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Guidance and support

CompSAT is here to help you fully utilize the California ECE Competencies. You will engage in reflection and authentic self-assessment as part of the fabric of your daily practice with children and families, thus enriching and enhancing your work.

CompSAT offers you guidance and support through 12 modules, each one named for one of the CA ECE Competencies. The modules address many of the issues and challenges that come with providing high quality early care and education. They provide you with choices for exploration, as you:

reflect on who you are as an early childhood educator,

explore how you want to grow in your unique role and environment, and

assess your personal strengths and challenges.

You will also be provided with useful resources to design and build a portfolio that documents your learning journey.

Learn about the portfolio guide

Build on what you know

CompSAT starts with your perspective, and the everyday experiences and real-life stories that make you who you are as an early childhood educator. This personal approach - starting with where you are, and building on what you know - is grounded in evidence-based research and practice.

CompSAT does with adults the same things skilled early educators do with children, that is to:

allow for each individual's uneven growth and development,

promote the messiness of real learning,

encourage creativity,

actively engage individuals in self-discovery,

respectfully challenge perspectives,

foster inquiry, and

thoughtfully scaffold learning.

In short, CompSAT helps close the gap between how early educators are taught to teach children, and how they are taught as adult learners.

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California State University, Fresno; under contract from the California Department of Education

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CompSAT - Professional development tools for the early childhood educator.

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CompSAT is a set of professional development tools that guide early childhood educators through a process of self-reflection and authentic assessment of knowledge, skills, and dispositions in the 12 competency areas detailed in the California Early Childhood Educator Competencies.

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36 months (3 years)
to48 months (4 years)

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

36 MONTHS (3 YEARS) TO 48 MONTHS (4 YEARS)

How are children learning about feelings and relationships?

Overview

How children think about and manage

themselves,

their feelings and behavior, and

their relationships

is what we call social-emotional development.

The development of these skills is as important in children's success in school as are other skills, such as language and literacy and mathematics.

During the first five years of age, children are learning how to

manage their own behavior,

recognize, express and manage their feelings,

notice and respond in caring ways to the feelings of others,

interact with friends,

be a member of a group, and

develop close relationships with adults, including parents, other family members, and teachers.

Children learn these social-emotional skills in close relationships with adults through back-and-forth communication, shared experiences and nurturing guidance. Play is also central to helping children learn these skills. Through play, children practice their social skills, explore feelings, try on new behaviors and get feedback from others. Play allows children to learn more about themselves and others and develop their communication and interaction skills.
What is my child learning about themselves and their feelings?
Social-Emotional Development

Introduction
What are they learning about other people and relationships?
Your four-year-old is enthusiastic about doing things herself. She may refuse your help, even if she is struggling and frustrated. She has lots of ways to describe herself and her skills. "I'm four now!" "I'm bigger." "I like to draw." "I know how to ride a scooter!" She may celebrate her accomplishments with a cheer. She has developed a few ways to help herself calm down when distressed, but sometimes needs the support and comfort of her adults to help her soothe herself. She can start cleaning up by herself, sometimes without being asked. She can think about how she has changed. "I used to be three, but now I'm four!"

He can express and describe feelings such as "sad," "mad," and "afraid," can explain what caused them, and may be able to ask for specific comfort. He can also describe the feelings of other children and sometimes identify the reason they feel that way. "Theo is sad because Laurene knocked down his blocks." He can offer comfort and show empathy for others sometimes, especially if he wasn't directly involved in the conflict.

Friendships are important to children's success in school and in life. Their growing ability to communicate and negotiate with their friends allows them to play for longer periods of time and to engage in more complex kinds of play.

They are beginning to notice and describe differences between themselves and others. "Nona's hair is brown and mine is black."

They may be developing special friendships with certain children and may use the words "best friend."

They are still learning what "friendship" means and may think that if they are mad at someone, they aren't friends anymore.

They have some skills to enter play with other children. They might watch for awhile, start playing beside others, or ask if they can play-for example, suggesting that they could be the "sister" in the pretend family play.

They have some negotiation skills and might use them to resolve a conflict with friends. They are sometimes able to share toys and materials in play with other children, but will still engage in negotiations about "who had it first" and "how long the turn will be."

