Scope and Sequence
The following is an overview of skill activities that three and four
year olds will enjoy participating in. It is not meant as a test of
objectives for the young child to pass before entrance to school. Remember,
maturation varies greatly, especially on the early childhood level. Each
child must be allowed to mature at his own rate. To introduce reading
instruction prematurely could falsely label a child as retarded or learning
disabled. Pushing him into social situations and decision making and
overloading him with too much responsibility too soon can carry devastating
consequences for the child even into adulthood. Use the following in the
spirit of play as a means of stimulation for the child.
Language Skills (Communication)
1. Receptive language (auditory) – Reading aloud to children is very
important at any level: to create a desire for books, to expand vocabulary,
to stretch attention span, to model language patterns, and to enhance the
love of literature. (NOTE: Listening is a foundation for the development of
skills in communication. Other skills to develop are learning to speak
distinctly, increasing vocabulary and meaning, and learning new concepts and
strengthening old ones.)
A. Auditory Discrimination
1. Distinguishing between two sounds
2. Identifying the direction of a sound
3. Distinguishing the duration of sound (long, short)
4. Discriminating the volume of sound (loud, soft)
5. Discriminating the tempo of sound (fast, slow)
6. Identifying the pitch of sound (high, low)
7. Discriminating rhyming words
8. Matching familiar sounds with their sources
9. Imitating sounds (e.g. animal sounds)
10. Discrimination of sounds in words (hears difference
in “hat” and “sat”)
B. Auditory Memory
1. Reciting and singing nursery rhymes and jingles
2. Retelling a story
3. Recalling (reciting or singing) the alphabet in sequence
4. Identifying similar sound (e.g. words that begin alike)
5. Supplying rhyming words
6. Identifying familiar sounds (kitchen sounds)
7. Rote counting to ten
8. Sequencing the days of the week (in a song)
9. Clapping a rhythmic pattern (e.g., short, short, short,
or shot, long, short, long)
10. Following directions that increase in complexity (two or
three commands at a time, gradually increasing to four)
II. Expressive Language
A. Naming objects (NOTE: The child learns language in the flowing
developmental language stages.)
1. Association (pairing the real object, and later a
picture of the object, with the sound of the word by
2. Reinforcement (repeating a given response because of a
positive stimulus such as praise)
3. Imitation (attempting to voice the sounds initially
voiced by a parent or teacher)
4. Elaboration (expanding a word into a complete sentence
[e.g., “Dog bark.” “Yes, but he won’t bite.”])
B. Showing and telling about personal possessions
C. Telling about personal experience
D. Discussing purposefully (NOTE: Discussion skills are more mature
than those required when a child shares an isolated idea that has
no relationship to what others have said.)
1. Discussing pictures
2. Discussing unit topics
3. Discussing preparation for an excursion or other group
activity
4. Evaluating a group project or experience
5. Discussing stories and books
E. Dramatizing poems, action rhymes, and stories
1. Reciting favorite nursery rhymes, action rhymes, and
poems
2. Retelling favorite stories
3. Supplying endings for simple stories
4. Using puppets to tell or retell stories
5. Experiencing choral reading (repetitious phrases in
rhymes)
6. Pantomiming and acting out rhymes and simple stories
7. Pantomiming and acting out what they see in a picture
Visual Skills
1. Visual discrimination
A. Matching pictures and real objects
B. Identifying basic shapes (for three – circle, square, triangle,
heart; for fours – rectangle, oval)
C. Identifying basic colors and colors associated with common
objects (e.g., green grass)
D. Identifying patterns that employ shapes, colors, and letters in
sequential order (The child should be able to replicate the order,
which becomes increasingly more difficult.)
E. Classifying objects according to the following common traits:
color,size, shape, texture, pattern
F. Identifying spatial relationships (inside, outside, over, under,
top, bottom, etc.)
G. Identifying spatial relationships indicated by pictures (e.g.,
“The boy is between the house and the horse.”)
H. Identifying emotions in illustrations (e.g., sad, happy)
I. Matching alphabet letters
J. Recognizing the uppercase alphabet
K. Recognizing own name in upper-case and lower-case letters
II. Visual memory
A. Recalling visual details (e.g., objects up to three in a “What
is Missing?” game; proper placement of table setting)
B. Recalling visual details from a story or field trip
III. Visual closure
A. Perceiving objects in incomplete forms (e.g., form board
puzzles, shadow or silhouette pictures, hidden pictures,
sequencing patterns)
B. Completing partially drawn figures (e.g., square, triangle,
animal without a tail, house without a door, or person without a
mouth, etc.)
Comprehension Skills
I. Identifying objects by sight
II. Expanding vocabulary and meaning
III. Perceiving spatial relationships (“Where is the cat?” “Under the
house” or beside the tree.”)
IV. Relating picture to an auditory signal (e.g., cow to “moo”)
V. Listening to and following verbal directions
VI. Using context clues for word meaning (e.g., “A big black bear sat on a
______. What could he sit on that rhymes with bear?”)
VII. Reading pictures
A. Noticing details
B. Identifying characters and actions
C. Inferring motives, feelings, and conversations of characters
(Why do you suppose he did that? How do you suppose she feels?
What do you think the little girl is saying?)
