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Early Learning Guidelines

Across all five domains

Early elementary

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.

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

What educators might observe
  • Locates an informational text in the classroom to find out about topics they are interested in
  • Asks questions of experts (e.g., during a field trip to the waste treatment plant, child asks questions about how the pipes are connected)

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

What educators might observe
  • Recognizes that reality is not directly knowable and that people may have different interpretations of the same event
  • Pursues a particular interest by reading multiple books about the topic and writing and drawing about it
  • Observes and records information over time (e.g., observes and records notes about the guinea pig in its cage each day)

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

What educators might observe
  • Conducts research based on a topic of interest
  • Uses prior knowledge to develop research questions (e.g., learns about how fish spawn eggs and then decides to find out about the reproductive cycle of amphibians)
B

Initiative

Child pursues their own goals.

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

What educators might observe
  • Thinks of ideas for stories they want to write about
  • Volunteers to help with classroom chores
  • Talks to an educator about how to solve a social problem (e.g., talks about homeless people they see on the way to school and asks how we might offer shelter to them)

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

What educators might observe
  • Applies learning in new contexts (e.g., learns about gardening in school and then brings seeds home and plants them in back yard)
  • Attempts to master styles of drawing and creating (e.g., sees manga in a graphic novel and tries drawing in that style)
  • Selects materials to create engineering solutions (e.g., uses wire, tape, and pieces of wood to create a drawbridge)
  • Uses writing to meet their goals (e.g., writes a card to a friend when they are out sick)

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

What educators might observe
  • Recognizes that trying something new may be difficult at first
  • Independently determines direction for their future learning (e.g., decides that they would like to learn to play the guitar)
  • Considers alternatives before beginning a project
  • Knows what their own talents are and offers to use them to help others
  • Evaluates their progress on their goals
C

Persistence and Attentiveness

Child focuses on tasks and perseveres in accomplishing them.

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

What educators might observe
  • Sustains interest in a chapter book the educator is reading the class over the course of several weeks
  • Reflects on their work and makes changes based on feedback from peers or educators

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

What educators might observe
  • Is able to concentrate for extended periods of time (30 minutes or more), even on non-preferred tasks
  • Makes several attempts to solve a problem, but doesn’t give up until they find a solution
  • Tries multiple strategies for solving a problem
  • Remembers essential facts over a period of days
  • Is conscious of the presentation of their work and makes revisions to improve their work

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

What educators might observe
  • Screens out distractions and concentrates on relevant information as they work
  • Makes a decision about how to work so they will be able to focus
  • Decides to step away from a challenge when frustrated and then returns to it
  • Organizes long-term projects (e.g., begins a project by gathering supporting texts)
  • Revises their writing, checking for meaning, spelling, and punctuation
D

Creativity and Inventiveness

Child uses their imagination to create and invent.

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

What educators might observe
  • Uses their knowledge of science or social studies in creating (e.g., finds a beetle and makes a home for it with leaves and sticks)
  • Collaborates with peers to create a project over time (e.g., works together in a small group to paint the backdrop for a play)
  • Uses a familiar story as the basis to tell a new version (e.g., learns several Anansi stories and then makes up their own story about a tricky spider)

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

What educators might observe
  • Uses standardized tools to assist them in their projects (e.g., uses a yardstick to measure the amount of string they need to hang up a curtain)
  • Thinks flexibly about how to create a project
  • Creates variation of existing games with peers
  • Adds functional details to a project (e.g., sews on a button and makes a rough buttonhole to hold on a cape)

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

What educators might observe
  • Presents an idea for a creative project to the group and then waits for the group’s feedback and incorporates their ideas
  • Considers how objects appear from points of view not their own (e.g., tries drawing a picture from a bird’s-eye perspective)
  • Incorporates ideas from cultures they have learned about into their creations
II

Physical Well-Being, Health and Motor Development

A

Large Motor Skills

Child uses and coordinates their large muscle groups.