They can give directions to others in play-for example, "You have to be the daddy"-and sometimes take directions from others. But other times they might get upset and threaten that if people don't play by their rules, they can't come to their birthday party.

They can participate in group activities with several other children, but may not be always able to wait for their turn to talk. They like to know what will be happening and if given information about an upcoming transition, may be able to participate cooperatively.

Parents and teachers are very important to them as sources of comfort and information, but they may resist adult direction, saying, "You're not the boss of me." They seem eager to make all the decisions and have to "test" regularly to see if the adult is still in charge of a decision. They are beginning to be able to follow the rules, even if there isn't an adult nearby, but sometimes need to be reminded about the rules.

Tips to support your child learning about himself as a person, learning about his feelings and learning about other people

Learning about self as a person

She likes to feel "independent."Taking time with routines so your child can do some of the things by herself lets her know you think she is capable and gives her practice with new skills.

She may want to pick out her own clothes, as well as dress and undress herself.

She likes to help with household tasks like cooking, gardening, sorting the laundry, setting the table, putting toys away or helping wash the car.

Learning about own feelings

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT & LITERACY

36 MONTHS (3 YEARS) TO 48 MONTHS (4 YEARS)

How are children learning language?

Learning about other people

Provide opportunities for her to play with other children (at the park, with neighbors or family, in childcare or parent/child classes).

Be available when he is playing with other children. He may need some help in negotiating, listening to her friends' ideas, voicing his own ideas and in coming up with solutions. He may also need some help with safety, as he is excited about trying new things.

Overview

Children are born ready to communicate and to learn language. Listening to the language of their families, children soon start to distinguish familiar sounds and to build a vocabulary of words they understand, even before they can speak. Children's ability to understand language is called "receptive language."
How do children learn language and begin to understand reading and writing??
At first, young babies communicate through making sounds, e.g., crying, and through making gestures. As they approach toddlerhood, they begin to use a few familiar words and, by 4 and 5 years old, they have large vocabularies and follow the rules of grammar when they communicate using language. Children's ability to use language to communicate their thoughts, ideas, and feelings is called "expressive language."

As children are learning about spoken language, they are also learning about written language-through books, signs, and notes. Before learning to read words, children learn that print represents words and before writing, they learn to make marks and draw pictures. By the time they turn 5 they understand that letters make words and that words can make stories that they will learn to read. Many 5 year olds can also read and write their own name.
How do children in bilingual or non-English-speaking families learn language?
Language Development & Literacy
How do speaking and listening help a child learn language?
Introduction

Around 4 years old, most children are able to communicate their ideas and feelings, ask and answer questions, and understand what is said to them. They are able to talk about things that happened in the past and that will happen in the future.

They can participate in conversations with others, responding "on topic" some of the time. They can tell stories and relate simple sequences. They may combine imaginary and real events in their stories.

Around 4 years old, children like to play with the sounds of words, making up silly rhymes. They also like to make up "nonsense" words and sometimes experiment with "potty" language. They have learned many of the communication "rules" of their family and culture and when using language only make a few errors, such as "I wented to the store." They also like to learn "big" words, like the names for specific types of trucks.

At around 4 years old, children understand that letters on a page in a book are different from pictures. They are learning that letters make words and that when different people read words, the words stay the same.

They are interested in drawing and writing and will "pretend" to write letters and words, even before they know how to write real letters.

At around 4 years old, children also pretend to read books, turning the pages and "telling the story" either from their memory of the story or by talking about the pictures. Many have also learned the words to several songs.

Bilingual Language Development

Listening and Speaking

Learning to speak and to engage in conversation are very important first steps to learning to read and to school success. The more words children hear and the bigger their vocabularies, the better they do in school.

Children are eager learners of language and are fascinated with the power of language:

to communicate their needs, feelings and ideas,

to share their personal experience with others,

to make things happen,

to get and give information,

to solve problems,

to help them make connections with people, and

to create and tell stories.

How do children learn to read?
Children learn language by listening, talking, practicing new words, and being listened to and responded to. Children learn words when you use new words with them. Families have many, many everyday opportunities to help children learn language.

Here are some tips to support your child's language development and interest in reading:

You can support children's language development during your routine daily activities. Language isn't something that has to be taught in "special lessons." When families talk with children they are naturally teaching language. Using language with children is all that families have to do. The more language families use with children, the more children will learn.

