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Early Learning Guidelines

Across all five domains

4-year-olds

Stage Infants Toddlers Preschool Early elementary
Age 0–9 months 8–16 months 15–24 months 24–36 months 3-year-olds 4-year-olds 5-year-olds 6-year-olds 7-year-olds 8-year-olds
Domain All domains I. Approaches to Learning II. Physical Well-Being, Health and Motor Development III. Social and Emotional Development IV. Communication, Language, and Literacy V. Cognitive Development
Show Both What educators might observe Ways educators might support the child's development
I

Approaches to Learning

A

Curiosity and Interest

Child approaches the world with curiosity and develops knowledge about specific topics.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Ask families what the child has expressed interest in at home
  • Make those interests present in the learning environment
  • Respect children’s efforts, and make special places to hold their collections
  • Go to the library and check out several books related to a child’s interest
  • Organize outings and field trips related to the children’s interests
B

Initiative

Child pursues their own goals.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Discuss with families ways in which children’s initiative is a value in their family, community, and culture. Acknowledge different perspectives.
  • Recognize that a child may not demonstrate and express initiative in the same way in all settings (e.g., may take initiative with peers but not in the presence of elders)
  • Use vocabulary related to initiative:
    • “You decided to…”
    • “You made a choice…”
    • “You were planning to play…”
C

Persistence and Attentiveness

Child focuses on tasks and perseveres in accomplishing them.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Offer the child genuine opportunities to care for the learning environment, indicating how important and meaningful it is to be mindful of such tasks as watering plants, putting materials away, or stacking objects
  • Notice children’s accomplishments, patience, and persistence and describe why their efforts are important
  • Provide opportunities for children to revisit experiences and materials again and again so they are able to deepen their understanding
  • Encourage the child in their work, rather than solving the problem for them. Ask:
    • “How can you figure that out?”
    • “How can you fix that?”
D

Creativity and Inventiveness

Child uses their imagination to create and invent.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Allow children to save artwork and return to it. Have a place to keep projects if the child needs to transition to another activity and wants to continue to work on the project at another time.
  • Display children’s art, at child’s level, around the room and in the hallway. Document and share the process in which the art is being created with children, through written descriptions and photographs.
  • Provide child with access to artists and artwork from own and other cultures (e.g., pictures of famous artworks, sculptures, and artifacts)
  • Include time in the day for children to experiment with musical instruments, song, and dance
II

Physical Well-Being, Health and Motor Development

A

Large Motor Skills

Child uses and coordinates their large muscle groups.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Play games with children that facilitate the development of gross motor skills, such as
    • Simon Says
    • Freeze tag
    • Hokey Pokey
    • Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
    • Red Light, Green Light
    • Songs with dance steps that include galloping, skipping, and walking in rhythm
  • Provide times in the daily schedule for both structured and unstructured gross motor activity
B

Small Motor Skills

Child controls the small muscles in their hands and wrists.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Include materials in the learning environment that provide a variety of opportunities for practicing writing and drawing
    • Markers
    • Colored pencils
    • Dry erase boards
    • Slates with chalk
    • Bingo markers
    • Oil pastels
    • Magnetic writing boards
    • Playground chalk
    • Watercolor painting supplies
  • Practice writing letters in materials that provide sensory input, such as trays of shaving cream or sand
C

Sensory Integration

The child uses sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, proprioception (deep pressure), and vestibular function (balance) to perceive and respond to the world around them.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Engage families in conversation about their values around rough-and-tumble play
  • Identify and evaluate which local playgrounds have equipment for climbing, swinging, and balancing that meets safety guidelines
  • Provide access to experiences that develop the child’s sense of balance
    • Balance boards
    • Low balance beams
    • Tire swings
    • Bucket swings
    • Slides
    • Climbers
  • Take the children on listening walks and then talk about what you heard
D

Self-Care

Child cares for their physical well-being.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Include materials in the learning environment that foster the development of self-help skills
    • Accessible sinks
    • Child-size toilets
    • Sponges, washcloths, and napkins at a low level
    • Snack table where they can independently serve themselves food
    • Pitcher and cups for pouring their own milk or water
    • Quiet cozy area where they can go when tired
    • Individual cubbies for personal items
    • Items in the dramatic play area that allow children to practice self-help skills such as clothes with buttons, snaps and zippers
  • Provide opportunities for children to learn about pedestrian, bicycle, and water safety
E