D. Answering thought-provoking questions (What would you do?)
E. Anticipating outcomes (What do you think he will do?)
VII. Listening to recall facts
A. Main events of a story or poem
B. Sequence events of a story or a poem
C. Details of story
D. Specific information in story (who, what , where, when, why and
how)
E. Cause and effect relationships
IX. Listening in order to suggest titles for a story or poem
X. Reading and arranging sequence pictures
XI. Listening in order to categorize (doll, wagon, ball – toys)
XII. Distinguishing fact and fantasy
Reading Skills
I. Building a positive attitude toward books
II. Associating spoken words with printed books (print awareness)
III. Demonstrating left to right progression
IV. Demonstrating proper care of books (library corner)
V. Demonstrating familiarity with book format: left to right, top to
bottom, cover and title
VI. Comprehending facts and details
VII. Interpreting pictures
VIII. Dictating sentences about illustrations or experiences
Reasoning Skills
I. Classification – arranging or sorting objects into two groups according
to a definite concept, shared characteristic, or plan (color, shape,
size, people, animals, plants, toy s, water animals, land animals, etc.)
II. Association – selecting or matching according to relationship or
function (e.g., hammer with carpenter)
III. Picture grouping – recognizing which object does not go in a group of
three items (doll, wagon, apple)
IV. Grouping three objects together on the basis of a characteristic or
principle (e.g., clothing – shirt, pants, dress; toys – ball, top, doll)
V. Pattern sequencing – observing and arranging objects according to an
established pattern (e.g., smallest to largest)
VI. Part-Whole relationship – relating parts of an object to the object
itself (e.g., tail to animal, pedal to bicycle)
VII. Time Sequencing (arranging two to three pictured events in proper
sequence)
Math Skills
I. Numbers and Numerals
A. Matching numerals
B. Naming and tracing numerals with fingers
C. Matching numbers (groups or sets of objects one through five)
D. Recognizing numbers and numerals 1-6 for threes, 1-10 for fours
E. Recognizing order: before, after, between, first, next, last
F. Recognizing ordinal concepts first through third for threes,
first through fifth for four
G. Counting by ones to ten for threes, one to twenty for fours
H. Developing vocabulary of positional words (top, bottom, over,
under, between, in, on)
I. Joining and separating sets of one to three for threes, one to
six for fours
J. Dividing informally by sharing cookies
II. Geometry
A. Matching shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle)
B. Recognizing geometric shapes; circle, square, triangle; their
differences, similarities, and sizes
C. Matching simple shape patterns (circle, square, circle, square
sequence)
D. Recognizing half of shape (e.g., using shape cutters for bread;
then cutting in half)
III. Measurement
A. Identifying taller, shorter, heavier, longer, same size
B. Using vocabulary of time – day and night, morning, afternoon,
today, tomorrow, seasons, clock, calendar; thermometer – cold, hot
Motor Development
I. Gross motor skills
A. Types of movement
1. Locomotor (crawling, walking, running, jumping, hopping,
etc.)
2. Axial or non-locomotor (bending, stretching, pushing,
pulling, swaying, stooping, twisting, etc.)
3. Manipulative (throwing catching ball with both hands
against chest, kicking)
B. Where we move (directionality, laterally-sidedness, space)
demonstration of the ability to relate himself to other objects
and tell whether he is near/far, behind/in front of/to the side
of, and to distinguish and point out the top and bottom of himself
C. How we move (speed, force, space, control)
D. What we can do
1. Catch a ball with both hands against chest
2. Throw a ball overhand with accuracy from four to six feet
3. Throw a beanbag at a target five feet away
4. Clap with music
5. Walk on the balance beam six feet
6. Climb the slide and slide down; climb, alternating fee,
and holding on to rail
7. Hop on one foot two or more times
8. Jump three jumps with both feet
9. Tiptoe
10. Stand on one foot and balance
11. Run freely
II. Fine-motor skills
A. Definition – small muscles or manipulative skills such as finger
dexterity, wrist flexibility, arm and hand steadiness and
finger speed
B. Readiness aspects
1. Manipulatives: Putting together six to seven piece
puzzles, putting pegs in pegboard, stringing at least four
half-inch beads,holding crayons and brush with fingers
rather than fist, lacing, buttoning a sequence of holes,
screwing and unscrewing lids, buttoning own clothes,
hammering pound toy accurately
2. Art activities: Drawing, painting, cutting pasting with
index finger, making balls and snakes with clay
C. Pre-writing activities (NOTE: We recommend that three-year-olds
use crayons after proper pencil hold and paper placement
have been introduced to them.)
1. Path tracing and tracking (lines and shapes)
2. Connecting dots
3. Drawing lines
4. Tracking dotted lines
5. Drawing shapes
6. Completing figures
7. Finger tracing numerals and uppercase letters
8. Finger tracing one’s own name for threes and fours
9. Tracking one’s own name for fours
D. The use of well-planed fine motor lessons makes a positive
difference in the development of motor skills.
III. Games
A. Provide an emphasis on maximum participation for each child;
games in which all the children actively participate all or most
of the time are essential
B. Games of exclusion used sparingly (e.g., “It” and tag games)
Music Skills and Concepts
I. Skills
A. Singing tone games and songs
B. Moving action songs, singing games, axial and locomotor
activities to rhythm of music
C. Playing rhythm band instruments
D. Listening – song recognition, concept discrimination, music
appreciation
E. Composing – new words to familiar melody
II. Concepts
A. Duration (long or short tomes)
B. Pitch (high or low tones)
C. Dynamics (loud or soft tones)
D. Rhythms (fast or slow)
Heritage Studies and Science
I. Unit approach to curriculum based on topics of interest to young child –
seasons, holidays, home, animals
II. Provides theme content for teaching of all skills
