demonstrate spatial awareness by doing activities that require the use

of small muscles

Saying

“I put all the pieces of the puzzle together.”

“I used the scoop to fill the pail. Then I dumped all the sand into the pile.”

“The small paintbrush made the skinny lines.” Doing

A child strings a pattern of large and small beads. A child does up the buttons on a doll’s shirt. A child builds a structure with a construction toy, persisting in her efforts to join the pieces together.

Responding

“I notice that the puzzle you’ve just done has more pieces than the puzzle you did yesterday. The pieces are smaller, too.” EL–K team members stock the writing centre with a variety of writing/drawing implements of various sizes and widths and use prompts such as, “I see you chose a thinner pencil to draw in the eyes, mouth, and nose. What might you use to draw the hands?”

Challenging

The EL–K team plans for the children to engage in “point and click” learning activities on the computer to support small-muscle development.

Specific Expectations Making Connections:

Ways in Which Children Might Demonstrate Their Learning

Making Connections:

Early Learning–Kindergarten (EL–K) Team’s Intentional Interactions

As children progress through the Full-Day Early Learning–Kindergarten program, they: 4.3 use a functional grip in written

communication to produce writing that they and others can read

Representing

“I can use the mouse to make the animals on the screen move.”

Extending

The EL–K team puts out small trays of sand, whiteboards, and chalk boards and encourages their use by children who need additional support with development of fine-motor skills.

Young children have an innate need to make sense of the world. The arts in the Full-Day Early Learning–Kindergarten program provide a vehicle through which children can express their growing sense of self and their interpretation of the world. Visual arts, music, dance, and socio-dramatic play contribute in many ways to the development of children’s thinking and communication skills. Providing children with opportunities to express themselves through the arts develops decision- making skills, stimulates memory, facilitates understanding, develops symbolic communication, promotes sensory development, and encourages creative thinking. Learning through the arts also fosters children’s imagination, helps to develop empathy, promotes the development of relationships, and builds self-esteem, while enabling children to experience a sense of accomplishment. The arts are a vehicle for children to understand different cultures as well as to express their own culture. Many studies demonstrate that learning through the arts also improves literacy and numeracy.

In the Full-Day Early Learning–Kindergarten program, expectations in the arts are arranged under the following three subheadings: Drama and Dance, Music, and Visual Arts. Each area of the arts is of equal importance. Children need to have ready access to a wide variety of materials, resources, and experiences that offer them different ways in which they can demonstrate their learning. The creative process is the focus of the arts. Children’s thinking emerges as they try out new theories and ideas. Children need time to revisit materials and experiences to consolidate their learning. Carefully planned experiences and organization of material enable children to explore visual arts materials, tools, and processes; music; and drama and dance throughout the day. Various learning centres in

the classroom (e.g., the puppet centre, the drama centre, the art studio) provide opportunities for children to apply and extend their learning.

It is important that young children see themselves as artists, musicians, dancers, and actors. Arts activities and experiences should be embedded in meaningful contexts in which children are thoroughly involved in the whole artistic process. Generic art activities (e.g., having children work with pre-cut shapes) should not be used: they are rarely effective because their focus is narrow and they provide only limited assessment information on the child’s level of understanding. Children need time to imagine, create, and explore in a non-threatening environment where they know their individual choices and responses are respected and valued. Providing children with opportunities to express themselves through the arts supports their growing understanding in all areas of learning. Arts activities should be integrated not only to support the learning of expectations in other areas, but also to support the diverse learning styles, interests, and abilities of individual children. Exposure to and involvement in a variety of art forms will provide young children with the foundation for a lifelong interest in and appreciation of the arts. Early Learning–Kindergarten teams* can invite local artists or children’s family members who are involved in the arts into the school to enhance children’s exposure to the arts and to introduce them to the arts as a profession and as a reflection of local culture and their community.

*_{“Early Learning–Kindergarten team” refers to the Kindergarten teacher and the early childhood}

educator(s) in a Full-Day Early Learning–Kindergarten classroom. The abbreviation “EL–K team” will be used throughout the remainder of the text and in the chart in this section.

Overall Expectations

By the end of the Full-Day Early Learning–Kindergarten program, children will: D1. demonstrate an awareness of themselves as dramatic artists and dancers

through engaging in activities in drama and dance;

D2. demonstrate basic knowledge and skills gained through exposure to drama and dance and drama- and dance-related activities;

D3. use problem-solving strategies when experimenting with the skills, materials, processes, and techniques used in drama and dance both individually and with others;

D4. express responses to a variety of forms of drama and dance, including those from other cultures.

Overall Expectation D1:demonstrate an awareness of themselves as dramatic artists and dancers through engaging in activities in drama and dance

Specific Expectations Making Connections:

Ways in Which Children Might Demonstrate Their Learning

(Note: Children are not required to demonstrate their learning in all three ways.)

Making Connections:

Early Learning–Kindergarten (EL–K) Team’s Intentional Interactions

As children progress through the Full-Day Early Learning–Kindergarten program, they: D1.1 demonstrate an awareness of

personal interests and a sense of accomplishment in drama and dance (e.g., contribute their own ideas to role playing; create their own actions to accompany a song or chant and/or follow actions created by a classmate)

Saying

“My baby is crying. I’m going to sing her to sleep.” “I’m going to be an elephant. See how my trunk moves?” “Let’s make some puppets for our play.”

“What could we use for the troll’s bridge?” Doing

The children use a flashlight and puppets to perform a play at the shadow play area they have set up with the support of the EL–K team.

Responding

“You were pretending to be a mom. I can see your baby likes lullabies.”

“What can you use for the troll’s bridge that will be safe for the goats to cross?”

Challenging

“You have so many creative ways to make the puppets move in the shadow play area. What happens when you use your hands for puppets instead? What’s the same? What’s different?”

Big Idea: Young children have an innate openness to artistic activities.