Kindergarten · Alberta
Kindergarten: what it actually covers
Alberta Kindergarten has six subjects and a short, specific list of things a child should be able to do by the end of it. This page is for the grown-up: what that list is, what it means, and what to do about it at home. The printables and the games are for the child.
The five learning areas
Each one starts with what Alberta asks for, defines the words teachers use, and then gives you things to try at home.
English language arts and literature
Letters and stories
Sounds before letters, letters before words. Talking and listening all the way through.
Open letters and stories
Mathematics
Numbers and shapes
Counting to 10 and meaning it, shapes in the real world, and comparing things directly.
Open numbers and shapes
Science
Looking closely
The five senses, what moves and what does not, and taking care of the place you live in.
Open looking closely
Social studies
People and places
Culture, tradition and community — the places near home, the people who lead, and what a group needs to work.
Open people and places
Physical education and wellness
Moving and feeling good
Moving for the joy of it, moving safely near other people, friendship, food, boundaries — and coins.
Open moving and feeling good
For the child
16 printable sheets
Printables
Tracing, counting, shapes, patterns, sorting and a name sheet — all pictures and outlines, nothing a five-year-old has to read.
Print a sheet
3 games
Games
Count Along, Shape Match, Pattern Party — tap-only, no reading, no timer.
Play a game
What Kindergarten is for
Alberta Kindergarten is a half-day or full-day year before Grade 1, and it is not compulsory — but almost every child goes. The programs of study cover six subjects: English language arts and literature, mathematics, science, social studies, physical education and wellness, and fine arts.
Most of what is on this site is new. Alberta rewrote the K–6 curriculum subject by subject: language arts and mathematics came into classrooms in 2022–23, science in 2023–24, and the new K–3 social studies only in September 2025. Fine arts is still taught from the older program, so it is not covered here.
The lists are shorter than parents expect, and that is on purpose. Kindergarten mathematics stops at ten. Reading is mostly done with the ears. Science is noticing things. The depth matters more than the range — a child who can count to a hundred but cannot tell you how many grapes are on the plate has the easier half.
How to use this
- Start with a learning area. Each one tells you what Alberta asks for, then defines the words — phonemic awareness, cardinality, direct comparison — that teachers use and parents rarely hear explained.
- Try the home ideas. They need nothing you do not already own. Most of them are things you can do while making dinner.
- Print a sheet when you want something on paper. Every sheet has one line of instructions for you at the top, and pictures for everything else.
- Hand over a game when you need ten quiet minutes. Nothing to read, nothing to sign up for, nothing that asks for money.
The expectations above are paraphrased from Alberta Education's New K–6 curriculum fact sheets, which publish a snapshot of each grade rather than the complete program of studies. Alberta's full programs are at alberta.ca/curriculum.