Healthy Sexuality

Child develops a healthy relationship to their body, pleasure, and others. This healthy sense of self is supported and demonstrated through respectful, caring, and loving relationships with families, educators, and other children.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Provide straightforward, honest answers to children’s questions, and be mindful to provide answers in ways that are inclusive of all genders, all bodies, and all of the different ways that people make families (For example, instead of saying, “Girls have vaginas and boys have penises,” you could say, “Many or most girls have vaginas, and many or most boys have penises.”)
  • Communicate with families early and often about your policies and practices regarding gender and sexuality
  • Avoid overreacting to common (or typical) child sexual behavior like masturbation; set limits without shaming children
  • Teach children to ask permission before touching or embracing a playmate, using language such as, “Jasmine, let’s ask Joe if he would like to hug bye-bye.” If Joe says “no” to this request, cheerfully tell the child, “That’s okay, Jasmine! Let’s wave bye-bye to Joe and blow him a kiss instead.”
III

Social and Emotional Development

A

Trusting Relationships with Adults

Child develops trusting relationships with nurturing adults.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Talk to the family about their hopes and dreams for the child, and hold that image in your mind
  • Notice when the child may need comfort and reassurance and provide support, even when they do not ask for it
  • Promote the idea that everyone shares the responsibility for the well-being of children
  • Use observation, recording, and reflection to notice the areas in which children are struggling and plan to offer them extra support in those areas
  • Ask open-ended questions to sustain conversations with children
B

Sense of Belonging

Child experiences a sense of belonging in environments that link, extend, and affirm the child’s family and community. Child expresses comfort and joy with human diversity.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Welcome children’s questions about difference (“You are noticing your skin color is different than mine. What words would you use to say what color my skin is?”)
  • Include books and materials within the learning environment that respect and honor differences and those by authors of different backgrounds (e.g., culture, gender, ethnicity, language, and abilities)
  • Ask families to send in photos of things that are meaningful to each child, such as foods, celebrations, and family activities; use pictures to make personalized posters, displays, and class books
  • Ask families to bring familiar objects from their home, such as music, instruments, household items, clothing, and toys, and encourage children to talk about and use them in the classroom
  • In non-parochial schools, refrain from celebrating religious holidays, such as Christmas; instead invite families to visit the class and share their cultural traditions
C

Sense of Self

Child develops a sense of self through noticing and developing their own interests, preferences, and abilities. Child increasingly develops self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Talk to the child’s family to learn about their strengths, knowledge, and experiences
    • Home languages
    • Traditions
    • Friends and family members
    • Caregivers and caregiving practices
    • Educational activities
    • Chores
    • Family outings and trips
    • Occupations
    • Scientific knowledge
  • Make the families’ strengths, knowledge, and experiences present in the classroom through materials, curriculum, field trips, and conversation
  • Provide paint, markers, crayons, construction paper, and other materials in a range of skin tones that children can utilize in their artwork
  • Teach children about some of the different words people use to describe their identities
  • Gently intervene when you notice children enforcing rigid gender roles. For example, if you overhear a child saying, “You can’t play with us! Only boys can be firefighters,” you can ask, “Is that true? I don’t think it’s accurate to say that only boys can be firefighters. There are many women firefighters.”
D

Empathy

Child forms deep, caring, human connections by imagining what someone else may be thinking or feeling and responding with care. Child recognizes unfairness and understands that unfairness hurts.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Assist children in acknowledging and understanding how a peer is feeling by pointing out facial expressions, voice, tone, body language, or words the child is using
  • Use “I” statements to teach children self-awareness (“I don’t like it when you ignore me. It makes me feel sad.”)
  • Using an anti-bias approach, introduce critical thinking (true/not true, fair/not fair) about pervasive stereotypes
  • Put a seed in a jar every time a child practices an act of kindness and plant a kindness garden when the jar is full
E

Cooperation and Negotiation

Child navigates friendships with peers through cooperation and negotiation.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Include books about friendship in the learning environment, such as
    • Making Friends , by Fred Rogers
    • Amos and Boris , by William Steig
    • Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse , by Leo Lionni
  • If possible, create opportunities for emergent multilingual children who share the same home language to sit and play together
  • Use conflict-resolution strategies such as a problem-solving script 1. “I don’t like it when…” 2. “What can I do to make you feel better?” 3. “ You can …”
  • Use visual aids to illustrate strategies for problem-solving; for example, allow children to select a picture that depicts how they feel and what will make them feel better
  • Provide opportunities for the child to experience the reactions of their peers by not rushing in too quickly to resolve conflicts
F

Emotional Self-Regulation

Child expresses and manages their feelings and impulses.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Reflect with colleagues to determine what message children’s feelings, behaviors, and impulses are conveying
  • Wait until you are calm before talking to a child about a moment in which they had strong feelings
  • When you and the child are both calm, talk to the child about what happened (e.g., “Earlier you cried when Ellen took the toy from you. How do you think you were feeling? What could you have said to tell Ellen how you felt?”)
  • Teach children coping strategies for self-regulating/or self-monitoring behaviors
  • Avoid stereotyping children’s expression of emotion (e.g., validate boys when they cry, and girls when they get angry)
G

