The Appropriate Behavior Expectations Case Study

Chapter 8

The Physical Environment

“Space speaks to each of us,” the late Jim Greenman (2005) wrote in Caring Spaces, Learning Places (p.

13). Think of a library, a restaurant, a swimming pool—each lets you know exactly what behavior is

expected there. So does a classroom.

As we’ve seen, the social climate delivers most of the message, but the relationship between the social

climate and the physical space is reciprocal. Because each influences the other, the physical

environment provides important clues for the people within it. That is, the way you set up your

classroom can help to prevent challenging behavior (Katz & McClellan, 1997). The overall plan of the

area, the arrangement of furniture and materials, and the use of wall space will invite children to be

comfortable or uneasy, inclusive or elitist, orderly or out of control, prosocial or aggressive. It is easier to

change a space than to change behavior, but paradoxically, changing the physical space can change

behavior. This is why property owners scrub off graffiti and repair broken windows: They want people to

know that their buildings are cared for and deserve respect.

Sharing space, toys, and the teacher’s attention all day long is stressful for children. Most states regulate

teacher–child ratio, group size, and classroom space per child (Epstein & Barnett, 2012), and Head Start

and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) (2007) have standards as well.

But even when standards are followed, many children end up in classrooms where the conditions are

less than optimal, making it difficult for those who require more space or adult attention to have their

needs met.

How can your space help you to create a caring, cooperative, and inclusive community that encourages

learning and fosters appropriate prosocial behavior? How can the surroundings help you to meet the

children’s needs for belonging, autonomy, and competence (Deci & Ryan, 1985)? Here are some ideas.

Welcome

First impressions are crucial. As you ready your space for the first day of school, take a look at the

children’s files and talk with their previous teachers to find out more about their lives and interests.

When children and their families see themselves and their culture reflected in the classroom, they are

more likely to feel that they belong and become engaged in what’s going on, so decorate accordingly.

Prepare a place for each child to store her belongings; to help families feel at home, outfit an area with

at least one piece of adult-sized furniture. Then you, too, can sit comfortably, and there will be laps

where children can cuddle. Add a carpet, a lamp, some plants, books for parents and toys for younger

siblings, photos of families and staff, and a sign welcoming everyone in all the languages of the

classroom (Gonzalez-Mena, 2010).

Arranging the Furniture

You will no doubt reconfigure your space many times over the course of the year as you come to know

the children better, hold class meetings, and teach groups of varying sizes. But the basic arrangement—

home base—should indicate your top priorities and facilitate the behavior you’re trying to nurture.

Each area should have a clear purpose that the children understand (Hyson, 2008). When there are a

great many rules and restrictions, children with challenging behavior have trouble functioning, so be

sure your room setup allows them to move around without constant warnings. If you mark the

boundaries clearly, construct an entrance and an exit to each area, and lay out well-defined pathways

from one area to another by putting masking tape or cut-out footprints on the floor, the children will

feel more comfortable and their behavior will be more cooperative and less disruptive.

In an early childhood or kindergarten classroom, the dramatic play area inspires the most complex social

interaction, followed by blocks, games, woodworking, sand, and manipulatives (Quay, Weaver, & Neel,

1986), so create spaces that can accommodate these small-group activities and encourage children to

play together. Even the computer and listening center can have seating for more than one child. The

result will be more friendships, better executive function, and improved social and emotional skills.

To cultivate independence and autonomy and help children develop self-regulation skills, arrange the

space so that they can choose activities and materials for themselves. In addition to containing plentiful

supplies, the activity centers and shelves should be well organized, inviting, easily accessible, and

strategically located. If the blocks are next to a high traffic area, sooner or later someone will knock over

a construction masterpiece, causing anger and frustration. Put quiet activities—reading, writing, and

art—close together and far away from noise. When everything resides in well-marked areas and

containers, the children know where each item belongs, simplifying cleanup.

Dramatic play, woodworking, and blocks present more opportunities for social interaction—and also for

aggression.

Studio 8/Pearson Education

It’s important to have a place where children can shut out the world. This is especially true for children

with very stressful lives. Construct an area where primary school children can study, take a break, meet

in a small group, or recover from a meltdown. Younger children also need a private retreat with soft

furniture and pillows. Note, however, that a quiet space in a noisy room may not work for very

distractible and easily stimulated children, who may unconsciously use challenging behavior to take

refuge in the office.

