Young Children - May 2008 - (Page 13) little evidence that calendar activities that mark extended periods of time (a month, a week) are meaningful for children below first grade (Friedman 2000). However, there are some temporal concepts that preschoolers can grasp in the context of their daily activities—concepts such as later, before, and after. Barriers to meaningful participation To participate meaningfully in calendar activities, young children must understand that time is sequential. The sequences include yesterday, today, and tomorrow; morning, afternoon, and evening; Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and so on. Children also must be able to conceptualize before and after and think about future and past events. Three-year-olds typically “have established object permanence and can recall past events, even though they do not understand the meaning of the words ‘yesterday,’ ‘today,’ or ‘tomorrow’” (CTB/McGraw-Hill 2002, 9). Thus, young children can talk about things that have happened or will happen, but they cannot yet understand or talk about these events in terms of units of time (days, weeks) or sequence. This child development knowledge draws into question the usefulness of calendar activities for children under age 6. As Joey’s grandparents arrive for his birthday, Joey runs to greet them, saying, “I can’t believe I’m gonna be 6.” “So, you’re going to be 6. Six what?” his grandmother asks. Joey responds, “It’s my birthday. I’m gonna be 6.” “Yes, I know,” she replies, “but six what? You’re not six books.” At that point Joey’s 9-year-old brother whispers in his ear, “You’re gonna be 6 years old, dummy!” and Joey says, “I’m gonna be 6 years old.” Three days later, as Joey’s friends assemble for the traditional noisy birthday party, a discussion begins about who is already 6 and who is not. Marta states, “Well, I’m 6½.” Joey asks her, “Six-and-a-half what?” Marta responds, “I don’t know.” Another child says to 6½-year-old Marta, “Wait a minute. When were you a baby?” She hesitates and then answers, “I don’t know, maybe 10 years ago.” True understanding of dates and the calendar comes with maturity. Given the above information on the level of thinking required to grasp the time concepts of the calendar and the developmental abilities of young children, teachers may want to reconsider the calendar routine and their expectations for young children’s comprehension. Teaching using the calendar—or not? Early childhood educators may use the calendar to teach concepts other than time, including numeracy, vocabulary (month, year, weekend), sequencing (yesterday, today, tomorrow), and patterning (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday). Additionally, as children attend to the visual calendar, Distance in time Calendar use requires children to understand not only concepts such as before and after but also the relative lengths of time or distance of past or future events from the present (Friedman 2000). For example, how far away is October 30 when today is October 5? How long is the weekend? Preschoolers cannot usually judge such distances or lengths of time. A 4-year-old who learns that there will be a field trip in five days will not judge the temporal distance of Young children can talk about things that have happened or will happen, but they cannot yet understand or talk about these events in terms of units of time or sequence. Young Children • May 2008 Richard Graessle/© NAEYC this event any differently than if he were told it is in eight days. In fact, it is difficult for preschoolers to judge length of time within a given day (with hours as the unit of time), such as “in two hours” versus “in four hours.” Perhaps this is the reason children on a car trip repeatedly ask, “How long until we get there?” According to Friedman (2000), the ability to judge the relative time from a past event or until a future event in terms of the calendar year is not in place until sometime between 7 and 10 years of age. The following anecdote about 6-year-olds’ attempts to understand time concepts associated with birthdays and age illustrate Friedman’s point. 13
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