What a kindergartner should know by the end of the year

Kindergarten is the year reading and math begin in earnest. By the end of the year most children know all their letters and the sounds they make, read simple words and a few sight words, count to 100, and add and subtract small numbers using fingers or objects.

Checked October 29, 2026 against the sources listed at the end.

The big goal of kindergarten

Two things carry the year: letters and sounds (every letter, upper and lower case, and the sound each one makes), and counting (to 100, and counting objects to tell how many). With those, a child can start reading short words like cat and sun and solve small adding and taking-away problems.

Reading and writing

Names every upper- and lowercase letter, and knows the main sound for each consonant and the short and long sounds of the five vowels.
Hears and plays with sounds: rhymes, syllables, and the separate sounds in short words (c-a-t).
Reads short, regular words by sounding them out, and reads common sight words such as the, of, to, you, is and are.
Reads simple books for beginning readers with purpose and understanding.
With help, asks and answers questions about a story and retells it: who, where, what happened.
Writes using drawing, dictating and writing together, and spells simple words by their sounds ("kat" for cat is real progress).

Math

Counts to 100 by ones and by tens, and counts forward from any number (start at 7: 8, 9, 10).
Writes numbers from 0 to 20, and counts up to 20 objects to tell how many.
Compares two groups or two numbers up to 10: more, fewer, the same.
Adds and subtracts within 10 using objects, fingers or drawings, and adds and subtracts within 5 quickly.
Breaks numbers up to 10 into two parts in different ways (5 is 4 and 1, or 3 and 2), and finds the number that makes 10 with any number from 1 to 9.
Sees 11 to 19 as ten ones and some more ones, and names shapes such as squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, hexagons, cubes, cones, cylinders and spheres.

Science

Pushes and pulls: what happens when things are pushed harder, or bump into each other.
Animals, plants and their surroundings: what living things need, and how they change the places they live.
Weather: watching and describing the weather and how sunlight warms the ground.
Simple engineering: noticing a problem and building something to solve it.

How to help at home

Ten minutes of reading practice a day helps more than one long session. Our ten-minute reading routine shows how, step by step.
Practice letter sounds, not just letter names: "b says /b/, like ball". The how phonics works page explains the order schools teach them.
Play "make ten" with fingers or ten small things: if I have 7, how many more make 10? It's the base of first-grade adding. See making ten.
Count everything: steps, cars, crackers. Count past 20 out loud together, and by tens to 100.
Read aloud too, from books above your child's reading level, so they hear new words and longer stories.

Questions to ask the teacher

Which letters and sounds does my child know, and which are still shaky?
Which sight words is the class learning, and could we have the list?
How is my child doing with counting and with adding small numbers?
How does my child do with listening, sitting for a story and following directions?

Teachers see your child every day and know what the class is working on this month. Ask first, then practice what they suggest; the two of you pulling the same way is worth more than any workbook.

Where this list comes from

Reading, writing and math come from the Common Core State Standards for kindergarten, put in plain words; we summarize, so read the standards themselves for the exact wording. Science follows the topic list of the Next Generation Science Standards. Social studies has no national standard, so that part describes what many schools teach in kindergarten.

Your state sets what is taught, and states differ. Many use the Common Core State Standards for reading and math, or standards written from them; others wrote their own. Your state's education department posts its standards, and your child's teacher can tell you exactly what the class covers and when.

Questions parents ask

Should my kindergartner be reading by the end of the year?

The standards expect a kindergartner to read simple books written for beginning readers, short regular words and a set of sight words. Children vary a lot at this age; the teacher can tell you where yours is and what to practice.

Is it bad if my child spells words wrong?

No. Spelling words by their sounds, like "kat" for cat, is what the standards ask of kindergartners, and it shows they are hearing the sounds in words.

Practice at your child's level

Peabody, our site for children, has free stories and learning games written at each reading level and math grade, with no sign-up. Start where your child is comfortable, not where the calendar says.

Reading level 1: where kindergarten starts What the level reads like, a sample, and the free stories written at it.
Kindergarten math on Peabody The year's math path, every part open, with games that practice it.
Kindergarten learning games Reading and math games that play in the browser, three big answers to tap.
Start reading on Peabody Peabody asks your child's grade, starts the stories a little under it, and moves the level as books run easy or hard.

Where this comes from

Written for parents, to use alongside your child's teacher, not instead of them. General information only, not professional, medical or legal advice. Checked on October 29, 2026. Something wrong or out of date? Write to hello@peabody.kids.