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Funded by The David and Lucille Packard Foundationthrough a grant to the Maine Department of EducationCross Office Building23 State House StationAugusta, ME 04333207-624-6632andChild Care Development FundHead Start State Collaboration GrantMaine Department of Health and Human ServicesMarquardt Building11 State House StationAugusta, ME 04333207-287-5099207-287-2000 TTY207-287-5031 FAX

September 2005

The Office of Child Care and Head Start at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services would like torecognize the dedicated work of the Early Childhood Learning Guidelines Task Force. The work of these TaskForce members was instrumental in completing this document. Their expertise is greatly appreciated.

The Guidelines are collaborative project of the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Department ofHealth and Human Services, Office of Child Care and Head Start. The following is a list of the Task Force mem-bers that participated in the development of the Early Childhood Learning Guidelines:

Janine Blatt, Pre-K Specialist, Maine Department of Education

Laurie Bertulli, Child Development Services Director, Maine Department of Education

Jean Bridges, Head Start Directors, Penquis Community Action Program

Sue Chevalier, Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies

Nancy Cole, Early Childhood Education, Capitol Area Regional Technical Center

Myrt Collins, Retired Principal, Portland Public Schools

Diana Doiron, English Language Arts Specialist, Maine Department of Education

Carolyn Drugge, Office of Child Care and Head Start, Maine Department of Health and Human Services

Tracye Fortin, Child and Family Services Director, Kennebec Valley Community Action Program

Rita Fullerton, Resource Development Center Director, Southern Kennebec Child Development Corporation

Jaci Holmes, Special Legislative Liaison, Maine Department of Education

Tad Johnston, Mathematics Specialist, Department of Education

Judy Reidt Parker, Head Start Director, Peoples Regional Opportunity Program (PROP)

Linda Parkin, Distinguished Educator Alternative Assessment, Maine Department of Education

Linda Labas, Child Care Plus ME Director, Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies,University of Maine

Mary Elin Logue, Chair Early Childhood Education Program, University of Maine

Sue Reed, Maine Roads to Quality Director, University of Southern Maine

Kathy Yardley, Dean of Education, Health and Rehabilitation, University of Maine at Farmington

Special thanks to Sheila Skiffington and her staff from Education Development Center, Newton, MA for theirwork on the first draft of this document. Thanks also go to the panel of expert reviewers, the many Forumattendees and to the teachers in the pilot sites who all provided valuable feedback.

The support and contributions of the members of the task force and many others who reviewed this documentare gratefully acknowledged.

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Essential Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Implementation and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Personal and Social Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Approaches to Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Creative Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Early Language and Literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Health and Physical Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Social Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

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The State of Maine Early Childhood LearningGuidelines serves as a guide for state and localearly care and education practitioners’ effortsto improve early childhood professional prac-tice and programs for young children agesthree through their entrance into kinder-garten. This document considers the core ele-ments contained in the State of Maine LearningResults (K-12). The Guidelines reflect currentresearch on early learning and best practice inearly education. The document can be usedwithin and across a wide range of early learningsettings—public preschool, Head Start, subsi-dized child care programs, private child careprograms, nursery schools, family child carehomes, and informal care settings. The EarlyChildhood Learning Guidelines are intendedto promote greater collaboration and consis-tency across systems by aligning practiceacross all early childhood settings and theearly grades.

These guidelines recognize that learning inearly childhood environments lays a criticalfoundation for the young child’s later successin school, work, citizenship, and personal ful-fillment. Research in brain development hasshown that crucial early neural developmentoccurs at critical “windows of opportunity” dur-ing a child’s early years. The child’s environ-ment and relationships with his/her family andother adults during the infant/toddler and pre-school years will either support and nurturedevelopment or put it at risk.

The Task Force that developed the State ofMaine Early Childhood Learning Guidelines (3-5)

acknowledges that play, in concert with adultplanning, guidance, support, and follow-up, isa vital experience of early development andpromotes development of the whole child. Itis important that children explore and applynew skills through experiences that are inter-esting, satisfying, and respectful of theirdesire to touch, hear, see, smell and taste. It isalso important that we recognize their naturaldrive to use both their small and large musclesthroughout each day. Through play in a con-tent-rich environment, children not onlydevelop social and motor skills, but also beginto make sense of the world around them,building the foundations they will need tobecome capable, enthusiastic learners andresponsible, healthy adults.

The format of the Early Childhood LearningGuidelines includes indicators within domainswith cross-reference to the State of MaineLearning Results by content area and/or clusterin the Appendix. The Task Force felt it impor-tant to point out this connection to clarify theimportance of early learning as the ground-work for the child’s learning from age fivethrough the high school years. Early childhoodprofessionals who use them will easily seethese as the first steps on the child’s kinder-garten through 12th grade educational continu-um. The Task Force also recognizes that chil-dren learn at their own pace, and that some ofthe expectations in each domain will be appli-cable to children at a younger developmentalstage, while others will be appropriate forchildren closer to kindergarten entry.

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PurposeThe Early Childhood Learning Guidelinesare intended to:• provide early childhood practitioners and

families with guidance as they design learn-ing environments, shape curriculum, leadprofessional development initiatives, buildintentionality into teaching practice, and/orsupport children’s learning at home. Sinceeffective early childhood learning environ-ments for young children incorporate anintegrated, holistic approach to teachingchildren and address each child’s social,emotional, physical and intellectual devel-opment, each of the Early ChildhoodLearning Guidelines’ 8 domains and theirindicators cannot be addressed in isolation.Learning goals must also consider thatalthough developmental stages are pre-dictable, each child develops at his/her ownrate, for development is influenced by manyfactors: genetics, prenatal care, birth, tem-perament, attachment to families and out-of-home caregivers, and early experiences.

• serve only as a guide for best practice, andare not intended to be used for any form ofstandardized assessment, to impose specif-ic curriculum standards in a rigid manner,nor for comparison of one child to anoth-er.

• support and flow into the State of MaineLearning Results by identifying the knowl-edge and skills essential to prepare youngchildren for school and giving them thetools they need to succeed socially, emo-tionally, physically, and intellectually. Bycreating guidelines that align with the Stateof Maine Learning Results, the Task Forcehopes that schools will, in turn, be ready foryoung children when they enter kinder-garten.

BackgroundThe State of Maine Early Childhood

Learning Guidelines Task Force began meetingin Fall 2002 in response to federal initiativesencouraging states to develop early learningguidelines that focus early childhood profes-sionals on preparing young children to succeedin school. National legislation and initiatives—the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; the GoodStart, Grow Smart Initiative; Head Start ChildOutcomes Framework—point to the need tostrengthen school readiness efforts across local,state, and federal early care and education sys-tems.

As part of the Good Start, Grow SmartInitiative, the U.S. Department of Health andHuman Services, Child Care Bureau has askedstates to include in their biannual Child Careand Development Plan their progress in creat-ing voluntary, quality-related guidelines thatalign with the State’s K-12 educational stan-dards. For early childhood education, thisincludes language, literacy, and pre-reading andnumeracy. Good Start, Grow Smart also calls onstates to coordinate early education programswith public school standards, to help preparechildren to enter school.

Within this context, the Maine Departmentof Health and Human Services’ Office of ChildCare and Head Start convened an EarlyChildhood Learning Guidelines Task Force com-prised of a diverse group of early educationleaders, including representation from theMaine Department of Education. The group wascharged with designing a developmentallyappropriate set of early learning guidelines thatwould be grounded in best practice andresearch, while aligning what children arelearning before they enter kindergarten withwhat is expected of them once they enter

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school. The Task Force drew from a rich arrayof existing professional standards and researchon early learning and development, as well asfrom the expertise of its own members.

The document underwent rigorous reviewby a panel of 50 state and national experts withknowledge of early childhood development andteaching practice, as well as specific contentareas. In addition, two forums were convenedto solicit input from nearly 200 early childhoodpractitioners. Suggestions from each of thesegroups were incorporated into the final docu-ment.

The Early Childhood Learning Guidelineswere piloted in three areas of the state.Practitioners from public pre-K programs, HeadStart, child care centers, family child carehomes and nursery schools were all part of thepilot project. A curriculum to train practition-ers to implement the Early Childhood LearningGuidelines in their classrooms or homes wasdeveloped and evaluated. Members of the pilotalso evaluated the age-appropriateness of theguidelines.

