Related VPK Language and Communication Standards
- A. LISTENING
- Gains meaning by listening
Benchmark: Child shows understanding by asking and answering relevant questions, adding comments relevant to the topic, and reacting appropriately to what is said.
- Gains meaning by listening
- B. SPEAKING
- Speaks clearly enough to be understood without contextual
clues
Benchmark: Child’s speech is understood by both a familiar and unfamiliar adult.
- Speaks clearly enough to be understood without contextual
clues
- C. VOCABULARY
- Shows an understanding of words and their meaning
Benchmark a: Child has age-appropriate vocabulary in several categories and demonstrates a wide variety of words within each category.
Benchmark b: Child has mastery of instructional language of the classroom and objects in the classroom.
Benchmark c: Child understands or knows the meaning of many thousands of words, many more than he or she uses.
- Uses an expanded vocabulary to describe many objects, actions,
and events.
Benchmark a: Child uses a large speaking vocabulary, adding new words weekly.
- Shows an understanding of words and their meaning
- D. SENTENCE AND STRUCTURE
- Uses age-appropriate grammar in conversations and increasingly
complex phrases and sentences
Benchmark a: Child typically uses complete sentences of four or more words, usually with subject, verb, and object order.
Benchmark b: Child uses regular and irregular plurals, regular past tense, personal and possessive pronouns, and subject-verb agreement.
- Connects phrases and sentences to build ideas
Benchmark a: Child uses sentences with more than one phrase.
Benchmark b: Child combines more than one idea using complex sentences.
Benchmark c: Child combines sentences that give lots of detail, stick to the topic, and clearly communicate intended meaning.
- Uses age-appropriate grammar in conversations and increasingly
complex phrases and sentences
- E. CONVERSATION
- Uses language to express needs and feelings, share experiences,
predict outcomes, and resolve problems
Benchmark: Child demonstrates varied uses of language.
- Initiates, asks questions, and responds to adults and peers
in a variety of settings
Benchmark a: Child follows another’s conversational lead, appropriately initiates or terminates conversations, appropriately introduces new content.
Benchmark b: Child provides appropriate information for the setting.
- Uses appropriate language and style for context
Benchmark a: Child demonstrates knowledge of verbal conversational rules.
Benchmark b: Child demonstrates knowledge of nonverbal conversational rules.
Benchmark c: Child matches language to social contexts.
- Uses language to express needs and feelings, share experiences,
predict outcomes, and resolve problems
This Language Scaffolding strategy
has been developed to help you expose young children to a wide variety
of vocabulary words, and to encourage you to use every opportunity during
the school day to build language skills. Before we learn about this strategy,
let’s reflect on why it is important to incorporate vocabulary and language
instruction into the classroom.
Owens (2001) noted that the best time to build children’s language is within the first five years of life. The more words and language structures that a child is exposed to, the more he or she will be able to understand and use these words in grammatically correct phrases and sentences. Strong oral language skills allow children to effectively communicate their needs, feelings, and ideas. In addition, children who have a well-developed vocabulary are more likely to become good readers. One of our goals, as preschool teachers, is to ensure that all children have a strong foundation in language and vocabulary that will contribute to reading success in elementary school. Language Scaffolding is a strategy that promotes oral language skills.
[video clip] |
