PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION (PresEd) 19

Focus Questions
1.Why are models of early childhood education important?
2.Why are the basic features of early childhood education models, and
how are they alike and different?
3.What decisions do you need to make to select a particular early
childhood program as a basis for your practice?
4.How can you apply developmentally appropriate practice to your
practice of early childhood education?

Implementing
Early Childhood Programs:
Applying theories to Practices.

What Are Programs Of Early Childhood
Education?
When we talk about the program of the young children,
we mean the philosophy that guides teaching and learning,
the theories that underlie what is taught and how children
learn, and the curricula that guide the activities and
experiences provided for children.

The Growing Demand For Quality Early Childhood Programs
As of spring 2001, 7,700 early childhood programs
serving a half million children were accredited by the
National Association for the Education of Young Children
(NAEYC). These programs are only a fraction of the total
number of early childhood programs in the United States .

At this time, when the United States is once again discovering the
importance of the early years, the public wants early childhood professionals
to provide the following:
 Programs that will help ensure children’s early school success and that
they will help them succeed in school and life.
The inclusion of early literacy and reading readiness activities and
programs and curricula that will enable children to read on grade level in
grades one, two, and three.
 Programs that will help children develop the social and behavioural skills
necessary to help them lead civilized and nonviolent lives.

Child Care
Child Care is a comprehensive service to children and families that
supplements the care and education children receive from their families.
Child care is also educational. It provides for the children’s cognitive
development and helps engage them in the process of learning that begins at
birth.
Quality child care does not ignore the educational needs of young
children but incorporates learning activities as part of the curriculum.

Why is Child Care Popular?
Child care is popular for a number of reasons:
First, recent demographic changes have created a high demand
for care outside the home.
Second, child care is an important part of many politicians’
solutions to the nation’s economic and social problems.

MODELS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION:
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
High Scope Reggio Emilia
Head Start Child Care
Montessori

Program Main Features Theoretical Basis
High/Scope o Plan-do-review teaching-learning
cycle
o Emergent curriculum-curriculum
is not established in advance
o Children help determine
curriculum
o Key experiences guide the
curriculum in promoting children’s
active learning
 Piagetian
 Constructivist
 Dewey

Reggio
Emilia
o Emergent Curriculum-curriculum is not
established in advance
o Curriculum based on children’s interest and
experiences
o Project oriented curriculum
o Thousands Languages of Children-symbolic
representation of work and learning
o Active learning
o Atelierista ( Teacher trained in the arts)
o Atelier (Art/design studio)
 Piagetian
 Constructivist
 Vygotskian
 Dewey

Head
Start
Child Care
o Curriculum and program outcomes determined
by performance standards
o Broad spectrum of comprehensive services,
including health, administrative support, and
parent involvement
o Parents play a key role in program operation
o No national curriculum-curriculum developed
at the local level
o Comprehensive services
o Program quality determined by each program
o Each program has its own curriculum
• Whole Child
• Maturationist
• Intervention
approach to
addressing child
and societal
problems
• Whole child
• Maturationist

Montessori
o Prepared Environment support, invites and
enables learning
o Children educate themselves self-directed
learning
o Sensory materials invite and promote
learning
o Set curriculum regarding what children
should learn Montessorians try to stay as
close as close to Montessori’s ideas as
possible
o Multi-age grouping
o Students learn by manipulative materials and
working with others
o Learning takes place through the senses
• Respect for
children
• Educating the
whole child
• The absorbent
mind

Types of Child Care Purpose and Action
Family and relative care
Family care/ Family Day
care
Intergeneration Care
Children are cared for by grandparents, aunts, uncles, or other
relatives.
Child Care by family members provides child with the continuity and
stability parents desire for their children.
Child care is provided in a child’s own family, or in a family like setting.
An individual caregiver provides care and education for a small group
of children of his/her home.
Intergenerational child care programs integrate children and the
elderly into an early childhood and adult care facility. The programs
bend the best of two worlds: children and the elderly both receive
care and attention in a nurturing environment.

Center Child Care
Employer-sponsored
child care
Center Child care is conducted in specially designed and
constructed centers, churches, YMCAs, and other such
facilities.
The most rapidly growing segment of the workforce is
married women with children under the age of one. To
meet the needs of working parents, employers are
providing affordable, accessible, and quality child care.

Proprietary child care
Child care for children
with medical needs
Some child care centers are being run by corporations, businesses,
or individuals proprietors for the purpose of making a profit. Many of
these programs emphasizes their educational component and appeal
to middleclass families who can pay for the prosed services.
Providing care for the nations children is big business.
When children get sick, parents must find someone who will take care
of them or they must stay home. More and more programs are
providing care for children with medical needs, such as care when
they have illnesses (Both contagious and noncontagious ), broken
bones, and other health problems that keep them from attending
other regular child care programs.

Before and after
school care
Some child care centers are being run by corporations,
In many respects, public schools are logical places for
before and after school care. They have the administrative
organization, facilities, and staff to provide such care.
Many Taxpayers and professionals believe that schools
should not sit empty in the afternoons, evenings, holidays,
and summers.

Program In Action
RATIOS – Child adult ratios reflect our biological capabilities.
ACTIVITIES – By providing an environment with a range of self-directed
options, children are able to determine what skills they would like to develop and
work on.
SELF-CARE – The children are encouraged to ‘help themselves’ more and
more as their skills develop.
FOOD NUTRITION – An effort to ensure that the children are receiving the
best nutrients and are safe.

 SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT – We feel that the one ‘’job’’ of
children of their early years is to learn how to live in the world with others.
 INCLUSIVITY – It include children who are having disabilities.
 THE ENVIRONMENT – Built a ‘’school’’ using natural non toxic materials
and recycled materials and an environmentally friendly designs.
 FAIR COMPENSATION – (BFCC) is committed to paying a living wage to
the employees.
 RESOURCES – evolving and developing our program to improve the
services as well as enhances the resources.

High quality early care and education have influences that last over a
lifetime. Children who attend high-quality programs:
 Had higher cognitive test scores than other children from toddler
years to age twenty-one:
 Had higher academic achievement in both reading and math from the
primary grades through young adulthood.
 Completed more years of education and were more likely to attend a
four year college.
The Effects of Care and Education on Children

 Had above average scores on schools readiness tests and are
better able to express and understand language
 Scored better in receptive language ability
 Had better language skills than children in low quality child care
 Scored better in math ability than children in low quality care.
 Were better in math in all ages, from the preschool years through
second grade.

A Constructivist Approach
High/Scope Educational Approach is based on Piaget’s
cognitive development theory. The curriculum is geared to
the child’s current stage of development and promotes the
constructive process of learning and broadens the child’s
emerging intellectual and social skills.

Basic Principles and Goals of the High/Scope Approach
The High/Scope program strive to:
Develop in children a broad range of skills, including the problem solving,
interpersonal, and communication skills that are essential for successful living in a
rapidly changing society. The curriculum encourages student initiative by providing
children with materials, equipment, and time to pursue activities they choose. At the
same time, it provides teacher with a framework for guiding children’s independent
activities toward sequence learning goals.

