Developmentally Appropriate Activity Planning - due in 24 hours

profilecombs
Jaruszewic.6108.18.1.epub
6
What Are My Responsibilities as a Planner?
Female teacher with red pen and paperwork sitting at desk.

Brand X Pictures / Thinkstock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Describe factors that affect the planning context.
  • Describe important considerations for planning the environment.
  • Explain the types of resources available to teachers for planning.
  • Describe a continuum of approaches to planning and how they are similar and different.

Introduction

Now that you have met your children and their families, collected information, and considered many ways to connect with them in the context of your community, its time to begin planning curriculum activities and how you will set up the environment to support them. Remember from Chapter 2 that you have the printed material accompanying the comprehensive curriculum used in your school and the supplementary literacy program that specifically targets at-risk learners. You also have your administrators assurance that you will have a good bit of freedom to make your own decisions as long as they are consistent with the curriculums goals.

Your teaching space has some nice featuresnotably access to a lavatory for the children inside the room, plenty of natural light from windows along one wall, a door to the adjacent playground, a classroom sink with counter space, a variety of child-sized furniture and movable storage units, and a storage closet. It also presents challenges that will affect how you will arrange your space, including where some of the above features are located, a limited number of electrical outlets, and permanently installed carpeting in one part of the room. With all of this in mind, how might you begin making decisions about how to arrange the classroom?

In addition to thinking about how to organize the physical environment, you might ask yourself several additional questions as you begin to plan your curriculum activities. What approach will you take to organize your ideas? How will you plan curriculum activities in ways that are developmentally appropriate and flexible? How will you make sure you are addressing learning standards? This chapter focuses on practical strategies for effective planning.

From the Field

Preschool teachers Jennifer and Elise discuss the importance of communication between teaching colleagues.

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. How do you feel about working with another teacher or assistant teacher?
  2. What will you do to begin establishing an effective, professional relationship?

6.1Contextual Factors That Affect Planning

Regardless of where you teach, your circumstances (or context) will impact your planning. Among the most important factors that affect planning are the curriculum, the children, their families, your teaching colleagues, and the physical settingthe building and learning spaces.

The Planning Context

Whether you are given a curriculum to implement or expected to select or design curriculum yourself, planning should be a responsive process. You will need to balance planned activities with what you observe about the needs, interests, and characteristics of children. (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011).

To varying degrees, the type of early childhood setting in which you work will influence how planning occurs. Home-care providers are typically independent and care for the widest age range of children in the same setting. They have to plan and implement care and activities for infants and toddlers as well as preschoolers and school-age children. Early childhood educators in child-care centers or preschools may have considerable flexibility or be expected to implement a particular curriculum. In primary classrooms, especially in the public schools, planning will likely be closely correlated with prescribed curriculum, state learning standards, and designated assessment procedures.

Context can also influence the planning tools you use and your accountability for them. Some teachers may be given or expected to use a planning book or specific forms on which to write their plans. You might be required to turn in plans weekly, monthly, or on some other schedule for review by a supervisor. Most state child-care licensing regulations also require that current/ongoing activity plans be prominently displayed and shared with parents. For example, the Pennsylvania Regulationreads as follows:

3270.111 Daily activities.

(a) A written plan of daily activities and routines, including a time for free play shall be established for each group. The plan shall be flexible to accommodate the needs of individual children and the dynamics of the group.

(b) The written plan shall be posted in the group space.

More From the Field

Program director Rita Palet explains the importance of professional preparation, chemistry, and give-and-take in teaching relationships.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. What would you do if you were paired with a teacher whose views about learning and curriculum differ significantly from yours?

Even if you are wholly in charge of your class or group of children, you may have a coteacher or assistant, or you may be part of a bigger teaching team, which means that other individuals will influence or perhaps have some control over your planning. Teachers in a center or school, for example, often plan collaboratively, as a group, by grade or age level. Further, the extent to which your ideas are incorporated into plans may be influenced by the group dynamics or competing points of view. For example, if you plan with a team of two lead teachers and two assistants, one of those individuals may tend to dominate conversation or another may be reluctant to consider trying new strategies. These are issues that would have to be worked out as you developed a collaborative approach to sharing ideas.

Finally, the physical setting within which learning takes place will impact your planning. You will have to consider what space you have, how the classroom will be arranged, what space you must share with other classes, and so on. Your planning for both the physical environment and activities will certainly have to consider how to reflect the diversity and cultural characteristics, experiences, and interests of the children and families in your group.

Integrating Developmental Principles and Beliefs

In considering our opening vignette, you may have wondered how an open-ended, comprehensive play-based curriculum could be compatible with planning and scheduling for a teacher-directed supplemental literacy program. Curricular activities may be conceptually organized by developmental domains or by academic content areas, but the planning process for any curriculum should prioritize and integrate developmentally appropriate principles and strategies.

For example, you can plan a literacy activity that focuses on identifying beginning word sounds as small-group or one-on-one interactions at the beginning or end of a large block of free-choice time rather than as a whole-group lesson. This way, childrens play is not interrupted; you maximize opportunities for interpersonal interactions and control the time and frequency of these activities for the capabilities of each individual child. Likewise, a curriculum or program that requires a whole-group "circle time" for 3-year-olds should challenge you to plan a format for such a time that is interactive, enjoyable, meaningful, and no longer than the children can reasonably be expected to manage.

As the teacher, your thoughtful approach to planning will be based on your observations, record keeping, and interactions with the children, ensuring that:

  • Themes and topics of study support program goals and curriculum objectives but curriculum is not "one-size fits all," so that children have ongoing opportunities for activities and experiences that support their individual interests and developmental characteristics
  • Teacher-directed and child-initiated activities are balanced
  • The curriculum is flexible and adaptable to accommodate learning opportunities that arise unexpectedly
  • Children can offer questions and ideas that are incorporated in planning of future activities
  • The environment and curriculum reflect and honor the real lives of the children and their families
  • Planning balances active and quiet times and individual, small-group, and whole-group interactions
  • Exploratory play is supported as an important mode of learning

Effective planning integrates the key themes of this book: (1) understanding the theoretical and/or philosophical foundation of the curriculum; (2) knowledge of human growth and development; (3) coordinating integration of the roles you, as the teacher, families, and communities assume as curriculum informants; (4) identification of curriculum content that supports childrens needs and interests; and (5) choosing and enacting developmentally appropriate teaching and assessment strategies.

Table 2.7 in Chapter 2 provides a simple format for organizing your essential ideas and beliefs so that you can compare them with ideas represented in various curricula you may be interested in or asked to use. In planning, you apply these ideas as an action plan (Nilsen, 2010). For example, Mary, a kindergarten teacher in South Carolina, knows that one of the physical science standards relates to exploring matter, "Standard K.P.4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the observable properties of matter." The indicator for this standard (K.P.4A.1) reads: "Analyze and interpret data to compare the qualitative properties of objects (such as size, shape, color, texture, weight, flexibility, attraction to magnets, or ability to sink or float) and classify objects based on similar properties" (South Carolina Department of Education, 2014, p. 10). She knows that this standard can be addressed through explicit teaching about the concept, but her constructivist belief that children learn science concepts through exploration of the environment and materials leads to intentional planning for that learning to occur naturally.

Table 6.1 represents what her broad plan for a given week might include to support open-ended inquiry about the observable properties of water. Shell build the activities around the use of a water table.

Table 6.1: Water Table Activities
Prompts and Facilitation Strategies Materials
Monday Generate and record ideas about why objects sink or float in water; examine a variety of materials for experimentation; chart childrens predictions Paper clips; marbles; recycled styrofoam packing peanuts trays and soda/water bottles; paper plates; bottle caps; wood scraps; aluminum foil; paper cups; play dough; small rocks and sticks; string; rubber bands; tooth picks; plastic straws
Tuesday Discuss ideas about how children could make a boat that will float in water; construct and test in the water table; record observations; photograph or videotape the water table as a work in progress
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday Construct a diagram (sink/float/both) with the children to organize observations made over the week; compare with their original predictions; begin a book with images or drawings of the boats and transcription of childrens tentative answers to the question of why a boat floats; generate new questions about sinking and floating to continue inquiry

6.2Creating a Physical Environment for Your Curriculum

A young boy stands at a water table and transfers water from one container to another.

Susan Woog-Wagner / Getty Images

Children use a variety of materials to explore concepts about water, including different-sized containers (in which they can pour the water back and forth) and objects that sink and float.

The physical environment is a powerful messenger, and "every environment implies a set of values or beliefs about the people who use the space and the activities that take place there . . . each environment also influences the people who use it in subtle or dramatic ways" (Carter & Carter, 2003, p. 13).

Thinking and making decisions about how to design and arrange classroom spaces has been influenced by many individuals. Friedrich Froebel introduced the idea of materials specifically created to support the way young children learn. Maria Montessori pioneered the use of child-sized furniture and the careful organization of materials. Rudolph Steiner promoted the use of natural materials and a homelike environment. Elizabeth Jones and Elizabeth Prescotts work in the 1970s also emphasized the importance of a homelike environment and the idea that teachers should look to the environment as a source for solving problems (Prescott, 2004). For example, if you observed that children in an activity area were not sharing, a comparison of the number of things to do with the number of children using the center might suggest that additional materials need to be added (Prescott, 2004, p. 35).

Diane Trister-Dodge and David Weikert applied all of these ideas to the Creative Curriculum and High Scope classrooms. Finally, the Reggio Emilia programs demonstrate how planning an environment is driven by respect for the rights of the child to a beautiful, welcoming space that promotes relationships and attention to detail.

This section of the chapter will address how your curriculum influences the indoor physical environment, principles of good design, and aesthetics. Considerations for planning the outdoor environment are addressed in Chapter 8.

Does Your Curriculum Dictate or Provide Direction?

Given the innumerable different kinds of locations, classroom shapes, sizes, and building designs, it would be almost impossible for a curriculum to dictate exactly what a classroom or care space should look like. Curricula do, however, to varying degrees, implicitly or explicitly suggest and guide decisions about what equipment and materials are needed and how activity spaces should support childrens play, learning, and development.

For example, Montessori programs are expected to have at least a minimal set of designated materials arranged in a defined sequence and according to particular design principles. Creative Curriculum identifies ten distinct activity centers and gives teachers guidance about suggested materials for each. High Scope and Creative Curriculum teachers are also expected to label shelves and materials with pictures and/or words. The literacy curriculum mentioned in the opening vignette might come with a particular set of books, manipulative materials, and teacher resources with directions to store or display them in a prescribed sequence or order.

Other curriculum approaches set forth desired goals for what the environment should be designed to achieve as well as the particular elements it should include, but they assume that each classroom will also have its own unique character. For instance, the atelier or miniatelier feature of Reggio Emilia programs and classrooms (introduced in Chapter 2) is expected to include art and an array of interesting recycled materials arranged in an organized and aesthetically pleasing manner (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998).

