Grade guides · Usually ages 4 and 5

What children usually learn in Pre-K

What the year usually covers, subject by subject, in our own words from the curriculum you choose, with games that practise it.

Curriculum: United States · Ontario · British Columbia · England

Math

  • Counting up to 10 things, one touch for each, and saying how many there are Counting and Cardinality
  • Saying which of two groups has more, and seeing a small group's number at a glance Counting and Cardinality
  • Putting small groups together and taking them apart, up to 5 Operations and Algebraic Thinking
  • Sorting things by colour, size or shape, and continuing a simple pattern Operations and Algebraic Thinking
  • Naming circles, squares and triangles, and saying which of two things is longer or heavier Geometry and Spatial Sense; Measurement

Practise it with

Reading

  • Hearing rhymes and the first sound of a word, and clapping syllables Literacy: Phonological Awareness
  • Knowing some letters, those in their own name first, and that print carries meaning Literacy: Print and Alphabet Knowledge
  • Retelling a familiar story, and answering questions about it Literacy: Comprehension and Text Structure
  • Learning new words from books and talk, and using them Language and Communication: Vocabulary
  • Taking turns in a conversation, and asking questions Language and Communication: Communicating and Speaking
  • Drawing, and making marks and letters to say something Literacy: Writing

Practise it with

Science

  • Looking closely with all the senses, and asking questions about what they find Scientific Reasoning: Scientific Inquiry
  • Telling living things from things that are not alive, and what living things need Scientific Reasoning: Scientific Inquiry
  • Noticing the weather, and how it changes through the year Scientific Reasoning: Scientific Inquiry
  • Guessing what will happen, then trying it to see Scientific Reasoning: Reasoning and Problem-Solving
  • Describing and sorting things by what they are made of Scientific Reasoning: Scientific Inquiry

Practise it with

Plan a week for Pre-K

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Where this comes from

Written in our own words from the documents below. It says what the year usually covers; it is not the official text, which the curriculum's own pages hold.

  • Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework, Preschool (2015), by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Head Start

Other grades