(For Families) Profile of a Kindergartener by Denver Public Schools

PROFILE OF A

Kindergartener Entering Kindergarten and Entering 1st Grade

Table of Contents Entering Kindergarten

Literacy 4 Language 5 Social Studies 6 Science 7 Mathematics 7 Social Emotional 9

Entering First Grade 10 Literacy 10 Language 11 Social Studies 12 Science 12 Mathematics 13 Social Emotional 15

Resources for Families

Dear families of kindergarteners, We share your delight in seeing the growth and development of your child! As your child begins their school experience, they will benefit from a strong partnership between you and your school. In preparing for kindergarten and beyond, Denver Public Schools is committed to providing a kindergarten experience that creates a strong foundation for lifelong learning! Please use this booklet to find information and guide you through the learning your child will experience throughout the course of the school year. Your participation is vital as your child reaches the various milestones of growth and development that you will see as you track their progress across the various stages of learning. Enjoy this precious time in your child’s life as you watch them learn and gain the skills they will use for the rest of their lives.

Priscilla M. Hopkins

Executive Director, Early Education Denver Public Schools

Entering Kindergarten Literacy Reading: Words and Sounds Your child can identify most letters and produce the sounds for 10–20 of them. They can recognize and create rhyming words, hear beginning, middle and ending sounds in simple words and count or separate syllables. They are also beginning to understand that print is organized into letters, words and spaces. Reading: Stories and Concepts of Print Your child retells familiar stories or nonfiction using pictures or props, names basic parts of a book and recognizes print features such as letters, words, spaces and punctuation. They can identify story events during conversations and pretend-read using language that closely matches the text. Writing Your child may write their first name accurately and use drawing, dictation and early phonetic spelling to express a message. They are beginning to connect sounds to letters as they write.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Match objects that begin with the same sound (bug and ball, cat and car). • Syllable Clap: Adult says a word; child claps for each syllable. Example: “Elephant” = el-ephant = 3 claps, “Cat” = cat = 1 clap • Uppercase/Lowercase Matching Memory Game: Print or write uppercase letters on one set of cards, lowercase on another. Child matches pairs: «A matches a!» Make it a memory game (cards face down, flip to match). • Parts of A Book Hunt: Before reading, go on a book hunt together. Ask: “Where’s the front cover?” “Can you find the back cover?” “Where›s the title?” “Who’s the author?” “Who’s the illustrator?” Point to each part and name it. • Retell the Story: Have the child tell you 3-5 things that happened in the story in order. Go back to the book together and use these questions to help them: “Who was in the story?” “Where did it happen?” “What happened first/next?” “How did the story end?” Bonus: Have the child act out what happened in the story using props, stuffed animals, or toys.

Language Conversations Your child participates in short conversations of at least three exchanges and responds to more complex statements and vocabulary. They follow detailed, multi-step directions and tell stories with more elaborate details. They speak audibly and correctly pronounce many longer words. Vocabulary and Grammar Your child participates in short conversations of at least three exchanges and responds to more complex statements and vocabulary. They follow detailed, multi-step directions and tell stories with more elaborate details. They speak audibly and correctly pronounce many longer words.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Play games like “I Spy,” moving from simple searches like colors or shapes to more descriptive searches about objects’ uses or locations. • Encourage your child to complete detailed, multi-step directions like, “Please help set the table. You can get the plates, bowls and cups from the cupboard. Then get the napkins and silverware and set the table for 5.” • When working together around the house, ask your child to describe the use of different items, like a vacuum, spatula or a basket. • Practice saying new words together, especially long or complex words. • Encourage your child to add details to their sentences to make them more complex, like adding descriptive words or actions. • Share elaborate stories together with your child about your little journeys together. Invite them to include details about who, what, when, and where. • Talk with your child about their friends, asking open ended questions and allowing them time to think and share their thoughts. • Take advantage of chances to practice using social rules, like saying hello or goodbye to others, or saying excuse me when you need someone’s attention or to get past them.

Social Studies Your child develops stronger thinking skills about time and relationships. They recognize how things change over time and understand connections between themselves, family and community. Your child learns that rules help groups work together, building important skills for cooperation and participating in group activities.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Talk with your child about similarities and differences between your family and other families in your life. Highlight what makes us all special and unique. • Read books together about different homes around the world, learning more about how other people live. • Encourage your child to talk to other family members about their jobs. Ask questions like, “Why do you wear a uniform?” or “What kinds of tools do you need to do your job?” • Talk daily about what you did yesterday, today and what your plans are for tomorrow. • Read books to explore different geographic regions & plan activities to extend the stories.