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

What educators might observe
  • Kicks a ball at a target
  • Pumps legs to swing
  • Rides a bicycle without training wheels
  • Jumps rope
  • Dribbles basketball a few times

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

What educators might observe
  • Runs up and down stairs with alternating feet
  • Runs to catch moving ball
  • Turns cartwheels
  • Swims
  • Learns a series of dance steps
  • Swings bat and hits ball

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

What educators might observe
  • Shows good form in basic movement even when participating in fast-moving games
  • Dribbles ball forward
  • Runs forward while tossing a ball back and forth with a peer
  • Mirrors partner’s movements in a dance
  • Tosses a ball to themselves and hits it with a bat
B

Small Motor Skills

Child controls the small muscles in their hands and wrists.

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

What educators might observe
  • Cuts out a shape, such as a house, with scissors
  • Uses a pencil to write letters
  • Makes braided chains of yarn or finger-knits
  • Uses a large needle and thread to sew a pouch or a pattern
  • Weaves yarn or strips of paper together
  • Grips and squeezes a paper punch or pliers
  • Ties shoelaces in bow

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

What educators might observe
  • Uses saws and hammers to build a construction
  • Peels carrots and potatoes efficiently with a peeler
  • Writes using letters that are the same size; stays on line when writing
  • Knits a scarf
  • Uses appropriate pressure when writing

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

What educators might observe
  • Folds paper into simple origami shapes
  • Cuts out complex shapes
  • Print has a consistent shape and size
  • Learns cursive
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.

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

What educators might observe
  • Eye muscles are adequately developed to allow them to move their eyes efficiently across a series of letters
  • Identifies and describes sensations they find soothing or disagreeable
  • Propels self on swing by pushing off tree or other surface with their feet, and begins to pump their legs

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

What educators might observe
  • Children’s senses are well-integrated

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

The guidelines don’t define behaviours for this area at this age.

D

Self-Care

Child cares for their physical well-being.

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

What educators might observe
  • Describes the purpose of events at the doctor’s office (e.g., says that a vaccine will keep them from getting sick in the future)
  • Discusses consent with educators and peers; for example, says, “I would prefer to shake your hand, not give you a kiss.”
  • Knows to call 911 in an emergency
  • Knows what bullying is and how to report bullying to a trusted adult

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

What educators might observe
  • Differentiates between conflict and bullying
  • In play with peers, establishes and follows own safety rules (e.g., says, “Let’s play tag, but no pushing hard, just tagging.”)
  • Checks in with educator before assuming new levels of risk, for example, says, ‘We are going to go down to play by the woods, ok?

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

What educators might observe
  • Asks questions about laws and regulations that make the community safe
  • Intervenes when they see a child breaking a safety rule (e.g., attempts to stop a child who is about to ride a bicycle without a helmet)
  • Is aware that different educators and families have different rules, and they should follow the rules of the adults who they are with
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.

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

What educators might observe
  • Less interested in exploring sexuality than they were earlier
  • May continue to masturbate and understand that it is a healthy activity that has a specific time and place
  • Begins to understand concepts of the body changing as it grows older
  • Knows that they have agency over and are the experts on their own bodies and gender identity (i.e. they get to decide if they are a boy, girl, both, or something else)
  • Understands that there are lots of different kinds of loving relationships (e.g. parent, sibling, friend, etc.)

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

What educators might observe
  • Looks to peers, media, and other sources for information about sex and sexuality; knows that not everything they hear from peers or see on T.V. or the internet is true
  • Children have questions about sex, crushes, dating, and relationships
  • May express internalized patriarchy and homophobia through teasing, using sexually explicit language (or slurs), and/or talking about girls’ bodies
  • Expresses their wants and needs with respect to their body (e.g., “Can I have some space?”) and respects the wants and needs of others (e.g., will stop roughhousing with a peer when told to)

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

What educators might observe
  • Some children’s bodies are changing (e.g., they may grow breast buds and/ or pubic hair)
  • Knows that many (but not all) grownups fall in love with (and sometimes marry) people of a different gender; understands that it’s not accurate to assume that all families have a mother and father and begins to explore many different family structures
III

Social and Emotional Development

A

Trusting Relationships with Adults

Child develops trusting relationships with nurturing adults.

