Ontario · Kindergarten (JK/SK) · Planning 2026-27
How to sequence an Ontario Kindergarten long-range plan for 2026-27
The short answer
Start with the everyday expectations as all-year routines, then place each of the 102 specific expectations in the first month its building blocks are in place, and bring it back in later months instead of teaching it once. Our plan does that with 6 all-year overall expectations, three ladders that fix the order of the skills that build on each other, and codes from different strands placed in the same month when one activity serves both. The year starts full and tapers: 11 codes are introduced in September and 6 in June, when 8 earlier codes come back.
Milestone Teachers - created by an Ontario Certified Teacher · Last reviewed
- 102 specific expectations placed
- 25 overall expectations
- 6 run all year
- 10 months, September to June
First: what runs all year
Six overall expectations describe how children learn every day rather than a topic, so our plan gives them no month. They sit on every month page as a standing band.
- A1 Oral and Non-Verbal Communication
- A5 The Mathematical Processes
- C14 Social Skills
- C15 Self-Regulation
- C17 Active Participation
- D19 Identity and Self-Image
A5, the mathematical processes, has no specific expectations of its own: it is practised inside every number, pattern and data task.
The year at a glance
Each month has a theme and the codes it introduces; revisits are codes from earlier months that come back. Centres are the play-based centres in our four strand sets, placed in the month their first code is introduced (2 more run all year).
| Month | Theme | Codes introduced | Codes revisited | Centres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September | Belonging and routines | 11 | 0 | 8 |
| October | Patterns, sorting and the sounds in words | 12 | 4 | 12 |
| November | Letters to sounds, patterns to representations, our community | 11 | 5 | 5 |
| December | Blending into reading, composing to 10, perspectives | 11 | 5 | 6 |
| January | Reading simple texts, shapes, coding | 11 | 5 | 10 |
| February | Writing, fairness and friendship, measurement | 11 | 5 | 8 |
| March | Investigating, data, reading fluently | 10 | 5 | 7 |
| April | Design, build, test; the changing environment | 10 | 5 | 4 |
| May | Money, likelihood, identity and the arts | 9 | 6 | 5 |
| June | Sharing, moving and looking back | 6 | 8 | 5 |
Three ladders that fix the order
Some expectations build on others. A step can move a month either way; it cannot come before the step it builds on. Each step shows the month our plan introduces it.
Reading and writing
- A2.1 (September): Names capital and small letters in any order
- A2.3 (October): Hears, joins and separates the sounds in simple words
- A2.4 (November): Connects common printed letters with their sounds
- A2.5 (December): Blends letter sounds to read short words and spell them
- A3.3 (January): Understands simple texts using background, word, grammar and sentence knowledge
- A4.1 (February): Creates simple texts with letters, words, sentences, pictures and symbols
Number
- A6.4 (September): Recognizes groups of up to five without counting
- A6.5 (December): Builds and breaks apart quantities up to ten
- A6.11 (February): Recalls sums to five and matching subtraction facts
- A6.12 (April): Models adding and taking away within ten using objects
- A6.13 (May): Explores coin values up to 25 cents and money up to ten dollars
Coding to inquiry to building
- B12.6 (September): Uses safety routines, including head-injury prevention, and explains why
- B11.1 (December): Uses position and direction words to plan and follow moves
- B11.3 (January): Shows a sequence of instructions with pictures, words or symbols
- B12.1 (March): Names a problem and asks questions to investigate
- B12.5 (April): Plans, makes and tries out models or structures
- A9.3 (April): Finds flat and solid shapes within structures children build
Worked example: October
October in our plan, in full: the theme, the 12 codes it introduces with our summary of each, the 4 codes it brings back from September, why they come in this order, and the 12 centres placed there. The paid plan has a page like this for every month.
Theme: Patterns, sorting and the sounds in words
Introduced in October
Strand A: Foundations of Language and Mathematics
- A2.3: Hears, joins and separates the sounds in simple words
- A6.2: Connects counting up with more and counting back with fewer
- A6.8: Continues a count from any starting number up to 20
- A7.1: Finds, talks about and makes repeating patterns
- A7.2: Finds the repeating unit and explains its role
- A8.1: Groups objects or information by one feature
Strand B: Problem Solving and Innovating
- B13.1: Asks about and describes events noticed in nature
- B13.2: Groups living things separately from non-living things
Strand C: Self-Regulation and Well-Being
- C15.4: Manages impulses and adjusts conduct to the setting
- C16.3: Practises hygiene and explains how it supports self, family and community health
- C18.1: Notices space and position during whole-body movement
Strand D: Belonging and Contributing
- D23.1: Compares local places for similarities and differences
Revisited in October
- A2.1 (from September): Names capital and small letters in any order
- A6.4 (from September): Recognizes groups of up to five without counting
- C14.2 (from September): Waits and shares turns during group activities
- D19.2 (from September): Talks about individual likes and interests
Why this order
- A7.1, making and describing repeated sequences, comes before A7.2, finding the part of a pattern that repeats. A child has to have made patterns before that repeating part means anything.
- A8.1, sort by one attribute, and B13.2, sorting what is alive from what is not, are one skill in two strands. Autumn collections serve both and halve the preparation.
- A6.2 (counting forward makes the quantity bigger) is taught with A6.8, counting to 20 from any number, so the direction of counting is understood as it is practised.
- A2.3, isolating and blending phonemes, begins orally now, before letters are attached to sounds in November. A2.1 letter names continues from September.
