Cognitive

Cognitive Standard 1:

Explores the environment to gain information.

Benchmark 1.1: Demonstrates curiosity in the environment.

IT-C 1

Child actively explores people and objects to understand self, others, and objects.

IT-C 2

Child uses understanding of causal relationships to act on social and physical environments.

IT-C 8

Child develops sense of number and quantity.

IT-C 9

Child uses spatial awareness to understand objects and their movement in space.

IT-PMP 1

Child uses perceptual information to understand objects, experiences, and interactions.

Uses senses to explore the environment.

Gabrielle looks at her hands as she lies on the floor.
Damion plays with his feet, touching them and bringing them up to his mouth.
After her caregiver hands her a rattle, Dani puts it in her mouth and chews on it.
Kioko presses the buttons on the activity center and listens to the music that plays after each button is pressed.
Emmett strokes the objects in the Animals touch and feel book that his caregiver reads to him.
Nell splashes water with a toy boat and watches the way water moves.
With the help of his early interventionist, Luis places both hands in finger paint, which has sand added in, then lifts his hands up to rub them together before putting them back in the finger paint.

Uses play to explore objects in the environment.

Willa continues to hit and kick at her toy to keep it in motion.
Dayo presses a switch on the tray of her wheelchair and makes the musical toy on her tray light up and play a song.
Martin carefully adds another block to a tower he is building after his teacher asks him, “Do you think it will fall down if you build it higher?” He smiles when the tower doesn’t fall after the new block is added.
Kirsten goes to the art center, picks up a red crayon, and makes marks on a large piece of paper.
Lucas laughs as he watches Samuel bang a spoon on different surfaces to see how each sounds.
While playing in the kitchen area, Kelsie tries to put a plastic banana in pots that are different sizes, testing to see which pot will hold the banana.

Demonstrates awareness of cause-and-effect relationships.

John shakes a rattle, stops, and then shakes it again to hear the sound it makes.
Jillian looks intently at the top of the “jack-in-the-box” as the handle is turned, awaiting the “pop” she knows will happen towards the end of the song.
Alberto drops his plate from his highchair and looks down to the floor where it lands.
Quanda says the room is “gonna be dark” before an adult flips the light switch.
Sam looks at the caregiver to see if she is watching before he pushes another child.

Explores mathematical concepts such as spatial relationships, shapes, and quantity.

When Omar sees a toy under the chair, he tries to crawl under the chair to reach it but discovers he doesn’t fit.
Bailey tries to put a large ball into a small bucket and laughs when it doesn’t fit.
Caitlyn fits some shapes into a foam board.
Lincoln walks around the room saying “1,2,3”.
Josh completes a three-piece puzzle.

Benchmark 1.2: Responds to the environment.

IT-C 11

Child observes and imitates sounds, words, gestures, actions, and behaviors.

Imitates behaviors that are observed.

Lila opens her mouth when seeing her caregiver open her mouth to make sounds.
Kelso imitates waving bye-bye and playing peek-a-boo.
Tadashi claps his hands after each time his caregiver claps while she sits with him on the floor.
Barnabus picks up the telephone, places it next to his ear and starts to “talk” after seeing another child do this.
After Liam sees his teacher turn the faucet on and off, he tries it several times himself.

Listens to and repeats sounds that other people or objects make.

Beatrix turns toward familiar voices.
Lucille laughs when she hears another child make puppy dog sounds.
Justin says “ba-ba-ba” in response to the teacher’s babbling.
Jane says, “Meow” as she places the kitty cat puzzle piece in the puzzle frame.
Akoi listens to music and bounces to the beat.

Demonstrates persistence to reach a goal.

Jalen continues to use his fists and fingers to reach for bites of crackers on his highchair.
Jeb toddles toward a favorite toy, then starts to crawl to get there faster.
Olive signs the word “drink” repeatedly until her teacher gives her a cup of milk.
Belinda hands the music box to an adult to have them wind it up again.
Amelie continues putting pegs in the peg board until all the holes are filled.