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

What educators might observe
  • Greets educators or other adults when arriving in the learning environment
  • Engages in informal conversations with adults (e.g., talks with educator every day about what their new kitten is doing)
  • Seeks educator’s assistance when a group of children cannot agree on the rules for a game
  • Seeks educator’s advice on how to deal with a conflict with a friend

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

What educators might observe
  • Discusses a problem with classroom teacher, resource teacher, or volunteer
  • Talks to educators and staff about what they do at home with their family
  • Seeks assistance from an educator when a task is too difficult to accomplish by themselves
  • Initiates conversation with adult to “be together”

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

What educators might observe
  • Respectfully engages adult with a different viewpoint and considers adult’s alternative suggestions in conversation (e.g., listens to adult share views about a movie and offers a different viewpoint)
  • Volunteers to help educator with tasks (e.g., staple or hand out papers)
  • Identifies family, school, and community strengths and supports
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.

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

What educators might observe
  • Shows evidence of social messages affecting how they feel about their self and group identity (e.g., evidence of internalized superiority or internalized oppression)
  • Knows that insults related to race, gender, and cultural identity are hurtful
  • May choose to play only with children close to their gender, racial, or cultural identities
  • Explores the similarities and differences in the home cultures of their peers

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

What educators might observe
  • Represents themselves as part of racial, cultural, linguistic, or national groups
  • Forms groups of friends who share their gender, racial or cultural identities
  • Describes how they adjust their behavior between home and the learning environment

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

What educators might observe
  • Exhibits understanding of larger concepts related to self and belonging (e.g., safety, respect, kindness, and care for objects, self, and others)
  • Identifies gender and racial stereotypes in books and media
  • Knows some historical facts about their family, community, and culture
  • May disengage from learning if they feel like they do not belong at school
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.

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

What educators might observe
  • Shows satisfaction and pride in their work (e.g., expresses joy when they are selected to work on a new science project)
  • Compares abilities to those of their peers
  • Seeks approval of abilities from peers and adults
  • Can name some of their group identities and express how they feel about being a member of those groups

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

What educators might observe
  • Describes likes, dislikes, needs, wants, strengths, challenges, and personal opinions
  • Asks for help from a educator or peer when a task is too difficult to accomplish alone (e.g., “Can you help me with this math problem? I don’t remember how to do it.”)
  • Identifies goals for individual progress, accomplishment, or success
  • Identifies strategies that help them to be successful as a learner (e.g., “It helps me stay focused if I clear off my desk.”)
  • Internalizes societal messages related to gender and body image (e.g., girls may internalize a belief that they aren’t good at math or may express a desire to be thinner)

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

What educators might observe
  • Reflects on and evaluates their own thinking and learning
  • Takes pride in individual accomplishments and respects accomplishment of others (e.g., “Your story was so detailed. I really liked it!”)
  • Plans for learning and physical needs ahead of time (e.g., brings their own stress ball to circle time)
  • Identifies role models who share some of their interests and marginalized group identities
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.

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

What educators might observe
  • Dislikes being at a relative disadvantage to others (e.g., would rather that nobody got cookies, then that their friend got two and they got one)
  • Does not object to being at a relative advantage to others (e.g., does not advocate for fairness when they get three cookies and their peer gets one)
  • Notices and describes social inequities

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

What educators might observe
  • Stands up for others when they encounter unfairness
  • Feels strongly about equality of outcome
  • Understands that people think about what others are thinking or feeling (e.g., says, “He invited her to the party because he didn’t want her to feel left out.”)

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

What educators might observe
  • Uses previous experiences when interpreting another person’s feelings (e.g., notices a child playing alone on the playground and invites them to play)
  • Observes and determines reactions of others when responding (e.g., The child remembers that their friend likes to be alone when they are frustrated and waits for them to calm down before approaching)
E

Cooperation and Negotiation

Child navigates friendships with peers through cooperation and negotiation.