Ask them about:

what they see,

what they are doing,

what they are thinking about,

how they feel,

what they like,

what happened earlier, or

what they think is going to happen.

Ask questions that allow children to create their own answer (avoid questions that have yes or no answers). When we ask children questions that don't have a "right answer," they can be more creative and thoughtful in their answer, rather than just trying to figure out what you want them to say.

You can invite your child to answer the question they asked you. Children usually have a guess already when they ask you a question. Asking children what they think encourages them to put their thoughts into words and gives them more opportunity to participate in conversation with you.
"That's an interesting question. How do you think stars get up in the sky?"

Listen to children. Children will talk more when they know that you are listening. More talking gives them more practice with language.

You can let them know you are listening by

making eye contact,

allowing quiet space for them to talk or finish what they are saying,

turning the TV off,

creating "talking time" regularly (for example, sitting on the couch together, taking a walk together, snuggling at bedtime), repeating or restating what they said to let them know you heard them,

asking questions, or

thanking them for sharing their ideas or stories with you.

You can use technology to support children's language development.
Use your phone to record children's words and stories. When you play it back you can talk about what they said.

Reading
How do children learn to write?

When you read with children you begin to open up whole new worlds for them. Reading allows them to learn about a powerful form of communication and gives them access to all kinds of information.

Most children love to share a book with a family member. Reading to your child is one of the most important things you can do to help them learn to read and to be successful in school.

Reading doesn't just happen with books. Children are fascinated with signs, labels, instructions, notes, letters, and emails. Learning the many uses there are for reading helps children be even more excited about learning to read.

Early reading experiences for children start with children learning to recognize photos and pictures. They learn that photos and pictures can be named and talked about. They also learn that stories can be told about pictures in books. And eventually they learn that the letters on the page tell the story about the pictures or describe them. For example, they start to understand that there is a connection between the picture of an apple and the letters "a-p-p-l-e" on a page-that the letters represent the idea of an apple.

Here are some tips for what families can do to support children in pre-reading activities

NUMBER SENSE

36 MONTHS (3 YEARS) TO 48 MONTHS (4 YEARS)

How are children learning about numbers?

Look at photos and pictures with children, ask them what they see, and talk about what you see. This helps children develop their observation skills and gives them the opportunity to practice and increase their vocabulary.

Ask them what they think is happening in the picture. This gives children a chance to practice "telling their own story" and may help them to think of themselves as storytellers and writers.

Read notes and letters out loud to them.
"Here is a note your teacher wrote. It says, '"Dear Families . . .'"

Read them emails and text messages also. Sometimes words on a screen aren't as obvious to children. Showing them these words helps them see how technology can also carry written words and communication.
Many of the words in their environment are electronic, and this can also provide opportunities for pre-reading activities.

Make drawing materials (pencils, pens, markers, chalk) available to them. When they draw, you can ask if they want to tell you about it. You can write down their "story" on a post-it note and then ask if they want you to read it back to them. Drawing materials give them a chance to practice how to make lines and shapes-the skills they will eventually need for writing. Even drawing pictures gives them the sense of being able to communicate their ideas in different ways, and they can begin to have the experience of being an "author" themselves.

Read books to children. Reading books to children not only gives them practice with all the skills necessary for reading, but it also communicates to them how important reading is to you.

Provide a variety of children's books on a shelf or in a basket that children can reach.

You can make regular trips to the library or bookstore to get books for your child.

Include reading as a regular activity with your child (find a time every day when you can read books with your child).

Turn off the TV to make time for reading.

Read books more than once to your child. Children generally love to read the same book many times.

Talk about the book with your child.

Before turning the page, ask your child what he thinks is going to happen next.

As well as reading the words, you can discuss the story and pictures with your child: "What do you see on this page?"; "Why do you think the boy climbed to the top of that tree?"; "What would you do if you were riding that horse?"

Before reading one of your child's favorite books to him, ask if she wants to tell you the story first.

Sometimes, when reading to your child, you can point to the words as you read them.

Explain to your child what the words on the cover of the book are. "This is the title of the book. It gives you an idea of what the book is about." "This is the author's name. The author is the person who wrote the book. This is the illustrator's name. He is the person who made the pictures for the book."

