Common Planner
K–12 Standards

Approaches to Learning

Other New Jersey Preschool Teaching & Learning sets

Children demonstrate initiative, engagement, and persistence.9.1

  • 1

    Make plans and decisions to actively engage in learning (e.g., two children greet each other as they arrive to school and decide that they will finish counting all the bottle caps they collected during choice time.)9.1.1

  • 2

    Show curiosity and initiative by choosing to explore a variety of activities and experiences with a willingness to try new challenges (e.g., choosing harder and harder puzzles).9.1.2

  • 3

    Focus attention on tasks and experiences, despite interruptions or distractions (e.g., working hard on a drawing even when children nearby are playing a game).9.1.3

  • 4

    Show persistence when faced with challenging tasks and uncertainty, seeking and accepting help when appropriate (e.g., saying to a friend, ‘This is hard. Can you help me figure it out?).  9.1.4

  • 5

    Bring a teacher-directed or self-initiated task, activity or project to completion (e.g., showing the teacher, “Look—I finished it all by myself!”). 9.1.5

Children show creativity and imagination.9.2

  • 1

    Show flexibility in approaching tasks by being open to new ideas (i.e., doesn’t cling to one approach to a task, but is willing to experiment and to risk trying out a new idea or approach).9.2.1

  • 2

    Use the imagination to solve problems, use materials, role play, write stories, move the body, or create works of art (e.g., create pretend spinach out of torn green construction paper to serve for dinner).9.2.2

  • 3

    Use multiple means of communication to creatively express thoughts, ideas, and feelings (e.g., sing a song and act out the story of the life cycle of a butterfly).9.2.3

Children identify and solve problems. 9.3

  • 1

    Recognize a problem and describe or demonstrate ways to solve it alone or with others (e.g., “I know! Jamar and I can work together to clean off the table so that we can have a place to eat lunch.”)9.3.1

  • 2

    Use varied strategies to seek or recall information and to find answers (e.g., questioning, trial and error, testing, building on ideas, finding resources, drawing, or thinking aloud). 9.3.2

  • 3

    Predict what will happen next based on prior experience and knowledge and test the prediction for accuracy (e.g., raising the height of the ramp to see if the ball will roll farther than when the ramp was lower).9.3.3

  • 4

    Reflect on, evaluate, and communicate what was learned (e.g., children in the class demonstrating and explaining their project to children in a younger group). 9.3.4

Children apply what they have learned to new situations.9.4

  • 1

    Use prior knowledge to understand new experiences or a problem in a new context (e.g., after learning about snakes, children make comparisons when finding a worm on the playground).9.4.1

  • 2

    Make connections between ideas, concepts, and subjects (e.g., children take pictures from a field trip or nature walk, and use them to write and illustrate classroom books)9.4.2

  • 3

    Demonstrate understanding of what others think and feel through words or actions (e.g., children act out a story that the teacher has told them, mirroring the characters’ emotions). 9.4.3

Frequently asked questions

What grade levels do these standards cover?
PRE-K
Where can I read the official document?
Preschool Teaching and Learning Standards 2014

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Keep exploring Preschool Teaching & Learning standards

Sibling grade bands, other subjects in this jurisdiction, and the same subject across other states.