Pre-Kindergarten Classical Standards

History

Knowledge

• Understand major holidays, patriotic and religious. K.1A&B, 1.1A, 1.14E, 2.1A&B
• Explain and compare family customs and traditions. K.2A&B
• Identify the U.S. and Texas flags. K10A-C
• Recite pledges to the American and Texas flags. 1.14A&B
• Identify common events and routines (e.g., snack time, storytime)
• Begin to categorize time intervals (e.g., ”today,” “tomorrow,” “next time”)
• Recognize seasons and growth
• Create simple representations of home, school, or community through drawings or block constructions. 1.4B
• Identify common features of the local landscape. (e.g., houses, buildings, streets)
• Understand the basic human need for food, clothing, and shelter
• Understand the jobs, responsibilities, and basic services provided by community workers. K.7A&B
• Understand history and culture as articulations of the human desire for goodness, truth, and ultimately God

Skills

• Share ideas and takes turns listening and speaking
• Cooperate with others in a joint activity
• Begin to understand cause-and-effect relationships (e.g., if you go outside in the rain, you will get wet)

Aptitudes

• Connect past events to current events (e.g., linking yesterday’s activity with what will happen today)
• Develop memory
• Develop ability to listen and recall

Art

Knowledge

• View art related to major religious and patriotic holidays
• Learn to tell the story of a painting

Skills

• Use a variety of materials (crayons, paint, clay, markers) to create original work
• Use different colors, surface textures, and shapes to create form and meaning
• Begin to use scissors

Aptitudes

• Attempt to imitate pictorially things he/she sees in the world
• Acquire the habit of attending, noticing, sitting still, and concentrating
• Begin to question works of art for their meaning

Language: Literature, Grammar, Composition, and Drama

Knowledge

• Learn the alphabet
• Develop vocabulary
• Phonics: Identify rhyming words and similar sounding words; break words into syllables
• Letter Recognition
  • Begin to associate names of letters with their shapes
  • Identify 10 or more printed alphabet letters
  • Begin to notice beginning letters in familiar words
  • Begin to make some letter/sound matches
  • Begin to identify high-frequency words
• Recognize different parts of a book (print conventions, illustrations, titles/authors)
• Writing: Attempt to write messages and to dictate written communication
• Narration: Begin to re-tell stories with developing vocal clarity, poise, and eye contact
• Conversation: Ask questions, engage in conversation, and use verbal and nonverbal communication
• Begin to engage in dramatic play with others

Skills

• Listen and respond to oral directions, books, peers, and teachers
• Attempt to read and write independently
• Share books and engage in pretend reading with other children
• Discuss books: make predictions, identify characters, etc.
• Begin to hold writing tools with fingers instead of with a fist

Aptitudes

• Develop capacity for listening
• Appreciate playfulness in language
• Develop habits of concentration, stillness, and memory
• Learn to ask questions about the moral and meaning of stories and symbols
• Learn to speak directly and confidently
• Begin to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas through language as well as through gestures and actions

Nature Studies

Knowledge

• Group organisms and objects as living or nonliving
  • Know the needs of living things
  • Know the properties of objects, esp. rocks, soil, and water
• Begin to identify things people have built and what things are made of
• Recognize seasons of the year and other patterns in nature
• Begin to observe changes in size, color, position, weather, and sound

Skills

• Ask questions and gather information using simple tools and measuring devices
• Make predictions
• Observe what happens using senses and communicate findings through pictures, simple graphs, discussions, or dramatizations
• Solve simple design problems

Aptitudes

• Develop a capacity to attend to and notice nature
• Develop wonder and appreciation for the natural world

Mathematics

Knowledge

• Name how many are in a group of up to three objects without counting (recognizing two or three crayons in a box)
• Recognize the concept of zero (meaning there are none)
• Begin to demonstrate parts and wholes with real objects (i.e., orange)
• Begin to identify first and last in a series
• Begin to recognize patterns in their environment (day follows night, repeated phrases in storybooks, patterns in carpets or clothing)
• Begin to recognize shapes
• Begin to use words that indicate where things are in space (beside, inside, behind, above)

Skills

• Count by ones to 10 or higher
• Count concrete objects to five or higher
• Begin to compare the numbers of concrete objects (same or equal? one more, more than, less than)
• Put together puzzles of increasing complexity
• Begin to categorize time intervals (“in the morning,” “after snack”)
• Begin to order two or three objects by size (largest to smallest)
• Sort objects, note similarities and differences, changes in size, color, or position

Aptitudes

• Recognize the ubiquity of number and shape in the world around us
• Develop a sense of wonder at recognizing how the world can be expressed mathematically
• Develop a love for constructing math, numerically and geometrically

Music

Knowledge

• Begin to distinguish among the sounds of several common instruments
• Be introduced to tradition of sacred music

Skills

• Begin to sing a variety of simple songs
• Begin to play musical instruments
• Begin to respond to music of various tempos through movement

Aptitudes

• Begin to develop a love and appreciation for beautiful music and its power
• Acquire the habit and develop their powers of patient, attentive listening

Health, Safety, and Physical Education

Knowledge

• Understand their bodies and physical abilities as a gift
• Become aware of routine healthy behaviors (i.e., brushing teeth and washing hands)
• Begin to understand the need for exercise and rest
• Recognize the danger of fire and learn to treat fire with caution
• Know how to cross the street safely
• Recognize the symbol for poison
• Know not to talk to, accept rides from, or take treats from strangers
• Know about safe behavior around bodies of water (pools, lakes, etc.)
• Show an awareness of name, location, and relationship of body parts

Skills

• Refine use of eating utensils
• Prepare simple healthy snacks
• Begin to move in rhythm
• Begin to throw or kick an object in a particular direction
• Begin to play catch with a bean bag or a large ball
• Bounce a large ball and catch it
• Begin to coordinate arms and legs (e.g., swinging, stretching)
• Begin to develop fine motor control in picking up and playing with objects

Aptitudes

• Explore moving in space
• Develop a sense of personal space and respect for others
• Begin to show self-control by following rules
• Begin to be responsible for individual behavior and actions
• Begin to show greater ability to control intense feelings
• Begin to develop friendships with others