Introduction
The process of identification of the knowledge, skills, and abilities of a child according to the required minimum and norms correlates to the evaluation of the student’s readiness. Several aspects compose the overall understanding of the preparation level for the child. The primary aspects are the features of the developmental stage of a particular grade, readiness based on stated indicators, and the determination of critical activities and practices that can help to improve the situation of resolving potential issues.
Developmental Stage
Understanding the developmental peculiarities of 4yh grader students requires an analysis of all components of the stage. They include physical, cognitive, social, and emotional milestones. The physical component of the 9-year-old child shows quicker development of hand-eye coordination, better handwriting, and more coordinated movements in sports can be seen. Cognitive patterns become more complex; children at this age begin to think more abstractly, not only of objects they can see. They also become more adept at planning and thought organization. Social behavior changes while students start to discover their unique skills while still attempting to be and appear like everyone else. A more comprehensive emotional range is also relevant, meaning that the child can express kindness and curiosity, as well as selfishness and disrespect.
Readiness for Learning
To determine and evaluate the inconsistencies between student comprehension and learning objectives at the classroom and unit levels, readiness uses formative assessments. The gap reveals what each learner needs to advance. Some students’ progress will be measured against the arbitrary deadlines set by the curriculum (McCarthy, 2014). The readiness for the fourth grade is determined by the wide range of abilities to work effectively on reading, imagery, writing, mathematics, and science tasks.
The evaluation of readiness is reflected by the ability of a child to adapt to various forms of activities. It can also be supported by the additional development of memory performance through various concepts. According to Keogh and Pearson (2011), for instance, children with solid visual imagination showed diminished performance on tests requiring visual memory skills and imagery, although memory for number strings was unaffected. It implies that individuals with solid imagery may use it to improve performance on activities requiring visual working memory. Thus, the evaluation can be performed by measuring how comfortable the child is with the assignments of the subjects, alongside the constant development of visual imagery.
Key Activities and Strategies
The main activities should be centered around a visionary approach. When solving linguistic and spatial problems in real time, mental imagery acts as a private whiteboard or personal projector. By bridging the gap between students’ prior knowledge and the abstract symbolism of mathematics, this form of mental imagery method supports a variety of learning objectives (Algozzine & Douville, 2004). In order to implement such a strategy, the mental image can be created by simply using drawings to support new ideas and information. It can be created by teachers or parents and will help the child form associative connections quickly. Additionally, a jigsaw strategy can be added to any learning activity to develop a better cognitive process of identifying and connecting the separate elements (McCarthy, 2014).
Conclusion
Defining separate elements and combining them can be utilized as a separate task and collaborative activity with parents. Applications for learning that explicitly state that students should “use the mind’s eye” to support learning objectives will help students understand the process more clearly and prepare for the next grade level.
References
Algozzine, B. & Douville, P. (2004) Use mental imagery across the curriculum. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 49(1), 36-39. Web.
Keogh, R. & Pearson, J. (2011) Mental Imagery and Visual Working Memory. PLoS ONE, 6(12): e29221. Web.
McCarthy, J. (2014). 15+ Readiness Resources for Driving Student Success. Edutopia. Web.