some signals that we can see early on that might suggest a learning problem. A child's inability to recognize at least the letters in her name can be a good indicator. But even that might not be a problem if the child had not been introduced to rich language experiences and read to daily.

One of the best things you can do for your child is to read books (lots of them and many different kinds) every day and then talk about what was read. Invite your child to critique the book, talk about interesting new words, ask him to make suggestions for what might happen next if the story continued, and encourage him to discuss the feelings and actions of the characters. You will be laying the groundwork for literacy development.

Answer 2

I used to help my daughters kindergarten teacher, and I would test the kids monthly on what they knew. By the end of the year, they wanted them to know how to write their first and last name, write and sound out letters of the alphabet, know and sort out different shapes, write numbers up to 100, and read some beginning sight words. Believe me, there were alot of kids that were unable to do this at the end of the year, and there was kids that could do it at the beginning of the year. I used to get my daughter those kindergarten workbooks that you can buy anywhere, and they helped her tremendously. We worked on them for hours starting at about 4 yrs old, and she ended up being one of the kids that knew everything at the beginning. Just work with your child. It really does help. The most important thing is patience.

Answer 3

Kind of a vague question, if you mean scholastically, they should know their ABC say as well as recognize some, count to 20 maybe recognize to 10. Shapes, colors and be able to write their name. At least that is what my kids needed to know for Kindergarten. other than that they should know manners and how to treat people with repsect.

Answer 4

Starting KG?

- how to recognize his/her name in print
- possibly how to write his/her name
- basic colors
- basic shapes
- at least some of the letters of the alphabet
- how to count to 10, possibly 20 (will need to count to 100 by end of KG)
- address
- phone number
- parent's full names
- his/her birthday
- how to do zippers/buttons/etc.
- possibly learning to tie shoes
- how to hold a pencil properly
- how to cut with scissors

Answer 5

that its loved-theres a huge range of so called typical knowlegde-as long as he has a healthy curiosity and you are prepared to answer all his questions why try and test him at such a young age? i truley beleive that, however my daughter of 4 had a test at school last week and scored 26/26,highest mark in class with no-one even coming close!!! and i was well chuffed. lol!!!!

Answer 6

they think they know everything.....

bit general tho - different kids know different things!

Answer 7

if they don't know pythagorus by then then there's no hope