Position paper argues in favor of developmentally appropriate kindergarten programs. Paper examines program goals and content, and provides suggestions about learning environment, curriculum, and staff. Includes statements concerning purpose of kindergarten, importance of play in learning, and need for program support. (PCB)

Argues that structured reading programs, workbook pages, and drills do not alone provide an adequate basis for beginning reading instruction and suggests that experiences, knowledge, and other environmental factors ensure success in reading. (HOD)

Contrasts a child not ready for school with a child who is developmentally prepared to enter school and argues that if all school systems could administer and interpret the results of a developmental examination, the number of unhappy children, special needs children, and grade overplaced children would be greatly reduced. (HOD)

Suggests that kindergarten teachers should once a week bring to class a news photograph which they can discuss with the children. Such an exercise can be used to create among the children a wider awareness of the world and to counter their tendency to focus exclusively on the self. (Author/RH)

Maintains that full-day kindergarten programs can derive at least part of their curriculum from the diverse gifts of social and cultural knowledge that children bring to the classroom. Includes a description of a kindergarten class that explored the topic of grandparents. (BB)

Describes the assumptions and principles of emergent literacy and establishes the need to reconceptualize kindergarten practice in the area of literacy education. Conclusions drawn from a series of studies of current kindergarten practice in a large midwestern state are considered. (BB)

Believes that educators often indoctrinate children into being passive receivers of learning, and that a communication-based approach to learning, in which teachers model how to be active listeners and also generators of information, is needed. Based on work with kindergartners and second graders, provides examples of valuing children's talking…