Talk to your child about letters and sounds.

Point out the letters in special words, like your child's name. "Your name starts with an '"S,'" Sergio. Can you think of any other words that have that '"ssss'" sound? We can also look around for words that start with '"S.'" We could make a list of all the words we hear the '"ssss'" sound in."

Play with sounds and rhyming. Using songs, poems or other rhyming words, you can help children hear and compare the sounds of the words.

You can play rhyming games in the car. "The bear has black hair. Can you think of a word that sounds like 'bear' and 'hair'?"

Use your phone to record yourself reading books to children and they can listen to them when you are busy or when they are waiting in the doctor's office.

Writing

Tips for what families can do to support children learning to write
What are preschool children learning about numbers?

Have a variety of writing tools and paper (pencils, pens, fine-tip markers, paper of different sizes) where children can see them and reach them themselves. Children often have the need to draw pictures or make signs in their play. Having materials readily available will encourage them to use these in their play more often.

You can also include tape and paper strips, so children can make signs or envelopes and can write letters or notes. Some children may like to have paper with wide lines for writing.

Create a favorite "word envelope" for your child that can hold words your child has asked you to write for them. When children can revisit those words, they start to become familiar with what they look like and can begin to start "reading" them.

You can print or buy an alphabet chart so that you and your child can refer to it when he is wanting to know how something is spelled. Posting an alphabet allows your child to reference the letters on their own and may help them to feel like they can begin to write independently.

You can offer sets of letters to your child. Having letters around helps your child become familiar with their shapes and allows her to start arranging them, even before she is fully able to write them.
There are different kinds of letters you can buy, including magnetic letters that children can use on the refrigerator, or you can simply write letters on little pieces of thick paper and offer them to children to use in making words.

Invite your child to write with you when you are writing notes or making lists. Children love to be helpful and to participate in adult work. This can spark their interest in learning more about writing.
"I'm going to make a shopping list. Do you want to help me?" If you know your child can write certain letters, you can invite him to write them on your list. "I'm writing 'apples' on the list, and that starts with an '"A'" like your name. Do you want to write the '"A'" for me?"

Overview

Young children explore and begin to practice the skills needed for mathematics long before they enter elementary school. During the first years of life, children learn to count, recognize shapes and patterns, compare sizes and amounts, and recognize similarities and differences. Children develop these skills through their self-initiated exploration and play with materials and through simple interactions with adults. Everyday interactions such as adults counting fingers and toes, offering two pieces of banana, and arranging blue and white socks in different piles contribute to children's growing math skills. Children begin to communicate about amounts of things by using words such as "more" and "bigger."

As they grow older they learn to count a few numbers. They also build their understanding of quantity through activities such as putting plates and cups on a table. They become aware of how adults use counting in everyday life and learn about how to use numbers by imitating adults. Throughout the early years, most children are naturally interested in numbers. Fun activities that involve numbers strengthen children's natural interest and encourage them to learn more about math concepts.

Number Sense

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

36 MONTHS (3 YEARS) TO 48 MONTHS (4 YEARS)

How are children becoming skillful at moving their bodies?

Introduction

Young children begin to practice the skills needed for arithmetic and math long before they enter elementary school. Most of these skills are developed through their self-initiated play with materials and through simple interactions with adults.

Young children learn counting skills through everyday interactions such as putting plates on the table, counting their fingers to tell you how old they are, and counting the number of apples needed so each child can have one.

Children usually learn how to say "1-2-3-4-5" (sometimes putting the numbers in different order) before they know that each number represents something. For example, they might have three strawberries and count them "1-2-3-4-5," because they don't know that each strawberry gets only one number. As a child begins to get this concept, you might see her lining up all the animals and giving each one a leaf to eat. Eventually, they learn that if you are counting something each object gets one number.

Young children are also beginning to understand the ideas of "more" and "less" and will notice if someone has more cookies than they do, but they don't clearly understand quantity. If they have one cookie and their friend has one cookie cut into two pieces, they might think that their friend has more cookies. Their ideas about "more" and "less" help them learn to compare more than two things. As they get more experience, they will be able to sort three sticks from shortest to longest or three balls from smallest to biggest.

