Grade PreK • Social Foundations Overview

Grade PreK Social Foundations

Overview

Teachers of young children overwhelmingly agree that students’ social and emotional development is critical for school and future success. According to the National Healthy Start Foundation Resource Guide, "A child's emerging social and emotional skills form a critical foundation for learning and wellness that will guide them into adulthood. The healthier a child's early experiences are, the more apt they are to enter school and life with a strong foundation of social-emotional skills.  It is important that these are the experiences and skills that will influence how they deal with both success and adversity across their lifespan."

National Healthy Start Association Links to an external site.

Classroom Instruction

Instruction in social foundations takes into account that each student enters school with varying social experiences. Brain research has established a strong connection between emotion and learning. The link is undeniable; by promoting healthy social emotional development in the early years, we can support later positive learning outcomes in all areas of learning.

Social foundations instruction includes social and emotional development, approaches to learning, and executive functioning.

• Social Emotional Development includes a student's ability to build positive and rewarding relationships with other students and adults, and their ability to identify, manage, and express emotions in positive ways.
• Approaches to Learning includes a student's ability to persist with a task, even when it is difficult,  their ability to show initiative and self direction, as well as, having a desire to learn new things. 
• Executive Functioning includes the ability to manage time and attention, switch focus, plan and organize, remember details, curb inappropriate behaviors, and integrate past experience with present action. A common connection is to think of the brain as a busy airport, with executive functioning acting as the brain’s “air traffic control system." In recent years, research has highlighted the importance of executive functioning and its impact on learning. Because executive function includes working memory and planning, it plays a critical role in the development of a child's academic skills such as reading.