It’s equally important to designate a spot where the whole community can come together for circle,

meeting, and story time—preferably on a carpet area that doesn’t face open shelves.

As you position things, remember the empty space. Too much open space inspires running, chasing, and

chaos. Use low shelves and furniture to divide large spaces into uncluttered, well-organized areas.

In the primary school classroom, the configuration of desks and tables should reflect your goals and

philosophy. Small tables or desks pushed together to form clusters of three to six students let everyone

know that cooperation and collaboration are expected. In this position the children can work together,

share materials, and help each other. If there are clear routes between desk clusters, small groups can

collaborate without distracting one another, and you’ll have enough space to move from group to group

listening, helping, taking part in discussions.

Desks in rows tell the children the classroom is teacher-centered. This formation makes it harder for

children to talk to one another, and teachers interact more with children in the “action zone”—the front

row and the middle of the class (Adams & Biddle, 1970). If you choose this arrangement, seat some

struggling students and dual-language learners near the front, sprinkle others throughout the class, and

make a point of walking around and paying attention to children all over the room. Later in the year you

may feel relaxed enough to try other floor plans.

Whatever arrangement you select, prepare seat assignments for the first day of school. If children sit

where they please, they’re more likely to form cliques, whereas mixing them up develops new ties,

promotes social skills, and enables diverse talents to emerge. Again, reading students’ files and talking

with colleagues will help you decide who to put where.

Children who are easily distracted may need assistance to focus. Seat them near the front of the room

and away from windows and high traffic areas, such as doors, the pencil sharpener, and your desk. If you

place them beside children who know how to concentrate, they’ll have good role models and partners

for collaboration (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs [OSEP], 2004).

Consider placing your own desk at the back or side of the room where it won’t create a barrier between

you and the children, where you can see the whole class, and where you can meet with individuals or

small groups without disturbing other children.

What about Personal Space?

All children need personal space as they move around the room and interact with their peers. How

much depends on their culture and temperament. Children with challenging behavior often have a

definite idea of how much personal space they should have, and an invasion may instantly trigger

pushing and shoving. Help Andrew understand that Eva didn’t mean to come so near and give him a

script to tell her to move back: “Say, ‘I don’t like it when you come so close.’ ” These discussions alert

Andrew to his own and others’ space requirements and help him extend his tolerance of another

person’s proximity.

When they’re crowded together, children accidentally bump into each other, ruin one another’s work,

and have lots of misunderstandings, which can lead to frustration and aggression. It therefore makes

sense to control the number who can play in each area. The size of the space, the activity, the

availability of materials, and the chemistry of the participating children are all factors in the equation.

With the children’s collaboration, figure out how many fit comfortably into an area and set up a method

to regulate it. For example, at the entrance to each learning center, place hooks where the children can

hang name cards to claim a play spot.

The numbers in an area can change. You may discover that Andrew can’t function with five children in

the block area—but he’s fine when there are four. The solution is to reduce the number permitted

without pointing at a particular child: “I notice that people are having more fun when there are four

instead of five children in the block area. What do you say we change the number to four and see how it

goes?” Alternately, you could expand and enrich the area with extra materials to make the play more

complex—for example, by adding Legos to the block area or popsicle sticks to the play dough.

Boys often require space to move around. Dan Gartrell (2012) suggests creating a walking track around

the perimeter of the classroom and setting up a physical fitness center to meet their need for physical

play and prevent them from using their energy inappropriately. But physical activities (along with blocks

and dramatic play) also present more opportunities for conflict, so you must supervise closely.

Note that culture also has an impact on the way people use space. An environment that seems warm

and exciting to a child from one culture may appear cold and uninteresting to a child from another. Sybil

Kritchevsky and Elizabeth Prescott (1977) found that Mexican American preschoolers played and

socialized happily in a space that seemed cramped by middle-class European American norms.

Does the Level of Stimulation Make a Difference?

Classroom noise and hubbub make it hard to hear, focus, talk quietly, and settle disputes peacefully.

Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), hearing loss, sensory integration disorder, or

sensitive temperaments may be particularly affected. Pay attention to the buzz as you move through the

day, and reduce the level of stimulation by turning off the music, leaving some of the wall space blank,

putting away some toys, reducing clutter, and installing a dimmer switch for the lights.

