Essential Outcomes
- Social: Children are connected with others and contribute to their world
- Emotional: Children have a strong sense of identity and well-being
- Language and Literacies: Children are effective communicators
- Cognition: Children are involved and confident learners
- Physical: Children make healthy choices and master physical skill
The essential outcomes outline key learning expectations in five interconnected areas of development – social, emotional, language and literacy, cognition and physical. They capture the achievements expected in the Early Learning Program.
- Social: Children are connected with others and contribute to their world.
- Emotional: Children have a strong sense of identity and well-being.
- Language & Literacies: Children are effective communicators.
- Cognition: Children are involved and confident learners.
- Physical: Children make healthy choices and master physical skills.
The essential outcomes are elaborated by specific examples of how children can demonstrate specific expectations and by examples of interactions that support children achieving the outcomes. The essential outcomes provide a transition from the developmental and learning goals that guide curriculum and pedagogy in Child and Family Centres for younger children to the curriculum and learning expectations of Grade 1 and beyond. They describe expectations that are appropriate for four- and five-year-old children and that provide the foundation for successful future learning experiences.
The essential outcomes draw from the learning expectations of the Kindergarten Program, 2006 (Revised) and the developmental domains and skills, indicators and interactions in the Continuum of Development that is included in Early Learning for Every Child Today, 2007.
- The areas or domains of development used to organize the essential outcomes reflect areas of significance in the early years and are commonly used domains in early childhood education and kindergarten curricula (including Early Learning for Every Child Today, 2007) in Canada and internationally.,Children’s emerging self-regulation and habits of mind or learning dispositions make up the foundation that cuts across the areas of development.
- The six areas of learning in the Kindergarten Program, 2006 (Revised) are incorporated into the five areas of development. Each program area intersects and connects to more than one area of development.
- The examples of how children demonstrate their learning, integrate the specific Learning Expectations from The Kindergarten Program, 2006 (Revised) and developmental skills and indicators from the Continuum of Development merging the Specific Expectations for the Kindergarten Program, 2006 (Revised) with the Indicators of the Skills from Early Learning for Every Child Today, 2007.
- Some of the interactions are learning stories from Early Learning for Every Child Today, 2007 and examples, teacher prompts and student talk from The Kindergarten Program, 2006 (Revised).
- The essential outcomes align with developmental domains, skills and indicators of the Continuum of Development that guides educators’ understanding of children’s development and supports their observations and documentation for program planning and monitoring children’s developmental progress.
Teachers use the essential outcomes to evaluate children’s learning and report on their progress towards meeting specific expectations. Evaluation and reporting of children’s learning should be relative to these expectations.
The essential outcomes are not designed to address the first or second year of the Early Learning Program separately. Children are unique individuals and the range of demonstrated achievement will vary. At entry to the Early Learning Program children range in age from 3.8 years to 4.8 years and will have varied previous learning experiences. They will demonstrate a considerable range of achievement as they progress towards meeting the essential outcomes for the end of the second year of the Early Learning Program.
Essential outcomes are the compilation of knowledge, skills, strategies, and development that are foundational for children’s learning. Essential outcomes outline key learning expectations that are broad in nature, focusing on concept development rather than discrete sets of skills.
How children demonstrate learning illustrates how children may express their learning, providing examples of specific outcomes.
Interactions between children and adults, children with other children, and adults with each other support the child’s progress. Connections are made to the components of the practice of interaction – understanding child development, involving parents, nurturing relationships with children, organizing the early learning environment, extending children’s learning and evaluating learning.
1. Social: Children are connected with others and contribute to their world.
The development of social development includes children’s growing abilities to empathize and get along with others. Four- and five-year-old children move beyond an egocentric view of the world and can learn empathy, conflict resolution, individual collaborative decision making, and a sense of community. The ability to work and to learn with others is essential for success in and out of school. Children need opportunities to interact with others in many contexts and for many purposes. As children learn about themselves and their culture, they also begin to understand that all people share similar needs, feelings and aspirations. In the Early Learning Program, children can engage in activities that increase their awareness of others and foster respect for individual differences. They begin to develop concepts of equality, fairness, tolerance and justice in relation to the treatment of minority groups, individuals of both genders, people with special needs and those with diverse family structures.
Interactions in the Early Learning Program support children’s development of the tools and knowledge they require to be constructive citizens. It must be an environment where children are affirmed as individuals and as members of a diverse community of learners. Understanding the influence of social and cultural contexts on learning enables educators to recognize and support the children’s developing competence and to find a variety of ways in which the children can express their achievements.
Social competence is developed through interactions with others and is interconnected with other areas of development. For example, a small group of children engaged in sorting math manipulatives must follow a problem-solving process both mathematically and socially. Children take on the perspective of others and problem-solve when they role-play at the dramatic play centre, experimenting with a variety of social roles (e.g., store clerk, bus driver, grandparent). Children learn to persevere and to work independently as they solve puzzles, create sculptures and construct models.
Social: Children are connected with others and contribute to their world.
Children demonstrate an ability to use problem-solving skills in a variety of social contexts
How children demonstrate their learning:
- begin to express what they want and are thinking and feeling
- begin to attend and listen to peers
- begin to identify solutions to conflict
- begin to identify consequences
- make decisions and choices and accept the consequences
- use a variety of simple strategies to solve social problems (e.g., seek assistance from an adult when needed, use pictures and/or words to express their feelings, develop an awareness of honesty, talk to other children about solutions
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult Consult children who are involved in resolving a conflict. Begin by supporting emotional regulation. Then support their thinking by asking, “What happened?” (Pause.) Child: “He took my truck.” Adult: “How do you feel?” (Pause.) Child: “I’m mad!”
Adult: “What can you do to solve the problem?” (Pause.) Child: “He could find another truck.” Adult: “What else can you do? Which solution do you choose?” When adults support children to think instead of solving the problem for them, children learn how to solve problems.
Child to Child “I like what you’re building, can I help?” “Do you want to look at this book with me?” “Let’s put on a puppet show.” “Do you want to be the waiter? I’d like to order a pizza, please.”
Adult to Adult Two adults are discussing observation notes/documentation. They observed children in the block centre were taking blocks from a structure that other children were building. They decide to spend time in the block centre and model some strategies for the children and notice and name when the children are using positive strategies. They put more blocks in the centre so that children would have sufficient materials to build more complex structures.
