The Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) is designed to support the success of each child in your classroom.
Collaboration With Administration and Families
WaKIDS helps you gather information from early learning professionals and families to support your teaching.
- Meetings convened by ESDs and Regional Early Learning Coalitions will provide opportunities for you to come together with your school principal and early learning professionals to share ideas and information.
- Meetings with each incoming kindergarten family help to start building strong relationships between school and home. You decide with the family where to meet (home, school, community location). The family will complete the “Introducing Me! / ¡Yo me presento!” booklet, available on the Family Resources page in English and 11 other languages. It provides you with information about the child’s likes, dislikes, family culture and more.
Observation to Help Inform Instruction
You will complete a whole-child inventory for each student at the beginning of the school year using Teaching Strategies GOLD. This inventory gives you valuable information about the children in your classroom. It’s called a “whole child” inventory because it looks at:
- Physical development, well-being, health and motor skills: for example, can the child run smoothly, fold paper with some help, and use a fork and spoon.
- Social and emotional development: for example, does the child give social support to others and follow rules in different settings?
- Cognition and general knowledge: for example, can the child identify characteristics for comparison, such as size and color, and understand the concept of “same” and “different”?
- Language, communication and literacy: for example, can the child point to the title of a book when asked, and does the child know that print conveys meaning?
- Mathematics: for example, can the child count to 10 and beyond?
For more information and transition tips, watch the June 2011 Family Connection webinar (WMV), or see the Inventory of Recommended Practices for Kindergarten Transition (PDF).
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