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

What educators might observe
  • Negotiates with other children by using words to express ideas and feelings
  • Plays games that have clear roles for two players (e.g., card games, board games, and computer games)
  • May change the rules of structured games to ensure that they win
  • Dislikes being corrected or losing at games
  • Identifies actions of others as purposeful or accidental
  • Sense of friendship with the same child may change abruptly within the same day

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

What educators might observe
  • Is concerned about having friends and being liked
  • Engages in competitive games with peers
  • Works cooperatively on a group project (e.g., a mural or group collage)
  • Lets others join a game that is already in progress (e.g., “We just started playing but you can join us and go after Alex.”)
  • Listens to others’ points of views and considers ways to compromise
  • Identifies strategies to successfully resolve conflicts (e.g., “Let’s read the rules so we all agree on how to play.”)

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

What educators might observe
  • Values group membership and peer acceptance
  • Understands that friendships can remain even when disagreements occur
  • Balances needs and rights of others and their role in group work
  • Contemplates other viewpoints when resolving conflict
  • Independently follows the rules of a game to ensure fair play
F

Emotional Self-Regulation

Child expresses and manages their feelings and impulses.

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

What educators might observe
  • Identifies socially and culturally acceptable behavior (e.g., listening vs. interrupting)
  • Becomes upset when they lose a game but is able to use a strategy to cope

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

What educators might observe
  • Demonstrates flexibility and socially appropriate behavior at school (e.g., “When we are in the hallway we keep our voices down so other classes can work.”)
  • Manages strong emotions using known strategies (e.g., talks to a friend about being reprimanded by the educator)

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

What educators might observe
  • Demonstrates patience with personal circumstances (e.g., When doing math says, “I need to add slowly when working with big numbers so I don’t make a mistake and get frustrated.”)
  • Identifies their strengths and challenges
G

Rhythms, Rules, and Routines

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

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

What educators might observe
  • Adheres strongly to rules (e.g., “James isn’t raising his hand to talk, but I am!”)
  • Follows routines with multiple steps independently (e.g., arrives in the morning and knows what to do to begin day: hangs up belongings, takes out their folders, and chooses an activity until group time is announced)
  • Takes turns in group discussion (e.g., raises hands, quietly listens to others, and proposes ideas when it’s their turn to talk)
  • Adapts rules to fit a particular situation or their own desires

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

What educators might observe
  • Knows the daily and weekly schedule and routines and follows routines accordingly (e.g., time for art, physical education, recess, lunch, etc.)
  • Adapts to the majority of a group even when the group’s ideas differ from their own (e.g., group plays a game with rules different from the actual rules)

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

What educators might observe
  • Understands and follows large concepts or rules regarding safety, kindness, respect, and care within different environments
  • Understands the purpose of laws
  • Follows rules alone or within a group (e.g., quietly enters or exits building, gym, or library alone or in a group)
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.

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

What educators might observe
  • Speaks clearly so that others understand
  • Tells a joke to a friend
  • Uses most parts of speech or grammar correctly (e.g., uses a contraction)
  • Uses vocabulary specific to science, math, social studies, and the arts

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

What educators might observe
  • Speaks clearly, modifying volume so that all listeners can understand
  • Asks and answers “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” and “why” questions about an topic of interest
  • Refines vocabulary so it better expresses the meaning that they want to express
  • Categorizes vocabulary by parts of speech
  • Enjoys puns
  • Artfully combines English with home language(s) to better convey meaning, play with language, and/or strengthen relationships

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

What educators might observe
  • Expresses an opinion or point of view on a story, referring to relevant examples or details
  • Summarizes a text in a retelling
  • Uses a wide range of vocabulary specific to academic subjects to explain what they learned in school
  • Uses their knowledge of home language to find cognates in English
B

Listening and Understanding

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

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

What educators might observe
  • Remembers a story that a friend told yesterday
  • Responds and can follow a sequence of twoor three-step directions in a row
  • Listens to a peer’s idea and participates in a conversation with a partner
  • Compares or uses specific traits to describe characters in a story that the educator has told

