Early childhood professionals constantly reflect upon how to improve the quality of educational experiences for young children. They are often encouraged to create centers that support the development of language, literacy and mathematical concepts inside the classroom, but they often forget that there is an untapped world of learning just outside…

Discusses how "cute" projects--as offered in traditional early childhood classrooms--insult children's intellects, mistake doing with learning, often miseducate, and undermine professionalism and educational equity. Describes a continuum of professional development ranging from cute learning experiences to those that are more challenging. Explores…

Explored the use of e-mail to develop a productive mentoring relationship with a student teacher through her student teaching and first year of teaching. Found that on-line discussions provided opportunities to state concerns and offer mentoring ideas in a calm environment. Also found that both mentor and student shared stories that encouraged…

Presents information on the legislative struggle surrounding the educational rights of children and their families who are homeless. Discusses the educational needs of homeless children. Maintains that educators can take a proactive stance to aid these children and their families, and to raise social awareness among all children and families in…

Presents rationale for using learning centers in early childhood classrooms. Describes teaching strategies to support active learning, including providing open-ended materials, organizing for independence, introducing centers, brainstorming ideas, and extending children's learning. (KB)

Describes constructive play and its importance to child development. Outlines the developmental changes in constructive play in young children, and identifies the benefits of this type of play for young children. Discusses the learning experiences of constructive play with art materials in early childhood settings, and describes strategies for…

Describes Vygotsky' view of play and its contribution to children's development. Presents developmental paths of play, focusing on the development of imaginary situations, explicit roles, and implicit rules. Describes how play leads to literacy and supports self-regulation, and ways early childhood teachers can facilitate play through promoting…

Urges teachers to be aware of the types of family violence, their prevalence, and the common effects of family violence on young children. Explores indicators of abuse and neglect, factors that protect against family violence, suggestions for creating a nurturing classroom climate, and the role of early childhood professionals in cases of abuse.…

Describes how children develop a concept of death, and presents suggestions for classroom experiences to help young children cope with death. Considers children's attendance at funerals and how to answer children's questions about death. Lists 14 children's books about death. (KB)

Describes the popularity of a first grader who is put back into a kindergarten class due to poor reading skills. Notes how the kindergartners consider the new boy a window onto the first grade and marvel at his skills in various classroom activities. Reflects on the lessons learned about the caring, safe environment of the classroom community.…

Considers the consequences of adult praise of children, focusing on when praise is dispensed, its indiscriminate use, children's dependence on others' judgment, use of praise to manipulate behavior, and its effect on motivation. Lists questions for evaluating the use of praise. (KB)

Examines the effects of drug use during pregnancy on early and later child development, the extent of women's drug use, and behavioral and learning characteristics of children prenatally exposed to drugs. Provides intervention guidelines for early childhood settings including children with prenatal drug exposure, focusing on recommendations for…

Describes the strategies used in a program to enhance primary school students' perspective-taking. Suggests using I-messages to help children resolve conflicts, using active listening during sharing time, developing caring relationships, and providing opportunities for social interaction. (KB)

High-quality family child care and school-age programs have characteristics to promote positive relationships among families and children that enhance children's development and family functioning, much like the thriving neighborhoods of previous generations. These characteristics include choice and variety, environments emphasizing safety and…

Describes how educators and families can foster children's sense of responsibility. Activities noted include interactions that support responsibility, such as asking questions that enable children to see some responsible choices; strategies that encourage learning, such as offering challenging, engaging learning opportunities in an interactive…