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Kathleen Deeken,  Previous Grade 2
My experiences with second graders as a science teacher and classroom teacher speak to their excitability within the learning process. They are eager to learn and many are eager to please. They are old enough to want to be independent but can require bridges to get there. They enjoy movement and games, and are often collaborative peers. Establishing a culture of kindness and support within the classrooms taps into their compassionate nature and their interest in friendship. Many second graders have developed a strong work ethic and possess the motivation they need when the work is hard and when things get tough. This is a good year to help all students develop that confidence, that grit or perseverance to keep going for the academic success that opens doors for life-long opportunities to excel.

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I expect incoming kinder scholars to have some level of independence. Additionally, they should know their name and how to write it, letter recognition from A-Z and number recognition from 1-20. That has NOT been my reality. Incoming kinder scholars were at varying levels with a huge disparity between each level. It has been my goal to ensure they leave kindergarten knowing how to identify each letter and letter sound; letter blends; knowing basic sight words; basic writing/written responses; number recognition to 100; basic addition and subtraction etc.

Everything needs to be age appropriate. Scholars learn differently and we must keep this in mind and be adaptable.

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Typical behavior of a 1st grade would include the want to be a little more independent then they were in kindergarten. I expect 1st graders to have mastered their letters and sounds. At this point, I expect them to begin working on creating words with these letters. Understanding the stages of development can help teachers/ school staff better understand their students. This can help when it comes to planning curriculum and activities for said grade.

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When visiting with the 8 year old Yardsticks article, reading about how full of energy they are is a consistent behavior I have seen. They love to share their ideas, please, and become active members of their school community. Reading that these scholars need to experience incremental success is relatable as they need to continue to be motivated and excited. They enjoy socializing but I am interested to see how the effects of the pandemic will impact this. Understanding their behaviors will help prepare us as teachers to have developmentally appropriate reward systems and expectations, and how to support them.

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In middle school youth they are not adults yet and are still developing into teenagers. Their bodies are changing and they are learning more about maturity and responsibility. Youths in their teenage years may be actively seeking more responsibility and wanted to be treated as a adults which can cause them to be rebellious against authority figures. Teenagers are learning about their futures and what are the next steps for them.  They are comparing themselves to their classmates both developmentally and physically which can cause issues with insecurity. Relationships are forming and learning about how they interact with their partners or future partners.    In sessions youth may be distracted and less focused on their academics but more on their social lives and how others in the school view them. Having the awareness will allow me to be better equipped for different situations to occur. I will be able to form a better understanding because I have been in their shoes and know how others view them is important. I will make sure they are aware of the things that are important in comparison to things that are superficial.

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Although scholars have a longer attention span at age 7 than age 4, they are still longing for movement. If students are in their seats for long periods of time, we start to lose their attention. Just as the fours need to be engaged, sevens are similar. Engagement will ensure students are on task and eager to learn more. These will encourage milestones to be me throughout the year. Starting small and setting the bar high.

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Deidre Phillips, Ma, MSed, LDTC

Knowledge of child development is essential to properly facilitating learning in the classroom. A combination of Piaget and Vygotsky's principles regarding self-regulation and Zones of Proximal Development will aide novice and master teachers alike when creating an environment conducive to learning for the complete child. The integration of social emotional skills at the forefront presently will translate into students becoming productive members of society.

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This is my fourth year teaching 3rd grade and some behaviors that I have noticed are they are FULL of energy, independent, and love to please. With this year being the first year back full time because of the pandemic, it will be interesting to see how these behaviors change. It is important that as educators we give them all the tools they need to succeed. Working in groups (safely) will be something to work on so scholars can use their social skills that they may not have used during the pandemic.

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While I've been working with our scholars for the past couple of years, I have noticed many milestones scholars proudly surpass throughout the year.  As these scholars grow their minds, they also grow their confidence in skills and knowledge they hadn't previously known.  As they continue to grow their confidence, as young people this confidence transfers over to social interactions and development.  They not only grow into little citizens but they grow into people with voices.  These voices hopefully impact the environment in the classroom as students become confident enough to advocate for their own learning.

As a result, a comfortable and productive learning environment is made.  The knowledge of developmental stages and ages become a vital part of the classroom. If we expect too much from our scholars this will cause our scholars to feel anxious and feel as though they might fail. Expecting enough and challenging them enough will create a rigorous yet supportive environment.

