Science

Back to top

Back to top

(1) Listening Comprehension PreKindergarten-aged children are able to comprehend what they hear in conversations and in stories read aloud with increasing accuracy, though three-year-old children may respond in single words or brief phrases to some questions, especially “why,” “how,” and “when” questions. Children demonstrate understanding through their questions, comments, and actions. PreKindergarten children in English as Second Language (ESL) settings listen purposefully to English-speaking teachers and peers to gather information about their new language.	The child: listens with increasing attention listens for different purposes (e.g., to learn what happened in a story, to receive instructions, to converse with an adult or a peer) understands and follows simple oral directions enjoys listening to and responding to books listens to and engages in several exchanges of conversations with others listens to tapes and records, and shows understanding through gestures, actions, and/or language listens purposefully to English-speaking teachers and peers to gather information and shows some understanding of the new language being spoken by others (ESL)
Interactive Student	Interactive Teacher
(2) Speech Production and Speech Discrimination Young children must learn to vocalize, pronounce, and discriminate the sounds and words of language. Although most children in PreKindergarten can accurately perceive the difference between similar-sounding words, they continue to acquire new sounds and may mispronounce words quite often in their own speech. The ability to produce certain speech sounds such as /s/ and /r/ improves with age. Just as infants and toddlers develop control over the sounds of their first language, young children in ESL settings gradually learn to pronounce the sounds of the English language.	The child: perceives differences between similar sounding words (e.g., “coat” and “goat,” “three” and “free,” [Spanish] “juego” and “fuego”) produces speech sounds with increasing ease and accuracy experiments with new language sounds experiments with and demonstrates growing understanding of the sounds and intonation of the English language (ESL)
Interactive Student Nick of Rhyme	Interactive Teacher
(3) Vocabulary PreKindergarten children experience rapid growth in their understanding of words and word meanings. Vocabulary knowledge reflects children’s previous experiences and growing knowledge of the world around them and is one of the most important predictors of later reading achievement. As children learn through experiences, they develop concepts, acquire new words, and increasingly refine their understanding of words they already know.	The child: shows a steady increase in listening and speaking vocabulary uses new vocabulary in everyday communication refines and extends understanding of known words attempts to communicate more than current vocabulary will allow, borrowing and extending words to create meaning links new learning experiences and vocabulary to what is already known about a topic increases listening vocabulary and begins to develop a vocabulary of object names and common phrases in English (ESL)
Interactive Student	Interactive Teacher
(4) Verbal Expression Effective communication requires that children use their knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, and sense of audience to convey meaning. Three- and four-year-old children become increasingly adept at using language to express their needs and interests, to play and pretend, and to share ideas. Children’s use of invented words and the overgeneralization of language rules (for example, saying “foots” instead of “feet” or [Spanish]“yo no cabo” instead of “yo no quepo”) is a normal part of language acquisition. Second language learners in English-only PreKindergarten settings may communicate nonverbally (e.g., through gestures) before they begin to produce words and phrases in English. The ESL accomplishments noted below represent a developmental sequence for second-language acquisition in young children.	The child: uses language for a variety of purposes (e.g., expressing needs and interests) uses sentences of increasing length (three or more words) and grammatical complexity in everyday speech uses language to express common routines and familiar scripts tells a simple personal narrative, focusing on favorite or most memorable parts asks questions and makes comments related to the current topic of discussion begins to engage in conversation and follows conversational rules (e.g., staying on topic and taking turns) begins to retell the sequence of a story engages in various forms of nonverbal communication with those who do not speak his/her home language (ESL) uses single words and simple phrases to communicate meaning in social situations (ESL) attempts to use new vocabulary and grammar in speech (ESL)
Interactive Student	Interactive Teacher
(5) Phonological Awareness Phonological awareness is an auditory skill that involves an understanding of the sounds of spoken words. It includes recognizing and producing rhymes, dividing words into syllables, and identifying words that have the same beginning, middle, or ending sounds. Phonological awareness represents a crucial step toward understanding that letters or groups of letters can represent phonemes or sounds (i.e., the alphabetic principle). This understanding is highly predictive of success in beginning reading. Some basic proficiency in English may be prerequisite to the development of phonological awareness in English for second-language learners.	The child: becomes increasingly sensitive to the sounds of spoken words begins to identify rhymes and rhyming sounds in familiar words, participates in rhyming games, and repeats rhyming songs and poems begins to attend to the beginning sounds in familiar words by identifying that the pronunciations of several words all begin the same way (e.g., “dog,” “dark,” and “dusty,” [Spanish] “casa,” “coche,” and “cuna” ) begins to break words into syllables or claps along with each syllable in a phrase begins to create and invent words by substituting one sound for another (e.g., bubblegum/gugglebum, [Spanish] calabaza/balacaza)
Interactive Student Reggie the Rhyming Rhino	Interactive Teacher
(6) Print and Book Awareness Through their daily experiences with reading and writing, PreKindergarten children learn basic concepts about print and how it works. They learn that print carries meaning and can be used for different purposes. They begin to differentiate writing from other graphic symbols and recognize some of the common features of print (for example, that writing moves from left to right on a page and is divided into words).	The child: understands that reading and writing are ways to obtain information and knowledge, generate and communicate thoughts and ideas, and solve problems understands that print carries a message by recognizing labels, signs, and other print forms in the environment understands that letters are different from numbers understands that illustrations carry meaning but cannot be read understands that a book has a title and an author begins to understand that print runs from left to right and top to bottom begins to understand some basic print conventions (e.g., the concept that letters are grouped to form words and that words are separated by spaces) begins to recognize the association between spoken and written words by following the print as it is read aloud understands that different text forms are used for different functions (e.g., lists for shopping, recipes for cooking, newspapers for learning about current events, letters and messages for interpersonal communication)
Interactive Student	Interactive Teacher
(7) Letter Knowledge and Early Word Recognition Letter knowledge is an essential component of learning to read and write. Knowing how letters function in writing and how these letters connect to the sounds children hear in words is crucial to children’s success in reading. Combined with phonological awareness, letter knowledge is the key to children’s understanding of the alphabetic principle. Children will use this sound/letter connection to begin to identify printed words.	The child: begins to associate the names of letters with their shapes identifies 10 or more printed alphabet letters begins to notice beginning letters in familiar words begins to make some letter/sound matches begins to identify some high-frequency words (age 4)
Interactive Student Alphabetize Letter Match Sound Match Make a Word Learn to Read Listen and Do Leo Loves to Spell Kiwi's Balloons Sesame Street  Letters	Interactive Teacher Alphabet Action 'Lil Fingers Alphabet
(8) Motivation to Read PreKindergarten children benefit from classroom environments that associate reading with pleasure and enjoyment as well as learning and skill development. These early experiences will come to define their assumptions and expectations about becoming literate and influence their motivation to work toward learning to read and write.	The child: demonstrates an interest in books and reading through body language and facial expressions enjoys listening to and discussing storybooks and information books read aloud frequently requests the re-reading of books attempts to read and write independently shares books and engages in pretend-reading with other children enjoys visiting the library
Interactive Student	Interactive Teacher
(9) Developing Knowledge of Literary Forms Exposure to storybooks and information books helps PreKindergarten children become familiar with the language of books and story forms. Children develop concepts of story structure and knowledge about informational text structures, which influences how they understand, interpret, and link what they already know to new information.	The child: recognizes favorite books by their cover selects books to read based on personal criteria understands that books and other print resources (e.g., magazines, computer-based texts) are handled in specific ways becomes increasingly familiar with narrative form and its elements by identifying characters and predicting events, plot, and the resolution of a story begins to predict what will happen next in a story imitates the special language in storybooks and story dialogue, and uses it in retellings and dramatic play [(such as “Once upon a time…”)] asks questions and makes comments about the information and events from books connects information and events in books to real-life experiences begins to retell some sequences of events in stories shows appreciation of repetitive language patterns
Interactive Student	Interactive Teacher
(10) Written Expression PreKindergarten-aged children generate hypotheses about how written language works and begin to explore the uses of writing for themselves. They also begin to ask adults to write signs and letters for them. Through these early writing experiences, young children develop initial understandings about the forms, features, and functions of written language. Over time, children’s writing attempts more closely approximate conventional writing.	The child: attempts to write messages as part of playful activity uses known letters and approximations of letters to represent written language (especially meaningful words like his/her name and phrases such as “I love you” or [Spanish] “ Te quiero”) attempts to connect the sounds in a word with its letter forms understands that writing is used to communicate ideas and information attempts to use a variety of forms of writing (e.g., lists, messages, stories) begins to dictate words, phrases, and sentences to an adult recording on paper (e.g., “letter writing,” “storywriting”)
Interactive Student	Interactive Teacher