StructureThe organization of the State of Maine Early

Childhood Learning Guidelines is designedwith eight domains – Personal and SocialDevelopment, Approaches to Learning, CreativeArts, Early Language and Literacy, Health andPhysical Education, Mathematics, Science, andSocial Studies. Within each domain there areone or more domain elements, such asNumbers and Number Sense, Shape and Size,Mathematical Decision-Making and Patternswithin the Mathematics domain. Indicators ofwhat children should know and be able to dowhen they enter kindergarten are the nextlevel.

The indicators in the Early ChildhoodLearning Guidelines are further clarified by theinclusion of examples that may be observed by

adults working with children. These examplesare offered as some of the possible ways inwhich children may demonstrate the indica-tors. Gender neutrality has been achieved byalternating the gender of the children in theexamples between male and female. Theseexamples are inclusive of children on the devel-opmental continuum including those with spe-cial needs as well as those children who arelearning English as a second language.

These indicators are cross-referenced to theState of Maine Learning Results (K-12) by con-tent area and/or cluster. While the EarlyChildhood Learning Guidelines focus on some ofthe same content areas as the State of MaineLearning Results (K-12), they also recognizeother aspects of development that are critical toyoung children’s learning. Therefore, two addi-tional areas, Personal and Social Developmentand Approaches to Learning, were added.Because these are viewed as the building blocksfor all the other content areas, they are placedas the first two sections of these EarlyChildhood Learning Guidelines. For the youngchild, these areas are essential foundations fordevelopment and learning across the otherdomains.

The indicators are also cross-referenced tothe Head Start Child Outcomes Framework thatincludes indicators that are already being usedin Maine Head Start programs. These cross- ref-erences to Maine Learning Results and the HeadStart outcomes are found in Appendix A.

The following outcomes developed for EarlyIntervention programs by the Early ChildhoodOutcomes Center at the Frank Porter GrahamCenter at the University of North Carolina arealso included in these Guidelines:

• Children have positive social relationships

• Children acquire and use knowledge andskills, and

• Children take action to meet their needs.

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Essential Practices■ The Whole Child—An

Integrated ApproachWhile the division of learning into domains

is necessary to organize the guidelines, learningfor the young child is not isolated by domains,but occurs across areas. Because the domainsare interconnected, and because chil-dren learn by constructingnew knowledge fromexisting knowl-edge, earlychildhood

professionals and families must approach theEarly Childhood Learning Guidelines with aninterdisciplinary and constructivist perspective.The design of the learning environment andcurriculum should consider and support thedevelopment of the whole child—intellectually,physically, socially, and emotionally.

In high quality early learning environments,both learning and assessment are successfully

integrated across several domains atthe same time. For example,

a science project mayalso build literacy,

math skills,

The Whole Child

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communication, and social skills as childrendocument and track their experimentation andobservations.

Early education practitioners are encour-aged to approach the Early Childhood LearningGuidelines from a multidisciplinary perspectivewhen designing their curriculum and planningactivities. Young children engaged in activelearning will integrate knowledge and skillsacross domains.

■ For All ChildrenOne of the most important considerations

in the development of the Early ChildhoodLearning Guidelines was ensuring that it wouldapply to all children from three years of age totheir entrance into kindergarten. TheseLearning Guidelines present goals and a contin-uum for what all children—including youngchildren with unique learning needs and thosewith disabilities—should be able to do.Children develop at different rates and have dif-ferent physical, emotional, and intellectualabilities. The early learning environmentshould incorporate appropriate adaptations tomeet the needs of each individual child andenable them to achieve to the maximum levelof their abilities.

In order to provide young children with age-appropriate opportunities to develop the atti-tudes, skills, and knowledge for school and lifesuccess, early childhood professionals have animportant responsibility to design environ-ments, curriculum, and assessment and toadjust their teaching practices to meet theneeds of a diverse group of children. It is criti-cal for the early childhood professional toimplement a comprehensive, individualizedapproach to observing, assessing, and planningfor each child and his/her unique needs, cul-ture, and abilities.

In today’s diverse communities, young chil-dren have varied family, cultural, and linguisticexperiences. Children whose home language isnot English face the challenge of experiencingan early childhood learning environment thatmay not be consistent with their home cultureand language. As early childhood professionalswork to incorporate practices that support all ofthe Early Childhood Learning Guidelines, theyshould demonstrate a respect for and apprecia-tion of the language skills, knowledge, and cul-ture that the young child learning Englishbrings to the early childhood environment,while encouraging the development of thechild’s home language.

Children communicate in a variety of waysincluding through spoken words, gestures, sym-bols, pictures, and/or signs. When observinghow children demonstrate what they know andcan do, the full spectrum of communicationoptions including the use of American SignLanguage and other low technology and hightechnology augmentative/assistive communica-tion systems should be considered.

Children with diagnosed disabilities haverights under federal and state special educationlaw, including the right to a free appropriatepublic education in the least restrictive settingand access to the general education curriculum.A continuum of services and supports, andappropriate adaptations and modifications tothe environment, materials, and teachingapproaches are necessary to ensure that alllearners, including young children with disabil-ities, can demonstrate what they know and cando. In working with a child with disabilities, aswith all children, the early childhood profes-sional should demonstrate an ability to designalternative ways for each child to best meet theexpectations, using information based on eachchild’s way of attending, organizing informa-tion, communicating and interacting.

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■ Learning Happens Within RelationshipsYoung children’s social and emotional

development is the foundation for their cogni-tive development. Children learn best in anenvironment where their psychological needsare being met because they feel safe, valued asunique individuals, while they are activelyengaged in acquiring new skills and knowledge.Early learning is enhanced by curiosity, creativ-ity, independence, cooperativeness, and persist-ence.

Children are dependent upon their interac-tions with peers and adults to construct a senseof self and to view themselves as learners.Early childhood practitioners are aware of theimportance of children developing a strong andpositive self-concept as well as appropriate self-control and growth in their awareness of theirresponsibilities when interacting with others.Children are more likely to do well in schoolwhen they have a positive sense of personalwell-being, developed through consistent car-ing relationships in their early years. Childrenalso do better in school settings when theyhave the social skills and behaviors that enablethem to develop meaningful relationships withadults and peers.

■ Experiential LearningChildren are active learners. Children learn

through experiences with people, objects andthings in their world. Experiences throughplay, knowledge, curiosity and sense of wonderare foundations for children’s learning. Theearly childhood environment should provideopportunities for children to explore materialsand engage in concrete activities and to interactwith peers and adults to construct their ownunderstanding about the world around them.The best foundation for later learning is provid-

ed when children have multiple and variedopportunities to interact with their environ-ment.

Play, as noted on page 2, is the vehicle forlearning and development across domains. It isa dynamic process that allows children to prac-tice skills they will need later in life. Early child-hood practitioners are encouraged to createenvironments that support meaningful play asthe key medium for learning.

■ IntentionalityThe Early Childhood Learning Guidelines pro-

vide a common framework for developmentallyappropriate expectations for children ages threeand four. Individual early childhood practition-ers can develop curriculum and plan assess-ment appropriate to their setting and related tothe expectations. They are not locked into a setcurriculum but rather can design activitieswithin any number of topics that will give chil-dren opportunities to meet the indicators indi-vidually and at their own pace. The indicatorscan be used to help early childhood practition-ers define what they want young children toknow and be able to do. Learning activities canthen be designed to help children reach theindicators.

■ Partnerships with FamiliesThe early childhood practitioner is most

effective when young children are viewed in thecontext of their families and culture. It is withinthe family that children’s attitudes towardlearning and their understanding of the worldbegin. The language and culture that childrenbring with them to the early learning environ-ment is the prism through which they view theworld around them and through which theyinterpret and learn. Through ongoing commu-nication with families, early childhood profes-sionals expand on what children are learning in

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the home and support the development of fam-ilies as equal partners in the child’s education.Viewing families with respect and equality fos-ters and maximizes cooperative involvementcritical to the child’s school success.

The Early Childhood Learning Guidelines areintended for families, as well as practitioners.Families can draw on the domains andindicators to guide them as they support theirchild’s development at home and partner withpractitioners.