To demonstrate a beginning understanding of the diversity in individuals, families, schools and the wider community
How children demonstrate their learning:
- play with others who have differing abilities and characteristics
- develop empathy for others, and acknowledge and respond to each other’s feelings (e.g., tell an adult when another child is hurt/sick/upset, role playing emotions with dolls and puppets
- begin to become aware of stereotypes found in books
- talk about events or retell stories that reflect their own heritage, family context, traditions and cultural background and the heritage, traditions and cultural backgrounds of others
- demonstrate respect and consideration for individual differences and alternative points of view (e.g., help a friend who speaks another language, adapt behaviour to accommodate another persons’ ideas)
- share experiences, relating and respecting each other
- begin to develop ideas of, and to practice, co-operation, fairness and justice
- see an injustice and take action to change it
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult Notice the role of different children in a group activity. “Roy is tall and he can reach the pieces on the top. Meika’s hands fit in the small holes where the marbles rolled.” When adults notice how individuals make different contributions to a group effort, children learn how different strengths work together and are respected.
When a child is the aggressor, adults act to stop the behaviour and help that child to see the other’s perspective. They also try to understand why the behaviour is happening. When the same child is hurt by others, adults must intervene with empathy and support. By being treated with fairness and empathy, the child will develop empathy.
During the reading of a book the adult posed the following questions: “Why is the main character in the story scared? How would you feel? What do you think he could do to make himself feel better?”
Child to Child A small group of children were role-playing at the “Fix-It Shop” in the dramatic play centre. Another child attempted to enter the play. One of the children assigned a role: “You can be the customer because you are a girl.” The other two children protested. “That isn’t fair. Girls can fix cars too!”
One morning in November a new child entered the class who just arrived in Canada. The children who shared a home language with the new child quickly engaged in conversation to support the new child’s transition to the new classroom.
Adult to Adult A small group of educators and parents decided to read a book together as part of their professional learning for the year. The focus of the book and their dialogue was to reflect on their own personal biases and assumptions and the impact those have on their practice.
To Identify and use social skills in play and other contexts
How children demonstrate their learning:
- exchange ideas and materials during play
- take part in setting and following rules and invite others to join them in play
- listen, think, and respond appropriately as others speak during group time
- act and talk with peers and adults by expressing and accepting positive messages (e.g., use an appropriate tone of voice and gestures, give compliments, give and accept constructive criticism, use “I” messages)
- observe before entering play
- enter play by assuming available roles
- demonstrate the ability to take turns in activities and discussions (e.g., engage in play activities with others, listen to peers and adults)
- take on a role in socio-dramatic play, cooperating and negotiating roles with others
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult Create a clearly defined entrance to learning centres. Stand at the entrance by the child who wants to enter play. Alongside the child observe the children who are at play. Comment on what you observe. Children who are successful entering play observe before they enter. If you slow the child down and model observation, the child may try this strategy.
Child to Child “You can be the firefighter this time” “Fatima helped me pick up the blocks” “I didn’t like it when you took my book” “That is a good painting”
Adult to Adult A consultant was visiting a classroom where the educator was expressing concerns about the behaviour management of the group. Four children were playing at the water table and one of the children was shouting: “Look!” “Look at this!” The consultant walked over to the child at the water table and in a quiet tone said: “I noticed what you doing. What were you thinking? What did you discover?” The teacher commented that he would have spoken to the child about his loud voice.
But by modeling appropriate behaviour and allowing the child to share his discovery, the child lowered his voice without being reminded.
2. Emotional: Children have a strong sense of identity and well-being.
Emotional maturity includes the capacity to understand and express emotions with respect for others, delay gratification and adapt responses. As children develop a positive sense of themselves as unique individuals, they acquire self-confidence and become more receptive to relating to others and take pleasure in learning new skills. As children’s self-concept develops they demonstrate autonomy in selecting materials, making choices, and setting goals for themselves.
Emotion regulation is central to all of these elements of emotional maturity. Individuals vary in ability to regulate emotions. There are differences in reaction time, the duration and intensity of emotional response. Culture also contributes to emotion regulation. In their homes children learn valued forms of expressing emotions. Children learn from their families how and when to express emotions to others. When adults understand culture and individual differences they can positively contribute to the child’s development of a sense of self.
Children’s growing sense of self finds expression in visual arts, music, dance and socio-dramatic play. Providing children with opportunities to express themselves through the arts develops decision-making skills, stimulates memory, facilitates understanding, develops symbolic communication, promotes sensory development, and encourages creative thinking. Learning through the arts also fosters children’s imagination, helps to develop empathy, promotes the development of relationships, and builds self-esteem, while enabling children to experience a sense of accomplishment. The arts are a vehicle for children to understand different cultures as well as to express their own culture.
Emotional Maturity: Children have a strong sense of identity and well-being.
To demonstrate independence, self-regulation, and a willingness to take responsibility in learning and other activities
How children demonstrate their learning:
- use emerging ability and language to take another’s point of view to regulate own behaviour and attention
- monitor own behaviour
- regulate emotions in order to solve conflicts
- express negative emotions in ways that do not harm others
- focus attention
- begin to demonstrate self-control (e.g., be aware of and label their own emotions, accept help to calm down, calm themselves down after being upset)
- return attention after checking in or after a distraction
- delay gratification
- persist when frustrated
- increasingly cope with challenges and disappointments
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult During a read aloud time the adult observed a child beginning to regulate behaviour independently e.g., a child moved away from another child to solve a problem. The adult paused and said “I noticed you moved to a spot that works better for you.”
The educator observed and documented the following: “Mariam is frustrated. She’s been working a long time, and the puzzle still doesn’t fit.” Preschoolers are beginning to use language to regulate emotions. When children hear and use a vocabulary of emotional terms they can express and regulate emotions with language.
Child to Child During play at the dramatic play centre a child looked away from the role-playing scene and then quickly joined the play in the established role.
Adult to Adult During their staff meeting the adults were discussing how self-regulation was very different than ‘compliance’ The staff were planning for a parent breakfast to engage parents in a dialogue about supporting children’s development of self-regulation.
Mani’s mother said, “Whenever Mani is concentrating on his legos at home, he turns his back to the rest of us and focuses on what he is building.” This conversation gives educators insight into how to support Mani’s attention regulation at school.
