The SEEDS Framework is built on a set of core beliefs about young children, how they learn best, and what enables them to thrive. The foundational principles include:
- High-quality care and interactions are essential.
- All children deserve high-quality care and interactions with adults.
- Positive interactions with adults create an indelible impact on young children’s developing brain architecture, laying the foundation for all future learning, behavior, and health.
- Research indicates that high-quality early interactions and positive relationships increase children’s likelihood of success in school and life.
- Relationships are foundational to learning.
- The SEEDS approach enables adults to create safe, inclusive learning environments by developing relationships through positive interactions.
- Trusting relationships build confidence and promote learning. The SEEDS Framework helps adults build a culture of trust, strengthening children’s social skills and overall well-being.
- Healthy development depends on the quality and reliability of a young child’s relationships with important people in their life, with even brain architecture depending on these relationships. Adults support children in getting their basic needs met, which are crucial for physical and emotional safety, making it easier for children to learn and play.
- Joyful play and hands-on exploration support learning.
- Children learn best by doing, actively engaging with their world by using their eyes, hands, ears, mouth, and nose—this is also known as “hands-on” learning.
- Much of the learning happens through joyful play. As children play, SEEDS educators foster opportunities for them to engage fully in their learning-rich environment.
- Play centers are a rich and important part of the early childhood classroom, enabling children to explore different modes of learning independently and collaboratively and to utilize their initiative and imagination.
- The SEEDS Quality Development Through Doing promotes multisensory exploration, agency, and equitable learning opportunities. If an activity ends with “-ing” and is age-appropriate (e.g., clapping, singing, reading, writing, jumping), children are likely learning and developing skills by doing.
- Learning is developmentally appropriate and scaffolded.
- Learning is developmentally appropriate and involves both embedded learning (occurring naturally during play and informal interactions) and explicit instruction (planned, educator-directed activities). These two modes of learning are central to the SEEDS Framework.
- Children develop at their own pace, so learning experiences are most effective when they are scaffolded and developmentally appropriate.
- SEEDS educators scaffold children’s learning to help them progress from an emergent stage to a developing stage, and then to a fluent stage in various areas of early literacy development. The framework provides Planning Tools and Reflection Tools to help educators observe, assess, and tailor support to individual children’s needs.
- Valuing children’s home languages and cultures is essential.
- Inclusive early childhood education builds upon children’s assets and strengths and incorporates children’s cultures, languages, and family backgrounds.
- The SEEDS Framework encourages educators to be intentional about creating an equitable classroom climate that celebrates multilingual learners’ languages, cultural backgrounds, and lived experiences as strengths, and integrates them into daily instruction.
- Using their home language(s) is an asset for multilingual children; it helps them feel more comfortable and more successful in acquiring a second language like English.
- Multilingual learners bring valuable cultural, linguistic, and lived experiences that should be embraced and woven into everyday instruction. They are not confused by learning multiple languages, but rather demonstrate cognitive advantages.
- The physical environment should reflect children’s languages, cultures, and experiences through visuals, books, and learning materials, promoting a sense of belonging. This includes posting keywords, labels, and signs in children’s home languages alongside English.
These beliefs collectively create a comprehensive approach to early childhood education, ensuring that children not only develop essential literacy skills but also feel respected, capable, and supported in their learning journey.