Centres placed in October
- Sound Picnic (Strand A, A2.3, A2.4): Say a picture’s name slowly and pull off the first sound: mmm-oon, /m/.
- Robot Talk Word Lab (Strand A, A2.3, A2.5, A2.6): Blend sounds said the robot way into a word: /k/ /ă/ /t/ - cat.
- Number Path Hop (Strand A, A6.8, A6.2, A6.10, A6.3): Count on from any number: start at 7, then say 8, 9, 10.
- Nature Pattern Trail (Strand A, A7.1, A7.2): Find the core: the part of a pattern that repeats.
- Sorting Lab (Strand A, A8.1, A6.6): Choose one sorting rule, sort by it, and tell your rule.
- Weather Watchers (Strand B, B13.1, B12.2): Describe the weather with a weather word and a clue: “It is windy. The leaves are blowing.”
- Shadow Detectives (Strand B, B13.1, B12.2, B12.4, B13.3): A shadow needs light and something that blocks it: find the light, then find the shadow.
- Alive or Not? (Strand B, B13.2, B12.4): Ask the living-thing questions: Does it grow? Does it need food, water and air? Does it have babies or seeds?
- Ice Melt Investigators (Strand B, B13.1, B12.2, B12.4): Watch and describe a change: “The ice is getting smaller. There is water in the tray.”
- Calm Corner Toolkit (Strand C, C15.4, C16.5, C15.5): Name a feeling, then choose one calm tool and try it: smell the flower, blow out the candle.
- Bubble Hands Wash Station (Strand C, C16.3, C15.1): Wash hands in five steps: wet, soap, scrub for 20 seconds, rinse, dry.
- Nature Detectives (Strand D, D23.1, D23.2): Compare two places outside: say one way they are the same and one way they are different.
End of October checkpoint
Are A2.1 letter names and A6.4 subitizing to 5 secure for most SK children? If not, hold A2.4 until they are; November can absorb a week.
Continue with the full plan
Use this sequence for all 10 months
The full plan places all 102 specific expectations from September to June, explains the order, and includes trackers for what you have taught. It is a printable PDF, not an editable file, and a starting sequence rather than a required order.
See the long-range plan from Milestone Teachers
See the current price and currency on the product page before purchasing.
Adapting it to your class
- Move months, not ladders. If your class needs longer on a step, slide the rest of that ladder later. Never start a step before the one it builds on; the checkpoints are there to tell you when to wait.
- Fix your board's dates first. Children in Year 2 of Kindergarten take the mandatory early reading screening. Put your board's screening window and school calendar on the plan before you fix the months for the Strand A reading and writing codes.
- Let one activity carry two strands. When two codes from different strands need the same materials, give them the same month. In October, autumn collections serve sorting by one attribute (A8.1) and sorting what is alive from what is not (B13.2).
- Revisit on purpose. A code is introduced once and then comes back. Plan the revisits as short, planned returns in later months rather than hoping they happen in play.
Plan it yourself, or start from our plan
- Ontario Kindergarten (2026) Planning Grid (free PDF, 2 pages). Page 1: all 25 overall expectations by code and title against the ten months, with the six all-year threads marked, so you can shade in your own plan. Page 2: a blank month page with a box for each strand and for documentation notes.
- Ontario Kindergarten 2026 Planner (free, no login). The same year on screen: all 102 specific codes by month and strand, a code finder that shows when each code comes back and which of the 72 centres show it, and a one-page week sheet to print. Free, with no login or email.
- Ontario Kindergarten Long Range Plans 2026 Curriculum | Strands A-D | Digital. Our long-range plan places every overall and specific expectation in a month from September to June, with the reason for each month's order and trackers for what you have taught. It is a printable PDF, not an editable file, and a starting sequence rather than a required order. See the current price and currency on the product page before purchasing. Independent resource, not a Ministry publication.
- Ontario Kindergarten 2026 Bundle | Long Range Plans + Strands A-D Centres. Our long-range plan and all four strand centre sets in one resource bundle: 72 centres and 398 pages across five resources, with all five resources included. Its preview includes a month-by-month map of every centre. See the current price and currency on the product page before purchasing.
Questions teachers ask
How many expectations does a 2026 Ontario Kindergarten long-range plan need to place?
25 overall expectations in four strands, A to D, and 102 specific expectations. Our plan runs 6 of the overall expectations all year (A1, A5, C14, C15, C17, D19) and places every specific expectation in a month.
Is there a required order for the months?
The month order on this page is ours, a starting sequence rather than a required one, and your board's direction comes first. The order inside a ladder matters more than the month: naming letters (A2.1) and hearing the sounds in words (A2.3) come before matching letters to sounds (A2.4).
Is the French-language Kindergarten document the same as the English one?
No. Ontario's French-language schools use a separate document with 27 overall and 106 specific expectations. Two overall expectations exist only in French, so its codes are numbered differently; our French planning guide shows the correspondence.
What this guide is not
An independent planning guide, not a Ministry of Education publication. Codes and overall-expectation titles are the Ministry's; every summary is ours. The month order is our plan's starting sequence, not a required order, and your board's direction comes first.
Sources
- Ontario Ministry of Education: Kindergarten (2026): the curriculum
- Ontario Ministry of Education: Curriculum at a glance: strands and overall expectations
- Ontario Ministry of Education: Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning and Growth
- Ministère de l'Éducation de l'Ontario: Maternelle et jardin d'enfants (2026) : aperçu du programme-cadre
Ontario's new Kindergarten curriculum: the teacher's guide · Ontario Kindergarten 2026 Planner · Guide en français · All new curriculum guides