In Waldorf education, according to teacher Sarah Baldwin (2012), "A Waldorf kindergarten is typically furnished to look much like a home, with silk curtains, wool rugs, a rocking chair, and wooden tables and chairs. Teachers consciously choose playthings for the classroom that will nourish a young childs senses and sheathe them in beauty. Toys found in the classroom are made from natural fiber and materials."

Regardless of a curriculums specifics, the teacher will plan the environment according to generally accepted ideas about good design for developmentally appropriate spaces to be used by young children.

What General Principles Should Guide Environmental Planning?

More From the Field

Director Lucia Garay describes the elements of planning that result in an effective learning environment.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Lucia says, "the environment becomes the curriculum." What does she mean by that?

Early childhood space planning is guided by general principles adapted to the specific needs of children and curricular priorities at different ages. All early childhood classrooms need a balance of functional, formal, and informal spaces (Shalaway, 2012; Swim, 2012). The classroom or care space should include functional areas for greeting and departure, storage of childrens personal belongings, feeding/dining, and toileting; it should be clean and organized. Furniture and activity areas should be arranged to provide for visual supervision at all times. Early childhood spaces must include equipment appropriate to the size of the children, with visual materials posted or displayed at the childs eye level.

Variations by Age

In an infant classroom, you would expect to see furniture and designated areas for diapering, feeding, sleeping, and playing with babies. A mobile might be suspended over a crib or floor mat in the childs line of sight, as infants spend some of their time lying on their backs looking up. Furniture will include rocking chairs for feeding, holding, and soothing and floor items and soft toys that encourage crawling, grasping, and exploring.

Toddler spaces need access to a bathroom as well as diapering, and also equipment designed for children who are now vertical and active much of the time, with designated areas for exploring their emerging interest in gross motor activities, dramatic play, books, and sensory activities. Children may now be napping on cushioned mats or cots that can be stored until needed. Small tables and chairs are appropriate for feeding times but may have to include high-chair seating as well as small chairs. Pictures and mirrors can be mounted where children can see them on the walls, and selected materials may be arranged on low shelves where toddlers can reach them.

Preschool furniture will be slightly larger than that for toddlers, with additional areas and materials that support a wide variety of curricular activities, a longer attention span, more refined fine-motor skills, a growing interest in reading, writing, and collaborative play. Children at this age can tend to many of their personal needs independently, and their expanded field of vision allows for additional possibilities for visual displays.

Safety First

All decisions about how a classroom space is arranged should be made with safety in mind. Water-absorbing washable mats can be purchased that limit the risk of slipping or falling. Electrical cords or outlets should not be left exposed, taped to the floor, or used near water. Materials should always be approved for the age of children using them. We mentioned in Chapter 4 the use of a choke tube for infants and toddlers; this device alerts the teacher or caregiver to materials that are not safe for use.

Children with asthma or allergies may be especially vulnerable to things like powdered paints, chalk, or sprays. Every teacher should have a working knowledge of applicable child-care regulations and current access to consumer product safety announcements and recalls.

Controlled Movement

Well-thought-out spaces for young children are designed for controlled movement; they provide secure work/play spaces and reduce opportunities for conflict (Carter & Carter, 2003; Shalaway, 2005). Furniture and equipment are arranged to provide visible boundaries so that children know where different types of activities are expected to occur (Deviney, Duncan, Harris, Roday, & Rosenberry, 2010; Swim, 2012). Teachers use furniture, equipment, and floor coverings such as area rugs to define spaces. Because young children are not yet abstract thinkers, they must be able to see where one space ends and another begins.

The classroom is also designed to provide logical "traffic patterns" that promote efficient movement from one place to another and dont cause interference with normal activities. Imagine how upset a child setting up wooden train tracks would be if other children came charging through the space and ruined her work!

Early childhood furniture is child-sized, so that an adult scanning the room can see everything, while from the childs perspective, there are "walls," pathways, and "rooms." Look at the two room plans shown in Figure 6.1. Which one would encourage running or confuse children about where to play? Which one provides clear dividing lines between activity areas? Which space encourages whole-group activities vs. small-group or individual interactions?

Figure 6.1: Floor Plans
These two spaces represent contrasting approaches to design, one which encourages running indoors (Room A) and the other (Room B) with distinct pathways to direct children's movements.
Figure: Two floor plans. Room A, on the left, is a very open space with tables, shelves and easels lined up against walls to create a large open space in the middle of the room. Room B, on the right, uses shelves to define distinct spaces and limit the amount of open space to confined areas.

Sensitivity to Physical Features

Teachers should be aware of the major permanent features of the physical space and use common sense to arrange furniture and equipment accordingly. These features include the location of electrical outlets, doors, natural and artificial light and windows, access to water, and built-in storage spaces.

Potentially messy activity areas such as art, science, and sand/water stations should be located as close to the water source as possible and on a floor surface that can be mopped or cleaned easily. If there is no access to water in the classroom, then those areas should be close to the nearest exit to where water is located. Activities that require electrical power, such as a listening center with a plug-in tape recording/headphone station, should be adjacent to an outlet, limiting the need for extension cords.

Furniture or learning center placement should complement usage, such as storage cubbies for childrens personal belongings/outerwear adjacent to the classroom entrance, open shelving for blocks, and individual containers or small trays for implements such as crayons, glue sticks, or scissors.

Designated Activity Areas and Capacity Limits

The number and size of learning centers depends on curriculum priorities as well as classroom and group size. We want to maximize childrens opportunities to make choices and work/play independently but also minimize conflicts over materials and space (Gestwicki, 2011; Swim, 2012). Each learning center should be equipped and sized to accommodate a particular number of children, such as four in the art center, three in the manipulative area, two in the listening center, and so on. The number of children an area accommodates should also take into consideration the nature of the activity. For example, dramatic play and block building occur best with a small group of children, while a light table or sand/water table will be limited by the size and capacity of the equipment.

The total number of children accommodated by learning centers should at least equal the number of children in the group. Marking the center with a symbol/sign indicating the number of children per center helps children know if they may enter or need to make a different choice until space is available. You can also provide physical cues or signs (Figure 6.2), such as a small table with two sets of headphones and two chairs for a listening center, or a four-sided easel with one piece of paper and set of paints/brushes on each side.

Promoting Independence and Responsibility

Spaces for early learning are designed to encourage independence and maximize the amount of time you can devote to interacting or observing work/play in progress (Carter & Carter, 2003; Gestwicki, 2011). Carefully arranging sorted materials in open baskets or clear totes on accessible shelves helps children know where things belong and conveys our expectation that they will put them away properly when finished. Taping a picture or tracing of the material that belongs on each shelf or in each container promotes cognitive skills such as sorting and one-to-one correspondence as well as providing organizational guidance. Children can also learn to internalize procedures such as toothbrushing, handwashing, or self-serve snacks by posting a sequence of photo or prompts for each step in the process.

However obvious your system and organization might seem to you, children will still need direction and modeling to help them learn how it works. Early childhood teachers spend time orienting new children to the classroom, showing them how to select and use materials and activity areas and how to put things away when they are finished.

Figure 6.2: Sign for Easel Painting Center
"Crowd control" can be facilitated by providing picture/symbol signs that indicate the capacity for each learning center. In this picture, three children may paint in the easel center at one time.
Sign reads, "Easel Painting" and shows three children at easels painting.

Young children dont have a well-developed sense of time; they also become deeply involved in activities and may resist being asked to stop when they are in the middle of working or playing. So it also makes sense to provide them with several minutes advance warning and a signal such as a small bell or flipping the light switch before cleanup times and a reasonable amount of time to finish cleaning up.

Activity Area Compatibility

Some curriculum activities are naturally compatible and others are not, so balancing environmental factors such as quiet/noisy or messy/dry is important (Conant, 2012; Swim, 2012). In a typical learning environment, noise and interaction levels will naturally vary depending on the type of activity. For example, it is not unusual for dramatic play and block centers to be noisy, and children may transport props (small figurines, vehicles, animals, play food, and so on) back and forth depending on the theme of play. Therefore, in most early childhood classrooms, these centers are typically located in adjacent areas or at least in very close proximity. Conversely, children listening to audiotapes or sitting on an adults lap listening to a story need quiet to hear and concentrate.

Separating noisy and quiet activities can be challenging, especially in smaller spaces. When possible, carpets or other acoustically absorbent materials can considerably cut down on noise levels and should be used in noisy areas, but they must also not impede activity. Thus, for example, a rug in the block center should be flat and have a very low pile so that block structures will be stable. Curtains, soft furniture, and pillows can also cut down noise in quiet areas while also providing a cozy, comfortable feeling.

Aesthetics

Principles of design used to create aesthetically pleasing home or commercial environments can and should be applied to classroom or care spaces. Children and adults alike benefit from spaces that are soothing to the senses and inviting without being overwhelming or artificial (Deviney, Duncan, Harris, Roday & Rosenberry, 2010; Edwards, Gandini & Forman, 1998). Early childhood commercial catalogs tend to feature plastic, brightly colored materials in primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) that are cheerful but do not necessarily promote the warmth and familiarity of a more homelike setting.

In their 2010 book Inspiring Spaces for Young Children, Jessica Deviney and her colleagues identify seven principles of good design to consider for establishing environments that are not only functional and efficient but also calming and inspiring to children and adults alike:

  • Use natural items to bring the outdoors in, reflect the local climate, and promote a sense of tranquility. Elements such as plants, rocks, seashells, twigs, and flowers provide pleasant sensory connections.
  • Color establishes mood and generates interest, but overdoing it creates "visual clutter." A good rule of thumb is to focus on a neutral color scheme and use primary colors conservatively.
  • Use furniture positioned at 45- or 90-degree angles to define spaces and create cozy areas that remind children of home. Include authentic items such as lamps, pillows, upholstered furniture, and decorative/functional items that children recognize from the real world.
  • Texture adds depth and sensory stimulation. Items such as wall hangings, weavings, and mobiles made from natural materials provide visual interest. Natural or recycled materials such as pine cones, corks, bark, and stones can provide opportunities for observation and differentiating the physical properties of materials.
  • Displays, especially those that feature childrens collections and creations, personalize space. Items such as baskets, buckets, and interesting containers can be used for sorting, classification, and storage.
  • Lighting, scent, and sound dramatically influence the way the environment is experienced and perceived. Think about ways to minimize the "surgery" effects of fluorescent lights and balance low- and high-level lighting.
  • Focal points invite engagement and attract the childrens attention. It is very important from time to time to view the environment from their vantage point so you are aware of how they see the space.
Classroom on the left has no windows, the walls are covered with decorations, the shelves have brightly colored boxes, and the mat the children are sitting on is multi-colored. The classroom on the right has a large window, a more muted color scheme and there are plants.

Hutchings Richard / Getty Images (left); John Humble / Getty Images (right)

In these two photos of preschool classrooms, you can see that one is cluttered, crowded, and a kaleidoscope of colors; the other has natural light, natural elements such as plants, and a low-key color scheme. Which classroom better applies the principles described above?

