Four Year Olds

Four Year Olds

 

Four year old children undergo dramatic cognitive and socio-emotional changes. They begin to realize the impact of using language and thinking independently. As cognitive and language skills develop, social dynamics become more challenging.  This challenge may seem a distraction, but it is an important focus for four year olds.

Curriculum Goals

1. Sense of Self

  • Demonstrate ability to adjust to new situations
  • Follow routines
  • Show trust in adults
  • Function with relative independence at school
  • Recognize the difference between adults who can help (family, friends, teachers) and those who may not (strangers)
  • Identify and label feelings in self and others
  • Offer help to friends in need
  • Demonstrate the ability to use conflict resolution with peers
  • Stand up for one’s own rights and assert them verbally
  • Begin to take actions to avoid possible disputes

2. Gross Motor

  • Demonstrate basic locomotor skills (running, jumping, hopping, galloping)
  • Climb up and down comfortably
  • Demonstrate balancing skills
  • Throw and catch a ball
  • Run with ease
  • Begin to express self through body
  • Work cooperatively on a physical task

3. Fine Motor

  • Demonstrate self-help skills such as feeding self, removing socks and shoes, washing hands
  • Manipulate objects with increasing control
  • Hold scissors in one hand, begin cutting on a straight line
  • Grasp and manipulate small items
  • Begin to make recognizable shapes, including letters, faces or other representational drawings
  • Coordinate hand-eye movement
  • Manipulate materials intentionally

4. Cognitive Skills

  • Observe and examine objects
  • Demonstrate problem solving skills
  • Observe attentively and seek new information
  • Demonstrate the ability to compare and measure using multi-faceted levels of comparison
  • Identify items in a series
  • Arrange objects along a continuum
  • Continue to work on a task even when experiencing difficulties
  • Work on a task or project over time
  • Create and decode extensive patterns
  • Translate representations to a drawing or building
  • Use drawings or buildings to represent something specific
  • Demonstrate understanding of time
  • Use one-to-one correspondence to compare sets
  • Count to 20
  • Identify written numbers
  • Recognize that numbers have mathematical value
  • Engage in elaborate and sustained role play

5. Language Skills

  • Hear and repeat individual sounds in words
  • Use sounds to create new words
  • Clearly express complex ideas and questions
  • Communicate in full sentences
  • Understand and follow verbal directions of two or more steps
  • Answer questions with a complete thought (more than yes or no)
  • Understand rules and structure of conversation
  • Participate in conversation
  • Initiate or elaborate on conversation
  • Develop a joy for reading
  • Recognize that print carries meaning
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the alphabet
  • Recognize most letters by name and sound

6. Self Care/Personal Responsibility

  • Choose and engage in one activity from several options
  • Keep track of personal belongings while at school
  • Demonstrate respect and care for classroom and materials
  • Participate in clean up
  • Participate in group activities
  • Follow classroom routines without adult assistance
  • Create and complete tasks with little adult assistance
  • Demonstrate understanding of classroom rules and follows them without guidance

7. Social Behavior

  • Work and play cooperatively with one other child and in a small group
  • Maintain an ongoing friendship with at least one child
  • Recognize what others might be feeling or might need
  • Defend another individual’s rights
  • Engage in the negotiation process to reach a resolution
  • Seek adult assistance when needed
  • Suggest a solution to a problem
  • Accept compromise when negotiated with a friend

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