At around four years old, children may be able to count to 10, but may miss some of the numbers (for example., "1-2-3-5-7-8-10").

They may recognize a written number. For example, they might point to a street sign and say, "That's a number 4-just like I am 4."

They can also look at a small number of things and know how many there are without counting: "He has three cars and I only have one!"

At four years, children can usually count up to five objects, pointing at each when they say the number.

Four-year-olds can often tell you which is more just by looking. If their friends have six blocks and they have two, they can let you know that their friend has more than they do.

They can predict that if there is a group of dolls in the bed and one gets taken away, there will be fewer dolls in the bed. Similarly, if they put two groups of things together (combining their crackers and their friend's crackers), they know that now they have more.

At four years old, children can do very simple adding and subtracting. If they have four apple slices and they eat one, they can tell you that now they have three-without counting. If they have a train that is four cars long and they add one, they can tell you that there are five cars now.

Tips for families to help children in understanding numbers:

Many of the things that families do naturally with children help them to develop their math and number skills. There are many opportunities in our everyday lives where adults are counting things and children are practicing numbers in their play. Here are some suggestions of things families can do:

Count out loud, so your children can hear the sequence of numbers and notice how often you use counting in your day.When children learn from you how numbers are useful in everyday life, their interest in numbers grows.
Count the kisses you give your child, count the trees outside your home, or count the number of times the dog barks.

Point to things as you count them so that children can see how each number you say represents one object.

Ask your child to guess or predict how many things there are and then count them together: "How many buses will come by before our bus gets here?"

Shopping, cooking and eating provide many opportunities for counting:

"Shall we get four ears of corn or five? Can you count them for me as I put them in the bag?"

"If we get two bananas and you eat one in the car, how many will be left?"

"I think I'll get the bigger bag of tortillas, because we have all our cousins coming for dinner. Can you reach the bigger one for me?"

"We have three bags of groceries. Do you think they will all fit in our car?"

"How many bags would you like to carry in and how many shall I carry?"

"Can you put the bananas on this plate and the plums in this bowl?"

"We need three pieces of bread. Can you get them out of the bag?"

These conversations about numbers should be fun. If your child seems stressed or doesn't want to do these games, you can wait and try again later or try a different game.

APPROACHES TO LEARNING

36 MONTHS (3 YEARS) TO 48 MONTHS (4 YEARS)

What skills help children learn?

Overview

Physical development and physical activity play an important role in health throughout a child's life span. In particular, being physically active protects against heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. It also contributes to mental health, happiness and psychological well-being.

Physical movement skills are a basis for other types of learning and allow opportunities for children to engage with others, to explore, to learn, and to play.

Physical activity prepares children for activities in later life, including fitness activities, organized sports, and recreation.

Infants, toddlers and preschool children are developmentally ready and very motivated to learn new movement skills. The preschool period is an opportune time for young children to learn fundamental movement skills. If children do not learn those skills during the preschool period, they may have difficulty learning them later, and their ability to participate in physical activities may be affected for the long term.

During the preschool years, children develop important movement skills. Those skills build on the physical development that happened for children in infancy and toddlerhood.

We now know how much children learn through physical activity outdoors in the natural world. It is important for adults to help children have opportunities for this kind of play, as many children spend a majority of their time in front of a television or computer screen instead of engaged in physical activity.

The more experience children have with physical activities, the more confidence they develop and the more willing they are to try new things and develop new skills. Children who spend a lot of time in front of the television or the computer may be less willing to try new physical challenges and may miss the chance to develop important physical skills.

Research highlights the benefits of experiencing nature for children and shows that children prefer spending time in natural settings. Further, we also know that access to green, outdoor spaces improves children's thinking skills and their well-being and relationships.

Physical Development

Introduction
What skills do preschool-aged use to solve problems?
Some of the things you might see with four-year-old children:

Showing a developed sense of balance.

Maintaining balance while standing on one foot as well as maintaining balance when they come to a stop after running.

Balancing while walking on the edge of the sandbox or while reaching down to touch their toes.

Walking up stairs, one foot per step, without holding on to the railing.

Walking along a thin line on the sidewalk, waving arms to maintain balance.

Running with feet flat.