6.3Identifying and Understanding Resources

Teachers and caregivers use many different kinds of resources and materials that help them select, organize, and evaluate activities to support curricular goals, objectives, and standards. Since early childhood curricular options (as discussed in Chapter 1) range from open-ended approaches to specific models, the types of materials teachers use to plan can vary widely as well. This section describes a variety of concrete tools and how you can use them in your planning.

Primary and Secondary Resources

Cover of the Early Childhood Research Quarterly journal.

Elsevier

Teachers must keep up with current research of all kinds but especially as it relates to the curricula they use.

Primary resources are works produced by the authors of a curriculum model or approach that describe the theoretical premises, philosophy, and tenets that guide the teacher to implement the curriculum with fidelity to its principles. For example, The Hundred Languages of Children, initially published in 1994 by Edwards, Gandini, and Forman (revised in 1998), and the writings of Loris Malaguzzi are considered essential resources for Reggio Emilia educators.

Secondary resources can also be very useful but do not originate from the founders or authors of a program. For example, secondary Reggio Emilia resources would include such things as books and articles published by authors outside of Reggio Emilia, and media such as blogs and program websites. These resources provide helpful insights into the ways in which teacher educators, program directors, and teachers interpret the Reggio Emilia approach for American schools and classrooms.

Waldorf educators rely on the writings of Rudolph Steiner to make sure that the classroom environment and activities they plan are consistent with the programs original vision and purpose. Similarly, officially sponsored training programs for Montessori teachers are based on and informed by the ideas expressed by Maria Montessori in the books she wrote over a span of many years.

Remember that planning for any curriculum includes keeping abreast of current studies (Chapter 2) and the ongoing development of the theories that support them. For example, in the second edition of their book, Bodrova and Leong (2006) described how Tools of the Mind was conceived from a Vygotskian perspective on social constructivism and continues to evolve. They have produced many subsequent publications and media presentations reporting on the achievement effects of implementation in various settings and how those results impact their ongoing conceptualization of the curriculum. Teachers using the Tools curriculum would certainly want to incorporate those evolving ideas as they plan activities.

The NAEYC publications describing developmentally appropriate principles and practices also serve as primary resources for early childhood educators (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Since DAP is not a specific curriculum but offers guidelines for how to think about curriculum, it provides the overarching frame of reference from which all planning decisions should be made.

Learning Standards

As explained in previous chapters, as part of the No Child Left Behind legislation, most states wrote developmental early learning standards and K-12 academic learning standards for each content area indicating what children are expected to know and be able to do by the end of each age or grade level. As of 2012, that initiative was expanded to adoption of uniform core standards for kindergarten through grade 12 math and language arts in all but five states (Virginia, Wisconsin, Alaska, Texas, and Nebraska).

Learning standards provide teachers with planning guidance, as standards are typically framed to describe (1) exit goals for high school graduates, (2) statements about what a child is expected to know or be able to do at incremental points in time between kindergarten and high school graduation, and (3) indicators or benchmarks that suggest what a teacher might observe that provides evidence a child is meeting standards. Table 6.2 displays information excerpted from the 2009 Colorado Social Studies Standards representing one example of how the standard for history is addressed from preschool through grade 1.

You can see that as this standard is worded, it does not specify what activities, themes, or lessons a teacher should plan or what books, resources, or materials to use, but it does provide direction about what should be accomplished. A standard does not dictate what to teach, when to teach it, how much time to spend on a topic, or even what teaching strategies or materials to use. Those are decisions and plans made by schools, programs, and teachers.

Early learning standards address what children in preschool should know and be able to do and are written in a format similar to K12 academic standards. The National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center provides extensive information about early learning standards for each state. Using standards to guide the planning and implementation of a curriculum is discussed in further detail in the last section of this chapter and in later chapters as they apply to different areas of curriculum.

Instructor Resources and Supplemental Materials

Published curriculum products may include multiple components that provide specific direction or guidance for planning, such as:

  • Teaching manuals that present essential information and guidance about curricular goals, activities, strategies, and assessments
  • Supplemental printed matter or masters for duplication (e.g., suggested unit or lesson plans, instructional support such as worksheets, picture charts, and so on)
  • Recording and reporting forms
  • On-line technical support
  • Materials and/or equipment specifically designed for use with children, such as books, toys, learning games, and math, science, music, or other items for learning centers
Table 6.2 Colorado History Standard for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Grade 1
Expectation for High School Graduates:
Develop an Understanding of How People View, Construct, and Interpret History
Grade Level Concept(s) to be mastered Benchmarks
Grade 1 Patterns and chronological order of events of the recent past

Students can:
  1. Identify similarities and differences between themselves and others.
  2. Discuss common and unique characteristics of different cultures using multiple sources of information.
  3. Identify famous Americans from the past who have shown courageous leadership.
  4. Identify and explain the meaning of American national symbols. Symbols to include but not limited to the American flag, bald eagle, Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, the Capitol, and the White House.
Family and cultural traditions in the United States in the past

Students can:
  1. Arrange life events in chronological order.
  2. Identify the components of a calendar. Among topics to include: days of the week, months, and notable events.
  3. Identify past events using a calendar.
  4. Use words related to time, sequence, and change.
Kindergarten Ask questions, share information, and discuss ideas about the past.

Students can:
  1. Ask questions about the past using question starters. Questions to include but not limited to: What did? Where? When did? Which did? Who did? Why did? How did?
  2. Identify information from narrative stories that answer questions about the past and add to our collective memory and history.
  3. Use the word because correctly in the context of personal experience or stories of the past using words. Among words to include: past, present, future, change, first, next, last.
The first component in the concept of chronology is to place information in sequential order.

Students can:
  1. Order sequence information using words. Among words to include: past, present future, days, weeks, months, years, first, next, last, before, after.
  2. Explore differences and similarities in the lives of children and families of long ago and today.
  3. Explain why knowing the order of events is important
Preschool Change and sequence over time.

Students can:
  1. Use words and phrases correctly related to chronology and time. Among words to include: past, present, future, before, now, later.
  2. Select examples from pictures that illustrate past, present, and future.
  3. Sequence a simple set of activities or events.
  4. Identify an example of change over time that may include examples from the child's own growth.
Source: Adapted from Colorado Department of Education, 2009

These resource materials may be accompanied by opportunities for training and professional development designed to assist teachers in planning and implementing activities. Head Start teachers might, for example, engage in several days of regional in-service workshops conducted by Creative Curriculum or High Scope trainers prior to implementation of the curriculum in their programs.

Four apples, two red, two green, arranged in an alternating pattern.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Early childhood educators believe that the use of materials from the real world provides more meaningful learning than the use of worksheets.

In consideration of developmentally appropriate principles, teachers should evaluate and incorporate with discretion all materials supplied by any curriculum. The widespread use of worksheets, in particular, is very difficult to justify, as they often represent or contain content or images disconnected from or not representative of childrens real-world ideas and experiences and dont point to a single "right" answer (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

For instance, the worksheet in Figure 6.3 intended for a cut-and-paste activity to reinforce the concept of a simple "a/b/a/b/a" pattern sequence, could certainly provide a child with practice in developing the fine motor skills needed to cut out the paper squares or serve as a simple assessment to determine whether the child recognizes an a/b/a/b/a pattern sequence. However, from a developmentally appropriate perspective, these kinds of materials should be set aside in favor of those that give children opportunities to observe patterns in the natural world and to manipulate real objects to replicate and create patterns of different kinds. Apples, leaves, and small toys are all examples of real-world materials that are easily found in or around early childhood classrooms and that children could use to develop their sense of the a/b/a/b pattern sequence.

Scope and Sequence

A commercial curriculum may contain a scope and sequence, a graphic in chart form that represents how and when particular concepts and skills are developed over time when the curriculum is implemented as intended. For example, the website for the Success for All Curiosity Corner preschool curriculum includes an excerpt for the scope and sequence of the reading program for kindergarten.

Teachers may find a scope and sequence useful as a planning resource but must always keep in mind that the needs, characteristics, and interests of their students are the primary priorities in planning (Copple & Bredkamp, 2009). Knowledge and skills represented in a scope and sequence are developed from assumptions about children in general; they may or may not accurately reflect the actual children in your care.

Pacing Guides

Similarlyespecially in public schools, including kindergarten and primary classroomssome districts and programs are developing and implementing pacing guides. These documents, in effect, prescribe or schedule when and how state learning standards are to be addressed in planning for each academic content area over the course of a school year. Theoretically, when they are implemented in the strictest sense, a principal or administrator could expect to visit five first grade classrooms on a single day and see all the children in all the classes doing exactly the same thing at the same time.

Figure 6.3: Worksheets
Worksheets are most often used in elementary school classrooms, but they can be seen in preschools or child-care programs as well. They are not considered to be developmentally appropriate.
Figure: Worksheet titled "Little Red Riding Hood  Pattern Activity." The worksheet has two rows with five squares. The first row shows little red riding hood in the first and third squares, and a wolf in the second and fourth squares. The fifth square is empty. The second row shows a basket in the first and third squares and little red riding hood in the second and fourth squares. The fifth square is empty. There is a third row that has little red riding hood, the wolf, and the basket. Directions at the bottom of the worksheet read, "Teacher Directions: Have child point to pictures in each row from left to right, and say name: Red Riding Hood, wolf, Red Riding Hood, wolf...Ask the child what picture should come next. Have child cut out the three pictures in bottom row and paste correct picture to complete pattern in each row."

While the goal of pacing guides is to ensure that all children are experiencing the same curriculum, their use in the primary grades is widely discouraged by early childhood experts and professional organizations (Datnow & Castellano, 2000; David, 2008; David & Greene, 2007; Louis, Febey, & Schroeder, 2005; Sornson, 2016). From a practical perspective, however, a comprehensive pacing guide can be very helpful as a resource (Kauffman, Johnson, Kardos, Liu, & Peske, 2002). Pacing guides may include many ideas for activities, themes, and strategies that can be implemented in developmentally appropriate ways.

Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are simple charts, diagrams, or templates that represent multiple concepts and the connections between them (Figure 6.4). They are useful with young children to help them visualize ideas. You will see several examples of different kinds of graphic organizers in this and later chapters. There are literally hundreds of examples on websites; these often provide free downloadable examples that teachers can use for planning and organizing activities. At the end of this chapter is a short list of online resources for graphic organizers.

Figure 6.4: Venn Diagram
A graphic organizer provides a visual representation of ideas or information. One example of such a device is a Venn diagram, which illustrates where ideas or facts about two separate things overlap.
Figure: A yellow circle and a blue circle overlap, creating a green section between the two circles.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

6.4Approaches to Planning

You probably already know what kind of planning style might suit you best. Think about how you might approach planning a road-trip vacation. Your goal is to see places you have not visited before and your objectives are what you want to accomplish each day of the trip; there is more than one way, however to plan this journey. You might be the kind of person who would predetermine the places you will visit; research information about sights, attractions, and restaurants; map out your route to determine how far you will drive each day; and make hotel reservations ahead of time.

