Hearing & Understanding

• Understands complex spatial and quantitative concepts (3 cats 6 leaves)
• Listen to and understand age appropriate stories read aloud
• Follow a simple conversation
• Points to letters

Reading

• Know how a book works (e.g., read from left to right and top to bottom in English)
• Understand that spoken words are made up of sounds
• Identify words that rhyme (e.g., cat and hat)
• Compare and match words based on their sounds
• Understand that letters represent speech sounds and match sounds to letters
• Identify upper- and lowercase letters
• Recognize some words by sight
• "Read" a few picture books from memory
• Imitate reading by talking about pictures in a book

Writing

• Print own first and last name
• Draw a picture that tells a story and label and write about the picture
• Write upper- and lowercase letters (may not be clearly written)

Talking

• Use all sounds correctly, including R, L, S, Ng, V, Sh, Chwith the exception of TH
• Tell how an object is used
• Answer hypothetical and open-ended questions
• Name letters and sounds
• Understand what a "word" is
• Retell a story or talk about an event
• Participate in conversation, start conversations

Engaging Your Child from 5-6 Years Old

• Continue reading to me, but make sure you ask me to identify letters, sounds, simple words, and rhymes. Ask me what sounds a word beings and ends with.
• Pick two objects and ask me what is similar about them, and what is different. Have me tell you how two objects are alike.
• When I come to the grocery store with you, lets talk about categories (fruit, veggies, etc) and have me name items that begin with each letter of the Alphabet.
• I should be able to tell full stories that make sense and follow an order
• Lets work on puzzles"¦I need challenges to learn new skills
• Lets make up stories about animals that begin with a particular sound, and use that sound throughout the story ("Annie alligator likes to eat apples and artichokes")
• Lets create our own books from magazine pictures, then help me to write the story underneath
• Remember, I might be a "big kid" but I still need to have fun to learn"¦make all learning experiences fun, silly and rewarding!