One solution is to think about quiet times. You don’t have to schedule them; if you watch the children

carefully, you’ll know when to say, “Okay, everyone, stop everything, lie down on your back, and look at

the ceiling. Think about how you’re breathing.” (School-aged children can put their heads on their

desks.) Ask them to think about their toes and each individual body part in turn. By the time you’ve

reached the tops of their heads, the atmosphere will be completely altered.

Deck the Walls

Your classroom walls also tell a tale. To show that the classroom belongs to the children, display their

work and be sure everyone in the class is represented. As H. Jerome Freiberg (1999) puts it, “Selecting

the work of a few . . . sends a message that ‘only the best need apply’ ” (p. 167). Add photos and

pictures that reflect their interests, families, and cultural heritage, past and present (but be careful to

avoid a tourist approach).

Designate a spot for posting the rules and other important information, but be careful not to create

visual noise. Like everything else you do, you should have a reason for putting something on the walls.

Consider the Results

You should now be able to survey the whole room from anywhere you stand. If all the children can see

you, your very visibility will deter challenging behavior; if you can see all the children, you’ll be well

situated to detect early triggers and head off challenging behavior before it starts. Try looking at the

space from the child’s perspective, too. By getting down on your knees you’ll see how inviting and

accessible it is. Is there too much visual clutter? Or does it look cold and empty? Are there corridors that

invite running? Are the learning centers visible, clearly defined, large enough, and welcoming? Is the

artwork on the walls at the children’s eye level? Is the space confusing? From this angle, the world

shouldn’t look like a maze.

Creating a Predictable Day with Schedules, Procedures, and Transitions

There is always a tension between providing opportunities for children to develop self-control,

autonomy, initiative, and competence while simultaneously sustaining an orderly learning environment

(Watson & Battistich, 2006). The key is to let the children know your expectations. They find it easier to

function and behave appropriately when they know what to do, how to do it, and what is coming next.

Tell them what you expect on the very first day, and remind them before they begin each activity. When

the environment is predictable and they have the necessary support, there is little need for challenging

behavior.

In Chapter 7 we discussed one way to create a predictable classroom: Classroom rules clarify

expectations and prevent problem behavior (see pages 130-131). Here are some other techniques for

creating a predictable classroom.

A Daily Schedule

Children enjoy a varied and balanced day with quiet and active, indoor and outdoor time, small-and

large-group, teacher-and child-directed activities (Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005). Predictability and

consistent expectations are especially important at the beginning of the day. To help the children settle

into learning and remind them they belong to a group, start with a regular class meeting or circle time.

While you’re all together, go over the schedule and point out anything unusual, such as a field trip. Post

a picture schedule to help them remember what’s coming next.

Teach Procedures

Procedures also help to establish a predictable environment. The grease that makes the classroom run

smoothly, they tell the children how to carry out certain activities and cover virtually everything from

entering in the morning to leaving at day’s end—personal needs, transitions, participation in teacher-led

activities, working in small groups and centers, getting help, handling materials and equipment. Taught

step by step and practiced assiduously in the early days of the year, they contribute substantially to

children’s success. When you and the children are developing your classroom rules, make sure they’re

consistent with your procedures.

It’s wise to introduce just a few procedures at a time. On the opening day of school, start with those the

children need first—putting away their belongings, entering and leaving the classroom, going to the

bathroom, getting help, and asking questions. Over the next few days you can add other procedures,

such as those all-important beginning-and end-of-the-day routines. Before you begin any new activity,

think about the procedures it will require and how you’ll teach them.

Picture This

With the children’s help, you can make an engaging picture schedule.

Brainstorm: How do the children see the day? Begin with drop-off time or school bus arrival.

Take photographs of every facet of the daily routine—snack, bathroom, dressing for outdoors, recess,

nap, and so on.

Print and laminate the photos in 8” × 10” format.

With the children, arrange the photos in the proper order and put them into an album or on a ring or

post them at eye level with Velcro strips.

Take new pictures throughout the year to update the schedule and give every child a chance to appear

in it.

Save the old photos. You can use them for events that haven’t occurred yet.

Each procedure should have a clear rationale. Carefully explain the reasoning behind it and describe and

demonstrate it, breaking it into simple steps. Then in an animated and creative way practice, practice,

practice until the children can follow the whole procedure quickly and automatically. Provide them with

plenty of prompts and cues, supervise closely, and encourage them with immediate corrective feedback

and positive reinforcement (Evertson, Emmer, & Worsham, 2003).