Or maybe you would prefer to pack the car with plenty of provisionsfood, drinks, snacks, your bike and camping gearwith a general starting direction but no destination in mind, mapping out your trip as you go, and stopping at places you find interesting. Either way, you may have fellow travelers and encounter other people, developments, or events that challenge your plan or cause you to modify it as you go along. But you may also arrive home feeling entirely satisfied that the trip was worthwhile and lived up to or exceeded your initial expectations regardless of which plan was followed.

Teacher planning is in many ways analogous to the road tripwe have common goals for what we want or expect children to ultimately accomplish but different ways of getting there. The first approach described above represents one end of the planning continuum, a linear (or "top down") sequential process that begins with identification of standards and objectives and determines how each step or stage of an activity or series of activities will be carried out. The second approach represents the other end of the continuum, a global (emergent or "bottom up") process, with anticipation and preparation for a range of possibilities, developing direction through facilitation and negotiation of child-directed explorations and documenting how standards are being met over time.

A father and daughter pack the trunk of their car with suitcases.

Flying Colours Ltd / Thinkstock

Teacher planning is like preparing for a road trip. You can approach it in a variety of ways.

Many teachers approach to planning will fall somewhere in between. While the planning styles represent different approaches, teachers planning both kinds of experiences will keep in mind the principles of developmentally appropriate practice, so that learning is meaningful and provides a balance between child-directed and teacher-initiated activities.

All approaches to teacher planning in early childhood should place a high value on structuring the environment and activities to integrate, or connect, learning across all areas of the curriculum. Good planning also relies on teacher flexibility to make ongoing decisions based on the knowledge and observation of children, adapting the curriculum to maximize learning opportunities. In this section, we will follow two long-term studies with preschool and kindergarten children to illustrate the planning continuum. This type of learning can be planned as a thematic unit or emergentstudy.

Long-term investigations offer the opportunity to focus on a topic in depth, especially if the teacher maintains an open-ended time frame rather than a rigid schedule (Katz & Chard, 2000; Pearlman, 2006). Topics can come from the children, teachers, supplied curriculum materials, or ideas that emerge from studying state standards and objectives. Planning for either a thematic unit or emergent study represents a comprehensive investment of time; therefore it is very important that topics be relevant to the cultural contexts and experiences of the children. A study of the ocean and marine life makes a great deal of sense for children who live in coastal areas. It may not be as relevant to the daily lives of young children who live in landlocked states like New Mexico or Colorado. However, children are interested in many things they have no hands-on experience with (dinosaurs, space travel, and so forth) and are exposed to a great deal of information vicariously through media sources; therefore any topic that captures their interest should be open for discussion.

Thematic Unit: Ladybugs, Butterflies, and Bees

As described above, a thematic unit is a long-term investigation of a topic intended to capture and engage childrens interest and provide opportunities to develop skills and knowledge in multiple areas. Typically, planning for a thematic unit represents a top-down approach, with the teacher making most or all of the decisions about how to proceed according to a general decision-making sequence that includes the following:

  1. Identifying goals: learning standards and objectives to be addressed.
  2. Identifying important considerations about childrens developmental and cultural characteristics, interests, and needs.
  3. Selecting a topic or theme that provides opportunities to meet goals.
  4. Brainstorming ideas for activities that support and connect different areas of the curriculum.
  5. Creating and scheduling plans for lessons and activities.
  6. Planning for a balance of individual, small-group, and large-group activities.
  7. Planning for accommodations to address the needs of individual children.
  8. Deciding on how to evaluate childrens learning to determine the extent to which the unit objectives and learning standards are met.
  9. Preparing materials and resources.
  10. Arranging the environment.
  11. Making adaptations to the plan as the unit progresses based on observations about learning and interests.

Identifying goals: Learning standards and objectives to be addressed This unit was implemented by teachers of two groups of children between 3 (twelve children) and 4 years (fifteen children) of age at the time of the study. For this unit, one of the teachers (Phyllis) explained,

At this time of the year [late spring] I have been working on the early learning standards that support the childrens increasing interest in nonfiction books, beginning writing, and growing confidence as problem solvers. These kids are very good at patterns and we have been making graphs all year, so a couple of the math standards for 4s apply. Im building on their interest in friendships to create opportunities for them to work in groups. They also need practice with fine-motor skills to be ready for the increased emphasis on writing that they will be doing in their class next year.

Table 6.3 displays the state early learning standards that Phyllis has been working on.

Table 6.3 Early Learning Standards
Standard Substandards
Approaches to Learning
AL 2. Children show curiosity, eagerness, and satisfaction as learners.
AL 3. Children demonstrate initiative, engagement, and persistence in learning.
AL 5. Children extend their learning through the use of memory, reasoning, and problem-solving skills.

AL-3K-2.2 Demonstrate eagerness and interest as learners by responding to what they observe.
AL-3K-3.3 Show ability to focus attention on favorite activities for brief periods of time (5 to 10 minutes).
AL-3K-5.1 Talk about prior events and personal experiences.
AL-3K-5.2 Use prior knowledge to understand new experiences.
Social and Emotional Development
SE2. Children demonstrate self-control, respect, and responsibility.

SE-3K-2.2 Use classroom materials responsibly with modeling and guidance from adults.
Language and Literacy
LL 1. Understanding and using literary texts
LL2. Understanding and using informational texts
LL3. Learning to read
LL4. Developing written communication
LL5. Producing written communication in a variety of forms
LL6. Applying the skills of inquiry and oral communication

ELA-3K-1.1 Explore realistic books and materials in classroom centers.
ELA-3K-2.1 Explore realistic books and materials in classroom centers.
ELA-3K-3.1 Rehearse vocabulary by identifying familiar objects pictured in books.
ELA-3K-3.19 Begin connecting text read aloud with personal experiences.
ELA-3K-4.3 Tells a brief story (one or two ideas).
ELA-3K-4.8 Participate in small-group reflections on recent event.
ELA-3K-5-3 Identify and briefly describe important people, objects, and events in their world.
ELA-3K-6.1. Ask "why" questions about things in their world.
ELA-3K-6.3 Classify familiar objects by one or two observable attributes.
Mathematics
M1. Mathematics processes
M3. Algebra
M4. Geometry
M5. Measurement
M6. Data analysis and probability

M-3K-1.2 Begin to make predictions based on appearance and experience.
M-3K-1.5 Begin to see how similar items can be grouped together.
M-3K-1.7 Show an awareness of numbers in a personally meaningful context.
M-4K-3.2 Identify and copy a simple pattern.
M-3K-3.4 Recognize similar objects in the environment by color, shape. or size.
M-3K-4.1 Recognize simple shapes in the environment.
M-3K-4.2 Match shapes in the environment.
M-3K-4.3 Begin to show an understanding of the common positional words up, down, under, over, and in.
M-3K-5.2 Compare the size of objects.
M-3K-5.6 Begin to show awareness of time concepts.
M-4K-6.1 Organize and represent data with real objects.
Physical Growth and Health
PD 2. Fine motor control: Children use their fingers and hands in ways that develop hand-eye coordination, strength, control, and small-object manipulation.

PD-3K-2.2 Use hand-eye coordination to perform simple tasks.

Identifying important considerations about childrens developmental and cultural characteristics, interests, and needs Phyllis explained what she had observed and learned from evaluating and reflecting about recent activities with the children:

A young boy looks through a magnifying glass.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Children are often fascinated by magnifying glasses; one of their favorite pastimes is looking for insects.

This group of children gets along very well most of the time and can be frequently observed working intently together in pairs or groups of three on a common focus, such as a light-table construction, or making a road for the trucks on the playground. They spend a lot of time outside collecting and sorting small things like leaves and acorns. In circle discussions, some of the children are really beginning to understand how a question is different from a state ment or anecdote. When I was writing down their favorite family recipes for a cookbook, I also noticed narratives becoming less rambling and more focused and related to the topic. A couple of them have asked me to put out more books about nature. Some of them are really fascinated with "big words," and the magnifying glasses in the Discovery Center are very popularlately.

Selection of a topic or theme that provides opportunities to meet objectives
Phyllis continued,

We just finished planting tomato and strawberry plants, bean seeds, and an amaryllis bulb. We learned about pollination and talked briefly about "good" insects. I noticed that a lot of the children were curious about the insects they might see in our garden, in particular ladybugs and butterflies, and they have been looking for both on the playground. They have been asking me to reread some of their favorite stories about bugs. The weather is getting very warm, so we can spend lots of time outside, and I think this might be a good time to pursue a study about insects, starting with a focus on ladybugs and butterflies.

Brainstorming ideas for activities that support and connect different areas of the curriculum As Stephanie and Phyllis began to plan the thematic unit, they brainstormed ideas and concepts that would support the standards they are working on and what they have observed about the children lately. They used the five categories of the standards listed in Table 6.3 to organize a concept map of ideas (Figure 6.5). When teachers brainstorm, they record any idea that might be relevant to the topic and appropriate to the developmental levels of the children; at this stage it is not necessary to have a specific plan for an activity or to make a commitment to enact every idea on the map. It is simply an efficient and effective strategy for generating and organizing possibilities that may or may not ultimately be feasible to include in the unit plan.

As they continued to brainstorm, listing ideas for particular activities and experiences that would support the concept map, they thought about the centers in their room and materials on hand or that could easily be procured or created (Figure 6.6).

Creating and scheduling plans for lessons and activities In this step of the planning process, the teachers took their ideas for activities and experiences and blocked out a week-at-a-glance schedule for three weeks, using the daily schedule as a framework:

  • Week one: Insects (focus on lifecycle)
  • Week two: Ladybugs
  • Week three: Butterflies
Figure 6.5: Insects Concept Map
A concept map is different from a plan for activities. It focuses on the goals or objectives of the unit. Specific activities are derived from the ideas represented.
Figure: Concept Map titled "Insects: Ladybugs, Butterflies, Bees." The top left square reads, "Approaches to Learning: Observing life cycle, predicting (when will they hatch, what will happen next, etc.), curiosity (how do ladybugs fly, what do butterflies do, metamorphosis stages, etc.), memory (recall, steps in life cycle, etc.), engagement (interest in topic, pursuing questions, representations), persistence (catching bugs), problem solving." The top right box reads, "Social/Emotional: responsibility (caring for materials and equipment), self-control (being gentle with specimens, taking turns). Physical: Fine Motor: Drawing/painting, using tweezers, magnifying glasses, puzzles, cutting (shapes)." The bottom right reads, "Language Literacy: vocabulary (life cycle words, names of insects, body parts, environmental words), understanding and using literacy texts (non-fiction, images, photos), connecting text/narrative with real life (sharing stories, describing activities and experiences), inquiry (assisting and charting 'why' questions about bugs, following up over time with observations and tentative answers), reflecting (talking about observations)." The bottom left square reads, "Math: patterns (wings, bodies, honeycombs), symmetry (wings, bodies, antennae), matching (different types of insects, puzzles), shapes (body parts and markings), sorting/classifying (by color, size, shape, etc.), counting (spots, number of bugs, etc.), positional words (up, down, beside, behind, under), graphing data (?), time (observing life cycle), sequencing (life cycle)."