■ AssessmentThese Learning Guidelines are just one part ofensuring high-quality early childhood learningenvironments for children in the State ofMaine. The implementation of research-based,appropriately applied child assessment is alsocritical to ensuring quality. Multiple approachesto assessment (e.g., portfolios, observation andnarratives) provide professionals and familieswith the information they need to individualizetheir work with children and to adapt curricu-lum and daily activities to meet the needs andabilities of each child. It is essential that eachearly childhood learning environment and itsprofessionals carefully design systems andmultiple approaches—including alternativeapproaches adapted to children with disabili-ties—to assess children and obtain infor-mation that enhances teaching strategies andcurriculum.

Implementation andResources

Implementation of the Early ChildhoodLearning Guidelines may vary, as each earlyeducation setting is unique. Early childhoodprofessionals and families will establish theirown unique approach to such issues as curricu-lum development, child assessment, planning,child observation, professional development,and designing the learning environment.

A “crosswalk” between these Guidelines andthe Maine Learning Results and the Head StartPath to Positive Child Outcomes defines clearlyhow the indicators in this document not onlyalign with indicators already being used in HeadStart programs but also provide the foundationfor later learning.

The Early Childhood Learning Guidelinescontains a rich bibliography that professionalsand families can draw on to guide their practice.It is important to note that the LearningGuidelines is not a curriculum. A full curriculumcontains detail about what children shouldknow and scaffolded approaches andsequences to helping children gain skills andknowledge. It often prescribes materials andmethods. These Learning Guidelines describechild outcomes for all young children for prac-titioners and families to draw on as they designand shape curriculum and child assessmentapproaches.

Fully meeting the Learning Guidelines willpresent challenges even for the most highlyskilled early childhood practitioner. They canbe most fully exercised through sound develop-mentally appropriate practice that encourageschildren’s play, natural curiosity, and enthusi-asm for learning. With the creation of theLearning Guidelines, practitioners are challengedto consider ways to build greater intentionalityinto their practice, observe and assess children’sdevelopment, implement scaffolded learningstrategies, design a rich learning environment,offer varied and stimulating play experiences,and select age-appropriate materials to supportchildren’s learning and school readiness.

The Early Childhood Learning Guidelinesshould generate ongoing discussion amongearly childhood professionals. Such discussionand reflection about practice serves to deepenknowledge and understanding about how theLearning Guidelines can be deep-rooted incurriculum, teaching practice, planning, andassessment.

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, thefoundations for each individual’s personal and

social development lie in providingbasic physiological (food, shelter)

and safety (security/stability) andrelationship (belonging/love)needs early in life. Maslow’stheory suggests that all peopleneed a safe and nurturing envi-ronment to achieve their fullpotential. When the environmentin which a child develops is safeand nurturing, the buildingblocks for learning are laid. Sucha foundation enables a child tobecome a full contributing mem-ber of the community with ahealthy sense of self and socialskills to navigate a complexsociety. The personal and social

skills gained in the early years,through play, exploration, and

interaction, enable the childto become a responsible

and respectful memberof a group while devel-

oping their ownskills, interests,

and ambitions.

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Maslow’sHierarchy of

Needs

10These indicators refer to children three to kindergarten age. It is important to adapt activities to each child’s physical, emotional,

cognitive, and social abilities and to the culture and language of their home environment.

A) Self Control Child moves close to teacher when sador upset

Child gives a peer who tries to takeaway her doll another one.

Child says “I’m excited because we’regetting a new puppy tonight”

Child lets another child finish peelinghis carrot before asking for a turn.

Child is able to quietly look at books orplay with small toys on her mat duringrest time while other children are sleep-ing.

When asked to clean up, child putsmaterials back where they belong.

• Seeks adult help when needed foremotional support

• Demonstrates increasing competencyin recognizing own and others’ emo-tions

• Demonstrates increasing competencyin describing own and others’ emo-tions

• Shows progress in expressing feel-ings, needs, and opinions in difficultsituations and conflicts withoutharming themselves, others, or prop-erty

• Demonstrates increasing capacity tofollow rules and routines

• Uses materials and equipment pur-posefully, safely, and respectfully

B) Self Concept • Develops and communicates a growingawareness of self as having certain abili-ties, characteristics, preferences, andrights (e.g., makes choices during theday based on personal interests)

• Separates from family to participatein early education setting

• Increases ability to adjust to new situ-ations

• Explores and experiments with newinterests

• Develops a growing understanding ofhow own actions affect others

• Begins to accept the consequences ofown actions

• Expresses pride in accomplishments

Child on swing says, “Look I’m pumpingall by myself!” or shows pride in achieve-ment by clapping for himself or smiling.

Child waves goodbye to parent, greets herteacher and peers and joins the daily rou-tine.

Child can continue with daily routinewhen there is a substitute.

Child participates in areas of the roomwhere materials and activities have beenchanged.

Child offers a hug to another child who isupset.

Child helps rebuild the block tower heknocked down.

Child brings a finished picture to herteacher and smiling, describes the draw-ing to the teacher.

Personal andSocial

DevelopmentChildren develop:



C) SocialCompetence

Child throws his trash away after snack.

Child talks with teacher about some-thing she saw on the way to preschool.

While playing at the water table, a childhands a pail to another child and thenpours water into it.

Child listens to others and waits his turnduring circle time.

Child sets table and sits down to eatwith one or more peers.

Child puts crayons away, puts paper incubby and joins group.

During a group discussion about pets,child shares that she has a pet by get-ting the picture of her dog out of hercubby or saying “I have a black dog.”

Child offers a suggestion to peers bygetting a piece of yellow paper to use asthe sun when the yellow placemat theywant is being used by another child.

One child advocates for another childby saying, “She had that first and hetook it away.”

• Demonstrates an understanding ofand follows through with basicresponsibilities (e.g., dressing, clean-up)

• Interacts appropriately with familiaradult(s)

• Interacts with one or more children

• Interacts respectfully and coopera-tively with adults and peers

• Increases abilities to participate suc-cessfully as a member of a groupthrough sustaining interactions withpeers (e.g., helping, sharing, and dis-cussing)

• Listens with interest and understand-ing to directions

• Listens with interest and understand-ing during conversations

• Shows increasing abilities to usecompromise and discussion in play,and resolution of conflicts with peers

• Demonstrates some understanding ofothers’ rights, uniqueness, and indi-viduality

Personal andSocial

DevelopmentChildren develop:

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The young child is, by nature, curious and inquisitive. Awell-designed, intentional learning environment is onein which early childhood professionals play a key role in

facilitating children’s play and in assessingand building on their strengths,

interests, learning, and knowl-edge. Such learning environ-ments, with family supportand involvement, stimulatechildren to explore, initiate,and problem solve, extendingthe child’s curiosity andencouraging further questionsand reflection. In such anenvironment, and togetherwith meaningful communica-tion with families, childrendevelop the learning attitudesand skills needed to succeed inschool and to remain activelearners through their entirelife.



A) Initiative and Curiosity

Child gets on the ground and asks, “Whyare there worms after the rainstorm?”

Child experiments with different objectsto balance a scale.

Child completes a difficult puzzle work-ing with peers and adults.

Child uses different paintbrushes andselects different colors to create designs.

Child plays in dramatic play area.

Child chooses to read, paint and buildwith legos.

• Expresses (verbally or nonverbally)an eagerness to participate in andlearn about a widening range of top-ics, ideas, and tasks

• Finds more than one solution to aquestion, task, or problem

• Recognizes and solves problemsthrough active exploration, includ-ing trial and error, and interactionsand discussions with peers andadults

• Approaches tasks and activities withincreasing flexibility, imagination,and inventiveness

• Engages in individual or group activ-ities that express real life experi-ences, ideas, knowledge, feelings,and fantasy

• Participates in an increasing varietyof tasks and activities

• Persists in and completes anincreasing variety of tasks, activities,projects, and experiences

• Sets goals, develops plans, and com-pletes tasks

• Demonstrates a capacity to maintainconcentration for a meaningful peri-od of time on a task, set of direc-tions, or interactions, despite dis-tractions and interruptions

• Applies prior experiences, senses,and knowledge to new learning situ-ations

• Considers and implements differentapproaches to carrying out a task

Child continues to work on a puzzleeven when he cannot easily complete it.

