Kindergarten Overview
Overview
Your child will spend more time learning concepts of number than all other topics.
There are two critical areas of Kindergarten
Critical Area 1
Representing, relating, and operating on whole numbers, initially with sets of objects: Students use numbers, including written numerals, to represent quantities and to solve quantitative problems, such as counting objects in a set; counting out a given number of objects; comparing sets or numerals; and modeling simple joining and separating situations with sets of objects, or eventually with equations such as 5+2=7 and 7–2=5. (Kindergarten students should see addition and subtraction equations, and student writing of equations in kindergarten is encouraged, but it is not required.) Students choose, combine, and apply effective strategies for answering quantitative questions, including quickly recognizing the cardinalities of small sets of objects, counting and producing sets of given sizes, counting the number of objects in combined sets, or counting the number of objects that remain in a set after some are taken away
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Critical Area 2
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Describing shapes and space: Students describe their physical world using geometric ideas (e.g., shape, orientation, spatial relations) and vocabulary. They identify, name, and describe basic two-dimensional shapes, such as squares, triangles, circles, rectangles, and hexagons, presented in a variety of ways (e.g., with different sizes and orientations), as well as three-dimensional shapes such as cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres. They use basic shapes and spatial reasoning to model objects in their environment and to construct more complex shapes.
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Unit 1
Kindergarten Mathematics
Unit 1
Counting, Cardinality and Algebraic Thinking with Numbers to 10
Printable Parent Letter
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During Unit 1, your children will use numbers to 10, including written numerals, to represent quantities and to solve quantitative problems, such as counting objects in a set; counting out a given number of objects; comparing sets or numerals; and modeling simple joining and separating situations with sets of objects, or eventually with equations such as 5 + 2 = 7 and 7 – 2 = 5. |
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Students need to
- Count to 100 by ones and tens
- Count forward from a number other than 1
- Write the numbers 0-10 and represent an amount of object with a written numeral
- Count up to 10 objects one at a time, giving each object a number name
- Understand that the last number said names the total amount for a group of objects
- Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger
- Count to answer "how many?" questions about as many as 10 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or a scattered configuration
- Count out a set of up to 10 objects
- Identify whether the number of objects in a one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group
- Compare two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals
- Represent and solve addition and subtraction word problems and add and subtract within 10 (e.g. using objects or drawings to represent the problem).
- Separate a number into two parts and understand that there is a relationship between the parts and the whole for numbers 0-10 and record with a drawing or equation and understand that the values on each side of the equal sign are the same
- For any number from one to nine find the number that makes ten when added to the given number
- Begins to work towards goal of fluently adding and subtracting within 5 by applying knowledge of decomposition.
Ways Parents can help
- Practice counting forward with your child to 100
- Practice counting forward starting with a number other than 1
- Practice putting number cards in order
- Count things around the house (steps, toys, food items…
- Use a die to see if your child can name the number without counting the dots
- Practice writing the numbers up to 10
- Build sets representing a number 0-10 together using things around the house
- Practice adding and subtracting things around the house (i.e. 3 red grapes and 3 green grapes – how many grapes in all or start with 6 grapes eat two – how many are left)
Support Sites
Key Vocabulary
Unit 2
Kindergarten Mathematics
Unit 2
Measurement and Data
Printable Parent Letter
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During unit 2, your child will begin to develop an understanding of the meaning and processes of measurement. Students will spend the majority of their time in this cluster describing and comparing measurable attributes. Your child will also classify objects in a variety of ways. Classification involves making decisions about how to categorize things. Young children need experiences with categorizing things in different ways in order to learn to make sense of real-world data. |
Students Need To
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Ways Parents Can Help
- When holding or observing objects help your child to use words like heavier/lighter and longer/shorter.
- When using bowls help your child to predict which one can hold more (capacity). Have fun checking the prediction by using glasses of water to fill each bowl.
- Compare a measurable attribute of two objects to see which has more of or less of the attribute (i.e. a regular fork is longer than a small fork, you are taller than they are, a book is heavier than a magazine….
- Classify a bag of candy by color (M&M’s, Skittles, Starbursts…. Count the number of pieces in each group. Sort the groups by the number of pieces in each group.
- Play a game, "Guess My Rule", where each player sorts a group of objects and the other player has to guess the rule. When the guessing player guesses correctly, changes roles. First player to correctly guess 5 rules wins.
- Continue to practice adding and subtracting to 5.
Key Vocabulary
Unit 3
Kindergarten Mathematics
Unit 3
Counting, Cardinality, and Algebraic Thinking
Printable Parent Letter
| During Unit 3, your children will use numbers to 20, including written numerals, to represent quantities and to solve quantitative problems, such as counting objects in a set; counting out a given number of objects; comparing sets or numerals; and modeling simple joining and separating situations with sets of objects, or eventually with equations such as 5 + 2 = 7 and 7 – 2 = 5. Students will develop the understanding of groups of ten and leftover ones to form numbers up to 20. |
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Students Need To
- Review counting to 100 by ones and tens
- Review counting forward from a number other than 1
- Write the numbers 0-20 and represent an amount of object with a written numeral
- Count up to 20 objects one at a time, giving each object a number name
- Understand that the last number said names the total amount for a group of objects
- Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger
- Count to answer “how many?” questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or a scattered configuration
- Count out a set of up to 20 objects
- Review identifying whether the number of objects in a one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group
- Review comparing two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals
- Compose and decompose numbers from 11 to 19 into tens and ones and further ones. (E.g. use concrete materials to make groups of ten and ones) by using objects or drawings and record each composition or decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 18= 10+8); understand that these numbers are composed of ten ones and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine ones.
- Continue to work towards goal of fluently adding and subtracting within 20 using +1, -1, +0, -0 strategies.
Ways Parents Can Help
- Practice reading numbers as they appear in the world around you with your child.
- Practice counting forward beginning with numbers other than 1.
- Use the words after, before and between when talking about numbers. (I.e. What number would come after __?)
- Use objects around the house (buttons, macaroni, pennies… to show two numbers up to 20 and compare the groups using the terms greater than, less than or equal to.
- Use objects to show numbers 11-19 as a group of ten and some ones (i.e. 16 is 1 group of ten and 6 ones).
Key Vocabulary
Unit 4
Kindergarten Mathematics
Unit 4
Geometry
Printable Parent Letter
| During Unit 4, your children will describe their physical world using geometric ideas (e.g., shape, orientation, spatial relations) and vocabulary. They identify, name, and describe basic two-dimensional shapes, such as squares, triangles, circles, rectangles, and hexagons, presented in a variety of ways (e.g., with different sizes and orientations), as well as three-dimensional shapes such as cubes, cones, cylinders, and spheres. They use basic shapes and spatial reasoning to model objects in their environment and to construct more complex shapes. |
Students Need To
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Ways Parents Can Help
- Your child can model three-dimensional shapes in the real world by building them with toothpicks and gum drops.
- Have your child find three-dimensional shapes in the real world (a tennis ball is a sphere and a can is a cylinder) and compare them by attributes (number of sides, corners, stacks, rolls…
- Name three-dimensional shapes in the real world by their shape name (cylinder, cone, cube, sphere…
- Draw two-dimensional shapes with sidewalk chalk and have child identify the shape