learning
objectives
for toddlers
Learning objectives are the standards by which we set expectations and guide a child’s growth and development towards readiness for the next step in their learning journey.
me + you
learning about my self and those around me
skills:
sense of self
self-competence
resilience
self-management
resilience
self-management
relationships
integrity
compassion
respect for self + others
compassion
respect for self + others
citizenship
good citizenship
mindfulness
helpful at school, home, community
mindfulness
helpful at school, home, community
leadership
courage
positive attitude
responsibility
positive attitude
responsibility
relationship building
positive relationships
global citizens — social studies
self, family + community
time + history
geography
civics
economics
time + history
geography
civics
economics
me + you
- learning objectives for toddlers
- sense of self
self-competence
- Begins to identify and express own needs, preferences and limitations
- Shows awareness of own emotion and uses verbal and non-verbal ways to express them
- Begins to identify own characteristics and shows pride in own accomplishments
- Begins to accomplish tasks independently
- Demonstrates emerging ability to persist in carrying out a plan or action in spite of obstacles, disappointment, frustration, or failure
resilience
- Demonstrates emerging ability to express and regulate emotions with teacher support
- Demonstrates beginning flexibility in a variety of situations, tasks, activities and problem-solving
- Demonstrates emerging ability to seek support and assistance from trusted adults
- With teacher support, shows beginning ability to use a variety of coping skills to bounce back from challenges and negative emotions
self-management
- Demonstrates emerging ability to follow rules, routines, and appropriate social behavior with adult support
- Shows likes and dislikes for activities, experiences, and interactions and independently selects materials and utilizes them
- Begins to initiate simple tasks independently
- Demonstrates emerging ability to express and regulate emotions with teacher support
- citizenship
good citizenship
- Is familiar with community members
- Demonstrates emerging ability to follow rules, routines, and appropriate social behavior with adult support
- Shows beginning ability to take care of possessions, equipment and materials belonging to self, others, and the classroom community
- Displays understanding of engaging in routines, rules and prosocial behavior with teacher support
mindfulness
- Displays understanding of engaging in routines, rules and prosocial behavior with teacher support
- Shows awareness of own emotions and beginning ability to emotionally self-regulate
- Demonstrates positive emotions
- Shows emerging ability to use simple strategies to cope with own emotions and self-calm
helpfulness
- Is able to seek help from adults
- Shows beginning ability to recognize when others may need help and attempts to assist
- Demonstrates emerging ability to be helpful to the group
- relationships
integrity
- Begins to identify and express own needs, preferences and limitations
- Begins to practice honesty
- Displays understanding of engaging in routines, rules and prosocial behavior with teacher support
- Begins to initiate simple tasks independently and demonstrate emerging accountability
- Begins to identify and express own needs, preferences, and limitations
compassion
- Begins to identify and express own needs, preferences and limitations
- Recognizes and expresses emotions and uses simple strategies to cope with their own emotions
- Understands that other people have feelings that are different from their own
- Uses words or gestures to express concern for the needs and suffering of others and shows beginning motivation to assist them
respect for self + others
- Demonstrates emerging capacity for self-respect by attempting self-care, beginning to identify and express own needs, preferences and limitations
- Demonstrates emerging respect for others by being sensitive to their feelings and well-being
- Demonstrates simple prosocial behavior and respect for social norms
- Shows beginning ability to take care of possessions, equipment and materials belonging to self, others, and the classroom community
- leadership
courage
- Is able to recognize when they are afraid
- Attempts to try new activities multiple times before moving on
positive attitude
- Shows confidence in own abilities and emerging independence
- Shows interest in what others are doing
- Expresses and labels excitement and happiness
- With teacher support, shows beginning ability to use a variety of coping skills to bounce back from challenges and negative emotions
responsibility
- Demonstrates emerging self-help skills
- Understands that their actions have tangible consequences
- Recognizes the importance of others’ keeping promises
- relationship building
positive relationships
- Uses trusted adult as a secure base from which to explore the world
- Demonstrates concern about the feelings of others
- Uses successful strategies for entering groups
- Plays with one or two preferred playmates
- Takes turns
- Seeks adult help to resolve social problems
- global citizens
social studies
self, family, community
- Asks simple questions regarding differences and/or similarities between self and others
- Uses simple words to identify immediate family members
- Displays knowledge of basic concepts of own culture and background as well as others
time + history
- Demonstrates awareness of and begins to simply label past and present
- Recognizes sequence of events, repetition, familiar people and objects and symbolic representation
geography
- Uses some simple terms related to location, direction and distance.
- Demonstrates emerging knowledge of the various ways people communicate, travel, live, and work
civics
- Demonstrates ability to make choices and adhere to group rules.
- Demonstrates emerging knowledge of leadership and authority
economics
- Understands and expresses needs and wants and concept of “more”.
- Identifies some basic needs and how to meet them.