The Five Elements of the High/Scope Approach
Active Learning – Teachers support children’s active learning
These ingredients are incorporated into learning contexts:
• Materials
• Manipulations
• Choice
• Words
• Support

Classroom Arrangement –The classroom organization of materials
and equipment supports the daily routine.
• 3 or more defined interest areas/centers
• A range of interesting materials
• Organized system for storage; labels

Daily Schedule – Considers developmental levels of children.
• Plan-Do-Review is incorporated in the schedule
• Inconsistent from day to day
• Balanced teacher/child initiated activities
• Children know about changes

Assessment – Teachers keep notes about significant behaviours that
help that better understand a child’s way of thinking and learning.
• Attributes of each child are observe and recorded
• Anecdotal records (C.O.R) are part of the report card
• Portfolios are used
• Teachers evaluate and plan on a daily basis

Curriculum – High Scope Curriculum comes from two sources:
Children’s interest and the key experience.
• Teachers are aware of the content to be learned
• Key experiences are used in math, language, the arts, social studies,
P.E etc.
• Time is spent each day focus using on content areas

A Daily Routine That Supports Active Learning
 Planning Time – It gives children a structured, consistent chance to express their ideas
to adults and to see themselves as individuals who can act on decisions.
 Key Experiences – Teachers continually encourages and support children’s interest and
involvement in activity.
 Work Time – The part of the plan-do-review sequence is generally the longest time
period in the daily routine.
 Clean-up Time – Children return materials and equipment to their labeled places.
 Recall Time – Final phase of the plan-do-review sequence.

The Montessori approach is attractive to parents and teachers for a number of
reasons.
1. Montessori education has always been identified as a quality program for
young children.
2. Parents who observe a good Montessori program like what they see:
orderliness, independent children, self-directed learning, a calm environment,
and children at the center of the learning process.
3. Some public schools include Montessori in their magnet programs, giving
parents choices in the kind of program their children will have at their school.

Respect Children and
their learning
Make children
the centre of learning
Encourages children’s
learning
Observe children
Prepare learning
environments
Introduce learning materials
and demonstrates lessons
Montessori
Approach

The Montessori Method in Action
3 basic areas of child involvement
1.Practical Life
2.Sensory Materials
3.Academic Materials

PRACTICAL LIFE
 Activities involved walking from place to place in an orderly
manner, carrying objects, learning self-care skills, and doing
other practical activities.
 Practical life activities are taught through four (4) different
types of exercises;
• Care of the person
• Care of the environment
• Social relations
• Analysis and control of movement

SENSORY MATERIALS
 Materials that are designed to train and use the senses to
support learning.
 One purpose is to train children’s senses to focus on some
obvious, particular quality.
 It helps make children more aware of the capacity of their
bodies.
 It helps sharpen children’s powers of observation and visual
discrimination.
 It increase children’s ability to think, distinguish, classify
and organize.

Materials for Writing and Reading
Ten Geometric Forms and Colored Pencil
Sandpaper letters

Movable Alphabet, with Individual Letters
Command Cards

Materials for Mathematics
Number Rods
Sandpaper Numerals

CHARACTERISTICS OF SENSORY MATERIALS
 Control of Error
 Isolation of single quality
 Active Involvement
 Attractiveness

ACADEMIC MATERIALS FOR READING, WRITING AND
MATHEMATICS
 Exercises using this materials are presented in a sequence that
support writing as a basis for learning to read.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
 Mixed-age grouping
 Self-pacing

Integrated
Curriculum
Active Learning
Montessori provides an integrated curriculum in
which children are actively involve in
manipulating concrete materials across the
curriculum- writing reading, science, math,
geography, and the arts. The Montessori
curriculum is integrated by age and
developmental level.
In Montessori classroom, children’s are actively
involved in their own learning. Manipulative
materials provide for active and concrete
learning.
MONTESSORI INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES

Individual
Instruction
Independence
Curriculum are activities should be
individualize for children. Individualization
occurs through children’s interactions with
the materials as they proceed as their own
rates of mastery.
The Montessori environment emphasizes
respect for children and promotes success,
both of which encourage children to be
independent.

Appropriate
Assessment
Developmentally
appropriate
practices
Observation is the primary means of assessing children’s
progress, achievement, and behavior in Montessori
classroom. Well trained Montessori teachers are skilled
observers of children and adapt at translating their
observation into appropriate ways for guiding, directing,
facilitating, and channelling children’s learning.
What is specified in developmentally appropriate
practices is included in Montessori practice. It is more
likely that quality Montessori practitioners understand,
as Maria Montessori did, that children are much more
capable than some early childhood practitioners think.

REGGIO EMILIA
A City in Northern Italy
Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994)

BELIEFS ABOUT CHILDREN AND HOW THEY
LEARN
• RELATIONSHIPS – Education focuses on each child and is conducted
in relation with the family, other children, the teachers, the environment
of the school, the community, and the wider society.
• TIME – Reggio Emilia teachers believe that time is not set by a clock
and that learning continuity should not be interrupted by the calendar

• ADULTS’ ROLES – Adults play a powerful role in children’s
lives.
 The Teacher – teachers observe and listen closely to children to
know how to plan or proceed with their work.
 The Atelierista – a teacher trained in the visual arts.
 Parents – are an essential component of Reggio and they are
included in the advisory committee that runs each school.

• THE ENVIRONMENT – the infant-toddler centers and school
programs are the most visible aspect of the work done by
teachers and parents in Reggio Emilia.
 The Physical Space – the arrangement of structures, objects
and activities encourages children’s choices, supports problem
solving and promotes discoveries in the process of learning.
 The Atelier – is a special workshop or studio, set aside and used
by all the children and teachers in the school.

• PROGRAM PRACTICES – cooperation is the powerful mode of
working that makes possible the achievement of the goals Reggio
educators set for themselves.
 Documentation – transcriptions of children’s remarks and
discussions, photographs of the activity, and representations of their
thinking and learning.
 Curriculum and Practices – Reggio is a process approach, not a
set curriculum to be implemented.

• CONSIDERATIONS
1. Its theoretical base rest within constructivism and shares ideas with
those of Piaget, Vygotsky, Dewey, Gardner and Diamond and the
concept or process of learning by doing.
2. There is no set curriculum.
3. Reggio Emilia approach is suited to a particular culture and society.

HEAD START
BASIC PRINCIPLES AND GOALS
The overall goal is to bring about a greater degree
of social and academic competence.
The philosophy is that children can benefit most
from a comprehensive, interdisciplinary program
that fosters children’s development.

Head Start goals provide for:
• The improvement of children’s health and physical
abilities
• The encouragement of self-confidence, spontaneity,
curiosity and self-discipline.
• The enhancement of children’s mental processes and
skills, with particular attention to conceptual and verbal
skills.

• The establishment of patterns and expectations of success
for children.
• An increase in the ability of children in their families to
relate to each other and to others in a loving and
supporting manner.
• The enhancement of the sense of dignity and self-worth
within children and their families.

Head Start Services
o Child Education and Development - Performance standards for education and
development for all children
o Services to children with disabilities - At least 10 percent of Head Start enrolment
must consist of children with disabilities.
o Parent Involvement/Family Partnership – Head Start has been dedicated to the
philosophy that to improve children's lives, corresponding changes must be made in
parents lives as well
o Health Services – Head Start assumes an active role in children's health
o Nutrition - Teach children how to care for their health.

Providing Head Start Services
Head Start services are provided to children and
families through a comprehensive child
development program

I pay attention to my students action and
feelings. I evaluate students using appropriate
and authentic measures. I used observation
and assessment to guide my teaching.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
GOAL
OBSERVATION AND ASSESSMENT

WHAT IS ASSESSMENT?
• Assessment is carried out to see what children and
young people know, understand and are able to do.
• Assessment is very important for tracking progress,
planning next steps, reporting and involving parents,
children and young people in learning.
• The ways teachers support and assess children's
learning and monitor progress and identify next steps
in learning.

• Assessment is the process of collecting information
about children’s development, learning, health,
behavior, academic progress and need for special
services in order to plan and implement curriculum
and instruction.
• The term assessment and evaluation are often used
interchangeably.

 Assessment is important for early childhood
professionals because of all the decisions they make
about children when teaching and caring for them.
 Like other teachers, you will be called upon every day
to make decisions before you teach, during your
teaching, and after teaching.
WHY IS ASSESSMENT IMPORTANT?