Child says, “Joey and I are going to makea tunnel in the sand box. We’re going touse these special shovels” and then does it.

Child completes a collage as childrenand teacher come and go from the artarea.

Child remembers the sequence of ingre-dients in a cooking project.

Child loads blocks in a wagon ratherthan carrying them one by one.

B) Persistenceand Reflection

Approaches to Learning

Children develop:



• Alters approach to tasks when initialapproach does not work

• Recognizes and solves problems inde-pendently through trial and error andby interacting with peers and adults

• Seeks help appropriately from anoth-er child or an adult when encounter-ing a problem

• Discusses or documents importantaspects of an experience and identi-fies what was learned

• Demonstrates new understanding bychanging his/her approach and/orbehavior

Child finally succeeds in getting blockstructure to stand by not adding theblock that would cause it to fall.

Child asks peer to hold base of blockstructure while selecting anotherblock.

Child asks teacher, “Will you tie myshoe?” or indicates she needs her shoetied by making eye contact with anadult and pointing to her untied shoe.

Child contributes to a classroom charttitled, “What we saw on our trip to theapple orchard.”

Child asks through spoken words, ges-tures, symbols, pictures and/or signs ifhe can join the game instead of knock-ing it over.

B) Persistence and Reflection(cont.)


Children develop:

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The creative arts (music, visual arts, dance, theater)appeal to young children’s different senses and areexpressed through different materials and activitiesoffered daily in the early childhood learning environ-

ment. The arts offer an outlet foremotional, creative, and physi-cal expression, and also helpyoung children to understandtheir world, acquire verbal andnon-verbal abilities, problemsolve, and develop confidence,self-esteem, cooperation,discipline, and self-motivation.Experience in the arts lays afoundation for lifelong useand enjoyment of many ofexpressive, analytical, anddevelopmental tools valuablein their daily lives. Yet, mostimportantly, young childrenshould experience the arts asa source of enjoyment,expression, and creativity.



Creative ArtsChildren develop

skills, knowledge andappreciation of the

arts by:

Participating withincreasing interestand enjoyment in avariety of music,movement, visualarts, drama activities(e.g., singing, fingerplays, easel painting,and dramatic play)

• Moves in time to music

• Shows increasing ability in keep-ing/moving in time to different pat-terns of beat and rhythm in music

• Uses different art media and mate-rials

• Progresses in abilities to createdrawings, paintings, and other artcreations that reflect more detail,creativity, and/or realism

• Identifies shapes, textures, and col-ors

• Tells about and/or role-plays char-acters from stories, people in ownor imagined community, peopleand events from own or imaginedexperience

• Uses props to enhance role playingand dramatic play

• Begins to understand and developthe vocabulary to share opinionsabout artistic creations and experi-ences

Child taps foot while listening to music.

Child plays triangles, bongo drum orclaps to various musical works.

Child uses glue and tissue paper to makea collage.

Child paints a self portrait

Child responds to computer’s spokencommand by clicking on the objects thatare round and red.

Child is painting and says, “I’m an artistlike my uncle.”

Child gets blocks to use as a table for herdolls.

Child looks at another child’s paintingand says, “I like the design you made.”

17

To develop good thinking strategies, the early learning environment must engage young childrenas active learners. Young children form a strong foundation for English language arts when theiremergent literacy skills (reading, writing, and speaking) are developed to build their beginning read-ing and writing abilities. Hands-on exposure to books and language arts, creative expression throughplay, and guided encouragement from adults develop the child’s verbal and writing skills as well as alove of reading and the spoken word. They provide the child not only with the tools for lifelong

learning, but also with the ability to become acritical thinker and effective communi-

cator. The early childhood learningenvironment provides children withopportunities to explore and under-stand the basic elements of spokenand written language and the ways inwhich these are used.

To succeed in school and life,young children must develop linguis-tic and cultural skills to communicatesuccessfully in a diverse society.Language and communication are atthe heart of the human experience,whether communication takes placeface-to-face, in writing, or across thecenturies through the reading of lit-erature.

The early learning environmentshould integrate language experi-ences throughout the curriculum—building children’s vocabulary, skillsin constructing sentences (grammar)and composing their thoughts (con-tent). While some children whosehome language is English may be

interested and ready to learn words of another language, many children in today’s early childhood set-tings are English language learners—speaking a language other than English in their homes. The goalof all early childhood learning environments is to help all children gain proficiency in English, whilehonoring their home language and culture.

18 These indicators refer to children three to kindergarten age. It is important to adapt activities to each child’s physical, emotional,cognitive, and social abilities and to the culture and language of their home environment.

Early Language& Literacy

Children developknowledge and skills

related to:

A) Communicatingand Listening

• Asks and answers simple questionsabout self and family by using learnedphrases and recalled vocabulary

• Develops increasing abilities to under-stand and use language to communi-cate information, experiences, ideas,feelings, opinions, needs, questions,and for other varied purposes

• Communicates clearly enough to beunderstood by familiar and unfamiliarlisteners

• Uses an increasingly complex and var-ied spoken vocabulary

• Progresses in listening to and under-standing the English language whilemaintaining home language, when thetwo are not the same

• Demonstrates increased proficiency inhome and English languages (EnglishLanguage Learner)

Child says, “My baby sisters were justborn; they’re identical twins.”

Child points to a picture of a sad facewhen asked, “How do you feel about goingoutside today?”

Classroom visitors understand by child’ssigns and/or verbalizations that she wantsmore juice.

Child says, “The caterpillar will form achrysalis after it eats a lot of milkweed.”

Child learning English responds appropri-ately to simple spoken directions (i.e.“please hang up your coat.”)

Child points to a book on the shelf andsays, “I call this _____ at my house.”

B) BookKnowledge andAppreciation

Understanding andappreciation thatbooks and otherforms of print havea purpose

• Seeks out and enjoys experienceswith pictures, books, and other printmaterials

• Handles and cares for books

• Listens to and communicates infor-mation about favorite books

• Knows that books provide informa-tion about the world

• Understands that a book has a title,author and illustrator

• Knows to view one page at a time insequence from front to back

• Incorporates some literacy activitiesinto dramatic play

Child asks for a story to be read or looksat pictures in a magazine.

Child picks up a book from the floor andreturns it gently to the shelf with thecover facing out.

When shown two different books, childselects the caterpillar book and sits downto read it.

After a nature walk, child looks in thenon-fiction books for a picture thatmatches the leaves he collected.

Child says, “That looks like a book by EricCarle.”

When reading with another peer, childassists another in identifying the book’ssequence by showing that a page wasskipped or by saying to peer, “youskipped a page.”

When playing with the telephone a childsays, “I’m going to take a message” andscribbles on paper.





related to:

C) Comprehension

Understanding thatspoken and writtenwords have meaning

• Recites simple poems or nurseryrhymes

• Develops an awareness of wordsounds and rhythms of language

• Knows that different words canbegin with the same sound

• Recognizes that sounds are associat-ed with letters of the alphabet andthat they form words

• Recognizes characteristic sounds andrhythms of language, including therelationship between sounds and let-ters

Child says nursery rhymes such as“Hey Diddle Diddle.”

Child fills in missing words in arhyming pattern (such as Willaby,Wallaby, Woo.)

When listening to a book on tape andlooking at a picture book, child pointsto the words ball, bee and baby whenhe hears the “b” sound.

Child identifies through spoken words,gestures, symbols, pictures and/or signssome of the letters of her name.

Child can point to the letter “D” whilemaking the “duh” sound.

• Identifies objects from books

• Retells information from a story

• Demonstrates understanding ofbasic plots of simple stories in avariety of ways (e.g., retelling, roleplay, illustrating, responding toquestions)

• Makes reasonable predictions aboutwhat will happen next or howthings might have turned out differ-ently in a story

• Makes observations about the use ofwords and pictures

• Understands the main idea of sim-ple information

Child identifies animals in Over theMeadow.

Child tells through spoken words, ges-tures, symbols, pictures, and/or signswhat happened when the moose atethe muffin.

Child retells Brown Bear, Brown Bearby looking at the pictures in the book.

When listening to a story, the childgives a reasonable answer to theteacher’s question “What do you thinkwill happen next?”

Child asks the teacher to write a storyabout her picture.

