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  • Checklist Of Skills Your 5-Year-Old Needs To Learn In Math, Reading, and More

    The Department of Education has a set of learning competencies.
    by Que Sullano-Gavan .
PHOTO BY Unsplash
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    A kindergarten curriculum helps your child build a good foundation in core subjects such as math, language arts (reading and writing). In the Philippines, we have “The Kindergarten Education Act” that made kindergarten the compulsory and mandatory entry stage to primary education.


    The Department of Education has a set of learning competencies under the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum. If you plan to homeschool, whether with a provider or independently, the curriculum must meet the standards DepEd has set in this guide.

    Your guide to a homeschooling curriculum for kindergarten

    The following is based on the skills required by DepEd for 5-year-old children. If you are a homeschooler, this checklist will help you gauge if your lesson plan helps your child accomplish important milestones for each given core subject. 

    Language Arts

    1. Follows directions and agreed on rules
    2. Can listen, speak and participate in conversations with peers and adults
    3. Can listen to stories and poems
    4. Can recite memory verses, poems, rhymes, or sings in the correct sequence
    5. Sort common objects into basic categories like colors, shapes, or sizes
    6. Recognize words and sentences in print
    7. Familiar with specific signs such as traffic signs, safety or warning signs
    8. Can read by holding print materials in the correct position and turn the pages in the right direction
    9. Can identify words orally according to sounds, and blend sounds oral to make words
    10. Can print the uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet independently
    11. Can write first and last names, left to right and top to bottom
    12. Can draw pictures and/or use letters and phonetically spell words to write about experiences, stories, people, objects, or events


    1. Can identify same as, fewer or less than, more than or greater than between two sets of concrete items
    2. Can indicate the ordinal position of each item in a group of objects and pictures, from 1st through 5th
    3. Understands the ordered placement of each item from left-to-right, right-to-left, top-to-bottom, and/or bottom-to-top
    4. Can count by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s to at least 30 orally, in writing, and by using concrete objects
    5. Can count forward to 100 and backward from 10
    6. Can add and subtract whole numbers, using up to 10 concrete items
    7. Can recognize Philippine coins and begin to understand their value
    8. Can tell time to the hour, using an analog or digital clock
    9. Can compare two objects or events, according to length (shorter, longer), height (taller, shorter), weight (heavier, lighter), and temperature (hotter, colder)
    10. Can identify, describe and draw two-dimensional figures like circle, triangle, square, and rectangle
    11. Can describe the location of one object relative to another (above, below, next to, behind, in front of, under)
    12. Can identify, describe, and extend a repeating pattern found in everyday objects, sounds, and movements


    • Practice basic science skills such as looking at things closely, making observations and describing objects, and collecting things
    • Use the five senses (taste – tongue, touch – skin, smell – nose, hearing – ears, and sight – eyes); and sensory descriptors (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, rough/smooth, hard/soft, cold, warm, hot, loud/soft, high/low, bright/dull)
    • Become familiar with the human body, animals, and plants (needs and growth)
    • Knows how to locate places, landforms, bodies of water, and people on a map and globe
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    • Be able to identify shapes (mga hugis), colors (mga kulay), and letter sounds and objects that begin with letter sounds in the Filipino Alphabet
    • Become familiar with some Filipino poems, rhymes, and songs
    • Be able to decode Filipino words and read simple stories in Filipino
    • Be able to understand “Magkatulad”, “Magkaiba”, “Salitang Magkasalungat”, “Salitang Magkasingkahulugan”

    Other subjects

    1. Identify the difference between basic needs (food, clothing, and shelter) and wants (things people would like to have)
    2. Know the Philippine Flag, the National Anthem, and the President of the Philippines (and what he or she does), and some famous landmarks and traditions of the Philippines
    3. Can do locomotor skills (walking, running, jumping, sliding), non-manipulative movements (bending, pushing, pulling, stretching), and manipulative skills (toss, throw, bounce, catch) 
    4. Develop personal hygiene practices such as brushing teeth, washing hands, washing face, blowing own nose, bathing, combing hair
    5. Can sing songs, participate individually and in groups when asked to accompany songs
    6. Can play (no mastery expected) simple instruments such as drums, xylophone, piano
    7. Says "Please", "Thank you" appropriately
    8. Independently notices the needs of others and offers help to open the door, carry something, pick up something that was dropped, soothe a person who is upset, share resources, share a toy

    You may read the full K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum here.


    Play-based activities, centered on academic areas, will allow cognitive development and promote social and emotional learning. Incorporating play in the typical homeschooling curriculum for kindergarten will help your child reach important learning milestones at home.

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