Getting to know the

Kindergarten to
Grade 3
LEARNERS

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Why is there a need to know the

preschoolers and early graders?
Skillful, knowledgeable teaching takes place

when the teacher is equipped with child

development information.

Developmentally appropriate practice is based

on knowledge about how children develop and

learn. (Bredekamp and Kopple)

Developmentally appropriate teaching means

that we approach children from where they are

and not from what we think they ought to be.

What teachers in the early

grades should know
What are the K -3 learners

developmental characteristics?
*Physical-motor
*Social-emotional
*Language
*Intellectual-cognitive

How are children alike? How are they

different?

What are some cautions in

interpreting age-level characteristics?

How does the development (or

delay) in one growth area affect the

other areas?

What is Developmentally

Appropriate Practice (DAP)?

*Age-appropriate
*Individually-appropriate
*culturally-appropriate

Student Diversity
How do the following diversities of
students affect student achievement?
*Socioeconomic status
*Language differences
*Learning styles
*Multiple intelligences

How well do you know

the preschoolers/early
graders?

When do they start to . . .

1. Color within the lines?
2. Cut on a line with a pair of scissors?

When do they start to . . .

3. Enjoy group play and competitive

games?

4. Be more serious; enjoy solitary

activities?

When do they start to

5. Enjoy telling/dictating familiar stories?

6. Have high interest in poetry?

7. Enjoy putting language skill to paper?
8. Have clear ideas and articulate them?

When do they start to

9. Recognize printed words?

10. Read greater number of words and

stories?

When do they start to . . .

1. Color within the lines?

2. Cut on a line with a pair of scissors?

5
5

When do they start to . . .

3. Enjoy group play and competitive

games?

4. Be more serious; enjoy solitary

activities?
6

When do they start to

5. Enjoy telling/dictating familiar stories?

6
6. Have high interest in poetry?
5
7. Enjoy putting language skill to paper?
6
8. Have clear ideas and articulate them?
6

When do they start to

9. Recognize printed words?

4
10. Read greater number of words and
stories? 6

DEVELOPMENTAL
CHARACTERISTICS
OF EARLY
GRADERS

Physical-Motor Development of
4-year old children
Dynamic, acrobatic
Active until exhausted
Jump own height and land

upright; jump over objects

Hop, skip
Throw large ball, kick
accurately

Hop/stand on 1 foot
Walk on a straight line
Turn somersaults
Alternate feet in going up/down

stairs
Have sureness and control in
finger activities
Hold paint brush in adult manner
Draw a stick figure
Lace shoes

Social-Emotional Development
of 4-year old children
Assertive
Cooperate in groups of 2s, 3s
Develop special friends; in-group

develops
Shift loyalties
Have terrific humor

Mood changes rapidly

Dominate, bossy, boastful
Assertive, argumentative
Impatient
Hit, grab, insist on desires
Tell tall tales
Give alibis
Have food jags

Language Development of 4year old children

Have more words than knowledge
A great talker, questioner
Like words, play with them
Have high interest in poetry
Able to talk to solve conflicts

Respond to verbal directions

Enjoy taking turns to sing

along
Interested in dramatizing
songs, poems, stories
Ask when, why,
how
Join sentences together

Intellectual-Cognitive
Development of 4-year old
Question constantly
children
Interested in how things work
Judge which two object is

larger
Have accurate sense of time
Have concepts of some
numbers (1-10)

Recognize printed words

Begin to generalize, often faulty
Call people names
Have dynamic intellectual drive
Have imaginary playmates
Do some naming representation

in art
Have an extended attention span

Physical-Motor Development of
5-year old children
Completely coordinated
Have adult-like posture
Tremendous physical

drive
Catch ball from three feet
Skip using alternate feet

Enjoy running, jumping,

doing stunts
Balance on a balance beam
Jump rope
Graceful, rhythmic dancer
Draw recognizable person
Dress self
Color within lines
Cut on a line with scissors

