Your relationship with children is one of your strongest teaching tools. This lesson will focus on interacting with children to support play, exploration, and learning. You will learn how teachable moments, play, and communication can make the most of every routine.
Secondary tabs
- Describe the importance of relationships to cognitive development.
- Identify ways your interactions support play, exploration, and learning in your classroom.
Learn

Know
与学龄前儿童合作不仅仅是计亚慱彩票划课程。好的教学就是与孩子们联系、互动和享受时间。事实上,这可能是你成为老师的部分原因。你的互动提供了帮助孩子学习的最佳机会。
You can turn your interactions into teachable moments throughout the day, every day. Teachable moments simply build on natural events in a child's day. As you get to know each child, you'll learn how to recognize and respond to these events. You do this by carefully observing children, providing an interesting learning environment, and using careful communication. Make the most of teachable moments by:
- Being a role model.Children are watching you to learn about the preschool classroom. When you wash your hands, read a book, or give a warm greeting, they notice.
- 注意到儿童的兴趣和需要。有经验的老师有时会谈到注意到“隆隆声”:孩子处于沮丧或愤怒边缘的时候。也许孩子呼气太大,移动材料有点太用力,或开始看起来有点不安。在这些时刻,敏感的成年人可以介入,帮助孩子找到解决问题的办法。举几个例子:
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You Saw:Jayla is frustrated that she can’t get the box of blocks back on the shelf. You notice other blocks have fallen and are in the way. |
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You Saw:Three children have noticed a bird nest in the tree outside the playground fence. They really want to get closer to the nest. |
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You Saw:D'Angelo和Kaitlyn正试图建造一个坡道,让汽车快速下降,但它一直在下降。他们开始看起来很沮丧。 |
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- Joining children in play.You can help children expand their thinking and try new things in play. If children are pretending to be servers at a restaurant, you can join play and order your favorite food. You can model language adults use at restaurants ("What's the special today?" "Can I have the check please?").
- Using open-ended questions.Open-ended questions have multiple answers, and encourage children to describe things in their own words and guide the conversation: "Will, why do you think the elephant is sad in the story?" "Tanisha, how do you want this to look when you're done?"
- 孩子需要一个活动的技能建模:"Hmm…I wonder where this puzzle piece will fit. I'm going to look at the shape and then try putting it in a few places. Nope, it doesn't go there. I'll try another spot."
Verbal Interactions: Communicate for Learning
当您单独了解每个孩子时,您将学会他们的发展和他们的兴趣很大。保持好奇的是让每个孩子微笑,笑或似乎有挑战性的东西,并使用自己的语言来描述你所注意到的。这将帮助您以支持认知发展的方式使用语言。以下是谈到言语互动时要记住的一些事情:
- Use short simple sentences that are rich in vocabulary and descriptive language and are meaningful to them. For example, "You stacked two green blocks on top of the red block." Using the word "stacked" instead of "put" or "placed" introduces new language; using color names reinforces color identification; using "on top" is a directional word; and the number "two" supports math concepts; all of these expand learning in an appropriate way.
- 在游戏和常规活动中交谈和提问。谈论并询问他们在玩具上做什么(推、拉、扭)或在活动中经历什么(预测、分类、识别)。这种类型的互动教授数学和科学概念,并以自然的方式提高词汇。花点时间停下来,注意他们在做什么。给他们时间用他们的行动或言语来回应。
- Include a variety of words and introduce children to new objects or ideas. Snack can be a great time to introduce new words. Consider bringing in interesting fruits or vegetables that the children may not know. During outdoor time, use the real names for tools, plants, and surfaces. A large vocabulary will help preschoolers become successful readers one day.
- Be patient after asking a question or making a statement. Allow time to process what was said. Too many questions can impede the natural learning process.
How you talk to children makes a difference in their learning. One of the most powerful things you can do is use words that encourage. Take a few moments to compare the types of comments:
Simple Praise
Descriptive Feedback & Encouragement
Which type of comment do you think gives the child more information? The statements on the right side of the chart have more meaning, and they introduce the child to complex ideas and vocabulary. They let the child know you noticed their learning, but they also encourage the child to keep going. It's OK to occasionally say, "Good job", but look for opportunities to describe what the child is doing and learning.