When asked what the book was about,child responds, “It was about being agood friend.”

D) Sounds inSpokenLanguage

PhonologicalAwareness (the abili-ty to hear and workwith the sounds ofspoken language)

Phonemic Awareness(understanding thatspoken words aremade up of separate,small sounds)





related to:

E) PrintConcepts

Understanding thatwords they see inprint and wordsthey speak andhear are related.

• Recognizes own written name

• Identifies some labels and signs

• Recognizes that letters are grouped toform words.

Child identifies and names letters whiledoing an alphabet puzzle.

Child can find own name card in a bas-ket filled with name cards.

Child can identify “Stop” and “Exit”signs.

Child spells out the word “dog” whileplaying with magnetic letters.

F) AlphabetKnowledge

Recognizing thatsounds are associatedwith letters of thealphabet and that theyform words.

• Identifies some letters of thealphabet

G) Early Writing

Using symbols to rep-resent words andideas.

• Understands that writing is a way ofcommunicating

• Tells about experiences and discover-ies, both orally and in writing, whichcould include child’s own invented,emergent writing

• Experiments with growing variety ofwriting tools, materials, andresources, including adaptive com-munication and writing devices

• Copies or prints own name

• Engages in writing using letter-likesymbols to make letters or words

Child makes scribbles and says, “I’mwriting a note to my mommy.”

Child draws a picture about what hedid over the weekend and writes thewords to explain the picture withinvented spelling.

Child staples pieces of paper togetherand selects a marker and pencil towrite in “her book.”

Child writes name on the picture hepainted.

21

Young children begin to learn that health practices canaffect their health and set a pattern for their lives. Adultmodeling and discussion about good health practices

helps equip young children with the knowledgeand skills to thrive physically, men-

tally, emotionally, and socially.This helps young children meetthe challenges of growing up—understanding the benefitsof safety, prevention, goodhygiene, and appropriatemedical care. Through healtheducation, young childrenbecome aware of the dimen-sions of good health: physicalsoundness and vigor, mentalalertness and ability to concen-trate, expressing emotions ina healthy way, resiliency, andpositive relations with others.



Health & PhysicalEducation


related to:

A) Healthy Habits • Makes known health-related needsand/or interests and considers possibleoptions

• Uses basic personal hygiene practicesand understands that those practiceshelp to maintain good health

• Tries a variety of nutritious foods andknows the difference between health-ful foods and those with little nutri-tional value

• Regularly participates in active games,outdoor play and other forms of exer-cise that enhance physical fitness

• Practices safety skills for different situ-ations

• Links particular community helperswith given situations/needs

Child says through spoken word, ges-tures, symbols, pictures, and/or sign,“I’m thirsty. I need a drink.”

While washing hands, child says “I’mgetting rid of the germs before I eat.”

When cooking in dramatic play, childsays, “We have to eat our vegetables tokeep our bodies healthy.”

Child is active when on the playground.

In dramatic play, child lines up chairsand says, “sit down and put on yourseat belts.”

While playing child says, “Dial 911 andget the firefighters, the house is burningdown.”

B) Gross and FineMotor Skills

• Moves with an awareness of person-al space in relationship to others

• Demonstrates progress with non-locomotor skills

• Shows increasing levels of proficien-cy, control and balance in walking,climbing, running, jumping, hop-ping, skipping, marching, and gal-loping

• Demonstrates increasing abilities tocoordinate movements in throwing,catching, kicking, bouncing balls,and using the slide and swing

• Makes successful transitionsbetween sequential motor skills

Child moves away from others duringa dancing activity to avoid gettingbumped or pushed.

Child can stand on one foot.

Child walks along a crack in the side-walk

Child kicks a ball to a friend or catchesa soft toy when thrown to her.

Child completes an obstacle coursethat includes crawling through tunnels,walking on a balance beam, and jump-ing over a rope on the floor.



Health & PhysicalEducation


related to:

• Demonstrates cooperative skills(following rules, taking turns, sharingequipment, etc.) while participating inphysical activities

• Grows in eye-hand coordination inbuilding with blocks, putting togetherpuzzles, reproducing shapes andpatterns, stringing beads and usingscissors

• Develops increasing strength, dexteri-ty, and control needed to use tools(e.g., scissors, paper punch, andstapler)

• Progresses in abilities to use writing,drawing and art tools includingpencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes,and various types of adaptive technol-ogy as needed

• Uses standard and/or adaptive earlychildhood motor equipment safelyand appropriately

Child asks peer to pull him in thewagon.

Child strings small beads.

Child uses scissors to cut roughly in aline or around a picture.

Child paints at the easel using big andsmall brushes to create dots, lines andcircular strokes.

When signaled to cleanup, child putsaway all the woodworking toys andfinds an adult to store the saw properly.

B) Gross and FineMotor Skills (cont.)

24

The early learning environment should provide youngchildren with rich opportunities to discover fundamentalmathematical concepts and math’s relevance to daily life.

Learning environments should offer a varietyof tools, such as measuring cups,

balance scales, blocks, cubes,and other hands-on materials.Skillful early childhood profes-sionals help children under-stand the usefulness of suchtools and encourage theirproblem-solving skills. Suchteaching practices lead to theenjoyment and appreciation ofmathematics through purpose-ful activities, and prepareyoung children for a future inwhich mathematics andproblem-solving strategies willbe increasingly important inall areas of endeavor.



Mathematics


related to:

• Demonstrates an increasing ability tocount in sequence to 10 and beyond

• Matches a number of objects with writ-ten numeral

• Understands that numbers have multi-ple uses [e.g., measurement, recipes,prices, and ages (self and peers), phonenumbers and street numbers]

• Demonstrates increasing interest andawareness of numbers and counting asa means for solving problems anddetermining quantity

• Identifies positions of objects in asequence

• Uses one-to-one correspondence incounting objects and matching groupsof objects

• Shows growth in matching, sorting,putting in a series, and regroupingobjects according to one or two attrib-utes such as color, shape, or size

• Demonstrates understanding of con-cepts whole and part

Child counts to ten using spoken words,signs, gestures, or pictures.

Child matches one dog to the writtennumeral “1”.

Child says, “I live at 309 CongressStreet.”

Child says, “We need three more cups atthe snack table” or indicates the need forthree more cups by bringing them overto the snack table.

Child says, “I’m first in line, she’s sec-ond”

Child touches or points to objects suchas crackers while using or hearing phras-es such as “one for mommy, one fordaddy, one for me.”

Child puts all the small red legos together.

Child puts two triangle blocks togetherto make a square.

A) Numbers andNumber Sense

• Builds increasing understanding ofdirectionality, order and position ofobjects and words such as up, down,inside, outside, next to, in front of,behind, on top of, under

• Recognizes, names, matches, andsorts simple shapes

• Matches two dimensional geometricshapes

• Recognizes and compares objectsbased on differences in length, vol-ume, weight, width (thick and thin)

Child puts the fork on top of the nap-kin when asked to do so.

Child puts blocks away by size andshape.

Child uses pattern blocks to completea design.

Child chooses the longer of the twoblocks when asked, “Which one islonger?”

B) Shape and Size



Mathematics


related to:

• Uses non-standard units of measure-ment (e.g., books, hands, blocks) tomeasure objects

• Recognizes some basic concepts oftime and sequence (e.g., morning,afternoon, yesterday, today, tomorrow,before, after)

• Describes simple navigation activities

Child says, “The tiles on the floor are 10legos long.”

Child says, “My mom picks me up afternap.”

Child says, “We go down the hall pastthe bathroom to get to our playground.”

C) Mathematical Decision-making

• Responds to questions that can beanswered with information gainedthrough data analysis

• Makes two and three dimensionaldepictions, such as graphs and charts,of information gathered from immedi-ate surroundings

• Uses planning to acquire a desired out-come (e.g., selecting appropriate typesand quantities of materials)

Child responds through spoken words,gestures, symbols, pictures, and/or signwith appropriate answer to the ques-tion “How many children have sneak-ers with Velcro?”

Child uses Popsicle sticks to representnumber of family members on a classgraph.

Child brings 4 marbles to 4 friendswho are waiting to use the marblemaze.

B) Shape and Size (cont.)

