LANGUAGE, LITERACY, AND COMMUNICATION-

L- Speaking

infants attend to speech because it is intimately connected with trusted caregivers. Even before they

have words, babies “talk” by cooing, babbling, and gesturing. Their sounds gradually take on the

inflections and other characteristics of the language or languages spoken around them. Soon they

begin to form and use actual words. In toddlerhood, preschool, and beyond, vocabulary and the length

and complexity of children’s utterances seem to explode. They adopt the conventions of speech and

engage in extended and meaningful conversations with others.

M- Listening and comprehension.

Listening to and comprehending spoken and written words are essential aspects of learning. Children

progress from understanding simple spoken words and phrases (also signs and gestures) to more

complex and detailed information. Their understanding of oral and written stories undergoes a similar

development. First, they pick up individual story elements, such as a character or single event. Later,

they grasp interactions among characters and the sequence and causal relationships between events.

Children also begin to connect what they hear and read to people and events in their own lives.

N- Phonological awareness

Phonological awareness is recognizing the sounds that make up words. For young children, this

awareness begins with identifying the ending sounds of words (rhymes, such as the at in cat and hat)

and the beginning or onset sounds of words (alliteration, such as the /b/ in ball and baby). Older

children begin to divide (segment) or put together (blend) a word into its phonemes, that is, the

smallest units of sound that make up the word (such as /k/ /u˘ / /p/ in cup). Phonological awareness

is essential to learning how to read. Children develop this sound awareness through conversations,

words games, songs, chants, and stories.

O- Alphabetic knowledge

Alphabetic knowledge is learning letter names, and the alphabetic principle is understanding the

systematic relationship between a letter and its sound. Very young children do not differentiate

between letters and other visual symbols but enjoy looking at pictures and noticing individual features

(the mouth on a drawing of a face). They gradually begin to recognize letters as distinct characters,

each with its own sound (or sounds). This is an “aha” moment that often begins with a child recognizing
the letters in his or her name and is then generalized to other letters and their sounds.

P-Reading

Children read pictures before they read letters and words. As they hear adults repeat the words in a

familiar picture book, children come to understand that these exact words also appear in the marks

on the page. Preschoolers read familiar symbols (stop signs, fast-food logos, and onscreen icons). These

are all precursors to reading actual words. The first letters and words children read are often their

names or other familiar words. As their alphabetic knowledge increases, they sound out more words

and use other contextual cues to help them read.

Q- Book enjoyment and knowledge

Children of all ages enjoy looking at books. Infants treat them like any other object but soon realize

that books are in a special category that contains pictures and stories. Through repeated exposure to

books, children begin to understand how books work, for example, that they are read front to back.

They develop favorites and ask to have them read over and over. As their language and comprehension

skills increase, children are also able to understand more of the content and sequence of books and

pay attention to details of character, plot, and setting.

R- Writing

Once children connect spoken and written words, they want to write to share their own ideas. Children

“write” (scribble and draw) before they can read. Learning to make letters and numerals is another

step along the writing continuum. They write letterlike forms (lines and curves), which develop into

real letters and then into words. They adopt the writing conventions of their language. As their

vocabularies and alphabetic knowledge increase, their writing likewise increases in length and

complexity.

CREATIVE ARTS-

Art

Children use two- and three-dimensional materials to draw and paint, mold and sculpt, and build and
assemble. Infants experience art’s sensory qualities, while toddlers explore shape, color, and texture as
they practice using art materials and tools. Preschoolers progress from making accidental to intentional
representations and gradually add more detail and complexity to their creations. By kindergarten,
children begin to use the elements of art to create specific effects.

Music
 Children experience sounds and music by listening, experimenting with their voices, singing, and
playing simple instruments. Young children and music are natural partners. Newborns respond to music
by wriggling with pleasure or being lulled to sleep. Toddlers babble in musical tones and repeat song
fragments. Preschoolers modify their voices during pretend play and build up a repertoire of familiar
songs. Older children learn more complicated songs and become familiar with a growing variety of
musical instruments.

Movement

Children explore moving their whole bodies, or parts of their bodies, with and without music. Infants are
all about movement! These movements become more varied in toddlerhood; at this age, children enjoy
learning the names of simple movements and responding to music with movement. By preschool,
children experiment with different types of movement and connect specific movements to the features
of music. As children become older, they begin to sequence movements and dance.

Pretend play

Pretend play involves imitation and imagination. The youngest children watch and then imitate the
actions and sounds of people, animals, and objects in their environment. By late toddlerhood, children
pretend by using one object to stand for another. In early preschool, they begin to take on the roles of
characters. Children progress from playing alongside others to playing with others. Their pretend play
becomes more imaginative and involves props and increasingly complex scenarios with multiple roles.
They dramatize familiar stories and invent their own.