Home / Educators / Professional Development (3 - 5 YEARS) / Creating the Learning Environment
- Introduction
- Plan and Organize the Space
- Establish Routines
- Foster Exploration
- Try It
- Wrap Up
- Standards
- cognitive development: the process of knowing, thinking, reasoning, and remembering
- emotional development: the ability to recognize, identify, produce, and respond to emotions in yourself or others
- language/linguistic development: the process of developing language skills to understand when others speak and to speak and engage in conversation
- physical development: the ability to perform physical activities that require motor skills like running, jumping, and climbing
- self-regulation: regulating or controlling one’s emotions, thinking, and behavior
- social competencies: the skills needed for successful social interaction; in young children these include making simple decisions, interacting with others in productive ways, and being able to resolve conflicts in appropriate ways.
- social development: the ability to use appropriate social skills to communicate and interact with others
Try It
It’s time to practice what you’ve learned. In this activity, you’ll apply the strategies and techniques you’ve learned to your program’s learning environment.
Map Your Environment
Download and print the Map Your Environment (PDF). Create a quick map of your current learning environment. Then, create a revised map, incorporating the best practices you’ve learned in this tutorial. Include areas, activities, and materials that promote children’s social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development.
Jot down the new routines and procedures you want to implement, and create a “to-do” list along with a list of materials to gather.