PreK_2_DevProject_NarrativeTemplate

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Martin

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ChildDevelopment

PreK-2


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Physical changes in the brain enable children of this development stage to think faster, focus

attention, follow more complex sequences of action and ideas, and inhibit impulses. This growth

allows for five cognitive abilities that Jerome Kagan and Norbert Herschkowitz believe children in the

Western Cultures develop by the end of early childhood (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

The first of these five, integrating the present with the past begins around age 4. For example, a

parent may leave, saying they will get the child a surprise, upon return, the child may see a bag and

ask if it is their surprise. The second ability is detecting relationships between events and concepts.

Children learn to use and connect words such as larger, shorter, taller and smaller correctly. They

can also make these connections in certain situations. They may understand that an object may be the

shortest in one group, but not in the other. By the age of seven, an appreciation of causality has

developed. This means that when something new happens, the child can reflect on and understand

why it happened (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Anticipating the future is another newly developed skill. Four year olds typically do not understand

the concept of something being sooner or later, however a seven year old can understand that their

birthday may be next week, but Christmas is not until next year. The last cognitive ability is the

reliance on semantic categories. This includes using words and networks of meanings to represent or

remember a specific event. In the early ages of this developmental stage, children use simple word

associations. For example, if you ask a four or five year old about a cat, they may tell you about their

pet, and name characteristics such as the color. However, six and seven year olds may expand their

response to lions, sounds they make or a cats behavior. The use of meaningful categories allows

children to think more logically and expand their knowledge (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget are two psychologists that studied the cognitive development of

children. Piaget had 3 basic components to his theory: schemas, processes that enable transitionsfrom one stage to the other, and specific stages of development. He proposed that cognition

develops in stages in all children in the same order. Each child must complete one, before you

moving to the next. Children will progress through each stage at different times, and some may

never reach all of them (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Between two and seven years old, children typically reach the pre-operational stage. Children work

to master the ability to think symbolically about actions, rather than carrying out actions. For

example, words may be used to symbolize feelings. Semiotic function is the ability to work with signs

and symbols. To master this, children first learn to imitate actions or sounds of people that may not be

present. They then learn to use symbolic play, such as using a block of wood to represent a truck.

They move towards using drawing to represent something, and then finally are able to form mental

images (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Conservation is another principle Piaget introduced. This is the idea that the amount of something

stays the same, even if the appearance is changed. Children at this stage struggle with this because

they are unable to decenter, meaning they can only focus on one aspect of a situation at a time. This

in part is due to what Piaget has named egocentrism, the idea that children can only see things from

their perspective. An example is children speaking about something even though no one is listening

(Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Cognitive DevelopmentPre-K to 2nd Grade

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On the other-hand Vygotsky felt that social interactions played the most significant role in cognitive

development. He viewed language as the most important symbol system. Private speech helps

children move towards self-regulation. He sated that self-regulation occurred in stages. The first

stage is that others use language and gestures to regulate the childs behavior. The child then begins

to use the language to regulate others and themselves through private speech. The regulation of self

through private speech peaks around the age of nine years old. The two theories are compared in

table Piagets theory supports the idea of learning through activity and play. Vygotsky suggests the

importance of assisted learning through support and scaffolding (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Although there are many different processing theories, they all share some of the same basic

principles, and acknowledge that there are different kinds of memory, which include short-

term/working memory and long-term memory. Long-term memory is the storing of information that

we know, while short term/working memory is the information we are currently thinking about and

briefly hold on to. In studying information processing and childrens processing, the most consistent

find is that childrens thinking is domain-specific. This means that specific cognitive abilities or areas

of knowledge, such as visual perception, language, spatial reasoning number, physics, etc, are

studied separately. Children may excel in one domain at a particular age, but not as well in others


An understanding of numbers occurs during this developmental stage. Children begin by

learning the words that represent the numbers. They then have to learn how to count. Thereare 3 specific principles offered by Gelman and Gallistal on how children count. The first is

the one-to one principle, where each item is assigned only one name. Stable order principle,

the second, is that numbers have to be said in the same order every time. The last is the

cardinal principle, where the last number is the cardinal value of all the items that were

counted. These are typically grasped on small numbers, under five or six, between the ages

of two and four. By the time children are five, they begin to grasp the abstraction principle,

which addresses what to count. These principles can be mastered with practice. Aside from

knowing how to count, students also need to be able to relate and reason with numbers. One

way to do this in this stage is to incorporate it into their dialogue (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).


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Table 3.4 A Comparison of Piaget to Vygotsky

Source: Woolfolk, A., & Perry, (2011). Child and adolescent development. (1 ed., pp. 214). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education,

Inc.Piaget Vygotsky

Developmental Significance Represents an ability to take the

perspective of another and engage in

reciprocal communication.

Represents externalized thought; its

function is to communicate with the

self for the purpose of self-guidance

and self direction.

Course Development Declines with age Increases at younger ages and then

gradually loses its audible quality to

become internal verbal thought.

Relationship to Social Speech Negative; least socially and

cognitively mature children use more

egocentric speech.

Positive; private speech develops

out of social interaction with others.

Relationship to Environmental Contexts Increases with task difficulty. Private

speech serves a helpful self-guiding

function in situations where more

cognitive effort is needed to reach a

solution.


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Attention, memory and problem solving are important aspects of information processing. Effort and

attention have to be exerted for mental operations to occur at this age. Eventually mental operationscan become automatic. It is critical that children learn how to regulate their attention by focusing on

information that is relevant. All of this contributes to the ability to plan, control, and monitor their

attention. Any discrepancies in these are thought to be due to attention disorders and the

environment of the child. Discrepancies in attention can directly affect learning acquisition (Woolfolk

& Perry, 2011).

Development of memory is another critical aspect of information processing. It is not until the age of

10 or 11, that children have adult-like memories. When studying memory, there are three basic

components: memory span, memory processing efficiency, and speed of processing. The more

efficient these components are in working together, the greater amounts of information can be held in

the memory. Children struggle with memorizing longer series of information because they have

fewer strategies for memorizing and less knowledge. As they grow older, these strategies andknowledge improve (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

By the age of five or six, they begin to discover the strategy of rehearsal. They may also learn to

cluster information. Children under the age of five can be taught these two strategies, but need to be

reminded to use them efficiently. Working memory is also limited, but improves with the use of

improved strategies (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Preschool children remember events that occur even before the age of two or three and can

accurately describe these events but very few of these memories are retained into adulthood. Their

ability to describe events, is based on whether the event was positive or negative and their adult

interactions in telling stories. Because of this, there is a lot of discussing on the reliability of eye-

witness testimonies from children. In the early stages of the developmental level, children may

remember specific actions, but not necessarily who conducted the action. Also, they way the adult

asks the questions will influence the way the child responds. As children get older, they are able to

separate the event from other related events in the telling of the accounts. As they enter pre-school,

they move from citing details of the event, to begin to incorporate feelings in their recounts. They

also begin to use connections and qualifiers, such as then, before, after, etc They may begin to

make connections as to what other people were feeling or doing during the event (Woolfolk & Perry,

2011).

An important role in cognitive development is pretend play. One example is using objects to

represent other objects. It prepares children for abstract thoughts and serves as a basis for high-

order thinking, including hypothetical thinking. Vygotsky suggests that pretend play leads to the

creation of rules and following them, which enables a child to follow rules in real games (Woolfolk &

Perry, 2011).


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Childcare Facility Factors Believed to Influence Higher CognitiveOutcomes of Children Attending

1. High ratio of adults to children.2. Adult employees have college degrees in early childhood training.3. Children are given opportunities to talk listen and be listened to.4. Materials, toys, activities and equipment supports learning.5. Opportunities for dramatic play, blocks and art.6. High parental involvement.

Table 3.5 Source: Woolfolk, A., & Perry, (2011). Child and adolescent development. (1 ed., pp.236). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Pretend play also has a role in helping children deal with emotions and practice conflict resolution. In

boys, they tend to be an imaginary characters, while girls tend to have imaginary friends (Woolfolk &Perry, 2011).

There has been a lot of research on early childcare over the past twenty-five years. Deborah Vandell has

found that several factors that affect the cognitive outcomes. The factors listed in Table 3.5 are all critical

components of the childcare facilities that produced higher cognitive outcomes (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).


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Woolfolk states that language is a major cognitive accomplishment of early childhood (Pg. 209,2012). Biological, cultural, and experiential are factors that influence language development. Culture

plays a big part in language development, especially in children that come from diverse

backgrounds such as dual language homes. For a child to become bilingual, they must be exposed to

the languages early in life, use and hear them in a consistent and sustained manner and be exposed to

them among a wide range of contexts (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

If they are exposed to them from birth, they should reach the development milestones at about the

same time that other children that are not bilingual do. The key idea is that as children develop their

cognitive abilities, they dually develop language. In order to develop language, they must find

patterns in ways that others use symbols in language and read the intentions of others to interpret

meaning (Woolfolk & Perry, 2012).

Emergent literacy is made up of the skills, knowledge and attitudes that develop along the way as

children learn to read and write, as well as the environments and contexts that support these

developments (Woolfolk, Pg 205). According to research, the two categories of skills needed for

later reading is the ability to understand sounds and codes (phonemic awareness) and oral language

skills that include receptive and expressive language. Conversations with adults and joint reading,

which includes using books to talk about letters, sound, words, and concepts are two important

activities that facilitate in the development of emergent literacy (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Table 3.6Literacy Developmental LevelsMilestones What It Looks Like

3-Year Old

Complete sentence use (4-5 words)

Matches pictures to objectsRecognizes cause-and-effect

Knows last name

Tells simple stories

4-Year OldUses 1,500 word vocabulary

Recognizes patterns

5-Year OldUnderstands opposites

Can spell their name

First Graders

Uses 2,600 word vocabulary

Knows all letters of the alphabet

Knows written word represents speech

Predicts what will happen next

Second Graders

Recalls information, main ideas, and details

when reading.

Learns new words through independent

reading.

Source: Developmental milestones: Ages 3 through 5 . (n.d.). Retrieved fromhttp://www.greatschools.org/print-view/special-education/health/724-developmental-milest ones-ages-3-through-5.gs?fromPage=1

Literacy & Language Development

Pre-K to 2nd Grade

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In acquisition of language, there are milestones children meet at

specific periods. Major milestones are list in Table 3.6 By the time theyare 5, they should have mastered all the phonemes, or sounds, of their

language. English speaking children usually struggle with specific

clusters of thejand vsound (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

By the age of eight years old, children can hold a sentence in memory

and are able to focus on the meaning of it. They move from having an

expressive vocabulary of about 1,000 words at ages three to four years

old, to 1,500 between four to five years old, and finally 2,600 between

five and six years old. By the age of six, children have a receptive

vocabulary of about 20,000 words. They learn these new words

through a process of fast mapping, where they hear a word and locate

its meaning by making a connection to something they already know.Children struggle with abstract words, do not understand subjunctive

cases due to their cognitive abilities, and take everything literally, therefore may not understand

metaphors. As they learn new words, they begin to organize them through sequencing and

hierarchies, chunking into categories , and making connections, associations (Woolfolk & Perry,

2011).

By the age of five years old, children can begin to

understand language and how it works. They only

understand language as a way to communicate and give

meaning. They can begin to look at it not only the meaning,

but the correct way to use it. Children move away from

using words they have heard incorrectly to learning therules of grammar and syntax. However, they may apply the

rules to everything, such as when they learn to use s for

plural, they put it on everything including geeses for

goose. This is called overregulating. This shows the

logical and rational processes children are going through as

they try to make new rules fit in their existing schema.

Children struggle with the order in which words are used in

a sentence. They understand that the dog was hit by the car if you say, The car hit the dog.

However, if you say The dog was hit by the car, they may think the dog hit the car. This is part of

their learning process of syntax. As they reach the later years of this development stage, they can

begin to understand sentences like this, however, they

may not use them in their speech (Woolfolk & Perry,2011).

Children are also beginning to learn how to

appropriately use language in social situations

(pragmatics). Just because children are talking to each

other, that does not mean they are learning and using

pragmatics. It is visible when they begin to use simpler

sentences, make commands and begin to provide

descriptions of a situation (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Literacy & Language Development

Pre-K to 2nd Grade

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In younger children, the way they view themselves and then in turn describe themselves, is usually

done using concrete descriptors. Table 3.7 lists the different areas they use to describe themselves,

as well as examples (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Because of their cognitive abilities and the fact that they view themselves in this manner, they cannot

conceptualize that people can possess opposite attributes. For example, they cannot understand that

people can be happy and sad at the same time. They believe that something is always what it is,

whether always nice or always bad. Children are always optimistic about the future, and believe

they can do more than they actually can. They cannot distinguish between what they would like to be

and what they actually are.

Because of this, they do not use

other peers to compare

themselves to, rather they use

their current abilities. By the end

of this development stage,

children begin to recognize the

abilities of their peers, and begin

to measure themselves based on

that. They also start to realize that

their image of themselves can

shift, depending on the situation

and the phase of their life. Because they are beginning to recognize other peers, they begin to ratethemselves based on how their peers perform on specific tasks. They begin to see and understand

their strengths and limitations. The way they describe themselves shifts from very concrete to more

abstract (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Like their self-concept, they generally have high self-esteem. Their self-esteem is influenced by the

people around them. If they receive positive reinforcement when trying new things, they will most

likely continue with high self-esteem. They look for affirmation from their caretakers and people

around them. As children reach the later stages

of this developmental stage, their self-esteem

becomes more altered. It changes because they

may not be receiving as much positive

reinforcement, and because they are beginningto experience success and failure. It is believed

that if children have high self-esteem at age seven

and eight, it will continue with them as they

progress through later stages, unless that person

begins to face unhealthy criticism and stresses


Self-Concept, Identity & Motivation

Development

Pre-K to 2nd Grade

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Table 3.7 Ways Children Describe Themselves

Observable I have brown hair.

Behaviors I am good at baseball.

Preferences I like cheese pizza.

Possessions I have 2 dogs.

Source: Woolfolk, A., & Perry, (2011). Child and adolescent development. (1 ed., pp.

252-253). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.


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Self-Concept, Identity & Motivation

Development

Pre-K to 2nd Grade

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A large component of self identity is gender awareness. The can identify with others of the

same gender and imitate the behaviors of those once they identify their own gender. They

may begin to associate specific objects or activities and appropriateness with specific

genders, and in turn express preferences based on those associations. In preschool

classrooms, you may expect to see more boys playing with blocks or vehicles and girls

playing house and dress up. When they play together, boys will generally take on the

masculine roles, while girls will take on the famine roles. In pre-school, the preference for

same-sex playmates usually begins and continues throughout school age. By ages three to

five years old, they have develop gender stability, or the acknowledgment that little girls

grow up to be women and little boys grow up to be men. Gender consistency, gender cannot

be altered by changing looks or behavior, is usually developed by ages five to seven years

old. Gender segregation, which begins to develop in the early stages, increase during the

later stages and lasts throughout adolescents, is due in part to the idea that interests and

styles of individuals are added by recognition of gender. This in turn affects what specific

things may motivate these individual children (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Students use the apron to decide how they want to be greeted

based on how they are feeling that day.


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Peer Relations & Moral DevelopmentPre-K to 2nd Grade

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Self regulation is the ability to control your thoughts and actions voluntarily, for the purpose of achieving

personal goals and responding to environmental factors. It is thought that it begins to develop very

early in life. By the time a child reaches preschool, their ability to control their emotions and behaviors

has significantly increased due to their self-awareness and cognitive abilities. Also, their vocabulary at

this point, allows them to talk about their emotions and reflect upon them. Adults play a vital role in the

acquisition of self-regulation, in how they interact and respond to children, and in how they react to their

own emotions when they are around children. As children progress towards the end of this stage, they

rely less on using their parents and caretakers as a way to monitor and guide their reactions. They can

have better control of their emotions because they can associate consequences to their reactions. How

children regulate themselves, has a direct correlation with the relationships they build with their peers


As they enter preschool, children become more aware of relationships with peers. They shift from

seeking attention from adults, to seeking friends to play and share information with. Children become

less egocentristic, and more aware of the needs of others. They become more open to consider how

others feel and try to avoid conflict with their peers. When they do have conflict, they are able to use it

to develop social problem solving skills. At this age, they begin to

label their peers as friends. Their ability to cooperate, compromise,

negotiate and resolve conflicts is magnified by their want to maintain

their friendships. In turn, these friendships provide emotional support,

security, affection and intimacy and assistance for children. Children

that form these friendships early on, seem to cope better when faced

with stressful events. As they get to the end of this stage, they begin to

put view friendship in relationship to social context and concreteactivities (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

The shift away from egocentrism opens the door for perspective

taking. This allows children to understand that people may not feel the

same way about something that they do. In turn,this enhances theirability to build friendships, and begin to arouse moral development. There are a lot of theories on moral

development. Lawrence Kohlberg offers six stages of moral development (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Children in preschool, are usually in stage 2, exchange of favors. By the time they enter

Kindergarten and up to second grade, they have entered stage 3, the good boy/good girl stage.

These children begin to focus more on sharing, helping and cooperating with others, which is

motivated by their concerns for others. Another factor that influences their moral development,is their culture and family practices. They begin to internalize those moral principles instilled

through instruction, supervision and correction. When children are explained why specific

things are right or wrong, they can internalize them. In the early stages, children see equal as

fair, but once they reach the age of six or seven years old, they develop a sense that equal is not

always fair. They can begin to understand some people have exceptional needs and may need

to be treated differently in order for something to be equal. Higher levels of moral

development influence engagement in more prosocial behaviors. In turn, this affects their

ability to form friendships (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).


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Peer Relations & Moral DevelopmentPre-K to 2nd Grade

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Source: McLeod, S. A. (2009). Simply Psychology; Piaget | Cognitive Stages

of Development. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html


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Physical DevelopmentPre-K to 2nd Grade

Body Growth

Children follow a typical growthcurve, with respect to weight and

height. The charts at the right

represent the typical growth of

girls and boys ages 2 to 20.

Variations in growth curves may

occur if a child is undernourished

or malnourished. They may not

grow as fast or as tall as children

who have assess to a healthy diet or

adequate food (Woolfolk & Perry,

2011).

Rapid growth occurs during infancy

and toddler years (through age 2).

When children reach early childhood,

growth begins to slow, the amount of

fat begins to decrease and muscle mass increases. Typically, girls have more fat, and boys have more muscle mass.

Body mass is affected by other factors as well, including heredity, environmental factors, and ethnicity. According to

Woolfolk (2012, Pg. 170), children of Northern European and American Caucasian descent tend to have larger frames

and be taller than children of Asian descent (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

The food pyramid is a guide for an adequate diet for children in this stage of

development. Diet affects tooth, brain, bone and cognitive health and development

Because the growth rate in early childhood is lower, fewer calories are needed andtheir appetite may decrease. Children may become very selective about what they

want to eat but is important to provide a balanced diet. The amount of exercise also

affects body mass and bone development. At these ages, children lose their baby

teeth, and begin to get their permanent teeth. (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Brain Development

Child brains reach 90% of their adult size by age 5. Although the brain continues to

grow, the change process is not as dramatic as that of infancy and earlier years.

Production and pruning of brain synapses is still occurring, however, the production

decreases as pruning increases (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Near the end of this development stage, the brain continues to add cells and

connectors. The process of myelination during the younger stages helps to

increase brain efficiency. Children are able to begin to make sense of

sequences, and tell what should come next. They can think quicker, and hold

on to more thoughts due to increased efficiency of the memory part of the brain

Children are now physically capable of learning simple games and language


Most children favor the left hemisphere, which controls our language processing and step-by-step reasoning. The

right side of the brain is responsible for most of the spatial-visual information and appreciation of arts and emotions.

Children are typically not able to begin higher cognitive functions, including planning, goal setting and controlling

inappropriate behavior until age of 9 (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

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Source: 2 to 20 years: girls. (2000, May 30). Retrieved fromhttp://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dba/documents/Growth Chart for Girls 2-20 Years.pdf

2 to 20 years: boys. (2000, May 30). Retrieved from

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dba/documents/Growth Chart for Boys 2-20 Years.pdf

Source: Food guide pyramid for young

children. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.betterkidcare.psu.edu/AngelUnits/OneHour/JuiceCrackers/LittlePyr.pdf


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Motor Development

Because their physical development begins to slow and their center of gravity shifts to the center of their body,

children are able to refine their gross motor skills. They have improved balance and better hand-eye coordination.

Although they have perfected walking, and can run, jump and throw by the age of 3, they cannot control these actions

until about the age of 4 or 5. They also begin to have increased flexibility (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Gross and fine motor skills progress from one skill to the next. As children get older, they become more controlled

and coordinated. By age 4 or 5, most have developed the fine motor skills required for tying shoes, buttoning and

zipping articles of clothing. They are also able to use crayons and pencils to draw. Typically, by the age of 4 or 5,these children would have reached the pictorial stage of drawing. This means we can recognize specific object in

their drawing. We may also be able to identify their preference for the use of one hand over another at this stage.

The development of these fine motor skills and improvement in hand-eye coordination is what helps to prepare them

for the ability to write rapidly and automatically when they enter third and fourth grade. Table 3.3 describes a few

gross and fine motor skills milestones for each age level for this developmental period (Woolfolk & Perry, 2011).

Table 3.3 Developmental Milestones for Gross and Fine Motor SkillsAGE GROSS MOTOR SKILLS FINE MOTOR SKILLS

3 to 4 years old Throws a ball overhear with

accuracy

Catches a large ball

Hops on one foot 2 or more

timesBalances on one foot briefly

Builds 9 block tower

Cuts with scissors

Holds pencil like an adult

Copies a circle/cross

4 to 5 years old Catches ball with hands

Bounces and catches a ball

Throws a ball in the air and

catches

Balances on foot for 4-5seconds

Walks on a line heel to toe

Screws together a threaded

object

Tripod grasp on a pencil

Builds 10 tower block

Cuts fairly accurately with

scissors

5 to 6 years old Jumps rope by self

Kicks a rolling ball

Rides a bicycle

Dribbles a ball

Throws a ball with good

accuracy

Copies triangle/square

Cuts on straight/curved line

Ties shoes/zips

Completes a lacing card

Attempts to stay in lines when

coloring.Source: Woolfolk, A., & Perry, (2011). Child and adolescent development. (1 ed., pp. 173). Upper SaddleRiver, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

As is in body development, factors, such as gender, genetics, environmental factors, physical disabilities and

temperament play a role in the development of these skills. There are marked differences on the abilities and skills

between males and females. Boys are typically stronger, especially in their upper body, and more physically active

than girls. Because of this, boys generally jump higher or throw a ball farther and faster. Girls coordination is

generally more well defined, which helps them do tasks such as balancing on one foot better. They also generally

have increased flexibility, which influences their increased involvement in gymnastics and dance (Woolfolk &

Perry, 2011).

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