I Can: Tick What You Can Do

Eight cards in two columns, each with a dashed tick box, a picture and a short sentence, make up this kindergarten page: I can paint a picture, I can brush my teeth, I can sing a song, I can ride a bike, I can run, I can swim, I can read a book, I can kick a ball. The pictures show the object or the action, a paintbrush and palette, a toothbrush, a microphone, a child on a bike. Under the cards a wide lane begins I want to learn to, with a three-line handwriting guide. The child reads each sentence, ticks the ones that are true, and writes one thing to learn.

The same two words open every sentence, so after the first card the child is reading I can by sight and only the last two or three words change, which is how a sentence frame teaches. There is no wrong tick, because only the child knows the answer, and that is what makes it an all-about-me page rather than a reading test. The writing at the bottom is the one open line: a real wish, spelled however the child can spell it. The teacher reads the ticks as a portrait and the last line as the child's first sentence of the year.

A one-sheet portrait print, color for the pictures. Read the eight sentences aloud together before the child works alone, and keep the finished page, since the empty boxes are the ones to tick in June. The all about me page is the drawing version of the same self-report, and my favorite things is the other choosing page. Story starters and picture writing are a separate worksheet family.