Review the procedures regularly (especially during the first weeks), and solicit the children’s feedback.

Their ideas are usually helpful and innovative, and when they contribute to developing or fixing a

procedure, they’re more committed to following it. Be sure to post the procedures—along with visual

cues—wherever they’re used.

Legitimize Movement

It may encourage appropriate behavior if children with challenging behavior—who often have trouble

sitting still—have acceptable reasons to move around. It legitimizes activity and builds trust and

responsibility when children can sharpen a pencil, move to a comfy seat in the back of the room, go to

the bathroom, or dispose of their recycling without asking permission. But you still need a procedure—

they must know they can go one at a time, quietly, after the first 20 minutes or whatever you decide.

Taking responsibility for the classroom also gives children legitimate reasons for moving around. You can

assign big jobs that require teamwork (a good arrangement for children from collectivist cultures)

(Trumbull, Rothstein-Fisch, & Greenfield, 2000); children can work in pairs; or each child can have a job

of her own. Make sure the tasks are essential, such as collecting recyclables, bringing in snacks, carrying

messages to the office, watering the plants, leading lines, setting the tables, sweeping, taping ripped

books—the list goes on and on. Post a job chart so everyone knows what to do, and rotate the jobs

every week or two.

Getting from A to B

Transitions present a special challenge for children with challenging behavior. Ideally, the day should

contain as few transitions as possible, but even after you’ve examined your program with a magnifying

glass, there will be some you can’t eliminate. In fact, elementary school classes spend about 15 percent

of their day in transitions (Carter & Doyle, 2006).

Transitions can be fun.

Kali Nine LLC/Getty Images

Pay Special Attention

Whatever the procedure or transition, children like Andrew—those with a persistent and negative

temperament, those with ADHD or FASD—need extra help from the beginning: Do not wait for their

behavior to demand your assistance. Keep a plan geared to their particular needs in your mind at all

times, and remember that your ultimate goal is to help them manage transitions more easily. For

example, to ensure that Andrew will make it to the next activity without incident, ask him to be your

partner and label his feelings: “I know it’s frustrating when you have to stop building before you’re

ready, but let’s be partners and we can talk about your structure on the way to the park.” This is not a

punishment but a way to help him succeed, and he should be your partner as often as necessary. By

furnishing him with the support necessary to act appropriately, you preserve his self-esteem, boost his

skills, and enable the group to move from one activity to another.

Give a Warning

The number one strategy for managing transitions is a warning. Tell the whole group, “When I finish

reading this story, we will be going outside,” or deliver the message by visiting each small group

individually. But don’t forget that in some cultures, such changes seem arbitrary, so if you have a diverse

group, give the children a proper reason to finish what they’re doing. You can also alert them by

devising a ritual: flash the lights, use a timer, shake a tambourine, sing, or put on music. If you always

use the same song in the same circumstances, the children will soon know how much time they have to

get ready. Alternately, you could sing or play music during the transition itself, lending a positive,

energizing air to the proceedings. To enhance self-regulation, make a game of it by having the children

stop when you stop the music (“Ideas for smooth activity transitions,” 2013).

Assign Tasks at Cleanup

Because some children may be overwhelmed by the chaos of cleanup, take a few minutes to let every

child know what she should do before you give the warning sign. This extra direction (“At cleanup time,

please put the costumes in the trunk”) gives children a goal and a clear responsibility. It also allows you

to provide a rationale for the children who need one (“When we’re ready to clean up, please collect the

markers and put them in the box so that we can use them later”). When children finish their own task,

they can help someone else (“We’re not done until everyone is done”) (Rothstein-Fisch & Trumbull,

2008).

Watch as the teacher in this video asks several children what they’ll do during cleanup. Do you think her

selection is random, or is she scaffolding some who may need more guidance? What else does she do to

signal cleanup time?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPdqHW1VVHI&list=PLadhDwoeZgnNXdRfLe6kTTSB_vLBMbKW6

Rethink the Line

When the class leaves the room for recess, lunch, the bathroom, or anywhere else, it’s important to

have everyone together and focused, but is a straight line necessary? By the time all the children get

into place, Andrew will probably have kicked someone, been sent to the back of the line, or been told to

sit down—none of which will prepare him to behave appropriately during the next activity or be

accepted by his peers. Keep an eye on him, and if you notice he doesn’t know where to go or is starting

to get too close to other children, make him your partner or assign him a task before he gets himself

into trouble.

