The Government’s new guidelines for pre-school children came into force today. This document sets out the learning and development requirements that all early years providers must by law deliver.
The guidelines include a specific expectation that a four year old child: ”Finds out about and identifies the uses of everyday technology and uses information and communication technology and programmable toys to support her/his learning.”
Thankfully, the guidelines don’t expect 4 year olds to do this without some basic reading and writing skills:
Reading
1. Is developing an interest in books.
2. Knows that print conveys meaning.
3. Recognises a few familiar words.
Writing
1. Experiments with mark-making, sometimes ascribing meaning to the marks.
2. Uses some clearly identifiable letters to communicate meaning.
3. Represents some sounds correctly in writing.
4. Writes own name and other words from memory.
