School Readiness for Infants

and Toddlers? Really?

Dr. C. Miki Henderson

Western Arizona Council of Governments
Yuma, Arizona
 Objectives
• What is school
readiness in the infant
and toddler
classrooms?
• What strategies can I
implement to enhance
school readiness?
• How do I educate
families about their role
in school readiness?
The Office of Head Start (OHS) defines
school readiness as children possessing
the skills, knowledge, and attitudes
necessary for success in school and for
later learning and life.
 SMALL GROUP ACTIVITY
• Join two or three other people near you.
• Make a list of skills you think children will
need for school and into their future.
• What beginnings do we see
in infancy?
• Be prepared to share a few
with the group.
 Our Guiding Principles
• Each child is unique and can succeed.
• Learning occurs within the context of relationships.
• Families are children’s first and most important
caregivers, teachers, and advocates.
• Children learn best when they are emotionally and
physically safe and secure.
• Areas of development are integrated, and children
learn many concepts and skills at the same time.
• Teaching must be intentional and focused on how
children learn and grow.
• Every child has diverse strengths rooted in their
family’s culture, background, language, and beliefs.
Head Start Early Learning
Outcomes Framework
 Approaches to learning
focuses on how children learn.
It refers to the skills and
behaviors that children use to
engage in learning.
 Approaches to Learning
• Emotional and
behavioral
self-regulation
• Cognitive
self-regulation
(executive
functioning)
• Initiative and
curiosity
• Creativity
Strategies
• Build relationships
• Develop routines
• Time to observe
• Opportunities to try
new things
• Let children solve
their own problems
when possible
 Curiosity in the Classroom
Miss D’nita used
cardboard boxes in
many ways in her
class. She hid
things in shoe
boxes, made
boxes into
instruments and
even made a
tunnel to crawl
through.
Family Focus
Warm,
responsive, and
emotionally
secure
relationships
provide babies
with healthy
models for future
relationships.
 SHARING ACTIVITY

How do you
encourage
initiative,
curiosity or
creativity in
your
environment?
Positive social
and emotional
development in
the early years
provides a critical
foundation for
lifelong
development and
learning.
Social and Emotional
Development
• Relationships with
adults
• Relationships with
other children
• Emotional
functioning
• Sense of identity
and belonging
Strategies
• Model relationship
skills
• Allow children time
to interact with each
other
• Label feelings
• Use songs, poems,
rhymes and literature
that relates to
emotions and
relationship building
 Identity in the Classroom
Mr. Berto purchased a
small plastic photo
album for each child
and asked families to
assist him in filling
them with pictures of
people, places and
things important to their
toddler.
Family Focus
Children who
consistently receive
responsive and
sensitive care are
more likely to form
positive relationships
with adults and
peers when they
enter school.
REFLECTING ACTIVITY
• Consider your
environment with
regards to social and
emotional
development for a few
minutes.
• What are 2-3 things
you want to do right
away to enhance
social and emotional
development.
Communication is fundamental
to the human experience, and
language and literacy are
essential to children’s learning.
 Language and Literacy

• Attending and
understanding
• Communicating
and speaking
• Vocabulary
• Emergent
literacy
 Strategies
• Match your facial
expressions, gestures,
and looks
• Ask families to assist
with ways to support
home language
learning
• Encourage play with
writing tools
• Read, sing, talk and
play with infants and
toddlers
 Retelling in the Classroom
In Ms. Brice’s toddler
classroom she kept a
basket with props
relating to current
songs, poems,
rhymes and stories
she told so that
children could use
them to retell on their
own.
Family Focus
• The amount of language
that infants and toddlers
are exposed to at home
is directly related to later
vocabulary growth.
• In families with low
incomes, infants and
toddlers who were read
to more often have better
language and cognition at
age three than those who
were read to less often.
CREATE! (part 1)
• Find another person
to work with.
• Devise a language
activity you could do
with a one year old.
• Devise a fun
vocabulary activity
to do with two year
olds.
 Cognitive
development
includes reasoning,
memory, problem-
solving, and
thinking skills that
help young chil-
dren understand
and organize their
world.
 Cognition
• Exploration and
discovery
• Memory
• Reasoning and
problem-solving
• Emergent
mathematical thinking
• Imitation and
symbolic
representation and
play
Strategies
• Make sure the
environment is safe
and secure for
exploring
• Offer toddlers time for
drawing and creating
• Supply objects for
dramatic play
• Use math and science
vocabulary in
everyday conversation
Problem-solving in the Classroom
Ms. Patsy made
puzzles and
games from
different items
found in the
center or from
children’s homes.
Parents often
brought things
she could put to
good use in her
classroom.
Family Focus
Cognitive
stimulation by
mothers and
fathers in playful
interactions
during
toddlerhood is
related to
literacy and
math levels both
in the third and
fifth grades.
 CREATE! (part 2)
• Find another
person to work
with.
• Devise a discovery
activity you could
do with a one year
old.
• Devise a fun
memory activity to
do with two year
olds.
Perceptual, motor, and
physical development is
foundational to children’s
learning in all areas because it
permits children to fully
explore and
function in their
environment.
Perceptual, Motor, and
Physical Development

• Perception
• Gross motor
• Fine motor
• Health, safety,
and nutrition
Strategies
• Infants need plenty of
floor time (avoid using
walkers, seats, and
swings)
• Don’t clutter the room,
offer space to move
• Offer new foods, but
don’t make a big deal
out of it. They’ll need to
see them several times
before enjoying them.
 Exploration in the Classroom
Mrs. Kikuko gathered
leaves and seeds and stuck
them onto a large piece of
clear contact paper. Then
she covered them with
another piece of contact
paper to enclose the
woodland collage. Using
packing tape she attached
it to the window and
encouraged children to
explore.
Family Focus
Children need to
engage in physical
activity, access healthy
nutrition, get adequate
rest, and practice
healthy and safe
behaviors. Learning to
how to stay healthy
can reduce illness and
improve attendance to
improve educational
outcomes.
 ACTION PLAN ACTIVITY
• Using the form in
your packet,
develop an Action
Plan for when you
return to your
environment.
• Be specific!
• Set a time for
completion.
• Show your plan to
someone.
 References
• Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth
to Five
https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/hs/sr/approach/pdf/ohs-
framework.pdf
• School Readiness Goals for Infants and Toddlers in Head
Start and Early Head Start Programs: Examples from the
Early Head Start National Resource Center.
http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-
system/ehsnrc/docs/school-readiness-goals-infants-
toddlers.pdf
• Understanding Family Engagement Outcomes: Research to
Practice Series. Family Engagement and School Readiness.
http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-
system/family/docs/schoolreadiness-pfce-rtp.pdf