Educators continue working to close learning gaps resulting from school interruptions as they celebrate children’s growth along the way. While many learning programs have helped children make enormous strides in literacy and math, closing the gap in social-emotional learning has proven more difficult.
Why a Proactive Approach to Social-Emotional Learning is Important
A learning domain critical to kindergarten readiness, social-emotional learning, is often prioritized only when there’s a direct need. If a child is expressing big feelings, teachers may counter with an activity or book that focuses on social-emotional skill building. This reactive approach is a step in the right direction, but a more proactive approach to social-emotional learning — one where it is integrated into everyday tasks and lessons organically — will build a stronger foundation for children.
Unfortunately, teachers don’t always have the time or resources to provide children tailored opportunities for building social-emotional skills throughout the day. Developing lesson plans with social-emotional learning activities is incredibly time consuming and requires a high level of design. Conversely, there’s tremendous pressure to ensure success in literacy and math, oftentimes pulling instructional time away from social-emotional learning opportunities.
Early childhood educators understand the importance of developing the social-emotional learning domain, and now more than ever, they want to prioritize it. They know if they’re able to make social-emotional learning skill development the foundation of classroom management, not only will it make their classroom run more smoothly, but will also help children develop the life skills needed to successfully overcome obstacles both in and out of the classroom.
At Hatch®, we believe schools and learning programs are one of the main sources of social-emotional learning in children’s lives. That’s why social-emotional learning is such an important component of Ignite by Hatch™. Not only does Ignite accelerate academic growth and development, but it also incorporates a whole-child approach to help build important life skills, guaranteeing success beyond the classroom, as well.
Want to see how Ignite can promote academic growth and foster social-emotional learning in your classroom? Learn more about Ignite here!