As she continued to research resources for the topic, Phyllis was delighted to discover that she could order butterfly and ladybug larvae online. She decided that this would provide a great opportunity to link many of the activities together and give the children first-hand experience with observation of the life cycle of insects. She added to her plans a "release party" on the playground and recording the childrens daily observations of the metamorphosis process in a class log/chart, with the possibility of making a book to tell the story of what the children observed.

Planning for a balance of individual, small-group, and large-group activities As the teachers created week-to-week plans (Table 6.4), they made decisions about how activities and discussions would be best implemented as whole group, small group, or individual format. They also thought carefully about how to provide for a balance of child-directed exploratory play and teacher-directed learning experiences.

Figure 6.6: Brainstorming Ideas for Activities and Experiences
This organizer represents ideas for activities that will support the concepts map and indicates where they will take place.
Figure: Ten circles arranges around a center circle, "Insects: Ladybugs and Butterflies." The circles read, "Food/snacks: butterfly crackers; English muffin ladybugs, butterfly pasta. Manipulatives: Various puzzles of insects, butterfly matching game, bug hunt board game, put together bugs, translucent bugs for light table, plastic insects for sorting. Sand/water table: sifters, plastic bugs, bug catchers, large tongs. Movement/music and Dramatic play: Butterfly wings for pretending, scarves. Songs/music: Gentle, Gentle Butterfly, Mr. Caterpillar, I Wish I Were a Ladybug, Five Little Ladybugs. Arts: Easel Painting: sponge symmetrical folded sponge prints (wings), Coffee filter butterflies, pipe cleaner antennae, gluing spots on ladybugs, paper flower garden mural. Discovery Table: magnifying glasses, insect specimens, pictures of insects. Literacy: Felt board lifecycle story, memory game, magnetic ladybug story, daily story reading. Butterfly books: I am a Caterpillar, Very Hungry Caterpillar, Ten Little Caterpillars, Butterfly Alphabet, The Butterfly Kiss, Over in the Garden, the Lamb and the Butterfly, Caterpillar to Butterfly. Ladybug Books: Ladybug on the Move, Lara Ladybug, Bubba and Trixie, Ladybug, Ladybug Where Are You Going?, Five Little Ladybugs, Informational texts.
Table 6.4: Week-at-a-Glance Plans for Insect Unit
Sunflower Week-at-a-Glance Planner
Week April 30 to May 4 May 8 to May 11 May 14 to May 18
Study topic Butterflies/Insects Insects: Ladybugs Insects: Butterflies
Special center activities Caterpillars to study

Bugs, bug catchers, and sifters in the sensory table

Butterfly, ladybug, and other insect puzzles

Special snack: butterfly crackers

Make coffee-filter butterflies

Pretend to be butterflies

Felt board butterfly life cycle
Newly hatched ladybugs to study

Bugs, bug catchers, and sifters in the sensory table

Butterfly, ladybug, and other insect puzzles

Special snack: ladybugs made from English muffins with jam and chocolate chips or raisins

Paint ladybugs at easel

Pretend to be ladybugs and/or other insects with wing costumes, etc.

Magnetic ladybug story
Newly hatched ladybugs to study

Bugs, bug catchers, and sifters in the sensory table

Butterfly, ladybug, and other insect puzzles

Special snacks: butterfly pasta, drinking "nectar" from flower straws

Make symmetrical butterfly wings

Pretend to be butterflies

Felt board butterfly life cycle
Small Group
Monday Butterfly matching/memory game No school Butterfly shape graphing
Tuesday Continue butterfly matching/memory game How many spots on the ladybug? Craft and math activity Continue butterfly shape graphing
Wednesday Yoga Yoga, garden bug-hunt board game Yoga
Thursday Make symmetrical butterfly wings Make antennae for ladybug matching game Butterfly life-cycle sequencing
Friday Finish butterfly wings Continue to make antennae; ladybug release in playground garden Finish butterfly sequencing; butterfly release party
Large Group
Books of the week Butterflies, I am a Caterpillar, Waiting for Wings, Very Hungry Caterpillar, Ten Little Caterpillars, Butterfly Alphabet, The Butterfly Kiss, Over in the Garden, The Lamb and the Butterfly, Caterpillar to Butterfly Ladybug on the Move, Lara Ladybug, Bubba and Trixie, Ladybug, Ladybug, Where are you Going? Five Little Ladybugs, and various ladybug information books Monarch Butterfly, Waiting for Wings, Very Hungry Caterpillar, Ten Little Caterpillars, The Butterfly Kiss, Over in the Garden, The Lamb and the Butterfly, Caterpillar to Butterfly, Butterfly Counting Book, Butterflies, the Caterpillar and the Pollywog
Songs of the week "Gentle, Gentle Butterfly,"
"Mr. Caterpillar"
"I Wish I Were a Ladybug,"
"Five Little Ladybugs"
"Gentle, Gentle Butterfly,"
"Mr. Caterpillar"
Large-group activities Learning/discussing the stages of a butterflys life and pretending to be each stage

Vocabulary: chrysalis, proboscis, symmetry, metamorphosis
Learning/discussing the stages of a ladybugs life; characteristics of an insect

Vocabulary: larva, pupa, aphid, antennae, metamorphosis
Learning/discussing the stages of a butterflys life and pretending to be each stage

Vocabulary: chrysalis, proboscis, symmetry, metamorphosis

Planning for accommodations to address the needs of individual children There was one child in Phylliss class with a sensory processing disorder and language delay; this child was easily overwhelmed and Phyllis made notes about particular activities he might find soothing (sand table, sponge printing, easel painting). She also noted activities he might not enjoy (matching/memory games and puzzles, using the magnifying glasses, and dancing). She included in her planning looking for audiotapes at the public library for some of the stories they would be using to include in the listening center so that he could use the headphones to screen out classroom noise.

Deciding on how to evaluate childrens learning to determine the extent to which the unit objectives and learning standards are met Phyllis and Stephanie decided that the matching and memory games, observation log, felt board stories, and whole group discussions could also serve as assessments. As Phylliss children were a bit older, she devised an additional activity for cutting/pasting pictures to represent each stage of the life cycle on a timeline that she could do with each child in small group or individually (Figure 6.7).

Figure 6.7: Lifecycle Strip
Phyllis designs a simple task-based activity to use as an additional assessment activity, asking children to place pictures of the stages of the life cycle in proper order.
Figure: The stages of the butterfly lifecycle have been cut and pasted onto a piece of paper by a child. The first stage shows eggs on a leaf. The second stage shows a caterpillar, the third stage shows a chrysalis, and the fourth stage shows a butterfly.

Preparing materials and resources With plans in hand, the teachers then took stock of available materials and supplies and made a list of those to add to the classroom centers and what was needed for teacher-directed small- and large-group activities (Table 6.5). In the book list, they noted with an asterisk those they would have to get from the public library. They also noted materials they would create/make for the unit with their classroom teaching assistants.

Arranging the environment Finally, Phyllis ordered the insect larvae kit online and made a "to-do" list. Stephanie made a trip to the public library and worked with her assistant to construct the teacher-made materials. They referred to the plan for week one to set out the items needed in centers for exploration and play and organized what would be needed for small- and large-group activities from day to day. In weekly newsletters, they announced the coming study and invited parents to send in any books or interesting insect-related materials they might want to share with the class. Figure 6.8 displays some of the materials and activities that were incorporated into the plan for this unit.

Making adaptations to the plan as the unit progresses based on observations about learning and interests As the unit progressed, both teachers made notations in their daily journals, jotting down anecdotes, observations, and questions as they conducted activities and guided exploratory experiences. They rearranged some of the materials and noticed in particular that the children were very excited and engaged in the progress of the ladybug and butterfly larvae. As anticipation built for their eventual release in the garden, Stephanie observed that the children framed the event as a birthday party. She explored this idea at circle time and in small-group discussions and decided to help the children make a birthday cake, decorations (ladybug hats and butterfly antennae), and invitations to the party (younger children in the adjacent classroom).

As the third week began, Phyllis observed that interest in insects had not waned but continued at a high level. Flowers had emerged on the strawberries and tomato plants by this time, questions about pollination continued, and the children began to ask questions about bees. In addition, they knew that unlike the innocuous ladybugs and butterflies, bees have stingers, and they wondered what they were for. Phyllis decided to continue the unit with her group of children for another week to focus on bees, adding to her concept and activity maps. Figure 6.8 displays the additional activities and materials she selected for learning about bees.

At the end of the fourth week, Phyllis was pleased that she had made the decision to extend the unit on insects, as she recorded the following statements/quotes the children offered during discussion about what they learned:

What We Have Learned about Bees
They have 2 plus 3 eyes: that equals 5
You can see out of their wings
Girl bees sting and boy bees dont
When the mommy or the eggs are in danger, the girl bee stings them
They make honey from nectar
They sprinkle pollen on the flowers to make them grow
Boy bees (drones) dont do much but girl bees (workers) do
The queen bee is the boss
There are lots of bees in the hive
They make honey in the honeycomb
The honeycomb is shaped like a hexagon
. . . and a hexagon has six sides

Figure 6.8: Week Four: Bees
Activities focusing on honey and bumblebees were added to the unit, some as extensions of activities already in place and others new.
Figure: A three column chart. The first column reads, "Activities: Examine honeycombs, taste honey, make "nectar," add props to dramatic play are, felt board story, construct painted representations of honeycomb, hexagon patterns, put hexagons together to make beehive, drawing to music of "Flight of the Bumblebee," discuss how bees collect pollen to make honey, differentiate between bumblebees and honeybees, discuss different roles (new vocabulary  queen, worker, drone, honeycomb, hive), assign bee colony roles t job charts for the week, printing with hexagons, mixing paint to make the color of honey." The second column reads, "Books/Media: Bumble Bees, Very Greedy Bee, Buzz Bumble to the Rescue (audio CD), Are you a Bee? Busy, Buzzy Bees, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz went Bumblebee, Bumblebee, Bumble Bee, Do you know Me? Bumblebee at Apple Tree Lane, "Flight of the Bumblebee," images of bees, hives, and honeycombs." The third column reads, "Additional Materials: honeycomb, easel paper, sponges cut into hexagon shapes, yellow-brown paint, hexagon pattern blocks, pineapple juice (nectar), straws, felt board bee story, biscuits and honey, pipe cleaners for antennae, black/yellow paper and rubber bands for bee masks."
Table 6.5: Materials List for Insect Unit
Books/Media Manipulatives and Props Food Art Supplies
I am a Caterpillar
Very Hungry Caterpillar
Ten Little Caterpillars Butterfly Alphabet
The Butterfly Kiss
*Over in the Garden
*The Lamb and the Butterfly
Caterpillar to Butterfly
Ladybug on the Move
Lara Ladybug
Bubba and Trixie
Ladybug, Ladybug Where are You Going?
Five Little Ladybugs
National Geographic
Magazines and photos from the Internet
4 Magnifying glasses
Insect specimen set
Caterpillar specimen set
Live insects/caterpillars from playground?
7 Puzzles: (2 ladybug, 3 butterflies, 1 bumblebee, 1 garden with insects)
Felt board set (life cycle)
Magnetic ladybugs and magnet board
4 colanders
4 sifters
4 bug catchers
4 pairs of tongs
Colored netting
Wing costumes
Paper sentence strips
Life cycle cutouts
Glow-in-the-dark insects for light table
Butterfly crackers
English muffins
Jam
Raisins
Butterfly pasta
Straws
Pineapple juice
Coffee filters
Watercolors
Tempera paint (yellow, black, red, orange)
Construction paper
Colored tissue
Pipe cleaners
Wire hangers
Netting
Easel paper
Sponges
Make
Butterfly matching (lotto-style) game w/printed images from the Internet
Number/puzzle cards with foam butterfly and ladybug stickers
Bug-hunt board game
Vocabulary/picture cards: Chrysalis, proboscis, symmetry, metamorphosis, larva, pupa, aphid, antennae, symmetry
Cutouts for graphing (1-inch yellow triangles, circles, squares) and blank four-column graph
Table 6.5: Materials for Insect Unit

