Child will develop the ability to speak and/ or sign in increasingly complete, complex, precise, and varied ways.
What educators might observe
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Asks questions such as “ ¿Quieres jugo? ” (“Do you want juice?”) along with “when” and “how” questions
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Answers “who,” “what,” “where,” and “when” questions in preferred language (e.g.,“ Vivo en Nueva York. ” [“I live in New York.”])
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Uses some pronouns correctly, such as “I,” “you,” “me,” “he,” and “they”
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Uses some plural words, like “toys,” “birds,” and “buses”
Child will develop their ability to listen and understand complete, complex, precise, and varied language.
What educators might observe
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Answers questions that show knowledge of events
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Asks questions that show attention to activities (e.g., “Why did the boy run away?”)
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Follows two-step directions (e.g., “Please put the blocks away, then sit on the rug.”)
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Begins to understand opposites (e.g., hot and cold, stop and go, up and down)
Child uses language to relate to others according to the social expectations of their family, community, and culture.
What educators might observe
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Asks questions about the current activity (“Can I have a brown crayon?”)
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Begins to take turns during conversations
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Makes formal requests or responses, such as “May I please...” and “Thank you.”
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Recognizes what rising and falling speech sounds mean and attempts to answer questions
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Acknowledges a partner’s message using fillers, such as “yeah” and “ok.”
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Begins code-switching and uses simpler language when talking to very young children
Child enjoys, attends to, understands, and makes meanings from spoken and written language of storytelling and books.
What educators might observe
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Makes connections between their experience and the experience of a character in a story or text (e.g., telling a friend at the park, “I’m planting seeds, just like Harold.”)
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Delights in stories and texts (e.g., looks at books independently, laughs at a humorous story, has a favorite book of poems, or treasures a birthday party invitation)
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Demonstrates emergent reading behavior (e.g., holds a book and reads aloud to dolls or stuffed animals; shows pictures or repeats memorized part of text)
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Turns pages of a familiar book in the direction that print follows in their home language
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Demonstrates understanding of narratives by telling and retelling stories nonverbally and/or verbally
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Asks and answers “what,” “where,” “who,” and “why” questions about books and during read-aloud sessions
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Uses background knowledge to connect with culturally relevant stories or pictures
Child develops the ability to recognize and manipulate the different sounds in spoken language(s).
What educators might observe
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Repeats simple familiar rhymes or sings favorite songs
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Shows enjoyment of rhyme and alliteration (e.g., sings to themself, “Mee, gee, fee, tee”)
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Participates in a read-aloud with a rhyming pattern, filling in the missing rhyming word
Child uses materials and/ or language to make meaning for themselves and/or an audience.
What educators might observe
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Uses stuffed animals or small figures to recreate events from their lived experience or from media
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Draws to represent an idea or experience; drawing may not be recognizable
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Scribbles, or draws letter-like shapes and says they are writing
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Dictates a short story to be read aloud and acted out (e.g., “Daddy came home and made dinner. Batman ate dinner too.”)
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Plans dramatic play with peers (e.g., “You be the baby and I’ll be the mommy. And I’ll go to work, ok?”)
Child views, creates, and makes meaning of visual communication and multimedia documentation, which includes drawings, collections, photographs, videos and displays.
What educators might observe
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Collects and shares objects with others (e.g., on a nature walk collects acorns and leaves to show educators and peers)
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Makes connections between documentation boards, drawings, and charts and past events (e.g., the child looks at a documentation board of the class trip to the fire station and says, “We saw the big hose.”
