“Good morning, and how are you feeling today?” is a common greeting as the JEC’s early childhood teachers welcome the children each day. Guiding children’s social and emotional development is a crucial component to the early childhood curriculum. Children are encouraged to express themselves and discuss their feelings with their teachers and peers. When a child is able to communicate feelings, it fosters independence, problem solving skills and healthy relationships. One early childhood teacher asks each child to “sign in” under a feeling. This cues each child to check in on his or her own feelings at the start of each day, building self-awareness. The teacher can easily look at the chart and see who might need an extra hug or high five!

The teachers model this behavior as well and speak to the children about how they are feeling too. In another class, the children learn a new feelings word each week that starts with the letter that they are learning. The children are grasping different concepts and building the language with which to understand and express their feelings! This self-awareness allows the children to be fully present and emotionally available to learn, play and thrive.