Back to top

(1) Individual, Culture, and Community All children live in some type of group or social organization. PreKindergarten children must learn the skills of communicating, sharing, cooperating, and participating with others. These individual skills are necessary for all groups to function successfully and fairly. The better children are able to understand others, the more they will feel a sense of community and connection with other people and with their world.	The child: shares ideas and takes turns listening and speaking cooperates with others in a joint activity identifies and follows classrooms rules participates in classroom jobs and contributes to the classroom community identifies similarities among people like himself/herself and classmates as well as among himself/herself and people from cultures begins to examine a situation from another person's perspective
Interactive Student	Interactive Teacher
(2) History PreKindergarten children are aware of time and begin to organize their lives around it. Three- and four-year-old children learn to depend on events and routines that occur in a regular and predictable order. They begin to understand past events and how these events relate to present and future activities, demonstrating evidence of their growing understanding of time, change, and continuity.	The child: identifies common events and routines (e.g., snack time, storytime) begins to categorize time intervals using words (e.g., “today,” “tomorrow,” “next time”) recognizes changes in the environment over time (e.g., growth, seasonal changes) connects past events to current events (e.g., linking yesterday’s activity with what will happen today) begins to understand cause-and-effect relationships (e.g., if one goes outside in the rain, one will get wet).
Interactive Student A Step Back in Time!	Interactive Teacher
(3) Geography Geographic thinking for young children begins with the concepts of location and direction. Children use directions to locate their relative position in space and to locate their home and school in their community. They learn to recognize common features in their immediate environment and begin to represent them symbolically through drawings and constructions.	The child: identifies common features in the home and school environment (e.g., the library, the playground) creates simple representations of home, school, or community through drawings or block constructions begins to use words to indicate relative location (e.g., “front,” “back,” “near,” “far”) identifies common features of the local landscape (e.g., houses, buildings, streets)
Interactive Student Build with Bob	Interactive Teacher
(4) Economics In PreKindergarten, children learn about the world of work in their community. They explore the roles and relationships of consumers and producers, and become aware that people produce services as well as goods. Children learn that their community benefits from many different people working in many different ways.	The child: understands the basic human needs of all people for food, clothing, and shelter understands the roles, responsibilities, and services provided by community workers becomes aware of what it means to be a consumer
Interactive Student Clifford Your Neighborhood	Interactive Teacher

Back to top

Please report any dead links or other problems to sailon@pasadenaisd.org

updated 02/06/2008