Science Your child is recognizing the properties of materials and can sort objects by their physical properties. They are developing understanding of cause and effect in the realms of life, physical and earth science. They are beginning to recognize the difference between living and non-living things and that living things have needs. They are acquiring knowledge and learning facts about the natural and engineered world.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Design simple investigations with your child to answer questions about the world around us. For instance, if a child asks why snow melts, measure the temperature at which it melts with your child to determine the melting/freezing point of water. • Encourage children to predict what might happen before testing ideas or experimenting. • Compare and describe patterns in nature, including weather, shadows, seasons, plant growth, and animal behaviors. • Explore how materials can change when bent, heated, cooled, mixed, or taken apart. • Observe and describe how animals and plants meet their needs in different habitats. • Practice asking scientific questions and using evidence from observations to answer them.

Mathematics Numbers and Counting Your child’s counting skills are expanding. They can count to 20, identify which groups of objects have «more» or «less,» and recognize numbers up to 10. They understand that the last number they say tells them exactly «how many» items are in the set. Shapes and Space Your child can describe shapes and where they are. They use words like «above» and «below» to describe location. They can recognize flat shapes (like a drawing of a square) and solid shapes (like a wooden block) even if they are turned sideways or upside down.

Numbers and Counting Your child’s counting skills are expanding. They can count to 20, identify which groups of objects have «more» or «less,» and recognize numbers up to 10. They understand that the last number they say tells them exactly «how many» items are in the set. Shapes and Space Your child can describe shapes and where they are. They use words like «above» and «below» to describe location. They can recognize flat shapes (like a drawing of a square) and solid shapes (like a wooden block) even if they are turned sideways or upside down. Measuring and Comparing Your child is using tools to describe their world. They use objects (like paperclips or blocks) to measure how long something is. They can directly compare two objects to tell you which is taller, shorter, or heavier. Patterns and Logic Your child is creating and extending patterns. They can look at a pattern and tell you what comes next. They are also starting to notice «rules» in math, such as how adding one more object always results in the next counting number.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Practice visual estimation by asking “Which has more?”, “Who has less?” • While driving, shopping, or walking look for numbers between 10 and 20. • Practice writing numbers in sand, salt, or shaving cream. • Lay out a number sequence of cards (e.g., 7, 8, 10) and have them identify which one is missing. • Practice counting on. Put 5 pieces of cereal in a bowl and keep 3 in your hand. Tell them, “There are 5 in the bowl,” then have them count the remaining 3 by starting at 6 (e.g. 6, 7, 8). • Sort shapes and explain their characteristics (This is a rectangle because it has 2 long sides and 2 short sides). • Go on a scavenger hunt and use words like “over/under,” “next to/beside,” and “in front of/behind” to describe where to find objects. • Compare sizes of items using different forms of measurement (ruler, pennies, cubes, etc). • Create more complex patterns (ABB, ABC) using toys or crayons.

Social Emotional General Your child will develop a healthy range of emotions, learn to express themselves positively and build or maintain relationships with trusted adults and peers. Adaptive Skills Your child should be able to communicate, understand and demonstrate basic health and safety rules, including street safety, classroom rules, the importance of personal space, identifying trusted adults and reporting inappropriate touching to a parent or trusted adult.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Talk with your child about exploring other possibilities when situations don’t go as planned, like choosing a different toy to play with if someone else has the one they want. • Give positive feedback when you notice your child following rules and routines on their own. • Have your child help pack their snacks or lunch and talk about food choices and how they can help our body. • Explore common interests with your child and the special adults in their life, strengthening relationships. • Role play different scenarios and emotional reactions, naming how people feel and why. Ex: “She dropped her new toy and it broke. That made her sad because now she can’t use it.” • Arrange for short playdates with your child’s friends from school or in the neighborhood to develop play skills in groups. • Encourage your child to draw a picture and write about one of their favorite friends. • Encourage your child to share materials with others when they’re done or have extras. • Make a family “Solution Board” with pictures and ideas of how to solve problems at home. Work together to develop ideas and explain how to use it.

