Child Learning Levels
FOUR

When it comes to learning, four-year-olds are developing greater self-control and ingenuity.
Their pretend play is more complex and imaginative and can be sustained for longer periods.
They can also make plans and complete tasks. Four-year-olds want to try new experiences.
They also want to be more self-reliant and seek to expand the areas of their lives where they
can be independent decision-makers.

The language skills of four-year-olds expand rapidly. They begin communicating in complex and
compound sentences, have very few pronunciation errors and expand their vocabularies daily.
They can follow multi-step directions and understand explanations given for things they can
see. Four-year-olds frequently initiate conversations and are less likely to change the subject of
conversation to areas of personal interest. They are also getting better at sharing personal
experiences without prompts from adults.

Four-year-olds are building their knowledge of written language. They want to know what
words in their environment say and can recognize many letters. By the end of this year, many
children understand that letters represent the sounds in spoken words and may associate some
letters with their sounds. Most children also are capable of writing some legible letters and
know that writing goes from left-to-right and top to bottom.

Four-year-olds have an increased capacity for learning math concepts. They use logical
reasoning to solve everyday problems and can effectively use language to compare and
describe objects and shapes. They can count to "ten," recognize written numerals "0" to "9"
and add and subtract using numbers up to "four." Four-year-olds know some variations of a
circle, square, triangle and rectangle. They know days of the week, months and the seasons, but
still cannot tell time.

Children this age can engage in long periods of active play and exercise. They are skillful at
walking, climbing, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching and galloping. They also are better able
to throw, catch, kick and bounce balls. Improved finger dexterity allows them to hold writing
tools with a more mature, tripod grip. Advances in hand-eye coordination help four-year-olds
do puzzles, play with toys that have small parts and dress and undress without assistance.

Four-year-olds approach the world with great curiosity and use their imaginations to help
understand it. Hands-on explorations help them to separate reality from fantasy. They can
participate in the planning and implementation of simple scientific investigations and over the
course of the year, will increase their abilities to make observations, gather information,
compare data, identify patterns, describe and discuss observations and form explanations and
generalizations.

Emotionally, four-year-olds continue to learn what causes certain feelings and realize that
others may react to the same situation differently. They have learned to better manage intense
emotions with coping strategies like talking it out or drawing a picture. Four-year-olds also
show further progress in their social interactions with peers, such as by smoothly joining in a
group play situation, being sympathetic to others, or suggesting ways to resolve conflicts.

In exploring the creative arts, children this age can identify changes in pitch, tempo, loudness
and musical duration. They can sing songs of their own creation as well as memorized ones.
Their art begins to be more realistic and may incorporate letters. Four-year-olds love to dance
and are able to move rhythmically and smoothly. Their dramatic play is highly imaginative and
now has the structure of specific scenarios, like going to the grocery store or rescuing a cat
stuck in a tree.
FIVE TO SIX

Five-year-olds are creative and enthusiastic problem solvers. They offer progressively more
imaginative ideas for how to do a task, make something or solve longer-term or more abstract
challenges. As they participate in a variety of new experiences, five-year-olds ask more
analytical questions and weigh their choices. They are also more social as they learn new things
and prefer activities that involve other children.

The language skills of five-year-olds are well developed. They pronounce words clearly, speak in
complex and compound sentences, use correct grammar for the most part and have good-sized
vocabularies that continue to grow rapidly. Children this age enjoy initiating conversations, can
wait their turn to speak during group conversations and are typically able to include
appropriate details when sharing personal experiences.

Five-year-olds begin to extend their oral language skills to reading and writing. They know their
uppercase and most lowercase letters and understand that letters represent specific sounds in
spoken words. This knowledge helps them to sound out words in print and write out words
based on their sounds. They also can discuss stories and are able to tell their own tales.

The mathematical thinking of children this age becomes more abstract and expands to include
a greater understanding of the characteristics of shapes and numbers. They can count out a
collection of up to "20" items, conduct simple addition and subtraction and identify which
number in a set is larger. Five-year-olds understand and use words related to position, such as
"under" or "behind." They sequence events chronologically and are learning to tell time. They
can also sort objects based on more than one characteristic.