D) Patterns • Begins to recognize, copy, extend,and create simple patterns (e.g.,sounds, objects, shapes)

• Matches and sorts objects

Child is making a blue star-white cir-cle, blue star-white circle necklace.After stringing a white bead she indi-cates the need for a blue star by sign-ing, pointing to, saying, or selectingthe blue one.

Child puts all animals with stripes inone pile and other animals in anotherpile.

27

The early childhood learning environment offersmany opportunities for young children to explore,experience and question, thereby laying the foundationfor an understanding of the scientific and technological

aspects of their world. A rich science cur-riculum provides children with the

tools and techniques of early sci-ence inquiry, and stimulatesthem to construct theories andknowledge about the worldaround them through every dayexperience. The early childhoodprofessional encourages activelearning through both individualand cooperative exploration,building on children’s innatecuriosity and desire to under-stand the world in which theylive. Through inquiry and experi-mentation, children also buildliteracy, math skills, and commu-nication skills as they pose ques-tions and formulate and exploretheir theories about the physicalworld in which they live.



Science


related to:

• Knows differences between living andnon-living things

• Sorts living things by characteristicssuch as movement, environment orbody covering (e.g., hair, feathers,scales)

• Knows that animals live in differenthabitats on earth

• Knows that living things are made upof different parts

• Recognizes that most things are madeof parts and that they may not work ifparts are missing

• Identifies body parts and knows theirfunctions

• Knows that plants and animals needfood, water, air, and sun to survive

• Shows interest in and discovers rela-tionships and patterns

• Expands knowledge of and respect fortheir environment

Given a collection of pictures, child cansort objects into two groups- living andnonliving.

Child correctly separates fish from birdsby looking at their feathers and scales.

Child uses a touch screen on a computerto put all animals in their correspondinghomes or says, “Elephants live in thejungle and sharks live in the ocean.”

When given flannel board pieces of atree, child is able to assemble the trunk,branches and leaves correctly.

Child says, “The wagon doesn’t rollbecause one wheel is missing.”

Child points to his nose and selects thepicture of a child smelling a flower.

Child alerts teacher that no one has fedthe classroom pet that day.

Child matches leaves from the same kindof trees

Child tells a peer not to throw trash onthe ground.

A) ScientificKnowledge

• Demonstrates curiosity about the nat-ural environment

• Explores and experiments with differ-ent materials, objects and situations

• Asks questions and proposes ways toanswer them

Child observes the fog and says, “It’snot rain, but it feels wet.”

Using a water wheel at the sensorytable, a child makes the wheel go fastand slow with various amounts ofwater.

Child asks, “Does this magnet workunder water?” and then proceeds totest it in the water table.

B) ScientificProcess



Science


related to:

• Identifies problems and proposes waysto solve them

• Makes predictions and tests them

• Observes and discusses changes thatoccur in their world [e.g., plant growth,colors of foliage, stages of living things(caterpillar/butterfly), night and day,seasons, weather, a new building in thecommunity]

• Observes and describes the physicalproperties of objects

• Observes, describes and investigateschanges in materials and cause andeffect relationships (e.g., cooking eggs,melting ice, making playdough)

• Uses simple tools such as measuringdevices to observe differences, similari-ties, and change

• Develops growing abilities to collect,describe, and record informationthrough a variety of means includingobservation, discussion, drawings,maps, and charts

• Makes generalizations or conclusionsbased on experiences

Child says, gestures, or signs, “I’m stuck,”when her truck is stuck in the sand andthen gets an adult to push her frombehind.

Child says, “I think the boat will sinkwith all these animals on it,” and teststhe hypothesis at the water table.

Child says, “It’s dark when I go homenow, but in summer it was day time.”

At group time, children generate a list ofattributes of the tadpole.

Child experiments with red, blue, green,and yellow paint to see what colors canbe created.

Child uses a stick to see how much snowfell during a weekend storm.

A child draws pictures of the changesfrom seed to plant.

Child shows a peer that by clicking onthe sun on the computer screen, thecomputer will then say the word “sun.”

B) ScientificProcess (cont.)

30

Young children’s neighborhoods and communi-ties help them to form an understanding about thelarger world. Their understanding of and ability to

participate cooperatively in familyand group settings enables chil-

dren to develop, practice, andapply skills required to be fullparticipants in a democraticsociety.



Social StudiesChildren develop

understanding of thelarger world throughactivities related to:

• Develops understanding of self as partof a family, group, community, andculture

• Demonstrates a beginning understand-ing family/non-family

• Demonstrates a beginning understand-ing of the concept of generations

• Demonstrates a beginning understand-ing of past, present, and future

• Understands and discusses why certainresponsibilities are important (e.g.,cleaning up, caring for pets)

• Demonstrates the knowledge and skillsneeded to perform particular jobs andtasks

• Notices and expresses interest indifferent careers and workers’ roles

• Dramatizes the ways people work andvarious aspects of their jobs

• Explores and discusses various wayspeople communicate, how they traveland how they live/work

• Identifies tools and technology used athome, school, and work

• Demonstrates interest in simple mapsand other visuals to describe geograph-ic location, direction, distance, size,and shape

Child draws a picture of his family andindicates the name of each member bysaying, signing, or pointing to them.

Child says, “I have friend named Joseand a brother named Jose.”

Child says, “My mom and I are going tovisit my grandmother. She’s mymommy’s mommy.”

Child points to the calendar and countsthrough spoken words, gestures, sym-bols, pictures, and/or signs the numberof days until her special trip.

Child says, “We have to clean the guineapig cage or it will smell.”

Child washes hands before the cookingactivity and gets the bowl, spoons,measuring cup and recipe to begin theproject.

Child observes a man with a jackham-mer and says, “He’s making a hole in theroad.”

During circle time, children dramatizemovements of people in different occu-pations (e.g. hammering like a carpenter,stirring like a cook, etc.)

In a book about another culture, childcomments, “They sit on the floor whenthey eat.”

Child says, “My dad has a computer justlike this one at his office.”

On a map of the neighborhood, childsays, “There’s the park across the street”or child is able to correctly point to afamiliar landmark when asked, “Whereis the park?”

Families andCommunities



Social StudiesChildren develop

understanding of thelarger world throughactivities related to:

• Understands that there are othercultures with different languages,foods, art, music, forms of shelter

• Appreciates the dress, holidays, andmusic of a country or region with adifferent language

• Identifies unique products of anotherculture such as toys, food, songs,currency, and crafts

• Knows and discusses where someproducts come from

• Understands the basic relationship ofmoney to the purchase of food, shelter,goods, and services

• Demonstrates awareness of the need toprotect the natural environment

Child says, “Deux is how you say two inFrench.”

Child dances to African drum music

Child says, “This is money from mydaddy’s trip to Canada.”

Child says, “Milk comes from a cow” orwhen shown several animals and asked,“Where does milk come from?” childcorrectly points to the cow.

While playing in the dramatic play area,child gives a peer 3 coins and gesturesfor him to give her the bag of apples.

Child reminds friend, “Put scrap paper inthe recycle bin.”

Families andCommunities(cont.)

33

Adaptive Equipment: Equipment designed to provide children with special needs the accommodation necessary to master skills.

Cause/Effect: Understanding how action creates a change in the environment.

Comprehension: Understanding the meaning of spoken and written languages.

Constructivist: The idea that learners actively construct new knowledge and ideas for themselves based on what they already know.

Curriculum: The framework for the philosophy, goals and expectations for guiding children’s learning and engaging families in their children’s development.

Developmentally Appropriate Practice: The manner in which children are provided opportunities to learn and practice newly acquired skills, offering challenges just beyond their present level of mastery and taking place in a setting where children are safe, valued and where physical and psychological needs are met.

Fine Motor: Using and coordinating the small muscles in the hands and wrists with dexterity.

Gross Motor: Moving the large muscles in the body, especially the arms and legs, consciously and deliberately.

Holistic: Emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts.

Learning Environment: The structure of the setting that makes it possible for practitioners to guide children in their development and learning.

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE): The requirement in federal law that children with disabilities receive their education, to the maximum extent appropriate, with nondisabled peers and that children in special education are not removed from regular classes unless, even with supplemental aids and services, education in regular classes cannot be achieved satisfactorily.

Literacy: Using vocabulary, oral language, phonological awareness, letters, words, print, comprehension, books, and other print materials to help children explore, expand, and participate in their world.

