In planning for my daughter’s upcoming Kindergarten year, and her transitional period right now, I brainstormed my homeschool Kindergarten literacy goals for her. I am a former public school Kindergarten teacher and much of this comes from that experience. When I develop Kindergarten printables or other units for her these are the literacy goals I have in mind. In writing these, I am being as parent-friendly as possible without all of the confusing language. Some of these are regular K goals, some are a bit beyond K but are my goals for her. I do not align with Common Core, so these come more from my background as a teacher and what I think works at this stage when homeschooling. These goals are specific to her also, and many would technically be considered more 1st grade skills. For those, it is more of exposure than mastery. These are not specific to any state or curriculum, but are my own personal goals for her.
- Understand concepts of print ~ identify front, back, title, illustrations & author of a book, understands top to bottom, left to right when reading, can show me a letter, a word, and a sentence in a book
- Identify all uppercase and lowercase letters
- Understand beginning, middle, & ending sounds in words
- Blend CVC sounds to read basic phonetic words {follow All About Reading 1}
- Identify rhyming words
- Basic understanding of syllables
- Sight Words {all You Can Read words}
- Comprehension
- Sequence events from a story
- Follow 2-3 step directions, orally
- Identify characters, setting, and main idea of a story
- Write first and last name, all letters, and some words
- Use writing (letters, pictures, and words) creatively
- Write from left to right and from top to bottom
- Use phonetic {invented} spelling when writing words that aren’t known
- Identify basic punctuation {period, exclamation, question mark, comma, quotes}
- Build vocabulary
- Improve speech sounds that are a struggle {we will use Articulation Station I think}
These are my goals for her but I am in now way going to push her to achieve them. If she doesn’t, that’s fine, we’ll carry on! I love having the freedom to go at her pace and adjust if she slows down or speeds up! Oh the joy of homeschooling for that reason {and many more}.
To meet these goals we will be using my You Can Read program, Literature Based Unit Studies, All About Reading 1, and just general “school” life. Much of this will come naturally as teaching K is second nature to me. Other grades beyond this certainly aren’t, but right now I am in my sweet spot!
See our Homeschool Kindergarten Math Goals here…