Physically, five-year-olds abound with energy and seek active games and environments. Their
increased abilities to balance and coordinate movements allow them to ride a bike with training
wheels, swim, jump rope and perform most ball-related skills. They show mature form in
walking and running and are able to vary the direction, speed and quality of their movements.
They can also use their fingers flexibly to control writing and painting tools, dress and undress
dolls and manage zippers and buttons.

Five-year-olds really want to know more about how the world works. Hands-on experiences
help them to form theories to explain "how" and "why" things happen. They can use tools like
thermometers and scales to gather information and are able to more independently carry out
simple investigations. Five-year-olds also use increasingly descriptive language to relay
information, ask questions and provide explanations.

Children this age can manage feelings and social situations with greater independence. They
might decide on their own to go to another room to calm down, or try strategies like
negotiation and compromise to resolve a conflict before seeking adult help. They also have
improved skills for forming and maintaining friendships with adults and other children. Being
accepted by "the group" is becoming more and more important.

In the creative arts, five-year-olds have a varied repertoire of music and are able to compose
and arrange music within specified guidelines. They create realistic art with recognizable
subjects and more detailed settings. They also recognize that art can tell a story. The dramatic
play of five-year-olds is pre-planned, elaborate and sustained. They are able to perform simple
plays, do pantomime and perform puppet shows.
By age 6, children know an astounding average of 13,000 words. Their sentences are longer and not
as simple. But even more amazing is the new complexities in their thought processes. Their wheels
are constantly churning. With this deepening, you’ll see a change in how they use language to
express thoughts and ideas, uniquely their own.
Reading Development

May be able to read simple books aloud.

Can read and retell familiar stories.

Knows an increasing number of sight words.

Can decode major sounds in a word.

Can invent reasonable spelling and write some words.
Language Development

Speaks an average of 2,600 words and understands even more – around 22,000 words.

Uses many multi-syllabic words.

Can use and understand different tenses, such as past and future.

May be able to have extended conversations with shifting topics.

May be able to talk on the telephone (watch out for your cell phone!)
Physical Development

May be able to jump rope, hula hoop, and play hopscotch.

Better able to throw, catch, jump, and climb.

Can do simple art projects involving cutting, coloring, pasting, drawing

May be able to tie shoelaces (or at least do Velcro!)
Emotional Development

Loves to learn

Is eager to please

Plays well in groups (though may want to be in charge!)

Begins to have an easier time with transitions.

Can stay focused and pay attention for longer periods of time.

