Category: Benchmark Videos
-
Exploring the Sensory Table
In this video, we watch Cameron and Anthony, both age 4.5 years, as they play at the sensory table in their classroom. Children enjoy exploring materials with their senses. A sensory bin or table is a place teachers can set up opportunities for children to do this type of exploration in the classroom while containing…
-
Waiting to Paint
When teachers set out activities that are of high interest to children, conflicts can arise. Being prepared with strategies to help children cope with the challenge of waiting for a turn can minimize conflicts.
-
The Blue Bowl
In this video, we see a large blue mixing bowl spark children’s interest and lead to this type of complex play. The children work together in a group to reach a common goal of making “soup” in a bowl. They explore the outdoors and find several materials to put in the blue bowl for their…
-
Lots of Dandelions
Nature play presents opportunities for teachers to introduce scientific concepts. In this video, we see a teacher join Fawn and Edwin, both age 4, as they blow the seeds from dandelions growing on the playground.
-
Are You Being a Monkey?
In this video, we see the beginning stages of a friendship connection as we watch 3-year-old Aaron try to engage his peer, John, age 5. Children begin by observing each other and playing side by side. In time, friendships become more complex. Younger children are often very interested in the activities of older children.
-
‘Look at Your Lines!’
Teachers help children develop their science skills by creating engaging activities that activate children’s curiosity and desire to discover the properties of materials. A visual art activity, such as the finger painting activity we see in this video, can be an opportunity to explore science concepts.
-
Maybe We Can Make a Road!
In this video, two children are playing at a sensory table filled with gravel, miniature road signs, and toy cars. The teacher introduces two unique words, terrain and yield, to the children as she plays side by side with them.
-
You’ve Got Blue Hands
Visual arts provide opportunities for children to use their fine motor skills to express their creativity. Children are active investigators as they explore color mixing and texture. Visual arts activities spark conversations where children can appreciate the expressions of others.
-
Look at It Go!
Messy play is a rich opportunity for conversation with peers and teachers. Exploring open-ended materials invites children to observe, make predictions, and use complex vocabulary to describe their experiences.
-
Looks Swampy
In this video, we watch several students conduct an experiment with glue, food coloring, and water. The teacher encourages the children to actively explore the materials, think about what is happening, and describe the experience.
-
Retelling “Caps for Sale”
Children gain great comprehension and communication skills when they have the opportunity for rich discussion during read-aloud times. Stories read aloud also can provide opportunities for children to use their memory skills and retell stories with their peers and teachers.
-
Talking About Numbers and Letters
In this video, 4-year-old Martín plays with letters in a bilingual prekindergarten classroom, where teachers provide instruction in both Spanish and English.
-
Dual Language Use During Choice Time
This video shows 5-year-old Imelda interacting in English with an adult visitor and singing in Spanish during choice time in her half-day bilingual classroom.
-
Where the Chick Came From
This clip suggests some of the benefits of introducing very young children to live animals.
-
What’s in the Box
Many young children are not accustomed to forming questions, so the teacher has developed a guessing game in which children use questions to help them guess what is in the box.
-
Two on a Trike
Prompting young children with words to use to solve social problems is an effective teaching tool.
-
Transitioning
Transitions from one activity to another can be fun and educational.
-
Tattoos and Teakettles: “Housekeeping” Conversations
In this video, three preschool girls interact with each other and their teacher in the dramatic play area during choice time.
-
Talking about Waterslide Models
The children in the study group used a commercially made marble run to learn about how materials move on ramps and slides.
-
Straw Painting
Lucille, the young girl in this video clip, is painting outdoors on a sheet of white paper on a table. Instead of using a brush to move the paint and mix the colors, she aims a drinking straw at tiny puddles of the wet paint and blows through the straw to move the paint.
-
“She Goes First”: Cooperative “Housekeeping” Play
In the clip, Victoria (age 5), Micaela (age 5.7), and Mandi (age 5.8) are engaged in what is sometimes called “housekeeping play.” Speaking in Spanish, they put some of their ideas about family life into action as they pretend to wash dishes, prepare food, and eat together.
