2
Competency 2
Understand academic content and how to teach it
Early childhood educators know how to help children learn in all academic subjects, like reading and writing, math, science, social studies, technology, the arts, and even basic engineering. They create fun, hands-on learning activities that help children build skills and understand how different subjects connect to each other and to real life. Teachers also introduce and review important academic vocabulary so children can explain their ideas and talk about their thinking. Finally, early childhood educators understand and use the teaching strategies that work best for each subject area.
Reflection questions
Ask yourself these as you read — there are no right answers.
- How do you balance adult-led direct instruction, playful learning activities, and unstructured playtime to teach preschool and early elementary-age children essential literacy and math skills?
- What do you do to help children connect new learning in the content areas to real-world contexts? Think of some examples of how you have helped children make those connections. How did the children respond?
- How do you keep up to date with new research and strategies in teaching pre-academic content and skills?
- Which content areas do you feel most comfortable teaching? Are there any content areas where you would like to develop your knowledge of content and teaching strategies?
The content of a book holds the power of education, and it is with this power that we can shape our future and change lives.
What educators need to be effective
Things to Know
- The core concepts and the learning trajectories (goals, progressions, and strategies and practices) of each academic content area.
- The development of reading skills, math skills, and language proficiency for those whose first language is English and those for whom it is not.
- Characteristics of common developmental delays and disabilities.
Skills to Build
- Using observation and assessment to identify the Zone of Proximal Development for each child in each academic content area as a starting point for teaching.
- Building on what children already know and providing intentional support for what they are ready to learn.
- Using observation and assessment to understand how children are thinking during the learning process.
Habits of Mind and Dispositions
- Honors children's strengths, differences, and needs.
- Commits to understanding and supporting each child.
- Notices details about what children say and do.
Focus areas
2A
Promoting Literacy
Use knowledge of child development and an understanding of literacy learning trajectories to support children’s literacy development.
Level 1
- Engages children in frequent back-and-forth interactions to support language development.
Level 2
- Provides children with plentiful, daily opportunities to listen to, read, and talk about authentic texts.
- Selects culturally responsive texts in which children can both see themselves and learn about others.
- Takes advantage of spontaneously occurring opportunities throughout the day to help children learn and practice literacy skills.
- Includes opportunities for children to learn and practice writing skills throughout the day.
Level 3
- Records group stories with children and uses poems, songs, rhymes, and chants to help children connect oral and written language.
- Provides explicit language instruction, as developmentally appropriate, to support and develop children’s language skills and understanding of concepts and vocabulary.
- Plans and implements whole-group learning experiences, as developmentally appropriate, so children can learn and practice foundational literacy skills, including print concepts, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge and letter formation, and phonics, decoding, and encoding.
- Engages children in active discussions in small groups and individually to support language development, exploration of text, and comprehension.
Level 4
- Intentionally chooses texts that offer children the opportunity to access increasingly complex content and vocabulary and practice increasingly complex literacy strategies.
- Uses flexible, small-group, and individualized teaching to provide all children with the instruction needed to develop foundational literacy skills.
2B
Promoting Math Development
Use knowledge of child development and an understanding of math learning trajectories to support children’s math development.
Level 1
- Encourages children’s natural curiosity, wonder, and joy to support their math learning.
Level 2
- Responds to spontaneously occurring opportunities to connect math to children’s play and daily activities.
- Helps children see math in real-life contexts throughout their day.
- Uses prompts and open-ended questions to encourage children to describe and explain their math ideas.
Level 3
- Understands math development for young children.
- Knows core math concepts essential for young learners.
- Is familiar with the major teaching strategies specific to early math learning.
- Supports young children’s math learning in developmentally appropriate and engaging ways.
- Avoids a one-size-fits-all or narrow developmental approach that limits math learning to rote counting, number recognition, procedures, or answergetting.
- Provides instruction in essential math content areas, including number and operations, geometry, pattern and algebraic thinking, measurement, and data and statistics.
- Implements teaching practices that help all children develop reasoning and problemsolving skills across concepts.
Level 4
- Connects children’s formal and informal math knowledge to their cultural, linguistic, home, family, and community experiences.
- Uses flexible small-group and individualized teaching to provide all children with the instruction needed to learn essential math content and develop foundational skills.
- Helps children move from using informal representation and math language to more formal representation and math vocabulary.
2C
Promoting Learning in Science
Plan and implement learning experiences that engage children in scientific practices and develop their scientific understanding.
Level 1
- Fosters children’s curiosity and encourages them to explore and observe their environment.
Level 2
- Provides opportunities for children to explore, observe, describe, classify, compare, and ask questions about their environment.
- Values and supports the ways children think as they build understanding of new concepts.
Level 3
- Understands science development for young children.
- Knows core science concepts essential for young learners.
- Is familiar with the major teaching strategies specific to early science learning.
