Will my child be ready? Creativity and the Arts

Today we continue our series exploring Minnesota’s Early Childhood Indicators of Progress by looking at the topic of Creativity and the Arts. Previously, we’ve taken time to look at Social and Emotional Development, Approaches to Learning, and Language and Literacy Development.

This domain emphasizes how children actively and receptively engage with the arts. The three components of this domain (Creating, Responding, and Evaluating) show how children can demonstrate what they know and expand their thinking through creative endeavors. The indicators for each component are taken directly from the ECIPs manual.

Creating
Creating is a wonderful opportunity to interact with the world in a new way. Children are developing in their creativity when they:

1. Use a variety of media and materials for exploration and creative expression
2. Participate in art and music experiences
3. Participate in creative movement, drama, and dance

Families can support children in creating by providing opportunities for their children to try out a variety of art materials and experiences and participating in community art events. Families can also encourage children's interest in the full range of arts expression such as dance, movement, music and displaying artwork around the home.

Teachers and Caregivers can encourage children to create by providing time and space for a variety of opportunities to explore and experiment with different materials and media. Additionally, teachers may Include exploration of space and objects in addition to color, balance and design.

Responding
Creativity doesn’t happen in a vacuum, we must all react and respond to what’s happening around us to grow in creativity. Children are showing progress in responding when they:

1. Show others and/or talk about what they have made or done
2. Show interest and respect for the creative work of self and other

Families can help children develop in their responding by showing interest in their child's creative activities and encouraging awareness of the arts and creative expression in their own and other cultures.

Teachers and Caregivers can help facilitate children's responding by encouraging children's participation in a variety of creative activities and spending time with children to describe and discuss their creative process as well as the product of their creativity.

Evaluating Open and honest evaluation is the last step in developing our creativity (a process many of us adults wish to recapture!). Children are growing in their evaluating skills when they:

1. Share experiences, ideas, and thoughts about art and creative expression
2. Share opinions about likes and dislikes in art and creative expression

Families may encourage children in evaluating by encouraging children to discuss their own art and the art of others as well as their likes and dislikes about the arts while respecting their work and the work of others.

Teachers and Caregivers can support children in their evaluating by helping children to develop their own personal preferences through discussions of likes and dislikes, by maintaining a collection or access to a variety of books and/or recordings depicting various media and cultures, and helping children develop an appreciation for the arts through attending events and performances.

For all components of this domain, community members and policy makers can encourage children and families in their creativity and the arts development by sponsoring and supporting community-based arts programs and resources for families to access arts education.


What do you think? How do you support and encourage creativity in your preschool age children?

Check back soon! Our next topic in their series is Cognitive Development.

Will my child be ready? Language and Literacy Development

The next in our series of posts based on the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress, Language and Literacy Development, explores how children acquire language and literacy. Previously, we’ve discussed Social and Emotional Development and Approaches to Learning.

As children grow during their preschool years, they increasingly use language to share how they are feeling, to interact with others, and to communicate their own thoughts and needs. Children do this both with spoken and written language. The Language and Literacy Development domain has four components: Listening, Speaking, Emergent Reading, and Emergent Writing. As usual, we’ll briefly look at each component. The indicators within the components are taken directly from the ECIPs manual.

Listening
Children are developing normally in listening skills when they:

1. Understand non-verbal and verbal cues
2. Listen with understanding to stories, directions, and conversations
3. Follow directions that involved a two or three-step sequence of actions
4. Listen to and recognize different sounds in rhymes and familiar words

Families can help facilitate children’s development in listening by talking to their children regularly every day in a way that is equal to their level of understanding and encouraging children to respond. Also, introducing children to rhymes and songs will help children to gain broader interest in words and sounds.

Teachers and caregivers can assist children in developing this component by modeling language for children to use including questions and facial expressions, listening and responding to children as they communicate both verbally and non-verbally, and by providing opportunities for children to interact with adults.


Speaking
Children are progressing in this area when they:

1. Communicate needs, wants, or thoughts through non-verbal gestures, actions, expressions, and/or words
2. Communicate information using home language and/or English
3. Speak clearly enough to be understood in home language and/or English
4. Use language for a variety of purposes
5. Use increasingly complex and varied vocabulary and language
6. Initiate, ask questions, and respond in conversation with others

Families can support children in developing their speaking skills by talking with them every day and encouraging children to discuss and respond including adding to stories that are read to them.

Teachers and caregivers can encourage children in developing their speaking skills by responding to children when they attempt to communicate verbally or non-verbally, supporting children in communicating in their home language using interpreters when necessary, and talking with children on a variety of subjects demonstrating the various uses of language.