To demonstrate an awareness of their surroundings
How children demonstrate their learning:
- see adults as resources in exploration and problem solving
- identify people in the community and talk about what they do (e.g., farmer, park ranger, police officer, Aboriginal healer, baker, engineer, construction worker)
- recognize special places and buildings within their community, both natural and human-made, and talk about their functions
- develop an awareness of ways in which people adapt to the places in which they live
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult The educator posed a question to the children. “What do you think we might observe on our neighbourhood walk? He recorded the children’s predictions. During their walk the parents recorded the children’s observations and took photographs. Over the next couple of weeks they discussed the photographs and observations they had written.
Child to Child Two children were in the block centre creating a bakeshop. One of the children was explaining what materials they would need because his uncle owned a bakeshop.
Adult to Adult At their planning meeting the educators reflected on how they could better engage the community. A parent suggests inviting community members to speak to the children about their experiences.
To demonstrate a sense of identity and a positive self-image
How children demonstrate their learning:
- notice their own abilities
- recognize shared abilities
- express joy in their characteristics and identity
- express curiosity and sensitivity to physical characteristics
- understand culture in concrete daily living within own family
- identify and talk about their own interests, preferences, and family traditions
- express their thoughts (e.g., on a science discovery or something they have made)
- identify what they can do and what they have yet to learn
- see self as competent and capable of self-direction
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult Ensure children have opportunities to retell family stories. “Cecil, your mother said that you had a lot of people at your house this weekend. Did you have fun? Tell us about some of the things you did”. Regular opportunities for all children to tell and hear family stories can help them understand how they and their families are both alike and different. Freely talking about one’s own family reinforces the child’s sense of self-respect and pride.
Educators admire the child’s strengths and achievements. “You were really thinking about that and figured out how to make your structure stable” “What did you learn about ____ that was so hard for you before.”
Child to Child “I can sing a song in my language.” “I can count.” “I can write my name.” “I did up my own zipper.” “I can reach the lights now.” “I can play soccer.” “I take piano lessons.” “I’m a good runner.” “I can draw pictures.” “I helped my dad set the table.”
Adult to Adult An educator and parent share how a child is beginning to talk about learning and to put more details in his drawings.
To demonstrate an awareness of themselves as an artist through engaging in activities in visual arts, music, drama, and dance
How children demonstrate their learning:
- demonstrate awareness of personal interests and a sense of accomplishment in visual arts
- explore a variety of tools, materials, and processes of their own choice to create visual arts forms in familiar and new ways
- recognize their own work and the work of others
- set goals for themselves and work towards them
- show enjoyment when listening to music
- make choices and demonstrate preferences in music
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child to Adult When children’s drawings represent a recent event in the program, engage in a discussion about the artwork and what it represents. “What did you see? I noticed you…” This engages children in thinking about their art. Providing mirrors, magnifying glasses and still life objects provides an opportunity for children to draw the details they observe.
Provide a variety of recorded music for children to choose from. Talk about their musical choices with them. Joining children in their self-initiated music supports their auditory explorations and development of their emerging musical skills.
Child to Child “I used to make my people like that.”(Showing a previous picture). “Now I make them this way.” “I used leaves and torn paper to make my picture.” “We used block and boxes to make a sculpture like the one in the book.”
Adult to Adult After attending a Professional Learning Session a group of educators decided to stop planning for crafts (e.g., pre cut shapes to create standard objects). As an alternative they were going to organize a variety of materials to invite children to explore elements of designs such as line or colour.
3. Language and Literacies: Children are effective communicators
Children begin to communicate at birth using sounds and then gestures. Oral language expands their repertoire for communication as they acquire the abilities to express their needs, exchange ideas, express feelings and connect with others. The capacity to express themselves with language offers expanded capabilities to regulate their behaviour and get along with others.
Literacy and numeracy are important aspects of communication and critical to successful learning in the early grades and beyond. Literacy is the ability to use language in all its form of communication – including listening, talking, reading, writing, music, dance, story-telling, visual arts, drama, and digital media. Numeracy is the language of numbers and ability to use mathematics in daily life. The Early Learning Program builds on the language, literacy and numeracy experiences children bring from home, communities and prior participation in early childhood programs.
The Early Learning Program builds on children’s transition from oral language into an understanding of print as a way to represent experiences, ideas and knowledge. Children develop a sense of narrative and the ability to make symbolic representation and actions. They begin to acquire reading strategies.
Children’s capacity to interact with mathematical ideas and vocabulary supports their early numeracy development. Mathematical ideas about spatial sense, structure and pattern, number, measurement and data comparisons are explored in the Early Learning Program.
Language, representation and thought are interdependent. Language is a tool for making meaning and is therefore integral to cognitive development. Children need time to explore, to reflect and make connections between what they already know and new learning.
Language and Literacies: Children are effective communicators.
To communicate by talking and by listening and speaking to others for a variety of purposes and in a variety of contexts
How children demonstrate their learning:
- listen and respond to others for a variety of purposes
- use facial expressions and tone matched to the content of their communication
- begin to use and interpret gestures, tone of voice, and other non-verbal means to communicate and respond
- listen to each other with attention without distraction or interruption
- understand and follow oral directions
- enter into play using both their home language and French or English
- explore sounds, rhythms and language structures with guidance and on their own
- demonstrate awareness that words can rhyme, can begin or end with the same sound, and are composed of phonemes that can be manipulated to create new words
- describe personal experiences, using vocabulary and details appropriate to the situation
- use language in various contexts to connect new experiences with what they already know
- understand many culturally accepted ways of adjusting language to fit the age, sex, and social status of speakers and listeners
- use increasingly more complex sentences
- define words by function
- ask questions for a variety of purposes
- use specialized vocabulary for a variety of purposes
- use the language of mathematics, inquiry and reasoning as they play and during group discussions
- show pleasure and enjoyment during activities with language, music and print materials.
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult Ask questions that encourage more complex sentences, e.g. “I wonder, how do you cook food in the wok?” Or “The red sari has many designs. I see things that shine. What do you see?” Continue to ask questions that encourage children to express more of their thinking.
Generate rhymes including nonsense words; identify syllables through actions, such as clapping, manipulating sounds (replace or delete the initial sounds) and words in shared, guided, and independent activities such as singing songs or chants or participating in finger plays.
Children contribute ideas orally during shared or interactive writing, contribute to conversations at learning centres, and respond to teacher prompts “I wonder how you knew that?” “How did you figure that out?” Take advantage of children’s natural curiosity and record their questions about things they want to know and are of interest to them.
Comment on a child’s exploration and invite the child to add what he has learned to answer a question. The adult extends the learning by asking, “How does knowing how many children came to school today help us figure out how many children are away?
