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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

What educators might observe
  • Learns details about a topic of interest, (e.g., after reading a book about sharks, reads more books about sharks and learns the names of many sharks)
  • Collects objects that they are interested in, for example, sticks
  • Tries to reproduce things they are interested in (e.g., looks at a book about a castle and then tries to build a castle in the block area)
  • Asks for explanations of how things work (e.g., asks where the water in the faucet comes from)
  • Makes connection between their experiences at home and in school (e.g., says, “I have paints at home too!”)
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

What educators might observe
  • Gathers the materials that they need for a simple project, such as making imaginary soup
  • Finds their own clothing in their cubby and puts it on
  • Makes a plan for what they want to create (e.g., plans to draw a house)
  • Makes a choice about which area of the classroom they want to play in
  • Makes a new friend by playing alongside or with them and engaging in conversations
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

What educators might observe
  • Makes a bead necklace of their name and sorts through all the letters until they find those needed
  • Puts blocks away in their designated places until every block has been put away
  • Listens to a storybook read to the whole group from start to finish
  • Asks for help from a caregiver to complete a task
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

What educators might observe
  • Engages in detailed pretend play with peers
  • Makes objects that they need for pretend play (e.g., makes a boat out of a cardboard box)
  • Tries several ways to create the object they have in mind (e.g., child experiments with different foundations until they have found the one that will hold up a block bridge)
  • Develops techniques for painting and drawing (e.g., makes fast and slow strokes, or thick and thin lines)
  • Hears peers speaking a different language and makes up nonsense words and says they are speaking that language
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

What educators might observe
  • Runs smoothly around obstacles, stops and starts, plays tag
  • Jumps for height and distance
  • Hops on one foot
  • Balances on one foot for a few moments
  • Pedals tricycle while navigating corners and obstacles
  • Walks up and down stairs, alternating feet, without support
  • Climbs down playground ladders
  • Squats without falling over
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

What educators might observe
  • Strings small beads onto laces
  • Builds a tower of 10 or more blocks
  • Hits nails and pegs with a hammer
  • Forms shapes and designs out of clay (such as cookies with chips or snakes with eyes)
  • Buttons medium-large buttons when dressing themselves
  • Cuts along a line
  • Pulls tape off a dispenser, then attempts to tape items to a page or form tape into a ball
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

What educators might observe
  • Not able to see close up as well as they can far away
  • Jumps off platforms
  • Experiments with different kinds of slides and ways to slide
  • Roughhouses with peers
  • Swings and holds balance without falling off
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

What educators might observe
  • Independently uses the toilet
  • Independently washes hands before eating and after using the toilet with minimal reminders
  • Dresses themselves, but may need help with zippers, snaps and buttons
  • Communicates to educator about their own feelings of being hungry, tired or ill
  • Brushes their own teeth
  • After a couple of weeks at school, knows the morning routine such as placing their backpack into their cubby and hanging up their coat
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

What educators might observe
  • Asks questions about their bodies and the bodies of others
  • Curious about birth, reproduction, and how families are made (e.g., child may ask, “Where did I come from?” or “What makes a baby?”)
  • Plays “doctor,” taking off clothes and examining peers’ genitals
  • Seeks bodily pleasure (e.g., may want to cuddle when they wake up from nap or enjoy dressing up in silky dresses)
  • Masturbates either with their hands or through rubbing their genitals against surfaces like pillows or chairs
  • Uses “potty talk” to test limits and make people laugh
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

What educators might observe
  • Asks for help in completing projects that they are interested in but that are beyond their physical capabilities (e.g., asks caregiver to tape corners of cardboard construction together)
  • Carries out actions to please adults at times (e.g., cleans up at clean-up time)
  • Expresses feelings about adults (e.g., “I love Auntie because she always plays with me.”)
  • Follows educators’ guidelines for appropriate behavior in different environments
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

What educators might observe
  • Identifies self as a member of a group (e.g., refers to our family, our school, our faith, or our culture)
  • Begins to show evidence of internalized superiority or internalized oppression based on race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, ability status, family structure, body size, and/or language
  • Adjusts behavior to different settings (e.g., family vs. learning environment)
  • Compares similarities or differences of others (e.g., height, hair color, or skin tone)
  • Seeks out people and objects in the learning environment that affirm their sense of belonging (e.g., educator who shares their home language, family photo, item from home)
  • Develops their own theories about what causes differences in ability, gender, and skin color
  • May mask fear of differences with avoidance and/or silliness
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

