Upper Elementary School-Aged Children

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

The Continuum of Development (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014) highlights some of the anticipated cognitive and social/emotional skills and milestones that children at this stage might experience. For example, most children develop a combination of both concrete and abstract thinking skills, as well as emerging understanding of symbolic concepts. Similarly, children in late childhood are also developing more complex social and emotional skills such as an increase in pro-social skills (i.e., using negotiation to resolve conflicts). These emotional and social developments signify their growing sense of self, the importance of peer relationships, and the evolving dynamics within their social networks (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2014).

Michelle Hancock’s (2016) video, Middle Childhood Social Emotional Development, describes some of the milestones you might experience.

A number of cognitive and social/emotional developmental milestones have been identified for upper elementary school-aged children. Click each heading below to learn more.