Child to Child “I made a sandcastle like this at the beach.” “I built a snowman with my brother like the one in the story.” “I noticed that if I hold the tube up higher the water moves faster.” After listening to a book about farming and then creating a farm in the blocks: “My silo doesn’t have any grain in it yet” At the water table: “I poured water in the big funnel.”
Adult to Adult A group of educators are talking about the importance of maintaining the child’s home language and how important it was for educators to talk with families about the value of maintaining home language to determine their point of view.
Two educators plan to support and extend children’s oral language at learning centre by recording children’s language on sticky notes and posting them beside the centres. During a group time they will collect their statements and questions and make them into book. This provided numerous opportunities for children and families to see their oral language written down to be read back for multiple purposes.
To demonstrate understanding and critical awareness of a variety of written materials that are read by and with the educator.
How children demonstrate their learning:
- choose to spend time with books/text
- connecting information and events in text to life and life to text
- respond to a variety of materials read aloud to them
- use prior knowledge to make connections
- make predictions regarding an unfamiliar text that is read by and with the educator, using prior experience, knowledge of familiar texts, and general knowledge of the world around them
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult After reading a book about a forest: “How do you think the author feels about forests? How do you think the author wants us to feel about forests? Why do you think there are photographs instead of illustrations in the book?” After reading a book about a social issue relevant to the class: “Who is this book written for? What would this story be about from another point of view?”
After several days of focusing on the strategy of visualizing or making pictures in their minds (so the children can comprehend the text) the educator reads aloud a poem about the rain. It had been a rainy week and the children had practiced lying with their eyes closed so they could make pictures in their minds and create mental images to get deeper meaning from the poem. Afterwards some of the children shared their images verbally while others used movement or graphic representation.
Child to Child “My grandpa and I collected rocks and we made an Inukshuk like the one in the book.” “I live in an apartment too just like the family in the book.”
Adult to Adult Educators were meeting to analyse their documentation of children’s reading activities. Two parents were reading with children in their home language.
To use reading strategies that are appropriate for beginning readers in order to make sense of a variety of written materials.
How children demonstrate their learning:
- demonstrate an interest in reading (e.g., expect to find meaning in pictures and text, choose to look at reading materials, respond to texts read by the teacher, reread familiar text, confidently make attempts at reading)
- identify personal preferences in reading materials
- associate spoken words with written words by pointing or talking about connections
- demonstrate an awareness of basic book conventions and concepts of print
- make connections from books in their daily lives
- pick out some words that have the same letter or sound as their names
- respond to a variety of materials read aloud to them
- use illustrations to support comprehension
- make predictions regarding an unfamiliar text that is read with and by the educator
- retell stories in proper sequence that have been read by and with the educator
- retell information from non-fiction materials that have been read by and with the educator in a variety of contexts using pictures and/or props
- demonstrate an awareness of basic book conventions and concepts of print when text is read aloud or when they are beginning to read print
- demonstrate knowledge of most letters of the alphabet in different contexts
- begin to use reading strategies to make sense of unfamiliar texts in print.
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult “Let’s do a picture walk of the book.” “I noticed you looked at the pictures.” “If you think the word is jump, then what letter will we see at the beginning when we lift the sticky note?” “What makes you think that…?” “What does that remind you of…?” “Where do we start to read?”
Child to Child “I like the bug books because I really like spiders.” “I am making a maze. I read books about mazes all the time.” “It is a T. It starts just like my name.” “It makes a /j/ sound.” “I knew it was a spider [be]cause I used the picture.”
Adult to Adult Two educators reflected on a meeting they had just had with parents the previous evening. Based on feedback from parents, the educators decided to send home a couple of questions they use when they are reading with children. The purpose of posing the questions was to help children comprehend text. They were able to elicit a parent’s help to translate the following questions: “What do you think might happen in the book?” “How did you figure that out?” “What does this book remind you of?”
A group of educators attend a series of professional learning sessions with a focus on early literacy. At each session they read a chapter of a professional book, discussed the key messages from the book and agreed to go back and try some of the strategies from the book in their programs. After trying out some of the strategies they return to the sessions to discuss their observations.
To communicate in writing using strategies that are appropriate for beginners
How children demonstrate their learning:
- write simple messages (e.g., a grocery list on unlined paper, a greeting card made on a computer, labels for a block or sand construction) using a combination of pictures, symbols, knowledge of the correspondence between letter and sounds (phonics) and familiar words
- experiment with a variety of simple writing forms for different purposes and in a variety of contexts
- communicate ideas about personal experiences and/or familiar stories and experiment with personal voice in their writing (e.g., make a drawing of a day at the park and retell their experiences orally to a friend, make a story map of “The Three Little Pigs” and retell the story individually during a writing conference.
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult An educator is sitting beside a child who is writing a description of their inquiry about making a ball roll faster down the ramp. To support the child in hearing and recording sounds the educator prompted the child by saying “Stretch the word and listen to the sounds.” “What sound do you hear at the beginning (middle, end) of that word? “ “It starts like your name.”
An educator is working with a small group of children at a writing centre where the children have designed a mailbox similar to one they saw outside. Olivia (C) brought a paper to the educator (E) with some writing across the page. C: “I think someone wrote me a note but I don’t know who.” E: “I wonder how you could find out?” The child says nothing and walks away. The child comes back with an envelope in her hand and shows the teacher. The envelope has another child’s attempt to write Olivia’s name. C: “Look!” E: “What did you find out?” C: “There is writing here. Is it my name?” E: “What do you think it says? Does it look like your name?” C: “I have these letters in my name, but not this one. Pauses but I have this one at the end and there is a T and I’m Olivia T.” The child proceeds to survey her classmates asking who wrote her the note. The educator documents the interaction.
Child to Child Children write letters at the post office centre, make signs at the block centre, record their findings at the water centre or dramatic play centre, make a list of classmates’ names, make greeting cards at the visual arts centres, tell stories at the writing centre or painting centre.
A child who was reluctant to write at the writing centre drew a labelled picture of his block structure in the blocks. A child who was learning English was writing labels for her picture in her home language.
Adult to Adult A group of educators posted the stages of picture-making and the stages of writing at the writing centre and on the Family Information Board. At their drop-in coffee mornings, several parents commented on how helpful the stages of development were for them when the educators used them at the family conferences. At these conferences the families and educators look over samples of their children’s work and photographs and together they discuss their child’s progress.