What educators might observe
  • Describes family members and the structure of their family
  • Describes self by physical attributes, abilities, and feelings
  • Experiments by trying new activities and testing their abilities
  • Identifies feelings, likes, and dislikes, and expresses own ideas and opinions; begins to be able to explain why they have them
  • Becomes aware of and explores the meaning of their racial, cultural, gender identities; understands that they are a member of various social groups that have names (e.g., White, Black, African American, Dominican, Muslim, boy, transgender, etc.)
  • Children begin to internalize gender stereo-types and may begin to conform to society’s gendered expectations for their own behavior and/or express gender biases (e.g., only boys play with blocks or only girls wear dresses)
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

What educators might observe
  • Expresses how another child might feel (e.g., “I think Tanya is sad because she is crying.”)
  • Shows concern about fairness within peer group
  • Develops awareness that some racial, cultural, gender, and linguistic identities are unfairly valued more than others in society
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

What educators might observe
  • Assigns roles in play
  • Uses different turn-taking strategies (e.g., bartering, trading, or waiting for a turn)
  • Uses simple strategies to solve problems, either individually or in a group
  • Negotiates with other children to solve a problem
  • States a position with reasons (e.g., “I don’t want to play blocks right now because I want to draw.”)
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

What educators might observe
  • Tries to express strong feelings verbally, but then may resort to physical expression (e.g., breaking toys)
  • Acts out and resolves emotions in dramatic play
  • Explains the reason behind their emotions
  • Uses vocabulary for complex emotions, such as disappointed, frustrated, embarrassed, or thrilled
  • Advocates for what they want and what they like
  • Identifies some things that help them feel better when they are upset
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

What educators might observe
  • Adapts to changes in daily schedule (e.g., “Today is Wednesday, and we have our art lesson with our visiting artist.”)
  • Predicts what comes next in the day, when there is an established and consistent routine (e.g., “After nap we have a snack, then my Mom comes to get me.”)
  • Demonstrates understanding of the consequences of own actions on others (e.g., “I gave Anna the toy and so she feels better.”)
  • Waits for turn during group activities
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

What educators might observe
  • Uses past and future tenses (“Yesterday we went to the park, where I’m gonna have my birthday party!”)
  • Talks about a variety of topics for different purposes
  • Demonstrates more complex sentences and precise vocabulary in areas of interest, explaining, for example, “No, that’s not a digger, it’s an excavator!”
  • Emergent multilingual learners may ask to participate in activities using short sentences or approximations, for example, “Can I play?” or “I play?”
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

What educators might observe
  • Answers open-ended questions
  • Follows directions that involve a twoor three-step sequence of actions, which may not be related (e.g., “Please pick up your toys, and then get your shoes.”)
  • Extends/expands the thought or idea expressed by another
  • Engages in conversation that develops a thought or idea (e.g., talks about a past event)
  • Listens to others in a group discussion for a short period; gains information through listening
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

What educators might observe
  • Adds to a conversation by retelling a similar experience (“I love ice cream too, and I had some vanilla yesterday.”)
  • Initiates an exchange to provide information or to clarify (“My teacher said today is Monday. On Mondays I go to karate!”)
  • Takes turns on topic in an extended exchange, and shows knowledge of the speaker/listener role
  • Switches language or mode of communication as appropriate with family member or person with whom they are speaking
  • Tells stories with chains of events and actions
  • Uses terms that have meanings that are dependent on context, such as “this,” “that,” “here,” and “there”
  • Experiments with the effects some words (such as “Poo-poo head”) can have on others
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

What educators might observe
  • Looks for and finds texts that are enjoyable to look at or read from a library
  • Participates in dialogue about stories, images, or texts in preferred language (e.g. says, “ También me gusta .”)
  • Talks about characters in stories or texts, such as something funny that characters said or did
  • Retells a favorite story or text in play, imitating the rhythm or structure of the story/text (e.g., creating a coconut tree from a paper towel roll and using letter magnets to retell the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom )
  • Asks and answers open-ended questions about the meaning of pictures or texts (e.g., “How do the colors that the illustrator used make you feel?”)
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

What educators might observe
  • Demonstrates rhyme recognition, such as identifying which words rhyme from a group of three like hat, log, and cat
  • Recognizes phonemic changes in words, such as noticing the change in “Old Mc- Donald had a charm”
  • Provides a rhyming word such as “clay!” when given the clue “I’m thinking of something like play dough that we have out at the art area that rhymes with play.”
  • Notices and identifies words that start with the same sound
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

What educators might observe
  • Uses visual art materials (e.g., drawings, paintings, sculptures, and collages) to express ideas, knowledge, and feelings
  • Begins to form letter shapes that resemble the script of their home language
  • Attempts to write own name
  • Combines drawing and emergent writing (e.g., child draws their friends and labels them with rows of scribbles and shapes that resemble home language or English)
  • Narrates a storyline that involves multiple characters and actions that occur in a specific setting (e.g., pretend family takes a trip to the beach)
  • Dictates a story to an adult to transcribe in their home language
  • Uses environmental print to communicate (e.g., draws orange circle with an “M” inside to tell about their trip to the Met’s game)
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

