Sevens notice everything . . . in detail. Their drawing, writing, and play construction is characteristically small, reduced to the microcosm, miniaturized to an intricate and controllable world they're trying to make perfect.
Dioramas fit in shoeboxes, providing room enough for furniture, rugs, animals, vases with tiny flowers, people smaller than clothespins, cut out of cardboard and adorned with colorful costumes.
No one is more industrious than a six-year-old. Sixes take on every activity with unbridled enthusiasm. Work is completed in no time at all, though quantity, not quality, is the measure that counts for them—along with trying new things. Being first to read a new book, spell a new word, make a new friend, play a new game . . . all matter a great deal to sixes.
Have you noticed an age shift in your class now that it's the middle of the year? It always seemed to me that when we'd come back from February vacation, my students had all grown an inch, seen some new movie that changed the lingo in the room, and were suddenly more mature, for better or worse.
There's a discernable turning point in children's fifth year where the focused, centered, rule-following kindergartener becomes the full-fledged explorer. The growth spurt that's beginning will last through the sixth year. "Stretching" is a good word for this age. Children often stretch the truth, test the rules, see what they can do on their own as they become more confident and self-assured.
One recent January, I noticed something odd each time my class of first graders settled into their writing workshop tasks: A handful of children had begun writing with tiny, tiny letters. "You need to erase and write bigger," I would say, again and again. "That writing's too hard to read!" The children tried, but usually without much success. What, I wondered, could cause this change in handwriting habits? This handful of children had all turned seven during the fall or early winter. Could that be it?
Sheffield Elementary, a grade 3–6 school in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, faced a challenge familiar to many educators: how to develop a more consistent approach to discipline from classroom to classroom and in common school areas, such as the playground, lunchroom, and hallways.
What are your goals in sharing knowledge about child development with students’ families, and how do you go about it?