- Demonstrates emerging recognition of the concepts of scarcity
brain power
learning how to think about the world around me
skills:
approaches to learning
learning strategies
reasoning + concept development
sorting
using symbols
using symbols
math
numbers
shapes + spacial relationships
comparison
patterns
shapes + spacial relationships
comparison
patterns
science
scientific method
living things
physical science
earth + space
living things
physical science
earth + space
technology
tech knowledge
engineering
design + building
brainpower
- learning objectives for toddlers
- approaches to learning
learning strategies
- Explores and investigates ways to make something happen
- Uses creativity and imagination during play and routine tasks
- Recalls familiar people, places, objects, and actions from the past (a few months before); recalls 1 or 2 items removed from view
- Remembers the sequence of personal routines and experiences with teacher support
- Is able to pay attention for short periods of time
- reasoning + concept development
classification
- Places objects in two or more groups based on differences in a single characteristic, color, size, or shape
using symbols
- Acts out familiar or imaginary scenarios; may use props to stand for something else
- math
numbers
- Verbally counts (not always in the correct order)
- Demonstrates understanding of the concepts of one, two, and more
- Recognizes some numerals in the everyday environment
shapes + spacial relationships
- Follows simple directions related to proximity (beside, between, next to)
- Matches two identical shapes
comparison
- Makes simple comparisons between two objects
patterns
- Copies simple repeating patterns
- technology
tech knowledge
- Imitates, uses and communicates about technology in their environment
- engineering
design + building
- Develops an understanding of the principles, processes, and tools that assist people and animals in designing and building
- Uses simple tools to experiment and observe functions
- Makes and implements a simple engineering plan with teacher support
- science
scientific method
- Engages in elements of the scientific process, including observation, using tools, simple predictions, and trying out ideas
living things
- Explores a variety of living and non-living objects and makes simple observations
physical science
- Begins to use words to describe physical properties and states of matter of objects
- Demonstrates ability to move objects, and explores motions to play with toys with adult support
- Demonstrates awareness of cause and effect
- Demonstrates an awareness of simple chemical processes
- Explores concepts and vocabulary related to sound, light and electricity
earth + space
- Explores and identifies some of Earth’s features, seasons, and weather
- Identifies familiar people and living things in the environment and participates with assistance in efforts to care for it
- Can identify objects in the sky
healthy me
developing a healthy body + learning to take care of myself
skills:
body awareness + motor development
traveling
balancing
gross-motor manipulation
fine-motor strength + coordination
balancing
gross-motor manipulation
fine-motor strength + coordination
healthy habits
learning healthy habits
safety
making good choices
safety
making good choices
healthy me
- learning objectives for toddlers
- body awareness + motor development
traveling
- Experiments with different ways of moving
balancing
- Experiments with different ways of balancing
gross-motor manipulation
- Manipulates balls or similar objects with stiff body movements
fine-motor strength and coordination
- Uses fingers and whole-arm movements to manipulate and explore objects
- Grips drawing and writing tools with whole hand but may use whole-arm movements to make marks
- healthy habits
learning healthy habits
- Demonstrates emerging ability to express and regulate emotions with teacher support
- Demonstrates emerging food preferences and willingness to try new foods
- Demonstrates emerging awareness of good health routines
- Shows emerging ability to use simple strategies to cope with own emotions and self-calm
safety
- Demonstrates beginning ability to follow safety rules and emergency routines
- Shows emerging ability to identify ways adults help keep us safe and asks for assistance
- Responds appropriately to redirection by adults in order to avoid unsafe situations
making good choices
- Demonstrates beginning flexibility in a variety of situations, tasks, activities, and problem-solving
- Displays understanding of engaging in routines, rules, and prosocial behavior with teacher support
- Begins to understand consequences of own actions with adult support
word smart
learning to communicate in the world around me
skills:
listening
language
speaking
using language
conversation
conversation
prereading
phonetics
letters
print
narrative
letters
narrative
prewriting
writing
wordsmart
- learning objectives for toddlers
- listening
language
- Identifies familiar people, animals, and objects when prompted
- Follows simple requests not accompanied by gestures
- speaking
using language
- Names familiar people, animals, and objects
- Uses some words and word-like sounds and is understood by most familiar people
- Uses three- to four-word sentences; may omit some words or use some words incorrectly
- Tells simple stories about objects, events, and people not present; lacks many details and a conventional beginning, middle, and end
conversation
- Initiates and attends to brief conversation
- Uses appropriate eye contact, pauses, and simple verbal prompts when communicating
- prereading
phonetics
- Fills in the missing rhyming word; generates rhyming words spontaneously
- Sings songs and recites rhymes and refrains with repeating initial sounds
- Segments phrases into single words
letters
- Listens to letters introduced through songs, language, and print
- Begins to learn alphabet and recognizes that pictures are used to communicate language
- Shows growing enjoyment in books and reading
- Recognizes that books are different from other objects and can be used for storytelling
narrative
- Uses words to describe or name pictures when reading
- Retells some events in a familiar story with modeling and assistance
- With prompting and support, responds to simple questions about a story
- prewriting
writing
- Makes controlled linear scribbles
imagine that
learning to express myself creatively
skills:
art
visual arts
music
musical expression
dance + movement
dancing
dramatic play
drama
imagine that
- learning objectives for toddlers
- art
visual art
- Begins to use materials with intention
- Explores how color conveys emotion
- Identifies similarities and differences among samples of visual art
- music
musical expression
- Participates in activities that explore pitch, tempo, and volume
- Uses age appropriate instruments to create sound
- Sings both independently and in a group setting
- dance + movement
dancing
- Engages in dancing and movement activities
- Participates in simple sequences of movements
- dramatic play
drama
- Begins to use props to explore their world and the role people play
- Demonstrates interest when watching music, dance, or theater performances by others
- Participates in a variety of activities that link performance and emotion