Our planning and evalutation is based around the Nebraska Early Learning Guidelines. At Parent-Teacher Conferences, we will be going over your child’s development in these areas. Please keep in mind that these are guidelines – not a checklist. Not every child has mastered these skills, and that’s what growing and learning is for!
Social and Emotional
Self- Concept:
• Child develops independence, confidence, and competence
➢ Likes self and shows pride in accomplishments
➢ Shows growing independence in a range of activities,
routines, and tasks
➢ Joins other children in various play activities
➢ Chooses from a range of activities within the program
• Child identifies own characteristics
Self-Control
• Child expresses feelings and shows concern for others
➢ Shows awareness and responds appropriately to the feelings of
others
➢ Calms self after excitement, expresses strong emotions
constructively and controls aggression
➢ Manages fears by expressing concerns and accepting support
from adults
• Child follows rules and routines
➢ Attempts to solve problems with other children independently,
by negotiation or other socially acceptable means
➢ Participates in daily routines without being asked
➢ Builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety
rules
Cooperation
• Child increases ability to sustain relationships
➢ Uses compromise and conflict resolution skills
➢ Plays actively with other children
➢ Attempts to solve problems with other children
independently, by negotiation, or other socially
acceptable means
➢ Uses language to engage others in meaningful
conversation
Social Relationships
• Child interacts empathetically and cooperatively
with adults and peers
➢ Receives social support and shows loyalty to a friend
➢ Solves problems with other children independently
➢ Shows awareness of and responds to the feelings
of others
➢ Knows how to join a group of playing children
Knowledge of Families and Communities
• Child understands and respects similarities and differences
among adults and children in their program, home, and
community
➢ Begins to understand various family roles, jobs, and rules
• Child expresses some understanding of familiar locations in
community such as where people live, and where stores, parks,
and restaurants are located
• Child uses familiar words to identify family members and
workers in their community
Approaches to Learning
Initiative and Curiosity
• Child uses initiative, curiosity and persistence to learn about
the world
➢ Carries out complex and varied sequences of activities
independently
➢ Explores ways to use new materials
• Child engages in imaginative play
• Child increasingly uses communication to ask questions and
seek answers
Reason and Problem Solving
• Child shows increasing ability to classify, compare and contrast
objects, events and experiences
➢ Makes comparisons among objects that have been observed
➢ Sorts objects by similar qualities
• Child tries several alternative methods to solve a problem and is
highly involved and persistent
➢ Uses active exploration and trial and error to solve problems
➢ Demonstrates persistence in problem solving
➢ Increases ability to make predictions and fi nd more than one
solution
• Child reflects on experiences and information, and interprets or
draws conclusions based on the information
Health and Physical Development
Fine (Small) Motor Development
• Child uses fi nger and hand control to operate and use small
objects to demonstrate fi ne (small) motor coordination
➢ Uses eye-hand coordination to perform a variety of
tasks
➢ Develops fine (small) motor skills through participation in
activities
➢ Uses strength and control to perform simple tasks
• Child explores drawing and painting materials
Gross (Large) Motor Development
• Child develops coordination, balance, spatial awareness and
strength through gross (large) motor activities
• Child develops gross (large) motor skills
➢ Coordinates both hands to manipulate large objects
➢ Continues to develop body fl exibility and coordination
➢ Uses indoor and outdoor gross (large) motor equipment safely
and appropriately
Health Status and Practices
• Child develops an awareness of health, nutrition and safety
➢ Shows growing independence in hygiene, nutrition, and
personal care when eating, dressing, washing hands,
brushing teeth, and toileting
➢ Develops knowledge and skills about what to do in case of
fi re, storm, injury or other emergencies
➢ Identifi es potentially harmful objects, substances or
behaviors, knows to leave them alone and tell an adult
• Child develops an understanding of the need for regular
physical exercise and activity
Nutrition
• Child shows knowledge of healthy eating and lifestyle habits
➢ Demonstrates knowledge that some foods are healthier
than others
➢ Uses manners during meals/snacks, including asking for
second helpings
• Child begins to develop interest in foods and eating styles of
other cultures
• Child understands that healthy foods help them to grow and
give them energy to play and think
Language and Literacy
• Child listens to directions and conversations with
understanding
➢ Demonstrates understanding of the meaning of stories,
songs and poems
• Child follows directions in sequences of actions
➢ Follows single and multi-step or complex directions
• Child listens to others and responds to feelings and
expressed ideas
➢ Responds to simple, direct, conversational sentences,
either verbally or by alternative means
• Child demonstrates understanding of native and/or English
languages for social interactions and program directions/
activities
Listening and Understanding
• Child listens to directions and conversations with
understanding
➢ Demonstrates understanding of the meaning of stories,
songs and poems
• Child follows directions in sequences of actions
➢ Follows single and multi-step or complex directions
• Child listens to others and responds to feelings and
expressed ideas
➢ Responds to simple, direct, conversational sentences,
either verbally or by alternative means
• Child demonstrates understanding of native and/or English
languages for social interactions and program directions/
activities
Speaking and communicating
• Child communicates needs, wants or thoughts through words,
gestures, actions, or expressions
➢ Uses sentences that include two or more separate ideas
➢ Initiates interactions with adults and peers
• Child communicates for a variety of purposes
➢ Attempts to solve problems with other children
independently by communicating with them
➢ Greets adults and peers
• Child uses English or native language to share feelings and
express ideas
• Child uses new vocabulary that has been introduced
Phonological awareness
• Child shows knowledge of phonological awareness (the ability to
hear and understand the different sounds of language)
➢ Recognizes matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words,
games, songs, stories and poems
➢ Spontaneously repeats songs, rhymes and chants, and creates
nonsense words
• Child progresses in listening and telling differences in phonemes
(smallest parts of sound in a spoken word)
➢ Identifi es words that begin with the same sound
• Child recognizes the connection between spoken and written words
➢ Shows growing ability to hear and discriminate separate
syllables in words
➢ Isolates beginning and ending sounds of printed or spoken words
Book Knowledge and Appreciation
• Child demonstrates interest in and appreciation of reading-related
activities
➢ Shows interest when stories are read
➢ Relates events in story to own knowledge and experience
• Child increases knowledge about books and how they typically are
read
➢ Holds book right side up
➢ Turns pages front to back
➢ Knows specific words related to books such as author and
illustrator
• Child learns to sequence and predict a story
➢ Picture reads; tells about the story from the pictures on the
cover or in the book
Print Awareness and Concepts
• Child shows an awareness of print as a form of meaningful
communication
➢ Follows the print on the page, moving eyes from left to
right and top to bottom (uses fi nger under print)
➢ Identifies some letters and numbers
➢ Recognizes and begins to write own name
➢ “Reads” familiar environmental print (logos, posters, signs,
etc.)
