WaKIDS – Kindergarten Families

GOLD® Objectives and Dimensions (WaKIDS) 

Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) is a process of connecting families, elementary schools and early education programs so that new kindergartners can be ready to start school.

All Washington public elementary schools participate in WaKIDS, which includes 3 elements:

• Family connection
• Whole-child assessment
• Early learning collaboration

Social–Emotional

1. Regulates own emotions and behaviors

• Manages feelings
• Follows limits and expectations
• Takes care of own needs appropriately

2. Establishes and sustains positive relationships

• Interacts with peers

3. Participates cooperatively and constructively ingroup situations

• Balances needs and rights of self and others
• Solves social problems

Physical

4. Demonstrates traveling skills
5. Demonstrates balancing skills
6. Demonstrates fine-motor strength and coordination

• Uses fingers and hands
• Uses writing and drawing tools

Language

8. Listens to and understands increasinglycomplex language

• Comprehends language
• Follows directions

9. Uses language to express thoughts and needs

• Speaks clearly

10. Uses appropriate conversational and othercommunication skills

• Engages in conversations

Cognitive

11. Demonstrates positive approaches to learning

• Attends and engages
• Persists
• Solves problems

12. Remembers and connects experiences

• Recognizes and recalls

13. Uses classification skills
14. Uses symbols and images to represent somethingnot present

• Thinks symbolically
• Literacy

15. Demonstrates phonological awareness

• Notices and discriminates rhyme
• Notices and discriminates smaller and smaller units of sound

16. Demonstrates knowledge of the alphabet

• Identifies and names letters
• Uses letter–sound knowledge

17. Demonstrates knowledge of print and its uses

• Uses print concepts

18. Comprehends and responds to books andother texts

• Uses emergent reading skills

19. Demonstrates emergent writing skills

• Writes name
• Mathematics

20. Uses number concepts and operations

• Counts
• Quantifies
• Connects numerals with their quantities

21. Explores and describes spatial relationshipsand shapes

• Understands shapes