-
Shaving Cream
The science fair seen in this video took place on the playground of a child care center. In one experiment, the teacher squirted a layer of shaving cream on top of a bowl of water.
-
Sara Measures
The teacher placed several car parts in the sensory table for the children to explore. Paper, pencils, tape measures, and screwdrivers were provided as tools that the children could choose to use in their explorations.
-
Roland Draws a Garden
This video clip suggests that children have much to gain from making drawings of places they have been with their families, caregivers, or teachers.
-
The Right Word: Conversation and Print During Pretend Play
This clip shows children don’t necessarily need structured activities to meet benchmarks. When teachers schedule large blocks of time for free play, children can learn in unexpected ways by engaging with each other and the classroom environment.
-
Please Pass the Water
Maddie demonstrates that the children at this center are comfortable with pouring their own drinks at snack.
-
One Morning in the Block Area
Many preschool programs make block play an option during choice time. In this video, three children play in the block area in a prekindergarten classroom.
-
One Morning at the Construction Table
When children build something, they often address physics problems related to keeping the structure together.
-
Observing Chickens on the Playground
Teachers have given children an opportunity to observe chickens during free play, after first having arranged some activities that allowed the children to become somewhat familiar with the chickens in another setting.
-
Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley: Learning Through an Action Song
In this video, we see a group of children singing the folksong, “Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow” during a large group activity.
-
Mozart Jazz Freight Train
In this video clip, 3-year-old Max is seated in a chair, moving a bow back and forth across the strings of a small cello.
-
Mila Sticks With Art
The video shows Mila creating an “outline” or frame of construction paper strips around a piece of drawing paper, then drawing inside the frame.
-
Mila Paints the Fence
This video clip illustrates some of the ways that children can meet early learning benchmarks while exploring art materials outdoors.
-
Magnets and Cars
The teacher took the 3- and 4-year-olds to visit the automotive lab next door to the classroom. The next day she asked the children to predict what parts of a car would attract a magnet.
-
Mack Reads His Book
The teachers have encouraged Mack and his classmates to make their own books related to what they have learned during the project.
-
Learning about a Stethoscope
This video clip depicts interaction between some preschool-age children and a guest expert. The class has been investigating measurement. One small group of children has focused on measurement at the doctor’s office.
-
Keep It Moving: Playing With Hoops
This video shows children playing with hula-hoops in a large space for motor activities at an early childhood center.
-
Ideas about a Marble Run
Along with another mixed-age classroom, the preschool class has been investigating ways to turn the school playground into an outdoor learning area.
-
Getting to Know Rabbits
These supervised interactions between children and rabbits occurred during a science fair on the playground of a child care center.
-
Flubber
In this clip, young children experiment with properties of matter.
-
Fine Motor Skills and Safety
Automobile parts were placed in the sensory table as part of the children’s ongoing study of cars.
-
Experimenting with Balance
Playgrounds are part of the early childhood classroom, and thoughtful planning of activities for the playground environment can help children build skills and meet standards.
-
Exploring Windshield Wipers
Children in a mixed-age early childhood classroom at a rural community college were engaged in a study of cars.
-
Exploring Trees on the Playground
This video clip provides a glimpse of some of the interactions among the children and between the children and the environment that can occur when teachers involve children in outdoor education experiences.
-
Exploring Sound on the Dam
This video clip shows one kind of exploration that is possible when educators arrange outdoor experiences for young children.
-
Explaining Cradle Construction
Children in Judy Cagle’s mixed-age prekindergarten class decided to make a crib as part of a project on babies.
-
An Engineer Changes His Mind
Along with another mixed-age classroom, this class has been investigating ways to turn the school playground into an outdoor learning area.
-
Dustin’s French Horn Model
At the beginning of the video, Dustin (age 4) is talking with a classroom visitor he has just met. Dustin is in a prekindergarten classroom that uses the Project Approach. His class has just finished a project on musical instruments.
-
Drawing a Friend
The children have access to accessories and materials that they can use to create their writing projects. These include staplers, tape, many kinds of paper, envelopes, recycled cards, and stickers.
-
Creative Movement: The Flower Dance
In this video, a teacher guides preschoolers in a creative movement activity.