To demonstrate a beginning understanding and critical awareness of media texts
How children demonstrate their learning:
- create stories orally and using a variety of media
- understand the functions of literacy
- begin to respond critically to animated works
- communicate their ideas verbally and non-verbally about a variety of media materials (e.g., describe their feelings in response to seeing a DVD or a video; dramatize messages from a safety video or poster; paint pictures in response to an advertisement or CD)
- view and listen to a variety of materials and respond critically to them.
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult During a small group discussion: “Why did people make this cartoon?” “Who likes to watch cartoons or animated works?” “What is it about this cartoon that makes you want to watch it?”
“Someone made this poster. What did they want us to see?” “Why?”
“Sometimes you buy cereal; there are toys in the box.” “Why do you think the people who made the cereal put the toys in there?”
Child to Child “I learned that they put toys in cereal because they want kids to buy them.”
Adult to Adult During a staff meeting the educators plan to critically reflect on the media materials in the classroom. They want to ensure they are being reflective about the media materials they are using.
To demonstrate an understanding of numbers, using concrete materials to explore and investigate counting, quantity, and number relationships
How children demonstrate their learning:
- count to determine quantity (e.g., count using one-to-one correspondence)
- match numbers to sets of objects
- investigate the idea that quantity is greater when counting forwards and less when counting backwards (e.g., describe what happens as blocks are added or removed)
- move objects to align them when comparing quantities
- investigate some concepts of quantity through identifying and comparing sets with more, fewer, or the same number of objects
- recognize some quantities without having to count, using a variety of tools (e.g., dominoes, dot plates, dice, number of fingers) or strategies (e.g., compose and decompose numbers, make more-or-less comparisons when using materials)
- physically align numbers
- represent numbers in different ways (e.g., tallies, numerals, graphs, words).
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult At snack time: “Joan, bring just enough cups for everyone to have one.” During daily living there are many opportunities to think about numbers. This interaction asks the child to figure out quantity by determining the number of cups required.
“How many marbles can you hold in your hand? Let’s count. Do you have more or less than me?” “Let’s count the cars. I have six and you have five. That means I have one more.” “You counted 35 buttons. I go even higher. I can count 40 buttons.”
Make a numbered elevator or stairs available for children who live in high-rise buildings or use stairs to explore quantity and number relationships.
Invite children to move the objects they are counting. “Kathy, while you are counting the cars, drive them into parking spots.” Arranging and moving objects is a strategy children use to make sense of number relationships. When you provide movable objects and other materials, you help children construct equivalency and compare amounts in ways that are meaningful to them.
Child to Child Initially “This is getting bigger.” “Every time I add a block, my building gets taller.” Eventually…“ We need three more blocks to finish the tower.
Adult to Adult A team of educators attend a professional development session to enhance their knowledge and gain strategies to support children’s understanding of quantity relationships.
A team of educators meet on a biweekly basis to analyse their documentation. This month their focus is on observing the counting strategies the children are using. Based on their documentation they plan to introduce a story problem. For example, the question “How many” would be posted at a centre in the room and children would investigate different ways to make the quantity presented. On another week the following questions are posed: “In our story one more duck went into the ponds. How many ducks are in the pond now? How do you know? How did you figure that out?”
To measure and compare length, mass, capacity, area, temperature of objects/ materials and the passage of time, using non-standard units, through free exploration, focused exploration, and guided activity
How children demonstrate their learning:
- measure to determine relationships such as comparisons of length, weight and capacity
- demonstrate, through investigation, an awareness of the use of different measurement tools for measuring different things
- use vocabulary of measurement such as heavier or lighter and taller and shorter
- use non-standard measuring tools, such as feet, hands, fingers, a piece of string to plan, build or create
- demonstrate through investigation, a beginning understanding of the use of non-standard units of the same size (e.g., paper clips, straws).
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Children are lining up material: “How long do you think your line is?” This helps children recognize that objects have measurable properties.
The educator observes children using strategies for using non-standard measuring devices such as placing common objects end to end, using cubes to measure the length of a road in the sand or block centre, measuring the distance between the classroom and the water fountain in number of footsteps.
“Jason says the train track is 6 building blocks long but Chris says the track is 10 building blocks long. How can we find out how long the track is?”
Child to Child “I lined the blocks up from shortest to tallest.” “This book is heavier than 10 cubes.” “We used 5 papers to cover the small table.” “It took us 15 papers to cover the big table.”
Adult to Adult During a class focused on different kinds of measurement parents were invited to show children where they have used measurement.
A group of educators plan how to introduce the concept of capacity with the children. They observed the children trying to fill different containers at the water table. They knew it was critical to choose the materials carefully in order to extend and further the children’s understanding (e.g., containers have a relationship so that children could compare capacity). They also knew how important it was to remove materials not related to the investigation (e.g., sea creatures, boats).
To describe, sort, classify, and compare two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures, and describe the location and movement of objects through investigation
How children demonstrate their learning:
- explore, sort, and compare traditional and non-traditional two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures
- identify, and describe, using common geometric terms, two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures through investigations with concrete materials
- compose pictures and build designs, shapes and patterns in two-dimensional shapes and decompose two dimensional shapes, using various tools and strategies
- build three-dimensional structures using a variety of materials, and begin to recognize the three-dimensional figures that the structure contains
- investigate the relationship between two-dimensional shapes and three- dimensional figures in objects that they have made
- demonstrate an understanding of basic spatial relationships and movements
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult When children are building with blocks, look at their constructions from different points of view. Describe what you see, “I noticed you have used a lot of rectangular blocks. Can you tell me why you chose that shape?” “What do you notice about the blocks on the top (pointing) compared to the blocks on the bottom?” “What do you see when you look from this side?” This gives the children an opportunity to identify, compare and discuss shapes from different points of view.
Child to Child “We sorted all the triangles.” “This is a weird, long triangle but it has three sides.” “My house has a pointed roof.” “My picture has lots of the same shapes-these ones are all round.” “I built a castle. I put three cubes on the bottom. I used a cone for the tower.” “I built a rocket ship. Look at the cone on the top. The front is a big rectangle.” “I am sitting beside my friend.” “I have moved this block on top of the tower.”
Adult to Adult An educator poses some problems to the children such as: “Look at the objects in the sorting circle (e.g., a rope made into a circle). Can you predict what rule I was using to sort them? What do you notice about all of these things? What else could we add to this group?” “Use three strips of paper to show me a triangle. Use your strips to show me something that is not a triangle.”
