Notice and Recognise

Progress examples to help you notice & recognise a child’s progress.

Use the phases of progress (outlined below) to help you notice and recognise a child’s progress.

Children are curious and respond to different shapes and objects in their environment including in images, toys, nature and cultural artefacts, e.g. tukutuku panels, tapa cloth.
Children are curious about and explore shapes using their senses. They recognise and respond to familiar shapes and objects.
Children use their senses to explore and enjoy space and join in experiences involving movement and actions. They respond to movement through space, both independently and with others.
Children recognise and react to change in position or distance between people and objects of interest. They investigate spaces of various sizes and shapes.

Children recognise shapes and objects in play including familiar and repeated shapes in images, toys, nature and cultural artifacts, e.g. tukutuku panels, tapa cloth.
Children enjoy joining and separating shapes and objects in different ways. They explore how shapes move in space, e.g. they slide (translate), flip (reflect) and turn (rotate).
Children explore repeated movements related to direction and location such as forward, backward, over, under. They copy and repeat a sequence of actions such as in waiata and dance. They start to recognise the position of familiar people, places and things in relation to themselves.
Children explore position and distance between themselves, others and objects through games and physical activities. They understand and begin to describe position, e.g. there, or here, next to, behind, in front. They playfully create new spatial arrangements, placing objects in different positions.

Children explore a greater range of shapes and objects for different purposes. They notice and begin to select shapes based on similar features. They identify and describe differences and similarities in lines, shapes and objects such as straight or curved, circles or half circles.
Children design and build constructions as part of games and play. They combine and break apart different shapes for a specific purpose such as building a whare or repeating a pattern. Children use mathematical language to describe and compare features of shapes, e.g. bigger, more pointy, and may relate shapes to familiar objects.
Children move confidently and intentionally in spaces and independently explore movement involving equipment such as slides or swings. Children move themselves or objects to create combinations or patterns of movement, to solve problems and respond to directions of others.
Children communicate their ideas about position and distance between people, places and things, and reasons for positioning objects using directional language, e.g. runga/up, raro/down, roto/in, waho/out.

Children select and move shapes and objects with intent, creativity and purpose. They recognise and describe a shape in different positions, orientations, reflections and sizes.
Children use shapes and objects to create more complex constructions or patterns that, over time, they may extend in space or make more elaborate. They invite others to participate in building challenges, sharing materials and ideas. To plan and create constructions children may use images, drawings or digital tools and recount the process to others using spatial language to describe shape and position etc.
Children create sequences of movement with others. They support others to find and negotiate objects in space by providing instructions such as verbal directions or picture clues.
Children innovate and collaborate to explore position and distance between people, places and things. They use the language of direction, distance and position in games like hide and seek. Children follow instructions (spoken or visual) to locate an object, and they communicate location or position through drawings or maps. They use the language of comparison when communicating about space, position, movement, location and measurement, e.g. this is my highest jump.