- Designs and implements developmentally appropriate, hands-on, inquiry-based learning experiences that help children learn to formulate explanations closer to scientific reality.
- Teaches children scientific thinking skills such as predicting, observing, gathering information, inferring, generalizing, and analyzing data.
- Engages children in rich discussions about science topics. Helps children seek answers to their questions in increasingly systematic ways.
- Asks probing questions rather than providing facts and explanations.
Level 4
- Implements an intentional program of sequential scientific learning experiences, balancing the need to learn scientific facts and scientific processes.
- Plans learning experiences emphasizing scientific practices, such as asking questions and defining problems, developing and using models, analyzing and interpreting data, using math and computational thinking, constructing explanations and designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.
2D
Promoting Learning in Social Studies
Plan experiences in social studies that help children form and voice their opinions, identify and solve problems, work collaboratively, and recognize the consequences of their behaviors and decisions on others.
Level 1
- Helps children cultivate a positive sense of identity and a connection to the community.
Level 2
- Creates and nurtures a climate of inclusion that recognizes and celebrates all children’s cultures and languages.
Level 3
- Intentionally selects visuals, play materials, books, and stories to reflect children’s family structures, languages, and racial and cultural backgrounds.
- Plans learning experiences around meaningful topics connected to children’s sense of self, their families, their program or school, and the local community. These experiences include chances for children to solve real-world problems.
Level 4
- Plans social studies experiences that encourage compassion, caring, and the desire to help others, and are developmentally appropriate, real-world, open-ended, inquiry-based, and project-based.
- Provides opportunities for children to learn and express understanding of social studies through writing, art, dramatic play, construction, music, and movement.
- Encourages children to talk, share ideas, think critically, and work together to solve problems and reach shared goals during social studies learning experiences.
2E
Promoting Children's Use of Technology
Support children to learn to use technology as a tool and to be critical consumers of technology.
Level 1
- Interacts with children as they use technology to ensure safety and extend learning.
Level 2
- Evaluates technology resources to ensure they are developmentally appropriate.
- Anticipates challenges children may face when using technology and helps them solve problems.
- Teaches children how to use technology safely and cooperatively.
Level 3
- Understands children’s interests and ability levels in using technology.
- Makes intentional decisions about using technology to support development and learning.
- Teaches children how to use technology across curricular areas.
- When developmentally appropriate, teaches children to use technology to create, communicate, collaborate, research, and collect data.
Level 4
- Reviews technology resources to make sure they support curriculum goals and learning standards and can be used by all children.
- Uses technology to support the development and learning of individual children.
2F
Promoting Visual Arts
Integrate visual arts across the curriculum and support children’s development of concepts and skills in the visual arts.
Level 1
- Encourages children to use play to engage in the visual arts.
Level 2
- Provides opportunities for children to explore and express creativity using various tools, media, technology, and processes.
- Encourages children to select and display their own artwork.
Level 3
- Integrates visual arts across curricular areas.
- Teaches children about art concepts (color, texture, line, symmetry, mood, shape), vocabulary, and various art media (painting, drawing, sculpture, film).
- Uses art from cultures around the world to help children understand varied approaches to beauty and aesthetic expression.
- Uses tools, materials, media, and props to encourage children to think about design questions.
Level 4
- Teaches children how to analyze and evaluate art using art concepts.
- Helps children consider how they prefer to arrange their aesthetic environment.
2G
Promoting Performing Arts
Integrate music and drama across the curriculum and support children’s development of concepts and skills in music and drama.
Level 1
- Fosters curiosity and encourages children to explore music through singing, dancing, listening, and using musical instruments.
Level 2
- Provides props and materials that encourage creativity and imagination.
- Provides opportunities for children to use drama to act out stories and play different roles.
Level 3
- Integrates music across the curriculum and into daily routines.
- Uses music to teach children about their own and other cultures and languages.
- Uses music to help children learn and remember routines, concepts, relationships, and social skills.
- Selects drama activities based on knowledge of individual children and cultural and community contexts.
- Provides props and materials that extend learning in content areas.
Level 4
- Helps children develop vocabulary for talking about music and learn to hear different rhythms, melodies, tones, pitches, beats, and volumes.
- Provides opportunities for children to use drama to explore perspectives, interact with peers, direct the course of action, and solve problems.
2H
Promoting Learning in Engineering
Plan learning experiences that engage children in engineering practices and explore design principles.
Level 1
- Encourages children to tinker, discover, and explore.
Level 2
- Helps children notice the properties of tools and materials.
- Focuses on the process of exploring, creating, and problem-solving during engineering experiences.
Level 3
- Models listening and extending children’s ideas.
- Poses questions about materials to encourage brainstorming and problem-solving.
- Offers design challenges to identify solutions to real-life or fictional situations.
- Scaffolds children’s thinking about what they make, how they make it, and whether changes are needed.
Level 4
- Teaches peer partners to listen, ask questions, and make comments that help children improve their creations.