• All your assessment decisions taken as a whole will
direct and alter children’s learning outcomes.
• Assessment and its associated feedback are essential to
student learning. However, you may find that more of
your time is taken up with the areas of assessment
associated with quality assurance, rather than its
potential to support students' learning.

• Well designed assessment has numerous benefits aside
from the obvious one of providing a measure of
students' progress as it can be a means to engage
students with their learning. Ideally then, you should
aim to support active learning rather than
Assessment of Learning to ensure that the assessment
process is an integral part of your students' education.

PURPOSE OF ASSESSMENT AS IT RELATES
TO: CHILDREN
 Identify what children know
 Identify children’s special needs
 Determine appropriate placement
 Select appropriate curricula to meet children’s
individual needs
 Refer children and as appropriate, their families for
additional services to programs and agencies

FAMILIES
 Communicate with parents to provide information about
their children’s progress and learning
 Relate school activities to home activities and experiences
EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM
 Make policy decisions regarding what is and is not
appropriate for children
 Determine how well and what extent programs and services
children receive are beneficial and appropriate

 Identify children’s skills and abilities
 Make lesson and activity plans and set goals
 Create new classroom arrangements
 Select materials
 Make decisions about how to implement learning
activities
 Report to parents and families about children’s
developmental status and achievement
EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS

 Monitor and improve the teaching- learning progress
 Meet the individual needs of children
 Group for instruction
THE PUBLIC
 Inform the public regarding children’s achievement
 Provide information relating to students’ school wide
achievements
 Provide a basis for public policy(e.g., legislation,
recommendations, and statements)

WHAT IS AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT?
• Authentic Assessment is the evaluation of children’s
actual learning and the instructional activities in which
they are involved. The alternative would involve
evaluating children using goals and objectives that were
not part of their instructional program.

CHARACTERISTIC OF AUTHENTIC
ASSESSMENT
• Implementing authentic assessment strategies will help
ensure that the information you gather will be useful
and appropriate for all children. One of your
assessment goals should be to try and ensure that your
assessment is as authentic as possible.

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT:
 assesses children and their actual work. Some means
for achieving this goal are: work samples, portfolios,
performances, projects, journals, experiments and
teacher observations
 is going over the entire school year.
 is curriculum-embedded; that is children are assessed
on what they are actually learning and doing.

 is a cooperative process. Assessment involves many
persons- children, teachers, parents, and other
professionals. The goal here is to make assessment
child-centered.
 employs a number of different ways to determine
children’s achievement and what they know and are
able to do.

 takes into account children’s cultural, language, and
other specific needs.
 assesses the whole child rather than narrow set of
skills.
 is a part of the learning process.

METHODS OF ASSESSMENT
USING PORTFOLIO TO ASSESS
 Portfolios
-purposeful compilation of children’s work
samples, products and teacher observations collected
over time.

SOME CRITERIA FOR WHAT TO INCLUDE ARE:
 How will students participate in decisions about what to
include?
 Do the materials demonstrate student learning of
program and district standards and goals?
 Can you use the materials and products to adequately and
easily communicate with parents about children’s
learning.
 Do the materials include examples to positively support
students efforts and progress?

CHECKLISTS
-are excellent and powerful tools for observing and
gathering information about a wide range of student
abilities in all settings. It can be a regular part of your
teaching and can be used on a wide variety of topics and
subjects.

 Each checklist should contain the qualities, skills,
behaviors, and other information you want to observe.
 Make sure you arte observing and recording
accurately.
 File all checklists in students 'folders for future
reference and use.
 Use checklists as a basis for conferencing with
children and parents.
 Use the information from checklists to plan for small
group and individual instruction.

SCREENING
Give you and others a broad picture of
what children know and are able to do,
as well as their physical and emotional
status.

SCREENING INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
 Gathering information from parents about their children's health,
learning patterns, learning achievements, personal habits and
special problems.
 Conducting vision, hearing and speech screening.
 Collecting and analyzing data from former programs and teachers,
such as preschools and childcare program.
 Using commercial screening instruments to help make decisions
regarding children's placement in programs and need for special
services.

 Observation is one of the most widely used methods of
assessment.
 Professionals recognize that children are more than what is
measured by any particular standardized test.
 Observation is an authentic “means” of learning about children.
 Observation is the intentional, systematic act of looking at the
behavior of a child or children in a particular setting, program, or
situation.
USING OBSERVATION TO
ASSESS

METHOD PURPOSE GUIDELINES
OBSERVATION
”kid-watching” –looking at children in
a systematic way
Enables teacher to identify children’s
behavior, document performance and
decisions.
Plan for observation and be clear
about the purposes of the
observation.
AUTHENTIC
Is performance-based and is based on
real-life activities.
Helps determine if children are
applying what they have learned to
real-life situation (e.g. applying math
skills such as making changed.
Make sure that what is assessed
relates to real life events, that the
learner is involve in doing something,
and that instruction has been
provided prior to assessment.
ANECDOTAL RECORD
Brief narrative account of an event or
behavior.
Provides insight into a particular
reason for behavior and provides a
basis for planning a teaching strategy.
Record only what is observed or
heard ., should deal with the facts
and should include the setting (e.g.,
where the behavior occurs) and what
was said and done.

RUNNING RECORD
Focuses on a sequence of events
that occurs over time.
Helps obtain a more detailed insight
into behavior over a period of time.
Maintain objectivity and try to
include as much detail as possible.
EVENT SAMPLING
Focuses on a particular behavior
during a particular event (e.g.
behavior at lunch time, behavior on
the playground, behavior in reading
group).
Helps identify behavior during a
particular event over time.
Identify a target behavior to be
observed during particular times
(e.g. bullying during transition
activities).
TIME SAMPLING
Record particular events or behavior
at specific time intervals (e.g. five
minutes, ten minutes).
Helps identify when a particular
child demonstrate a particular
behavior. Helps answer the question,
“Does the child do something all the
time or just at certain times and
events.
Observe only during the time period
specified.

METHOD PURPOSE GUIDELINES
CHECKLIST
A lot of behaviors identifying what
children can and cannot do.
Enables teachers to easily observe
and check off what children know
and are able to do
Make sure that the checklist includes
behavior for the program and for
learning (e.g. counts from 1 to 10,
hops on the foot).
WORK SAMPLE
Collections of children’s work that
demonstrate what they know and
are able to do.
Provides a concrete examples of
learning, can show growth and
achievement over time.
Make sure that the work samples
demonstrate what children know
and are able to do. Let children help
select what items they want to use
as examples of their learning.
PORTFOLIO
Collections of children’s work
sample.
Provides documentation of a child’s
achievement in specific areas over
time. Can include test scores, written
work samples, videotapes, etc.
A portfolio is not a dumpster but a
thoughtful collection of materials
that document learning over time.
INTERVIEW
Engages children in discussion
through questions.
Children can be asked to explain
behaviors, work samples, or
particular answer.
Ask questions at all levels of Bloom’s
taxonomy to gain insight into
children’s learning at all level.

PURPOSES OF OBSERVATION
• Observation is designed to gather information on
which to base decisions, make recommendations,
develop curriculum, plan activities, and learning
strategies, and assess children’s growth, development,
and learning.
• Intentional observation is a useful, informative, and
powerful means for informing and guiding teaching
and for helping ensure that all children learn.

• Observation is one of the most frequently used
methods for finding out more about children.
Systematic observation each day will enable you to
meet children’s learning needs and be a more effective
teacher.
• Observing is an excellent way to find out about the
child’s behavior and how well he is learning.

• Determine the cognitive, linguistic, social,
emotional, physical development of children.
Using a developmental checklist is one way
professionals can systematically observe and chart
the development of children.

• Identify children’s interests and learning styles.
Today, teachers are very interested in developing
learning activities, materials, and classroom
centers based on children’s interests, preferences
and learning styles.

