Targeted Areas of Learning
What is a targeted area of learning?
Knowing the value a child can potentially reap from participating in any given activity answers the
question, “Why are you presenting this activity to my child?” Teachers need to be able to respond to this
question with some authority. The teacher is, after all, the person who is responsible for the learning going on in the classroom. By knowing the learning associated with activities, a teacher will have confidence when presenting them to the children.
Knowing why one is presenting an activity will make the experience more meaningful to everyone
involved overall. Although the state standards define much of the cognitive learning, hands on activities
provide learning experiences for children not yet defined by standards.
Much of the most valuable teaching, particularly in the socio-emotional areas, rises from that which the
teacher models and from the environment the teacher creates. An educational environment that treats all
members of the community with respect, will teach a body of values children can take into the rest of their lives.
There are five general areas of learning:
•Physical: motor learning dealing with the large and small muscle groups of the body; this area
includes gross motor activities, fine motor activities, eye-hand coordination, balance, physical
principals, sensory discrimination, and coordination between the use of one aspect of the physical
and one or more of the other aspects of physical development.
•Cognitive: or intellectual; Webster (2000) defines “cognitive” as “2. of or pertaining to the mental
processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning as contrasted to the emotional and
volitional processes”. Curriculum describes the courses of study offered by a school. For the
purposes of this book, cognitive will refer to the subject areas of language arts and literacy, math,
science, social studies, and cooking.
•
Social: developing skills related to interacting with others in socially acceptable ways; this area
includes: following directions, socialization skills, sharing, taking turns, patience, being comfortable with
delayed gratification, collaboration, working as a member of a team or a group, cooperation, taking
responsibility for the classroom environment, and internalized social values: appreciation and respect
for self and others
•Emotional: closely related to socialization; this area covers: learning to recognize and identify
different emotional states, and manage them in socially acceptable ways (“I am feeling angry now”),
building self-esteem, developing a willingness to take appropriate risks, differentiating between
appropriate and inappropriate risks, and learning to be nurturing and caring toward others, empathy
•
Creative: creativity is often, but not always, related to emotional expression; using materials in
individual ways, trying out creative ideas using a variety of materials, learning to risk creatively,
experimentation though working with creative media, learning a sense of aesthetics and aesthetic
appreciation for music, movement, visual, written, and dramatic arts, but not limited to those areas.
Initiative is fostered in process-oriented artistic endeavors wherein there are no wrong outcomes.
Independent thinking is an aspect of creativity.
No activity is isolated to a single area of growth. In cooking, the social skills of following directions
and cooperation combine with the physical abilities of eye-hand coordination and movement of the small
muscles of the hands and fingers (fine motor), as well as the cognitive areas of math (measuring, putting the ingredients together in a particular sequence) and science (understanding that changes occur to foods when they are subjected to heat, cold, or a food processor). When teachers are present to the diversity of
learning available in all creative projects, it is possible for teachers to present any activity chosen in such a way that those areas of learning are emphasized.
In learning, process is more important than product.
Please consider that in the world of outcome-based learning, developing and honing an effective
skill is less relevant than producing a passing grade on a test or a pretty craft, identical to all the other
students! crafts from the class. Outcome-based learning is passive in nature. Students are often only
marginally involved with any part of such an activity with the exception of producing the “right answer”. It is very difficult to perceive engagement in outcome-based learning. The primary determinant of learning in this environment is the test score. Outcome-based learning does not take into consideration learning strengths other than logical-mathemetical or verbal-linguistic areas. Learning strengths identified by Howard Gardner such as musicality, kinesthesia, intrapersonal and interpersonal strengths are almost entirely ignored in outcome-based learning.
Making mistakes in outcome-based learning is to the learner!s detriment. Often the product of a test is not a working body of knowledge but merely anxiety. Anxiety tends to impair retention of information at the neurochemical level. What administrators find attractive about test scores is that test scores can be neatly placed upon a statistical scale. outcome-based learning is neat, easy, and cheap. There!s not a lot of prep time. Unfortunately, outcome-based learning is not very fun for the children.
In process-based learning, children learn how to interpret and give meaning to concrete life experiences. They are actively involved in the process, and are generally having fun. Yes, it is true that quantifying the learning from interactive experiences is more difficult to measure. Consider that people who learn to enjoy the process of learning tend to become lifelong learners.