What educators might observe
  • Uses documentation of previous experiences in the learning environment to plan their play (e.g., looks at a photograph of a block building from the day before and tries to recreate the building)
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

What educators might observe
  • Plays hide-and-seek, fully hiding body, but laughing or otherwise staying in touch with playmates through sound
  • Plays with their shadow, trying to step on it or get away from it
  • Has difficulty imagining that their adult family members were once children
  • Investigates the permanence of death through observation of insects and animals and in dramatic play; will ask questions about where the insect or animal may go
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

What educators might observe
  • Constructs and experiments with longer, complicated storylines in dramatic play
  • Invents storyline and initiates play with a peer (e.g., “Are you coming to my restaurant? Can I take your order?”)
  • Negotiates roles with peers (e.g, “I’ll be the papa and you are baby bear.” “NOOO. I’m the sister bear. And you are my brother.”)
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

What educators might observe
  • Reenacts multiple sequential scenes from personal experience, books, and media
  • Includes specific details of events when recreating them (e.g., pretending to add turmeric and paprika when cooking in the sand box)
  • Knows significant events from their family history (e.g., “Abuelito came from the Dominican Republic.”)
  • Describes significant changes in their own lives over time (e.g., “I used to live with my Auntie. Now I live in Mommy’s house in Buffalo.”)
  • Understands that things were different a very long time ago, but is unsure how long ago this was (e.g., “When grandma was little, were dinosaurs alive?”)
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

What educators might observe
  • Uses feelings and imagination to understand the results of a science experiment (e.g., “Maybe the caterpillar just felt like becoming a butterfly.”)
  • Uses sources other than the adult to gather information, such as books and peers
  • Brainstorms solutions based on background knowledge (e.g., “Be quiet so the birds will come!”)
  • Asks a series of questions about their observations (e.g., when observing a worm on the sidewalk the child asks, “Where did it come from? Why doesn’t it have eyes? How will it find its way home to its family?”)
  • Asks “why?” but then rejects answers not to their liking
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

What educators might observe
  • Uses clues and background knowledge to find causes (“She’s wearing a coat so it must be cold outside.”)
  • Identifies objects or conditions that affect other objects (“The food coloring makes the water blue” or “The cold turned the water to ice.”)
  • Makes predictions, sometimes using unrelated information (“I think the gold car will win. Gold is for winners.”)
  • Uses the word “because” to show relationship between past and future events
  • Distinguishes between some magical and scientific causes, but still believes in magical causes
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

What educators might observe
  • Uses blocks or boxes to build bridges
  • When using materials, compares results to initial predictions and tries again (e.g., after discovering that the slime breaks if stretched quickly, stretches it more slowly)
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
What educators might observe
  • Sorts by a given attribute, forming categories
  • Uses comparative words (e.g., faster, slower, louder)
  • Identifies the measurable attributes of objects such as length or weight and describes them using the appropriate vocabulary (e.g., small, big, short, tall, empty, full, heavy, light)
  • Lines up objects in order to determine which is longer
  • Fills large containers with cups of water and counts how many cups fit in each container
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
What educators might observe
  • Attempts to count to 20 by ones
  • Recognizes the number of objects in groups of four without counting
  • Accurately counts five to 10 objects in a line and answers the “how many” question with the last number counted
  • Can match a number of objects with a written numeral 0 to 5 (0 representing a count of no objects)
  • When asked for five of something, counts out five objects
  • Compares groups of one to six objects by matching (e.g., gives each child a bagel and says that there are the same number of bagels as children)
  • Counts the number of objects in a group so they can compare and say which has more, up to five objects; however, if the objects in one group are larger, may say that group has more (e.g., says three large trucks are more than five small cars
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
What educators might observe
  • Describes simple AB patterns (e.g., when the teacher claps then stomps, child names whether to clap or stomp next)
  • Extends visual patterns; continues building a line of blocks that an older child has begun (e.g., triangle, triangle, square, triangle, triangle, square)
  • Identifies repeating patterns in numbers ( “10, 20, and 30 all end in 0.”)
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
What educators might observe
  • Uses blocks to build in multiple directions, with multiple points of contact between components
  • Builds arches, enclosures, corners, and crosses
  • Follows a model to create simple shapes out of lines (e.g., organizes sticks to make a triangle or rectangle)
  • Slides and turns pieces to make them fit in a simple puzzle
  • Calls a shape a rectangle because it “looks like a door,” rather than naming sides and angles
  • Calls a variety of open or closed pointy shapes “triangles”
  • Experiments with combining shapes to make a new shape (e.g., in the block area, accidently puts two triangles together to make a square, and then repeats this action intentionally)
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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