Within a classroom setting, adults have many expectations for young children and older students alike. While in school, children are expected to follow all adult directives across the school day across settings and staff. Children are expected to be kind and act appropriately with their peers. During group instruction time, such as morning meeting or a direct lesson, children are expected to sit with a calm body and quiet voice with eyes on the speaker and with no interfering behaviors such as playing with their laces or making faces at friends. Children are expected to respond to geeetings, make requests using polite words and good manners. Children are expected to try their best, at all times. They are not expected to be right at all times and that is why educators play such an important role. Finally, they are expected to have fun when appropriate.
I taught music in kindergarten, primary, and middle school, and for this question I am going to reference what I would expect from a kindergarten class (which corresponds to 4-5 years old in the schools which I have taught).
Children are expected to have an understanding of the concept of personal space. This should occur even earlier than kindergarten, but it is surprising how many children lack this skill by the time they reach kindergarten. Children must be able to stand in line without touching their peers or bumping into them. They must also be able to sit quietly without invading the space of others. In the classroom, this is easier, as the children have their individual desks and chairs. In a music room, where there are often benches or sometimes just a carpet, it is harder for the children to maintain some sort of organization. Some children sit on other children or constantly invade their space, such as by touching the other children's hair or their arms.
Children are also expected to have an attention span of around 25-30 minutes. Once again, this is easier with written/spoken activities but not as easy when dealing with instruments. Once instruments are brought into the picture, children are much more easily distracted. Children are also expected to understand verbal directions and respond quickly to teacher's instructions.
In kindergarten, children are also expected to have a number of fine motor skills. These include but are not limited to the following: having control over crayons and pencils and demonstrating this control by drawing details and coloring inside the lines, being able to write their names in capital letters, tying their own shoes, and dealing with zippers, buttons, and snaps on their clothing.
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