Making mistakes is a part of
process-based learning, as making a mistake in a process is as informative as getting the right answer. Teaching children to be willing to risk investigation and feel comfortable when making a mistake is as important, if not more important than, acquiring a single piece of information.
Mistaking is learning. Bev Bos said, “If the hands do it, the mind remembers.” Process-based learning integrates the whole person in learning, making the possibility of producing a meaningful working body knowledge much more likely. process-based learning is fun. It requires additional preparation time, expense, and can be really really messy. For these reasons many administrative types shrink away from it. If one were to look into the long term outcomes though, process-based learning is worth it, if the children are a higher priority than the
numbers.
Regarding the Learning Environment:
The general psychological and physical environments including the strategies used for behavior
modification, the acceptance of learners as individuals, the books chosen for the class library, and the use of
“free” time sets a tone which in and of itself teaches. Generating this tone comes forth best from the
teacher!s commitment to the field of education and from honoring the embodiment of our future which we
call children.
If children are not sure whether they are safe to venture forth into the universe of learning, they will
take much more cautious steps into this universe. If the classroom structure or the teacher!s commitment to
them is unclear, a less than satisfying learning experience will be the result for all, including the teacher.
Remember that people in general learn better when they feel safe. If students feel as though there
is a reasonable likelihood that they can “win” in an educational setting, then the learners are much more
willing to take a bigger risk. If making a mistake will not produce reprimands and humiliation, children will
gleefully jump into the learning process. A willingness to risk is essential for authentic functional learning.
When creating a learning environment, the teacher must create a nonjudgmental atmosphere. Certainly the
teacher needs to teach in such a way that allows for the teacher!s personal comfort. Bearing that in mind, an
environment that welcomes self-expression and initiative will produce a body of learners willing to seek
and leap out into learning opportunities.
Below are the general areas of learning broken down into the smaller, more specific components of
each area.
General Areas of Learning
Physical Development:
Gross Motor Skills: using the large muscles of the arms, legs, and torso: development and
coordination of large muscles; balance, rhythm, walking, laterality, jumping, hopping, throwing,
tumbling, running, dancing
Fine Motor Skills: using the small muscles of the hand and fingers: tactile discrimination (see
below), cutting; drawing shapes; holding a pencil/crayon; pouring liquid; throwing a ball accurately;
writing
Eye-Hand Coordination: coordinating visual acuity with using the small muscles of the hand and
fingers: cutting; drawing shapes; holding a pencil/crayon; pouring liquid; throwing a ball accurately;
writing; use of mouse (computers)
Physical Principals: learning physical weight; stability; equilibrium; balance; leverage
Articulation: vocally creating letter and word sounds correctly using mouth, tongue, and lips
Sensory Discrimination including:
•Tactile Discrimination (touch): identifying and differentiating textures and sensations with
touch: soft, hard, rough, smooth, sticky, slippery, etc.
•Auditory Discrimination (hearing): identifying sounds: loud / soft; high / low pitch; fast / slow
rhythms; comparing sounds using auditory receptors
©Renée Berg & Karen Wirth 2002 Practical Kindergarten: Targeted Learning page 2
•Visual Discrimination (sight): identifying shapes; colors; sizes; recognizing various objects
visually
•Oral Discrimination (taste): identifying sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes; identifying
textures with tongue and mouth; identifying flavors by taste
•Olfactory Discrimination (smell): identifying different smells: sweet, spicy; pungent, floral,
unpleasant odors
Cognitive Development:
Language Arts:
Verbal Skills:
•Language development: acquiring and using language appropriately in interactions with others;
ability to carry on a conversation
•Vocabulary development: adding to the body of words and phrases understood and the
body of words/phrases that can be used in speech
•Grammatical development: learning rules of grammar; conventions of the use of language in
various contexts: formal speech, informal speech, private code
Emergent Literacy:
•Symbol recognition: recognizing that particular marks have meaning apart from other marks,
which may or may not have a different meaning
•Symbol interpretation: identifying the particular meaning associated with a specific symbol
including environmental print
•Letter recognition: learning the letter symbols of a specific language and correctly identifying
the associated phonemes
•Phonemic awareness: awareness of sounds associated with letters, letter combinations
•Word recognition: understanding that groups of letters create a composite sound which is
meaningful; correctly decoding letter groups
•Emergent writing: developing the fine motor skills for the pincer grasp and creating marks to
which they attach meaning
•Journal writing: activities associated with committing personal thoughts, ideas, reflections,
invented stories, observations related through scribble writing, dictation, or emergent writing and
drawings
•Spelling skills: using correct letter symbol combinations to form words
•Penmanship: developing legible handwriting for writing projects: tracing letters, writing name,
writing new words in a readable hand
•Creative writing: expressing self in marks and pictures upon which the child has placed meaning
•Matching spoken words to written words: correctly associating the auditory expression with
the written symbol grouping
•Story recall/sequencing (temporal ordering): retelling and relating stories/events the child
has heard/experienced. Within temporal ordering are aspects of language, math, and per state
standards, social science as it relates to ordering events as the occur in time.
