## North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Language Development and Communication (LDC)

#### Subdomain: Learning to Communicate

#### Goal: Children ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.

#### Skill Progression: Asks questions

#### Age: 48-54 Months

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### Asks what words mean

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child during free play or centers interacting with other children.

Elicitation Strategy

The adult can introduce new vocabulary words that are unfamiliar to the child, but related to the classroom theme of study. For example, the adult sets up the dramatic play to be a beach. She might say, “Oh, look. I see a crustacean on the beach.”

Behavior Observed

The child asks the meaning of words.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Encourage children to ask questions. Asking questions demonstrates children’s curiosity and areas of interest and also leads to gaining knowledge. Whenever possible help children discover where and how to find the answers for themselves. Asking about others’ feelings builds empathy.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.