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Belonging refers to a sense of connectedness to others, an individual’s experiences of being valued, of forming relationships with others and making contributions as part of a group, a community, the natural world.
Goal for children: Every child has a sense of belonging when he or she is connected to others and contributes to their world.
Children demonstrate a sense of belonging when they:
• feel included and safe in relationships with adults and other children in the early years setting;
• participate fully in ways that are most comfortable to them;
• participate in social interactions, shared exploration, play, and learning with adults and children;
• make smooth transitions between home and early years settings;
• begin to show concern and empathy and take action to assist others;
• notice similarities and differences between self and others and respond positively to the uniqueness, differing capabilities, and perspectives of others;
• recognize, explore, and make connections:
– between home and the early childhood setting,
– with their community,
– with the natural environment;
• express a sense of purpose as they participate and make contribution
Program expectation: Early childhood programs cultivate authentic, caring relationships and connections to create a sense of belonging among and between children, adults, and the world around them.
Educators can create contexts in which all children can develop a sense of belonging by:
• being attuned to the physical and emotional states of each child and responding in a warm and sensitive manner;
• connecting with each child and recognizing and valuing his or her unique spirit, individuality, and presence;
• planning for ways to support smooth transitions:
– between the home and the early years setting,
– in daily routines,
– across early years settings;
• supporting relationships between children as they initiate, respond, collaborate, celebrate, and demonstrate care for others;
• developing policies, practices, and environments that respect and support inclusion, meaningful participation, and a sense of belonging for all children;
• finding ways to intentionally integrate the unique perspectives and gifts of parents, caregivers, and extended family throughout all elements of the program in a meaningful and authentic way;
• establishing and maintaining positive reciprocal relationships with community partners to support meaningful participation;
• creating opportunities throughout daily experiences that enable children to explore, wonder about, care for, and make connections to the natural environment;
• giving visibility to the many relationships that children form with adults, other children, the community, and the natural world through various forms of documentation;
• inviting community members to contribute to and participate in the program and providing opportunities for children to participate and make meaningful contributions to the
Additional considerations for educators
A warm and caring manner is conveyed through body language as well as words – how we touch, carry, and move children through daily routines sends a strong message.
Capitalize on opportunities for one-to-one interactions during daily routines (e.g., for infants and toddlers: diaper changing, dressing to go outdoors, and feeding/meal times are ideal opportunities for making connections and building relationships).
Discover the unique characteristics and gifts of each child by talking with his or her family, observing, and documenting (e.g., in addition to what the children are interested in, notice what brings them joy and how they relate to others and to the environment around them; to support inclusion, consider each child’s capabilities rather than focusing solely
Rather than reprimanding children for undesirable behaviours, assist them in finding new ways to achieve their goals (e.g., look for the root cause of behaviour; reduce stressors; support children’s efforts to initiate and join in play with others; notice, acknowledge, and document positive interactions and attempts at self-regulation and share the information with children and families to gain new insights).
Helping all children in the program to gain a clearer understanding of the capabilities and challenges of others is a way to build their social competence. The ability to value the differences of others is strengthened both for typically developing children and for children who require additional support.
Build connections between the home and the program by communicating with families using multiple means (e.g., send e-mail updates; create a blog; set up a documentation panel and place it near the entrance where families can find out more about their children’s experiences; invite families to comment on a specific piece of documentation; suggest ways families can extend learning at home to build on a particular idea children are exploring; encourage families to help you.
Engagement refers to a state of being genuinely involved and interested in what one is doing. Optimal conditions for learning occur when we are fully engaged.
For children, this happens in play that evolves from the child’s natural curiosity – active play that allows children to explore with their bodies, minds, and senses, stimulating them to ask questions, test theories, solve problems, engage in creative thinking, and make meaning of the world around them. These investigations through play fuse intellect and feeling to help children make connections and develop the capacity for higher-order thinking.
Research into learning and development – from the early theories of Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky to the latest findings of neuroscience – makes it clear that children learn best when they are fully engaged in active exploration, play, and inquiry (Gopnik, 2009). When children initiate experiences, generate ideas, plan, problem-solve, make meaningful choices, and act spontaneously through play, they are more likely to be happy and get along well with others, to have lower levels of stress, and to be attentive and motivated to learn.64 When children are fully engaged, they develop dispositions and skills for lifelong learning that are important for success in school and beyond.
