GRADE RR - GRADE 3
MILESTONES
Your Child at 4/5
4- to 5-Year-Old Development: Language and Cognitive Milestones
Your curious and inquisitive child is better able to carry on a conversation. In addition, your child’s vocabulary is growing — as is their thought process. Not only is your child able to answer simple questions easily and logically, but they should be able to express feelings better.
Most children at this age enjoy singing, rhyming, and making up words. They are energetic, silly, and, at times, rowdy and obnoxious.
4- to 5-Year-Old Development: Movement Milestones and Hand and Finger Skills
Children learn through play, and that is what your 4- to 5-year-old should be doing. At this age, your child should be running, hopping, throwing and kicking balls, climbing, and swinging with ease.
4- to 5-Year-Old Development: Emotional and Social Development
Your self-centered child is now figuring out that it is not always about them. At this age, children are starting to understand about other people’s feelings. Your 4- to 5-year-old should be better able to work through conflicts and control their emotions.
Emotional and social development milestones your child may achieve at this age include:
- Enjoys playing with other children and pleasing their friends
- Shares and takes turns, at least most of the time, and understands rules of games
- Understands and obeys rules; however, your 4- to 5-year-old will still be demanding and uncooperative at times.
- Is becoming more independent
- Expresses anger verbally, rather than physically (most of the time)
- Gets the difference between make-believe and reality
Your Child at 6
Language and Education
A 6-year-old child, typically in first grade, normally will:
- Speak in simple but complete sentences with five to seven words
- Follow a series of three commands in a row
- Start to see that some words have more than one meaning. That helps them understand jokes and puns and start verbally expressing a sense of humor.
- Start to show fast growth in mental ability
A 6-year-old should:
- Begin to read books that are right for their age
- Sound out or decode unfamiliar words
- Focus on a task in school for 15 minutes
This is the age when children should at least begin to:
- Understand the concept of numbers
- Know day from night and left from right
- Be able to tell time
- Be able to repeat three numbers backward
Get to know your school administrators and your child’s teachers. Participate in homework assignments. If you think your 6 year old is falling behind, stay calm but be on the lookout for:
- Difficulty reading or other possible signs of disability
- Something that’s bothering your child, like bullying
- A mental health issue or stress
Social, Emotional
- By age 6, kids are getting more and more independent from their parents. They will try to show how big they are, and do things that might be dangerous.
- Peer acceptance becomes more important than before. They are learning to cooperate and share.
- Boys will tend to play with boys, and girls with girls.
- Parents should let kids make their own choices about sports and toys. Make a wide range of examples available.
- It’s about now that kids start to develop skills and attention spans and understand teamwork to start playing organized sports.
- With growing language skills, kids get increasingly better at describing what has happened, what they feel, and what they think.
- Lying, cheating, and stealing are to be expected somewhat at this age. Kids are figuring out where they fit and what’s acceptable.
Your Child at 7
Language and Education
A 7-year-old child, typically in second grade, normally will be developing more complex sentences as they grow.
- They’ll learn to speak better and be able to follow a longer series of commands than they could at age 6.
- They have begun to see that some words have more than one meaning. That helps them understand jokes and puns and start verbally expressing a sense of humor.
- Children in early school years can show fast growth in mental ability.
By now, children:
- Understand the concept of numbers
- Know day from night, and left from right
- Can tell time
- Can repeat three numbers backward
Get to know your school administrators and your child’s teachers. Participate in homework assignments. If you think your 7-year-old is falling behind, stay calm but be on the lookout for:
- Difficulty reading or other possible signs of disability
- Something that’s bugging your child, like bullying
- A mental health issue or stress
Development
- Baby teeth will be falling out to make room for permanent teeth.
- Kids in this age group generally grow about 2.5 inches a year and 4 to 7 pounds a year.
- A sense of body image has begun.
- Children in early school years also complain more about tummy aches, leg pains, and such. That might be because they’re becoming more aware of their bodies. Still, parents should check these complaints out to make sure there’s no injury or illness.
Resist the urge to compare your child to others or to some “standard” you’ve heard about.
Your doctor should have a growth chart for each child. They will use that to decide if there might be a growth issue — not broad guidelines.
Avoid making your kid eat more to reach some “standard” number about weight.
Social, Emotional
- From ages 6 to 8, kids are getting more and more independent from their parents. They will try to show how big they are, and do things that might be dangerous.
- Peer acceptance becomes more important than before in the early school years. They are learning to cooperate and share.
- Boys will tend to play with boys, and girls with girls.
- Parents should let kids make their own choices about sports and toys — what’s “for boys” or “for girls” and such. And keep a range of diverse, non-stereotypical examples around.
- It’s about now that kids start to develop skills and attention spans and understand teamwork to start playing organized sports.
- With growing language skills, kids get increasingly better at describing what has happened, what they feel, and what they think.
- Lying, cheating, and stealing are to be expected somewhat in early school years. Kids are figuring out where they fit, the difference between right and wrong, and what’s acceptable.
Your Child at 8
Language and Education
An 8-year-old child, typically in third grade, will continue to develop more complex language skills.
- Their focus and attention span improve.
- They will improve pronunciation and learn to follow more commands in a row than they could at age 7.
- Reading skills become more sophisticated. Kids are reading more for content than to learn how to do it.
- Around this age, they see that some words have more than one meaning. That helps them understand jokes and puns and start verbally expressing a sense of humor.
- Children in early school years can show fast growth in mental ability.
By now, children:
- Can count backwards
- Know the date
- Know days of the week and months, in order
- Like to collect things
- Like reading more
- Understand fractions
Parents should meet with school administrators and teachers. Participate in homework assignments. If you think your 8 year old is falling behind, stay calm but be on the lookout for:
- Difficulty reading or learning
- Something that’s bugging your child, like bullying
- A mental health issue or stress
Development
- Most 8-year-old children can completely dress and groom themselves
- They’re getting more coordinated physically — jumping, skipping, chasing
- Baby teeth will still be falling out to make room for permanent teeth that are coming in
- Kids in this age group generally grow about 2-4 inches and 4 to 7 pounds a year
- Children in early school years complain more about tummy aches, leg pains and such. That might be because they’re becoming more aware of their bodies. Still, parents should check these complaints out to make sure there’s no injury or illness.
Social and Emotional
- Peer acceptance becomes more important to your child than in the early school years.
- They are learning to cooperate and share.
- Around age 8, children start to relax about the opposite sex. Boys and girls might mix more easily during playtime. They might become interested in boy-girl stuff without wanting to talk about it.
- They like games and competition.
- Organized clubs can be attractive to them.
- Lying, cheating, and stealing are to be expected somewhat in early school years. Kids are figuring out where they fit and what’s acceptable.
Safety
- Injuries are the biggest threat to your child’s safety in the early school years.
- By age 8, kids have become more independent and maybe disobedient, trying new things. Remember to keep them safe in cars and around water, even if they know how to swim.
- Make sure they wear a helmet whenever they’re riding bikes, scooters, or skateboards. And remember, they’re not old enough yet to ride alone as it starts to get dark outside.