Social Skills

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• Initiates and maintains independent play (for example, plays alone in the sandbox, or role-plays independently)

• Enjoys doing things on their own sometimes, such as reading, crafts or getting dressed

• Can separate from you for several hours, such as an afternoon at a friend’s house or a sleepover at Grandma’s

• Appears interested in going to a “big-kid” school, learning new things, and/or meeting new friends

• Enjoys participating in group activities

• Can express emotions, needs and requests

• Responds well to consistent routines, such as quiet time or nap time following lunch

• Anticipates what comes next during the day (for example, knows that nap time follows lunch)

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Motor Skills

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• Increases proficiency in gross motor skills, strength and balance, such as jumping in place, standing on one foot, running and kicking

• Develops gross motor coordination, such as to navigate around obstacles

• Rides tricycles

• Runs to kick a stationary ball

• Improves hand-eye coordination when playing with building blocks and simple puzzles

• Begins to improve pencil control by using fingers rather than the whole fist to grasp pencil and stylus

• Begins to show left/right-handedness

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Reasoning & Concept Development

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• Matches like objects, mainly identical objects, or matches objects by shape and color

• Develops object permanence and understands that objects continue to exist even when out of sight

• Shows interests in tinkering with objects by taking things apart and putting them back together

• Explores with elements of nature, such as sand and water

• Remembers short sequences of events of 2 to 3 steps

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Language Skills

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• Uses language to communicate with others for a variety of purposes (for example, describing something, making requests, greeting someone, etc.)

• Speaks clearly to be understood by others

• Uses accepted language and communication styles (for example, using polite manners, using appropriate volume and tone)

• Tells simple stories

• Uses accepted nouns, verbs and adjectives in familiar contexts

• Understands words for common categories (for example, toys, food, clothes)

• Uses sentences with two phrases or concepts

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Reading

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• Holds a book properly and turns pages

• Understands that words convey the message in a story

• Recognizes the first letter of their own name

• Knows some letter names

• Knows the main characters in familiar stories

• Enjoys reading books with others 

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Writing

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• Holds a writing tool with a fist or finger grasp

• Draws with a variety of tools (crayons, pens, pencils)

• Scribble-writes in a linear fashion

• Makes marks and refer to them as “my name”

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Math

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• Identifies some shapes such as circle, square and triangle

• Understands and explores empty containers and full containers

• Recognizes and matches small quantities to the number words 1, 2 and 3

• Shows interest in numbers and recites some number words

• Can count along with help, although might make mistakes

• Distinguishes between "some" and "all," and parts of a whole

• Uses some size words, such as "many"

• Uses words such as "same as" to make comparisons

• Shows interests in patterns and sequences

• Classifies or sorts objects into simple groups (such as by colors and size)

• Understands the order of the day, and begins to use some time words such as "morning" and "night"

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Science

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• Asks questions about objects, events and animals observed in their environment

• Considers and offers explanations of how things might work

• Shows interest in different animals and the sounds they make

• Uses descriptive terms such as "fast" and "slow," "hot" and "cold" 

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Creative Arts & Music

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• Begins to use a variety of art tools such as crayon, construction paper and colored pencils

• Knows a few color words

• Drawings have basic resemblance to objects and people

• Articulates what he/she is drawing

• Likes to imitate sounds and rhythm; might have a favorite song

• Uses realistic toys in pretend play or to imitate household routines

• Engages in dramatic play with others to act out simple play scripts, such as playing house

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Social Studies

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• Recognizes common features of the home and neighborhood, such as trees, houses and streets

• Shows interests in familiar people such as siblings, family members and friends

• Shows interests in common jobs and professions such as firefighter, doctor and nurse