According to the California Common Core State Standards, children are not expected to know their letters or numbers prior to entering kindergarten.  By the end of the kindergarten year, students are expected to learn their letters and numbers through 30. 

If you are concerned that kindergarten would not be the appropriate placement for your child, we encourage you to schedule a meeting with one of our administrators to further discuss your concerns. 

One of the main foci for kindergarten students is the development of social skills to enable them to make friends and work well with others.  Teachers plan specific lessons to help develop these skills and support students in making decisions about how they will interact with others.

Developmentally, children at this age are very active and curious, so they are frequently moving their bodies to explore the world around them.  At the beginning of the kindergarten year, teachers plan for a lot of movement in their lessons and provide short, focused mini-lessons for students.  As the year progresses, students learn how to sit and listen for extended periods of time.

In California children between six and eighteen years of age are subject to compulsory full-time education.

According to Education Code 48000[a], a child shall be admitted to a kindergarten maintained by the school district at the beginning of a school year, or at a later time in the same year if the child will have his or her fifth birthday on or before September 1 of the school year.

Eligibility for kindergarten is on the basis of age only. Once a child has entered kindergarten, the district will administer tests to determine a child’s readiness for specific aspects of the curriculum. These include the California English Language Development Test (also known as the CELDT), administered to students whose primary language is other than English, and district assessments for language, mathematics, and social-emotional well-being.

We frequently get questions regarding the skills needed for students to attend kindergarten along with concerns that a child may not be ready for kindergarten, even though their age would place them at that grade level.  Below are some of the common concerns we hear and an explanation of how those concerns are addressed in the kindergarten classroom.

Although learning the letters, their sounds, and numbers are some of the key standards students learn in kindergarten, there is a great deal more students learn during this school year.  Students are developing their social and problem-solving skills.  In addition to the California Common Core Standards for Language Arts and Mathematics, there are also California Standards for science, social studies, physical education, and the arts.  

To address the varied needs of the students in their classroom, teachers use differentiation.  All students will have strengths in some areas and may need additional support in other areas.  Using assessment data, the classroom teacher will determine the level of support or challenge your child needs and provide instruction to meet those needs.

If you are concerned that kindergarten would not be the appropriate placement for your child, we encourage you to schedule a meeting with one of our administrators to further discuss your concerns. 

No. Consistent with Education Code Section 48011, a public school may only admit an age-ineligible child who has attended a private school kindergarten to the first grade if:

• the child is five years old;
• the child has completed a full year of private school kindergarten;
• the local district determines that the child is ready for first-grade work; and
• the parent or guardian consents.

It is important to recognize that private schools are not required to comply with the kindergarten and first-grade admission dates for public schools, the curriculum, or the State Board of Education-approved content standards that are followed by public schools.  Therefore, when you register your child, s/he will automatically be placed at the age-appropriate grade level.  Should you wish to consider an alternative placement, you can make a request to speak with the school administrator.