Developmentally Appropriate Goals for a Four-Year-Old Lesson Plan

The following information was compiled by me based on viewing few preschool curriculum standards, WIDA levels, and milestones appropriate for this age group.

You can hold classes for 45 minutes.

Here are some milestones for this age group:

• Draw or copy basic shapes and crosses (this is a milestone known as “being able to cross the midline”)

• Write some letters or make separated, distinct marks that look like letters

• Draw wavy lines across the page that look like lines of text to make “lists” or write greeting cards

• Begin to use scissors purposefully

• Sing silly songs, make up goofy words, and start rhyming

• Follow simple, unrelated directions (“Go find your shoes and pick up that toy.”)

• Makeup stories and talk about what they’re thinking

Based on a preschool curriculum that uses WIDA I believe these objectives are appropriate for this age. You may notice that some of these objectives also are in the one-year-old blog. That is because it is important to include level one when teaching.

Here are listening objectives shown as "I can" statements:

• I need people to show me pictures and use their hands to help me understand. 
• I can understand when people tell me to do two things and then show me pictures or use their hands to help me understand. 
• I can understand when people say “hello” or “goodbye.”
• I can notice that people will sometimes wave when they say “hello” and “goodbye.” 
• I can understand simple sentences about things I know. 
• I can hear each of the different words in a sentence. 
• I can understand questions that let me choose “yes” or “no” for an answer.
• I can recognize different sounds in English words. 
• I can understand words that help me understand where things are or what kinds of things they are.
• I can understand instructions in class about things we will be doing.  
• I can understand questions about things I know when they start with
• what
• when
• where
• who
• how many

Here are speaking objectives shown as "I can statements:

• I can use greetings as a way to begin talking with other people.
• I can use my hands to wave, point, or show what I want to say and what I need.
• I can use new words to share ideas and talk with my friends and teachers. 
• I can change words to tell when there is more than one of something or when something happened before. 
• I can make simple sentences on my own. 
• I can connect two or three words together.
• I can say most English words clearly and most people understand me. 
• I can connect a few words together using “and.”
• I can use many sentences that are polite and that show people that I care about them. 
• I can connect ideas using “then” at the beginning of a sentence. 
• I can talk about myself and other people.
• I can use words to answer simple questions and to do everyday things in class with my friends.
• I can use words and actions to show what I need. 
• I can make short sentences by using sentences I have heard at school. 
• I can use words to answer simple questions and to do everyday things in class with my friends

Please use this information when trying to plan for your future lessons. I feel that it is important to think of the purpose for the lesson first; then, think of an appropriate topic afterward. You can find more information on what else this age can do from the source below.

Sources:

Milestones for 4