Math Skills:
Conservation:
•Conservation of quantity: understanding that the number in a group of items remains constant
no matter how the items are arranged
•Conservation of volume: equivalent quantities of fluid remain constant no matter what size or
shape container of that fluid
•Conservation of mass: equivalent masses are the same, no matter the shape the mass takes
•Reversibility: a mass, fluid, or configuration of items can be changed back to its original form
without changing the quantity of mass, fluid, or quantity of items
Mathematical Literacy:
•One-to-one correspondence: counting items in an organized way that shows understanding of
the object!s placement as a single entity in a group; understanding that each single count is
associated with a specific item in a count
•Number recognition: recognizing that a specific symbol is associated with a specific quantity,
and that symbol is constant in association with that symbol
•Associating number symbols with quantity: understanding that a specific symbol is always
associated with a specific quantity of items in a count
•Recognizing number words: associating the number symbol with the written word for the
number with the count of items represented by both the written word and the symbol
©Renée Berg & Karen Wirth 2002 Practical Kindergarten: Targeted Learning page 3
Mathematical Applications:
•Measurement: using a standard measure to determine the size (height, length, weight, quantity,
volume) of an object; comparing some aspect of size of one object to another
•Equivalency: comparing an object or a number of objects in terms of size or quantity
•Seriation: ordering objects or events in a graduation of size from smallest to largest or vice
versa, or in the context of time from earliest to latest
Calendar: placing numbers in order to denote the passage of days, weeks, months,
seasons, years
Time: noting the sequential relationship from one event to another as measured by a standard
interval such as a minute, an hour; associating specific events with an appointed time in the day
and identifying that appointed time on a clock
Temporal ordering: placing events in a particular predetermined sequence, retelling a story or
an event in the sequence in which it happened. Within temporal ordering are aspects of
language, math, and per state standards, social science as it relates to ordering events as the
occur in time.
•Spatial relationships: relating the aspects of physical objects to one another, thinking about
objects in three dimensions
•Construction: building or forming by putting together parts to create a three dimensional object
•Charting: using an outcome to create various preliminary statistical diagrams to reflect outcomes
of an activity presented in a diagram
•Common Relatedness: linking items that are not the same, but are associated with each other
such as bat and ball, shoes and socks. Common relatedness can be considered in multiple
categories. Matching related items is mathematical, however, there are components of language
such as vocabulary building.
•Opposites: identifying and relating one aspect or property of an item or its condition to another
object or condition of another item by virtue of the differences between the objects, e.g. tall/short;
soft/loud. Opposites are a subset of common relatedness. Within it are elements of language
as well as math.
•Algebra: sorting and matching for one or more properties: looking at items and placing them in an
invented order for similarities and differences of properties
•Geometry: recognizing and naming two and three dimensional shapes: circle, square, triangle,
rectangle, oval, diamond, hexagon, octagon; sphere, cone cylinder, cube, rectangular/hexagonal/
octagonal prism
Science:
•Scientific Processes:
Inquiry: an organized search for knowledge regarding a particular scientific question; testing
personal theories
Prediction: relating an anticipated outcome-based on logic, experience, or research
Observation: carefully watching attentively and noting what is seen for a scientific purpose
Documentation: writing observations of scientific events which support/disprove claims for
a particular prediction or outcomes
Review: comparing predictions and actual outcomes, assessing value of any mistakes that
occurred
•Cause and Effect:
Relationships between actions and outcomes: developing curiosity which leads to
scientific inquiry: “educated why”
•Life Science:
Differentiating organisms from inorganic objects/substances
Understanding all living things have common needs for life
Responsibility: understanding that living things need a certain level of care, in the absence
of which that living thing will either become sick or die
Recognizing health: noticing appearance and behavior of healthy living things
Death: if a plant or animal lives, it will sometime die
Plant keeping: germination and nurturing plant life; harvesting flowers/fruits
Animal keeping: caring for and nurturing animal life
•Nurturing: animals need gentle care to thrive; abused animals react out of fear, may
perceive danger when there is none
Hygiene: maintaining an appropriate level of personal cleanliness
©Renée Berg & Karen Wirth 2002 Practical Kindergarten: Targeted Learning page 4
•Washing hands thoroughly after toileting, before eating, when caring for animals or plants,
after coughing or sneezing into hand
•Covering cough or sneeze to prevent spread of illness
•Coughing or sneezing into upper arm
•Chemistry/Physics:
Objects and materials can be described in terms of the materials from which they are made
(CA. Science Content Standard K-1a.)