Running, but may have trouble stopping.

Galloping (running, leading with the same foot).

Jumping up to touch something out of reach.

Hopping ahead using both feet.

Jumping like a frog from a squatting position.

Jumping off a curb or a low climbing structure with both feet.

Hopping forward on one foot.

Tips for families to support preschooler physical development:

Preschoolers need lots of opportunities to move, to run, to climb, to jump, to build and to throw. They enjoy carrying heavy things and building with blocks and other natural materials.

Preschoolers love to transport things. They like to carry things and to push things in carts, boxes or trucks. They also enjoy carrying things, such as baskets or purses with handles that they can use to fill and carry-recycled water bottles, or other things they find.

Preschoolers enjoy challenges. If you are walking on the sidewalk, you might want to set different goals for them. "Can you run to the big tree? Can you hop all the way to the corner? Shall we try walking backwards for a few steps? Can you walk on the line down the center of the sidewalk?"

Children at this age also enjoy throwing. You can provide a variety of soft balls that they can throw. They may also be interested in beginning to hit balls with things like bats, sticks, or cardboard tubes.

Preschoolers also like to stretch their muscles by carrying or moving heavy things. A sealed bottle or box of laundry detergent would be fun for them to move. They enjoy carrying small stools around so they can reach a book off the shelf. They can help take out the trash or push the laundry basket to the table for folding.

Children around the age of 4 love wheel toys, small tricycles and bikes, wagons, carts and trucks, all of which provide ways for them to use their physical skills and also can be part of their pretend play.

Overview

Young children develop many skills that help them learn and solve problems. These skills include the ability to pay attention, even when there are distractions, to observe, to ask questions, to gather information and to explore different ways to solve problems. These skills are called approaches to learning.

Young children learn to use math concepts such as number, shape, and size when solving problems. They use all of their senses to gather information, notice differences and similarities, and often make comparisons. They carefully observe people and things and form hypotheses and make predictions based on their observations. They also do simple experiments and evaluate the outcomes of their experiments.

Young children are naturally curious. Adults can encourage children's curiosity and initiative by asking children open-ended questions, being responsive to their questions, and providing a wide variety of materials for them to explore. Such support strengthens children's growing confidence as learners and willingness to keep trying to solve challenging problems.

Approaches to Learning

Introduction

One skill that preschool children use to solve everyday problems is math reasoning.

Math concepts like number, counting, shape and size all help children with solving problems. Children use these skills to choose what size plate they will need for their quesadilla, to figure out how many cars they need so each of their friends can have one and to search for a blanket big enough to cover two babies.

A young preschool child may begin by trying an idea that doesn't work. An older preschool child may try several strategies, finally finding one that works. Whether their ideas work at first doesn't matter as much as the fact that they are practicing using these ideas, testing them out and changing their course of action when necessary. These strategies are useful in everyday problem-solving, as well as in developing other math skills.

Children also use observation and investigation skills to solve problems.

Children use all their senses to gather information, and to construct meaning and knowledge.

They are naturally curious observers and notice small things that many adults miss, like the ants coming out of the crack in the sidewalk.

Children may also use tools provided to them for measuring or observing, with the guidance of adults. For example, when observing a leaf, they may use a magnifying glass to see the "lines" more clearly or use a ruler (or unit blocks) to measure its length. Through observation, children begin to recognize and describe similarities and differences between one object and another.

Children use their developing skill at careful observation to compare and contrast objects and events and classify them based on different attributes. For example, a child might separate all the "pointy" leaves from all the round leaves or separate the big leaves from the small ones.

Children may also investigate objects and events by trying things to see what happens. For instance, they may investigate what happens to the toy car when it rolls down ramps with bumpy or smooth surfaces, test what happens to plants placed in locations with or without light, or test out their ideas of how to use pipes to make water go up and down in the water table.

They learn to make predictions about changes in materials and objects based on their knowledge and experience, and to test their predictions through observations or simple experiments.

Children use their skills of observation and investigation to ask questions, observe and describe observations, use scientific tools, compare and contrast, predict, and make inferences.

Children use mathematical thinking to solve problems every day.

Children rearrange blocks to build a balanced, tall tower, for example, by placing the rectangular blocks at the bottom and triangular blocks at the top.

