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Think about some of the memorable environments you experienced as a young child. Consider places that left you with happy memories, like your childhood home, a relative’s home, schools, a favorite vacation spot, or your local park. These environments bring back good memories because you felt safe and secure and had fun. Think about what else makes these environments memorable. Was it just the place itself, or was it also the people there with you? The people in a learning environment play a crucial role in making it positive.

Now think about environments that left you with unpleasant memories? What was different about these environments? Was it a feeling of uncertainty, fear, boredom, or anxiety? Was it a feeling of not being welcomed and encouraged? Was it unsupportive or emotionally unavailable adults? The environments we are in and the people we share our environments with help shape who we are. Our self-concepts are developed in homes, schools, libraries, and playgrounds, and with our families, friends, child care providers, and teachers. The learning environment that you are creating will impact the children and families you serve.

As a preschool teacher, think about how the physical and social environment of your classroom influences how people feel about themselves, and if they feel welcome, safe, and valued in your space. You can think critically about the messages families receive when you talk to them, when they see you interacting with children, or when they complete school forms. By doing so, you can help children and families feel confident and proud of their identities, and happy and secure in your setting. This lesson will help you identify specific ways to meet this important goal.

Consider the situations below. These kinds of scenarios can happen in any preschool classroom.

• A preschool teacher greets families as they enter the room. Three-year-old Hayden buries his head in his mom’s shoulder and peers out to smile at the friend who comes over to see them. The provider laughs and says, “Look at you smiling at Francessca! Are you flirting? What a ladies’ man! You come here, buddy.” A few minutes later, Josie, also a 3-year-old, arrives with her mother. Like Hayden, Josie buries her head in her mother’s thighs, and smiles as she turns to glimpse at her provider. This time the provider says teasingly, “Aw, someone is shy! Why are you being shy with me? Don’t you be shy with me, you’re my doll baby!”
• Clarice fills out the intake paperwork and developmental screeners for her child in preparation for him entering a new program. As she tries to answer questions about family history, she grows more frustrated. She adopted her son, and some questions assume he was born into the family. She does not know where or how to communicate the information she feels should be shared about her son’s history. She starts to worry that this program won’t be a good fit for her family.

What messages is each child receiving about his or her identity? What messages are the families receiving about what and who you and your program value? What messages are they receiving about the expectations you or your program have for them?

As you read the scenarios, perhaps you felt a pang of empathy for the children and families. Some individuals were not receiving positive messages about their identities. As a preschool teacher, you are responsible for creating safe, nurturing, welcoming, and accepting environments for all children and families in your program. In doing so, you need to consider not only the physical space, but also social interactions and exchanges that take place within that space. Take a few moments to consider alternative ways the above scenarios could have occurred:

• Three-year-old Hayden buries his head in his mom’s shoulder and peers out to smile at the friend who comes over to see them. The provider laughs and says, “Good morning, Hayden! What a good snuggle you’re giving your Mama. I can tell you’re happy to see your friends, too.” A few minutes later, Josie arrives with her mother. Like Hayden, Josie buries her head in her mother’s thigh and smiles as she turns to glimpse her teacher. This time the teacher says, “Hi Josie! We’re so glad you’re here! Hayden and Mariah are playing with books. Would you like to come over or do you need a minute?”
• Clarice fills out the intake paperwork and developmental screeners for her child in preparation for him entering a new program. The form does not assume that she gave birth to her son but asks if her child was adopted so she can skip over sections that do not apply. Space is provided where she can share information about the circumstances in which her son became part of her family. She is happy to see a statement that she can skip any question or talk to the provider in person about the form. She tells her partner that she thinks they chose a really great place for their son.

Environments that Promote Preschool Children’s Sense of Self

Environments play a large part in identity formation and comprise many aspects. As discussed in the Learning Environments course, an environment is a combination of the physical space, appearance, and contents as well as the people, relationships, and sense of community within it.

As an adult, you may have several choices about where you spend your time. You can seek out places that make you feel good and you can avoid places that make you feel uncomfortable or stressed. Young children do not have this level of control about where and how they spend their time. In Lessons One and Two, you learned that young children develop their sense of identity primarily because of the messages they receive from the significant adults in their lives. Many children will likely spend a large amount of their day with you. Therefore, it is essential that the choices you make regarding the environment convey to children they are accepted, valued, and capable.