Emergent Project: Power, Force, and Motion

Planning for an emergent study represents the other end of the road-trip analogy, a "bottom-up" process. This type of planning focuses on identifying starting points for the exploration of an idea or topic, developing insightful observations via teacher-child interactions, documentation about what is happening, and expanding the plan accordingly. The teacher consistently asks:

  • What did I see?
  • What does it mean?
  • What does it tell me about the childrens needs, interests, knowledge, and skills?
  • What might happen next or how can I help children to further the inquiry/exploration? (Chaille, 2008; Gestwicki, 2011 Helm, 2007)

Planning for an emergent project generally proceeds as follows:

  1. Observe/identify an interest through exploratory activities, active listening, focused discussions, and representation of childrens initial ideas about their thinking.
  2. Choose a tentative topic.
  3. Provide materials and resources to support multiple possibilities for directions the inquiry might take.
  4. Document what happens.
  5. Organize and reflect on documentation.
  6. Adjust future planning to adapt to the direction of the inquiry.
  7. Account for learning standards as the project proceeds.

Observe/identify an interest or topic through exploratory activities, active listening, focused discussions, and representations of childrens initial ideas about their thinking This study was initiated by a team of two teachers (Mary and Jane) and their assistants, working with a group of twenty-eight 4- and 5-year-old children. It started with observations they made early in the school year about the childrens play and interest in superheroes, documented in the case study notes in Chapter 1. As time went on, the teachers continued to observe that this interest did not wane but continued to evolve, especially in the dramatic play area, where many scenarios and characters were developed and acted out. It also showed up during writing workshop time, where the childrens daily dictations and story writing contained similar characters and story lines, and in daily play outside.

Late in the spring, Mary worked with some of the children who asked the teachers to convert the dramatic play area to a woodland forest. They subsequently started requesting time several days in a row to present "plays" that featured fairies, transformers, and animals of different kinds. Always the theme of these stories involved the exercise of "special powers" to solve problems or explain phenomena the children did not understand. One of the stories developed by five children (three girls and two boys) was dictated to the teachers as follows:

Captured in a Woodland Forest

Once upon a time, on a spring night, a troop of fairies were visiting a woodland forest. Owls hooted and small animals were scurrying in the forest. The fireflies were dancing among the trees and the little fairies tried to catch them. When they got bored, they began to play tag. A hungry cat was stalking a mouse in the bushes when he got distracted by the darting fairies. He chased the fairies and when he caught one, he took it off to a cave to play. Meanwhile, the transformers were in their hideout testing their new supersecret spy equipment. They heard the fairies call for help. They grabbed their powers and flew to the aid of the fairies. They followed the trail of the cat and found him nibbling on the fairys leg. They used their powers to freeze the cat. Two of them returned the fairy to her troop. While the fairies were celebrating the return of their friend, the other transformers [used their powers again to] unfreeze the cat. Then they fed it some yummy cat food and took him back to his home.

Concurrently, the teachers were observing extended play in the block area and on the playground that focused on the building of ramps and catapults. They had also recorded childrens comments during the water-table activities described in Table 6.1 (sinking and floating). Among them were several comments about the amount of force it took to sink a boat and a loud argument about the power of water to move or control heavy objects.

Grayson: When I pressed on the boat, it went down.

Sami: When you push down, the boat always sinks.

Luke: Thats because your hand is heavy.

Zach: But boats can come back up.

Finn: Well, can water move things up?

Jon: No, that wont work because water wont go uphill.

Eli (shouting): Then how does it come out of the shower?

Finally, Mary and Jane realized that the children were very intrigued by a new feature of the physical environmenttwo large plastic barrels that had recently been installed on a platform on the playground for rainwater collection. The children intently observed what happened to the water after rain showers, asked many questions, and offered theories about how the barrels worked.

Choose a tentative topic As the teachers revisited their observation journals and looked back through the childrens writing journals, their insight was that the concepts of power, force, and motion were themes the children had already been exploring for months; but because the contexts for this exploration had seemed so disconnected, they had not recognized it before. With several weeks left in the school year, they decided to focus planning on an exploration of these three interrelated concepts.

They knew from what the children had done already that there would be many opportunities to address science, math, and literacy standards. In focused discussions with the children, they created an initial KWL chart (Table 6.6) with thema graphic organizer that organizes thinking into three categories: "what we know," "what we want to know," and "how we can find out." The teachers transcribed the students exact words, which helped them make specific plans about how to begin the study.

Table 6.6: KWL Chart on Power, Force, and Motion
K: What We Know W: What We Want to Know L: How We Can Learn/Find Out
Water is strong.
Water has invisible powers.
Water cant go up.
Wind is strong.
Wind is invisible, like water, but you can feel it.
Sails make boats go if they dont have a motor.
Things go down by "theirselves," but not up.
Superheroes have special powers that regular kids dont have.
Machines help us do work.
How does water move things?
How do you make water?
How can you make water go up?
Is power the same as magic?
What makes things go fast if they dont have a motor?
How come machines are stronger than people?
Make a waterfall.
Make more boats.
Ask the engineer how the barrels work.
See how fast we can make our cars go.
Make a lot of ramps.
Make cool "constraptions" to get things to go up.
Find some books about ramps.
Figure 6.9: Brainstorming for Exploring Power, Force, and Motion
This graphic organizer indicates Mary and Jane's initial thinking about open-ended activities that would help direct the project.
Figure: Two column graphic organizer. The left column lists the object involved and the right column lists the activities. The organizer reads, "Pulleys. Challenge children to design pulley system on climber to haul things to the platform. Put wood gears in discovery center. Catapults. Explore factors that influence height and distance. Put balance in the rock pond. Superheroes. Find out if their ideas about powers are grounded in theories about physical forces. Inclined Planes. Add flexible track and cars to the block center. Build a pyramid. Water. Build a water wall. Use playground blocks and channels to move water. PVC pipe to build a sprinkler for the garden. Water colors/eye droppers, beakers and oil. Add sails to boats. Visit Water Authority. Make diagrams, to predict how rain barrels work. Explore ice/water melting, condensation and evaporation."

Provide materials and resources to support multiple possibilities for directions the inquiry might take As with thematic unit planning, teachers use brainstorming to organize their ideas about potential activities and explorations. Mary and Janes brainstorming included the ideas represented in Figure 6.9 to investigate the questions and theories represented in the childrens KWL chart.

Since much of the KWL chart contained water-related questions and ideas, Mary and Jane decide to focus initial planning on how water moves from one place to another. Materials and equipment they had on hand included:

  • A water table
  • Flexible tubing and an electric pump
  • Large interlocking playground blocks with modular sections designed to channel water
  • Hoses and water source outside the classroom
  • Large tubs
  • Funnels, buckets, watering cans, squirt bottles, and other assorted implements that can be used with water
  • Several wading pools
  • A garden sprinkler
  • Ping-Pong balls, small cars, and many other small waterproof objects

The teachers planned two initial activities with water on the playground over the course of the week, combining the morning times when children are usually engaged in center-based activities and outside play. The framework for these activities is represented in Figure 6.10.

Figure 6.10: Week One Water Activities
During the first week, as Mary and Jane began predicting the direction of the long-term study, they focused on moving water.
Figure: Teacher notes that read, "Activity: Channeling Water I. Materials: Large playground blocks, water channel modules, hose, wading pools and large tubs, ping pong balls and small cards, buckets, cups, and watering cans. Initial Setup: Two stacks of blocks, one higher than the other, with one water channel module bridging the two stacks, set up hose at tope so that water is flowing downhill, have other blocks and channeling modules nearby for later. Put wading pool at bottom of water channel to capture water. Introduction: Ask children what will happen when they put balls or cars on the top of the channel with the water running downhill. Advise them when pool at bottom is full, the hose will be turned off and no more water can be added. Exploration and Scaffolding: Facilitate/supervise free play with structure until pool is full. Ask them how they will get water back up to the top so play can continue. Encourage adaptation, addition of additional blocks, channeling modules, and water capture tubs/pools to make more complicated structures with additional water. Prediction: Children will make use of buckets, cups, etc. to take water out of pool(s) and pour back in at top to keep play going. Channeling Water II. Materials: Same as Activity I, small whiteboards and markers. Initial Setup: hook up tubing and pump to existing structure. Intervention: Demonstrate operation of pump to circulate water from bottom pool back to top of structure. Exploration and Scaffolding: Experiment with different ways to add blocks/channels to structure and observe how water moved with assistance of pump. Encourage children to use whiteboards to draw plans for water circulating structures/systems. Use additional blocks/water channeling modules to replicate plans. Prediction: Children will begin to experiment with changing elevations, degree of incline for water channels, etc. Water Table. Materials: Spray bottles, tubing, funnels, ping pong balls. Initial Setup: Set up water table. Intervention: None. See what happens.

Document what happens Mary and Jane review their notes and the drawings done by the children.

Figure 6.11: Designing a Water-Moving System
The challenge of designing water-moving systems was difficult, but the children were very invested in this part of the initial activities and every design presented was subsequently built and tested.
Figure: Children's illustration of water-moving systems. There are two pools for the water at either end of the pipes. The pipes run from one pool, make a circle and empty into the second pool.

Among their observations, they note that:

  • The children are highly motivated to get water to move uphill but realize that without the pump, no matter how they adjust the block/channeling structure, it wont happen.
  • They are very interested in trying to manipulate the water channels to increase the speed of the moving water so that their balls and cars will go faster; they become focused on making steeper inclines but realize that the strength/power of the pump is limited and that, at some point, it wont work. They ask if there is a way to make the pump have more power.
  • Some children become highly engaged with dumping water out of the pools and onto the ground as they notice that the water spilling out of the pools runs downhill across the playground, moving the wood mulch ground cover and creating erosion channels that go in different directions. They experiment with Ping-Pong balls to see how they can make them move through the mud.
  • Some children express increased interest in the rain-barrel system as they observe the plumbing and realize that somehow water inside the barrels must be moving up and down without the aid of a pump.
  • Children working in the water table figure out that the spray bottles operate on the same principle as the water pump, and they begin taking them to different places on the playground to experiment with their ability to move leaves, wood mulch, rocks, sticks, etc. They ask if they can take them apart to see if they can figure out where their power comes from.

