Early learning deeply engages the self. Most preschool children approach learning opportunities with enthusiasm and self-confidence, excited by the prospect of new discovery. Their successes (and occasional failures) shape their sense of what they can do and sometimes drive their efforts to acquire new skills. Their achievements and occasional disappointments also provoke the responses of others—adults and peers—that further influence children’s self-concept and self-confidence. Young children value learning for themselves because it is valued by the people who matter to them.
In a preschool program, learning is a social activity. Therefore, preschool children’s success in learning depends on their capacity to understand and participate constructively in the social environment. Early childhood is a period of rapid growth in social and emotional understanding in which the children’s capacity for empathy and caring is also developing. This is also a period of growth in self-regulation as young children are acquiring skills for sustaining their attention, focusing their thinking and problem-solving, managing their behavioral impulses, and controlling their emotions. Even so, lapses in self-regulation are as apparent as young children’s successes, and developmentally appropriate expectations for children’s self-control are essential.
Figure 7.5: This group of children is working together, with their teacher, to connect these pieces.[2]
Therefore, a thoughtfully designed preschool curriculum that supports social-emotional development devotes considerable attention to the direct and indirect ways that children’s classroom experiences shape the development of self.
The foundations for Self include those for self-awareness, self-regulation, social and emotional understanding, empathy and caring, and initiative in learning:
Self
1.0 Self-Awareness
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
2.1 Describe their physical characteristics, behavior, and abilities positively.
4.1 Compare their characteristics with those of others and display a growing awareness of their psychological characteristics, such as thoughts and feelings.
2.0 Self-Regulation
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
4.2 Need adult guidance in managing their attention, feelings, and impulses and show some effort at self-control.
2.1 Regulate their attention, thoughts, feelings, and impulses more consistently, although adult guidance is sometimes necessary.
3.0 Social and Emotional Understanding
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
4.3 Seek to understand people’s feelings and behavior, notice diversity in human characteristics, and are interested in how people are similar and different.
4.1 Begin to comprehend the mental and psychological reasons people act as they do and how they contribute to differences between people.
4.0 Empathy and Caring
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
4.4 Demonstrate concern for the needs of others and people in distress.
4.2 Respond to another’s distress and needs with sympathetic caring and are more likely to assist.
5.0 Initiative in Learning
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
4.5 Enjoy learning and are confident in their abilities to make new discoveries although may not persist at solving difficult problems.
4.3 Take greater initiative in making new discoveries, identifying new solutions, and persisting in trying to figure things out.
Teachers can support children’s development of the Self with the following:
Provide ample space, use child-sized shelves and furnishings, and adapt materials to make all learning areas and activities accessible
Designate learning areas to help children select preferred sites for exploration
Place active play zones away from quiet areas to better support children in their choices for play
Make use of adaptive tools and play materials to help the autonomous exploration of children with special needs
Observe individual children attentively during a variety of activities
Incorporate artwork and play materials that reflect children’s home cultures
Describe aloud for children observations of what they do and express as they play, explore, and participate in group activities
Compare aloud children’s past and present abilities as you observe them
Give specific feedback to children about their efforts
Use planned activities and children’s own observations to draw attention to people’s similarities and differences, including preferences and feelings
Set up opportunities to practice problem solving with children who have not yet developed those skills
Use appropriately stimulating aesthetic elements such as soothing colors, natural woods and fibers, and soft textures
Eliminate or reduce background noise to help children attend to what you want them to hear
Model behavior and attitudes that are warm, respectful, and caring
Maintain developmentally appropriate expectations for preschool children’s behavior
Guide and coach children’s behavior
Prompt and guide desired behavior
Reinforce children’s good choices and link their actions to positive outcomes
Provide a consistent but flexible daily routine
Alternate between active and quiet activities
Time group experiences to match children’s developing attention spans, social skills, and self-control
Introduce children to relaxation exercises
Plan developmentally appropriate transitions
Play games with rules periodically to help children learn to focus their attention and regulate their impulses in order to achieve a goal
Observe the levels of social and emotional understanding that children already have
Label the emotions people express and communicate with children about what may be provoking those feelings
Discuss characteristics openly and answer their questions about differences, being thoughtful to counter stereotypes by using concrete examples
Make use of the experiences and emotions of characters in stories
Acknowledge and express appreciation for children’s empathic responses
Encourage empathy and caring for the natural world, including plants and animals
Model curiosity and enthusiasm when you learn new things
Engage in play and exploration with children instead of simply supervising their activities
Provide ample time for free exploration, scheduling play and exploration periods of at least one uninterrupted hour at a time
Help children generate ideas for solving problems they encounter
Model persistence during challenging tasks; explaining that unsuccessful attempts to do something are not failures, but simply steps toward learning what will work[3]
Figure7.6: Careful planning will ensure that group times are just the right length.[4]Pause to Reflect
There were a lot of strategies listed to for teachers to help support children’s developing sense of self. What are the top five that stood out to you? Are there any that you are unsure about?
Vignettes
A child in a wheelchair enters the housekeeping area where three children are pretending to be a family. They have dishes on the table and dolls in the doll bed. The child in the wheelchair moves closer to the table and tries to join the play but cannot get close enough. After a few minutes, one of the children takes some dishes and puts them on the wheelchair tray. The two children play together. Mr. Luke comments, “I like your idea to use Andy’s tray as a table.”
Chloe cries in Ms. Julia’s arms. Ms. Julia pats her back softly and communicates in a soothing manner. “It sounds like that hurt. You can tell Paz you don’t like that. Say, ‘I don’t like that, Paz.’” Chloe tucks her injured arm in toward Ms. Julia’s body, shakes her head slowly side to side, and looks out warily at Paz. Paz stands close with her head lowered. “Chloe is upset because you pinched her arm. It hurt her quite a bit. Is there something you think we could do to help her feel better, Paz?” asks Ms. Julia.
Paz responds softly, “Sorry, Chloe,” and reaches forward to give Chloe a hug.
Chloe whimpers and clings more closely to Ms. Julia. “When a friend is hurt, giving a hug often helps. I guess Chloe isn’t ready for a hug right now. Thank you for trying, Paz. Maybe we can ask her again later.”[5]
Supporting Children’s Social Interaction
Group learning always involves social interaction. The ease and skill with which children interact with adults and peers (in a preschool classroom or family child care program) and the competence with which they assume their roles and responsibilities as group members significantly influence how they learn. The development of these skills in the preschool years is a foundation for children’s capacity to be socially skilled and competent classroom members in the primary grades.
For some children, unfortunately, difficulties in social interaction—because children are timid and inhibited, are aggressive or disruptive, struggle with being cooperative, or have physical or behavioral characteristics that often result in them being excluded—can pose significant obstacles to benefiting from social interactions with adults and peers. For them and for all children, attention to social interaction skills can be a significant contribution to preschool children’s learning in early childhood classrooms.
Figure 7.7: This teachers stays close to support children as they navigate the problem solving of both the computer program and working together.[6]
A thoughtfully designed preschool curriculum that supports social-emotional development devotes considerable attention, therefore, to the direct and indirect ways that classroom experiences shape the growth of children’s social interaction skills. This includes interactions with adults, peers, and in groups as well as cooperation and responsibility.
