(1) A school-age provider must be aware of and responsive to children's developmental, linguistic, cultural, and learning needs.

(2) A school-age provider must be aware of and responsive to children's needs by engaging in activities such as:

(a) Asking developmentally appropriate questions for the age group and allow children to answer without interruption from the provider;

(b) Circulating among the children during free choice activities and talking with children about what they are doing;

(c) A school-age provider must use language to develop and encourage children's reasoning skills by using techniques such as:

(i) Talking about logical relationships or concepts during the day including, but not limited to, the daily schedule, the differences and similarities between objects, or people in the program;

(ii) Introducing concepts using guiding questions that encourage children to figure out cause and effect relationships;

(iii) Providing opportunities for reading and writing activities; and

(iv) Asking open-ended questions to help children improve skills and acquire knowledge.

(d) A school-age provider working with non-English speaking children must encourage language development and acquisition by using techniques such as:

(i) Using words in various languages to talk about the program routines;

(ii) Reading books out loud or using audio books; and

(iii) Playing games in different languages.