• Plan. The professional practice of teaching requires
planning on a daily, ongoing basis. Observation
provides useful, authentic, and solid information
that enables teachers to intentionally plan for
activities rather than make decisions with little or
no information.

• Meet the needs of individual children. Meeting the needs
of individual children is an important part of teaching and
learning.
• Determine progress. Systematic observation, over time,
provides a rich, valuable, and informative source of
information about how individuals and groups of children
are progressing in their learning and behavior.

• Provide information to parents. Professionals report to and
conference with parents on an ongoing basis. Observational
information adds to other information they have, such as test
results and child work samples, and provides a fuller and
more complete picture of individual children.
• Provide self-insight. Observational information can help
professionals learn more about themselves and what to do to
help children.

THE ADVANTAGES OF
GATHERING DATA
THROUGH OBSERVATION

 Enables professionals to collect information about children that
they might not otherwise gather through other sources.
Observation enables you to gather data that cannot be assessed
by formal standardized tests, questioning, and parent, and child
interviews.
 Is ideally suited to learning more about children in play setting.
Observation affords you the opportunity to note a child’s social
behavior in a play group and discern how cooperatively he/she
interacts with peers. Observing a child play gives professionals a
wealth of information about developmental levels, social skills,
and what the child is or is not learning in a play settings.

• Allows you to learn a lot about children’s pro-social behavior and
peer interactions. It can help you plan for appropriate and inclusive
activities to promote the social growth of young children.
Additionally, your observations, can serves as the basis for
developing multicultural activities to benefit all children.
• Provides a basis for the assessment of what children are
developmentally able to do. Many learning skills are developed
sequentially such as the refinement of large motor skills before
small motor skills. Through observation, professionals can be
determine whether children’s abilities are within a normal range of
growth and development.

• Is useful to assess children’s performance over time.
• Helps you provide concrete information for use in
reporting to and conferencing with parents.
Increasingly, reports to parents about children involve
professional’s observations and children’s work
samples so parents and educators can collaborate to
determine how to help children develop cognitively,
socially, emotionally, and physically.

EFFECTIVE WAYS TO RECORD
OBSERVATIONAL DATA

• Use post-it notes to record observation.
These can be easily added to student’s
notebook’s, folders, etc.

• Use tape recorders, videotapes, and digital
cameras to gather information. A problem with
using a tape recorder is you have to transcribe
your notes. Video recorders are probably best
reserve for group observations. On the other hand,
digital cameras are an excellent means of
gathering and storing

STEPS FOR
CONDUCTING
OBSERVATIONS

Step 1:
Plan for observation.
Why do you want to observe?
Example: Determine how
Diana is child with
disabilities is accepted by
peers.
Step2:
Conduct the observation.
Example: how children react.
What do they say and do to help.
Diana in her efforts to use materials
and centers in the classroom?
Step3:
Interpret the data.
Example: Reflect on your
observation. Write conclusion s and
make recommendations for what
you are going to do.
Step 4:
Implement the data.
Example: Rearrange the classroom
to accommodate Diana and her
wheelchair. Begin activities to help
children be more responsive to the
needs of others.

STEP1: PLAN FOR OBSERVATION.
Planning is an important part of the
observation process. Everything you do
regarding observation should be planned
in advance of the observation.

• Setting Goals for observation is a crucial part of the
planning process. Stating a goal focuses your
attention on the purpose of your observation.
Goals might:
Goal1:
To determine what modifications might be
necessary in the classroom to facilitate access to all
parts of the classroom.

Goal2:
To assess the development of pro-social
behavioral characteristics.
Goal setting sharpens your observation and
makes it more effective.

STEP2: CONDUCT THE OBSERVATION
While conducting a observation, it is
imperative that you be objective, specific, and
as thorough as possible.

STEP3: INTERPRET THE DATA
All observations can and should results in some
kind of interpretation.
Interpretation serves several important functions. First, it puts your
observation into perspective- that is, in relation to what you already
know and do not know about events and the behavior of your
children. Second, interpretation helps you make sense of what you
have observed and enables you to use your professional knowledge
to interpret what you have seen. Third, interpretation has the
potential to make you learn to anticipate representative behavior.
Forth, interpretation forms the foundation for the implementation,
necessary adaptations, or modifications in a program or curriculum.

STEP4: IMPLEMENT THE DATA
 The implementation phase means that you
commit to do something with the results or the
“findings” of your observation.

MAKING THE DIFFERENCE
• There are many ways to make a difference in
child’s life. As a teacher, each year you are
given the enormous honor of spending 8 hours
a day creating with in a child a burning desire
for learning.
• The use of various assessment tools provides
me with a wide range of knowledge about
each student.

• Some assessments can be as easy to use as a book
discussion to determine my students comprehension
or a game to show knowledge gained. Assessment
can also take the form of a Venn diagram for
comparison or a poster giving facts about the animal
students research.
• No matter how you choose to assess your students,
the most important thing to remember is that the
assessment is only as good as the teacher using it.

• Good assessments gather meaningful
information that enhances children’s learning.
• Creating an environment where learning
occurs is a huge key to successful students.

• We use these lifelong guidelines:
- Be truthful
- Be trustworthy
- Do your personal best
- Appreciate others
- Be an active listener

REPORTING TO AND
COMMUNICATING WITH
PARENT S

KEY POINTS:
• Effective communication is key to positive
partnerships with parents.
• Effective communication involves active
listening and clear, respectful speaking.
• When professionals and parents share
knowledge and experience, it’s good for
children’s wellbeing and development.

v
• Listening is the foundation of effective
communication.
• When you listen well, you get more information
about children and their families. You also get the
full benefit of parents’ in-depth knowledge of their
children. And you show parents that you value their
experience, ideas and opinions and take their
concerns seriously.
Here are some ideas for listening well:
• Let parents know you’re listening and interested by
nodding or saying ‘Uh huh’ occasionally.
Listening to parents

• Let parents finish what they’re saying before
you speak. Then summarize what parents
have said, and check that you’ve understood
correctly.
• Check on the feeling as well as the content of
what parents have said. For example, ‘Am I
right in saying that you felt upset when the
other parent told Taj to stop shouting?’

• Use open-ended questions to get more
information if you need it. Open-ended
questions give people a chance to expand on
what they’re saying rather than just saying ‘yes’
or ‘no’. For example, ‘What sort of things did
Taj do when he was being naughty?’
• Try to understand parents’ perspectives, even if
you disagree with what they’re saying. Put
yourself in their shoes. For example, ‘It sounds
like you felt judged as a parent’.

Speaking with parents
• In every interaction with parents, one of your goals is to
strengthen your partnership with them. You’re more
likely to achieve this goal if you consistently speak to
parents in a clear, respectful and considerate way.
Here are some ideas for this kind of speaking:
• Find and share the positives about a child’s learning,
behaviour and experiences. For example, ‘EJ did a great job of
sitting still for two minutes in class today. It’s a big step
forward for her’.
• Be open and honest. Give parents accurate information on
what you observe. For example, ‘After a couple of minutes,
EJ started pushing the child next to her’.

• Think before you speak, especially when
you’re talking with parents about difficult or
sensitive issues.
• Ask for parents’ input. For example, ‘How can we help
EJ learn to take part in group work without distracting
other children?’
• Let parents make the decisions. You can suggest ideas,
but it’s up to parents to decide what to do next. For
example, ‘We could try a behaviour chart. Or EJ could
start with short group activities and build up to longer
ones. What do you think?’

• If you’re not sure about what to say next or how to
say it, you don’t have to respond straight away. For
example, ‘I’d like to think about that more. Can I
get back to you tomorrow?’
• Use ordinary, everyday language that parents can
understand. Parents are likely to find professional
jargon daunting and alienating, so it’s best avoided.