Changes in the state of water: liquid, steam, ice, evaporation
Beginning observations related to surface tension of water
•Earth Science:
Knowing that earth is composed of land, air and water (CA. Science Content Standard 3)
including geological formations of the earth, weather changes, and ecological conservation.
Social Studies:
•Recognizing diversity: recognizing what makes people similar and different: knowing that
superficial differences do not mean bad.
•Accepting human diversity: types of families, cultures, race, languages, gender, differently-
abled, economic status, age; learning to evaluate humankind based upon the impact of their
choices and internal values on the rest of humanity rather than superficial differences of race or
religious preferences (etc)
•Democratic process: building a sense of equality, understanding a system wherein each
person has one vote
•Environmental responsibility: developing a sense of stewardship for the planet and all that
lives upon it
Social Development:
Self-respect: valuing themselves, recognizing their strengths and weaknesses, loving themselves
for who they are, just as they are; recognizing personal strengths and weaknesses
Sharing: understanding, and behaving in such a way that reflects that understanding, that items
intended for use by the community (family, classroom) are available for the use by everyone in that
community and may not be available at all times for individual use
Taking turns: everyone in the classroom deserves opportunities to participate in class activities,
allowing others a fair use of materials as a community resource and turns at tasks that might be
considered a privilege
Patience: managing a delay in gratification of a desire; diligence: staying with a project or activity until
it is completed
Citizenship: working cooperatively with others in a group: good sportsmanship; working well
as a member of a team and as a community that supports all members
Collaboration: planning, creating, and presenting group projects; taking responsibility for tasks
associated with group projects including clean up
Negotiation: learning to represent one!s wishes in such a way that others in the group will consider
those wishes favorably; learning to be generous to the wishes of others
Following directions: carrying out directions given by a person in authority
Impulse control: managing an impulse to behave in a less socially acceptable way and choosing
to behave in a socially acceptable way, despite having that impulse
Respecting others as individuals (behaving appropriately with others): making and
maintaining relationships / ongoing friendships; behaving appropriately in social situations; learning
the general rules of courtesy (manners) for their family and school; developing the ability to
participate in conversation; learning table manners
Leadership: initiating and managing activities that involve others
Internalizing social values: learning appropriate behavior in the context of the culture in which the
child is living; per Vygotsky, “Culture is socially mediated”. For a child to succeed within a particular
cultural group, the child must internalize an appreciation for the skills, behaviors, and interactions
valued by that culture.
Social boundaries: understanding that just as others have a right to accept or refuse the attentions
of others, so they also have that right
Community building: creating a sense of belonging in a group, particularly through working
cooperatively with others toward common goals
Taking responsibility: recognition that each person in the community is responsible for the
community as a whole; developing a willingness to take on tasks that support the individual and the
©Renée Berg & Karen Wirth 2002 Practical Kindergarten: Targeted Learning page 5
group as a whole
Taking care of classroom environment: participating in cleanup; caring for classroom as a
community environment; taking personal ownership of responsibilities associated with being part of a
defined community and the environment in which it exists
Safety practices and appropriate behavior in emergency situations: fire, earthquake, natural
disasters; dealing with strangers; what behaviors are safe and not safe, e.g.: running in the parking lot,
wearing bike helmets, wearing close toed shoes to school, etc.
