THE PRIMARY
SCHOOLER
MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
6 TO 12 years old
The stage where the child undergoes so many different
changes.
Physically emotionally, socially & cognitively.
Children in this stage receive LESS attention than those
children in infancy or early childhood.
PHYSICAL
DEVELOPMENT
PHYSICAL GROWTH DURING
THE PRIMARY SCHOOL YEARS
IS SLOW BUT STEADY
Physical development involves:
Having good muscles control and coordination
Developing eye-hand coordination
Having good personal hygiene and
Being aware of good safety habits
HEIGHT AND
WEIGHT
Height – two inches in a year
Weight – 6.5 lbs. or approx. 2.95kgs a year
Factors to consider:
Genes
Climate
Food
Exercise
Diseases /Illnesses
Medical conditions
BONES AND
MUSCLES
Childhood years are the peak
bone-producing years.
Because children’s bones have
proportionately more water
and protein-like materials and
fewer minerals than adults,
ensuring adequate calcium
intake help strengthening
MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Children in this stage loves to move
a lot they run, skip, hop, jump,
tumble, roll and dance.
Unimanual – require the use of hand
Bimanual – require the use of two
hands
Motor development skills include
coordination, balance, speed, agility
and power.
Coordination – series of movements organized and timed to occur in a particular
way
Balance – child’s ability to maintain equilibrium or stability in different positions
Static Balance – maintain in fixed position
Dynamic Balance – maintain while moving
Speed – ability to cover great distance in the shortest possible time
Agility – ability to quickly change or shift the body’s direction
Power – ability to perform a maximum effort in the shortest possible time
All this skills are vital in performing different activities, games and sports.
Development of these skills may spell the difference between success and
failure in the future endeavor of a child.
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
OF PRIMARY
SCHOOLERS
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
OF PRIMARY SCHOOLERS
Jean Piaget is the foremost theorist when it comes to
cognitive development. According to him,
intelligence is the basic mechanism of ensuring
balance in the relations between the person and the
environment. Everything that a person experiences is
a continuous process of assimilation and
accommodations.
JEAN PIAGET’S CONCRETE
OPERATIONAL STAGE
Concrete Operation is the third stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development. It spans from 7 to approximately 11 years, children
have better understanding of their thinking skills.
• Logic
Concrete operational thinkers, according to Piaget, can already
make use of inductive logic. Inductive logic involves thinking from
specific experience to a general principles. But at this age, children
have great difficulties in using deductive logic or using a general
principle to determine the outcome of specific event.
• Reversibility
One of the most important developments in this stage is an
understanding of reversibility, or awareness that can action can be
reversed.
Example:
Teacher: Jacob, do you have a brother?
Jacob: Yes.
Teacher: What is his name?
Jacob: Marjun.
Teacher: Does Marjun have a brother?
Jacob: Yes.
COGNITIVE MILESTONE
Elementary-aged children encounter developmental milestone. The
skills they learn are in a sequential manner, meaning they need to
understand numbers before they can perform a mathematical
equation. Up until age 8, a child learn new skills at a rapid pace.
Specifically, young primary school-aged children can tell left from
right. They are able to speak and express themselves develops
rapidly. By six, most can read words or combinations of words.
INFORMATION PROCESSING
SKILLS
Several theorist argue that like a computer, a human
mind is a system that can process information
through the application of logical rules and
strategies. They also believe that the mind receives
information, performs operations to change its form
and content, stores and locates it and generate
responses from it.
SOCIO-EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
The developmental theorist, Erik Erikson, formulated eight
stages of man’s psychological development . Each stage is
regarded as a ‘’psychological crisis’’ which arise and
demands resolution before the next stage could be
achieved.
Preschool children belong to the fourth stage of Erikson’s
psychological stage. Children have to resolve the issue on
Industry vs. Inferiority.
ERIK ERIKSON’S FOURTH
STAGE OF PSYCHOSOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
Industry vs. inferiority is the psychosocial crisis that children will
have to resolve in this stage. Industry refers to a child’s
involvement in situations where long, patient work is demanded to
them, while inferiority is the feeling created when a child gets a
feeling of failure when they cannot finish or master their school
work. In this stage, children, will most likely, have begun going to
school. School experiences become priority, with children so busy
doing school work.
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
One’s
self-concept is the knowledge about the self, such us beliefs regarding
personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals and roles.
Having a self-concept does not mean that a child thinks he is better than
others. It means that he like himself, feels accepted by his family and friends
and believes that he can do well.
Primary school children’s self-concept is influenced not only by their parents,
but also with the growing number of people they begin to interact with,
including teachers and classmates. Children have a growing understanding of
their place in the world.
SCHOOL YEARS
In the transition from pre-elementary to primary school, children
tend to become increasingly self-confident and able to cope well
with social interactions. The issues of fairness and equality become
important to them as they learn to care for people who are not part
of their families.
Building Friendships
Making friends is a crucial but very important of children’s social
and emotional growth.
Children, during this stage, most likely belong to a peer group.
Peer groups are characterized by children who
belong approximately to the same age group and
social economic status.
Primary school children prefer to belong to a peer
groups of the same gender. Many children use their
surroundings to observe and mingle with other
children. Some will see this as an opportunity to
make friends while others remain a bit of loner.
ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR
When children poke, pull, hit or kick other children when they are first introduced, it
is fairly normal. Children at this age are still forming their own world views and other
children may seem like a curiosity that they need to explore. Parents and teachers can
help children make friends. We can consider the following:
Expose the children to kid rich environments (e.g. playgrounds, park)
Create a play group in your class and let the children mingle with their classmates.
When your children hit other children, remind them that their behavior hurts others.
Coordinate with the parents and other teachers so that the children will have greater
opportunity to interact with other children.
SELF-CONTROL
Once children reach school age, they begin to take pride in
their ability to do things and capacity to exert effort. They
like receiving positive feedback from their parents and
teachers. This become a great opportunity for parents and
teachers to encourage positive emotional responses from
children by acknowledging their mature, compassionate
behaviors.
