The Council is excited to announce that later this year we will release the newly-revised third edition of the landmark textbook Essentials for Child Development Associates Working with Young Children.  The new Essentials will provide all of the most current research, information, ideas and strategies needed by entry-level early childhood professionals.  The textbook will be organized around each of the thirteen Functional Areas, along with new information about reflection, intentionality, observation, documentation and other key topics of interest to contemporary teachers and caregivers.

In our last article we reflected on “Functional Area 2 – Healthy”.  Please see, below, the many reflective responses we received about this topic from members of the national CDA community.  This month, we focus on…

Learning Environments

Here is an advanced sneak peek of “Chapter 3: Learning Environment” for you to reflect on…

Young children’s environments set the stage for life-long learning.  How you set them up and manage them steer children toward mastering the social, emotional, cognitive, physical and language skills they need. The environment includes the physical space of your classroom, both indoors and out. It also includes the materials and equipment that fill that space as well as their arrangement and display. In addition, the people who interact with children - caregivers, parents, and other volunteers – are all part of the environments in which young children spend their days.

In order to have environments that support and encourage children to grow, develop, and learn, caregivers need to attend to several key tasks. These include:

1. Organizing physical environments

2. Selecting furnishings, materials and equipment that are developmentally appropriate

3. Creating daily and weekly schedules that make optimal use of time with children

4. Implementing the schedule to ensure that children are engaged, active learners

Please take a moment to reflect on your own teaching practices.  What else might you add to the above list?  What do you think are the most important goals to remember in setting up and managing environments for young children?  What tips and strategies would you share with others?

Send your thoughts, along with your first name, last initial, city and state, to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Next month, we’ll share with you all of the wise responses we received from across the national CDA community.  In addition, we may also print your name and reflection in the new Essentials textbook and share your great ideas with all of the CDA-seeking community college students around the country who use Essentials as their primary textbook!

CDA Community Reflections on our last topic… “Healthy”

Last month, we asked the CDA community to send us their thoughts about the topic of the last article, “Healthy,” to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Thank you to everyone who responded.  Here are some of the many wise responses we received:

“In my CDA class I tell students one of the easiest ways to stop the spread of germs is to open the classroom windows each morning for about 5 minutes.  I live in a cold climate so I tell them ‘open the window, close the door.’  You can do something else for 5 minutes, then go in and close the windows.  I know personally from my working in a Head Start classroom… I cut colds by 75%!”
                - Barb B.
                  Pierre, SD

 “I am a licensing representative and it has been my experience that no matter how wonderful teachers are, I still have to cite programs for improper handwashing.  Proper handwashing technique is so simple once it becomes a habit and so very important in keeping children and staff healthy!”
                - Juanita B.
                  Houston, TX

“I get really frustrated with parents who bring their children to our center when they are clearly sick.  I know that they don’t know where else to bring them when they are working but we can’t let a sick child infect the other children.  Parents get mad at me but I don’t let the child stay.”
                - Jocelyn K.
                  Washington, DC

More and more children are coming to child care settings overweight which can lead to serious illness.  It is important in any program to teach children about the foods that are healthy and why other foods should only be eaten “sometimes.”  Children should not be told that they cannot have any particular food.  The second piece of this important health issue is that children be involved in physical activities that increase their heart rate.  This means running, jumping, etc. not sitting at the sandbox.  We are raising a sedentary population of children who will probably not outlive their parents. 

- Diana W.
  Rochester, NY