How your child may develop this year
◾SIX to seven
Six-year-olds have longer attention spans and continue to prefer structured activities to more openended experiences. They enjoy taking on new roles and responsibilities, but still require much
direction from adults and frequently ask questions to ensure that they are completing tasks the right
way.
◾
The language skills of six-year-olds become increasingly sophisticated throughout the year. Their
vocabularies rapidly increase, and their language moves beyond communication to provide a
foundation for learning, including the development of independent reading skills. In general, their
pronunciation of words is clear and they use complex grammatical forms accurately.
◾
In first grade, children transform into true readers. They apply their knowledge of how print works
and practice strategies to decode unfamiliar words. They learn to read aloud with fluency, accuracy
and understanding. They read a variety of texts for pleasure (e.g., stories, informational texts,
poems) and draw upon a variety of comprehension strategies to understand and enjoy texts.
Children this age write stories, notes and descriptions. Most are able to develop an idea beyond a
sentence and will add some details to help describe or explain things in their world. They enjoy
sharing their writing with others.
◾
In mathematics, six-year-olds can typically count up to "200" and count backwards from "20." They
understand the concept of "odd" and "even" numbers and can represent numbers on a number line
or with written words. They use increasingly more sophisticated strategies to solve addition and
subtraction problems. They also count the sides of shapes to identify them and can combine shapes
to create a new one. Six-year-olds can also give and follow directions for moving around a room or
on a map.
◾
Scientific discovery for children this age is affected by their tendency to straddle the world between
make-believe and reality. Six-year-olds might continue to give animals human characteristics, such as
suggesting what a worm might be thinking, or that a butterfly has eye lashes. Gentle encouragement
to look closely at worms and butterflies will help children to describe more objectively what they
observe. Science experiences for this age group should continue to immerse children in first-hand
investigation of the world around them, so they can continue to build a reservoir of experiences
from which they can begin to draw as their thinking becomes more sophisticated.
◾
Six-year-olds continue to enjoy moving in a variety of ways. Although far from proficient in motor
skills, this does little to dampen their enthusiasm for trying out new activities and sports. They are
able to run in various pathways and directions and can manipulate their bodies by jumping and
landing, rolling and transferring their weight from feet to hands to feet. Their hand- and foot-eye
coordination is still developing, so skills like throwing, catching, kicking and striking are still
emerging. With the right equipment, however, and a skillful partner, their motor skills continue to
improve. Note: During this period of development, children's actual skill levels will vary based on
their amount of physical activity. Sedentary children will not mature as quickly as those who
participate in activities like dance lessons, team sports or backyard play.
◾
In terms of social and emotional development, six-year-olds are confident and delight in showing off
their talents. They start to display an increasing awareness of their own and others' emotions and
begin to develop better techniques for self-control. Six-year-olds enjoy sharing toys and snacks with
friends, although conflicts among peers may remain quite frequent. Predictable routines are
important sources of stability and security for children this age. Six-year-olds also draw emotional
stability from their interactions with adults with whom they feel secure, particularly during
challenging situations and circumstances.
◾
A child's development in the creative arts varies greatly based on the child's experiences with art,
music, dance and theater. Given exposure and practice, six-year-olds use a wider variety of materials
to create visual images that combine colors, forms and lines. They can also remember the words and
melodies to a number of songs and may sing or play these songs on instruments. They can also be
taught how to read music and write simple music notation. With dance, six-year-olds can create,
imitate and explore movement in response to a musical beat. The dramatic play of six-year-olds
show greater creativity and complexity in the use of props, costumes, movements and sounds.
Children this age can also repeat simple text and cooperate with others in a dramatization.
SEVEN to eight

Seven-year-olds enjoy having the opportunity to share their knowledge with others. They
display a longer attention span and the ability to tolerate less-detailed directions and lastminute changes. Seven-year-olds are curious and frequently ask adults and peers questions to
satisfy their need to know. They utilize increasingly complex and creative strategies to solve
problems at home and at school.

The language skills of seven-year-olds reflect the increasing impact of language and literacy
instruction. The two areas interact in that literacy activities enhance children's recognition of
language's dimensions, such as its sounds, patterns, meanings and uses. In turn, improving
literacy skills (reading and writing) offer experiences that dramatically expand a child's
experiences with words. The interaction of language, literacy and cognition form the basis for a
child's academic development.

In second grade, children recognize more words by sight and can apply reading comprehension
strategies in flexible ways so that they read with greater fluency (speed, accuracy and
expression) and independence. Reading is a pleasurable activity for most children and they
demonstrate their understanding through discussion, written response and participation in
dramatizations. Children's vocabularies continue to grow and their writing is more developed
and engaging.

Mathematically, seven-year-olds have strong number sense and estimation skills. Children this
age can do simple addition and subtraction and can apply strategies necessary to solve related
word problems. They can also effectively work in many ways with three-digit numbers and have
improved abilities for solving arithmetic problems mentally. Seven-year-olds use rulers to
measure units. They also understand how to measure angles and can apply their knowledge of
shapes to three-dimensional objects and structures in the environment.

This is the age when children begin to effectively combine motor skills like running to kick a ball,
rolling after landing from a jump or traveling in rhythm to music. They continue to be
enthusiastic about physical activity in all of its forms, especially when the sport or physical
activity is structured so that they can be successful. During this year, youngsters who have
spent a substantial amount of time outside of school on skills like riding a bike, swimming,
skiing, dance or gymnastics begin to show true proficiency. Note: During this period of
development, children's actual skill levels will vary based on their amount of physical activity.
Sedentary children will not mature as quickly as those who participate in activities like dance
lessons, team sports or backyard play.

In terms of social and emotional development, seven-year-olds enjoy having and making friends
and take pleasure in imitating the actions of friends and peers at school. While they typically
prefer structure and routines, they may also choose to work or play independently when
frustrated. Children this age often choose to develop games with rules and are likely to treat
peers with respect during play. In addition, they start to experiment more with handling their
emotional and social lives independently; they show that they can take some initiative socially
and that they have the capacity to understand others' actions and feelings.

