Have you been wondering which grammar skills are important to teach in Kindergarten? Although there are a wide variety of curriculums used not only across the USA, but the world, they are all similarly positioned regarding which skills Kindergarteners need to learn to equip them with strong foundational skills in spoken and written English.
Here are the core grammar skills that your Kindergarten student should learn: (Please note: Your curriculum may slightly vary, as well as your students’ learning needs, so it’s always important to adjust your teaching accordingly.)
The Kindergarten student should be able to:
- Recognize that words are separated by spaces
- Distinguish the difference between a word and a sentence
- Understand that words are written from left to right and top to bottom
- Capitalize the first word in a sentence, the pronoun ‘I’ as well as names
- Use periods at the end of declarative sentences
- Name ending punctuation including periods, question marks and exclamation marks
- Begin using question marks and exclamation marks in writing with support
- Use complete sentences orally
- Write complete sentences in shared activities
- Expand complete sentences in shared activities
- Use verbs orally and in writing
- Use common nouns (person, place or thing) orally and in writing
- Use adjectives orally
- Form plural nouns orally that end in ‘s’ or ‘es'
- Begin using plural nouns that end in ‘s’ or ‘es’ in writing with support
- Use frequent prepositions orally (e.g., on, in, under, behind)
- Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes (e.g. -ed, -s, re-, un-, pre-, -ful, -less)
- Understand and use question words (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how)
- Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately (e.g., I hit it with the bat, The bat can fly.)
- Relate verbs and adjectives to their opposites (antonyms)
- Discern the meaning between similar verbs (e.g., jog, run, sprint, trot, race) by acting them out.
You can download a free PDF copy of these Kindergarten grammar skills list here:
