Fundamentals of Early Childhood Education Ages and Stages Week 3-4

Six-eight years Motor SkillsSocial SkillsCommunication Balance will improve. Able to climb, skip, hop, and gallop well on own. Learns to jump rope. Learns to skate. Rides bicycles, desires to ride without training wheels. Able to throw and catch objects. Able to use a hammer and build a simple structure. Fine motor skills improve a great deal. At this age can draw and human figure with 6 body parts. May be able to write in cursive, by age 8 will begin cursive writing. This age group may behave silly. Teases other children. Can tell jokes and riddles and understands comedy and punch line. Is a cooperative member of the family. Increased interest in religion. Personifies the concept of death. Uses language properly. Has genuine command of every sentence structure. Reads, writes and increases comprehension. Adds and subtracts. Has basic concept of abstract words. Can define words. Able to understand when questions. Able to understand yesterday, today and tomorrow. Begins to be able to tell time by hour, half hour, and quarter hour. Can give address and phone number. Knows where they live. Can create simple stories. Can express self fluently. Can organize information prior to delivering a message.

Six-Eight years Safety Eating/Sleep Pattern Self Help Parents should use a car seat for children weighing greater than 40 pounds or a booster seat allowing the lap and shoulder strap to fit properly. Children should ride in the rear of the car. Differentiates dangerous actions. These children can be drawn to potential dangerous situations. Explores independence. Tests rules. Can be distracted easily. Should be wearing proper protective gear on outside riding equipment. Should be eating three meals per day plus snacks. Sleeps hours per night. Self help skills will improve but children may take longer to do them. Learns to tie own shoe. Handles personal hygiene with little to no assistance. Should have small chores around the house to assist, by 7-8 years.

Study Moment Please take the extra time provided to learn the basic information presented in this chart. You may see it again!

Social Skills At this age children begin to ask question about faith and religion that should be deeper than they did at 4-6. This is a great time to continue to help them develop a stronger Christian worldview and build a relationship with God. This is also a great time to help them learn to search the scriptures for their answers. This is the end of the learning to read stage and these children will have an increased comprehension level, so this is a great time to discuss what they have read with them and find out what they are understanding.

Social Skills Children begin to learn about death and this is about the age that they develop positive or negative feelings overall of death. This is a great time to help children learn that death is a natural part of life. This is also a great time help children learn that as Christians life is eternal and explain those concepts to the children.

Communication As children begin to develop their communication skills it is important to allow them to express themselves as often as possible in appropriate ways. This is a great to allow the children to work in groups and teach one another in academic and biblical concepts.

Communication Communication is so important for children whether they are speaking, signing, or writing. It is very important to give them the tools that they need to communicate with adults, children and express themselves. Private speech is also very important in young children. Private speech is the speaking, talking and conversations that children hold when they are unaware of a listening audience. Typically this is done when they are alone or playing. They may be expressing displeasure, unhappiness, explaining something they learned in school, or simply talking to themselves. This is very important and teachable moments can be derived from overhearing these conversations.

Communication When children are talking and playing with one of their classmates and engaging in cooperative play, communication in these cases is very important. Observing the way that the children communicate, what they are saying and how well they are able to explain themselves is very important. Equally as important is how these children react in one-on-one interactions with other children. Teaching and endorsing Godly behavior is important, but also observing how well or poorly they are able to utilize this will be very helpful in your teaching.

Communication With young children there is an appropriate time to get involved and other times when it is not necessary for the teacher to get involved. Teachers for young children are more than just teachers, they are greater than just change agents, and they do more than inspire. Once while I was in my undergrad education program a professor exclaimed in class that teachers are facilitators of learning. That is true. Teachers guide, encourage and allow young children to explore their world, but they are truly more than facilitators of education, be it Christian or otherwise. The responsibility is greater. You are giving these children tools with which to build their lives.

The Teaching Responsibility Once while I was in my undergrad education program a professor exclaimed in class that teachers are facilitators of learning. That is true. Teachers guide, encourage and allow young children to explore their world, but they are truly more than facilitators of education, be it Christian or otherwise. The responsibility is greater. You are giving these children tools with which to build their lives, forever. The fundamentals that young children learn they will not soon forget. The important elementary skills that they take from your classroom, your wisdom and your life they will carry forever. You will do far more than facilitate learning and educate children. You will give of yourself, love more than you ever imagine and honor God by guiding children, leading them and admonishing them in the things of God. And whatever they learn, claim to forget or gain thereafter is built on your foundation. Make sure that the foundation you build with that child and family is a sure foundation. And that foundation is Christ.

The Teaching Responsibility Teaching children, whether they are young children or older children is very serious business. You are molding their minds and lives. Teaching children is Christ- and family centered care. You cannot include the family and neglect Christ nor can you include Christ and neglect the family.

Parent Involvement Getting parents involved is very difficult. This will require you to come out of your comfort zone and develop skills that you may not already have. A lot of prayer will need to go into this because some parents will simply be difficult to work with. This is not necessarily their intention. Parents are ultimately concerned about their children and getting the best education for their child. How they go about this is not always the best, but it is always understood. Treating all the children equally is important. Equally may be “equally but differently”. Confidentiality is also very important in dealing with different families and their situations. While they may choose to share others, it is not your responsibility to do that. Pray for them, but this is not a gossip opportunity.

QSG 1.What would you argue based on the ages and stages information is the most important area of development for children age 3- grade 3? Why? 2.Name some important facts about children ages 6-8 and their communication development. You may use information gained from research that is not contained directly in this lesson. Please remember if you use your research to cite it properly. 3.Name some ways to get parents involved. 4.Children should not eat innumerable meals or snacks. What should be the eating habits of children 6-8 years old? 5.Name some of the communication skills tat children 6-8 years old should have. 6.What are some safety issues with children 6-8 years old?

Journal Respond to this prompt as completely as possible. Imagine that you are a teacher in a classroom of 1-3 graders. You are approached by a parent who believes their child is being treated unfairly. This parent has become belligerent and wants a conference with you. Explain in some detail how you might handle this situation. Please consider ages and stages of the children in the class. Consider what you may want bring out about the children in general. Think though what that parent feels and what guidance they may need. Spiritual guidance need not say God directly, it need only utilize biblical concepts in an everyday context.

Assignment Research ages and stages websites. Find at least five and write them down. Write some of items that are not found in weeks 1-2. Select any one area and write at least five items that have not already been included in these lessons. Also, explain why you have chosen this one particular area.

Assignment What would be the biggest issue with children this age according to the information given be? Do you feel that the ages and stages chart information is accurate and consistent? The paper answering this question should be at least 2 pages. Using the information presented and that you researched in the previous assignment.