Over forty years ago, Howard Zinn identified the problem as not one of civil disobedience, but of civil "obedience". He confronted the problem of remaining obedient to laws and rules even "in the face of the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war and cruelty." Framed in an early childhood context, this article explores the value of…

Vivian Gussin Paley is a teacher, writer, lecturer, and advocate for the importance of play for young children. Author of a dozen books about children learning through play, she has received numerous honors and awards including an Erickson Institute Award for Service to Children, a MacArthur Foundation Fellows award, and a John Dewey Society's…

This article discusses how children can build teamwork through science activities. Through science experiences, the excitement can generate a sense of shared community in class. Science experiments help develop children's learning. Science experiences are a prime source of powerful new words because they use a common language to describe the…

Many children come to kindergarten with insufficient social skills to participate in the activities necessary for academic achievement. Children enrolled in prekindergarten programs across the United States are expelled at higher rates than older students. Boys are expelled 4 1/2 times more often than girls. When children excluded from…

Kindergarten has changed significantly in the last two decades: children now spend more time being taught and tested on literacy and math skills than they do learning through play and exploration, exercising their bodies, and using their imaginations. Many kindergartens use highly prescriptive curricula geared to new state standards and linked to…

Although a five-year-old entering kindergarten is probably excited about the new experience, there is often a degree of anxiety involved. As a kindergarten teacher whose goal is to create a classroom environment that fosters learning, encourages independence and is orderly, cheerful and welcoming, this author describes 11 simple things that she…

The traditional kindergarten program often reflected a rich but generic approach with creative contexts for typical kindergartners organized around materials (manipulatives or dramatic play) or a developmental area (fine motor or language). The purpose of kindergarten reflected beliefs about how children learn, specialized training for…

In this article, the author provides several strategies on how to help children who will not follow rules. These strategies include: (1) allowing lots of talk time; (2) increasing small group activities; (3) reconsidering one's pacing; (4) scheduling additional free time; (5) reducing transition times; (6) reevaluating classroom rules; (7)…

This paper focuses on the kinds of notations young children make for fractional numbers. The extant literature in the area of fractional numbers acknowledges children's difficulties in conceptualizing fractional numbers. Some of the research suggests possibly delaying an introduction to conventional notations for algorithms and fractions until…