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.

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• May be anxious about death
• Discusses the physical changes that accompany age
• Can imagine their adult family members growing old
• Compares the life cycles of different organisms (e.g., says that people live longer than dogs)
• Becomes conscious of time, but is not yet able to tell time on the clock (“Is it three o’clock? My grandma is coming to get me.”)

B

Representing

Child uses symbolic thought to represent.

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Assigns roles and acts out scenes from the economy (e.g., child dramatizes a farmer’s market and has peers work at different stalls and be customers)
• Uses art to reflect on their experiences (e.g., uses musical instruments to make a song about an experience they had)
• Shares stories and symbols from their own families and cultures

C

Memory and History

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

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Begins to understand that history describes the collective memories of people and events from other times and places
• Asks questions of elders about how life was different in the past
• Shares significant events from their own family history with peers

D

Investigating and Exploring

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

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Uses non-fiction books to find answers to questions
• Develops hypotheses (e.g., If a hermit crab prefers a particular shell, the child says, “I think it’s because he has more room to grow in there.”)
• Describes a strategy for finding out if their hypothesis is true
• Uses prior knowledge to make generalizations about what might happen (e.g., The child says, “Fruits grow on trees, so I think if I plant this orange seed, a tree will grow.”)

E

Understanding Cause and Effect

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

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Believes their own theory about the cause of an event, regardless of the evidence
• Discusses how rules impact people and the environment (e.g., recycling)
• Reflects on how some actions can help others feel better (e.g., cheering up a sad friend by sharing their snack)

F

Engineering: Problem-solving with Materials

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

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Investigates the motion and movement of objects when solving problems with materials (e.g., notices and compares how different balls bounce higher than others)
• Identifies and describes tools made for different purposes
• Uses sophisticated strategies to make their block buildings more stable

G

Math

1. Comparing and Categorizing

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

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Compares several aspects of something (e.g., compares animals, identifying similarities and differences between the ways they move, eat, and defend themselves)
• Notices and compares changes over time (e.g., compares the length of the day at different times of the year, saying, “It used to be dark when I was picked up.”)
• U ses a repeating unit to measure length (e.g., uses a line of small blocks to measure a book)
• Identifies similarities and differences among the lives of people in different families and communities

2. Number Sense and Quantity

Child understands and explores numbers and quantity.

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Understands that 10 is always 10, whether it is made by adding 6+4 or 7+3
• Starts counting with numbers other than one (e.g., asked to count from four to seven, counts four, five, six, seven)
• Answers questions about quantity such as, “How many more?” “How many fewer?” by counting up or down (e.g., when asked how many is three more than six? The child responds, “Six, seven [puts up a finger], eight [puts up another finger], nine [puts up a third finger])
• Understands place value; understands value of a digit according to the place of the digit within a number
• Makes whole objects from parts when counting (Given three whole plastic eggs and four plastic egg halves, knows they have five whole eggs)

3. Patterning

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

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Identifies the smallest unit of a pattern
• Skip counts by tens, fives, and twos
• Explains the rule for a number pattern. For example, 5, 10, 15, 20 is the “plus five” number pattern
• Looks for and explains patterns in a number chart
• Understands the commutative principle of addition (2+3 = 5, 3+2 = 5)

4. Spatial Sense and Geometry

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

6-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary

What educators might observe

• Uses maps with picture clues to determine paths and find objects
• Discriminates and names most common shapes, including rhombuses, without making mistakes such as calling ovals circles
• Moves one shape on top of another to check if it fits exactly
• Divides circles and rectangles into halves or fourths to develop understanding of part/whole
• Uses blocks to make complex towers or other structures involving multiple levels with ceilings