To sort, classify, and display a variety of concrete objects, collect data, begin to read and describe displays of data, and begin to explore the concept of probability in everyday contexts.
How children demonstrate their learning:
- sort, classify, and compare objects and describe the attributes used
- move from random classification to classifying by one and then two or more properties
- collect objects or data and make representations of their observations, using concrete graphs
- describe and compare data on graphs and surveys
- respond to and pose questions about data collection and graphs
- use mathematical language in informal discussions to describe probability
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult When planning a field trip, brainstorm destinations with children. Create a graph with pictures of the destinations that have been identified. Invite the children to put a mark on the graph (e.g., their names, a picture of themselves, a sticker) indicating their choice. To extend their thinking ask the children why they made that choice.
Child to Child “I sorted my animals by size.” “My shoes and your shoes both have zippers.” “In both stories Goldilocks ate the porridge.”
“There are five people standing in the laces row and 15 people standing in the Velcro row.” “More people like to eat rice than broccoli.” “I know because there are more names in this row.” “I counted them.” “There are only two people left on the graph that are four.”
Adult to Adult A group of educators back from a professional learning session plan to pose the following problems: “How many pockets are on our clothing today?” “Over two days?” “How will we show how many pockets we have?” They posed the problem and documented the children’s learning on video. They plan to analyze the video with the children to examine the learning and further the children’s thinking.
To demonstrate basic knowledge and skills gained through exposure to the arts and activities in the arts.
How children demonstrate their learning:
- take a role in socio-dramatic play; co-operating and negotiating roles with others
- sustain and extend their socio-dramatic play with language, additional ideas, and props
- demonstrate an awareness of personal interests and a sense of accomplishment in visual arts (e.g., initially: willingly illustrate a page in a group made book using their own ideas; eventually: offer to make a puppet for a play)
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult “I noticed the different kinds of lines you used in your drawing.” “What was your thinking about this?” “What happened first in the play? Next? At the end?” “How many different ways can you move in the space?” “How will you move like an elephant?” “What different sounds can you make with the…?” I wonder what this song would sound like if we sang it softer and slower.”
Child and Child “I used a wiggly line.” “I made a rubbing of my leaf” “I glued seeds on my picture to make it bumpy.” “I put all the leaves that look the same in this pile.” “I am going to be the cook for the restaurant.” “I made different sounds on this drum. Listen. When you hit it here, it sounds like this. Then you do this and it makes a louder sound.” “I can dance really fast.” “I was pretending I was a leaf falling.”
Adult and Adult Educators are working with the children to collect samples of their paintings, photographs of their sculptures etc, for a “Gallery Opening.” One of the children’s parents is an artist who worked in various mediums and planned to participate in the class one day a week.
4. Cognition: Children are involved and confident learners.
Young children are curious and connect their prior knowledge and experience in new contexts to develop an understanding of the world around them. Through their experiences, children construct knowledge by defining, classifying, making connections and predictions, testing theories and using their imaginations to build knowledge. Children’s level of emotional maturity influences their engagement in intellectual challenges.
Problem-solving and planning abilities are supported by children’s expanding capacity to build bridges between ideas. Educators can guide learning experiences that are within the range of things they can do with and without guidance (that is, in their zone of proximal development). The educator supports the children through the problem-solving process, encouraging them to try something new, persist, and find alternative solutions. The educator challenges children to use their observations to predict and draw conclusions, to think about how things work, to think about why something happened, and encourages them to reflect on what they could do differently or change the next time.
Children’s capacity to regulate attention, behaviour and emotion shapes their learning style, including how they are able to focus and shift attention, inhibit distractions, resolve competing demands for attention, delay gratification and tolerate frustration.
Cognition: Children are involved and confident learners.
To explore, recognize, describe, and create patterns, using a variety of materials in different contexts
How children demonstrate their learning:
- recognize patterns in their environment
- create patterns with blocks and art materials
- identify, extend, reproduce, and create repeating patterns through investigation, using a variety of materials
- represent patterns with movements and symbols
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child to Adult Talk about patterns that are part of daily life. Recognizing patterns gives practice in predicting what will happen, talking about relationships and seeing connections.
Child to Child “The next word will rhyme with wall because there is a pattern in the words.” “The pattern goes ‘big button, small button, bead, big button, small button, bead’ so a big button goes next.” “I know because that makes a pattern. It keeps going the same.”
Adult to Adult An educator reflects on the children’s work with patterns. After doing some professional reading she realizes she needs to extend the children’s thinking beyond just naming their pattern. She decides to cover up the middle of the pattern to require children to engage in more deductive reasoning. She also plans to model for children. “I know it is a pattern because…”
To demonstrate an awareness of the natural and human-made environment through hands-on investigations, observation, questioning, and sharing of their findings
How children demonstrate their learning:
- ask “why” to determine causes
- ask questions that can be answered through observation
- ask questions to clarify their understanding visually attending to things in their environment
- use all senses to gather information while observing
- focus their observation on details
- name and describe the things that they have observed
- use specialized sources and books as a means of extending their observations
- describe some natural occurrences, using their own observations and representations (e.g., patterns and cycles in the natural world)
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult Listen to children’s questions with respect and answer them seriously. This creates an environment where children feel free to express their ideas. Children learn to ask questions when adults model curiosity and pose questions. If you don’t know the answer to a question, say, “I don’t know, but we can find out together.” Show your willingness to learn along with the children “What else do you see?” This invites children to observe more closely and to generate more than one observation.
The educators posed the following: “What patterns do you see in the leaves we collected?” “How can you use pictures and words to keep track of how your bean plant is growing?”
Child to Child “The snow is melting.”
“The leaves are turning red.” “The rain made the worms come out.”
Adult to Adult A small group of adults view a video of the children investigating the properties of water. They were watching to document the children’s learning and plan further learning.
To conduct simple investigations through free exploration, focused exploration, and guided activity, using inquiry skills (observing, questioning, planning and investigation, carrying out the investigation, and communicating findings)
How children demonstrate their learning:
- visually attend to things in their environment
- use all their senses to gather information while observing
- begin to focus on more details
- pose questions and make predictions and observations before and during investigations
- select and use materials to carry out their own explorations
- communicate their results and findings from individual and group investigations
- investigate in various ways how different forces make things move
- use mathematical language to communicate findings
- present their ideas to others (e.g., through demonstrations, drawings, tellings, music and movement)
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child to Adult The educator (E) is observing a child (C) at the sand table. The child is moving sand between two containers of the same size and counting the number of scoops. C: “Can I add some water?” E: “I wonder how many scoops of water it would take to fill the same container?” C: “I think maybe five.” The child counts the scoops of water and then pours the small amount of water into the sand. E: “What did you find out?” C: “It actually took seven.” E: Noticing the sand had absorbed the water. “What do you think happened to the water?” C: “It went inside the sand.” E: “You noticed the sand absorbed the water.”