Emotional Development:
Self-esteem: feeling good about oneself, just as one is and is not; feeling good about that which
one does and does not; building self-confidence by participating in activities wherein there is no
“wrong” answer; feeling safe to try out new activities in a nonjudgmental environment, wherein there
is no pressure to produce a particular outcome, rather an environment that supports curiosity,
investigation; developing a stable sense of self worth
Self-confidence: feeling secure within one!s self; being able to be present to uncomfortable
feelings without having those feelings overcome or dominate the child!s ability to be with others, or
for the child to stand for internalized values
Stress relief: finding acceptable vents for stress and frustration such as manipulating doughs,
washing toys in warm water, squeezing squishy toys, or manipulating substances such as oobleck or
flubber.
Accomplishment: developing a sense of achievement and self-worth from participating in and
completing various activities
Identifying and expressing emotions appropriately
•Naming human feelings: sad, happy, angry, hurt, loving, excited, afraid, proud, sorry
•“Use your words”: expressing feelings of joy, happiness, upset and anger appropriately
Generosity: sharing of one!s self and perhaps of one!s “things”; listening attentively; experiencing
enjoyment in giving/sharing with others; enjoying the success of others; accepting other!s generosity
graciously
Appropriate affection: showing feelings of affection with respect for the recipient!s willingness to
accept demonstrative actions
Nurturing: developing and expressing feelings of appropriate care and gentleness for other living
things, other people (particularly those younger, smaller, more fragile); stewardship of the planet
Empathy: awareness of/ identification with the feelings of others! and behaving appropriately in the
context of those feelings
Courage: ability to face one!s own fears, and real or perceived threats; a willingness to be true to
one!s self in the face of disapproval from others
Integrity: keeping one!s word; living by internalized values
Creative Expression:
Use of creative media and expression of imagination:
•2 dimensional visual arts: painting/collage/drawing: expressing self using 2 dimensional
media
•3 dimensional visual arts: play dough/clay/construction expressing self in 3 dimensional
sculptural media; gardening; building with construction manipulatives
•Music: expressing self through vocal and instrumental sounds
•Movement/dance: expressing self through movement
•Dramatization/story telling: expressing self through acting, puppetry, and theater arts
•Writing/story telling: expressing self through written and illustrated media
•Culinary arts: expressing self through food preparation and presentation
•Event presentation: expressing self through planning and preparing celebrations, events,
and other social functions
•Gardening: expressing self through nurturing plant life
•Animal care: expressing self through care and nurturing of animals
Aesthetic appreciation: developing appreciation for arts, books, drama, music, puppetry,
theatrical events, movement, and nature; the works of others
Artistic vocabulary: learning the names of the art styles and tools
Creative risk: being comfortable playing creatively, actively and confidently following through on
use of imagination; experimenting freely with creative media without focus on the outcome
Problem solving: gathering data, collaborating, delegating responsibility within the small and large
group; having small and large group discussion relative to the possible choices available
©Renée Berg & Karen Wirth 2002 Practical Kindergarten: Targeted Learning page 6
Creative Thinking: brainstorming: considering all possible solutions to a problem or challenge
posed
Persuasion: learning to represent one!s ideas in such a way that appeals to others and causes
them to consider one!s suggestions
When planning, the teacher will want to refine the area of learning targeted specifically. The more
specific the teacher is about the desired value for the children to obtain from an activity, the easier it will be
for teacher to develop a presentation that will successfully produce the result sought. Often the children will
acquire unexpected learning from an activity presented. That is fine. Should a child learn something else
entirely is fine too. If the teacher is mindful of what is intended for the children to learn, a good aim will
develop, and will have the satisfying effect of hitting the targeted result intended.
Preparing an environment with certain intended learning in mind in advance will help the teacher
produce that specific area of learning. Select projects that strongly support the acquisition of the desired
information. As a presentation strategy, the teacher may want to ask some leading open-ended questions
that will direct the children!s attention toward the intended learning. Asking the children to discuss a problem
in small groups and report the results (each collaborative group can select a spokesperson) to the class is
one possibility.
It is important for the teacher to be supportive as the students develop the skill of deductive
reasoning, or said more simply, figure things out and put ideas together.
Acknowledge, praise, and support
all the children!s attempts to problem solve.
Daring to attempt is more of what education is about than producing a pretty result. Learning is a process,
and often more value is gained from concerted efforts during an activity than easily achieved success. The
process of discovery, making mistakes, and finding out what doesn!t work sometimes offers more value to
a learner than producing the “right” answer quickly.
©Renée Berg & Karen Wirth 2002 Practical Kindergarten: Targeted Learning page 7
