ABSTRACT
Students in preK-3 deserve rigorous learning experiences: In other words, their experiences should be challenging, achievable, and interesting to them. However, the inevitable idiosyncrasies of young children's development guarantee the students in any given classroom will vary in their academic and intellectual capabilities, their approaches to learning, their interests, their capacity for self-regulation, and their social skills. Tweaks allow teachers to fine-tune their lessons in ways that align them more tightly with their individual students' needs. Although the accommodations, modifications, or instructional supports provided to students who have Individual Education Plans (IEPs) or Section 504 plans are required by law, these adjustments can also be described as "tweaks" to the students in the class. Open-ended materials allow teachers to ratchet the complexity of a task up or down, to expand or contract the time frame for completing the task, and to customize the expectations in ways that make the task challenging, achievable, and interesting for each child.