Young children learn about themselves through their caregiver’s eyes. What messages do you want your classroom environment to send? How do you want children and their families to feel when they are in your space? What do you want them to learn about themselves?

We all want to provide children with environments that are safe, welcoming, and responsive. Intentional planning and design can help ensure your classroom setting is a special place for the children and families you support. Your classroom environment should be a warm and supportive space that encourages children to be who they are with you and explore new ideas. It should be safe, stimulating, and developmentally appropriate, and it should validate children’s thoughts and feelings, and provide them with numerous opportunities to practice skills and experience success. Environments tell a story about who and what is important. Therefore, your environment should reflect the different cultures, personalities, needs, interests, strengths, and developmental levels of the children, families, and providers who spend time there. Ongoing attention to the social, physical, and academic dimensions of the environment (Loukas, 2007), as well as the verbal elements of your environment (Kostelnik, Stein, & Whiren, 2012) is key to creating a high-quality space that promotes learning, exploration, and respect for individual differences. Take a moment to reflect on the ideas highlighted below. In what ways does your environment reflect this guidance? How can you improve your environment to make it more welcoming and supportive of the children and families you serve?

Addressing the Needs of Diverse Learners and Families

As highlighted in Lesson Two, no two children or families will ever be the same in your classroom and it is your responsibility to be sensitive and responsive to each child’s and family’s needs. This impacts how you organize and plan your classroom environment to ensure all children will be successful. For example, while some children in your classroom may be able to thrive in busy, crowded, and even loud surroundings, others may require quiet, less crowded and less busy spaces.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) states that in order to support all children’s development, caregivers must begin from a place that considers (1) research-based information about children of that age generally, (2) the unique individual child (e.g., interests, needs, strengths, worries), and (3) what is known about the child’s social and cultural context (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2020). This is the foundational component of all practices, including creating early childhood environments that promote a sense of self and overall well-being. Responsive classroom environments need to be dynamic to meet the diverse and ever-changing needs of every child in your care. You will have to:

• Modify your classroom environment to meet the needs of individual children
• Adjust for differences in individual children throughout the preschool day or day-to-day as circumstances change and events occur
• Provide modifications as children grow and their needs change
• Change your environment and practices as you learn more about best practices, and the children and families you support.

Embracing Family Experiences: Considerations for Programs Serving Military Families

Imagine how being in a military family would shape someone’s identity. For many families, military service and personal identity can be intertwined. Consider these potential influences:

• Living on a military installation: Many families, military and civilian alike, base their identities in some part on where they live. Where a family lives can send messages about their lifestyles, preferences, and experiences. Children form their identity and sense of self based in part on their home and surrounding community. For military families, living on an installation can build a strong sense of community. This helps shape how the family sees itself in relation to others.
• Deployment: Deployment is one of the most stressful events a family can experience. Families must learn to adapt to changing circumstances before, during, and after a deployment. The service member’s sense of self may change drastically as a result of experiences during deployment. The family members, particularly the spouse, can also experience changes in how they perceive themselves after long periods of independence or single parenthood.
• Frequent moves: A permanent change of station (PCS) can cause a great deal of stress for families as children adjust to new schools, programs, and friends. Children and family members may reinvent themselves in a new location, or they may struggle to define themselves in a new school or community.
• Work hours: Military family members may also work unconventional or long hours when they are home.
• Retirement and return to civilian life: Many individuals who retire from military service are young and find themselves ready for a second career. This can be a difficult transition. Service members may have a difficult time finding new employment that values their skills. They may feel a sense of loss as they leave the active-duty community and may struggle to develop their civilian identity.
• Remember that issues that affect civilian families affect military families, too: divorce or marital conflict, unemployment for a spouse or partner, and health care needs are just a few of the events that can shape a family’s identity.

Military life is not all about challenges, though. Military families have a variety of supports that you can help them maximize. Military families often have a strong sense of community. They may live on an installation with other military families, and they may have a group of friends in similar circumstances. They also have access to healthcare, mental-health, and advocacy resources through their Service or installation. These can be valuable assets for families as they work to define themselves. Finally, they have access to you—military child care. You understand the families’ contexts and can be a valuable source of support.