就像当孩子们向你展示他们的学习时,注意并使用鼓励的话语是很重要的一样,当孩子们挣扎或沮丧时,使用鼓励的话语也是很重要的。孩子们通过冒险和尝试挑战来学习。有时他们会犯错。有爱心的成年yabo电子游艺人会充分利用这些时刻。用温暖的语气接近孩子,避免批评。你可能会说,“泰龙,我可以告诉你很失望,但那是一个很好的尝试。我觉得那座塔太高了,就倒了。如果我们一起努力把基地建得更宽一点呢?”或者“看起来这是个难题。你找到所有的边缘碎片了吗?”
Playing to Learn: Physical Interactions
It is often said that play is children's work. Play is the time when children explore their interests. Adults can increase learning by interacting with children during play in different ways:
- Adults can help children to expand their imaginary play by asking questions about what the child is doing or going to do.
- 成年人可以利用游戏来模拟复杂的词汇,或者关注课程中的关键技能。例如,一个成年人可能会评论戏剧《医生办公室》中的“听诊器”。或者,一个知道孩子们正在识别昆虫的成年人可能会在感官表中提供放大镜、土壤和塑料昆虫。
当孩子们一起玩的时候,他们在学习!在这些互动中,孩子们可以学会在不同的想法上yabo电子游艺达成一致,并找到解决问题的方法。你可以通过以下方式支持同伴游戏中的认知发展:
- Providing opportunities for children to actively cooperate: For example, suggest a goal for a center, "Let's build a tower."
- Staying close by and supporting play: Some children may need more support during cooperative play. Preschool teachers should observe which children need guidance and intervene in helpful ways: "Juan, it looks like you want to help build. Ask, 'Can I play?'"
- 分配角色:“萨莎,你先当兽医吗?那亚当就可以当兽医了。”
- Helping children decide on steps to achieve their goal: "What should we do first?"
- Modeling communication: "Thanks, Jacob, for bringing that block over here. Our tower is tall! Could you please bring another block?"
- Interpreting children's actions: "It looks like India wants to play store with you. What do you think she could do to help?"
The Role of Culture in Interactions
Understanding the meaning of the word "culture" in the context of this lesson is important. The word has different meanings to different people. For this lesson, we rely on Doge, Colker and Heroman, who wrote that "culture involves the customary beliefs, values and practices people learn from their families and communities."
Everyone has a culture. It influences how we communicate, how we interact, how we interpret what people do and say; it even shapes our expectations. Culture plays a large role in child rearing.
Think about all of the interactions you have daily with each member of each family, each child, co-teachers, program staff, and your director. Each of those people has a culture. So each day, you are interacting with many people, including preschoolers, who have their own values, beliefs and practices. And, you have your own culture. That is a lot to take into consideration, but you need to ensure that your interactions respect the culture of each and every child you serve.
Allowing negative biases to affect your duties as a teacher can negatively affect the development of the children you are entrusted with caring for. When promoting thinking skills, exploration, and problem solving, teachers demonstrate bias when they have toys for boys and toys for girls, guidelines that boys may get dirty but girls need to stay clean, dramatic play for girls and building with blocks for boys. These are examples of gender biases; other biases involve race, ethnicity, language, and special needs. Awareness of your own biases is the first step in supporting cognitive development by preventing these biases from negatively affecting the interactions you have with preschoolers.
Be aware of how your interactions support the learning of all children. Watch for evidence of bias like:
- Do you comment equally on girls' and boys' appearances and accomplishments?
- 你对非裔美国男孩的体育运动赞不绝口吗?
- Do you comment on children's size (e.g., "He's going to be a football player")?
- 你鼓励女孩和男孩玩积极的游戏吗?你有没有鼓励女孩在说“男孩会是男孩”的时候“小心”?
- Do you have conversations with all children-including those who may have speech and language difficulties or who are learning English?
