This post will begin a series that will look at the content needed for children in the age range posted. Each post will look at different areas of learning within each domain of learning. I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Development Standards (TN-ELDS). However, each post will look at how to accomplish each goal and what will not accomplish each goal. I chose this age range as a beginning because in most instances this is about the point I start all children that come through my door regardless of age. I hope you understand that many 3 and 4 year olds will not be able to do many of these performance indicators. These standards were written to reflect a child's progress that has had good learning experiences from birth. Many, many children will not have the foundation necessary for many of the performance indicators. I will cover what needs to be in place in order to accomplish each performance indicator.
Obviously, many of you that read this do not live in the state of Tennessee. Therefore, explanations as to terminology and set-up are necessary. For this particular series I will only cover the cognitive and language development domains. Each domain will be divided in areas of learning. The areas of learning will be subdivided into components. The components are divided into learning expectations. For these learning expectations examples of performance indicators will be given. The domain and areas of learning will be in the title of each post. The discussion will start with a component and its learning expectations and performance indicators. I chose these standards because Tennessee prides itself on having some of the most comprehensive early learning standards in the nation. In this series I am not arguing for or against the use of these standards. I am simply giving you a good format for developing a sound curriculum for preschool children. Of course, I will throw in as much of my own expertise as an early childhood educator and former homeschooler as I can. What will make this series unique is the homeschooling element, and I will be blunt about what can and cannot be taught through play.
Our first component we will discuss is Story Reading Behaviors with the learning expectation - begins to recite from memory familiar books. The examples given for this one are (1) asks to read books to the adult and may be able to recite several books fairly accurately, especially if they are simple and predictable (2) reads familiar books aloud, rendering the text very accurately, particularly when a book is predictable.
I will tell you that 2 1/2 and 3 year olds that meet this standard are usually considered quite smart. Many, many children do not have the experience with books required to be able to quote a book accurately at this age. Children must have heard a book around 10 times to be able to quote sections of it. Unless that child has the same book read to him/her on a regular basis, this particular performance indicator will not be met. I have had 4 year olds that took some time to pick up on even very repetitive text because they had so little experience with books. Experience with books will always be the starting place with every child to develop cognitive and language development skills. READ! READ! READ!! to the children. Children will not pick up this skill by simply sitting in a library area and looking at books. Even though this should be obvious, I will take nothing for granted in this series because I have seen some wacky ideas in my day.
The last component we will discuss in this post is Early Writing Behaviors and Skills with the learning expectation - scribbles and draws with intentionality. The examples given for this one are (1) draws a circle and (2) imitates a horizontal crayon stroke.
This just happens to be one of those areas where I have heard some wacky things in my day. Some early childhood experts would have you believe that simply providing a child with crayons and paper on a regular basis will make early writing behaviors happen magically. I am afraid it is not that simple. I have seen 4 year olds that have had ample opportunity with paper and crayons and still really did not draw circles. This is one of those areas where direct instruction becomes necessary. Some children will experiment with trying to draw what they have seen others do, but they are the minority. Most children that I have seen in the last decade do not begin to really develop writing behaviors until they were directly instructed. This may be a new phenomenon that has developed in the last 5-10 years, but a great majority of the children I have had have gone from scribbling to actual deliberate writing and drawing only after I broke out the tracing pages. I know that "pages" of any sort has been completely vilified as the most horrible thing a preschool teacher can do to children. However, tracing exercises for almost all children will be necessary in order for true writing and drawing behaviors to begin to emerge. For 2 1/2 to 3 year olds, simple instruction with making circles and sticks will be all that is necessary. For 4 year olds that are still scribbling, tracing pages will be all that helps bring those children up to speed. Remember, I treat all children that walk through my door as being at this level of development until I see that they are either ahead or behind. I do not use age as an indicator anymore because I have seen way too many 4 year olds walk through my door that could not draw a circle or a stick if their life depended on it. As a homeschooler I have seen how "pages" can be extremely beneficial when coupled with one-on-one instruction. It is the one-on-one instruction that brings the benefit. Just handing a child a page has the same effect as simply handing a child paper and crayons. The instruction makes the page beneficial. You have to show children how to use crayons and pencils correctly. It does not appear out of thin air.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
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