Educating Young Children Volume 1 - Winter 2026 | Page 77

Connections to Social and Emotional Learning During Small-Group Literacy Experiences

During interactive read alouds of certain books, discussions will naturally turn to identifying and understanding characters’ emotions. A small-group setting allows educators to guide children as they gain this understanding, connect with characters’ experiences, and begin to expand their own emotional vocabularies. Within a safe and supportive environment, children may be more comfortable sharing personal feelings and engaging in deep, reflective conversations. This integrated approach demonstrates how social and emotional development and literacy learning are not separate subjects; rather, they are woven together to create a meaningful, multidisciplinary learning experience.

While the examples in this article come from my experiences teaching preschool, they are applicable to children in older grades. Indeed, prioritizing the intentional use of small groups is key to cultivating children’ s deep and joyful engagement with reading and learning from preschool through the primary grades.

Educators looking for ways to strategically integrate this practice can begin by

› Choosing books that lend themselves to rich, repeated readings, and connecting them to ideas or themes that can be explored multiple times. Illustrations should be appealing, detailed, and relevant to the text. Compelling characters will help children deepen their reading comprehension. › Asking open-ended questions that move beyond simple recall. Questions should prompt children to use new vocabulary, analyze characters’ feelings, and begin to understand how words and pictures work together to tell a story.