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

What educators might observe
  • Understands positional and directional words (e.g., here, there, over, next to, in front, under, or between)
  • Becomes logical in their comprehension of vocabulary (e.g., figures out the meaning of words based on their root)
  • Demonstrates knowledge of sequence of events and understands cue words and phrases (e.g., before, yesterday, later that day, after, next year)
  • Uses clues in story they have heard to make inferences

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

What educators might observe
  • Listens to peers and attends to conversational turns in a small group
  • Attends during a presentation by a guest speaker who shares about a topic for a sustained period
  • Shows refined understanding of social contexts and uses gestures or nonverbal behavior to respond to situations
C

Social Communication

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

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

What educators might observe
  • Understands the body language or facial expression of a peer and uses it to check in with or to modify language and/or behavior with that child
  • Converses with a partner taking a number of turns and building on and extending the topic
  • Shares knock-knock and other jokes with peers

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

What educators might observe
  • Makes up secret languages
  • Uses language to include or exclude children from peer groups
  • Navigates different ways of using language and flexibly uses different forms and variations to improve communication or affiliation

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

What educators might observe
  • Takes the perspective of another person in a group into account and modifies their language use or actions as needed
  • Converses on a topic, maintaining attention to what the other person understands and sharing their own understanding
  • Uses language to persuade and argue opinions and to understand and respond to another’s point of view
D

Engaging with Stories and Books

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

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

What educators might observe
  • Listens to a nonfiction book and shares a personal connection (e.g., connects with text about a family from Mexico and the United States by stating, “I am from both places too.”)
  • Understands and responds to a favorite part of a book during buddy reading
  • Retells a story from a picture book (e.g., summarizes a plot about how a neighborhood transforms with mural art)

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

What educators might observe
  • Reads independently for pleasure
  • Paraphrases a part of a book and explains why it is important
  • Monitors own comprehension and understanding in a variety of ways
  • Reads an informational book to learn about an area of interest, using text features such as the glossary to find information
  • Hears a well-known story told by a friend and compares it to a movie version of the same story, pointing out differences in the main character

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

What educators might observe
  • Reads all the books in a series
  • Slows down when the text becomes more difficult to read
  • Makes an argument with relevant details during a book discussion (e.g., uses information learned from watching a National Geographic television program to add to a discussion of a book)
  • Reads a letter from a friend and responds to social questions
  • Identifies an author’s purpose (e.g., “I think the author wanted to teach people not to be afraid to try new things. I’m going to go to try to do the monkey bars.”)
  • Consults other books, maps, websites, hyperlinks, and photographs to enhance their reading
E

Phonological Awareness

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

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

What educators might observe
  • Generates a group of rhyming words from one word
  • Segments simple words into their initial, middle, and ending sounds
  • Taps out the number of syllables in a multisyllabic word
  • Changes the middle sound of a short word to make a new word (e.g., changes dog to dig by substituting the “i” sound for the “o” sound”)
  • Uses first, last, and some middle sounds in invented spelling (e.g., writes, I WNT TO THE PRK for “I went to the park.”)
  • Begins to explore and identify blends such as “pl” in play and “br” in brown

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

What educators might observe
  • Explores and identifies the concept of silent “e” (e.g., adds “e” to “hid” to change the word to “hide” and understands the vowel sound has changed)
  • Develops awareness of letters that have more than one sound (e.g., notices the “o” in “row” makes a different sound than the “o” in “dog”)
  • Incorporates blends, digraphs, prefixes, and suffixes into their invented spelling
  • Uses segmenting in order to read larger words by breaking word down into initial sounds or syllables (/fac/ /tor/ /y/ for factory)
  • Recognizes the base of a word and common prefixes and suffixes and uses them to make different words (e.g., “trans,” “port,” and “ed” or “ing”)

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

What educators might observe
  • Asks about rhymes in languages other than their own (e.g., “What rhymes with Estrella?”)
  • Repeats sophisticated tongue twisters, such as “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,”
F

Composing

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

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

What educators might observe
  • Uses drawing and invented spelling to write about an experience, idea, or topic
  • Follows some social rules for composition (e.g.,, begins messages with “Dear” or “To” and concludes with “Love” or “From”)
  • Adds their own ideas to a story their peers are making up
  • References known stories and styles in their own composing (e.g., reads several versions of Jack and the Beanstalk and dictates their own version.)