Two children are building tunnels and roads at the sand table and are attempting to make a map of their city on the whiteboard that the educators have placed beside the sand table.
“What would happen if we added snow to water?” “Let’s mark how far your car traveled past the ramp this time.” “What could you change to make the car go farther?”
Child to Child “We need to put more blocks on the bottom so our tower won’t fall over.” “I think if my plant is in the dark it won’t grow. It needs the sun.” “If I hold the funnel up high the water moves faster.”
“The boat stays up.” “Let’s put some shells in it.” “Will it go down now?” “When we put all the shells in the boat it sinks.”
Adult to Adult At a team meeting an educator is reporting on a workshop she attended. “The facilitator challenged my thinking and practice about planning. The facilitator presented a few models for planning and asked us to discuss how our plan reflected the Essential Outcomes, what we know about how young children learn and the cultural and linguistic background of the children. I began to feel uncomfortable with how closely one of the models we were asked to critically analyze aligned with the plans I had been using for several years. As our group began to collectively reflect, we wondered if the way we had always planned makes sense to the children. I reflected that I had always felt somewhat limited by the plans based for the most part on the monthly calendar. I had always assumed that children were interested in the monthly topics I had chosen. Had I ever asked the children what they were interested in? Were they able to really deeply and concretely think about such abstract topics as polar bears and the rain forest?
To demonstrate an understanding of and care for the natural world
How children demonstrate their learning:
- describe similarities and cause and effect in recurring events
- demonstrate awareness of local habitats through exploration and observation
- participate in environmentally friendly activities in the classroom and local community
- investigate various materials that have different properties
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child to Adult The educator posed the following question before the children returned to a natural environment that they were familiar with. “What might we notice if we went back to the woods in the winter?” “What will you expect to see today (on a rainy day)?” “What makes you think that?” “I wonder what would happen if we planted a tree in our school yard? What would need to think about?”
Child to Child “I thought my plant would grow faster.” “I think I need to put more water.” “I can see through the plastic wrap. I can’t see through the tinfoil.” “I think my shadow will move when I move.”
Adult to Adult A group of educators plan a lengthy inquiry based on their observations of the children’s inquisitiveness about a large tree outside their classroom window. They plan to document through photographs, observations and video the children’s observations, language, representations and thinking about the tree.
To investigate and talk about the characteristics and functions of some common materials, and use these materials safely
How children demonstrate their learning:
- experiment with simple machines and common objects
- investigate and use familiar technologies
- solve problems while designing and constructing things, using a range of tools, materials and techniques
- investigate and discuss how familiar objects are designed to meet a human need
- demonstrate an awareness of the safe use of all materials and tools used in class
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child to Adult Ask a child: “How does it look when you use a magnifying glass? What else do you see?” This invites children to observe more closely and to generate more than one observation.
Plan to engage children’s thinking at learning centres. “How will people get in and out of your building?” “How can you make your gears move at different speeds?” “I wonder what would happen if you put water in a different funnel.” “How could you solve the problem differently next time?” “What was challenging for you?” “Can you show us how you solved the problem?” How did you make your structure more stable?”
Child to Child “My door works.” “My door opens like a real door.” “I need a stapler to make my book.” “When I use the small scoop it takes longer to fill the pail.”
Adult to Adult Educators plan to add some non-fiction books to the block centre that had a focus on simple machines. Children were expressing questions about ideas about how some simple machines worked. The educators knew the importance of providing texts as a source of information.
To use problem-solving strategies when experimenting with the skills, materials, processes, and techniques used in the arts both individually and with others
How children demonstrate their learning:
- use problem solving skills and their imagination to create visual art forms
- use problem solving skills and their imagination to create music
- use problem solving skills and their imagination to create drama and dance
- use a variety of materials to build with and express their own ideas.
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult The educator observes children choosing materials to make a three-dimensional structure stable after posing the following statement: “I wonder how you are going to make sure your structure doesn’t collapse.”
The educator documented his observations of the children experimenting with different rhythms.
The educator documented her observations of the children trying out different voices for parts of a story or poem, trying different ways to move to music and create a sequence of movements.
Child to Child “I found a way to stick these two together.” “I thought of a new way to sing that song.” “I am moving my hands slow like the music.”
Adult to Adult After some professional reading a group of educators decide their current practice of arts and crafts (e.g., pre cut shapes, children all create the same product) really limit the children’s artistic development. They planned to put some materials with common attributes (e.g., shiny) at the visual arts centre and observe and listen as children form their ideas of what to create.
To express responses to a variety of art forms, including those from other cultures
How children demonstrate their learning:
- recognize their own work and the work of others
- express their responses to visual art forms, music, movement, drama and dance by making connections to their own experiences or by talking about the form
- dramatize rhymes, stories, legends, and folk tales from various cultures, including their own.
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult The educator posed the following question: “What does Tia’s picture make you think of?” “I wonder why the painter used so many wavy lines.” “What does this song make you think of?” “How did the way Sean pretended to be the troll make you feel?” “What did the puppet show make you think of?”
Child to Child “My family has fabric like that too.” “I heard that song at a wedding.” “It makes me want to dance.” “He scared me when he yelled like the giant.” “The puppet show was just like the book we read.”
Adult to Adult A parent brought in fabrics from their country of birth to share with the children. They shared the stories behind the patterns in the fabric.
To communicate their ideas through various art forms
How children demonstrate their learning:
- use a variety of materials with which to create
- generate alternative ideas
- communicate their understanding of something (e.g., a familiar story, an experience, a song, a play) by representing their ideas and feelings through visual arts, music, drama and dance
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult The educator observed the following: children retelling a familiar story with puppets they designed, singing a familiar song in a new way, moving the animals like they learned in a poem, moving outside like it is a windy day.
Child to Child “I’m painting a picture of the girl from the story we read.” “I am drawing the fire truck we saw.” “We made our drums sound like the rain.” “I am moving like the trees on a windy day.”
