Home / Educators / Professional Development (3 - 5 YEARS) / Supporting Young Toddlers’ Learning
- Introduction
- Help Toddlers Express Themselves in Positive Ways
- Expand Toddlers’ Language as You Talk, Read, and Play Together
- Help Toddlers Explore How Things Relate to Each Other
- Try It
- Wrap Up
- Learning Guidelines and Standards
- autonomy: ability to make decisions for oneself and direct one’s own behavior
- empathy: ability to recognize, share, understand, and consider another person’s feelings
- positive guidance: helping a child learn good behaviors and self control
Learning Guidelines and Standards
The content of this tutorial aligns with Massachusetts learning guidelines and standards.
Massachusetts Early Learning Guidelines for Infants and Toddlers
Social-Emotional Development:
- Relates to, trusts and becomes attached to consistent educators.
- Notices and interacts with children of a similar age.
- Experiences and expresses a range of emotions.
- Progresses in regulating own feelings and behavior.
- Develops a positive sense of self.
Language and Communications Development:
- Demonstrates understanding of spoken (or signed) language.
- Develops expressive language.
- Engages in social communication.
- Uses language to ask questions and tell stories.
- Engages in pre-reading activities.
- Demonstrates interest and engagement in print literacy materials.
- Develops vocabulary, syntax and socially-appropriate communication in both languages when considered a dual language learner.
- Learns control over their movements as they reach out, grasp and release objects.
Cognitive Development:
- Develops increasing memory of past events and knowledge.
- Demonstrates an awareness that predictable things happen as a result of actions.
- Experiments with a variety of problem solving strategies.
- Explores materials and discovers mathematical concepts.
- Develops early scientific skills through exploration and discovery.
Physical Health and Well-Being Development:
- Develops ability to control and refine small muscles (fine motor).
- Develops sensorimotor skills where children use their senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch—to guide and integrate their interactions.
Approaches to Learning:
- Shows eagerness and curiosity as a learner.
- Becomes intentional and persistent in their learning and discovery.
Massachusetts Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS)
Center and School Based:
- Curriculum and Learning 1A: Curriculum, Assessment, and Diversity: Level 2 Materials that promote cultural and individual identity, family relations, cultural appreciation, and cognitive and social development are integrated into the curriculum and children’s everyday experiences.
- Curriculum and Learning 1B: Teacher-Child Relationships and Interactions: Level 3 Educators engage children in meaningful conversations; use open-ended questions; provide opportunities throughout the day to scaffold children’s language which supports the development of more complex receptive and expressive language; encourage children’s use of language to share ideas; stimulate problem solving; and guides children in engaging in positive peer interactions.
Family Child Care:
- Curriculum and Learning 1B: Teacher-Child Relationships and Interactions: Level 2 Educator has participated in formal professional development on how to support positive relationships and interactions with children through positive, warm and nurturing interactions.
- Curriculum and Learning 1B: Teacher-Child Relationships and Interactions: Level 4 Educators engage children in meaningful conversations, as age and developmentally appropriate; use open-ended questions and provide opportunities throughout the day to scaffold their language which supports the development of more complex receptive and expressive language, support children’s use of language to share ideas, problem solve and have positive peer interactions.