Raising concerns with parents
As a professional, there might be times when you need to
raise concerns with parents about a child’s behaviour,
wellbeing or development.
• A problem-solving approach will help you and parents work
together to address concerns. This approach involves:
• identifying the problem
• brainstorming as many solutions as possible
• jointly evaluating the pros and cons
• deciding on a solution to try
• putting the solution into action
• reviewing the solution after a period of time

• Prepare for conversations about difficult issues. This is because
parents can feel upset and stressed by these conversations. If
you think ahead about what you need to say and about the most
sensitive and respectful way to say it, it can help your
discussion go well.
• Try to schedule a time when parents are most available. For
example, if you’re a child care educator or a teacher, this might
be at pick-up and drop-off times. Or it might be best to call
parents during the day.
• Discuss concerning behaviour without judgment. Try to focus
on facts and whether the behaviour is appropriate. For
example, ‘Ben drew on the wall and said that another child did
it. This behaviour isn’t OK’.

• Explain what might contribute to the behaviour. This can help
you and parents work out how to change the behaviour. For
example, ‘Starting school can be challenging. Children often
feel worried about getting into trouble’.
• Check what parents think about the issue. Remember that
perceptions of what’s appropriate can differ between cultures or
contexts. For example, ‘How does your family handle it when
children don’t tell the truth?’
• Offer realistic strategies suited to each family. For example, if a
child needs to make new friends but she gets stressed in public,
parents might start by inviting other children for playdates at
home.

• When parents raise concerns with you, the basics of listening and
speaking still apply. And respect and sensitivity are still key to
effective communication.
• Also, if you focus on the issue that parents are raising
and remember that your shared goal is supporting their child,
it can help you avoid defensiveness or justifications.
• Sometimes the best way to help is simply listening to parents.
Parents might just need to feel that their concerns have been
heard. You don’t always need to look for a solution straight away.
Dealing with concerns that parents raise

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES IN THE ASSESSMENT
OF YOUNG CHILDREN
ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
HIGH-STAKES TESTING
Occurs when standardized tests are used to
make important, and often life-influencing,
decisions about children.
AT-HOME TESTING

Activities for Professional
Development

Peer Coaching
• Teachers and school and administrators solicit and
receive feedback about their practices after being
observed by a peer or other observer.
• Observation and assessment encourage educators
to reflect on their everyday professional lives.
• Reflective writing and discussion allow educators to
develop ideas that can be integrated into their
evolving personal pedagogy and professional

Mentors and Mentorship
Mentoring is a confidential process through
which an experienced professional provides
another with information, support, feedback
and assistance for the purpose of refining
present skills, developing new ones and
enhancing problem solving and decision
making in a way that promotes professional
development.

Classroom/ School Visitation
Teachers visit the classrooms of
colleagues to view innovative
teaching practices and expand and
refine their own personal pedagogy.

Conferences
It can provide very effective
professional development
opportunities, particularly when
they are part of a teacher’s ongoing
professional development plan.

Continuing Education
• Enrollment in formal degree programs,
courses, or workshops
• Pursuing certificates, accreditations or
other credentials through educational
programs.

25 reasons to be proud
• It is a positive activity that will have you all talking about
the things that are working well in your school.
• Activity:
After teachers have individually identified the reasons they
are proud of their school, a master list of the top 25 reasons
can be compiled.
The master list can be signed by all of the teachers and
building administrators and displayed so that students,
parents, and visitors become aware of all the good things
happening at the school.

THE PRESCHOOL YEARS:
GETTING READY FOR SCHOOL
CHAPTER 7
PREPARED BY:
JENNELYN ILAGAN & BEVERLY VANGUARDIA

 Professional development goals are specialized plans that are chalked up
to help you achieve certain objectives. These goals are generally specific
in nature and cater to the unique career path you have chosen.
 Children need a safe, secure environment with caring, consistent
relationships and positive role models.
Professional Development

 Is to allow your child to have an enriching year that builds solid skills
for reading, writing, and math. But more importantly, we both want
your child to develop self- confideance and a love for learning!
Goal

10 teacher professional development goals that can not
only help lead to a pathway of success, but can also
help our students.

1.Avoid Teacher Burnout
- this goal is the hardest, because
teachers are natural born “givers”, and the
idea of taking time for yourself seems
unrealistic or senseless.

2. Give Students Some Reign
- in a traditional classroom, the teacher
is always in control, so for many of you, the
thought of giving up that control can be a little
scary. It gives students a sense of confidence
and pride in their work. It also gives them a
sense of purpose and motivation. Ease into this
goal by giving students a few options to
choose from.

3. Integrate Tech Tools
-many teachers have great
intentions to use more tech tools, but
somehow never seem to get around to
actually implementing. The more your
students are exposed to technology, the
better they will get at using it for their
future.

4
4. Involve Parents More
-every teacher wants to get
parents involved more, but
oftentimes day-to-day tasks prevent
teachers from doing so. Now is the
time to invite parents to actively
participate in their child’s
education. Encourage parents to
come in and volunteer.

5. Create an Online Presence
-creating an online presence can
mean joining in on conversations with your
fellow colleagues, creating your own
teacher blog, or creating a website with your
students. It means that you are actively
involved in the tech world and people know
you.

6. Cultivate Relationships with
Colleagues
- some of you may already
know this, but for those of you that
don’t, cultivating a relationship with
your colleagues can have a major
impact on your teaching career. Take
time to nurture these relationships
because these people may turn out to
be like family.

7.Incorporate Mindfulness
- all you have to do to get started
is to be in the present moment, that’s
it! Take a moment to be in the
moment, bring your mind back to what
you are currently doing.

8. Encourage More Play
- you have probably read a lot about the benefits of play and how it’s essential
in a child’s development, but maybe you struggle to incorporate it into your daily
routine.

9. Make Learning Fun
- let’s face it, learning can be boring. Make it fun by turning worksheets into
games and lessons into experiments. Take learning outside and give your students
more choices. Make it your mission to make learning fun each and every day. If you
think the lesson is boring, imagine if you were the student who had to do it. Put
yourself in your students’ position and think about how you could make it fun.

10. Reflect
- self-reflection can be a powerful
tool that can really transform your teaching.
Start a journal and reflect upon each lesson
and your day. Then find a way to implement
positive changes into your lessons. You will
find a deeper understanding of not only
yourself, but your teaching. This
information can only benefit you in your
life and career.

Preschool is an early childhood program in which children combine
learning with play in a program run by professionally trained adults.
Children are most commonly enrolled in preschool between the ages of
three and five, though those as young as two can attend some schools.
Preschools are different from traditional day care in that their emphasis
is learning and development rather than enabling parents to work or
pursue other activities
PRESCHOOL

Types of Preschool Programs
PRIVATE SCHOOL
 Private preschools operate as for-profits, independent nonprofits, and
programs sponsored by religious organizations. Most are part-day
programs. Some so-called lower schools are affiliated with private
schools and maintain an educational philosophy in accord with the
parent institution.
 Though the margin is small, private preschools still claimed the majority
of total preschool enrollment in 2001. The educational quality of private
preschools varies from program to program. Regulation is primarily by
state child care agencies, but the arrangement varies from state to state.

PUBLIC PRESCHOOLS
 A growing number of states have started to fund preschool programs
offered at public schools, called pre-kindergarten (or pre-K) programs.
They may be administered by the local school board or by an
independent contractor paid by the state. Like private preschools, they
may operate for a full day or just half a day.

What is Preschool?
The preschool years are characterized by high energy,
extreme curiosity, soaring imagination, and excessive creativity.
Healthy preschoolers enjoy taking risks with anything which
challenges their mind and body.

 A rich learning environment that teaches reading, math, and social skills
 High quality care for young children
 Gets children used to schedule
 Teaches school behaviors
 Encourages socialization
 Teaches life skills like patience, manners, independence, kindness, etc.
 Safe place for children

Qualities of a good preschool
•opportunities to learn persistence when working at tasks,
direction following, and good listening skills
•focus on language and literacy skills, as well as interactive
book reading
•emphasis on teaching children problem-solving skills
•helping children expand their knowledge and increase their
vocabulary

• opportunities to learn beginning skills involving the alphabet, numbers, and
spatial awareness
• focus on scientific thinking skills as well as information about the everyday
environment, the world, and how things work
• emphasis on teaching early literacy and mathematics through a variety of
activities and projects
• opportunity for preschoolers to engage in music, art, and dramatic play
• educational program in which parents are involved and have opportunities to
watch and take part in classroom activities

Advantages of preschool
 many children who attend high-quality
preschool programs have their lives changed
for the better. In the first five years of life,
children acquire the basic capabilities that
prepare them for later success in school and
life.
 many studies show that high-quality
preschools improve achievement, behavior,
and school readiness for economically
disadvantaged children.

Disadvantages of preschool
 the greatest academic and social progress seen in preschools is in children
from deprived backgrounds. However, few programs have the quality
necessary to bring about the benefits promised. The costs of a high-quality
program can be far greater than the costs of education at some public
universities.
 Most children in preschool, however, are not disadvantaged, and some
researchers believe the same gains can be had at home by providing
educational toys , games and books for the child. In some preschools, the
emphasis on groups might mean that children will not receive the
individual attention they require.

 some believe that what children need most is lots of play
and free time and close interaction with their parents,
something that may be compromised if the child is away
from home for long periods of time.

Common problems
• inattention to established rules and regulations (Schools should have
clearly established written guidelines for everything from operating
hours to managing emergencies.)
• lack of a sick-child policy (The preschool should require both staff
and children to have current immunizations and regular checkups.)
• indicating they are hiding something, schools that balk at parents
dropping by unannounced

•schools that either have no structure whatsoever or a
structure that is inflexible
•lack of age-appropriate activities and toys
•an underqualified staff
•negative reactions from other parents
•large class sizes
•dirty, unsafe facilities
•an expired license
•schools that promise to put a child on an academic
fast track

Preschoolers:
 lose baby fat
 have improved motor coordination which allows them to
participate in locomotor activities with more confidence;
 have more awareness of what they
can and cannot do:
 use activities to explore relationships
between themselves, space, and objects in
space:
 participate in fine motor activities such
as cutting, pasting, and coloring.

Cognitive Development
• Preschoolers are in Piaget’s preoperational stage of cognitive
development.
The following are characteristics of the preoperational stage:
 children will be able to use symbols;
 children will not be able to reverse mental actions;
 children will focus on one thought or idea to the exclusion of others;
 children will not understand that quantity does not change simply because
appearance changes;
 children will be egocentric.

Preschoolers’ Social and Emotional
Development
Preschool children are in Erickson’s initiative vs. guilt psychosocial
stage of development. Children develop initiative by doing things
and
being involved in activities.
• Teachers should include ways for preschool children to develop
initiative during instruction.

Preschool children also learn self regulation, which is the ability to
• control emotions
• control behaviors
• delay gratification
• build social relations with others.

School Readiness Skills and Dispositions
 Approaches to learning
• Curiosity/ initiative
• Persistence
• Attention.
• Self-direction
• Problem solving
• Creativity

School readiness refers to the extent to which a child possesses the
knowledge, skills, and abilities to be ready for learning and school success.
Readiness for kindergarten focuses on preschoolers knowledge, skills, and
abilities in the following areas:
 Kindergarten academics
 Self regulation
 Self-care and motor skills
 Social expression

 Standards
statements of what preschoolers should know and be able to
do
 Preschool goals and learning standards
being set by state departments of education,
 Preschool curriculum
more academic focused.

Preschools are currently viewed as places
where preschoolers are prepared for
kindergarten. Academic skills (reading,
writing, math), along with social skills are
stressed in preschool.

 Thirty-eight state departments of education provide preschool
standards for programs within their states. Standards are explicit
statements of what preschoolers should know and be able to do
before they enter kindergarten.
 Subjects for early learning standards include mathematics, literacy,
science, social studies, fine arts, health, and safety.
 Since they set required standards, states are now in control of
setting preschool curriculum.

Play has been central to preschool programs.
The value of play in children’s learning and
development has been promoted by a number
of theorists, including:
 Froebel (who first promoted the idea)
 Piaget
 Dewey
 Vygotsky

When implementing the curriculum through play, teachers
should:
Provide a time for play as a legitimate part of the curriculum;
Supervise and participate in play activities;
Observe children while they play;
Make sure the indoor and outdoor learning environment is
structured so that children will learn through play;
Provide developmentally appropriate materials and
equipment for children;
Attend to indoor and outdoor safety;
Ask children questions about their play.

Socio Play
Functional Play
Symbolic Play
Free/ Informal Play
Sociodramatic Play
Outdoor Play

 Opening activities
 Group meeting/planning
 Learning centers
 Bathroom/hand washing
 Snacks
 Outdoor activity/play/walking

Bathroom/toileting
Lunch
Relaxation
Nap time
Centers or special projects
Group time
Good-bye time

 Environments and experiences that encourage active, playful exploration and
experimentation
 Purposeful teaching to help children gain knowledge and skills
 Specific support for children learning English
 Specific accommodations and adaptations for children with special needs
 For children to attain the knowledge and skills in the PLF, programs must work to
provide appropriate conditions for learning and individually assist each child in
her learning and development.

Physical Accommodations
Children’s Emotional States
Types of Materials
Balance of Activities
Health and Safety Philosophy and
Goals

 Literacy Development
 Written Curriculum
 Daily Plans
 Adult-Child Ratio
 Staff Interaction

 Guiding Behavior
 Gender and Cultural Needs
 Outdoor Activities
 Mealtime
 Staff Turnover
 Staff Education

 Director Qualifications
 Staff-Adult Relationships
 Cost and Affordability
 Parent Satisfaction
 Hours and Services
 Emergency Care III Children

Children need time
each day to play,
read, eat, interact
and engage with the
world around them.
Designing your
schedule and space
to support effective
routines helps
promote children’s

The Preschool Daily Schedule
8:50 to 9:00 – Welcome
I greet the children as they come into the
classroom. They hang up their backpacks, bring in their
daily folders and water bottles, then sign in.
9:00 to 10:30 – Developmental Learning Centers
I used to allocate about an hour for centers, but last
year I added more time. I absolutely loved having that
extra time for the kids to explore and learn.

10:30 to 11:00 – Snack
Around this time, I usually take the children down to the restroom as a group. All of
the children wash their hands before snack. Then it’s on to snack time together.
If they’re done early, they’re allowed to choose from a few “quiet choices” (reading,
writing, drawing, puzzles, etc.).
11:00 to 11:30 – Playground
The “big” pre-k kids get to use the playground for free play during
this time. We do movement and gross motor play inside if we
can’t go outside.
11:30 to 11:50 – Circle Time
This is when we get together as a whole class. We do the
calendar, talk about the weather, and say the Pledge. I usually
read a book during this time.

Know
Preschool children are very sensitive to their settings, and
their behaviors and interactions with other children and adults
are often different in different situations (Vitiello, Booren,
Downer, & Williford, 2012). This means that preschool-age
children are likely to have different learning experiences when
involved in different types of activities. To help preschool
children develop all of the diverse skills they need to succeed,
they should be exposed to different settings and activities
throughout the school day.

Ingredients of an Effective
Schedule
1. Free-Choice Time
Children need many opportunities to engage in play and
to follow their interests. An easy and effective way to
provide these opportunities in the preschool classroom is
to give children free-choice time. Free-choice time is time
during the school day in which children make their own
choices about what activities they engage in. Typically,
this involves children choosing to play at one or more
interest areas in the classroom.

2. Outdoor Time
Like indoor free-choice time, outdoor time is also an
important part of the preschool day. Outdoor time is similar
to free-choice time as it often allows children to direct their
own play and learning and to follow their interests.
3. Large-Group Activities
Preschool children also benefit from large-group activities
that are initiated by a teacher. These activities involve
instruction or discussion focused on building children’s
academic and social skills.

This time provides an opportunity to read stories to the group, sing
songs, discuss the daily schedule or calendar, and encourage
children to share special events, welcome a guest visitor or new
child and build classroom community.
4. Small-Group Activities
Small-group activities offer a chance to focus on important learning goals
in a personal setting. These types of activities are ideal for promoting
children’s active engagement. Wait time is reduced because fewer children
are involved, and children get to spend more time actively manipulating
materials. Small-group activities also allow children to interact with their
peers combined with one-on-one attention from the teacher.

5. Transitions
Transitions are unavoidable in preschool classrooms.
There are times during the day when children must stop
one activity and start another, for example, cleaning up
interest areas and lining up to go outside. Transitions are
often a difficult part of the preschool day, and child
engagement can be low during this time (Vitiello et al.,
2012).

6. Routines
Routines are an important part of the classroom day.
Routines in preschool classrooms include things such as
arrival time, bathroom time, cleanup time, naptime and
departure time. Many routines, such as meals or group time,
are necessary and helpful to building a consistent classroom
community. Planning is the key to successful routines.
Routines should match the child’s stage of development. For
preschool children, this means that routines should support
children’s developing abilities to do things on their own but
should not be too complicated for preschoolers to learn and
remember.

Indicators of a Good-Quality Preschool
Program Include:
 Physical Accommodations
 Children’s Emotional States
 Types of Materials
 Balance of Activities
 Health and Safety Philosophy and Goals
 Literacy Development
 Written Curriculum
 Daily Plans
 Adult-Child Ratio
 Staff Interaction

 Guiding Behavior
 Gender and Cultural Needs
 Outdoor Activities
 Mealtime
 Staff Turnover
 Staff Education
 Director Qualifications
 Staff-Adult Relationships
 Cost and Affordability
 Parent Satisfaction
 Hours and Services
 Emergency Care III Children

Quality preschool programs
When it comes to early childhood education programs, quality is
critical. High-quality preschool gives children a strong start on
the path that leads to college or a career. Research shows that
all children benefit from high-quality preschool, with low-income
children and English learners benefiting the most. A substantial
number of studies demonstrate the benefits of high-quality pre-k
programs.

The Building Blocks of Quality
Comprehensive early learning standards
and curricula
High-quality programs have curricula that are based on
comprehensive early learning standards, address the
whole child, are developmentally appropriate, and are
effectively implemented.
Appropriate child assessments
High-quality early childhood education programs assess the
whole child.

Professional knowledge and skill
Strong programs ensure that staff know how to support
children’s learning and development.
Ongoing support for teachers
Coaching and mentoring can improve teaching
quality.
Support for diverse learners
High-quality early learning programs meet the needs
of all students, including English learners and
students with special needs.
Quality rating and improvement systems
Many states use a QRIS to improve the quality of early
education programs.

Professional knowledge and skill
Strong programs ensure that staff know how to
support children’s learning and development.
Ongoing support for teachers
Coaching and mentoring can improve teaching quality.
Support for diverse learners
High-quality early learning programs meet the needs of
all students, including English learners and students
with special needs.
Quality rating and improvement systems
Many states use a QRIS to improve the quality of early
education programs.

Meaningful family engagement
High-quality programs engage families in meaningful
ways.
Appropriate class size and teacher-student
ratio
The most successful preschool programs have
small class sizes and low teacher-student ratios.
Comprehensive program assessments
Exemplary early childhood systems assess program
quality in terms of both structure and classroom
interactions.

Good kindergarten programs:
o Support and encourage all children, regardless of prior preschool experience,
culture, language, ability, or disability.
o Use teaching practices that are challenging but appropriate for kindergarten-
aged children.
o Encourage children’s enthusiasm about learning.
o Provide a balanced curriculum with activities in language arts, mathematics,
science, social studies, art, and physical education.
o Invite parents to participate in their child’s education.

Successful Transistion
Preschoolers on their way to Kindergarten Strategy
1: Practice cues, routines, activities Prepare the child for new
routines: Gradually introduce new songs, fingerplays, objects,
and bathroom procedures. Visit the new setting to identify both
familiar and unfamiliar cues and routines. Regularly implement
some of the upcoming routines into present experiences:
Remember children’s developmental capabilities. Lining up can
be different for preschoolers - make it a game and make it short.
Create games that require balancing objects on cafeteria trays.
Explain to parents how they can introduce cues such as songs or
hand signals.

2: Talk about transition Talk about what will remain the
same and what will change: Show children what activities
they will also do in kindergarten. Point out staff members
who they will still see. Take pictures of the new setting - talk
about it at home and at school. Discuss the children’s
feelings: Use books about change and transition to start
discussions. Use baby pictures of children to talk about
changes and accomplishments.
3: Test out new behaviors Use play: Provide props from the new setting for dramatic play.
Use puppets to introduce new staff - have children talk with them. Practice skills at home
and at school: Have a cafeteria tray day. Integrate practice of self-help skills into daily
activities. Practice calling home from the school’s office. Invite classmates home to play.
Schedule activities with other classes.

5 Critical Elements or keys to successful transition for young children as they
move from home or preschool to kindergarten.
1.Create and promote connections and relationships within the community.
2.Maintain ongoing communication and cooperation between preschool and kindergarten
staff.
3.Prepare children for the transition.
4.Involve parents in the transition.
5.Provide program continuity through developmentally appropriate curriculum for
preschool and kindergarten children.

The future of preschool education
Early childhood care and education (ECCE), as defined
by UNESCO, is the “holistic development of a child’s
social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs in order to
build a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and
wellbeing.” We know these experiences shape young
learners minds, attitudes and often behaviors.

Many early childhood education programs help develop social
and emotional learning, engage students in place-based
education and start to develop core academic and readiness
skills, while others fail to meet those marks. High-quality early
learning programs are also often out of reach to families due to
cost or access (we’ll dive deeper into this subject as well as the
changing trends and demographics that shift the need and
demand for early learning programs).

1. ECCE promotes brain development and has positive long-term economic
benefits
2. Developing 21st Century Skills in early learners helps prepare them for
success in school and life.
3. ECCE can make a positive difference in the lives of young children.
4. Age-appropriate use of technology can enhance learning
5. Uneven access.

Activities for Professional Development
Within the scope of a professional growth plan, teachers and school administrators
can undertake a range of professional learning activities including reading
professional journals, trying out new practices in the classroom and joining
professional organizations. Below is a list of professional development activities
that can be undertaken individually or collaboratively as part of a professional
development plan. In the past, professional development focused on individual
development, workshops, inservice and external delivery systems. Today, the
emphasis is on school-based activities such as coaching, partnerships and
team/group development.

 Action Research
 Book Study
 Classroom/School Visitation
Collaborative Curriculum Development
Conferences
Community/Service Organizations
 Examining Student Work
 Hosting a Student Teacher

 Integrated Curriculum Planning
 Leadership Development Programs
 Networks
 Online PD Programs
 Peer Coaching
 School Improvement Teams
 Professional Portfolios

Guiding Children's Behavior :
Helping Children Act Their Best
Prepared by:
Del Castillo, Reine Ros

How To Guide Children’s
Behavior

Guiding children’s behavior is a process by which all children
learn to control and use positive behaviors, it involves behavior
guidance.
Behavior Guidance
is a process by which all children learn to control and direct
their behavior and become independent and self-reliant.
is a process of helping children develop skills useful over a
lifetime. They learn to plan, monitor, and guide their own
thinking, feeling, and behavior.