Rhythms, Rules, and Routines

Child follows the rhythms, rules, and routines of the learning environment.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Implement the schedule consistently
  • Teach children about the schedule and encourage them to verbally express what comes next
  • Teach children the expectations for transition times
  • Provide clear verbal and visual warnings prior to transitions
  • Follow through with positive acknowledgement of children’s behavior and following of rules
  • Provide gentle reminders about rules of different areas, such as the playground and the classroom
  • Establish, e xplain, and model simple rules in ways children can understand (e.g., nap time might involve going to the bathroom, seeing the lights go off, getting into bed, and hearing calming music)
IV

Communication, Language, and Literacy

A

Speaking

Child will develop the ability to speak and/ or sign in increasingly complete, complex, precise, and varied ways.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Learn and use key phrases in the home language of the children
  • Sing songs, chants, rhymes, and finger plays in English and the home language to help children learn common phrases and words through music
  • Repeat new and interesting vocabulary in different settings and times throughout the day
  • Allow children to use translanguaging, which involves using their home language and English interchangeably; children should be encouraged to access all languages available to them
  • Sit with children during snack and lunch time to model language and encourage conversation
B

Listening and Understanding

Child will develop their ability to listen and understand complete, complex, precise, and varied language.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Engage in back-and-forth informal conversations about topics that are relevant and important to children’s own lives
  • Encourage children to engage in dramatic play in their home language
  • Create opportunities for informal extended exchanges between peers throughout the day
  • Use wait-time; after asking children a question, pause for at least 3 extra seconds to allow children time to think and respond
C

Social Communication

Child uses language to relate to others according to the social expectations of their family, community, and culture.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Encourage children to speak to classmates who share their home language
  • Provide visual supports for turn-taking during group conversations
    • Write a list of who will be speaking next, and check it off
    • Use a “talking-stick” that the speaker holds and passes when they are done talking
  • Provide scripts for children to initiate social interactions (“I see you watching your classmate play in the sandbox. if you want to play with them, let’s think about what you could say.”)
D

Engaging with Stories and Books

Child enjoys, attends to, understands, and makes meanings from spoken and written language of storytelling and books.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Before reading a book, look at the cover with the children; ask, “What do you think will happen in this story?”
  • Use self-talk to describe comprehension strategies (e.g., “I see that the illustrator used bright yellow, orange, and red, and those colors make me feel happy.”)
  • Read some story books from start to finish so that children may enjoy the plot
  • When reading non-fiction books, pause on a page to ask and answer questions about the pictures
  • Select and create texts related to children’s interests and unit of study to reread multiple times; create connections from these texts to learning centers
  • Include books in all areas of the learning environment
E

Phonological Awareness

Child develops the ability to recognize and manipulate the different sounds in spoken language(s).

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Include rhyming books and songs in the environment to encourage phonological awareness
    • The Very Hungry Caterpillar , by Eric Carle
    • Chicka Chicka Boom Boom , by Bill Martin Jr
    • I Ain’t Gonna Paint No Mor e, by Karen Beaumont
    • Mama Llama Red P ajama , by Anna Dewdney
    • There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly , by Pam Adams
    • “Juanito Cuando Baila”
  • Include alphabet books in the learning environment
    • Alphabet City , by Stephen T Johnson
    • Chicka Chicka Boom Boom , by Bill Martin Jr
    • I Spy An Alphabet in Art , by Lucy Micklethwait
    • Eating the Alphabet , by Lois Ehlert
    • Alligators All Around , by Maurice Sendak
    • On Market Street , by Arnold Lobel
F

Composing

Child uses materials and/ or language to make meaning for themselves and/or an audience.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Include text in the children’s home languages in the learning environment
    • Welcome sign on door
    • Labels for where learning materials go
    • Hand-washing directions
  • Take dictation of children’s narration of their drawing, showing the children that the words they say become text with writing; reread their words with them
  • Notice and acknowledge children’s various composing processes
  • Set up a letter-writing station for writing to their peers, parents, siblings, and other family members; have envelopes, pieces of paper that children can make into stamps, and other letter-making materials
G

Creating and Interpreting Multimedia Texts

Child views, creates, and makes meaning of visual communication and multimedia documentation, which includes drawings, collections, photographs, videos and displays.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Include children in documenting learning; provide them with paper, pencils, journals, and cameras
  • Provide opportunities for children to reflect on the documentation of their learning individually and in small and large groups
  • Use documentation as the basis for storytelling and curriculum planning
V

