Kindergarten · Vocabulary
What a Kindergarten student learns in Vocabulary
Kindergarten vocabulary centers on acquiring and using new words and phrases through conversations, read-alouds, and texts, while exploring basic word relationships, categories, opposites, and shades of meaning with adult support.
The skills for the year
- 1Ask and answer questions about unknown words in stories and informational texts
- 2Identify new meanings for familiar words (e.g., duck as animal vs. action)
- 3Use common inflections and affixes (-s, -ed, re-, un-) as clues to word meaning
- 4Sort common objects and pictures into basic categories (shapes, foods, animals)
- 5Name the category for a group of related words or objects
- 6Relate frequently occurring verbs and adjectives to their opposites (antonyms)
- 7Make real-life connections between words and everyday experiences (e.g., colorful places at school)
- 8Distinguish shades of meaning among related verbs by acting them out (walk, march, hop)
- 9Use newly acquired words and phrases from conversations and read-alouds in speaking
- 10Recognize and use basic spatial and positional words (above, below, beside, between)
- 11Identify and use common describing words (size, color, shape, feeling) in context
- 12Understand and use simple time and sequence words (first, next, last, morning, night)
- 13Respond to texts using key vocabulary words from the story or topic
- 14Explore multiple-meaning words encountered in kindergarten content with guidance
- 15Build topic-specific vocabulary through science, social studies, and classroom themes
- 16Use complete simple sentences that incorporate newly learned vocabulary
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