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Ebonie Berry and Teresa Dispenziere 2nd Grade

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Ebonie Berry and Teresa Dispenziere 2nd Grade

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Typical behaviors of a second grader include a work hard attitude, to please teachers, parents, and other adults. They often talk incessantly and often exaggerate for attention. Students of this age also are learning to become more independent. but still rely heavily on their teacher. At this stage teachers should be helping students to become confident learners.

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4the grade is an exciting age, scholars are beginning to think and be more independent, while still having a child's innocence. Early adolescents have concrete black and white thinking, you are either right or wrong. Additionally, scholars can be self-conscious and worry about being judged by their peers. It is important in a 4th grade classroom to have a safe space so scholars can try and make mistakes. We must teach and remind our scholars to be kind and caring when interacting with each other. Understanding how a 4th grade may see the world will help me understand how to approach them when an issue arises.

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For incoming Kindergarteners, I would expect to come to my class falling within the widely held expectations for their age/grade.  This will be impacted by several factors, mainly being whether or not the scholar has attended a high quality pre-school program before entering kindergarten.  Basic milestones I would expect include expressive and receptive language skills.

Some scholars will be impacted in the classroom if they haven't had much practice with using language.  For example, if children were not in an environment where open-ended questions are asked, they may need more time, practice, and encouragement to engage in conversation and share information.

Knowing the ages/stages allow teacher's to have reasonable expectations of skills, knowledge, behaviors and social and emotional responses. This allows teacher's to meet children where they are.

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Milestones that scholars in my age group are reaching mainly has to do with changes in their bodies, fitting in, and becoming autonomous from their parents.  Students in this age range are dealing with the onset of puberty and the changes that their bodies are going through.  Some may have anxiety because they have not been told what to expect.

Their thinking becomes black and white with little room for gray areas.

Trying to fit in becomes extremely important to this age group.  They can use the way they dress, the language they use, use of makeup, hairstyles, etc.  If they do not feel like they fit in psychological difficulties can ensue.  Interest in the opposite sex can also take over their daily thinking.

Understanding what is going on at this stage in their lives can help you as a teacher realize that it's not really about them being "lazy" or "disrespectful" but rather the importance of their social and emotional growth. We need to be flexible which in turn can contribute to a positive classroom experience for both scholar and teacher.

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I may be working with middle grades so between 6th-8th grade. During this time, students are developing and learning emotional intelligence. Students during this time are going through hormonal changes that effect their emotions alongside the other extenuating factors. This may impact them in class because if one is unregulated emotionally, it may make focusing in class more difficult or it may create barriers to completing and submitting work. I think my understanding would benefit scholars by recognizing that while they are young, they are human too. Sometimes I think as adults we forget that children are deserving of being heard and respected. I think those two things go a long way in developing healthy classroom and life skills.

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From working in first grade for three years, I noticed that there is a huge shift in maturity around January (sometimes Feb), academically as well. When it does start to "click" their confidence levels go up and they start to believe in themselves more.

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Third graders typically are becoming more independent throughout the school year. Yet, I wonder if this will look different due to the pandemic. Will scholars be more independent since they were home? Or will it look different as we transition into the school building.

Meeting scholars where they are out emotionally, intellectually, and socially is key to a positive classroom environment. As teachers we need to understand, but also be flexible of the varying milestones we are presented with in the classroom.

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There are fun milestones that scholars will come across in 2nd grade. I will address their needs to wanting to talk and be involved in the academic work by incorporating multiple turn and talks during discussions. I will address learning best by moving around by intertwining kinetics movements to content.  I will address their want for learning by playing by making the content a discovery based inquiry and letting them work together on the most productive struggle to think critically. I will address their want of patterns by creating a cohesive, consistent classroom.

Shakira Ramirez - 2nd Grade

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There are a great number of milestones one might expect to see in adolescent ELLs.  One such milestone ESL educators can expect to see relates to what Piaget determined as the “Stage of Formal Operations.”  In this, older ELLs begin to demonstrate a more autonomized capability of building on background knowledge and utilizing the imaginative spaces of their brains so as to understand people and subjects more deeply.  This works in tandem with adolescents’ increases in declarative, procedural, and conceptual knowledge.  In other words, compared with younger counterparts, adolescent ELLs are able to draw upon their advancing reasoning and abstract-thinking skills. With aid from teachers, students will develop naturally occurring problem-solving skills to fill in gaps in knowledge of both the English language, as well as content.

