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 connects these pieces with their teacher.[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 their self-development.
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]
Many strategies were listed 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?
Figure7.6: Careful planning will ensure that group times are just the right length.[4]
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, slowly shakes her head side to side, and looks 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 teacher 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 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.
1.0 Interactions with Familiar Adults
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
1.1 Interact with familiar adults comfortably and competently, especially in familiar settings.
1.1 Participate in longer and more reciprocal interactions with familiar adults and take greater initiative in social interaction.
2.0 Interactions with Peers
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
2.1 Interact easily with peers in shared activities that occasionally become cooperative efforts.
2.1 More actively and intentionally cooperate with each other.
2.2 Participate in simple sequences of pretend play.
2.2 Create more complex sequences of pretend play that involve planning, coordination of roles, and cooperation.
2.3 Seek assistance in resolving peer conflict, especially when disagreements have escalated into physical aggression.
2.3 Negotiate with each other, seeking adult assistance when needed, and increasingly use words to respond to conflict. Disagreements may be expressed with verbal taunting in addition to physical aggression.
3.0 Group Participation
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
3.1 Participate in group activities and are beginning to understand and cooperate with social expectations, group rules, and roles.
3.1 Participate positively and cooperatively as group members.
4.0 Cooperation and Responsibility
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
4.1 Seek to cooperate with adult instructions but their capacities for self-control are limited, especially when they are frustrated or upset.
4.1 Have growing capacities for self-control and are motivated to cooperate in order to receive adult approval and think approvingly of themselves.
Teachers can support children’s development of the social interaction foundations with the following:
Get to know and create a warm and secure relationship with each child
Be at the child’s level as much as possible
Initiate conversations with children about their activities and experiences
Describe what you see children doing with comments or questions that they can respond to
Provide specific feedback to children about their efforts instead of general words of praise
Show respect for cultural differences in your expectations of adult–child communication
Encourage children to see familiar adults as resources and become comfortable in asking for help and support
Model effective and respectful interaction by joining pairs or groups of children as they play and work together
Incorporate play materials that promote and encourage peer play
Suggest extensions for children’s cooperative play
Coach young children, step by step, as they learn conflict resolution skills
Use books, puppet stories, and group discussions to reinforce children’s social interaction skills
Plan for project work, based on children’s emerging interests, in pairs and small groups
Plan large-group gatherings with flexibility
Rehearse and prompt desired responses
Acknowledge positive choices
Build a sense of community through planned group experiences
Arrange spaces for focused small-group work and effective large-group meetings
Be thoughtful about group sizes
Prepare materials ahead of time
Incorporate nonverbal prompts to remind children of routines and expectations
Ensure that adult expectations for children’s behavior are developmentally appropriate
Move beyond rules to expectations to emphasize guiding principles or values
Enlist children’s participation in creating examples of school or classroom expectations
Focus on building a sense of classroom community
Refer children to each other, instead of to an adult, for assistance to facilitate connections [1]
Figure 7.8: How do you think these children are going to navigate this conflict of wanting the same thing? [2]
As children mature, they are able to better understand the perspectives of other people and can negotiate more constructively with peers to resolve conflicts.
Table 7.1: Developmental Sequence of Conflict Negotiation [3]
Level
Description of Level
Beginning level
Children can express to each other (using words, actions, or facial expressions) their own desires, but adults need to provide ideas for resolving disputes.
Next level
Children begin to use appropriate words and actions to express their perspectives and desires to each other and seek adults for help during disputes.
Next level
Children not only express their own needs and desires to each other during a conflict, but can suggest simple solutions based on their own perspectives.
Mature or proficient level
Children can consider each other’s perspectives when there is a disagreement and can suggest and agree on some mutually acceptable solutions.
Vignettes
Ju-Hye paints her palms and fingers with a rainbow of colors. With focused concentration, she slowly pushes her palm onto a piece of paper where she has already painted a “stem.” She lifts up her hand quickly. Ju-Hye smiles widely and then picks up her paper to show Ms. Betty, who is playing on the floor with two babies. Ms. Betty looks up and responds with a grin: “You finished your flower. You worked hard at mixing colors to make the color of green you wanted for your stem.”
Lucas stands close to his caregiver, Ms. Mai, who is sitting in the block area. Ms. Mai observes Lucas watching his peers at play as they build a large train. “This train is getting really big,” she comments to Lucas with a soft smile and a gentle hand on his back. Lucas nods his head slowly. “I wonder if Martin needs a helper. He said he is the engineer, but an engineer needs a conductor. Would you like to hand out and collect tickets?”
Lucas nods his head again and reaches for Ms. Mai’s hand as she gets up to move closer to the train. Ms. Mai provides Lucas with her hand and another reassuring smile. “You could let Martin know you want to help. Tell Martin, ‘I can collect the tickets.’”
Lucas pauses and then mumbles (or signs), “Martin, I can collect tickets.”
“You all look like you are having fun over here. Lucas wants to help too. Where are the tickets for Lucas to pass out to your riders?” restates Ms. Mai.