Emergent Reading
Preschool children show progress in this component when they:

1. Initiate stories and respond to stories told or read aloud
2. Represent stories to or read aloud through various media or during play
3. Guess what will happen next in a story using pictures as a guide
4. Retell information from a story
5. Show beginning understanding of concepts about print
6. Recognize and name some letters of the alphabet, especially those in own name
7. Begin to associate sounds with words or letters

Families can facilitate children in their emergent reading by making book reading special for their children and reading often for both information and pleasure. Parents can engage children in the reading by talking about the story and asking them to predict what will happen next. And finally, visit a library often to select books to read as well as point out reading materials around the home.

Teachers and caregivers can support children in emergent reading by providing a variety of books and story-making materials such as flannel-board sets and puppets. Teachers and caregivers can talk about words and what they mean, help children to understand the sequences in books and stories (such as beginning, middle and end), and give opportunities for children to repeat favorite rhymes and word-play.


Emergent Writing
Children are progressing normally in this area when they:

1. Understand that writing is a way of communicating
2. Use scribbles, shapes, pictures, or dictation to represent thoughts or ideas
3. Engage in writing using letter-like symbols to make letters or words
4. Begin to copy or write own name

Families can encourage children in their emergent writing by providing writing materials at home (paper, pencils, crayons, markers, etc) and supporting children in their scribbles and "pretend" writing. Families can also engage children in everyday writing activities such as making a grocery list or writing a card or letter.

Teachers and caregivers can support children in this area by creating a "literary-rich" environment by having writing materials in many areas of the classroom and proving lots of opportunity for children to draw and paint. Teachers and caregivers can also encourage children in their attempts to copy or write letters and their name.


For all components of this domain, community members and policy makers can support children and families by providing opportunities for literacy-related events where families can participate together such as story hours and book fairs, encourage adults (both families and volunteers) to spend more time talking and engaging with young children, support and promote libraries and community awareness on the importance of reading with young children.


I think it’s important to be clear that children do not all need to be fully reading and writing when they start kindergarten. But, showing progress and interest in language and literacy is a key component to future learning success.


What about you? Do you have any tips or tricks for encouraging children in their language and literacy development?

How do I know my child is developing normally? Social and Emotional Development

This is the next post in a series based on the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress: Minnesota’s Early Learning Standards. These Indicators are what can be expected of children aged 3 to 5.

Series introduction

We’ll start of the main content of this series by looking at the first of the six domains of the indicators of progress: Social and Emotional Development.

The social and emotional development domain relates to how children feel about themselves and their interactions with peers and adults. This domain has three components: emotional development, self concept and social competence and relationships.

Central to this domain are the skills necessary for children to make friends, solve conflicts and function well in groups. Many educators feel that this domain is especially important in ensuring that kids will be ready to learn when they start kindergarten.

Emotional Development

This component centers around children’s ability to understand, describe, express and appropriately regulate their own emotions as well as respond to others’ emotions. A child aged three to four should be able to:

1. Demonstrate increasing competency in recognizing and describing own emotions
2. Demonstrate increasing use of words instead of actions to express emotions
3. Begin to understand and respond to others’ emotions
4. Begin to show self-regulation to handle emotions appropriately
5. Explore a wide range of emotions in different ways (eg through play, art, music, dance)
6. Respond to praise, limits and correction.

Families can support children in their emotional development by taking time to listen to their children and responding with warmth and assurance. Helping children to identify and understand their emotions and encouraging children to talk about their feelings will lead to strong emotional development as will modeling constructive conflict resolution and coping strategies.

Teachers and caregivers facilitate strong emotional development by establishing warm, caring and engaged relationships with each child. Teachers and caregivers create can provide many opportunities for strong emotional development including schedules and routines that promote self-control, opportunities for children to practice stress-reduction strategies, and opportunities for children to discuss and understand their feelings and the feelings of others..

Self-Concept

To demonstrate development in this component, a child will show independence and develop awareness of her or his own characteristics, likes and dislikes, and begin to understand own cultural identity and gender. A preschool should be able to:

1. Begin to experiment with own potential and show confidence in own abilities
2. Demonstrate increasing self-direction and independence
3. Develop awareness of self as having certain abilities, characteristics and preferences
4. Begin to develop awareness, knowledge and acceptance of own gender and cultural identity

Families can help build self-concept by recognizing children’s interests and make suggestions for activities to support their interests. Families can encourage children to try new things by exploring and learning together and support children’s awareness of and pride in their cultural heritage.

Teachers and caregivers can allow children to experiment with their growing independence and provide opportunities for children to be exposed to a wide variety of experiences. Teachers can demonstrate respect for individuals and groups of people as well as support children’s developing understanding of their gender and cultural identity and provide opportunities for children to learn about cultures – their own and others.

