Article Link: http://www.exchangepress.com/article/finding-ourselves-in-books-using-childrens-literature-to-support-social-emotional-learning/5026726/
*Themed book suggestions can be found in the pdf version of this article.
Even before COVID-19 hit, social-emotional learning was an essential part of the early childhood education experience. High-quality ECE programs have long emphasized guiding children in personal care, emotional well-being, safety, health, social courtesies, moral and character development, and practical life skills.
We are now living through an unprecedented economic and health crisis that our youngest children are navigating along with the rest of us. While we do not know what the long-term effects may be, evidence is already suggesting that the pandemic has damaged children’s social and emotional well-being. The National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University found that the percentage of young children reported to have “high” levels of social and emotional difficulties—such as hyperactivity and conflict with peers—increased during the pandemic, when compared to previous national data on child behavior norms (Barnett & Jung, 2021). A recent report from the Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative’s Early Learning Study at Harvard found that just over half of parents surveyed said they have seen a negative impact on their child’s social-emotional development, and teachers noticed similar trends: 53 percent observed behavioral changes during the pandemic, and of those, ...