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Appendix A to Preschool Foundations, Volume 3

The foundations of history-social science and science from Volume 3 of the California Preschool Learning Foundations.

History–Social Science

Self and Society

1.0 Culture and Diversity
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age
1.1 Exhibit developing cultural, ethnic, and racial identity and understand relevant language and cultural practices. Display curiosity about diversity in human characteristics and practices, but prefer those of their own group. 1.1 Manifest stronger cultural, ethnic, and racial identity and greater familiarity with relevant language, traditions, and other practices. Show more interest in human diversity, but strongly favor characteristics of their own group.
2.0 Relationships
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

2.1 Interact comfortably with many peers and adults; actively contribute to creating and maintaining relation­ ships with a few significant adults and peers.

2.1 Understand the mutual responsibilities of relationships; take initiative in developing relationships that are mutual, cooperative, and exclusive.

3.0 Social Roles and Occupations
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age
3.1 Play familiar adult social roles and occupations (such as parent, teacher, and doctor) consistent with their developing knowledge of these roles. 3.1 Exhibit more sophisticated understanding of a broader variety of adult roles and occupations, but uncertain how work relates to income.

Becoming a Preschool Community Member (Civics)

1.0 Skills for Democratic Participation
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age
1.1 Identify as members of a group, participate willingly in group activities, and begin to understand and accept responsibility as group members, although assistance is required in coordinating personal interests with those of others. 1.1 Become involved as responsible participants in group activities, with growing understanding of the importance of considering others’ opinions, group decision making, and respect for majority rules and the views of group members who disagree with the majority.
2.0 Responsible Conduct
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

2.1 Strive to cooperate with group expectations to maintain adult approval and get along with others. Self-control is inconsistent, however, especially when children are frustrated or upset.

2.1 Exhibit responsible conduct more reliably as children develop self-esteem (and adult approval) from being responsible group members. May also manage others’ behavior to ensure that others also fit in with group expectations.
3.0 Fairness and Respect for Other People
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

3.1 Respond to the feelings and needs of others with simple forms of assistance, sharing, and turn­taking. Understand the importance of rules that protect fairness and maintain order.

3.1 Pay attention to others’ feelings, more likely to provide assistance, and try to coordinate personal desires with those of other children in mutually satisfactory ways. Actively support rules that protect fairness to others.
4.0 Conflict Resolution
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

4.1 Can use simple bargaining strategies and seek adult assistance when in conflict with other children or adults, although frustration, distress, or aggression also occurs.

4.1 More capable of negotiating, compromising, and finding cooperative means of resolving conflict with peers or adults, although verbal aggression may also result.

Sense of Time (History)

1.0 Understanding Past Events
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age
1.1 Recall past experiences easily and enjoy hearing stories about the past, but require adult help to determine when past events occurred in relation to each other and to connect them with current experience. 1.1 Show improving ability to relate past events to other past events and current experiences, although adult assistance continues to be important.
2.0 Anticipating and Planning Future Events
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

2.1 Anticipate events in familiar situations in the near future, with adult assistance.

2.1 Distinguish when future events will happen, plan for them, and make choices (with adult assistance) that anticipate future needs.
3.0 Personal History
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

3.1 Proudly display developing skills to attract adult attention and share simple accounts about recent experiences.

3.1 Compare current abilities with skills at a younger age and share more detailed autobiographical stories about recent experiences.

4.0 Historical Changes in People and the World
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

4.1 Easily distinguish older family members from younger ones (and other people) and events in the recent past from those that happened “long ago,” although do not readily sequence historical events on a timeline.

4.1 Develop an interest in family history (e.g., when family members were children) as well as events of “long ago,” and begin to understand when these events occurred in relation to each other.

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Sense of Place (Geography and Ecology)

1.0 Navigating Familiar Locations
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

1.1 Identify the characteristics of familiar locations such as home and school, describe objects and activities associated with each, recognize the routes between them, and begin using simple directional language (with various degrees of accuracy).

1.1 Comprehend larger familiar locations, such as the characteristics of their community and region (including hills and streams, weather, common activities) and the distances between familiar locations (such as between home and school), and compare their home community with those of others.

2.0 Caring for the Natural World
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

2.1 Show an interest in nature (including animals, plants, and weather) especially as children have direct experience with them. Begin to understand human interactions with the environment (such as pollution in a lake or stream) and the importance of taking care of plants and animals.

2.1 Show an interest in a wider range of natural phenomena, including those not directly experienced (such as snow for a child living in Southern California), and are more concerned about caring for the natural world and the positive and negative impacts of people on the natural world (e.g., recycling, putting trash in trash cans).

3.0 Understanding the Physical World Through Drawings and Maps
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

3.1 Can use drawings, globes, and maps to refer to the physical world, although often unclear on the use of map symbols.

3.1 Create their own drawings, maps, and models; are more skilled at using globes, maps, and map symbols; and use maps for basic problem solving (such as locating objects) with adult guidance.


Marketplace (Economics)

1.0 Exchange
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

1.1 Understand ownership, limited supply, what stores do, give-and-take, and payment of money to sellers. Show interest in money and its function, but still figuring out the relative value of coins.

1.1 Understand more complex economic concepts (e.g., bartering; more money is needed for things of greater value; if more people want something, more will be sold).

