Preschool Teaching Practices

Education staff use effective teaching practices to:

Establish strong relationships with children and their families
Create content-rich learning environments and activities that foster children’s curiosity and extends their learning based upon their interests and development
Support and extend children’s learning in culturally and linguistically responsive ways

Use the resources on this page to strengthen preschool teaching practices.

Adult holding out her hands to help steady a toddler standing on his own.

Effective Practice Guides

The Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) Effective Practice Guides provide information about domain-specific teaching practices that support children’s development. The guides show what these practices look like in early learning settings and help staff reflect on and improve their teaching practices.

Toddler ready to explore a bin full of building blocks and shapes.

Standards in Action: Promoting Learning Through Approaches to Rest, Meals, Routines, and Physical Activity

This vignette looks at Head Start Program Performance Standard (HSPPS) Teaching and the learning environment, 45 CFR § 1302.31, which promotes learning through approaches to rest, meals, routines, and physical activity. The vignette features a fictional grantee and highlights how program leaders work with others to meet the standards.

Text4Teachers

Text4Teachers supports Head Start teachers, staff, and others who care for and teach young children in center-based and family child care settings. Sign up to receive two free text messages per month with information, tips, research, and resources to strengthen and support your teaching practices.

ELOF2GO Mobile App

ELOF2GO is a mobile application (app) resource for teachers who want on-the-go access to the ELOF goals for children and effective teaching practices in support of those goals. It is designed for teachers, family child care providers, and home visitors. Download it now for your Apple or Android device.

Children working with clay-like material on a large table.

Engaging Interactions and Environments

These 15-minute in-service suites are a professional development resource for staff in busy, active early childhood centers and programs. They are organized around one topic or big idea and address effective teaching and assessment practices. Sub-topics include building relationships, interest-based learning, behavior guidance, engaging interactions, and language modeling and conversations.

Toddler placing both hands on an artboard as if to leave his handprints.

Teacher Time: Preschool Series

The premiere season of Teacher Time was designed for Head Start preschool teachers in a classroom setting. Each month, the hosts spoke with a special guest, a Head Start teacher, or a researcher in the field about the joys and challenges of teaching young children. Watch the series on-demand to discover how to build curricula and instructional decision-making around preschool children's knowledge, skills, and interests.

Adult–Child Interaction

Teaching Practices

Teaching Practices