You can reduce pushing and hitting and help children protect their personal space by arranging shapes

on the floor near the door for the children to stand on (with a reasonable distance between them).

Choose footprints, geometric shapes, or letters of the alphabet; group them by color; or write a child’s

name on each shape.

Before lunch or after a messy activity, all the children will need the classroom sink at the same time.

Most can handle the crowding and waiting, but Andrew will believe the other children are pushing him

on purpose, and he’ll probably push back. Send the children to wash up in small groups, and to expedite

the process, appoint one child to run the soap pump and another to hand out the towels.

Here are some additional techniques to ease transitions:

Give students who are slow to adapt more time to make a change.

Some children feel more comfortable when they know all the concrete details. Tell them where they’re

going, who will be with them, who will be in charge, how long the activity will last.

Some children do better if they have a job to perform during a transition. Let them lead the line, hold

the door, take a note to the Spanish teacher.

Pair a child with a peer buddy who can lower his anxiety and keep him focused.

Prepare all your materials before an activity begins. The children can help set up before and clean up

afterwards.

After a noisy, active period, such as recess or lunch, move the children to quieter learning by reading

them a story.

Make transitions fun and educational. Float down the hall like astronauts; sing the song about the five

little ducks following their mother; count the steps from one place to another; follow the leader’s

motions; or take a theme from a story you read recently. Many songs and games adapt well to this

purpose.

Moving from Subject to Subject

Some students find it hard to switch from one subject to another and look at you blankly when you tell

them to put away their reading text and take out their math books. To motivate them and focus their

attention, try these ideas:

Take a break. Children can stand and stretch, play Simon Says, or talk to the person beside them for two

minutes.

Create a ritual chant. Whenever you change subjects, the children can circle the classroom once,

chanting as they walk.

Retrieve items one at a time. Ask students to get just one thing at a time. “Please take out your math

book,” “Take out your workbooks,” “Does everyone have a pencil?”

The Hardest Transitions of All

Naptime

Many children, including some with specific behavioral disorders, don’t need to sleep or even rest.

Others who glide through the rest of the day without difficulty glow with the effort of staying awake and

entertaining their classmates during nap. All of this can transform you into a dictator or make nap a

nightmare. The physical facilities, your philosophy, and the group itself will all play a role in the solution

you devise. To begin with, everyone benefits if you send the most tired children to nap first. Next,

allocate separate areas for sleepers, resters, and nonsleepers. Children who don’t sleep will tolerate

naptime better if you put on some music, let them look at a book, and as soon as the sleepers fall

asleep, allow them to play quietly with puzzles, markers, and books.

Drop-Off Time

Arrival is the hardest part of the day for many children with challenging behavior. They are bringing

emotional baggage from home—they’re mad because they had to wear their rain boots or upset

because their parents were fighting last night—but you may not be available to tune into their needs.

Everyone is arriving at once, parents want to talk to you, and someone left her lunch box on the bus. Ask

the family or bus driver to alert you if the day’s start has been a disaster so that you can be sure to check

in with the child. If she has trouble almost every morning, talk with the family. They may need to spend

a few minutes settling her in, or they could bring her directly to you, signaling that they trust you and

she should trust you as well.

Departure

Communicating openly with families is also critical at the end of the day, when children with challenging

behavior often revert to old patterns. Encourage parents to give their child a few minutes to adjust to

the idea that she’s going home. If they sit beside her, help her finish what she’s doing, talk with her and

her friends, or look at a drawing she made that day, she can prepare herself to leave. Tactfully remind

families about the classroom rules. Just because their parents are present doesn’t mean children can run

in the hall or jump on the trikes.

Curriculum

The curriculum, or program, sets out what children should learn—knowledge, concepts, skills, abilities,

and understandings—and includes goals and plans for supporting their development in every realm—

physical, social, emotional, and cognitive (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

Because this is such a tall order, responsibility for preparing or selecting the curriculum in schools rests

with state departments of education and school districts. But in child care centers, this decision belongs

to the administration and teachers who spend many hours each day with the children. The NAEYC tells

us that they can create the best curriculum by acting intentionally, consistently asking themselves what

children need to learn, how children learn best, and how to help children build on what they know and

what they can do (Ritchie & Willer, 2007).