Entering First Grade Literacy Reading: Words and Sounds Your child knows all uppercase and lowercase letters and the primary sounds for all consonants and vowels. They read common highfrequency words and use their sound knowledge to begin reading simple text. They have a strong understanding that letters and sounds work together to represent spoken words. Reading: Stories and Concepts of Print Your child can retell stories or information in order, including key details. They follow words left-to-right and top-to-bottom, identify the front cover, back cover and title page and name the author and illustrator and what they do. They read grade-level texts with purpose and basic understanding. Writing Your child can write their full name and use letters to represent most consonant and short-vowel sounds. They spell simple words by sounding them out, capitalize the first word in a sentence, recognize end punctuation and create simple pieces of writing to share information, tell a story, or give an opinion.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Blending Ball Toss: Adult says three sounds slowly: “/c/ /a/ /t/” while tossing a soft ball to child. Child catches it, blends the sounds aloud, and tosses back saying the whole word: “cat!” Then parent says new sounds. • Sound-by-Sound Card Flip: Create cards with individual letters. Lay out three letters in a row (c-a-t). Child flips each letter card one at a time, says the sound, then blends all three sounds together to read the word. • Say It, Squish It, Write It: Adult says a word: “cat.” Child repeats it and squishes a ball of playdough for each sound they hear (/c/ squish, /a/ squish, /t/ squish), saying the sound aloud with each squish. Then child writes the word on paper. • Stuffie Buddy Reading: Child reads a choice book to their favorite stuffed animal. • Character Chat: After reading a choice book together, talk about the characters: “Who was in the story?” “What did they do?” “How did they feel?” “Did you like the character?”

Language Conversations Your child can ask and answer questions about information read aloud and continue multiple back and forth conversations. They can communicate clearly with peers and adults, follow collaborative discussion rules, and use language appropriately in social situations. Vocabulary and Grammar Your child expands and produces complete sentences, understands new meanings of familiar words, and forms regular plurals by adding -s or -es. They begin distinguishing shades of meaning among similar verbs (such as walk, march, strut) to express themselves more precisely.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Have extended conversations with your child about their day, interests, or experiences. Encourage them to share details and explain their thinking. • Give your child opportunities to follow multi-step directions during everyday routines, such as helping with chores, cooking, or getting ready for school. • Encourage your child to tell stories about events they experienced, including details about who was involved, what happened, where it happened, and how they felt. • Introduce and use new words during daily activities. Talk about what words mean and encourage your child to use them in conversation. • Ask open-ended questions that require more than a one-word answer, such as “What was your favorite part of the day and why?” or “How would you solve that problem?” • Play games that encourage describing, explaining, and asking questions, such as «20 Questions,» «Guess My Object,» or storytelling games. • Practice taking turns during conversations by encouraging your child to listen carefully, respond to what others say, and ask follow-up questions. • Role-play common social situations, such as joining a group activity, asking for help, solving a disagreement, or introducing themselves to someone new. • Encourage your child to speak in complete sentences and add details to make their ideas clear to others.

Social Studies Your child becomes more curious about the world around them. They ask questions and talk about things that happened before and use maps, globes and simple tools to learn about places. Your child also begins to understand how people make choices based on what they need and want, developing early money and decision-making concepts.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Look through family photos, videos and scrapbooks together, encouraging your child to ask questions about the past. • Practice retelling daily events using sequence words like first, next, and last. • Explore maps together to find places you plan to visit or trace familiar routes in your neighborhood. • Discuss how weather and environment affects daily activities and decisions for your family. • Provide opportunities for your child to advocate for their ideas and participate in fair family decision-making.

Science In the realm of physical science, your child can plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object. In the realm of life science, your child can use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. They can construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs. In the realm of earth science, your child can use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time. They can also communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air and/or other living things in the local environment. Finally, they can use tools and materials to design and build a structure that will reduce the warming effect of sunlight on an area.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Encourage your child to try making more precise measurements and observations: use thermometers, rulers, scales, timers, etc. • Have your child record observations using drawings, labels, numbers, or simple charts. • Discuss how scientists and engineers solve problems and improve designs. • Build and draw models together of the natural and engineered world, especially of processes involving cause and effect. • Build, test, and improve simple structures or inventions using household or classroom materials. • Use evidence from observations to explain ideas and answer questions. • Ask questions, share ideas, and respectfully discuss observations with others.

