Year Five

• Walk a balance beam forwards & backwards

• Perform somersaults

• Balance on 1 foot for 8 – 10 seconds

• Skip, alternating feet

• Begin to jump rope

• Throw a ball to hit a target

• Jump back

• Pump and maintain momentum while on a swing (may be started with a forward push)

• Hop 5 times on 1 foot

• Climb the rungs of a playground slide ladder

• Start to use one hand consistently for fine motor tasks

• Cut along a straight line with scissors

• Start to cut along a curved line, like a circle

• Draw a cross by herself (+)

• Copy a square

• Begin to draw diagonal lines, like in a triangle

• Start to color inside the lines of a picture

• Start to draw pictures that are recognizable

• Build things with smaller linking blocks, such as Duplo or Lego

• Put on his own clothing, but may still need help with fasteners like buttons/zippers

• Start to spread butter or cut soft foods with a small table knife (with supervision)

• Start to learn to print some capital letters

• Continues to learn lots of new words very quickly

• Vocabulary of 4,000 – 6,000 words

• Uses sentences of 4-6 words

• Talks a lot and about everything they are doing or thinking

• Tells long stories about own personal experiences

• Asks “who” and “why” questions

• Interested in explanations for their “how” and “why” questions

• Understands and uses “tomorrow” and “yesterday”

• Uses past, present and future tense, mostly, but not always, correctly

• Interested in written words, letters and numbers.

• Matches and sorts objects in a large variety of ways

• Understands prepositions (e.g. beside, behind, in front)

• Stays with an activity for 11-12 minutes

• Show some awareness of moral reasoning, such as “fairness”, and good or bad behavior

• Develop friendships

• Express more awareness of other people’s feelings

• Enjoy imaginative play with other children, such as dress up or house

• Get better at sharing and taking turns with other children

• Enjoy playing games, but might change the rules as he goes

• Stick with a difficult task for longer period (controlling frustration or anger better)

• Show an understanding of right and wrong

• Listen while others are speaking

• Play games with simple rules

• Play with words, imitating and creating sounds, and make rhymes

• Point to and name many colours and shapes

• Learn to identify a few letters and numbers

• Draw a person with detail

• Draw, name, and describe pictures

• Count objects up to 5

• Tell you where he lives (street name and town/city)

• Follow the rules to games, but sometimes change them as she goes

• Recognize his name when he sees it printed

• Walk a balance beam forwards & backwards

• Perform somersaults

• Balance on 1 foot for 8 – 10 seconds

• Skip, alternating feet

• Begin to jump rope

• Throw a ball to hit a target

• Jump back

• Pump and maintain momentum while on a swing (may be started with a forward push)

• Hop 5 times on 1 foot

• Climb the rungs of a playground slide ladder

• Movements seem shaky or stiff

• Arms and hands seem very weak

• Not able to cut along a straight line

• Not holding her crayons or pencils with her thumb and fingers

• Not able to draw a circle, square and cross (+)

• Not able to put on her own shirts, pants, socks, and shoes (with some help with fasteners)

• Not able to feed himself well with a spoon and fork

• Continues to learn lots of new Not easily understood by others

• Difficulty putting sentences together

• Lots of grammatical difficulties in their sentences

• Difficulties with concepts such as prepositions (position words such as behind, beside, etc.) colors, size, and categories.

• Doesn’t ask questions

• Doesn’t follow verbal directions

• Not interested in playing with other children

• Not able to share or take turns with other children

• Wants to be dependent on her caregivers for everything

• Is extremely “rigid” about routines, and becomes extremely upset when things are changed

• Has extreme difficulty separating from you

• Too passive or fearful, and does not want to try things other children his age are doing

• Has extreme fears that interfere with daily activities

• Not able to name the basic colors and shapes

• Does not understand the concept of past, present, and future

• Not interested in pretend play

• Constantly moves from one activity to another and is not able to stay with an activity for brief periods

• Not able to understand the rules of a basic game, such as Memory, Lotto, or other preschool games

• Not able to tell you basic facts about themselves (full name, age, city she lives in, street name, etc.)

• Not able to count 5 objects

• Does not recognize her name when she sees it printed

• Regular coughing or choking during eating

• Taking a really long time to eat a meal (more than 30-45 minutes)

• Getting sick often with pneumonia or chest infections

• Gurgly, hoarse, or breathy voice after eating

• Less than normal weight gain or growth

• Lots of leakage of food or liquid from the mouth

• Coughing, gagging, or throwing up during or after meals

• Stuffing mouth with food

• Holding food inside pockets in mouth for long periods

• Difficulty accepting new textures of food

• Avoidance behaviours to specific foods and textures (gagging, vomiting, blocking the spoon with hands or closed lips, crying, pushing food away, etc)

• Refusing to eat more than a few foods, or refusing to eat anything from one of the food groups

• Being extremely rigid about how food is prepared or how it is served

• Abnormal bowel movements that last longer than a few days (diarrhea, constipation, loose stool)

• Skin reactions to foods (dry patches, hives, rashes) Note: If your child seems to be having a severe allergic reaction to a food (difficulty breathing, turning red, developing hives or rash on the face/chest), you should seek medical help immediately