Practitioner: Professional charged with guiding children’s learning including teachers, caregivers, and assistants.

Predict: Use of prior knowledge to guess what an outcome will be.

Scaffolding: An instructional technique whereby the teacher models the desired learning strategy or task, then gradually shifts responsibility to the student.

Symbols: Scribbling, scribble writing, letter like forms, letters, numbers, and pictures used to represent sounds, words, ideas and feelings.

Visual Arts: Painting, drawing, collages, modeling, and sculpting with various materials.

34

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35

36

B) Self Concept • Develops and communi-cates a growing aware-ness of self as havingcertain abilities, charac-teristics, preferences, andrights (e.g., makes choic-es during the day basedon personal interests)

• Separates from family toparticipate in early edu-cation setting

• Increases ability to adjustto new situations

• Explores and experi-ments with new interests

• Develops a growingunderstanding of howown actions affect others

Social and EmotionalDevelopment

Cooperation

Career Preparation

English Language Arts2) Writing and

Speaking

Health and PhysicalEducation

2) Health Skills

A) Self Control • Seeks adult help whenneeded for emotionalsupport

• Demonstrates increasingcompetency in recogniz-ing own and others’emotions

• Demonstrates increasingcompetency in describ-ing own and others’emotions

• Shows progress inexpressing feelings,needs, and opinions indifficult situations andconflicts without harm-ing themselves, others,or property

• Demonstrates increasingcapacity to follow rulesand routines

• Uses materials andequipment purposefully,safely, and respectfully


Self Concept

Self Control

Career Preparation


Speaking

Health and Physical Education

2) Health Skills

Indicators

Personal and SocialDevelopment

Children develop:

Crosswalk to Head Start

Child Outcomes Framework

Crosswalk to MaineLearning Results by

Content Area orCluster

Personal and SocialDevelopment

Children develop:





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B) Self Concept(cont.)

• Begins to accept theconsequences of ownactions

• Expresses pride inaccomplishments


Cooperation

Career Preparation


Speaking


2) Health Skills

C) SocialCompetence

• Demonstrates anunderstanding of andfollows through withbasic responsibilities(e.g., dressing, clean-up)

• Interacts appropriatelywith familiar adult(s)

• Interacts with one ormore children

• Interacts respectfullyand cooperatively withadults and peers

• Increases abilities toparticipate successfullyas a member of a groupthrough sustaininginteractions with peers(e.g., helping, sharing,and discussing)

• Listens with interestand understanding todirections

• Listens with interestand understanding dur-ing conversations

• Shows increasing abili-ties to use compromiseand discussion in play,and resolution of con-flicts with peers

• Demonstrates someunderstanding of oth-ers’ rights, uniqueness,and individuality


Career Preparation


Speaking


2) Health Skills

Indicators

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A) Initiative andCuriosity

• Expresses (verbally ornonverbally) an eager-ness to participate in andlearn about a wideningrange of topics, ideas,and tasks

• Finds more than onesolution to a question,task, or problem

• Recognizes and solvesproblems through activeexploration, includingtrial and error, and inter-actions and discussionswith peers and adults

• Approaches tasks andactivities with increasingflexibility, imagination,and inventiveness

• Engages in individual orgroup activities thatexpress real life experi-ences, ideas, knowledge,feelings, and fantasy

• Participates in anincreasing variety oftasks and activities


Initiative andCuriosity

Career Preparation

Indicators

Approaches toLearning

Children develop:





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B) Persistence andReflection

• Persists in and completesan increasing variety oftasks, activities, projects,and experiences

• Sets goals, developsplans, and completestasks

• Demonstrates a capacityto maintain concentra-tion for a meaningfulperiod of time on a task,set of directions, or inter-actions, despite distrac-tions and interruptions

• Applies prior experi-ences, senses, andknowledge to new learn-ing situations

• Considers and imple-ments differentapproaches to carryingout a task

• Alters approach to taskswhen initial approachdoes not work

• Recognizes and solvesproblems independentlythrough trial and errorand by interacting withpeers and adults

• Seeks help appropriatelyfrom another child or anadult when encounteringa problem

• Discusses or documentsimportant aspects of anexperience and identifieswhat was learned

• Demonstrates new learn-ing by changing his/herapproach and/or behav-ior


Engagement andPersistence

Career Preparation

Indicators

Approaches toLearning

Children develop:





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Participating with increas-ing interest and enjoy-ment in a variety ofmusic, movement, visualart, drama activities (e.g.,singing, finger plays, easelpainting, and dramaticplay)

• Moves in time to music

• Shows increasing abilityin keeping/moving intime to different patternsof beat and rhythm inmusic

• Uses different art mediaand materials (e.g., paint,crayons, Play dough,paper, glue) in a varietyof ways for creativeexpression and presenta-tion

• Progresses in abilities tocreate drawings, paint-ings, and other art cre-ations that reflect moredetail, creativity, and/orrealism

• Identifies shapes, tex-tures, and colors

• Tells about and/or role-plays characters fromstories, people in own orimagined community,people and events fromown or imagined experi-ence

• Uses props to enhancerole playing and dramat-ic play

• Begins to understand anddevelop the vocabularyto share opinions aboutartistic creations andexperiences

Creative Arts

Music

Movement

Art

Dramatic Play

Visual and PerformingArts

Indicators

Creative Arts

Children develop skills,knowledge and appreciation

of the arts by:





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A) Communicatingand Listening

• Asks and answers simplequestions about self andfamily by using learnedphrases and recalledvocabulary

• Develops increasing abil-ities to understand anduse language to commu-nicate information, expe-riences, ideas, feelings,opinions, needs, ques-tions, and for other var-ied purposes

• Communicates clearlyenough to be understoodby familiar and unfamil-iar listeners

• Uses an increasinglycomplex and varied spo-ken vocabulary

• Progresses in listening toand understanding theEnglish language whilemaintaining home lan-guage, when the two arenot the same

• Demonstrates increasedproficiency in home andEnglish languages(English LanguageLearner)

Language Development

Speaking andCommunicating

2) Writing and Speaking

Indicators

Early Languageand LiteracyChildren develop

knowledge and skills related to:





B) Book Knowledgeand Appreciation

Understanding and appre-ciation that books andother forms of print have a purpose.

• Seeks out and enjoysexperiences with pic-tures, books, and otherprint materials

• Handles and cares forbooks

• Listens to and communi-cates information aboutfavorite books

• Knows that books pro-vide information aboutthe world

• Understands that a bookhas a title, author andillustrator

Literacy

Book Knowledge andAppreciation

1) Reading and Viewing

C) Comprehension

Understanding that spokenand written words havemeaning

• Identifies objects frombooks

• Retells information froma story

• Demonstrates under-standing of basic plots ofsimple stories in a vari-ety of ways (e.g.,retelling, role play, illus-trating, responding toquestions)

• Make reasonable predic-tions about what willhappen next or howthings might have turnedout differently in a story

• Makes observationsabout the use of wordsand pictures

• Understands the mainidea of simple informa-tion

Literacy

Print Awareness andConcepts


B) Book Knowledgeand Appreciation(cont.)

Understanding andappreciation that booksand other forms of printhave a purpose.

• Knows to view one pageat a time in sequencefrom front to back

• Incorporates some litera-cy activities intodramatic play

Literacy

Book Knowledge andAppreciation


Indicators







D) Sounds in SpokenLanguage

Phonological Awareness(the ability to hear andwork with the sounds ofspoken language)

Phonemic Awareness(understanding that spokenwords are made up of sep-arate, small sounds)

• Recites simple poems ornursery rhymes

• Develops an awarenessof word sounds andrhythms of language

• Knows that differentwords can begin with thesame sound

• Recognizes that soundsare associated with let-ters of the alphabet andthat they form words

• Recognizes characteristicsounds and rhythms oflanguage, including therelationship betweensounds and letters

Language Development

Listening andUnderstanding



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F) AlphabetKnowledge

Recognizing that soundsare associated with lettersof the alphabet and thatthey form words

• Identifies some letters ofthe alphabet

Literacy

Alphabet Knowledge


G) Early Writing

Using symbols to representwords and ideas

• Understands that writingis a way of communicat-ing

• Tells about experiencesand discoveries, bothorally and in writing,which could includechild’s own invented,emergent writing

• Experiments with grow-ing variety of writingtools, materials, andresources, includingadaptive communicationand writing devices

• Copies or prints ownname

• Engages in writing usingletter-like symbols tomake letters or words.

