Task 3: Understand the Emotional and Social Development of the Early Learner
Guideline: As noted in the Merck Manual Home Health Handbook, "Emotion and behavior are based on the child's developmental stage and temperament. Every child has an individual temperament, or mood. Some children may be cheerful and adaptable and easily develop regular routines of sleeping, waking, eating, and other daily activities. These children tend to respond positively to new situations. Other children are not very adaptable and may have great irregularities in their routine. These children tend to respond negatively to new situations. Still other children are in between." Being aware of how young learners develop emotionally helps educators of young learners understand their young students. This task provides resources explaining how young learners develop emotionally.
Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning
This link is to the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning's (CSEFEL) website. As noted at its website, the center is focused on promoting the social emotional development and school readiness of young children birth to age 5. The center is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Head Start and Child Care Bureau. The Center is located at Vanderbilt University.
Children's Emotional Development is Built into the Architecture of Their Brains
This link at the Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child website is to a National Scientific Council on the Developing Child working paper on the emotional development in children. As noted at the website, this report presents an overview of the scientific research on how a child's capacity to regulate emotions develops in a complex interaction with his or her environment and ongoing cognitive, motor, and social development. It then discusses the implications of this research for policies affecting young children, their caregivers, and service providers.
Element 1: The Developing Early Learner
Purpose: Understanding the early learner's overall development lays the foundation for effective early language and literacy development. As early learners develop their language and literacy skills, cognitive abilities, emotional and social maturity, and physical capabilities, it is important to be aware these domains are all interconnected. This interconnectedness is a critical piece in the support of literacy and language development. Possessing such awareness may be helpful to teachers of early learners to enhance their teaching methods. Element 1 provides resources about the development of early learners and the role of family, caregivers, and first teachers with language and literacy development from birth through age eight.
Activity 1: Understand the Continuum of Child Development of the Early Learner
Activity 2: Understand the Role of Literacy in the Family
Element 2: Developing an Early Language and Literacy Learning Profile
Purpose: Understanding the status of early language and literacy in the early childhood care and educational environment at the community level is necessary to improve language and literacy development among early learners. Gathering information about the community helps members, including families, schools, and early childhood educators and caregivers, to understand the local landscape of early language and literacy.
Gathering information about the community is an important part of understanding the early childhood educational environment.
Activity 1: Build a Community Literacy Profile
Activity 2: Build an Early Child Care and School Literacy Profile
Element 3: The Foundation for Learning to Read and Write
Purpose: The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) defines early literacy as "what children know about reading and writing before they actually learn to read and write." This Element explores the foundation for learning to read and write, focusing on language development and emergent literacy skills.
Activity 1: Understand Language Development
Activity 2: Understand Emergent Literacy Milestones, Terminology, and Stages
Activity 3: Intentional Instruction to Enhance Language and Emergent Literacy Development
Element 4: Becoming a Reader and Writer
Purpose: This Element explores learning to read and write, focusing on the transitions from pre-school to Kindergarten and Kindergarten to first grade and the importance of a child-centered curriculum. Additionally, the Element delineates the research-based components of learning to read and write.
Activity 1: Transitions
Activity 2: The Learning Environment
Activity 3: A Child-Centered Curriculum
Activity 4: Reading Instruction
Activity 5: Writing Instruction
Activity 6: Creative Expression
Activity 7: Technology, Reading, and Writing
Activity 8: Teaching All Children to Read and Write
Element 5: Standards for Early Childhood Teaching and Learning
Purpose: Standards for early learning include those for educators of early learners, state-level early learning guidelines or standards, and applicable national standards. Educators of early learners need to be aware of the standards impacting licensure and instruction. This Element provides information about applicable standards impacting educators of early learners and their students.
Activity 1: Be Aware of Standards for Early Childhood Educators
Activity 2: Be Aware of Early Childhood Learning Standards
Activity 3: Align Curriculum and Instruction to Standards
Element 6: Building Support for Early Learning Programs
Purpose: Building support for language and literacy development of early learners involves the participation of parents and caregivers, the business community, local community groups, and educational and state governmental leaders. To promote and enhance early learner language and development, educators need to be aware of the role each group plays and how to communicate with them. This Element provides resources to help educators of early learners gain such awareness.
Activity 1: Develop Parent, Caregivers, and Community Support
Activity 2: Interact with Advocates and Policy Makers
Element 7: Using Data to Improve Early Learning Outcomes
Purpose: Formative and summative assessments and observations provide the basis for planning instruction, making adjustments, and refining future assessments. Assessment results show educators of early learners where changes need to be made in instructional approaches for groups of students or individual students. The assessment outcomes also show parents of early learners how their child is progressing. This Element explores how to use data to improve learning outcomes for early learners.
Activity 1: Use Multidimensional Learning Data
Activity 2: Use Data to Improve Instruction and Increase Learning
Activity 3: Inform and Collect Feedback from Constituencies