A child's development in the creative arts varies greatly based on the child's experiences with
art, music, dance and theater. Given exposure and practice, seven-year-olds create art that
depict objects more realistically and that reflect personal culture and experiences. In addition,
they increase their knowledge of art elements, materials, techniques and processes. Sevenyear-olds also have the ability to perform, read and write music that is increasingly more
complex. They respond to the mood of music through movement and dance and show greater
body awareness as they imitate and distinguish among various body shapes. Finally, they can
name the characters, setting, problem and solution in a drama, as well as act out real-life and
imaginative situations through dramatic play, puppet shows and other dramatizations.
EIGHT to Nine

Eight-year-olds enjoy having the opportunity to solve problems independently. They are able to
concentrate on tasks for longer periods of time and begin to use their own resources prior to
seeking adult help or they may seek out peers for assistance. Eight-year-olds demonstrate more
highly-developed thinking skills as well as the ability to solve problems with creative strategies.

The language skills of eight-year-olds continue to show the impact of their developing literacy
skills. Children's fundamental reading skills are established and one function of reading
becomes its use for learning about various topics. At the same time, children's writing skills
continue to develop. A child's language and literacy skills lay the groundwork for academic
achievement and will be the route through which academic learning will progress.

In third grade, children select and combine skills and strategies to read fluently with meaning
and purpose. They apply comprehension and vocabulary strategies to a wider variety of texts
and are better able to check on and improve their comprehension as needed. Children this age
use their knowledge of text structures, vocabulary and the world to understand and
communicate. They read for pleasure and choose books based on personal preference, topic or
author. Most children create engaging and detailed stories, as well as reports that are
increasingly persuasive, informative or entertaining.

In mathematics, eight-year-olds can count to "1,000" and gauge the relative proximity of threeand four-digit numbers to one another. They are able to apply a host of strategies when solving
problems with three-digit numbers or less. In addition, they are building early multiplication
skills. Children this age recognize a wide variety of shapes and can readily identify patterns.
They can also translate simple word problems into number sentences and begin to apply more
algebraic thinking and logic to solving problems with addition and subtraction.

Physically, this is the age when the amount of practice and play done in the earlier years begins
to manifest itself in skillfulness and in what might be called "athleticism." Motor skills like
throwing, catching, kicking, balancing, rolling and batting approach the mature stage and allow
some youngsters to be highly successful in traditional sports like baseball, soccer and
basketball. Earlier years of practice also provide the foundation for success in sports like skiing,
skating, golf, dance and gymnastics. This year is also the time when children frequently begin to
identify themselves as "athletic" or "unathletic," thereby influencing their future involvement in
sports and physical activity. Note: During this period of development, children's actual skill
levels will vary based on their amount of physical activity. Sedentary children will not mature as
quickly as those who participate in activities like dance lessons, team sports or backyard play.

When interacting with others, eight-year-olds enjoy sharing their viewpoints on a variety of
topics. They have a clearly developed sense of self-worth and may express frustration in
response to activities that they perceive as areas of personal weakness. Eight-year-olds begin to
understand the concept of masking emotions and can vary their use of coping strategies to deal
with challenging situations. In peer interactions, they may start to engage in leadership, goalsetting, elaborate fantasy play and an assortment of interactive games. Eight-year-olds still rely
on adults for a sense of security, but are proud of their independence and will want to express
it. Under emotionally stressful circumstances, they will seek adults in less direct ways but still
need contact.

A child's development in the creative arts varies greatly based on the child's experiences with
art, music, dance and theater. Given exposure and practice, eight-year-olds create more
detailed and realistic images in their artwork. Plus, they can better identify the subject matter
in art. Children this age also know more music terminology and can describe a variety of
musical styles that represent diverse cultures. In addition, they sing or play instruments with
improved skill. Eight-year-olds are able to create a complete dance sequence and then repeat it
and vary it. They also start to use mature dance form and can correctly remember dance
combinations. In the study of theater, children this age show greater concentration and
sophistication in playing different characters and can draw from a variety of sources to
improvise dialogue and tell stories.