STATE OF ALASKA EARLY LEARNING GUIDELINES Contents Welcome to the Alaska Early Learning Guidelines 1 Children learn best... 2 Purposes of the Alaska Early Learning Guidelines: 3 Culturally responsive practice 3 Alaska Early Learning Guidelines domains and goals 5 Introductions of Domains 7 Infants birth to 9 months Domain 1: Physical wellbeing, health, and motor development 16 Domain 2: Social & emotional development 21 Domain 3: Approaches to learning 28 Domain 4: Cognition and general knowledge 30 Domain 5: Communication, language, and literacy 36 Mobile infants 9 to 18 months Domain 1: Physical wellbeing, health, and motor development 44 Domain 2: Social and emotional development 50 Domain 3: Approaches to learning 58 Domain 4: Cognition and general knowledge 61 Domain 5: Communication, language, and literacy 68 Toddlers 18 to 36 months Domain 1: Physical wellbeing, health, and motor development 76 Domain 2: Social and emotional development 84 Domain 3: Approaches to learning 93 Domain 4: Cognition and general knowledge 96 Domain 5: Communication, language, and literacy 106 Preschoolers 36 to 60+ months Domain 1: Physical wellbeing, health, and motor development 114 Domain 2: Social and emotional development 124 Domain 3: Approaches to learning 139 Domain 4: Cognition and general knowledge 144 Domain 5: Communication, language, and literacy 160 Gratitude and Acknowledgements 171 Alaska resources 173 National resources 174 January 2020, updated from original 2007 version Please send suggestions for future editions to [email protected] Welcome to the Alaska Early Learning Guidelines For over ten thousand years all across Alaska, children were raised in loving families with traditional values such as cooperation, humor, patience, strength, hard work, respect for elders, nature, and each other. More recently, people from all over the world were drawn by the beauty and opportunities of this land to come live and raise a family here. While drawing on the rich traditional ways of teaching children, the Alaska Early Learning Guidelines also brings the most current child development practices built on knowledge of brain development. Alaska’s future depends on the health and well-being of our youngest children. We know good health, positive experiences, and nurturing relationships create a strong foundation for lifelong learning. We also know a child’s brain develops more rapidly in the first few years of life than at any other time. The foundation built in early childhood impacts later health and well-being as well as success in school, the workforce, and in life. Raising our children well is a great responsibility for parents, early educators, and communities. The hope of the Alaska Early Learning Guidelines is to offer support to all adults that play important roles in the lives of young children. 1 Children learn best... 1. When they are healthy, safe, well rested, and have regular balanced meals. Basic needs must be met in order to learn. Adults guide and support their lifelong healthy habits. 2. Through relationships with caring adults. When children feel secure, they learn to regulate their emotions, and become curious, confident, communicators. 3. When they have opportunities for play and active exploration of their environment. A sense of wonder is a powerful foundation for children’s learning. 4. In their own unique ways, on their own timeline. The rate of development varies for each child, and learning may be uneven over time, or across different learning domains. All children need support to grow and learn in inclusive settings. 5. When adults in their lives learn and plan together for their growth and development. Just as children’s learning is continuous and builds from simple to complex, adult knowledge of best practices in child development continues to grow. When parents and early educators communicate well, they can best support each child to reach their full potential. 6. When they are supported by their communities. When the community supports children’s growth with access to high quality early learning opportunities and family supports, the health and well-being of children thrives. Activity guides and videos related to the Alaska Early Guidelines are available through Best Beginnings at bestbeginningsalaska.org 2 Purposes of the Alaska Early Learning Guidelines Alaska’s Early Learning Guidelines were developed to help families, early educators, and communities work together to support children’s early learning and growth by: • Helping clarify the complexities, progression, and connection of learning from birth to kindergarten age, • Honoring and embracing the tremendous diversity and individuality of children and families, • Supporting parents and early educators to observe, recognize and celebrate children’s growth and plan for the next stage of development, • Providing practical ideas to support children’s learning, • Showing the alignment of early childhood education with K-12 standards, • Strengthening the relationship between early childhood and K-12 so schools are ready for children and children are ready for school. Culturally responsive practice Alaska’s Early Learning Guidelines are designed to strengthen culturally responsive practices: recognizing the diverse cultures of children as strengths, building understanding and respect in children for their own and other cultures, and empowering children through the cultural values and touchstones of their family heritage. 3 Krauss, Michael, Gary Holton, Jim Kerr, and Colin T. West. 2011. Indigenous Peoples and Languages of Alaska. Fairbanks and Anchor- age: Alaska Native Language Center and UAA Institute of Social and Economic Research. Online: http://www.uaf.edu/anla/map All children develop within their own family, social, and cultural experiences, which makes them unique. With the wealth of cultures in Alaska and great diversity in our state, it is vitally important for children to appreciate other cultures in addition to their own. Today’s children must develop respect and appreciation for people with ideas and experiences that are both similar to and different from their own. One’s identity is shaped by many factors including gender, race, cultural and family background, language, religion, abilities, life experiences, and circumstances. Family and cultural stories help children build strong and positive identities, especially if their culture is different from the dominant culture in their region. By including all children’s cultures as much as possible in the learning environment, early educators help foster positive identities, which leads to academic success. Cultural diversity in Alaska contributes to the diverse approaches to learning. For example, many native cultures have been developed around subsistence activities, which involve more hands- on and kinesthetic learning Subsistence cultures also value communal effort to accomplish a goal. Kinesthetic learning, building relationships, the value of teamwork, and communal effort create positive learning environments for all children. 4 ALASKA Domain 1 Domain 2 EARLY Physical well-being, Social & emotional LEARNING health, & motor development development 9: Positive relationships GUIDELINES 1: Physical activities with adults 2: Gross motor skills 10: Positive relationships DOMAINS & with other children 3: Stamina 11: Behavior and its effects 4: Fine motor skills GOALS 12: Group participation 5: Sensory motor skills 13: Diverse settings 6: Health skills and routines 14: Empathy 7: Nutrition 15: Similarities and 8: Safety differences in people 16: Awareness of self 17: Motivation, behavior and social environment 18: Rules and routines 19: Feelings and impulses 20: Emotions 21: Family characteristics and functions 22: Community, interdependence & social roles 23: Civic responsibility 24: Cultural awareness Domain 3 Domain 4 Domain 5 Approaches to General knowledge Communication learning and cognition language, and literacy 25: Curiosity 30: Reasoning and critical 48: Social communication 26: Persistence thinking 49: Receptive language 27: Initiative 31: Problem solving 50: Expressive language 28: Creativity and 32: Symbols to represent 51: Reading objects imagination 52: Writing 29: Play and exploration 33: Fantasy and reality 34: Numbers and counting 35: Measurement 36: Sorting, classifying and organizing 37: Observation & manipulation 38: Predictions and experiments 39: Natural world 40: Past, present, and future 41: Location and spatial relationships 42: People, places, and geography 43: Economic concepts 44: Relationships: Humans and environment 45: Technology use 46: Creative arts 47: Arts appreciation Introductions of domains Domain 1: Physical well-being, health, and motor development During the first few years of life, children’s brains grow faster than at any other time of life, and their bodies also grow continuously and dramatically. Physical health and movement are important contributors to healthy brain development. Good physical health gives children energy, stamina, and endurance to participate actively in the learning process. Physical development is closely linked with learning in all the domains: language and literacy, cognition, social-emotional, and approaches to learning. As with all the domains, a child’s physical and motor skill development is highly individualized and often uneven. For example, it is not unusual for one child to begin creeping and crawling seven or eight months earlier or later than another child. Did you know.... A baby’s physical health begins Most