can interact with it and their child. Suggestions include asking and answering questions, labeling and explaining concepts, and helping children make connections to the text( Vallotton et al. 2023). Teachers encourage families to read the book multiple times before returning it at the end of the week.
To strengthen the impact of this initiative, we invited families and other caregivers to participate in an informational webinar. We encouraged families to share any recommendations with the team about possible texts and SEL concepts that they thought would be helpful for their children to embrace. We received positive feedback from both families and educators about the relevance and quality of the discussions prompted by the books.
Applications for Early Childhood Educators
Since implementing Project RISE in 2023, TUCC has been acknowledged as a model for social and emotional learning. More than 80 providers from across the state have visited the center to observe practices in real time. Participants have reported that they feel more equipped to prevent and address challenging behavior. Based on these outcomes and our experiences, we encourage educators in other early childhood settings to introduce intentional, agentic instruction. Consider these first steps to get started:
› Evaluate your existing practices and curriculum to foster social and emotional development. Do they align with developmentally appropriate practice? How are they implemented? How can educators be empowered to incorporate social and emotional ideas and skills into learning activities?
› Engage in robust professional development. Investigate both high- and low-tech options that will help educators improve their SEL knowledge in general and for individual learners and families.
› Embed social and emotional content in the curriculum. Look for ways to thread SEL throughout content areas and domains and through both child- and teacher-directed experiences.
› Partner with families. Work to build reciprocal relationships with families so that they are partners in their children’ s social and emotional development.
About the Authors
Sara D. Hooks, EdD, has been in the Department of Early Childhood Education at Towson University since August 2015. Her research and service interests focus on preparing teacher candidates to work effectively with children with diverse learning and behavioral needs and to engage families in meaningful ways. shooks @ towson. edu
50 Young Children
Summer 2026