Sociodrama is an arts-based, action-oriented tool of individual and collective social exploration and creative problem solving that allows participants to explore and find potential resolutions to issues of concern and conflict in their lives. This article describes how Early Years educators can begin to implement basic sociodrama into their…

This article explores how teachers can foster an environment that facilitates social problem solving when toddlers experience conflict, emotional dysregulation, and aggression. This article examines differences in child development and self-regulation outcomes when teachers engage in problem solving "for" toddlers and problem solving "with"…

The purpose of this paper is to describe effective methods of developing pretend play that is intrinsically motivating for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using the topic of circumscribed interests. Children with ASD often develop very specialized interests, known as Circumscribed Interests (CI). However, their limited and…

It has been observed that many young children like making marks on paper and that they enjoy the activity. It is also known that children's drawings are vehicles for expression and communication. Therefore, it would be logical and reasonable for teachers to incorporate children's drawings into building science concepts. To demonstrate how drawings…

Writing is a critical emergent literacy skill that lays the foundation for children's later literacy skills and reading achievement. Recent work indicates that many early childhood programs offer children materials and tools for engaging in writing activities but teachers rarely are seen modeling writing for children or scaffolding children's…

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 purpose of this article is to describe an approach that can be used by schools to understand low income minority parents' goals for the education of their children and to design responsive strategies to support these goals. Focus groups of minority mothers with low income levels are conducted and the information collected is used by schools…

The Morning Message is a commonly implemented activity in early childhood settings, appearing as a part of the daily schedule in many classrooms. However, there is limited research on what are the most effective ways to use the Morning Message to promote print awareness. The goal of this paper is to present suggested guidelines for implementing…

In this article, we discuss communication between early educators speaking their native language and parents who speak English as a second language. Parents who may have a limited proficiency in the second language face challenges to understanding semantic and pragmatic aspects of English. Actual early childhood conference talk in which parents…

This article highlights the literacy practices of two second grade teachers--one in an affluent suburb of a major metropolitan area and the other in a large urban school district. The article describes how these teachers use informational texts to engage their students, to provide children with opportunities to learn about the world around them,…

The complexity of words makes vocabulary development a multi-faceted process that presents challenges to early childhood educators, offers benefits to young learners, and must be supported through evidence-based strategies. All students, regardless of socio-economic status or background, need to make significant gains in receptive and expressive…

Part II of "Reclaiming Kindergarten" continues the discussion related to responding to the crisis in today's kindergarten. In Part II, two policy questions are posed, the answers to which seek to respond to this continuing crisis. The questions center on issues related to engaging families in kindergarten and the need to consider a new early…

There is growing concern over the number of young children who display challenging behavior and preschool teachers are reporting children's challenging behavior as their greatest concern. Program-wide Positive Behavior Support (PWPBS) is a promising model for supporting appropriate behavior and decreasing challenging behavior in early childhood…

Countering the position that colorblindness is desirable for teachers and children, this article encourages early childhood education teachers to engage in conversations about race and racism with young children. We discuss why the early childhood years are important for interrupting racism and make suggestions for helping children develop tools…

Early childhood teacher educators frequently enhance their teaching by reading children's books to their adult students. It is not unusual for faculty outside of early childhood to question devoting precious class time to read-alouds which they may consider a curious, if not frivolous, instructional strategy. Quality children's literature can,…