Marcus jsut turned 4 yesterday and he will start preschool in September. I am very excited for him to go - I think it will be good for both of us. He will go three half days. They will provide a morning snack and I provide a lunch. This will be good for him to actually sit with other kids to eat.

I know I need to be prepared for some behaviors to come home that are not so nice. What else should I prepare myself for? What should I expect of him to learn?

He knows is alphabet and numbers (0-9) by sight or sound, but can't write it. Should he know this by the end of the school year? Should he be starting to learn to read or does that come in kindergarten or later? Things just sound so advanced these days. I know I took notes when I visited the school, but I can't remember.

TIA

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Here are the things that Rugby was assessed on at the end of his preschool last year. He also went for 3 half days. The fine and gross motor skills we assessed as Mastered, Still Working On, or Needs Attention.

-Colors: names, matches and sorts
-Shapes: names, matches and sorts (circle, square, rectangle, triangle, and diamond)
-Quantitative concepts: big/little, short/long, tall/short, etc
-Positional and directional concepts: over/under, in/out, off/on, beginning/end, etc
-Rote counts from 0 to 10
-Identifies numbers 0 to 10
-Matches quantity to symbol 0 to 10
-Identifies uppercase letters
-Identifies lowercase letters
-Recites alphabet
-Uses words correctly in weather reports: sunny, rainy, snowy, cloudy, etc
-Reads own name
-Reads names of others
-Recites days of the week
-Recites months of the year

Fine Motor Skills
Controls scissors to cut paper
Scribbles and draws with ease
Draws lines and circles
Traces their name
Writes their name
Traces letters and numbers
Writes letters and numbers
Strings a set of beads
Puts together a 5 piece puzzle
Puts together a 10 piece puzzle
Stacks a set of blocks to make a tower

Gross Motor Skills
Can hop on one foot
Can throw a ball
Can catch a ball
Can skip
Can gallop
Can climb with ease
Runs and plays with ease
Can walk on a balance beam
Can hop with two feet together
Can swing a swing by oneself
Can walk on tippy toes

Thank you very much!

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Great list! Also, yes he will probably start learning to read, counting to 100, maybe even simple addition and subtraction math depending on where he goes. By the end of K they are starting to read and have all that stuff mastered. Here is a great link to check out level by level course of study. http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students...m/kindergarten

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A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.-Eleanor Roosevelt

Thanks you so much for all that info and the great links! I would not know where to start. My DD is 3. I am really afraid I should have looked into pre-schools already. Was that a big mistake?