Another interesting point that was made in the resources was the idea of adolescents’ perceptions of an “imaginary audience.”  This is critical for all middle and high-school-aged students, and more so for newcomer ELLs in this age group, who fear negative judgement from peers due to their lower English language proficiency.  In my experience teaching English as a foreign language in Japan, the concept of the “imaginary audience,” and resulting fear of judgement and embarrassment was often detrimental to student gains in English language proficiency.

ELL teachers’ understanding of the ages and stages of adolescents can be improved by being cognizant of each ELL’s unique background and experiences, as well as the challenges and triumphs that go hand in hand with learning a new language in a new country.  This makes it all the more important for ELL teachers to be mindful in imagining, crafting, and implementing risk-taking opportunities for ELLs to actively participate in the lesson, as well as engaging and interacting with native English-speaking peers.  I believe this is important to ensuring ELL scholar success.

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Adolescents truly live in a "gray area", not quite adults but not young children. The differences in their intellectual ability, physical maturity and emotional development all fall into place at unique times depending on the individual. It is difficult to "teach to the middle" when students arrive in a different capacity of readiness. I try to get to know my students to learn about them and the facets that make up who they are. I recognize that art is a different language that the students can use to express themselves and I look for emotional and social feelings to arise in their art work. For some students, this subject is exceptionally therapeutic. I try to keep my awareness on the students ability to reveal themselves through their abilities and concerns.
K.Massamillo/Art

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I was able to read from Yardsticks and one of the first things that stood out to me was that “Thirteen year olds commonly slip backwards as well as forwards.” In other words they can go back and forth between acting mature one day and then regressing, or acting much younger the next. This can translate into a scholar who can lead a socratic seminar one day and then kick their backpack across the room the next.  For me, I try to accommodate this by having a “everyday is fresh start” mentality. And addressing the behavior and not the student, so that one bad day or bad moment doesn’t follow them.

The reading points out that socialization is critical with this age group. That can be leveraged to improve scholars' overall success. Small group work, partner work, table talks, etc. can allow for socialization that leads to academic success. Allowing socialization during class can also cut down on behavior problems. If students know they will have an opportunity to talk at some point, they are more likely to listen quietly during the lesson.

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During my first year at CAGAP, I noticed that many of the scholars flocked to faculty and peers they felt they could relate to. Whether this was appearance, personality, or interest-wise, scholars clearly establish connections to those they can speak to and act with in their own language/discourse.

I usually see 6th graders becoming more confrontational, and I believe this is because they are finding their own personalities while learning the traits of others. It is hard to be confident in yourself when everyone is unique to you. To compensate for this difference, teachers should include more interactive activities and peer feedback for scholars to participate in. By collaborating with their peers, they are getting to know one another while remaining on task. This would avoid some confrontation between students.

Scholars at this age are also going through puberty. While this is a sensitive topic for many, teachers must delicately address the consensus among students.

By understanding our students and allowing them their moments of vulnerability, scholars will be more accepting of themselves and open a greater door for learning to enter!

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Understand that there is a natural variance in terms of developmental milestones that can be banded within a normal range. Students develop unevenly, and interruptions to the learning growth pattern can have far-reaching adverse affects on student opportunities. We can all be the teacher that understands our students, knows what they need and supports those needs so all our kids can succeed!

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This article talked about how much change happens during adolescence. These changes can bring on anxiety and anticipation. It's important for children to be aware of their bodies and the changes that occur during this time.

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There are a few milestones that scholar experience in grades K-4 and they can be different and similar to each other. For kindergarten and 1st grade a milestone can be when scholar read their sight words by sounding them out all by themselves. For 2nd  grade when scholars start to write complete sentences independently. They are sound out the words that they want to spell. For the 3rd and 4th grade the milestone can be when they start writing multiple paragraph essays. The scholars take pride in the work that they do and they are always eager to show me.
Reaching these milestones can impact the scholars by giving them a boost of confidence in their work and in their development.
I try to use these milestones or what the scholars can do to develop activates and extra material that they can use to practice and develop their skills even further. I also want the scholars to enjoy what they are learning and be proud of the skills that they have and are improving.