Organize and reflect on documentation After several days of water activities, in their subsequent discussions with the children, the KWL chart was revised to add:

K: Spray bottles are pumps (but we dont know why they work); some water can go up without a pump; we can make water go faster if we make it steeper; water can move dirt to make little rivers; some of our designs worked really good, but others not at all; does the water in the sink and bathtub have a pump?

W: How does a pump work? How can water go up without a pump? Do rivers only go downhill? What happens to the water in the rain barrels if they get full?

L: We need to ask the engineer to come over and explain how the rain barrels work; we can look on the Internet to find out more about pumps; maybe the engineer can tell us about pumps, too.

Adjust future planning to adapt to the direction of the inquiry To proceed with the inquiry, Mary and Jane decided to focus on three things based on the interests represented in the childrens observations and questions: (1) how the water harvesting system works, (2) how pumps work, and (3) how vertical drop affects the descent speed of objects. Their next stage of planning included:

  • Consulting with the environmental science graduate students who installed the rain-barrel water collection system. The students suggest painting a mural on the wall behind the rain barrels to diagram how the system works and collaborating with the children on a book about water harvesting.
  • Identifying resources providing information about how pumps work. They printed off images and diagrams of different kinds of simple pumps to add to the classroom library and share in group discussions.
  • Bringing in the bicycle pump that they use to blow up playground balls and let the children use it.
  • Bringing in several different common items with simple hand-pumping (nonpressurized for safety purposes) mechanisms including toothpaste, hand lotion, insect repellent, sunscreen, and a variety of squirt guns, including a supersoaker.
  • Adding flexible plastic track to the block center that the children can build elevated systems for their small cars.
  • Adding wood panels on the playground to be used with the large interlocking playground blocks for constructing larger ramps.
  • Continuing with waterfall exploration by building a water wall, providing recycled bottles and funnels, tubing, and a flexible dryer duct that the children could attach in different ways to a wood panel to channel water.
  • Encouraging children to use paper and markers to make large diagrams of the systems they are constructing to show how they work.

Account for learning standards as the project proceeds As this project moved forward, Mary and Jane repeated this cycle of steps several times as they continued to plan. The project continued for more than a month. They used a checklist to indicate which of the South Carolina learning standards were being addressed. Like Phyllis and Stephanies thematic unit, this work enabled them to make progress on meeting many of the standards for which they are accountable. Their visual and written documentation of the childrens work provided ample evidence that the standards were being met.

Chapter Summary

  • Planning is a comprehensive process that includes making decisions about how to address curriculum, respond to the needs and interests of children and their families, work with colleagues, and arrange the physical setting.
  • Planning also includes considering all the decisions you make within the context of developmentally appropriate practices and your belief system.
  • The decisions you make about how to structure the physical environment of the classroom will be affected by the curriculum you use, specific principles of good design, and aesthetics.
  • Principles of design that are considered when planning the environment include a vision for the kind of environment you want to create and attention to safety, movement, permanent features of the classroom, and planning space and materials for the kinds of behaviors and activities you want to promote.
  • Teachers use primary resources from the authors of curricula, research about development and learning, and spokespersons for the field of early childhood education in planning.
  • Learning standards serve as a guide, not a substitute for curriculum. Purchased curricula include many different kinds of resources such as scope/sequence or pacing guides that can be helpful.
  • Approaches to planning can be considered as a continuum of thought. A top-down process begins with standards and objectives as the teacher makes subsequent decisions about materials, activity plans, adaptations, and timing.
  • An emergent approach to curriculum represents a bottom-up process driven by the interests of children. The teacher plans initial activities and the plan unfolds over time, as the teacher documents learning and standards, reflects, and adapts to pursue the direction it takes.
Discussion Questions
  1. As you think about planning a classroom environment, what is your vision of the way it might look and feel? How will you personalize it?
  2. Find the kindergarten learning standards online at the state department of education for the state in which you live or work. Choose a content (subject) or developmental area. Look at the standards and the indicators or benchmarks for it. Brainstorm some ideas about topics and activities that might support learning about the standard.
  3. Think about the planning styles described in this chapter; which do you think best represents your natural inclinations about how to organize and plan activities? Why?
Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Atelier

A special area in a Reggio Emilia school that is set up like an art studio and serves as a dedicated space for working on projects

Benchmark

A statement in learning standards about when expected progress should occur

Brainstorming

Generating ideas about possibilities without necessarily committing to them as a plan

Concept map

Ideas about concepts that can be learned in a study organized to show how they relate to different areas of the curriculum

Emergent study

A long-term investigation about a topic that evolves over time rather than being entirely preplanned

Indicator

A statement in standards about a typical behavior or action showing that a child is meeting the standard

KWL chart

A graphic organizer that categorizes brainstorming ideas into "what we know, what we want to know, and how we might learn"

Pacing guide

A tool that provides sequencing information about when different aspects of a curriculum should be addressed

Primary resources

Those resources that come directly from an author or developer of a curriculum

Scope and sequence

Tool provided with some curricula that indicates when and how different skills and concepts are addressed

Secondary resources

Information and resources about a curriculum that are developed by people other than the original authors

Thematic unit

A long-term study that is generally planned in advance

Online Resources for Using Graphic Organizers

Birbili, M. (2006). Mapping knowledge: Concept maps in early childhood education. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 8(2). Retrieved from http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v8n2/birbili.html. This article explains how a particular graphic organizer, a concept map, can be used to help children organize and process their thinking.

EduPlace: An online site sponsored by Houghton-Mifflin that provides different kinds of templates; many are designed for elementary school and focus on English and language arts but might be adapted for use with preschoolers or as teacher planning tools. http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/k_5/graphorg/.

EdHelper: Illustrated examples of graphic organizers with links to templates for many different kinds. Many are designed for elementary-aged children and are not appropriate for preschoolers. http://edhelper.com/teachers/graphic_organizers.htm;

References

Baldwin, S. (April 15, 2012). Waldorf Education in a Nutshell. Retrieved from Moon Child: http://blog.bellalunatoys.com/2010/waldorf-education.html.

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. (2006). Tools of the mind: The Vygotskian approach to early childhood education (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Carter, D., & Carter, M. (2003). Designs for living and learning: Transforming early childhood environments. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

Chaille, C. (2008). Constructivism across the curriculum in early childhood classrooms: Big ideas as inspiration. Boston: Pearson.

Colorado Department of Education (2009). Social studies standards. Retrieved from: http://www.cde.state.co.us/CoSocialStudies/index.asp.

Conant, B. (April 4, 2012). Room arrangement: The basics. Retrieved from http://users.stargate.net/~cokids/roomdesign.html.

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.) (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Datnow, A., & Castellano, M. (2000). Teachers responses to success for all: How beliefs, experience, and adaptations shape implementation.American Educational Research Journal, 37(3), 775799.

David, J. L., & Greene, D. (2007).Improving mathematics instruction in Los Angeles high schools: An evaluation of the PRISMA pilot program.Palo Alto, CA: Bay Area Research Group.

David, J. L. (October 2008). Pacing guides. Educational Leadership, 66(2), 8788.

Deviney, J., Duncan, S., Harris, S., Roday, M., & Rosenberry, L. (2010). Inspiring spaces for young children. Silver Spring, MD: Gryphon Press.

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.) (1998). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach advanced reflections (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Ablex.

Gestwicki, C. (2011). Developmentally appropriate practice: Curriculum and development in early childhood education (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Helm, J. (2007). Windows on learning: Documenting young childrens work (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.

Katz, L., & Chard, S. (2000). Engaging childrens minds. New York: Praeger.

Kauffman, D., Johnson, S. M., Kardos, S. M., Liu, E., & Peske, H. G. (2002). "Lost at sea": New teachers experiences with curriculum and assessment.Teachers College Record, 104(2), 273300.

Louis, K. S., Febey, K., & Schroeder, R. (2005). State-mandated accountability in high schools: Teachers interpretations of a new era.Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 27(20), 177204.

Nilsen, B. (2010). Week by Week: Plans for documenting childrens development (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Pearlman, B. (2006). New skills for a new century: Students thrive on collaboration and problem-solving. Retrieved from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/new-skills-new-century.

Prescott, E. (March/April 2004). The physical environment: A powerful regulator of experience. Child Care Information Exchange, 3437.

Shalaway, L. (2005) Learning to teach. . . . not just for beginners: The essential guide for all teachers (3rd ed.). New York: Scholastic.

Sornson, B. (2016, September/October). The journey to mastery: How competency-based learning creates personalized pathways to success for young learners [PDF file]. Principal, 96(1), 16–19. Retrieved from https://www.naesp.org/sites/default/files/Sornson_SO16.pdf

South Carolina Department of Education. (2014). South Carolina academic standards and performance indicators for science [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://ed.sc.gov/scdoe/assets/file/agency/ccr/Standards-Learning/documents/South_Carolina_Academic_Standards_and_Performance_Indicators_for_Science_2014.pdf

State of Pennsylvania (2018, April 28). Pennsylvania code. Retrieved from Chapter 3270: http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/055/chapter3270/s3270.111.html.

Swim, J. (April 4, 2012). Basic premises of classroom design: The teachers perspective. Retrieved from Early Childhood News: http://earlychildhoodnews.com/.

1
The Concept of Early Childhood Curriculum
A woman holds a stack of papers while sitting in a classroom.

Fancy Collection / SuperStock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Describe what curriculum is and what it includes.
  • Explain historical influences on modern curricula.
  • Describe what "developmentally appropriate practice" means.
  • Describe contextual factors that affect early childhood professionals' work with curricula.
  • Discuss active reflection as an important teacher activity.

Introduction

Imagine yourself interviewing for your first early childhood teaching position. You know you will need to dress professionally and to have a resume that highlights your strengths and experiences. You can assume that interviewers will ask questions about your education and experience with children and what kind of teacher you hope to be. But what else might you share with this prospective employer to establish confidence in your knowledge and ability to plan and implement curriculum effectively?

As an early childhood educator, you will be expected to make many decisions about curriculum that demonstrate your awareness of how children develop and learn, and you will need to select materials and apply these resources to meet the needs of a diverse group of children. Therefore an important theme of this text is decision making. Each of the six modules is guided by an important question that relates to a dimension of your role as a curriculum decision maker.

In this chapter, we explore the basics that will allow you to develop a full understanding of curriculum: what curriculum is, how it reflects a long history of thinking about children, how developmentally appropriate practice provides a framework for curriculum, and how to think about your work as an early childhood educator.

From the Field

One of the best ways to learn about early childhood education is to hear from experts in the field. Many video clips throughout this text will provide a "window" into the ways early childhood professionals think about and describe their work with young children. Our series of video clips begins with advice from program director Lucia Garay about what new teachers need to know and be able to do as early childhood educators.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. As you begin your journey to become an early childhood professional, what do you see as your strengths? Think about the expectations the director in the video described and identify one or two goals that might be a priority for you as well.