Social Competence and Relationships

Children developing normally in this component will interact easily with peers and adults in group settings. A preschooler should be able to:

1. Interact easily with one or more children
2. Interact easily with familiar adults
3. Approach others with expectations of positive interactions
4. Begin to participate successfully as a member of a group
5. Use play to explore, practice and understand social roles and relationships
6. Begin to understand others’ rights and privileges
7. Sustain interaction by cooperating, helping, sharing and expressing interest
8. Seek adult help when needed for emotional support, physical assistance, social interaction and approval
9. Use words and other constructive strategies to resolve conflicts

Families can build social competence and strong relationships by helping children to practice listening and talking, to understand and appreciate similarities and differences among people, and to develop an understanding of the feelings, actions, and ideas of others.

Teachers and caregivers can support social competence by providing opportunities for children to practice listening and talking to others, and helping children to develop an understanding of the feelings, actions, and ideas of others. Teachers can also plan activities to build a sense of belonging and community with children, encourage children’s understanding of others’ rights and privileges, and provide information, opportunities and support to help children develop constructive conflict management strategies.

For all thee components, Community members and policy makers support this domain by recognizing the importance of social and emotional development for early learning and creating opportunities for families that encourage positive development. Community members and policy makers can advocate for high quality, developmentally and culturally appropriate early learning opportunities available and affordable for all families and ensure linkages between early learning and other programs that serve families such as health, mental health and social services.

This is a quick summary of the social and emotional development domain. For more detailed information, see the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress. Also, Ready 4 K has produced a paper describing the importance of social and emotional development for school readiness.

Check back next week as we explore Approaches to Learning.

How do I know my child is developing normally? A new series on the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress

A few weeks ago I shared about the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress (ECIPs to those of us in the field – as in “ee-Sips”) produced by the Minnesota Department of Education. The ECIPs are a clear and concise summary of child development for children aged 3 to 5. They are a great tool for family members, teachers, care providers and community members to support the school readiness of their children. Children can be expected to meet the majority of these indicators by the time they reach kindergarten.

This post is the first in a series examining each of the six domains of development and their indicators. This is a general overview of the components of each of the indicators and how we may use these indicators to support our young children. Look forward to following posts describing each of the domains in detail.

Introduction of the indicators for 3-5 year olds

First published in 2000 and based on national models, the ECIPs were developed with five clear goals:

1. Raise awareness about all aspects of early childhood development and to offer suggestions for supporting strong development
2. Help increase understanding about the various influences on children’s learning and future success
3. Support families by giving examples of what to do to enhance development
4. Give professionals a common framework and guidelines for teaching and assessing young children
5. Be a resource for community members and policy makers for evaluating current policy and resources

Domains and their components:

As described in the publication of the indicators,

"The Early Childhood Indicators of Progress: Minnesota’s Early Learning Standards are intended to provide a framework for understanding and communicating a common set of developmentally appropriate expectations for young children within a context of shared responsibility and accountability for helping children meet these expectations.”

The indicators are divided into six domains that cover the full range of child development. Each domain is broken up into three to five components as follows.

Social and Emotional Development

• Emotional Development
• Self-Concept
• Social Competence and Relationships

Approaches to Learning

• Curiosity
• Risk-Taking
• Imagination and Invention
• Persistence
• Reflection and Interpretation

Language and Literacy Development

• Listening
• Speaking
• Emergent Reading
• Emergent Writing

Creativity and the Arts

• Creating
• Responding
• Evaluating

Cognitive Development

• Mathematical and Logical Thinking
• Number Concepts and Operations
• Patterns and Relationships
• Spatial Relationships/ Geometry
• Measurements
• Mathematical Reasoning
• Scientific Thinking and Problem Solving
• Observing
• Questioning
• Investigating
• Social Systems Understanding
• Human Relationships
• Understanding the World

Physical and Motor Development

• Gross Motor Development
• Fine Motor Development
• Physical Health and Well-Being

How we can use the indicators

These indicators are meant to be used as a resource for family members, teachers and caregivers, community members and policy makers for supporting young children’s development. Each domain and component gives recommendations for what these groups can do to support that domain.

Overall, family members may use the ECIPs to build awareness of child development, become more involved in their child’s learning, and to better understand the systems needed to support their child’s growth and development. Teachers and caregivers may use them to guide planning, curriculum development and teaching strategies; gain direction for authentic assessment for young children; to provide a framework to standards and evaluation of their program; and gain ideas for staff development. Community members may use the ECIPs to assess the needs within the community and to organize advocacy efforts within the community. Policy makers may use these indicators to assess them impact of public policies on young children and their families.

Summary

Minnesota’s Early Childhood Indicators of Progress are a framework for a common understanding of early childhood development for children aged 3 to 5. The indicators are divided into six domains: Social and Emotional Development, Approaches to Learning, Creativity and the Arts, Cognitive Development and Physical and Motor Development. Family members, teachers, care givers and community members may use the indicators to guide their interactions with children and to assess how children are fairing as well as how community resources can best support early learning.

What do you think? Have you heard or used the ECIPs before?