Laboratory Lessons

To be able to: – Listen to others one to one or in small groups, when conversation interests them. – Listen to stories with increasing attention and recall. – Join in with repeated refrains and anticipates key events and phrases in rhymes and stories. – Focus attention – still listen or do, but can shift own attention. – Follow directions (if not intently focused on own choice of activity.) – Understand use of objects (e.g. ‘What do we use to cut things?’.) – Show understanding of prepositions such as ‘under’, ‘on top’, ‘behind’ by carrying out an action or selecting correct picture. – Respond to simple instructions, e.g. to get or put away an object. – Understand ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions. – Begin to use more complex sentences to link thoughts (e.g. using and, because). – Retell a simple past event in correct order (e.g. went down slide, hurt finger). – Use talk to connect ideas, explain what is happening and anticipate what might happen next, recall and relive past experiences. – Question why things happen and gives explanations. Asks e.g. who, what, when, how. – Use a range of tenses (e.g. play, playing, will play, played). – Use intonation, rhythm and phrasing to make the meaning 
clear to others. – Use vocabulary focused on objects and people that are of particular importance to them. – Build up vocabulary that reflects the breadth of their experiences. – Use talk in pretending that objects stand for something else in play, e.g. ‘This box is my castle.’