当谈到文化相关性时,请记住以下几点:
- Preschool children need to learn about their world and their community. Their community includes their families, you and their other caregivers, your program, and neighborhoods.
- 支持the home language by learning a few words from the child's native language to help them feel more comfortable.
- Maintain open communication with families on what materials you are providing to support their child's cognitive development.
当您在日常基础上提供文化相关的经验时,您正在支持他们的认知发展的现实生活经验。亚慱彩票
See
观看此视频,了解老师在日常互动期间如何促进学习。yabo电子游艺
支持ing Cognitive Development: Interactions
Now let's take some time to think about how you can identify opportunities to join play or help children learn through interactions-just like the teachers in the video did. Watch this video to see an example of a moment when an adult might have helped support learning.
Noticing Opportunities to Support Cognitive Development
Do
当你看到一个可教的时刻时,认清它是很重要的。可教的时刻是自发的。他们使孩子的学习变得自然。但要认识并充分利用这些时刻需要一些技巧。以下是一些与孩子互动的方式,可能会带来可教的时刻:yabo电子游艺
- 观察每个孩子,并注意到什么激发了他或她的兴趣:当你提到某个活动或想法时,孩子是否会兴奋起来?孩子大多数时候会选择同一个中心吗?孩子在某个故事中更投入吗?
- Improve the learning environment so that it interests children: Provide more challenging toys; hang up new shapes or pictures in the classroom; draw children's attention to new objects.
- Find opportunities to practice learning goals in areas that interest the children: Practice sorting in a kitchen area; identify colors at the art easel; or write letters on a birthday card.
Here are some additional guidelines you should know about interactions that promote learning:
- Stay close. Avoid speaking to a child from across the room. Move to where the child is, sit or stand at their eye level, and have a conversation.
- Use children's names in conversations and pronounce their names correctly. Make sure children know that you care about who they are.
- 提出开放式问题以提高思考能力。开放式问题没有具体的答案。他们让学龄前儿童有机会运用自己的想法形成反应。开放式问题被认为对学习特别有帮助,因为孩子们学习到他们的想法受到重视,他们在解释他们是如何得到答案时变得更加自信,并且他们能够在亚慱彩票自己的水平上做出回应。yabo电子游艺
- Observe children's play and interactions. Get to know how each child prefers to relax, what types of activities they tend to choose, and with whom they typically choose to interact.
- 当孩子们问问题或者评论听s, particularly about differences or stereotypes. Give children factual, respectful answers. Imagine you overhear a group of children discussing whether an African American child's skin is "dirty." Avoid saying things like, "Shhh. That's rude" when children notice differences. Instead, you might say, "Skin comes in all different colors because we have different amounts of pigment in our skin. Darker skin isn't dirty. It has more pigment in it than lighter skin." Then you could plan an activity in which children mix colors of paint to create their skin color.
Explore

思考学龄前儿童互动和发展思维能力的独特方式。下载并打印亚慱彩票Reflecting on Interactions Activity. Read the scenarios and answer the questions. Share your responses with a trainer, supervisor, or coach. Then read the suggested responses for additional ideas.
Apply

We all learn from positive interactions and like to get encouragement. Preschool children need to be noticed, recognized, and encouraged, too. Download and print theCelebrating Preschool Children Handout. It contains some sample phrases you can use to celebrate and encourage learning in preschool children.
Glossary
Term | Description |
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Feedback | Information provided to someone about his or her action, event, or behavior after it occurs |
Open-ended question | Questions that cannot be answered with a yes or no or a specific piece of information; these encourage the child to respond by giving whatever information he or she thinks is appropriate |
Teachable moments | Opportunities for meaningful instruction based on natural contexts |
Demonstrate
Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2009). Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8, 3rded. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Head Start National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning (2015). Fostering Children's Thinking Skills. Retrieved from:https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/video/fostering-childrens-thinking-skills
Hyson, M. (2008). Enthusiastic and Engaged Learners: Approaches to learning in the early childhood classroom. New York, NY: Teachers' College Press.