Early Childhood and Family Education

Welcome to the Early Childhood Department of Education at OSDE.  Our department serves the earliest learners in Oklahoma, from Birth to 3rd Grade.  There are many resources available to help you understand the development and education of young children.  

From the Start Reading Project - Foundational Literacy Virtual Courses

The OSDE is pleased to announce the From the Start Reading Project, a set of 9 professional development courses on evidence-based foundational literacy in the OSDE Connect virtual learning platform.  These dynamic modules provide professional learning on the components of strong early literacy instruction with a focus on practical classroom, application, and cover the following topics:

• The Early Elementary Literacy Block
• Oral Language
• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Foundational Writing
• Vocabulary
• Language Structures
• The Writing Process
• Comprehension

Skills and Behaviors that Promote Learning Webinar Series

This fall, we heard from early childhood educators across the state handling a new set of challenges around foundational skills and behaviors that students need to achieve academic and personal success in the classroom.  In response, OSDE launched a webinar series to assist educators in supporting students with these skills and behaviors.  Below, you will find the recordings of the first three sessions hosted in November, December, and February.  Each session is full of practical strategies that can be taken back to your classroom and implemented immediately.

Session #1 - Essential Skills and Behaviors that Promote Learning

• Recording
• Session Materials

Session #2 - Challenging Behaviors in Early Childhood with Blaire Harrison

• Recording
• Session Materials 

Session #3 - You Can't Say you Can't Play with Dr. Amanda Harrist

Recording

Oklahoma Academic Standards

Oklahoma Academic Standards (OAS) serve as expectations for what students should know and be able to do by the end of the school year. These standards were written by Oklahomans for Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Academic Standards:

• Focus on deep thinking, conceptual understanding, and real‐world problem-solving skills
• Set expectations for students to be College, Career, and Citizenship Ready
• Incorporate Literacy in Science, Social Studies, and Technical Subjects
• Emphasize the use of citations and examples from texts when creating opinions and arguments
• Increase rigor and grade‐level expectations
• Determine the full range of support for English Language Learners and Students with Special needs.

Standards (Combined Content Areas):  

To learn more about Oklahoma Academic Standards visit here.

The Early Learning Inventory (ELI) is a free, comprehensive tool to assess students’ knowledge and skills at the start of the school year and to monitor students’ progress in these areas across the year. The ELI covers foundational knowledge and skills, such as counting and alphabet knowledge, as well as dispositions and abilities critical to early learning. Educator can quickly and purposefully gather information about their students’ knowledge and skills using the ELI’s observational rubrics that outline the progression of children’s learning across six essential domains of school readiness: 

• Literacy;
• Mathematics;
• Approaches toward learning;
• Physical Development, Health, and Well Being; 
• Scientific Conceptual Understanding; and
• Self, Family, and Community.

Beyond providing insight to educators on the entry point of the students in their class, it allows for rich conversation and information sharing with families on student goals. 

For more information see the Oklahoma Early Learning Inventory Webpage:

https://sde.ok.gov/earlylearninginventory

Early Childhood Newsletters:

Please subscribe to the #OKEarlyEd Newsletter here.

The OSDE Family Guides are resources aligned with the Oklahoma Academic Standards and developed specifically for Oklahoma families to complement classroom learning. They illustrate what is expected of students at each grade level in different content areas along with activities families can do at home to further support children's learning experiences.   These guides are great resources for families at Open House, Parent Teacher Conferences, Family Nights, and School Newsletters.

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For more information or to see other grade level family guides click on the image above.