Mathematics Numbers and Counting Your child is becoming a flexible counter. They can count to 100 by ones and tens and can start counting forward from any number. They can write numbers up to 20 and are starting to solve simple addition and subtraction word problems within 10. Shapes and Space Your child is analyzing how shapes work. They can describe the parts of a shape (like the number of corners or sides) and combine simple shapes to create larger ones. They can also sort objects into categories and count how many are in each group. Measuring and Comparing Your child is comparing values and lengths. They can look at two written numbers and tell you which is «greater than» or «less than.» They are also learning to measure objects accurately and explain the difference in size between two items. Patterns and Logic Your child is starting to make sense of the relationships between numbers. They recognize that numbers can be broken apart (like 5 being made of 2 and 3). They use patterns to solve problems, such as knowing that if 2 + 3 = 5, then 3 + 2 must also equal 5.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Practice counting by starting from any number and counting on (e.g., start at 43 and count to 50). • Tell stories with different items (e.g., You have 7 pretzels. If you eat 2, how many are left?” • Ask your child to write down specific two-digit numbers they see in the community like speed limit signs or house numbers. • Measure family members and mark their heights on a wall or door frame. Ask your child to make comparison statements like, “I am 3 inches taller than my little brother.” • Create a “number bracelet” with 10 beads. Slide the beads to create visuals of different combinations of 10. • During a walk, ask your child to find examples of a cone, cube, cylinder, and sphere. Compare the objects by discussing what is similar and different about them. • Ask questions like, “Are there more doors or windows in our house?”

Social Emotional General Your child should be able to recognize the relationship between emotions and actions, as well as effectively communicate and cooperate with others. Adaptive Skills Your child should be able to identify and explain various safety rules and behaviors related to transportation, traffic, school, home and community, including knowing how to seek help from a trusted adult or emergency services.

How Families Can Support Meeting Milestones • Encourage your child to name their emotions and explain why they feel that way. • Play a “What’s the rule?” game - Act out (or show pictures of) different situations—like running inside vs. using «walking feet,» or yelling in a store vs. using a “quiet voice.” Have your child identify the correct choice and act out the positive behavior. • Support your child’s independence with personal care, like tying shoes and brushing teeth. • Develop confidence in asking for help from other adults, like where to find something or help fixing something. • Explore differences in feelings about situations through “How would you feel if…” conversations. • Visit new playgrounds together and motivate your child to interact and play with other children. • Read books about friendship and discuss how to be a good friend, like being kind and helpful. • Work together on a jigsaw puzzle or another cooperative activity, taking turns to help each other. • Teach your child to play “Rock, Paper, Scissors” as a simple game to settle minor disputes, like who gets to go first.

Resources for Families Colorado Department of Early Learning Resources • Transitions During the Early Years The PLAYBook The PLAYbook describes a child’s learning and development from birth to 5 years old and provides practical tips and fun activities that anyone can use to support young children’s healthy development. • PLAYBook - English • PLAYBook - Spanish • PLAYBook - Arabic • PLAYBook - Karen (Burmese) • PLAYBook - Somali • PLAYBook - Farsi • PLAYBook - Pashto • PLAYBook - Dari • Tribal Resource Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines The Colorado Early Learning & Development Guidelines outline children’s developmental trajectory from birth to 8 years old, covering various domains such as approaches to learning, health, social-emotional development, language, literacy, numeracy, logic and reasoning. These guidelines promote collaboration and consistency across early childhood systems. They aim to support families, caregivers, and educators by offering a common reference point for children’s development, fostering positive early childhood environments critical for future success. • Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines - English • Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines - Español • Additional information on Early Learning and Development Guidelines

Transitions to Kindergarten Timeline and Checklist In partnership with the National P-3 Center, the Transitions to Kindergarten: Timeline and Checklist provides key strategies for both sides to implement throughout the year to support successful transitions to kindergarten. Activities range from ongoing efforts to those with specific timeframes, including before and after kindergarten begins. The tool serves as a resource for planning, monitoring and improving transition efforts. • Transitions to Kindergarten: Timeline and Checklist - English • Transitions to Kindergarten: Timeline and Checklist - Español Transitions to Kindergarten Roadmap CDEC in partnership with the Colorado Department of Education and the National P-3 Center developed the Transitions to Kindergarten in Colorado: A Roadmap to enhance collaboration between early care and education and K-12 systems at both state and local levels to facilitate smoother transitions for children and families from preschool to kindergarten. Head Start Resources This planning calendar suggests month-by-month activity tips to support children’s kindergarten transition in the year prior to kindergarten entry. Families can use this calendar to plan, enact, and document their transition efforts throughout the year. • Family Activity Calendar