English in the lower grades is incorporated into a Language Arts program. The language arts are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Generally, these language arts skills are learned in the order listed. However, when teaching students in the lower grades, especially kindergarten, lessons should provide a great deal of overlap. Teachers should be sure to connect the content of lessons to the child's prior experience. This technique motivates the learner and ensures comprehension of the material.

Design activities to help you assess the skill levels of students in the class. You can play word games like word Bingo, have students respond to a story or have them draw or write about an experience. This will give you a sense of the students' skill levels.

Keep competency goals in mind. Teachers can refer to state language arts curriculum strands for these goals.

Create readiness activities and enabling skills. Kindergarteners should understand that words in a book correspond to the spoken word; know the letters of the alphabet and their sounds; develop a sight word vocabulary; and begin to read stories. Be aware that in a classroom there will be a range of skill levels, abilities and interests.

Connect language arts activities to prior knowledge. Kindergarteners should bring their own experiences to the lesson. For example, if the book is about a new baby, ask the students if they have younger siblings at home.

Develop activities that apply language arts skills. Kindergarteners should be familiar with books, know that a story has a beginning, a middle and an end, predict outcomes and identify sequences.

Use technology and media when possible to prepare students for their world. Kindergarteners should also be able to differentiate fantasy from reality.

Kindergarteners should create oral, written and visual text using new vocabulary they have learned. They should speak, draw and write about trips, show and tell items, and relate experiences they have at home and in school. Some may begin to apply language conventions such as capital letters at the beginning of a sentence, for the word "I," and for the first letter of their name and the names of their friends. Handwriting should become legible.