Ways in which children might demonstrate engagement
Goal for children: Every child is an active and engaged learner who explores the world with body, mind, and senses.
Children are engaged learners when they:
• express joy and wonder in their encounters with the environment, the natural world, and other people;
• focus attention, manipulate, investigate, observe, question, test theories, solve problems, create, and represent ideas and their understanding of the world around them through play in divergent and increasingly complex ways;
• engage with others to negotiate, collaborate, create, and communicate feelings, ideas, experiences, and knowledge;
• through their play, explore materials that support an increasing awareness and understanding of concepts associated with literacy and numeracy;
• participate to the best of their abilities in an inclusive learning environment.
Ways in which programs can foster engagement
Program expectation: Early childhood programs provide environments and experiences to engage children in active, creative, and meaningful exploration, play, and inquiry.
Educators can create contexts that engage children by:
• designing indoor and outdoor environments and experiences that spark curiosity, invite investigation, and provide challenges that are responsive to individual capabilities to help children extend the boundaries of their learning;
• connecting with families and communities and inviting their participation to ensure that environments and experiences reflect and are relevant to children’s everyday lives;
• providing a wide variety of interesting objects and open-ended materials for children to explore with their senses, manipulate, and investigate;
• planning daily routines (the flow of the day) with limited interruptions and transitions to maintain a sense of calm and simplicity for infants and toddlers, and providing ample opportunities through large blocks of time for older children to engage in sustained, complex play and inquiry; participating with children as a coinvestigator, co-learner, and co-planner rather than as director or “keeper of knowledge” and “keeper of the plans” in a way that is separate and apart from the children;
• continuously questioning and testing their own theories and strategies and seeking new ideas to facilitate children’s exploration and understanding of the world around them in meaningful ways;
• working with families and community partners to ensure that environments and experiences provide equal learning experiences for all children by making
flexible program adaptations and providing special equipment and/or adaptive devices (as recommended by a regulated health professional);
• ensuring that the spaces and experiences provided promote play and inquiry that will help children discover and develop an increasing awareness and understanding of key concepts, including those associated with literacy and numeracy development;
• documenting and making children’s thinking, learning, and competence visible to children, families, and others.
Additional considerations for educators
Assess the type of toys and materials available in your program and consider replacing those that limit exploration (e.g., single-purpose toys) with “open-ended” materials that can be used in many ways (e.g., for infants: objects that encourage exploration of questions such as, “How does this feel, sound, taste, move?”; for toddlers: materials to help them explore questions such as, “What parts does this have? What can I make it do?”; for preschoolers: materials that encourage construction and exploratory questions such as, “How does this go together?” “What can I make?”; for older children: opportunities to encourage representation of their thinking and ideas through various mediums).
Create environments and experiences that support active engagement and meaningful exploration by focusing on the questions and theories children investigate through their play. This may involve moving away from traditional, adult-chosen themes towards what children are engaged and interested in as a starting point for planning. Educators also need to make decisions about the types of interests that have potential for rich and complex play. This could mean focusing less on the objects that interest children and more on what children are doing with the objects: What questions are they asking through their play? What theories are they testing? What are they noticing and attending to? What problems are they solving?
For example, observing a group of children interested in cars, educators noticed that it wasn’t so much the cars children were focused on as more complex questions such as, “How can I make it move?”; “What happens on different surfaces?”; “How can I make it go faster?”; “How can I build a ramp?”; “What other things roll?”; “What might happen if I try these ideas outside?” Exploring questions and theories about “movement” through their play deepens children’s learning and engages them in thinking about physics and mathematical concepts.
Belonging refers to a sense of connectedness to others, an individual’s experiences of being valued, of forming relationships with others and making contributions as part of a group, a community, the natural world.
Goal for children: Every child is a capable communicator who expresses himself or herself in many ways.
Children are able to communicate when they:
• initiate, respond to, and engage in reciprocal communication with others;
• learn, understand, and use language for a variety of purposes;
• use varied forms of creative expression to communicate feelings, experiences, ideas, and understanding of the world around them;
• express themselves in their first language in addition to gaining competence in language acquisition;
• participate in meaningful interaction and communication with peers and adults, regardless of their abilities;
• develop increasing capacity in the foundations of language that will support later reading and writing.
