Students enter kindergarten with all different understandings of language. Some students know their letters and sounds, others know how to write their name, and yet some do not know either. Kindergarten helps to bridge those learning gaps.

Throughout the kindergarten year, kindergarteners begin to learn what language is! They learn about their letters and what makes a sentence a sentence. They learn about nouns/verbs, prepositions, questioning words, and how to expand sentences both in writing and speaking.

In kindergarten there is a big focus on what they can do orally. Building their oral skills will help them as their skills in writing and reading grow. If they have an understanding on how to hold a conversation orally, it should be easier for them to get those same ideas down on paper in the future.

Language Skills for Creating an Educated Kindergarten Learner

The ELA standards identify a set of skills students must master in kindergarten. These skills include Conventions of Standard English, Conventions of Spelling/Capitalization/Punctuation, and Vocabulary Acquisition and Use. These skills are so important to a child’s success as a reader and writer and teachers and parents can use worksheets provided by TheWorksheets.com to support the growth of their language skills.

Conventions of Standard English

Conventions of Standard English is an umbrella category for a lot of the norms of speaking and writing that we do each and every day. In kindergarten students will learn to do the following:

• Print many upper- and lowercase letters.
• Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs.
• Form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/ (e.g., dog, dogs; wish, wishes).
• Understand and use question words (interrogatives) (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how).
• Use the most frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with).
• Produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities.

The following worksheets from TheWorksheets.com can help to support those skills. Even if some of these worksheets look above the kindergarten level, you can complete these tasks with them orally or with support. The worksheets and ideas found in these links can be a good guide to see what the norms are in the English language and how to ensure your child/student has success in the understanding of those conventions.

• Alphabet Letter Writing Worksheets
• Noun Worksheets
• Verb Worksheets
• Plural Noun Worksheets

• Question Word Worksheets
• Preposition Worksheets

Conventions of Spelling/Capitalization/Punctuation:

Students in kindergarten learn the basics for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. These topics will be enforced and expanded upon in the grades to come. Here are the skills that students and kindergarten must understand: 

• Capitalize the first word in a sentence 
• Recognize and name end punctuation.
• Write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes).
• Spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships.

The following worksheets from TheWorksheets.com can help to be a guide to grow and develop those skills. Remember, even if some of these worksheets look above the kindergarten level, you can complete these tasks with them orally or with support. 

• Capitalization Worksheets
• Punctuation Type Worksheets
• Letter ID Worksheets
• Sound ID Worksheets

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:

Many students in kindergarten have a very limited vocabulary. It is important that they learn that there are other words out there to describe the world around them. Students that are in kindergarten must be able to do the following:

• Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately (e.g., knowing duck is a bird and learning the verb to duck).
• Use the most frequently occurring inflections and affixes (e.g., -ed, -s, re-, un-, pre-, -ful, -less) as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word.
• Sort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.
• Demonstrate understanding of frequently occurring verbs and adjectives by relating them to their opposites (antonyms).
• Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at school that are colorful).
• Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing the same general action (e.g., walk, march, strut, prance) by acting out the meanings.

These worksheets from TheWorksheets.com can help your child grow in their vocabulary. These worksheets can be used as a tool to guide conversation with your kindergartener. Not each worksheet needs to be filled out and done independently by your kindergartener if it is above their level as most of these skills in kindergarten can be done conversationally.

• Homophone Worksheets
• Prefix Worksheets
• Suffix Worksheets
• Object Sorting Worksheets
• Antonym/Opposites Worksheets
• Shades of Meaning Worksheets

Conclusion

A thriving language base helps children understand the world around them and be able to communicate about it. It is important for them to have the skills and strategies necessary to express their thoughts in a way that is understood by others. By growing their understanding of language, they will be better prepared for their schooling years to come.

TheWorksheets.com is filled with many informational resources to help each child grow their language skills!