Here we are, post-pandemic for the most part, feeling either relief or fatigue but ready to begin another year of preschool, daycare, Head Start, or Kindergarten. We’ve done things this past year we never dreamed we’d have to do as far as finding innovative ways to reach children and families, creating ways to keep the littlest of learners safe and healthy, spending extra hours of classroom and personal hours disinfecting materials & equipment, working in bubbles, and explaining to parents the ‘new normal’ of early education.

We deserve to be proud of what we accomplished during the pandemic on behalf of the children we serve and extremely proud of the learning that took place in preschool programs all over the country. Though many experts may talk and write about a “lost year” in education, I choose to believe that there will be little regression in development and no great deal of loss of acquisition of skills for children from birth to six. Like chameleons who grow a new tail when they lose their original one, very young children will be able to continue their development and growth not only because of their own innate desire to learn but because good early childhood educators use developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) which means we not only ‘Teach ‘Em the Way They Learn’, but also ‘Begin Where They Are’ no matter where that is.

There may be some loss of attention span, some backtracking on hygiene skills, and some hesitation to separate from parents, but for the most part your children will be happy to be out of home and back in school. Many programs did not have to close completely; many did distance-learning (an extremely difficult way to connect with under-sixes in a meaningful way because of the lack of the human factor in person); and some programs made only physical health precautions, but continued to offer in-person learning experiences onsite.

And now that we are returning to ‘normal’, are there things we learned that may help us do an even better job than we did before Covid? Yep.

Hygiene – we know the importance of taking care of hand washing, diapering, covering sneeze/coughs, and strictly following program protocol on illnesses BY THE BOOK and we know how to make these seemingly tedious tasks into learning experiences and how to be firm with parents (and sometimes administrators) when there is a need for a child to be sent home from school.

Using Individual Work Spaces – the use of personal sets of materials and trays on tables or hula hoops on the floor is a method that can continue for learning about ownership of and responsibility for materials and reduces the need to remind children to “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” and encourages children to respect the work of others.

Minimalism – we learned that classrooms should be designed with as much open space as possible and that we do not need EVERY toy, puzzle, manipulative, block, dress up prop, animal action figure, doll or car/ramp to be displayed EVERY day. A minimal look is good and the fewer items children see or must choose from, makes the learning more specific and the action of play less chaotic.

Outdoor Learning – we believe more in using outdoor areas as learning centers and will be bringing more traditionally indoor materials & equipment outside. Every ‘center’ that can be set up inside, can be created outside. Here are some great ways to do this:

https://www.kaplanco.com/ii/outdoor-classroom-for-preschoolers

https://www.virtuallabschool.org/preschool/learning-environments/lesson-3

https://www.prekprintablefun.com/blog/create-outdoor-learning-spaces

Teacher Confidence – I think the best ‘outcome’ of this past year in early ed is that teachers and administrators truly learned that they are strong, smart, creative, inventive, patient, and highly capable. We persevered, keeping our program children and their families safe and healthy; keeping ourselves healthy; and doing a magnificent job in providing excellence in quality learning. Let’s do it again.