Given that both SEL and literacy outcomes are necessary for young children’ s developmental flourishing, integrating these two components is effective and efficient( Cipriano et al. 2023; Deliman et al. 2024). For example, consider the scenario below.
During center time, Mrs. Hicks notices Leo, age 3, paging through Waiting Is Not Easy!, by Mo Willems. In this book, Piggie makes Gerald wait for a surprise( hijinks ensue). Mrs. Hicks decides to use it as a springboard for talking with Leo about self-awareness and self-management.
“ Leo,” she asks,“ do you know what it means to wait for something?”
“ Like, when there’ s a long line for the slide, and I can’ t go yet?” Leo answers.
“ Yes! That’ s exactly right,” Mrs. Hicks says.“ When you want to have something or do something, and there’ s a reason that it can’ t happen in that moment, that’ s called waiting. How do you feel when you are waiting for your turn at the slide?”
“ Sometimes I get wiggly, like excited, but sometimes I get mad when people take too long,” Leo says.
Mrs. Hicks begins reading Waiting Is Not Easy!, embedding a few questions and observations along the way that guide Leo to consider how Gerald manages his feelings as he waits for Piggie to show him the surprise. She helps Leo think about how Gerald could manage his feelings of frustration and impatience and how Leo might do the same in similar situations. As the story draws to a close, Mrs. Hicks engages with Leo about what he has learned about Gerald and himself.
“ Wow! That beautiful starry sky was a surprise worth waiting for!” she says.“ Gerald had a really hard time waiting all during this story. What do you think might have made waiting easier?”
“ Maybe if Gerald played with something?” Leo suggests.
“ That’ s a great idea, Leo!” Mrs. Hicks says.“ Gerald could have played with something while he was waiting.” She then asks what Leo can do the next time he has to wait for something and encourages him to try out his ideas.
Early childhood educators need agency when selecting children’ s literature so that they can address social and emotional development for each learner. When selecting books, we recommend they consider the following questions( e. g., Gunn et al. 2022):
› Is the content developmentally appropriate for the children they’ re working with? For example, is the text engaging, and are the illustrations visually appealing?
› Are SEL themes integrated within the text through an authentic narrative structure?
› Are the characters, plot, and problems relevant to children’ s lives? Do they serve as windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors for readers( Bishop 1990)?
› Do the books read over time include children with diverse identities, abilities, and cultures?
As with all learning, educators should work to connect families to the instruction occurring at school( Schmidtke et al. 2025). We introduced the SEL / Literacy initiative as part of Project RISE to share our social and emotional language and literacy curricula with children’ s families. In addition to using books during the learning day, educators in our program send books home each week along with a tipsheet for families. This informal guide identifies the overarching SEL principles represented in the text and ways a family
Summer 2026 Young Children 49