• Child understands that each spoken word can be written down
and read
Early Writing and Alphabet Knowledge
• Child shows an interest in early writing
➢ Uses scribbles, shapes or pictures to represent specifi c
thoughts, ideas, stories
• Child progresses in the identifi cation of letters
➢ Identifi es some letters and numbers
➢ Uses pretend writing in play as a purposeful activity
• Child recognizes and/or writes own name on artwork or
possessions
Mathematics
Numbers and Operations
• Child develops awareness of numerals
➢ Counts up to ten or higher
➢ Can judge whether groups of up to fi ve objects each
contain the same number of objects
➢ Uses one to one matching (correspondence)
➢ Distinguishes between numbers and letters
• Child uses language to demonstrate understanding of space
and time (next to, on top of, before, after, etc.)
➢ Begins to learn sequences of events in time (fi rst, next,
last, etc.)
• Child develops an understanding of the counting process
➢ Counts in nursery rhymes; counts all types of objects;
plays with counting forward or backward
Geometry and Spatial Sense
• Child develops knowledge of geometric principles
➢ Learns about shapes
➢ Classifi es and sorts different shapes
➢ Combines different shapes to make representations or patterns
• Child develops spatial sense
➢ Uses comparison words correctly
➢ Uses words that describe the relative position of things
• Child groups objects together that are the same in some way and
gives reasons for groupings
Patterns and Measurements
• Child develops knowledge of patterns
➢ Begins to recognize duplicates and extends simple
patterns using a variety of materials
➢ Describes patterns in the environment
• Child demonstrates use of measurement
➢ Uses standard and/or non-standard measures
➢ Recognizes that different types of measurement can
be made (height, length, weight, etc.)
Science
Scientific Skill and Methods
• Child develops scientifi c skills and methods
➢ Makes observations, and describes objects and processes
in the environment
➢ Begins to make comparisons between objects that have
been observed
➢ Begins to fi nd answers to questions through active
investigation
• Child uses sentences that include two or more ideas with
descriptive details
• Child uses senses, materials, events in nature, and the
environment to investigate and expand knowledge
Scientific Knowledge
• Child develops knowledge of the scientifi c process
➢ Shows interest in active investigation
➢ Begins to make comparisons among objects that have been
observed
➢ Describes or represents a series of events in the correct
sequence
• Child demonstrates understanding of simple cause and effect
relationships
• Child shows interest in measurement of time, length, distance,
and weight
• Child develops increased ability to observe and discuss things
that are common and things that are different
Creative Arts
Music
• Child is able to sing, play, move and create music, expressing
individual imagination
➢ Takes the lead in music activities
➢ Develops an appreciation for music
• Child responds to music through movement
➢ Responds to the beat of songs or instrumental music with
more complex movements (walking or jumping to the beat)
➢ Uses music as an avenue to express thoughts, feelings,
and energy
➢ Describes and carries out movement sequences
• Child is able to distinguish between different types of music
(loud/soft, fast/slow, happy/sad, etc.)
Art
• Child progresses in exploration and experimentation with new
materials
➢ Uses materials to make a simple representation and describes
or demonstrates how it was made
• Child gains experience in making shapes and linear patterns
➢ Draws or paints images with a few details
• Child broadens artistic exploration
➢ Develops confidence in own creative expression through
process-oriented experiences
• Child uses materials to build and create a structure to represent
another item (blocks become a castle, clay becomes a snake, etc.)
Movement
• Child expresses strong emphasis, steady beats and changing
dynamics in various musical tempos and styles through
movement
➢ Responds to the beat of songs or instrumental music with
more complex movements (walking or jumping to the beat,
clapping, etc.)
• Child demonstrates a sense of balance and body
coordination
➢ Demonstrates a wide variety of positions (stretching,
bending, rocking, twisting, etc.)
• Child represents experiences through movement
➢ Demonstrates concepts (feelings, directions, words,
ideas, etc.)
Dramatic Play
• Child participates in a variety of dramatic play activities
➢ Uses words, actions and materials to portray a role, situation
or setting
➢ Engages in role play with two or more children
• Child imagines and clearly describes characters, their
relationships and their environment in dramatic play situations
➢ Assumes the role of someone or something else, or talks in
language relevant to the assumed role