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

What educators might observe
  • Varies the types of sentences that they use in their compositions
  • Writes stories with a beginning, middle, and end
  • Collaborates with a peer to plan, write, and illustrate a story
  • Plans and develops a writing composition over the course of several days
  • Uses an editing checklist to try to incorporate features of non-fiction (For example, to revise the non-fiction book All About Birds , the child uses a checklist and adds a Table of Contents)

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

What educators might observe
  • Composes a letter to a friend that uses their home language variation
  • Makes a case in a debate by stating an argument, investigates information, and includes reasons with relevant supporting details in writing
  • Writes a version of a fairy tale with a character using a particular voice
  • Seeks to master mature styles of composition (e.g., draws scenes for a comic book or graphic novel)
  • Uses resources to enhance their compositions (e.g., uses a thesaurus to find a word with a particular nuance to express an emotion or idea)
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.

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

What educators might observe
  • Views a slideshow of documentation from the learning environment and selects an image of an experience for further investigation
  • Responds to the visual work of a peer using observations, comments, and questions

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

What educators might observe
  • Uses vocabulary, such as “audience” and “represent,” to discuss the work of a filmmaker
  • Discusses an artist’s decision to use memory, imagination, or observation in their creation

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

What educators might observe
  • Identifies visual communication that is misleading
  • Takes into consideration the aesthetic aspects of images, audio, and video related to their social and cultural meanings for an intended audience
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.”)

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

What educators might observe
  • Discusses what happens to the body after death
  • Understands the patterns of the days of the week and the months of the year
  • Asks questions about the properties of materials (e.g.,”What is the air made out of?”)

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

What educators might observe
  • Start to understand how ecosystems can change quickly (a storm) or slowly (a pond becoming a meadow)
  • Combines and separates mixtures in sophisticated ways (e.g., uses a series of strainers to separate out the pebbles and silt in river water)
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

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

What educators might observe
  • Represents specific details from architecture in their constructions
  • Plans artistic representation with peers (e.g., child writes a story with friends and then makes puppets and scenery to dramatize the story)
  • Experiments with different forms of representation they have learned about through media and trips to cultural institutions (e.g., child attends a field trip to see Balinese shadow puppets and then experiments with creating shadow puppets themselves)

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

What educators might observe
  • Uses research to add realistic details to their representations (e.g., researches costumes from the past to create a dramatization of the life of a historical figure)
  • Describes systems for symbolic thinking from the past, such as hieroglyphs
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

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

What educators might observe
  • Groups items they have to remember into easy-to-remember categories (e.g., animals, foods, shapes)
  • Begins to identify which events happened long ago and which happened in the more recent past
  • Starts to make connections between how history has shaped our present experience (e.g., “My friends and I can swim at the same pool because of Martin Luther King, Jr.”)

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

What educators might observe
  • Intentionally selects and uses organizational strategies to remember information
  • Uses language to describe chronology, such as “decade” and “century”
  • Uses resources such as books and websites to organize information into a chronological sequence
  • Connects their family history to broad historical events
  • Identifies changes over time in their community
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.”)

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

What educators might observe
  • Seeks scientific solutions that are rational and consistent and that work in similar situations
  • Plans simple experiments (e.g., child builds spinning tops and hypothesizes that a wide top will spin for a longer period of time than a flat one)
  • Observes changes in living organisms and the natural environment over time (e.g., independently checks corn plants every morning to see how they are growing)
  • Works with peers to collaboratively plan experiments
  • Compares their observations to those of their peers

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

What educators might observe
  • Compares their observations with observations in books and websites
  • Poses specific questions and then seeks to answer them through research, experiments, and observations (e.g., child wonders how to make a brick and then reads about the topic and mixes various combinations of materials to see which make the best bricks)
  • Identifies and interviews experts to find out the answers to their questions
  • Reviews data recorded in tables over several days to draw conclusions
  • Starts to understand observations as components of systems (e.g., solar system, digestive system) and identifies individual parts and how they work together
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)