Social-Emotional Development
of 5-year old children
Have sense of self-identity
Self-confident
Enjoy group play, competitive

games
Sociable
Get involved with group discussions
Like adult companionship

Respect authority
Ask permission
Aware of rules
Insist on fair play
Enjoy jokes
Remain calm in emergencies
Sensitive to ridicule

Language Development of 5year old children

Use big words
Use complete sentences
Can define some words
Spell out simple words
Take turn in conversation
Have clear ideas and articulate

them

Use big words to give, receive

information
Insist I already know that
Ask question to learn answers
Make up songs
Enjoy dictating stories
Tell a familiar story
Answer telephone, take a
message

Intellectual-Cognitive
Development of 5-year old

Curious about everything

children
Want to know how and why
Like to display new knowledge

Know tomorrow, yesterday

Can count 10 objects, rote counts to

20

Sort objects by single characteristic

Sort colors, shapes
Know name, address
Know concepts of smallest, less

than, one half

Tells time by the hour
Know what a calendar is used for
Attention span increases noticeably

Physical-Motor Development of
6 to 7-year old children
Growth has slowed
Enjoy acrobatics
Boisterous, enjoy stunts
Need active play to let

off steam
Enjoy challenges in
balancing

Like to test limit of own body

Are hungry at short intervals
Have insatiable taste for sweets
Basic skills developed, needs

refinement
Bones solidifying
Are susceptible to fatigue
Visual acuity reaches normal

Social Emotional Development

of 6-year old children
Active, outgoing
Proud of accomplishments
Like to bring home evidence of

good work
Observe family rules
Make social connections
through play

Social-Emotional Development
of 7-year old children
Show politeness, consideration of

others
Enjoy solitary activities
Relate physical competence to self
concept
More serious

Language Development of 6 to
7-year old children
Enjoy putting language skill to paper
Talk with adults rather then to them
Chatter incessantly
Dominate conversation
Speech irregularities still common
Acquisition of new words tapers off
Bilingual capacities nearly complete
Ability to learn new language still

present

Can sequence events and tell

stories
Like games with simple rules
May cheat or change rules
Have appetite for real
knowledge
Sift and sort information
Conceptualize situations

The Kindergarten to Grade 3

Learners
How do the K to Grade 3

learners learn a language?

How do they learn to read?
How are language learning and

literacy development related?

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How do they learn a language?

How do they learn to read?
How are language learning and

literacy development related?

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Language Acquisition and

Language Learning
How do the young learners

acquire a language?
How do they learn other

languages?

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Language
Acquisition
Language acquisition is the

natural way of knowing a

language; it does not necessitate
a formal study.

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A child acquires a language

naturally at home and in the

his/her immediate environment.
The home language is also

termed the childs first language

or L1.
Good models at home help a

child acquire a language well.

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When a child comes to school, s/he is

a proficient speaker in his home

language.
The use of MT as the first language of

literacy capitalizes on this strength of a

beginning reader. The learner learns to
read first in the language that s/he
knows.
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Language Learning
The process of acquiring another

language in a more formal way.

Learning another language

usually happens in school.

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The beginning learner learns a

second and/or a third language

and learns to read (and write in
that language.

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Various approaches are employed in

school in order for the learner to learn

another language.
Constant use of the language in

meaningful activities helps in learning

it.
Oral language development
Lots of opportunities for listening and

speaking in the target language

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Learning to Read
How do young learners learn to

read?

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Stages of Reading Development

Chall, 1983, cited in Hermosa, 2002

Stage

Grade/ Age
Range

Stage 0
PREREADING

Preschool
(ages 6 months to
6 years

Stage 1:
INITIAL READING AND
DECODING

Grade 1 and
Beginning Grade 2
(ages 7 -8 years)

Stage 2:
CONFIRMATION AND

Grades 2 and 3
(ages 8-9)

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Stages of Reading
Development
Rosko et. Al, 2010