A child might go to get one more horse, so that each of her corrals has a horse in it.

A child might give his friend two flowers and keep two for himself, so they both have the same number of flowers.

A child might compare the length of her play-dough snake with her friends to see which is the longest.

A child might create groups of things according to whether they can roll or not.

A child might pour sand from a big bucket into a smaller container and realize that the sand won't fit, and then might go to get another, bigger bucket.

Children demonstrate curiosity and ask simple questions about objects and events in their environment.

A child might build a tower higher and higher to see how high it can get before it falls.

A child might look at a snail and ask why it is hiding in its shell.

A child, when the car gets stuck on the ramp, might turn a car upside down and notice that a wheel is broken.

Children observe objects and events in the environment and describe them.

A child might observe the inside and outside of a pumpkin and describe how it looks, smells, and feels, using her senses of sight, smell and touch.

A child might observe a ball rolling down the slide and communicate, "Look how fast it is rolling. Let me try it again."

A child might taste a piece of orange and a piece of lemon and call the orange sweet and the lemon sour.

A child with a visual impairment might touch the bark of a tree and communicate, "It feels a little scratchy when I touch the bark."

A child, after dropping different balls onto the floor, might listen to and compare the different sounds they make and indicate which ball makes a loud sound and which ball makes a soft sound.

A child, while on a walk around the neighborhood, might squat down to smell some blooming flowers and exclaim, "It smells so good!"

Children begin to identify and use, with adult support, some observation and measuring tools.

Children compare objects and events and begin to describe similarities and differences.

Children make predictions and check them, with adult support, through real experiences.

A child might explore an apple and make a prediction: "Maybe it has six seeds inside." After a parent cuts it open, he might count the seeds.

A child might look through the window on a windy day and predict, "More leaves will fall down."

A child might make a prediction about how far the toy car will travel down the ramp, by indicating the distance with a gesture. Then he might push the car down to test his prediction.

Tips for families in helping children to practice mathematical thinking, to be observant, and to engage in investigation:

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36 Months (3 years) to 48 Months (4 years) - All About Young Children: Information for Families on Children's Early Development

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How are children learning about feelings and relationships? How children think about and manage themselves, their feelings and behavior, and their relationships is what we call social-emotional development. The development of these skills is as important in children's success in school as are other skills, such as language and literacy and mathematics.

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English – All About Young Children: Information for Families on Children’s Early Development

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Power Point Presentation: Phonological Awareness

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Power Point Presentation: Phonological Awareness

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"When inclusive [practice] is fully embraced, we abandon the idea that children have to become 'normal' in order to contribute to the world. Instead, we search for and nourish the gifts that are inherent in all people.

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Social Justice and Equity is critical to our mission, reflected in our organization's Values

A Culture of Community and Care: We will look out for and support each other, celebrate each other's successes and grieve each other's losses. We will live out an ethic of community care, learn from mistakes, and be challenged to do better. We will foster speech and discourse, formal and informal, that promotes equity, justice, and understanding.

Equity and Inclusion: We will work to eliminate racism and other injustice and oppression, and promote inclusion and equity at CES and in our community by identifying and dismantling all forms of social oppression. Our vision of social justice is intersectional and means working to transform all types of oppression, including racism, ableism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, adultism, ageism, transgender oppression, and religious oppression.

Self-awareness and Growth: We will continually reflect on our own cultures and identities, and how they relate to or allocate power and privilege; and we will learn about and partner with others to challenge our own biases. We will make a personal commitment to growth toward equity, inclusion, and a community of care; and know that learning happens when we commit to being brave.

Action and Transformation: We will take action, speak up, and propose solutions when we see oppression or discrimination; knowing that saying nothing means colluding with oppression. We strive to decolonize teaching practices, learning methods, and curricula through the accurate inclusion of the voices of people and cultures most impacted by white-supremacist narratives. We will be willing to make mistakes, and learn from both our mistakes and successes, in order to grow.

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Home - Collaborative for Educational Services

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A Culture of Community and Care: We will look out for and support each other, celebrate each other's successes and grieve each other's losses. We will live out an ethic of community care, learn from mistakes, and be challenged to do better. We will foster speech and discourse, formal and informal, that promotes equity, justice, and understanding.