Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS) Exploration Webinar Series

Explore the 5 ELDS core areas and find ECE Resource Hub strategies to foster learning in each area

Virginia’s Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS), Birth-5 Learning Guidelines articulate the skills and knowledge children need to demonstrate by the end of preschool in order to be successful in kindergarten. The standards are intended to help early childhood educators understand the basics of child development, implement effective classroom activities, and engage in high-quality teacher child interactions as measured by Virginia’s quality measurement and improvement system, VQB5.

The Early Learning and Development (ELDS) Exploration Webinar Series helps early childhood professionals become familiar with each developmental area, explore resources, and learn strategies that support implementation. To learn more about the ELDS, visit the VDOE’s Early Childhood Standards & Instructional Supports. You can also view the ELDS Overview, Structure, and Implementation Refresher 2024.

ELDS EXPLORATION SERIES

2025 Schedule

January: Approaches to Play and Learning

Explore how to foster children's curiosity, initiative, creativity, imagination, and cognitive and behavioral self-regulation - key skills for all young learners

February: Social and Emotional Development

Learn how you can foster children's relationships with others and support their ability to express, recognize, and manage emotions in positive ways

March: Communication, Language, and Literacy Development

Get to know the foundational reading, writing, and communication skills that young children are developing in early childhood

April: Cognitive Development

Learn how you can create a learning environment that support children's abilities to question, explore, describe, predict and share their thinking.

May: Health and Physical Development

Explore ways you can support learning through the senses and foster children's motor skills, physical health, and self-care

Current and Previous Webinars

JANUARY 2025

Approaches to Learning

Approaches to Play and Learning is all about the skills and habits that young children need to engage in learning. These include curiosity, initiative, creativity, imagination, and cognitive and behavioral self-regulation. Learn how you can support these skills and help young children develop a love of learning.

Two children engaged in a sorting activity with tweezers

The Early Learning and Development Standards (ELDS) Exploration Webinar Series is created by the The Virginia Department of Education in partnership with the University of Virgina’s ECE Resource Hub.