Benchmark 1.3: Recalls information about the environment.

IT-C 3

Child recognizes differences between familiar and unfamiliar people, objects, actions, or events.

IT-C 4

Child recognizes the stability of people and objects in the environment.

IT-C 5

Child uses memories as a foundation for more complex actions and thoughts.

Recognizes and shows preference for familiar people and things.

Bella turns towards her mother and reaches for her when her mother enters the classroom and talks to her.
Carson jabbers with his teacher but turns his head away when a stranger speaks to him.
Ben cries and runs toward his father when he comes to pick him up at the childcare center.

Locates an object that has been hidden from view.

Kindra finds a toy that is hidden under a blanket when part of it is showing.
Susie grabs for the bottle and shrieks after watching her teacher hide it under her blanket.
Kimberly retrieves a ball that has rolled behind the couch.
Zaylen searches under two boxes to find his block.

Demonstrates memory of objects and people not in the immediate environment.

Cindy asks for her favorite toy when it has been left at home.
Lucas asks for “Mama” while at childcare.
Darius looks for a toy truck in the same place it was found yesterday.

Demonstrates memory of routines.

When Gus’s caregiver tells him it’s time to change his diaper, he toddles toward the changing table and lifts his arms up to be picked up.
Tabitha climbs into a small chair while her teacher sets bowls on the table.
Marcus takes a book to his teacher to read before nap time.
In anticipation of outside play, Jada runs to her cubby to get her jacket.
Jacob starts to pull down his jeans as he walks toward the bathroom.

Benchmark 1.4: Demonstrates knowledge of the characteristics of people and objects.

IT-C 10

Child uses matching and sorting of objects or people to understand similar and different characteristics.

IT-C 11

Child observes and imitates sounds, words, gestures, actions, and behaviors.

IT-C 12

Child uses objects or symbols to represent something else.

Investigates and identifies the physical characteristics of living and non-living things.

Katie uses her fingers to touch each of the different objects in the texture book.
Sylvie signs “cup” even when her sippy cup is turned upside down.
Jules says “big dog” when he sees a picture of a boy walking a large dog in the book his caregiver is reading to him.
Sophia plays with the sponges in the water table, squeezing the water out of them, and saying, “Look” as she holds them down, releases them, and watches them pop up to the top.

Recognizes functional uses of items in the environment.

Simon uses his cup to get a drink when he is thirsty.
Quint picks up the napkin to wipe his mouth.
Ivy uses the easy-squeeze scissors to snip paper in the art center.
Rosey and Leroy play with a ball that has bells inside, rolling it back and forth between each other.

Uses objects in a realistic way during play, imitating observations of how objects are used/work.

In the dramatic play area, Olive puts a spoon in the bowl and pretends to eat by putting the spoon in her mouth.
Sharon picks up the brush to make the doll’s hair “pretty”.
Rachel pushes a toy car and makes a motor noise.
On the playground Kelly and Kia are pretending to buy groceries at the store. Kelly says, “I go to the store”, gets on a tricycle and rides it over to the area the children have been pretending is a store.

Uses objects to represent other objects during play.

Gavin pushes a block around on the floor, pretending it is a car.
Frank points a Lego block at the CD player and pretends to push buttons and “turn it on”.
Camille takes a piece of newsprint from the art center to dramatic play and uses it to cover up her sleeping baby.
Sonia climbs into a cardboard box and pretends she is driving to her grandma’s house.

Categorizes objects based on physical or functional similarity.

Kevin calls both dogs and cats “puppies”.
When looking together at a picture book that includes pictures of many different types of objects, the teacher asks, “Which ones do you ride in?” Kayden points to the pictures of cars and trucks.
Kimmy places all of the blue blocks together.
Vickie sorts the dramatic play toys into groups: dress-up clothes, hats, and plastic foods.
Justin and Shayla sort the foam blocks, wood blocks, and bristle blocks into different boxes in the block area.

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