Program expectation: Early childhood programs foster communication and expression in all forms.
Educators can create contexts that foster communication by:
• being attuned and responding to children’s varied cues and communications;
• engaging in authentic, reciprocal communication with children, where children participate as both initiators and equal partners;
• facilitating successful communication between children by helping children listen to and express themselves to one another;
• documenting children’s communication to help them revisit thoughts and ideas expressed in order to extend their understanding;
• providing time, space, and materials to encourage expression through creative materials that reflect children’s capabilities as well as their social and cultural background;
• engaging and cultivating children’s connections with stories and books in a variety of contexts (e.g., by sharing books and telling stories with individuals, small groups, and large groups), and for a variety of purposes (e.g., to foster close relationships, explore and play with language structures, recount past events, research ideas, spark conversations, and connect with cultural traditions);
• weaving language- and literacy-related activities and materials into all daily experiences, routines, and physical spaces;
• working with families and community members to find ways to support and enrich the transmission of language and culture;
• becoming aware of the many “languages” children use to communicate and providing individualized support so children of all abilities can express themselves and be heard;
• reflecting continuously on and seeking to improve their own communication strategies and techniques for facilitating responsive, authentic conversations with children and families.
There is clear evidence that early experiences have a significant impact on the biology of the body and on brain development, with implications for lifelong physical and mental health and well-being.
Physical well-being
Patterns of eating, physical activity, and sleep that are established in early childhood continue into later life. Inadequate nutrition and sleep, low levels of physical activity, and persistent stress in early childhood can lead to later health problems, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, and anxiety.
Connections between cognition and physical and emotional well-being
Children thrive in programs where they can engage in vigorous physical play in natural outdoor spaces and playgrounds that present manageable levels of challenge. While these environments need to be safe, it is also important for them to provide children with interesting opportunities for a reasonable degree of risk taking. In addition to providing physical benefits, active play outdoors strengthens functioning in cognitive areas such as perception, attention, creative problem solving, and complex thinking.
Self-care
High-quality early childhood programs play an important role in supporting children’s developing sense of self, autonomy, and competence. A safe environment that offers consistency and continuity as well as graduated support for children’s growing independence and capacity for self-care enables children to tackle challenges, learn to persevere, and explore ways to cope with manageable levels of positive stress.
Self-regulation
The ability to self-regulate is an important component of children’s development. A growing number of studies have identified this ability as central to children’s long-term physical, psychological, behavioural, and educational well-being.
Mental health and wellness
Ontario’s Policy Framework for Child and Youth Mental Health reports that 15 to 21 percent of children and youth in Ontario have at least one mental health disorder. Left untreated, these can have significant impacts on the quality of children’s experiences in early years settings as well as later consequences such as poor academic achievement, failure to complete high school, substance abuse, an inability to live independently, health problems, and suicide. Early years programs can . . . support families by taking a strength-based approach. When educators establish positive, authentic, and caring relationships with families and provide a safe, non-judgemental environment for shared learning, everyone benefits.
Ways in which children might demonstrate health and well-being
Goal for children: Every child is developing a sense of self, health, and well-being.
Children have a sense of self and health and well-being when they:
• are physically active and confident in their growing abilities;
• are increasingly aware of and able to make healthy choices to meet their basic needs (e.g., for food, sleep, physical activity, self-care);
• experience a sense of competence, autonomy, and agency as they participate at their own pace throughout daily experiences and interactions;
• are increasingly able to identify, monitor, and manage stress levels and engage in strategies for self regulation (e.g., of emotions, attention, and behaviour);
• are increasingly able to take initiative, tackle challenges with enthusiasm and persistence, and cope with and adapt to changes, frustrations, and the unexpected in everyday living;
• are developing a strong sense of self and the ability to value their own unique identity;
• are increasingly able to recognize, value, and respect the unique identity and perspectives of others.
Ways in which programs can foster health and well-being
Program expectation: Early childhood programs nurture children’s healthy
development and support their growing sense of self.