How can professional
achieve these
goals?

12 Essential Steps In Guiding Children’s
Behavior
Step 1. Clarify Your Beliefs.
Step 2. Know developmentally appropriate practice.
Step 3. Meet children’s needs in individually and
culturally appropriate ways.
Step 4. Help children build new behaviors and skills
of independence and responsibility.
Step 5. Establish appropriate expectations.

Step 6. Arrange and modify the environment so that
appropriate, expected behavior and self-control are
possible.
Step7. Model appropriate behavior.
Step 8. Avoid creating or encouraging behavior
problems.
Step 9. Develop a partnership with parents, families,
and other who are responsible for children.

Step 10. Recognize, value, and support teaches,
parents, and children’s basic rights.
Step 11. Teach cooperating living and learning.
Step 12. Teach and use conflict management.

12 Essential Steps
In Guiding Children’s
Behavior

Step 1. Clarify Your Beliefs
• The first rule in guiding children’s behavior is to know
your attitudes about guiding children’s behavior. A good
way to do this is to develop a philosophy about what you
believe concerning child rearing, guidance, and children.

Step 2. Know developmentally appropriate
practice
• The foundation for guiding all children is to know what
they like-how they grow and develop. Knowing child
development is the cornerstone of developmentally
appropriate practice.

culturally appropriate ways
A major reason for knowing children and child development.
• Physical Needs – Children’s abilities to guide their behaviors depends
in part on how well their physical needs are met.
• Safety and Security – Teacher can’t teach in fear. Children should feel
comfortable and secure at home and at school.

culturally appropriate ways
Belonging and Affection – Children need to love and affection.
Self-Esteem - Children who views themselves and learn better.
Self-Actualization - Children’s wants to do things for themselves
and be independent.

 Helping children build new behaviors means that you help them learn that
they are primarily responsible for their own behavior and that the
pleasures and rewards for appropriate behavior are internal, coming from
within them as opposed to always coming from outside.
 This concept is known as locus of control, the source or place control.
The preferred and recommended locus of control for young children is
internal.

Lagyan ng  ang patlang kung larawan ng tao at  kung
hindi.
2. _____
3. _____
4. _____
1. _____
Expectations set the boundaries for desired
behavior. They are the guideposts children use in
learning to direct their own behavior. Like everyone,
children need guideposts along life’s way.

hindi.
2. _____
3. _____
4. _____
1. _____
• Teachers and parents need to set high and appropriate
expectations for children. When children know what to expect, they
can better achieve those expectations. Up to a pint, the more we
expect o children, the more and better they achieve. Generally, we
expect too little of children and ourselves.

Step 6. Arrange and Modify the
Environment
• Environment plays a key role in children’s ability to guide their
behavior. Arrange the environment so that it supports the
purposes of the program and makes appropriate behavior
possible. Appropriate room arrangements signal to children that
they are expected to guide and be responsible for their own
behavior and enable teachers to observe and provide for
children’s interests.

How To Arrange The
Classroom To Support
Positive Behavior

hindi.
2. _____
3. _____
4. _____
1. _____
 Have an open area
which you and your children can meet as a whole group.
This area is essential for story time, general class meetings,
and so on. Starting and ending the day with a class meeting
provides an opportunity for children to discuss their behaviours
and suggest ways they and other can do a better job.

Create center areas
that are well define and accessible to children and
have appropriate and abundant materials. Make center
boundaries low enough so that you and others can use
them for proper supervision and observation.

Provide for all kinds of activities,
both quiet and loud. Try to locate quiet areas together
(reading area and puzzle area) and loud centers together
(woodworking and blocks).

hindi.
2. _____
3. _____
4. _____
1. _____
 Locate materials
so that children can easily retrieve them. When children
have to ask for materials, this promotes dependency and can
lead to behavior problem.
 Establish a system
so that materials are easily stored, and so that children
can easily put them away. A rule of thumb is that there should
be a place for everything and everything should be in its place.

Provide children with guidelines
for how to use centers and materials.
Make the classroom a rewarding place to be. It should
be comfortable, safe, and attractive.
Provide opportunities
for children to display their work.

Basic Features of Classrooms
that Support Guidance and
Self-regulation

 Community and a culture of caring
 Clear expectation and high expectations
 Consistent behavior from teaches and staff. They model appropriate
behavior and expect it of children
 Open communication between:
Children-children
Teacher-children
Children-teacher
Teacher-parent; and
Parent-teacher

 Sufficient materials to support learning activities.
 A belief shared by all staff that children can and will learn.
The teachers also believe they are good teachers
 Routines establish and maintained.
 A balance between cooperation and independent learning
 An atmosphere of respect and caring
 A partnership between teachers and children.

Step 7. Model Appropriate Behavior
Telling is not teaching. Action speaks louder than
words. Children see and remember how other
people act. Modeling plays a major role in helping
children guide their behavior.

You can use the following techniques to help children learn
through modeling:
Show - For example, show children where the block corner is
and how and where the blocks are stored.
Demonstrate – Perform a task while students watch.
Model – Modeling occurs when you practice the behavior you
expect of the children.
Supervise – Supervision is a process of reviewing, insisting,
maintaining standards, and following up.

Step 8. Avoid creating or encouraging behavior
problems.
• It’s easy to encourage children’s misbehavior. Often teachers expect
perfection and adult behavior form children. If you focus on building
responsible behavior, there will be less need to solve behavior
problems.
• Ignoring inappropriate behavior is probably one of the most
overlooked strategies for guiding children’s behavior
• A combination of positive reinforcement and ignoring can lead to
desired behavior.

Children’s Rights
Children have their rights in classrooms designed to promote self-
regulation:
To be respected and to be treated courteously.
To be treated fairly in culturally independent and gender-
appropriate ways
To learn behaviors necessary for self-guidance
To have teachers who have high expectations for them

To learn and exercise independence
To achieve to their highest levels
To be praised and affirmed for appropriate behaviors
and achievements
To learn and to practice effective social skills
To learn and apply basic academic skills
Children’s Rights

Teacher’s Rights
and
Parent’s Rights

Teacher’s Rights
• To be supported by administration and parents in
appropriate efforts to help children guide their
behavior
• To have a partnership with parents so that they and
their children can be successful in developing
appropriate behavior

Parent’s Rights
• To share ideas and values of child rearing and discipline
with teachers
• To be involved in and informed about classroom and school
discipline policies
• To receive periodic reports and information about their
children’s behavior
• To be educated and informed about how to guide their
children’s behavior

Teaching conflict resolution strategies is important
for several reasons.
First, it make sense to give children the skills they
need to handle and resolve their own conflicts.

Second, teaching conflict resolutions skills to
children's enables them to use these same skills as
adults.
Third, the peaceful resolution of interpersonal
conflicts contributes, in the long run, to peaceful
homes and communities.

ACTIVITIES FOR
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

1.Observe a primary classroom and identify
aspects of the physical setting and atmosphere
that influence classroom behavior. Can you
suggest improvements?
2. In this chapter you learned twelve steps for
guiding children’s behavior.

3. List five behaviors you think are desirable in toddlers,
five in five in kindergartners. For each behavior, give two
examples of how would you encourage and promote
development of that behavior.
4. Interview five parents of young children to determine
what they mean when they use the world discipline. What
implications might these definitions have for you were
their children’s teacher?

PREPARED BY:
ALMANZOR, C
DEL CASTILLO, R
ILAGAN, J
MALIGAYA, J
OLANO , M A
TABLO, J
VANGUARDIA V

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION (PresEd) 19

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