With the advent of Web 2.0, Vygotsky's traditional role of the more knowledgeable other (MKO) has been transformed. This transformation shifts the power of a facilitator of learning from an elite group of MKOs to all students. Such a transformation possesses significant value in the early childhood mathematics classroom where collaboration is…

Combining home-school literacy bags with preschool family literature circles provided a strong foundation for family involvement at home and school during this year-long Reading Partners project, and helped parents become essential partners in their children's literacy development. Using home-school literacy bags, children and parents learned…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a federally funded early literacy project that aimed to promote the school readiness skills of preschool-age children from low income families. Through daily, explicit, and systematic instruction, the project targeted to improve preschoolers' oral language skills, phonological awareness,…

Healthy social-emotional development is promoted by building a safe, secure and respectful environment in an early childhood setting with positive and consistent relationships among adults, children, and their peers. This study explored storytelling dramas as an opportunity to build community within the context of one early childhood classroom.…

Challenging student behaviors are a prominent factor in the development of teacher stress and burnout. When classroom-based teachers of preschool children with disabilities were surveyed to identify their training needs in one North Carolina county, the most frequent request was how to address behavior challenges of preschool children with…

The present models for the integration of computer technology not only cannot satisfy teachers' actual needs but also are difficult to follow and perform by teachers in their classroom teaching. Consequently, the integration cannot be implemented properly and effectively in the real classroom teaching. Therefore, a practical integration model…

Young children's challenging behavior can impact all aspects of the classroom environment, including relationships (peer-peer, student-teacher), learning, and safety. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a program that focuses on supporting pro-social behaviors and preventing challenging behavior. PBIS begins with building a…

The dramatic growth in the number of children learning English as a second language in our country has led to a corresponding increase in the need to understand how teachers and schools can effectively teach children who are learning English as a second language. Many teachers report not feeling prepared to meet the needs of these children…

Preschool classrooms were investigated to determine the extent to which quality is related to children's literacy development. The study included 24 classrooms of 428 prekindergarten children in a large, urban Midwestern school district. Results suggest that global classroom quality and literacy environment quality are strongly related. Literacy…

Early childhood educators are likely to encounter youngsters who experience problems at home impeding their abilities to learn and benefit from the program. One such group is children who live or have lived with adult domestic violence. Children yet to begin elementary school are over-represented among groups of young people known to live with…

Monitoring and evaluating classroom behavior in early childhood for the purpose of improving teaching and learning is critical. There is a clear link between social behavior and academic learning. Classrooms where students are following expectations, engaging academically, and transitioning effectively between activities are classrooms where…

Increasing numbers of Spanish-speaking preschool children require attention to improve the likelihood of success in school. This study, part of a larger 2-year ethnographic study of a Head Start classroom, elaborates the role of teachers' interactions with students who were learning English. Using an interactional ethnography approach, the authors…

This study reflects a naturalistic, interpretive 5-month study in a public school morning kindergarten regarding the children's social development and creation of a peer culture during the transitional months into public education. The main focus of the research was the children's perspectives on these transitions and their evolving classroom…

Six years have gone by since the passing of "No Child Left Behind" (2002) and due to the "high-stake" riders attached to this legislation, educators at all levels have found themselves in a state of both emotional and cognitive dissonance. Recent research in the field of neuroscience combined with principles gained from constructivism support the…

The goals of this paper were two-fold. The first goal was to examine the emotional and social developmental value of play in the early childhood classroom. This issue is important because of the recent impetus for a more academic focus in early childhood classrooms, and questions about the developmental benefits of play. The second goal was to…