Literacy

Early Writing


3) Integrated Literacy

Indicators







E) Print Concepts

Understanding that wordsthey see in print and wordsthey speak and hear arerelated

• Recognizes own writtenname

• Identifies some labelsand signs

• Recognizes that lettersare grouped to formwords

Literacy

Early Writing

Alphabet Knowledge



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A) Healthy Habits • Makes known health-related needs and/orinterests and considerspossible options

• Uses basic personalhygiene practices andunderstands that thosepractices help to main-tain good health

• Tries a variety of nutri-tious foods and knowsthe difference betweenhealthful foods andthose with little nutri-tional value

• Regularly participates inactive games, outdoorplay and other forms ofexercise that enhancephysical fitness

• Practices safety skills fordifferent situations

• Links particular commu-nity helpers with givensituations/needs

Physical Health andDevelopment

Health Status andPractice

1) Health Knowledge

2) Health Skills

Indicators


Children develop knowledge and skills

related to:





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B) Gross and FineMotor Skills

• Moves with an awarenessof personal space in rela-tionship to others

• Demonstrates progresswith non-locomotorskills

• Shows increasing levelsof proficiency, controland balance in walking,climbing, running, jump-ing, hopping, skipping,marching, and galloping

• Demonstrates increasingabilities to coordinatemovements in throwing,catching, kicking, bounc-ing balls, and using theslide and swing

• Makes successful transi-tions between sequentialmotor skills

• Demonstrates coopera-tive skills (followingrules, taking turns, shar-ing equipment, etc.)while participating inphysical activities

• Grows in eye-hand coor-dination in building withblocks, putting togetherpuzzles, reproducingshapes and patterns,stringing beads andusing scissors

• Develops increasingstrength, dexterity, andcontrol needed to usetools (e.g., scissors, paperpunch, and stapler)

• Progresses in abilities touse writing, drawing andart tools including pen-cils, markers, chalk,paint brushes, and vari-ous types of adaptivetechnology as needed

• Uses standard and/oradaptive early childhoodmotor equipment safelyand appropriately

Physical Health andDevelopment

3) Physical EducationKnowledge and Skills

Indicators



related to:





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A) Numbers andNumber Sense

• Demonstrates an increas-ing ability to count insequence to 10 andbeyond

• Matches a number ofobjects with writtennumeral

• Understands that num-bers have multiple uses[e.g., measurement,recipes, prices, and ages(self and peers), phonenumbers and streetnumbers]

• Demonstrates increasinginterest and awarenessof numbers and countingas a means for solvingproblems and determin-ing quantity

• Identifies positions ofobjects in a sequence

• Uses one-to-one corre-spondence in countingobjects and matchinggroups of objects

• Shows growth in match-ing, sorting, putting in aseries, and regroupingobjects according to oneor two attributes such ascolor, shape, or size

• Demonstrates under-standing of conceptswhole and part

Mathematics

Numbers andOperations

1) Numbers and Operations

Indicators Mathematics


related to:





B) Shape and Size • Builds increasing under-standing of directionality,order and position ofobjects and words suchas up, down, inside, out-side, next to, in front of,behind, on top of, under

• Recognizes, names,matches, and sorts sim-ple shapes

• Matches two dimensionalgeometric shapes

Mathematics

Geometry and SpatialSense

2) Shape and Size

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B) Shape and Size(cont.)

• Recognizes and com-pares objects based ondifferences in length,volume, weight, width(thick and thin)

• Uses non-standard unitsof measurement (e.g.,books, hands, blocks) tomeasure objects

• Recognizes some basicconcepts of time andsequence (e.g., morning,afternoon, yesterday,today, tomorrow, before,after)

• Describes simple naviga-tion activities

Mathematics

Geometry and SpatialSense

2) Shape and Size

C) Mathematical Decision-making

• Responds to questionsthat can be answeredwith information gainedthrough data analysis

• Makes two and threedimensional depictions,such as graphs andcharts, of informationgathered from immedi-ate surroundings

• Uses planning to acquirea desired outcome (e.g.,selecting appropriatetypes and quantities ofmaterials)

Mathematics 3) Mathematical Decision-making

D) Patterns • Begins to recognize,copy, extend, and createsimple patterns (e.g.,sounds, objects, shapes)

• Matches and sortsobjects

Mathematics

Patterns andMeasurements

4) Patterns

Indicators Mathematics


related to:





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A) ScientificKnowledge

• Knows differencesbetween living and non-living things

• Sorts living things bycharacteristics such asmovement, environment,or body covering (e.g.,hair, feathers, scales)

• Knows that animals livein different habitats onearth

• Knows that living thingsare made up of differentparts

• Recognizes that mostthings are made of partsand that they may notwork if parts are missing

• Identifies body parts andknows their functions

• Knows that plants andanimals need food,water, air, and sun to sur-vive

• Shows interest in anddiscovers relationshipsand patterns

• Expands knowledge ofand respect for theirenvironment

Science

Scientific Knowledge

1) Life Science

2) Physical Sciences

3) Earth and SpaceSciences

4) Nature andImplications ofScience

Indicators Science


related to:





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B) Scientific Process • Demonstrates curiosityabout the natural envi-ronment

• Explores and experi-ments with differentmaterials, objects andsituations

• Asks questions and pro-poses ways to answerthem

• Identifies problems andproposes ways to solvethem

• Makes predictions andtests them

• Observes and discusseschanges that occur intheir world [e.g., plantgrowth, colors of foliage,stages of living things(caterpillar/butterfly),night and day, seasons,weather, a new buildingin the community]

• Observes and describesthe physical propertiesof objects

• Observes, describes andinvestigates changes inmaterials and cause andeffect relationships (e.g.,cooking eggs, meltingice, making playdough)

• Uses simple tools such asmeasuring devices toobserve differences, sim-ilarities, and change

• Develops growing abili-ties to collect, describe,and record informationthrough a variety ofmeans including obser-vation, discussion, draw-ings, maps, and charts

• Makes generalizations orconclusions based onexperiences

Science

Scientific Skills andMethods

1) Life Science

2) Physical Sciences

3) Earth and SpaceSciences

4) Nature andImplications ofScience

Indicators Science


related to:





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Families andCommunities

• Develops understandingof self as part of a family,group, community, andculture

• Demonstrates a begin-ning understanding fami-ly/non-family

• Demonstrates a begin-ning understanding ofthe concept of genera-tions

• Demonstrates a begin-ning understanding ofpast, present, and future

• Understands and discuss-es why certain responsi-bilities are important(e.g., cleaning up, caringfor pets)

• Demonstrates the knowl-edge and skills needed toperform particular jobsand tasks

• Notices and expressesinterest in differentcareers and workers’roles

• Dramatizes the wayspeople work and variousaspects of their jobs

• Explores and discussesvarious ways peoplecommunicate, how theytravel and how theylive/work

• Identifies tools and tech-nology used at home,school, and work

• Demonstrates interest insimple maps and othervisuals to describe geo-graphic location, direc-tion, distance, size, andshape

• Understands that thereare other cultures withdifferent languages,foods, art, music, formsof shelter


Knowledge of Familiesand Communities

1) Career Preparation

2) Civics andGovernment

3) History

4) Geography

5) Economics

Indicators Social Studies


related to:





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Families andCommunities(cont.)

• Appreciates the dress,holidays, and music of acountry or region with adifferent language

• Identifies unique prod-ucts of another culturesuch as toys, food, songs,currency, and crafts

• Knows and discusseswhere some productscome from

• Understands the basicrelationship of money tothe purchase of food,shelter, goods, and serv-ices

• Demonstrates awarenessof the need to protectthe natural environment


Knowledge of Familiesand Communities

1) Career Preparation

2) Civics andGovernment

3) History

4) Geography

5) Economics

Indicators Social Studies


related to:





Maine Department of Health and Human Services11 State House StationAugusta, Maine 04333Phone: 207-287-5099

Fax: 207-287-5031 • TTY: 207-287-2000

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