Cognitive Development

A

Understanding Stability and Change

Child recognizes and develops the ability to explain how material objects change and how they remain stable.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Provide concrete examples of changes that occur
    • Document the growth of a caterpillar into a butterfly
    • Collect different colored leaves (green, red, and brown)
    • Watch a pumpkin decompose
    • Trace their shadows at different times of the day
    • Observe patterns of change in weather conditions, daily and seasonally
  • Allow the children to have a ceremony when a classroom pet has died; answer their questions about death factually
B

Representing

Child uses symbolic thought to represent.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Invite families to visit the class to share a folktale or family story
  • Encourage the child to add details; for example, build a fort to represent an animal’s home, and then discuss what would be needed in the fort to make it more cozy
  • Support the development of children’s understanding of gender roles in representation (“What does it mean to look like a girl? Does a girl have to look like that?”)
C

Memory and History

Child develops the ability to store, retrieve, and share information about past experiences.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Observe and reflect on children’s dramatic play; what personal histories are they are re-enacting?
  • Invite children to use drawing and dictation to tell about recent experiences
  • Create a schedule of the day and support discussion about what comes first and what comes next during the day, as well as what usually happens on what days of the week
D

Investigating and Exploring

Child becomes a scientific thinker by manipulating objects, asking questions, making observations and predictions, and developing generalizations.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • When a child asks a question, encourage the group to hypothesize what the answer may be; chart their responses and invite them to explain their thinking
  • Show children how to look for the answer to a question in a book or online
  • Provide opportunities for children to use polls (“Do you think it will rain today?’ “Which item will weigh more-a book, a leaf or a pencil?”)
  • Make big graphs to capture this “data” so that children can see and interpret it
  • Provide tools to explore the environment (magnets, magnifying glasses, light table)
E

Understanding Cause and Effect

Child understands and explores the causes and effects of actions and events.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Engage children in extended back-andforth conversations about the reasons for things
  • Use phrases such as
    • What do you think will happen when…?
    • What happened last time?
    • What made that happen?
    • Why do you think that?
  • Observe and record children’s hypotheses about causes, and revisit predictions with children to reflect on how their thinking has changed over time
F

Engineering: Problem-solving with Materials

Child plans and uses hands, tools, and technology to solve problems with materials.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool

Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Support children in thinking of themselves as engineers by asking questions such as
    • “How can you use these materials to make..?”
    • “What do you think would happen if…?”
    • “Why do you think that happened?”
  • Help children see that mistakes teach us important things
G

Math

1. Comparing and Categorizing

Child recognizes some similarities and differences between familiar and unfamiliar people, objects, or experiences.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool
Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Make a simple Bingo game with 9 squares of colors, shapes, or animals; the cards from this game can also be used for a simple matching game
  • If children are comparing objects, offer them a standard or non-standard tool for measurement
  • Play “duck, duck, goose” using different categories, such as “train, train, car”

2. Number Sense and Quantity

Child understands and explores numbers and quantity.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool
Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Observe children’s use of counting, oneto-one correspondence, estimating, and simple arithmetic in their play; connect to and extend this learning
  • Offer games that ask children to match a numeral to a number of things
    • String six beads on a pipe cleaner
    • P ick a card and fill the basket with that number of objects
    • Roll a dice and do a movement that many times
    • Jump, clap, or stomp one to five times and ask the children to hold up the number of fingers that matches the number of movements
  • Include books related to number and quantity in the learning environment
    • The Doorbell Rang , by Pat Hutchins
    • Anno’s Counting Book , by Mitsumasa Ann
    • Ten Black Dots , by Donald Crews
    • City by Numbers , by Stephen Johnson
    • Fish Eyes , by Lois Ehlert

3. Patterning

Child develops the ability to identify, describe, extend, and create patterns.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool
Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Invite children to join you in creating a pattern of music using simple instruments such as a tambourine and a triangle
  • Ask children to notice patterns in the world, such as in seasons or daily schedules
  • Provide materials such as pattern blocks and color tiles that suggest creating AB patterns
  • Use songs and games to teach patterns:
    • Red Light, Green Light
    • Duck, Duck, Goose
    • Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

4. Spatial Sense and Geometry

Child understands how objects, points, lines, and shapes fit in space.

4-year-olds – See this age across all domains Preschool
Ways educators might support the child's development
  • Include materials in the classroom environment that develop geometric concepts
    • Blocks
    • Jigsaw puzzles
    • Magnetic shapes
    • Shape puzzles
    • Pattern blocks
    • Unit blocks
    • Legos
  • Go on community walks along different routes and discuss which route was longer or shorter and why
  • Describe the location of objects the child is trying to find, rather than pointing to them (e.g., “The tape is beside the construction paper.”)
  • Present many examples of squares and rectangles, varying orientation and size; include squares as examples of rectangles (If children say, “That’s a square,” reply, “It is a square, which is a special type of rectangle.”

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