Kindergarten Expectations

Develop Fine Motor Skills (such as cutting & holding a pencil correctly)
Writing their first name ( work on last name after the have master their first name)
Holding a pencil or crayon with a comfortable grip
Coloring and growing towards control
Using safety scissors to cut straight and slightly curved lines
Sitting and listen to a story
Letter knowledge
Recognizing and naming upper and lower case letters
Understand that letters represent sounds and know the sounds each letter represents
Phonemic Awareness
Be able to hear rhymes (cat/hat/sat/mat)
Hear beginning and ending sounds
Early Reading Skills
Begin to put sounds together to make short vowel words often called CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant)
Learn a few phonics rules ( such as when a baby word ends in a vowel, the vowel can say its own name like me, go, no, we, he)
Of course there is always somebody that wants to break the rules! ( do. to, who )
Writing & Spelling
Be able to write their name
Begin teaching correct letter formation
Understand that capital letters have a purpose and are not in the middle of words
Language & Comprehension
Students should be able to listen to a story read aloud and be able to answer questions about the story.
Students should be able to recognize characters in the story and talk about them.
If your child is able to master most of these things or in the process of learning them, you are right where you need to be. If they have master them, you are ready to move to the next level which is typically first grade.