The Ontario Curriculum Expectations for Kindergarten Grade
Dear Parents:
This publication offers you a guide to the new Ontario curriculum’s learning expectations in Language, Mathematics, Science and Technology, Personal and Social Development and The Arts for Kindergarten. The new curriculum, which is being
implemented in Durham public schools, includes specific expectations of knowledge and skills required by the end of Kindergarten.
In Kindergarten, teachers plan programs that allow children to achieve the learning expectations through activities that emphasize the integrated nature of learning. For example, a cooking activity may include knowledge, skills, or attitudes from the areas of mathematics, science, technology, language, and personal and social development. Teachers design programs that highlight links within and among areas of learning and that enable children to connect what they learn in school with their own experiences and the activities of everyday life.
By being familiar with the specific curriculum expectations, you can see what your children should be learning in Kindergarten and work with teachers to improve your children’s academic achievement. We also welcome you in our schools and we urge you to participate in
parent-teacher conferences, school events, and to be active on school councils. Most of all, we urge you to provide your children with encouragement and support to be successful in school. We hope you find this curriculum guide helpful. If you have questions or if
you would like to discuss the curriculum expectations, please feel free to contact your school principal or the classroom teacher.
These specific curriculum expectations have been taken directly from the Ontario Curriculum, Kindergarten: published by
the Ministry of Education and Training.
Language: Kindergarten
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Oral Communication:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• communicate needs to peers and adults;
• listen and respond to others in a variety of
contexts;
• follow simple directions and respond appropriately to familiar questions;
• describe personal experiences and retell familiar stories, using appropriate
vocabulary and basic story structure;
• ask questions, express feelings, and share ideas;
• use language to connect new experiences with what they already know;
• listen and respond orally to language patterns in stories and poems;
• demonstrate awareness of individual sounds and sound patterns in language;
• use gestures, tone of voice, and other nonverbal means to communicate more
effectively.
Reading:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• listen to stories, poems, and non-fiction materials for enjoyment and information;
• respond appropriately to a variety of materials read aloud to them;
• identify favourite books and retell the stories in their own words;
• demonstrate understanding of a story by making predictions;
• make connections between their own experiences and those of storybook
characters;
• demonstrate awareness of some conventions of written materials;
• identify some features of books and other written materials;
• recognize that words often consist of beginning, middle, and final sounds;
• identify most of the letters of the alphabet and demonstrate understanding that
letters represent sounds and that written words convey meaning;
• use language patterns and sound patterns to identify words and to predict the next
word.
Writing:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• write using a variety of tools and media;
• write simple messages using a
combination of pictures, symbols, letters, phonetic spellings, and familiar words;
• contribute words or sentences to a class narrative that is written down on a chart
by the teacher;
• print most of the letters of the alphabet, their own name and names of family
members, and some short words.
Mathematics: Kindergarten
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Number Sense and Numeration:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• sort and classify objects into sets according to specific characteristics, and describe
those characteristics;
• match objects by one-to-one correspondence;
• estimate and count to identify sets with more, fewer, or the same number of
objects;
• count orally to 30, and use cardinal and ordinal numbers during play and daily
classroom routines;
• recognize and write numerals from 1 to 10;
• demonstrate awareness of addition and subtraction in everyday activities.
Measurement:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• use simple measurement terms correctly;
• order two or more objects according to size
or mass;
• use non-standard measuring devices appropriately;
..• use some standard measuring devices appropriately
• identify the values of some coins.
Spatial Sense and Geometry:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• use language accurately to describe basic spatial relationships;
• identify and sort three-dimensional objects;
• identify and sort two-dimensional shapes;
Personal & Social Development:
Kindergarten
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Self-Awareness and Self-Reliance:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• recognize personal strengths and accomplishments;
• identify and talk about their own interests and preferences;
• express their own thoughts and share experiences;
• adapt readily to new situations;
• demonstrate self-reliance;
• attempt new tasks willingly;
• demonstrate self-control by following class
room rules and routines in different
contexts in school.
Health and Physical Activity:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• name body parts and talk about their function;
• identify nutritious foods;
• select clothing appropriate for the weather;
• practice appropriate personal hygiene;
• identify safe and unsafe situations, materials, and equipment;
• identify and apply basic safety rules;
• identify substances that are harmful to the body;
• demonstrate understanding that adults
make most decisions regarding safety rules,
and seek assistance when needed;
• participate willingly in creative movement,
dance, and other daily physical activities;
• use different types of equipment and
materials with ease;
• demonstrate balance, ease, and flexibility in movement;
• demonstrate spatial awareness.
Social Relationships:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• act and talk in appropriate ways with peers and adults during activity periods;
• demonstrate consideration for others by helping them;
• share responsibility for planning classroom events and activities;
• identify feelings and emotions and express them in acceptable ways;
• use a variety of simple strategies to solve social problems;
• recognize, in situations involving others, advances or suggestions that threaten their
safety or well-being;
Patterning:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• identify and reproduce simple patterns;
• create and extend simple patterns using a variety of materials or actions.
Data Management and Probability:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• place some specific types of objects on concrete graphs and pictographs;
• compare information on objects, using two categories;
• use simple grids correctly;
• use language of probability.
Science & Technology:
Kindergarten
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Exploration and Experimentation:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• describe some natural occurrences, using their own observations;
• describe some differences between living and non-living things;
• describe local natural habitats;
• identify patterns and cycles in the natural
world;
• describe characteristics of natural materials and demonstrate understanding of some
basic concepts related to them;
• describe the functions of common objects found at home and at school;
• identify energy sources used by familiar tools or toys;
• experiment with simple machines;
• make a specific plan;
• describe the steps, and carry out the plan;
• make appropriate observations about results or findings;
• demonstrate awareness of the need for recycling.
Use of Technology:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• use familiar technology appropriately;
• identify familiar technological items and describe their use in daily life;
• make things using a variety of tools and techniques;
• work with others in using technology;
• demonstrate awareness that familiar objects are designed to suit the human
body.
Awareness of Surroundings:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• express their feelings of wonder and curiosity about the world;
• describe different kinds of weather and the ways in which people adapt to the weather;
• investigate and describe familiar geographical features in their area;
• identify ways in which people use the natural environment;
• recognize special places and buildings within their community, and describe their
function;
• talk about time in relation to certain events or activities;
• identify patterns and cycles in their daily lives;
• identify some events that occur every year;
• identify people who help others in the
community, and describe what they do.
The Arts: Kindergarten
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Creative Activity:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• use pictures, sculptures, and collages to represent ideas;
• mix paint to create new colours;
• show skill in cutting, pasting, and painting;
• use a variety of tools and materials in creating art works or making presentations;
• use familiar materials in new ways;
• solve problems creatively;
• make preparations for performances;
• decide who will take each role in classroom drama activities;
• take turns working specific tasks in making things;
• share materials in visual arts activities;
• perform in a group;
• use their creativity in movement, mime, and dance activities;
• adapt songs, fingerplays, and rhymes;
• enact stories from their own and other cultures;
• play the parts of characters from folk tales and legends of various countries.
Response to Art Works:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• identify feeling evoked by art forms;
• move in response to the tempo and mood of music;
• select pieces of their own art for portfolio collections;
• show appreciation of folk songs and dances from various countries.
Knowledge of Elements and Forms:
By the end of Kindergarten, children will:
• identify elements of visual images;
• recall and repeat familiar songs, dance steps, and rhymes;
• name different movements they can do;
• demonstrate understanding of rhythmic patterns;
• name different elements in performances;
• identify familiar instruments by sound;
• describe some aspects of visual art forms from a variety of cultures;
• use some simple terms correctly.