California Preschool Learning Foundations - ECEZero2Three ...

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
8 | Self
3.0 Social and Emotional Understanding
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age
3.1 Seek to understand people’s feelings
and behavior, notice diversity
in human characteristics, and are
interested in how people are similar
and different.
Children are interested in people’s feelings
and the reasons they feel that way. They can
describe familiar routines, inquire about the
causes and consequences of behavior, and
notice how people are similar and different,
although their understanding is limited.
Examples Examples
• Communicates, “Marco’s crying. He fell down.”
• Conveys a range of feelings, including happy,
sad, and mad and describes simple situations
that evoke them.
• Describes what happens at circle time.
• Shows interest in how another child’s
appearance or eating habits are different
from his own.
• Enacts in pretend play everyday situations
involving people’s emotions and needs
(e.g., the baby doll is crying because she is
hungry).
• Understands that another child might be mad
because she couldn’t do what she desired
(e.g., her block tower keeps falling down).
• Comments on differences in behavior or
appearance between boys and girls.
• Wants to ride in Johnny’s wheelchair or use
Sara’s walker.
• Begins to understand how people’s feelings
can be alike and, on other occasions, be very
different.
3.1 Begin to comprehend the mental and
psychological reasons people act as
they do and how they contribute to
differences between people.
Children have a better understanding of
people’s thoughts and feelings as well as their
own. They comprehend that another’s ideas
can be mistaken. They are also beginning
to understand differences in personality,
temperament, and background (e.g., culture)
and their importance.
• Tells a teacher, “Jorge was sad because he
thought his mommy wasn’t coming.”
• Tries to hide how she is feeling or to “mask” her
feelings with a different emotional expression
(e.g., appearing calm and unafraid when encountering
a big dog).
• Communicates about a peer, “Emma’s really shy.”
• Has a growing vocabulary for identifying emotions
and can describe more complex emotional
situations that might evoke different feelings.
• Explores more complex feelings, desires, and
concepts in pretend play.
• Deliberately does not communicate truthfully
about inappropriate behavior.
• Describes which peers are friendly, aggressive,
or have other qualities.
• Tends to play in same-sex groups.
• Notices a child with a physical disability and
responds with questions or curiosity.
Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1 • California Department of Education