1. Understanding Four- and Five-Year-Olds
Chapter 7
Understanding Four- and Five-Year-Olds

2. Terms to Know
articulation
stuttering
rote counting

3. Physical Development of Four- and Five-Year-Olds
Preschool children are growing in more than just size.
Gross-motor development
Fine-motor development
Self-help skills

4. Gross-Motor Development
Four- and five-year-olds can
hop on one foot
walk down stairs with alternating feet
balance on one foot for about 10 seconds
walk backward
ride a bike with training wheels
climb fences and march to music
throw and catch

5. Fine-Motor Development
Children find it easier to
build straight and tall towers
draw more refined forms
recognize letters
print a few letters
control writing tools
stay within the lines when they color
understand that letters and sounds are linked

6. Self-Help Skills Preschoolers become more and more self-sufficient:
Dress and undress with very little help
Use spoons and forks with ease
Take care of their own hygiene

7. Cognitive Development of Preschoolers
Children in this group make many gains in understanding the world around them through
language comprehension skills
expressive language skills
math skills

8. Language Comprehension Skills
The language comprehension skills of four- and five-year-olds are constantly growing. They
increase their understanding of space concepts
become better at following three-step commands
have better understanding of the difference between plural and singular
start understanding the passive voice
become confused about some statements

9. Expressive Language Skills
Preschoolers become quite talkative.
Articulation: the ability to speak in clearly pronounced sounds; improves at ages four and five
Stuttering: repeating sound and pausing for unusually long times
Vocabulary: four-year-olds have about 1500 words, and five-year-olds have about 2000
Grammar: children start to learn that there are exceptions to rules

10. Discuss
What are some activities you can implement in the classroom to help preschoolers learn the meaning of the words?

11. Math Skills
Number concepts become easier for children in this age group.
Rote counting: reciting numbers in their proper order
True counting: when an object is counted for each number named
Money concepts: identify penny, nickel, and dime
Time concepts: understand the difference between today, tomorrow, and yesterday

12. Social-Emotional Development of Preschoolers
Preschoolers continue to be helpful and cooperative, and emotions are changing in these children.
Social development
Emotional development

13. Social Development
These are some social characteristics of preschoolers:
become more independent of adults
start to value their friends
prefer friends of the same sex
become more willing to cooperate
involve more and more interaction in play
accept supervision

14. Emotional Development
Characteristics of five-year-olds:
Fear: still common, but only last a few months
Anger: can become angry if unable to reach goals
Jealously: likely to become jealous of a new brother or sister
Sadness: start to learn that some situations are sad

15. Teaching Four- and Five-Year-Olds
When teaching four- and five-year-olds, consider that these children
like to help
become quite talkative
imitate adults
play with each other
may have imaginary playmates
are proud of their possessions
enjoy working on projects