As you welcome young children back to the classroom, we’ve compiled some resources to inspire a successful school year. Teaching Young Children and Young Children are full of ideas to support your teaching all year long. Here are are some highlights.

Articles from Teaching Young Children

1.Promoting Powerful Interactions - When children enter preschool programs, strong partnerships between home and school can support positive family relationships and promote learning at home. Learn how to encourage positive connections within families by teaching adult family members to use the Powerful Interactions™ framework with their children.

2. Being a Helper: Supporting Children to Feel Safe and Secure after Disasters - Trust and security are the foundations of healthy development. To explore the world and learn, children need to have secure, trusting relationships with the adults around them and faith that they will keep them safe. Read how you can assist in helping children rebound from disasters.

3. Deepening Families’ Understanding of Children’s Learning in Centers - Discover what happened when a teacher and her staff designed a learning center family night to give parents a chance to observe, understand, and take part in their children’s play-based learning.

4. Welcoming Refugee Children into Early Childhood Classrooms - Refugee families are a part of many communities, and they bring rich cultural experiences to early learning programs. Because of the social and emotional impact that being a refugee has on young children and their families, it is important that early childhood educators create inclusive and nurturing classroom environments. Here are some ideas to get you started.

5. Every Child Belongs: Welcoming a Child with a Disability - To be an effective teacher, remember that regardless of individual needs, children are first and foremost children—and best practices for young children are best practices for all young children. Here are some ideas to help you set the stage for a great year for everyone.

6. Creating Coding Stories and Games - Coding stories and coding games are playful, hands-on ways for children to explore and experiment with early coding. The earlier children explore the basics of coding, the more easily they will be able to learn, understand, and apply coding later in life. Learn what  children need to know about coding and why you should introduce coding to preschoolers.

Articles from Young Children

1. Positive Early Math Experiences for African American Boys: Nurturing the Next Generation of STEM Majors - Early childhood teachers can foster productive math experiences for African American boys by having positive individual interactions, providing opportunities for exploration, extending children’s initial interests, and structuring the environment to continuously attract and engage children in math learning.  Read to learn how you can make math a meaningful and inviting experience in the classroom.

2. Exploring Math with Infants and Toddlers: The Joys and Benefits of Math-Based Books and Language - Building young children’s understanding of early math is a growing field of research, especially when it comes to infants and toddlers. Still, there is much we already know about how to ensure that early childhood settings offer rich learning opportunities in all areas, including math. Learn how you can guide young children to develop the foundations of math concepts that position them for success in school and beyond.

3. Snapdragons and Math: Using Creativity to Inspire, Motivate, and Engage - Read about the successful efforts of a kindergarten teacher and art educator who designed a cross-curricular collaboration aimed at promoting children’s engagement and enhancing learning.

4. Extreme Diversity in Cities: Challenges and Solutions for Programs Serving Young Children and Their Families - Even though each city is unique, cities have a lot to learn from each other about how they support children and families from many different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and the breadth of their experiences can be informative for nonurban communities as well. Learn about urban trends, the importance of partnering with diverse families, and strategies that work in diverse settings.

5. STEM Resources and Materials for Engaging Learning Experiences - As you plan STEM integration into your teaching, learn how you can support children’s exploration and learning by ensuring that they have many opportunities for playful engagement.

6. Teaching Emotional Intelligence in Early Childhood - Learn how teachers and children can use a “mood meter” to identify and appropriately respond to emotions in the classroom and how to extend emotional intelligence throughout the day.

Members-Only Content

NAEYC members get exclusive access to all digital articles in TYC and YC! Members, sign in to read these these two selections. Not a member? Join today to unlock these and other great resources!

From TYC

Alphabet Letter-Name Knowledge - Because the words in books that children will read later contain mostly lowercase letters, it is important to get a good start in learning both uppercase and lowercase letters in preschool. Learn teachers can use children's names in routines and other activities and lessons to help children become familiar.

From YC

Engaging and Enriching: The Key to Developmentally Appropriate Academic Rigor - In this article, the authors describe the transformation of 17 kindergarten classrooms from didactic experiences for children to rigorous and developmentally appropriate student-centered learning environments.

Visit our Back to School topic page for more inspiration for the school year!