Educators can create contexts to support children’s health and well-being by:
• providing healthy meals and snacks and establishing positive eating environments that are responsive to children’s cues of hunger and fullness;
• incorporating opportunities and time to practise self-help and self-care skills based on each child’s capabilities throughout daily routines and activities;
• providing regular daily opportunities (responsive to individual capabilities) for children to be physically active and explore the world around them with their bodies, minds, and senses;
• limiting activities where children are sedentary for an extended period of time;
• creating safe and stimulating outdoor spaces for intentional active play that is individualized and adapted as needed to support children’s varied abilities, offering challenges that are within each child’s ability to master;
• facilitating children’s efforts to take reasonable risks, test their limits, and gain increasing competence and a sense of mastery through active play and social interactions;
• recognizing and supporting children’s developing and varied self-regulation abilities in all domains (biological, emotional, communicative, cognitive,
social);
• designing environments that are attuned to children’s varied sensitivities, arousal states, and need for maintaining a calm, focused, and alert state;
• reaching out to all families, including those who may be experiencing stressful and challenging circumstances, and helping them to make connections to formal supports (e.g., community agencies) and informal supports (e.g., connections with other families and/or their own support networks);
• participating in professional learning and connecting with community partners to ensure the program fosters social and emotional well-being and resilience for children and families.
Additional considerations for educators
Many early years programs are beginning to view their outdoor playgrounds as places for discovery and learning with bodies, minds, and senses rather than just places to blow off steam. For example, some programs are removing large play structures that dominate the space in favour of more natural outdoor playgrounds. These may include a variety of natural surfaces such as grass, sand, and pebbles; pathways to follow and hills to climb; garden areas; low platforms; and an assortment of large, open-ended materials to encourage building and creative problem-solving and foster imagination and a sense of mastery. Adapting the outdoor environment to support the varied capabilities of children helps to ensure all have equitable opportunities for active outdoor play.
The OESP is an Ontario Energy Board (OEB) program that lowers electricity bills for households experiencing lower income. The OESP provides a monthly credit to eligible customers based on household income and household size. The OESP credits are applied directly to eligible customers’ bills.
For some customers, the need to use more power is necessary. If your home is electrically heated, or you rely on an approved medical device requiring a lot of electricity, OESP offers a higher level of assistance.
Credit amount approved by OESP will depend on how many people live in the house and the combined household income after tax.
The maximum income amount to qualify for the program is outlined below.
• 1 person household with an income of $38,000 or less
• 2 person household with an income range $38,001 – $54,000 or less
• 3-4 person household with an income range $54,001 – $65,000 or less
• 5+ person household with an income range $65,001 – $71,000 or less
Customers can apply online at OntarioElectricitySupport.ca. Customers need to complete the online application, print and sign the consent form, and mail it to the address provided on the OESP website. A paper version of the application can be downloaded from the OESP application website at OntarioElectricitySupport.ca or can be mailed to applicants by the OESP Contact Centre upon request.
Customers unable to apply online can contact Empower Simcoe by calling: 705-739-0485, or emailing housingcalls@empowersimcoe.ca
Customers experiencing a change in income from the previous year meeting eligibility criteria can call 705-739-0485, or emailing housingcalls@empowersimcoe.ca, to book an appointment for application.
The Housing Retention Fund is available to assist residents of Simcoe County with:
• arrears of rent or mortgage payments,
• arrears in utilities,
• last month’s rent,
• moving expenses.
Assistance is provided once every two years (24 months) for a maximum of up to;
• $2200.00 total for a family household
• $1200.00 total for an individual household.
For utility assistance applicants must have a disconnect notice.
For rental areas applicants must have notice of eviction.
For mortgage arrears applicant must have a letter stating bank will not deter.
Call: (705) 722-3132 ext. 1833
Please visit https://www.simcoe.ca/OntarioWorks/Pages/housing.aspx for more information.
The Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LEAP) was created to help individuals or families who are struggling to pay their electricity bills throughout the year.
The program provides a one-time financial assistance grant of up to $500 per year, or $600, if electric heat is used. This grant is available to low-income or special circumstance residents who meet program criteria, whose utility accounts are in arrears and are faced with the threat of disconnection.
If you live in Barrie, Orillia contact the United Way Leap office at: 1-855-487-5327.
For residents of Wasaga Beach contact Regional Housing Support Services at: 705-739-0485 or email housingcalls@empowersimcoe.ca.
Photo ID for everyone in the home
Current utility bill
Copy of lease or mortgage
Proof of household income for everyone over the age of 18 years
A bank statement showing 30 days prior to the application date
