Virginia ELDS Birth Five Learning Guidelines

Social and Emotional Development An area of the children’s development that includes the development of social skills and emotional competence. Emotional competence enables a child to adopt strategies and skills for identifying, expressing, and managing the full range of their feelings. Social skills help a child connect with other children and adults. Together, they enable children to explore, take risks, and learn. Solitary Play Play focused on actions or materials but not including other people. Sort Group objects together based on individual attributes such as size, color, and weight. Spatial Relationship An understanding of the physical relationship (i.e., direction and position) between a child and another object or between two or more objects. Speaking Expressing one’s thoughts or sharing information through oral language or gestures. Subitize To identify the number of things in a set simply by quickly looking at them, not counting them one by one. Syllable A word or word part that contains a vowel sound (e.g., c a t, p u p-p y ). Temperament A child’s typical manner of responding to the environment, including attention span, emotions, and activity level. Unoccupied Play An infant’s way of learning about their body and how it works through movements of their hands, arms, feet, and legs. Virginia Preschool Initiative A state-funded preschool program serving underserved preschoolers; the program is designed to reduce disparities prior to enrollment in kindergarten by providing quality preschool education, family support and health and nutrition services.

Visual Arts Works of art that appeal to the visual sense including drawing, painting, sculpture; art activities that allow children to acquire concepts such as color, shape, and patterns. Vocabulary Known words used to communicate effectively in speech, reading, or writing. Working memory Ability to use information from previous experiences to perform tasks. Writing A form of communication used to express or communicate ideas. Writing is developed through drawing, imitating adult writing and using invented spelling to convey ideas.

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VIRGINIA BOARD OF EDUCATION | doe.virginia.gov