Here are some additional ways to support military families, based on recommendations from families surveyed in the National Military Family Association Report on the Cycles of Deployment (2005):

• Help a family to be realistic in their expectations of themselves and of each other. This applies to deployment, permanent change of station, retirement, and other major life transitions. Help families open lines of communication with one another about their expectations, fears, and excitement.
• Provide families with information about how their child might react before, during, and after deployment or other transitions. Recognize that children’s responses will vary based on age, developmental stage, and temperament.
• Offer ongoing support to families with regard to return and reunion challenges.
• Remember that families—even those with experience—do not always have the information and support they need.

Taking Care of Yourself While Taking Care of Others

Adults who care for themselves are better able to care for and support children. Remember that early interactions with important adults help define how children see themselves and what they expect from others. When adults are emotionally available to respond to a young child’s cues with affection and patience, they are teaching the child that they are safe and important. An adult who is under stress, coping with trauma, or experiencing mental health problems or addiction will have a harder time caring for young children until the caregiver themselves receives the help they need.

As a preschool teacher, you are a direct part of the classroom environment. Wittmer and Petersen (2017) explain that “Knowing ourselves involves exploring our strengths and vulnerabilities. We need to wonder about, and try to understand the meaning of, our reactions, our frustrations, and the parts of our job that bring us joy. This exploration can sometimes be difficult or uncomfortable".

Self-care is an active and powerful choice. Caring for yourself means engaging in activities that increase or maintain your optimal level of overall health. This includes not just the physical, but also the psychological, emotional, social, and spiritual components of an individual’s well-being. Practicing self-care is an indication of a positive self-concept. Teachers who are aware of self-care practices can act as positive role models for children. You can create an environment that helps children to engage in self-care. Your own self-care practices can be a starting place to demonstrate the importance of self-care.

Consider your Own Sense of Self and Wellness

All of us can find ourselves struggling to make sense of situations and relationships at times, with children in our care, our work more broadly, or in our personal lives. With preschoolers, observations are one of our best strategies, as you likely learned in previous courses. Intentional, reflective observations can help you better understand a child in your classroom, which in turn can change your feelings or thoughts about that child. Whether a preschooler or adult, when we understand someone better, we almost always are better able to feel compassion and kindness towards them.

Another strategy you can use is visualization. See yourself interacting positively with a preschooler in your classroom. If he or she displays behaviors that seem to disrupt your teaching approach, try seeing this young child without those behaviors and you responding in a caring way.

According to center director Jeff Johnson (2010), your attitude can help you make changes in your life and your program. Johnson has six suggestions:

• Positive outlook: Thinking positively about situations and people can help you bring about beneficial outcomes. Your personal outlook on life plays an important role in your self-care.
• Self-awareness: Knowing who you are includes being aware of your feelings, your breath, your emotions, your thoughts, and your relationships. Start by taking an inventory of your strengths and areas for growth.
• Healthy selfishness: It is important to recognize your own needs as valid and do what is necessary to meet them.
• Relinquish control: Allowing yourself to relax and see things as gray instead of black and white can allow you to see more options and opportunities in life.
• Playful attitude: Changing your mindset requires playfulness, curiosity, and excitement. Try exploring life through the eyes of a child and see how different things seem.
• Thoughtful choices: As life gets busy, slow down and make sure you are making thoughtful choices. Reconcile with yourself that you may never master a task perfectly and sometimes it is going to have to be good enough.

See

Do

In safe, caring, responsive and accepting environments, children can develop and grow a sense of self and self-confidence that says, “I matter,” “I am deserving,” and “I can make things happen.” However, in unpredictable, less responsive, and unwelcoming environments, they may come to feel unaccepted and anxious.

In your daily interactions with children, consider doing the following to support a developing sense of self for the preschoolers in your care:

• Get to know and respect each child in your classroom as an individual.
• Show interest and be actively involved in what children are doing in your classroom.
• Respond to and meet children’s individual needs in a timely manner.
• Respond positively as each preschooler develops new skills or accomplishes tasks.
• Organize and offer materials in a way that enables all children in your care to actively participate.
• Support all children and continually ensure all children feel safe to be themselves in your classroom.
• Plan activities that enable children to express themselves and explore their sense of self and others (e.g., ask them to draw pictures of themselves or their family and friends, trace their bodies on paper on the floor, share their favorite foods, toys, places of interest, books, etc.).