“Oh! Over there,” responds Martin, pointing over to the basket of torn pieces of paper.
“Thanks, Martin, for your help. Lucas, let’s go get the tickets and hand them to our friends. I think these builders will want to fill the train with passengers,” observes Ms. Mai excitedly. [4]
Pause to Reflect
One of the most challenging aspects of caring for and educating groups of young children is helping them develop socially appropriate ways to express themselves and get their needs met. How skilled would you be in helping children develop conflict resolution skills? Why?
Supporting Children’s Relationships
Relationships shape young children’s learning. From infancy, parent–child and family relationships guide and motivate children’s love for discovery and learning and provide a secure foundation for the growth of exploration and self-confidence. In the classroom, special adults and friends make preschool an inviting place for children. The teacher is a bridge for the child, connecting her to relationships at home and in the classroom. Young children’s close relationships contribute in concert to the growth of early learning.
Figure 7.9: These children are proud of the structure they built with blocks. [5]
Relationships
1.0 Attachment to Parents
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
1.1 Seek security and support from their primary family attachment figures.
1.1 Take greater initiative in seeking support from their primary family attachment figures.
1.2 Contribute to maintaining positive relationships with their primary family attachment figures.
1.2 Contribute to positive mutual cooperation with their primary family attachment figures.
1.3 After experience with out-of-home care, manage departures and separations from primary family attachment figures with the teacher’s assistance.
1.3 After experience with out-of-home care, comfortably depart from their primary family attachment figures. Also maintain well-being while apart from primary family attachment figures during the day.
2.0 Close Relationships with Teachers and Caregivers
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
2.1 Seek security and support from their primary teachers and caregivers.
2.1 Take greater initiative in seeking the support of their primary teachers and caregivers.
2.2 Contribute to maintaining positive relationships with their primary teachers and caregivers.
2.2 Contribute to positive mutual cooperation with their primary teachers and caregivers.
3.0 Friendships
At around 48 months of age
At around 60 months of age
3.1 Choose to play with one or two special peers whom they identify as friends.
3.1 Friendships are more reciprocal, exclusive, and enduring.
Teachers can support children’s development of relationships with the following:
Establish a warm and collaborative relationship with each child’s family
Talk with children regularly about their families
Create predictable arrival and departure routines
Communicate frequently with family members about children’s preschool activities, progress, and any concerns you have
Build and maintain a pattern of warm, nurturing interactions with each child
Encourage child–adult collaboration in learning
Plan a program that offers choices of activities and associations with peers
Provide spaces in the classroom that only accommodate two or three children
Use ongoing observations to inform your social structuring of experiences
Use books, puppet plays, and group discussions to identify and reinforce friendship skills
Communicate with children’s families about their preschool friendships and encourage out-of-school contact with school friends, if possible [6]
Figure 7.10: Supporting relationships like this one is an important part of an early educator’s work [7]
Vignettes
Tanya eagerly comes through the front door and greets caregiver Natalya with her news: “Ms. Natalya, we went to the fair last night, and I got to pet goats and sheeps and chickens, except Papa said to stay back from the ducks, because they have bills that can bite you fast!”
Ms. Natalya knelt down, and Tanya reached out to her. “Wow, Tanya! You sound really excited about your night at the fair. Did your whole family go, Grandpa too?” she asked, looking at Tanya’s papa, who had accompanied her to the family child care home. Mr. Terebkov smiled and nodded, responding that it had been an enjoyable but late night for all of them. Ms. Natalya prompted Tanya to hug Papa goodbye, and then Tanya reached for Ms. Natalya’s hand as they moved together into the play area. Ms. Natalya asked Tanya more about her favorite part of the county fair.
“No, you’re not!” shouts Michelle. “Yes, I am! I’m the Mommy!” screams Lily.
“Well, you are a Silly Pilly. You’re not my friend anymore,” counters Michelle, standing with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.
At Michelle’s words, Lily’s lip begins to quiver. Tears form in her eyes as she yells, “I am your friend! I am!”
Miss Sandra moves over to the confrontation, kneels between the girls, and says with concern, “You both look really upset. Something is wrong. Can you tell me what is happening?”
“She said I am not her friend!” exclaims Lily, trying to overcome her tears.
“She is being a mean-y pants. I don’t like her,” says Michelle.
“It sounds like both of you have hurt feelings. Being friends with someone means that sometimes we disagree and we get mad or sad. It sounds like that is happening right now. What can we do?”
“I am going to play with David,” huffs Michelle as she marches off.
Lily leans into Miss Sandra. Miss Sandra considers what she knows about each child’s temperament before responding: “It’s tricky sometimes with friends. Why don’t we take a little break from playing with Michelle? I’ll bet she will be ready to play when you both feel better.” Miss Sandra helps Lily get involved in a new activity and then makes a mental note to check with each child’s parent at departure time. [8]
Pause to Reflect
Separating from parents is challenging for both children and families. How can you support children and the adults to whom they are attached through this transition? Some of the strategies above are a great starting place.
