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At its core, Effective Learning Environments for Young Children is all about fostering an environment for preschool-aged children to succeed in their education. Early Head Start is all about nurturing healthy attachments between children and their caregivers. Our course covers everything you need to know about Effective Learning Environments, from understanding how important engaging environments are in promoting learning to reflecting on how your own classroom is promoting or impeding learning. It will provide you with the tools and knowledge you need to confidently support for the children and families you serve.

Course Information

• Start Date: Available on-demand
• Course Level: Beginner
• Requirements/Prerequisites: Only for staff who have not completed the CDA course with The Academy
• Target Audience: Instruction and Effective Practice, Leadership and Management, Parents and Families, Program Operations, Support Services
• Course Meeting Times: None
• Completion Timeline/Duration: One month

Alignment with Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF)

• This course for teachers aligns closely with Head Start Early Learning Outcome Framework (ELOF). It provides strategies for promoting language development, social-emotional learning, and cognitive growth in the classroom. Educators gain tools for fostering literacy, empathy, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills among students. We also emphasize the importance of family engagement in the learning process. By addressing these key areas, our course equips educators to meet Head Start standards effectively, nurturing the holistic development of their students.

Learning Objective:

• Create an engaging classroom environment.
• Support a child’s emotional and cognitive development through the design of your classroom and daily schedule.
• Communicate the importance of environments with families and other staff members.

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Course Author

Zuly Vazquez

Zuly Vazquez is the senior manager of Early Head Start Professional Development. She has worked with Head Start and Early Head Start programs for over a decade, specializing in training, mentoring, coaching, facilitation, curriculum implementation, and management. She worked for several years in the classroom, providing high-quality education to children from different cultures, traditions, and ethnicities. She is a former Head Start parent and has vast experience supporting and providing technical assistance to teachers, family child care providers, education specialists, and families in large programs in Florida and Georgia. Over her career, she designed a supplemental Christian early childhood curriculum, bilingual online lessons, and classroom observation tools and has facilitated early childhood education courses in English and Spanish at the college level. As an active early childhood advocate, she is part of the advisory committee of her local NAEYC affiliate, the Family Child Care Home Alliance of Georgia, and Latinas United for the Children of America.