Adult to Adult A group of educators keep a running record of children’s ideas about a painting that is posted in the classroom. The educators post various paintings and then add provocations on a frequent basis. For example, “What do you notice? What do you think the…? What does the painting make you feel?” They also keep a recorder close by to capture children’s ideas when an educator was not present.
5. Physical: Children make healthy choices and master physical skills.
Young children’s physical growth and maturation are important aspects of their overall development. Children in the Early Learning Program demonstrate healthy and safe practices. Small muscle coordination and control is refined and supports the use of tools for drawing and writing. Large muscles control allows for the coordination of more complex movements. Four- and five-year-old children are ready to start combining skills such as running, throwing, catching and jumping into games.
Educators plan interactions that incorporate physical movement and skill practice across the program, rather than as isolated activities. In the Early Learning Program young children are encouraged to work cooperatively with others and to persevere with their own physical activities.
Specific activities such as puzzles or building with small interlocking blocks promote self-regulation skills at the same time as they provide opportunities for children to practice fine motor skills. Indoor and outdoor active play supports overall gross motor skills along with other areas of development.
5. Physical: Children make healthy choices and master physical skills.
To demonstrate an awareness of health and safety practices for themselves and others and a basic awareness of their own well-being
How children demonstrate their learning:
- begin to understand the effects of healthy, active living (e.g., having daily exercise, adequate sleep, proper hygiene) on the mind and body
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult The educator observed children making healthy choices during daily routines. “I noticed you’re trying more and different fruits and vegetables. Aren’t they good?”
Child to Child “I like going for a walk after school.” “My heart is beating fast.” “I’m thirsty from all that running.”
“Feel my forehead. I’m sweating from playing outside.” “I ride my bike.”
Adult to Adult At parents’ night, a group of parents share the strategies they use at home to encourage healthier food choices and more outside play.
To participate willingly in a variety of activities that require the use of both large and small muscles
How children demonstrate their learning:
- participate actively in creative movement and other daily activities
- become expressive using movement
- matching movements to the rhyme and mood of music
- demonstrate persistence while engaged in activities that require the use of both large and small muscles
- demonstrate strategies for engaging in cooperative play in a variety of games and activities
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult Engage children in setting up the environment. “Let’s set up the playground (or the gym) together. What equipment should we use?” Involving children in planning and decision making increases their active involvement in physical play.
Child to Child “I finally finished my painting. Come and see it.” “Running around our field was hard, but I did it.” “It’s your turn.” “Can I try that?” “Let’s play musical hoops.”
Adult to Adult The Parent Council attends a community meeting where the results of the Early Development Instrument are shared. They are concerned about the Physical Health and Well-Being domain and decide to establish a fitness goal together. They will try and do more walking. When the educators heard this they decide to graph the number of walks (including walking from the parking lot) per week and then have a Celebration Walk in the spring.
To develop control of large muscles (gross-motor control) in a variety of contexts
How children demonstrate their learning:
- begin to control large muscles with and without equipment
- begin to demonstrate balance, whole-body and hand-eye coordination, and flexibility in movement
- begin to walk with leg-arm swing
- walk up and down stairs alternating feet
- hop on one foot increases
- gallop and hop on one foot emerges
- throw with rigid movements
- able to throw with increased co-ordination
- pedal and steer riding toys
- increase control over their own movements and skills
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child and Adult Indoor and outdoor learning environments that offer choice and enough time and space for exploration provide the circumstances for gross motor skill practice.
Play music with simple rhythms when children are engaged in gross motor activities. This provides the opportunity for children to practice emerging movement skills.
“Move around the gym with your arms in the air. Now try moving in a different way.” “How many directions can you move in?” “We are going to walk around our hoops.” “Now jump inside.” “Be careful not to bump into your partner.” “Can you balance on one foot?” “How many ways can you balance on a line?”
Child to Child “I can balance on one foot.” “Look, I am moving like a snake.” “I can walk really fast.”
Adult to Adult An educator and a group of parents were meeting to discuss the parents’ questions and ideas about children’s physical development.
To develop control of small muscles (fine-motor control) in a variety of contexts
How children demonstrate their learning:
- begin to control of small muscle activities in a variety of learning centres
- demonstrate spatial awareness by doing activities that require the use of small muscles
- use a functional grip in written communication to produce writing that they and others can read (e.g., initially use paintbrushes, markers, crayons that are short and thick; eventually use pencils and unlined paper, produce letters in a range of sizes, produce a combination of upper-and lower-case letters that may include some letter reversals)
- master simple items of clothing
Interactions that support children’s learning:
Child to Adult The educator created an “Expert Graph” for the coat area of the room. The “Expert Graph” had categories and names of children who could assist with children who were moving towards independence with entry routines (e.g. dressing, taking care of their belongings). This provided opportunities for children to support other children as they develop new skills. It also provides a “real reason” to read and develop mathematical literacy.
Child to Child “I am using the blocks to make a tall tower.” “Look, we are writers.” “I put the puzzle together all by myself.”
Adult to Adult An educator relates his interaction with a child during the team meeting: “During the “sign in” routine, I observed Gurdeep attempting to write his name on the “sign in” chart. I documented that Gurdeep used his name tag as a reference as he attempted to write the G and the U. This was evidence of his applying a reading strategy to his writing. Based on my observations of Gurdeep’s fine-motor development, I knew that asking Gurdeep to trace over the letters in his name on paper would be developmentally inappropriate (outside his zone of proximal development) as it was his fine-motor development that needed support. I praised and encouraged his attempts, and provided salt trays, sandpaper letters, etc., realizing that this would help the bones in his wrist develop so that he could form letters with a pencil. I also wanted him to recognize the letters in his name. So, I traced magnetic letters of his name on a card, and had him match these letters to the letters on the card.”
Every Child, Every Opportunity
Curriculum and Pedagogy for the Early Learning Program
A compendium report to 'With Our Best Future in Mind: Implementing Early Learning in Ontario'
Table of Contents
- Early development launches children’s trajectories for learning
- Partnerships with parents and communities are essential
- Respect for diversity, equity and inclusion are prerequisites
- A planned program supports early learning
- Play is the means to early learning
- Knowledgeable and responsive educators are essential
- Understand child development
- Involve parents
- Nurturing relationships with children
- Organize the learning environment
- Extend early learning
- Evaluate early learning
- Social: Children are connected with others and contribute to their world
- Emotional: Children have a strong sense of identity and well-being
- Language and Literacies: Children are effective communicators
- Cognition: Children are involved and confident learners
- Physical: Children make healthy choices and master physical skill