To support children’s interests, engagement, and motivation to learn—and to prevent challenging

behavior as much as possible—a curriculum must be rich and meaningful. It should (Hyson, 2008)

present challenges

have content worth learning, that is, big ideas

connect with children’s experience and interests

involve interaction with peers and teachers

be developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive

If a task is inappropriate, children will do whatever is necessary to avoid failing. Whether it’s a puzzle

with 40 pieces for a child who can manage 25 pieces, a circle that requires an American Indian child to

respond individually, or a math project that demands a lot of sitting from a very active child, the result

will be frustration, and she will find a challenging way to escape. Instead of forcing students to fit into

the program, you can help them to learn—and behave appropriately—by designing and bending the

curriculum to meet their needs.

When you’re planning your program, it’s important to remember that children have different needs on

different days. On Monday, after an unstructured weekend at home or with a noncustodial parent,

many children have trouble returning to group activities and a different set of expectations. They are

usually back in the groove by midweek, but when Friday rolls around, they’re tired and wondering who

will pick them up. Certain times of the year—Christmas, Halloween, flu season, to name a few—are also

unsettling. All of this means you must reconsider your expectations and rejig the program, perhaps

offering fewer and less challenging options, to coincide with their ability to succeed.

Ultimately, how much the children learn and how much fun they’ll have learning will depend on how

well your curriculum (and your teaching strategies, which we’ll discuss later in this chapter) reflect the

interests, abilities, cultures, and temperaments of the children in your class. Although there are many

curricula available, probably none of them will meet the needs of all of the children you teach.

Sometimes an eclectic approach where you select aspects of several programs works best. No matter

what you do, what’s most important is knowing why you’re doing it and feeling comfortable with it.

Sometimes this is as simple as adding full-body learning opportunities (Gartrell, 2012) and letting the

children work standing up. As you plan, try to think of the child with challenging behavior. If you can

make things work for Andrew, they’ll work better for everyone.

How Do the Common Core State Standards Affect Your Program?

The Common Core—adopted by more than 40 states as of 2015—establishes clear educational

standards in math and English language arts for kindergarten through grade 12, and many educators

worry that having common standards will bring inappropriate content and teaching practices into

primary, kindergarten, and early childhood classrooms (Common Core State Standards Initiative, n.d.).

Meet the Core

The Common Core standards cover ground that teachers of young children are already covering. The

issue is much more how they’re teaching than what they’re teaching.

For example, one kindergarten standard reads, “Decompose numbers less than or equal to 5 into pairs

in more than one way, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each decomposition by a drawing

or equation (e.g., 5 = 2 + 3 and 5 = 4 + 1)” (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices,

Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010).

This sounds complex and difficult, but teachers can present it so that the children are actively engaged,

thinking, and having fun by asking them to group five Lego pieces in as many ways as possible and to

draw each grouping, and then asking them if there are the same number of pieces in each grouping.

Whatever the age of your students, you are still in control of what happens in the classroom. In the

words of early childhood specialist Karen Nemeth (2012), “Nothing in the standards forces us to teach

preschoolers as if they were older students.”

How does the teacher in this video make the day interesting and provide opportunities for social and

emotional learning, even with the demands of standards and testing?

First, it’s important to know that all 50 states already have early learning content standards for

preschoolers in place, and most have them for infants and toddlers as well (Regenstein, 2013). In fact,

the NAEYC’s developmentally appropriate practice guidelines can be considered standards for early

childhood education. And second, the Common Core and early learning standards are concerned with

what to teach, not with how to teach. They may steer teachers more deeply into some subject matter,

but in their classrooms, teachers can still use developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive

practices to shape the curriculum to the needs of the children they teach (Snow, 2014). If their state or

district mandates the use of teaching manuals geared to the standards, this job may be more difficult,

but in either case, thought and creativity are definitely required.

The Importance of Play

With the increased emphasis on accountability and testing—even of young children—playtime is

disappearing. Kindergarten children spend 2 to 3 hours a day being instructed and tested in literacy and

math but just 30 minutes in free play or choice time (Miller & Almon, 2009). Blocks, sand and water

tables, and dramatic play props have almost vanished.