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Science

Scientific Inquiry

1.0 Observation and Investigation
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

1.1 Demonstrate curiosity and raise simple questions about objects and events in their environment.

1.1 Demonstrate curiosity and an increased ability to raise questions about objects and events in their environment.

1.2 Observe1 objects and events in the environment and describe them. 1.2 Observe objects and events in the environment and describe them in greater detail.
1.3 Begin to identify and use, with adult support, some observation and measurement tools. 1.3 Identify and use a greater variety of observation and measurement tools. May spontaneously use an appropriate tool, though may still need adult support.
1.4 Compare and contrast objects and events and begin to describe similarities and differences. 1.4 Compare and contrast objects and events and describe similarities and differences in greater detail.
1.5 Make predictions and check them, with adult support, through concrete experiences. 1.5 Demonstrate an increased ability to make predictions and check them (e.g., may make more complex predictions, offer ways to test predictions, and discuss why predictions were correct or incorrect).
1.6 Make inferences and form generalizations based on evidence. 1.6 Demonstrate an increased ability to make inferences and form generalizations based on evidence.

1Other related scientific processes, such as classifying, ordering, and measuring, are addressed in the foundations for mathematics.

2.0 Documentation and Communication
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

2.1 Record observations or findings in various ways, with adult assistance, including pictures, words (dictated to adults), charts, journals, models, and photos.

2.1 Record information more regularly and in greater detail in various ways, with adult assistance, including pictures, words (dictated to adults), charts, journals, models, photos, or by tallying and graphing information.

2.2 Share findings and explanations, which may be correct or incorrect, with or without adult prompting. 2.2 Share findings and explanations, which may be correct or incorrect, more spontaneously and with greater detail.

Physical Sciences

1.0 Properties and Characteristics of Nonliving Objects and Materials
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

1.1 Observe, investigate, and identify the characteristics and physical properties of objects and of solid and nonsolid materials (size, weight, shape, color, texture, and sound).

1.1 Demonstrate increased ability to observe, investigate, and describe in greater detail the characteristics and physical properties of objects and of solid and nonsolid materials (size, weight, shape, color, texture, and sound).

2.0 Changes in Nonliving Objects and Materials
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

2.1 Demonstrate awareness that objects and materials can change; explore and describe changes in objects and materials (rearrangement of parts; changes in color, shape, texture, temperature).

2.1 Demonstrate an increased awareness that objects and materials can change in various ways. Explore and describe in greater detail changes in objects and materials (rearrangement of parts; change in color, shape, texture, form, and temperature).

2.2 Observe and describe the motion of objects (in terms of speed, direction, the ways things move), and explore the effect of own actions (e.g., pushing pulling, rolling, dropping) on making objects move.

2.2 Demonstrate an increased ability to observe and describe in greater detail the motion of objects (in terms of speed, direction, the ways things move), and to explore the effect of own actions on the motion of objects, including changes in speed and direction.

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Life Sciences

1.0 Properties and Characteristics of Living Things
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

1.1 Identify characteristics of a variety of animals and plants, including appearance (inside and outside) and behavior, and begin to categorize them.

1.1 Identify characteristics of a greater variety of animals and plants and demonstrate an increased ability to categorize them.

1.2 Begin to indicate knowledge of body parts and processes (e.g., eating, sleeping, breathing, walking) in humans and other animals.2 1.2 Indicate greater knowledge of body parts and processes (e.g., eating, sleeping, breathing, walking) in humans and other animals.
1.3 Identify the habitats of people and familiar animals and plants in the environment and begin to realize that living things have habitats in different environments. 1.3 Recognize that living things have habitats in different environments suited to their unique needs.

1.4 Indicate knowledge of the difference between animate objects (animals, people) and inanimate objects. For example, expect animate objects to initiate movement and to have different insides than inanimate objects.

1.4 Indicate knowledge of the difference between animate and inanimate objects, providing greater detail, and recognize that only animals and plants undergo biological processes such as growth, illness, healing, and dying.

2The knowledge of body parts is also addressed in the California Preschool Learning Foundations (Volume 2) for health. In science, it also includes the knowledge of body processes. Knowledge of body parts is extended to those of humans and other animals.

2.0 Changes in Living Things
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

2.1 Observe and explore growth and changes in humans, animals, and plants and demonstrate an understanding that living things change over time in size and in other capacities as they grow.

2.1 Observe and explore growth in humans, animals, and plants and demonstrate an increased understanding that living things change as they grow and go through transformations related to the life cycle (for example, from a caterpillar to butterfly).

2.2 Recognize that animals and plants require care and begin to associate feeding and watering with the growth of humans, animals, and plants.

2.2 Develop a greater understanding of the basic needs of humans, animals, and plants (e.g., food, water, sunshine, shelter).


Earth Sciences

1.0 Properties and Characteristics of Earth Materials and Objects
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

1.1 Investigate characteristics (size, weight, shape, color, texture) of earth materials such as sand, rocks, soil, water, and air.

1.1 Demonstrate increased ability to investigate and compare characteristics (size, weight, shape, color, texture) of earth materials such as sand, rocks, soil, water, and air.

2.0 Changes in the Earth
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age

2.1 Observe and describe natural objects in the sky (sun, moon, stars, clouds) and how they appear to move and change.

2.1 Demonstrate an increased ability to observe and describe natural objects in the sky and to notice patterns of movement and apparent changes in the sun and the moon.

2.2 Notice and describe changes in weather. 2.2 Demonstrate an increased ability to observe, describe, and discuss changes in weather.
2.3 Begin to notice the effects of weather and seasonal changes on their own lives and on plants and animals. 2.3 Demonstrate an increased ability to notice and describe the effects of weather and seasonal changes on their own lives and on plants and animals.

2.4 Develop awareness of the importance of caring for and respecting the environment and participate in activities related to its care.

2.4 Demonstrate an increased awareness and the ability to discuss in simple terms how to care for the environment, and participate in activities related to its care.

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Appendix A to the California Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 3 (DOC)

Questions:   Early Education Division | 916-322-6233
Last Reviewed: Tuesday, November 21, 2023
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