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

What educators might observe
  • Designs experiments that will prove their previously held beliefs about causes, rather than objective experiments
  • Describes choices people make based on availability of resources (e.g., talks about how lack of food causes migration)
  • Asks questions about how things change over time

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

What educators might observe
  • Demonstrates understanding of how humans have affected the environment and how actions and rules are adopted to protect the environment
  • Discussing the purpose of tools (e.g., how windmills produce clean energy)
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

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

What educators might observe
  • Uses a second problem-solving strategy if the first one is unsuccessful
  • Pays attention to the relevant part of solving a problem (e.g., examines the attachment of the axles and wheels when the toy car won’t roll)
  • Uses logic and reasoning to solve problems with materials (e.g., uses their knowledge of how the physical properties of objects affect their behavior and motion)

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

What educators might observe
  • Takes more than one variable into account when solving problems with materials (e.g., considers both weight and distance when setting up a balance)
  • Plans their actions when encountering a difficult problem with materials
  • Systematically builds things and reverses their actions to take things apart
  • Identifies tools and simple machines made to solve problems by people long ago or in a different place, and compares those tools and machines to the ones we use today
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
7-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary
What educators might observe
  • Reverses mental actions (e.g., knows that a ball of clay rolled into a long snake contains the same amount of clay as the ball)
  • Chooses a strategy for comparison (e.g., uses graphs to compare their observations of the natural world)
  • Understands the need for a standard unit when measuring length
8-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary
What educators might observe
  • Creates hierarchical categorizations (e.g., child categorizes plants based on the ecosystems in which they live, then divides the plants that live in the desert into cacti and succulents)
  • Compares their home life to that of children who live in different places and to the lives of children who lived a long time ago

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)
7-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary
What educators might observe
  • Realizes that the number is unchanged, even when the arrangement looks different (e.g., when counters are spread out, says that there are the same number of counters as when they were together)
  • Understands the reversibility of operations (e.g., subtraction is the reverse of addition)
  • Uses groups, skip counting, and place value to quickly identify sets shown quickly (“I saw three sets of ten and three sets of two, so the answer is 36.”)
  • Uses a mental number line to compare numbers
  • Counts forward and backward by ones and using skip counting
  • Solves all types of single digit addition and subtraction problems, with flexible strategies and known combinations
8-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary
What educators might observe
  • Uses groups, multiplication, and place value to visually recognize sets shown briefly (“I saw groups of 10s and twos, so I thought six tens is 60 and four twos is eight, so 68.”)
  • Rounds numbers to the nearest 10 or
  • Builds skills to multiply and divide up to 10 × 10 accurately
  • Solves word (story) problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

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)
7-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary
What educators might observe
  • Skip counts by hundreds, tens, fives, twos
  • Identifies the rule needed to extend a pattern or identify a missing number in a pattern (2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17)
  • Tells time to the nearest five minutes on different types of clocks
8-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary
What educators might observe
  • Skip counts by hundreds, tens, sixes, fives, fours, and twos
  • Is able to detect an error in a number pattern
  • Explains mathematical patterns using the properties of operations
  • Generalizes the properties of multiplication: (a X 1 = a) (a X b = bXa)

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
7-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary
What educators might observe
  • Pays attention to the spatial relationships of all the parts of complex figures
  • Folds paper squares to make two triangles, folds them again to make more triangles, and describes the process
  • Uses simple coordinates to locate a place on a map or a move on a chessboard
  • Systematically checks that two shapes are the same by comparing all attributes
  • Recognizes and describes situations in which angle knowledge is relevant (e.g., “I need to change the angle to make the car go faster down this ramp.”)
8-year-olds – See this age across all domains Early elementary
What educators might observe
  • Uses maps to follow routes, even when they don’t have pictures or the distances are not accurate
  • Mentally moves shapes and says what they need to do to make them fit into a puzzle
  • Names the class of shapes explicitly based on properties, including angle measure
  • Sorts shapes hierarchically, based on properties

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