Child develops trusting relationships with nurturing adults.
What educators might observe
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Interacts with significant adults outside of the family and classroom (e.g., speaks with the bus driver and cook)
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Seeks guidance from family members, educators, and other familiar adults
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Transitions into unfamiliar settings with the assistance of a familiar adult
Ways educators might support the child's development
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Assist children in sustaining interactions in play by modeling, cooperating, helping, and suggesting new ideas for play
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Help the child identify community members they can trust and ask for assistance (e.g., home visitors, mentors, older extended family members, or caring individuals within the community at large)
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Show interest in the child’s other interpersonal relationships (e.g., “What do you and Gus the bus driver talk about when he takes you home?”)
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Take time to do something that you know is special for the child (e.g., ask them to teach you some words in their home language)
Child experiences a sense of belonging in environments that link, extend, and affirm the child’s family and community. Child expresses comfort and joy with human diversity.
What educators might observe
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When a child’s home culture or experience differs from the dominant or mainstream culture, they may
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Reject their home culture and adopt the dominant one
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Reject dominant culture and insist on home culture
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Learn to adjust behavior and to become bi-cultural
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W hen a child’s home culture and experience has been affirmed, they may express pride in their racial, linguistic and cultural identity
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When a child’s home culture or experience aligns with dominant or mainstream culture, they may
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Internalize a false sense that they are “normal” or superior
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Prefers a child who speaks their own language or language variation as a friend
Ways educators might support the child's development
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Invite family members into the classroom and talk to them as part of a study of families, careers, or interests
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Engage families in conversations about their national and family origins to affirm positive social identities
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Record families telling stories in their home language and include them as part of your listening center/library
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Intentionally plan activities to counter potential overgeneralizations or existing stereotypes
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Engage children in conversation about unfair social differences, including wealth and power
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Model and explain accurate and appropriate vocabulary for different social groups. For example, name your own racial identity.
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Teach children about what causes differences in skin color using books like All the Colors We Are: The Story of how We Get Our Skin Color , by Katie Kissinger
Child develops a sense of self through noticing and developing their own interests, preferences, and abilities. Child increasingly develops self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities.
What educators might observe
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Identifies and expresses own interests, preferences, and abilities
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Confidently expresses likes and dislikes
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Has unrealistic positive overestimations of their own abilities
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Compares or contrasts self to others (e.g., physical characteristics, preferences, abilities, and feelings)
Ways educators might support the child's development
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Allow children to hold responsibilities within the classroom
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Provide opportunities for child to attempt new tasks without prompting or reinforcement
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Showcase children’s cultures, interests, and capabilities
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Create an art gallery of children’s work
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Use study examples and displays created by children
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Verbally reinforce children’s thinking process, capabilities, and accomplishments
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Enc ourage children to demonstrate and share their own uniqueness
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When doing introductions, invite all members of the community to share their gender pronouns along with their names “What words would you like us to use when we talk about you? When people talk about me, I like them to say ‘she/her.’
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Actively celebrate children’s marginalized social identities and validate their observations of injustice; acknowledge and talk about their healthy feelings of confusion, sadness, fear, and anger in individual, small group, and whole group conversation
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Explore feelings, confidence in one’s abilities, and identity using books like
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Katy and the Big Snow , by Virginia Lee Burton
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Be Boy Buzz , by bell hooks
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I Love My Hair! by Natasha Ana Tarpley
Child forms deep, caring, human connections by imagining what someone else may be thinking or feeling and responding with care. Child recognizes unfairness and understands that unfairness hurts.
What educators might observe
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Begins to recognize how own actions affect others
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Listens to viewpoints of others
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Offers support to another child or shows concern when a peer is upset (e.g., “I see you’re sad. Do you want to play with me?”)
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Develops their own theories about social inequities (e.g., why some groups of people tend to have more money and decision-making power than others)
Ways educators might support the child's development
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Acknowledge children’s ability to practice empathy (“I saw how you let Diego have the markers when he was upset. I bet you wanted the markers too, but you chose to help a friend.”)
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Throughout the year, talk to children about past and present injustices and social justice movements
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When children notice injustice in their classroom or community, engage them in group action to try to make things fairer
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Read books about kindness
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The Last Stop on Market Street , by Matt de la Peña,
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The Lion and the Mouse, by Jerry Pinkney
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The Big Umbrella , by Amy June Bates
Child navigates friendships with peers through cooperation and negotiation.
What educators might observe
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Shares, take turns, and cooperates in a group
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Listens to others’ ideas and wants; shares own ideas and wants
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Understands that sometimes you are a leader, and sometimes you are a follower
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Plays simple card games that require turn-taking and waiting
Ways educators might support the child's development
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Reflect with families about how they feel children should act toward their friends and siblings
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Consider peer placement during classroom activities; notice children who have been connecting with one another and place them together
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Read books about cooperation and negotiation
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Swimmy , by Leo Lionni
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Seven Blind Mice , by Ed Young
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Anansi the Spider , by Gerald McDermott
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Encourage peer partnerships, such as play partners or clean-up buddies
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Tell the folk story of stone soup and make stone soup together as a class; discuss the value of working together
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Include child-directed activities in the daily schedule in order to give children the opportunity to learn to cooperate and negotiate
Child expresses and manages their feelings and impulses.
What educators might observe
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Often expresses strong feelings in socially and culturally accepted ways
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Identifies emotions and uses words to describe them
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Describes why people may feel differently about the same situation
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Intentionally uses humor (e.g., begins to tell jokes)
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Begins to understand and explain reactions to certain circumstances
Ways educators might support the child's development
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Talk to families and colleagues about their expectations for children’s behavior; acknowledge contrasting or conflicting beliefs
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Try multiple strategies consistently to prevent child(ren)’s adverse feelings and impulses
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Verbally reinforce children’s attempts at self-control (e.g., “I see that you are mad. I am happy to see you take some deep breaths.”)
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Avoid removing the child from an activity or from the classroom as a consequence
Child follows the rhythms, rules, and routines of the learning environment.
What educators might observe
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Changes actions to meet expectations of different settings (e.g., takes off shoes at home but wears shoes at school)
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Applies familiar rules in new but similar situations (e.g., uses a quiet voice inside)
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Adapts to new environment by behaving and displaying emotions in expected ways (e.g., goes to a new friend’s house and is able to be calm, share, and take turns)
Ways educators might support the child's development
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Create rules that are manageable (3–5 classroom rules around safety, for example), ask for children’s input about the rules, and discuss what makes a strong rule
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Review the rules and classroom expectations regularly, at a time when things are calm
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Post rules in words and pictures
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Enforce rules and consequences consistently and fairly for all children
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Reflect about which children are most commonly disciplined in the learning environment; do these children belong to marginalized groups?
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Reflect with families and colleagues about how children may perceive the educator’s attempts to provide direction (e.g., Educator says, “Would you return to your seat?” and child perceives it as a question rather than a request)