Stage

Grade/ Age
Range

Stage 0
Emergent Literacy
Stage 1:
Decoding
Stage 2:
Confirmation and
Fluency

Birth to
Preschool
Beginning
Grade 1
End of Grade
1 until Grade
3

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Major Qualitative Characteristics

of the Learners in Each Stage

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Stage 0: Birth to Preschool

The children
pretend to read, retelling story when
looking at pages of book previously read
to them; they rely on pictures in text
recognize/name letters of the alphabet;

recognize some environmental signs

print own name
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play with books, pencils

and paper
gain control of oral language
recognize rhymes

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How Are These literacy skills

Acquired?
Being read to by an adult (or older

child) who responds to and warmly

appreciates the childs interest in
books and reading

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Being provided with books, paper,

pencil, blocks, and letters (features

of a print-rich environment)

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Relationship of reading to
listening
Most preschoolers can understand

the picture books and stories read to

them
They understand thousands of words

they hear by age

if any, of them
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6 but can read few,

Stage 1: INITIAL READING

AND DECODING
The pupils
learn the relation between letters and
sounds and between printed and
spoken words
use decoding to figure out words

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use skill and insight to sound out

new one-syllable words (English)

/KPKP words in MT/Fil
baso
kama

sama

mama

bata

Read simple text containing high

frequency words and phonically

regular words
They are developing listening to
reading comprehension
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How Are These Acquired?

Direct instruction in letter sound

relations (phonics) and practice in their

use
Reading of simple stories using words

with phonic elements taught and words

of high frequency

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Being read to on a level above what

a pupil can read independently to

develop more advanced language
patterns, knowledge of new words,
and ideas

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RELATIONSHIP OF READING
TO LISTENING
The level of difficulty of language read

by the child is much below the language

understood when heard.

1, most children can

understand up to 4,000 words when
heard but can read only about 600.

At the end of Stage

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Stage 2: CONFIRMATION
AND FLUENCY
The pupils
develop fluency in reading
Naglalaro/ ang mga bata.
The pencil / is in the bag.

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recognize patterns in words

best
nest
pest
rest
west

check for meaning and sense

buko
Nasa mesa ang kubo.

know a stock of sight words

in
of

the
by

with

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on

in

from

 read simple, familiar stories and

selections with increasing fluency.

This is done by consolidating the
basic decoding elements, sight
vocabulary, and meaning context in
the reading of familiar stories and
selections.

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How Are these skills acquired

Direct instruction in advanced

decoding skills
Wide reading (with instruction and

independently) of familiar and

interesting materials which promote
fluent reading

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Being read to at levels above their

own independent reading level to

develop language, vocabulary and
concepts

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RELATIONSHIP OF READING TO
LISTENING
At the end of Stage 2, about 3,000
words can be read and understood
and about 9000 are known when
heard.
Listening is still more effective than

reading
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Language Learning and

Literacy Development
One does not learn to read (with

understanding) in a language that he

does not understand.

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Language and Literacy

meaning

does not reside in the text

or in the reader but happens or
comes into being during the
transaction between the reader and
the text.
Rosenblatt, 1994

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Beginning Literacy
Experie
nce

Oral
Langua
ge
(Childs
L1)

Printed
Symbol
s
(in
childs
L1)

Does reading (with understanding)

occur?
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Beginning Literacy
May
bola
kami ni
Manoy.
Nagkakarawat
kami.

oral
language

experience

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May bola
si Bong
saka si
Lani.
Nagkakar
awat
sinda.

printed
symbols

Kami
man.

Reading in L2
once

students have established a

literate base in one language, they
should be able to transfer knowledge
and skills gained in that language to
reading in a second language as long
as they are adequately exposed to the
second language and motivated to
acquire it.
Cummins, 1986
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In school . . .
there should be a smooth

transition from a childs home

language to learning a second
language . . .
and learning using the second

language as a medium.
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Learning to read in L2: the

role of language

Experien
ce

Oral
Languag
e
(Childs
L1)

Oral
Languag
e

(in L2)

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Printed
Symbols
(in
childs
L1)

Printed
Symbols
(in L2)

Challenges:
Developing literacy in L1
Shifting to literacy development
in L2, in L3

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THANK YOU!
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