1.1 What Is Curriculum?

In the broadest sense, curriculum is a structured framework for teaching. As a student, you already have personal experience with curriculum, and you probably know that as an early childhood teacher, you will have to work within a curriculum as you teach your students. But, what does a curriculum include? What kinds of decisions does a teacher make about curriculum? This section addresses these questions.

What Does Curriculum Include?

In practice, curriculum is much more than a structured framework (National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 2003). Especially in early childhood education, curriculum is understood to include (Figure 1.1):

  • The physical classroom space, or environment
  • All the materials the teachers use to instruct students
  • All the materials that children use
  • The methods and strategies teachers use to implement and assess the effectiveness of activities and lessons
  • Everything the children learn, intended or not (see Feature Box 1.1 on Hidden Curriculum)
Figure 1.1: Components of Curriculum
The concept of curriculum includes much more than just the materials used in the classroom. This Venn diagram illustrates the interrelated nature of curriculum elements.
Figure: Five inter-connected circles showing the overlap between materials children use, the environment, teaching materials, strategies, and what children learn.

Early childhood curriculum can be as open ended as a set of general guidelines, in which case the teacher will make many of the decisions about what and how to teach. Conversely, the curriculum can be structured to the point that its "what, when, and how" elements are carefully spelled out for the teacher (Frede & Ackerman, 2007). In any event, the curriculum is important because it governs much of what the teacher does in the classroom to help students learn what they are supposed to learn.

The Role of the Teacher

As the "coordinator in chief," the early childhood educator has substantial responsibilities, including setting up and maintaining the environment, arranging equipment and materials, planning, implementing, and managing activities, and then assessing, communicating, and documenting how learning takes place.

The degree of flexibility that the teacher has in terms of how to structure the day or how detailed to make the lessons depends in part on the type of early childhood setting within which the teacher works. Working in a federally funded preschool program like Head Start, for example, usually involves a selected curriculum and clearly described procedures and expectations about how it will be implemented. On the other hand, teachers working in a private child-care program might get to select or develop the curriculum they use, while teachers in public schools have very different kinds of choices to make, as they navigate a complex system of curriculum standards, resources, and accountability.

The Hidden Curriculum

The hidden curriculum refers to things children and teachers learn or are expected to know in school that are not directly taughtoften related to social rules, interactions, and behaviors that represent the "culture" of a school, classroom, or home care setting (Giroux & Purpel, 1983; Jackson, 1968; Myles, Trautman, & Schelvan, 2004). Familiar examples of hidden curriculum include raising your hand when you want to be recognized, being quiet in the hallway, or lining up at the drinking fountain.

A teacher reads to a group of children.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Teachers help children and their parents navigate the hidden curriculum by clearly communicating and explaining expectations for conduct, interactions, and school or program values.

The environment communicates information about these hidden messages in different ways. For instance, you may remember from your own experiences in school that if your teacher seated students at desks aligned in rows facing the front of the classroom, you understood where attention should be focused and that it might not be acceptable to turn around to talk to the classmate seated behind you. Conversely, if your teacher seated everyone at small tables facing one another, you might have assumed it was acceptable to engage in conversation. Children get into trouble or can become confused when they misread or don't understand the messages the environment is set up to convey. Complicating matters is the fact that the hidden curriculum can vary from teacher to teacher or one part of the school environment to another.

Young children especially need help "reading" these kinds of messages, as they often represent expectations that are very different from those they already know from home. For instance, perhaps at home one child has a toy box and is accustomed, when asked to clean up, to simply toss all the toys from the floor into the box. Another child may not be expected to help with putting toys away at all and may be allowed to leave them lying about. At school, we would help the child learn that all students are expected to help keep the classroom organized, and we would do this by putting picture labels on shelves to make it clear where each item or group of items belongs. By doing so, we convey an additional hidden message, which is that we value independence and responsibility and a spirit of "everyone helps." Successful teachers not only implement the "official" curriculum effectively but help children to understand the hidden curriculum as well.

As a teacher, you might also be expected to conform to expectations that have not been explicitly explained or described to you. For instance, you might be told that your official work hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. But what if you arrive at school at 7:30 and you notice that you are the last car to pull in the parking lot and that all the other teachers are busy working in their classrooms as you enter the building? Will you feel anxious or confused? Should you ask someone if you are expected to arrive earlier than 7:30 or will that convey the wrong impression? As you consider how you might feel in this circumstance, remember that young children experience these same kinds of feelingswanting to be accepted and do the "right" thing at school, but perhaps needing help to understand what that means.

Stop and Reflect

When you think about your own experiences in school, can you recall how you learned to interpret a particular teacher's body languageperhaps the slight nod of approval or the "look" that let you know you needed to think twice about what you were about to do? What are some other examples of hidden curriculum from your own school experience?

What Is the Difference between a Curriculum Approach and a Curriculum Model?

In the curriculum literature, the terms approach and model are sometimes used interchangeably (Frede & Ackerman, 2007), but they can also be interpreted differently. For purposes of clarity in this book, these two terms will differentiate the level of detail and specificity within a curriculum about how things should be done and the degree of freedom the teacher has to make choices. This distinction will be important as we discuss the kinds of decisions teachers make about curriculum.

A teacher sits at a table with her young students.

Stockbyte / Thinkstock

A curriculum is a program for learning implemented by teachers who work with children in many ways. In this photo, a teacher works with a small group of children.

Curriculum Approach

A curriculum approach is a broad framework designed from a specific perspective or orientation about how children learn (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2008). An approach includes key ideas and principles but allows or encourages "reflection, practice, and further careful reflection in a program that is continuously renewed and readjusted" (Gandini, 1993, p. 4). Thus, a teacher who follows a particular approach will make a lot of choices about how to interpret and apply these principles. Reggio Emilia, which we discuss later in the chapter, is an example of a philosophical approach that guides the curriculum in many American preschools; however, schools following this approach do not receive materials or explicit instruction from Reggio Emilia administrators.

Curriculum Model

A curriculum model, on the other hand, is more prescriptive. Formally, it's defined as "an ideal representation of the theoretical premises, administrative policies, and pedagogical components of a program aimed at obtaining a particular educational outcome" (Spodek & Brown, 1993, p. 91). It describes everything about what and how the teacher will teach, from the way in which the classroom should be organized and the materials to use to activity plans and directions about how to introduce, teach, and assess lessons.

The purpose of having a model is to ensure consistency no matter who uses the curriculum or where it is implemented (Goffin, 2001). This allows for a high degree of reliability that the curriculum is being implemented as originally intended, so that it achieves its expected outcomes. The Montessori Method (Montessori, 1912), or a purchased curriculum that includes specific instructional materials you need in order to implement it, would be an example of a curriculum model. The choice to use a model or an approach is not reflective of one being better than the other but largely dependent on the mission or philosophy of a program.

Comprehensive and Limited-Scope Curriculum

A curriculum can also be comprehensive or limited in scope. A comprehensive curriculum addresses all areas of learning, while a limited-scope curriculum focuses on a single area, such as literacy, math, or the arts (National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center [NCCIC], 2011). The Creative Curriculum for Preschool (Heroman et al., 2010) and The High Scope Preschool Curriculum (Epstein & Hohmann, 2012) are examples of comprehensive curricula, since they are designed to address all areas of learning. The High Scope Educational Research Foundation also offers limited-scope curricula that can be purchased separately, such as the High Scope Growing Readers Early Literacy Curriculum (2010) or the Numbers Plus Preschool Mathematics Curriculum (Epstein, 2009).

Standards

Curriculum standards are statements about what children should know and be able to do that are organized in a cohesive, systematic manner according to areas of growth and development or academic subject categories. Standards are developed by states, programs (such as Head Start), or organizations that represent different dimensions of curriculum, such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) or Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Standards should not be confused with curriculum, but they are used to guide curriculum selection and implementation as well as evaluation of student achievement. For example, CCSS mathematics standards are grade specific and "provide clear signposts along the way to the goal of college and career readiness for all students" (Common Core State Standards [CCSS] Initiative, 2010, p. 4). Teachers developing curricula for second graders, for example, would focus on four core areas:

  • extending understanding of base-10 notation;
  • building fluency with addition and subtraction;
  • using standard units of measure; and
  • describing and analyzing shapes. (CCSS Initiative, 2010, p. 17)

While these standards will apply to any classroom governed by the national math standards, they do not dictate which curriculum to use to teach mathematics.

Degree of Teacher Control

A teacher's effectiveness in implementing any curriculum will be greatly influenced by her knowledge about child development, the skills and experience he brings to the classroom, and her personal belief system (Hill, Stremmel, & Fu, 2005). As a new teacher, you might appreciate a curriculum that provides lots of direction, support, and instructional resources so that you can focus most of your energies on developing your skills and insights about how children learn and behave. Over time, teachers often develop a comfort level with a curriculum to the point where they can "tweak" it to more effectively meet the needs of individual children.

Some teachers see structured models as limiting what they can do with children's imaginations, individuality, and intelligence. A highly experienced teacher may not need the kind of instructional support and direction provided by the curriculum. He may actually become frustrated if he is not permitted to exercise the personal knowledge and skills acquired through practice over time. We mentioned earlier that the degree of control a teacher has to interpret the curriculum can vary considerably by setting; that is, in some classrooms diverging from the set curriculum is not an option, while in others the teacher has more freedom to embrace more flexibility and creativity (Frede & Ackerman, 2007).

In all cases, children need and deserve teachers who understand them, are highly knowledgeable about the curriculum options, and know how to make good decisions on their behalf.

How Do Curricula Vary within Early Childhood Education?

All curricula, including those developed for young children, are designed to complement and support the students for whom they are intended. They include:

A teacher holds and infant while they look at a book.

Stockbyte / Thinkstock

A curriculum for infants emphasizes one-on-one interactions between adults and children.
  • A theoretical or philosophical orientation
  • Stated or implied assumptions about learners
  • Goals or intended outcomes for learners
  • Stated or implied assumptions about the role of teachers
  • Specified or suggested content
  • Specified or suggested methods of implementation and assessment of learners (Frede & Ackerman, 2007; Goffin, 2001; NAEYC, 2003)

The period of early childhood is commonly understood to include birth through age 8, as defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Yet within this period, children's developmental characteristics and interests vary enormously, so curriculum across the early childhood span does as well. We would not expect a curriculum for infants or toddlers to be the same as one for first or second graders. In this section we will discuss some of the general similarities and differences in curriculum across early childhood.

General Distinctions

In general, curriculum for infants and toddlers emphasizes language development, socialization, exploration of the immediate environment, and acquisition of self-help skills, often through daily routines like diapering and feeding. Preschool curricula focus on the development of social and interpersonal skills, play, acquiring a love of learning, and thinking skills. Kindergarten serves as the transition from preschool to elementary school, and the curriculum begins to focus more on early reading and writing.

In the primary grades (1 through 3), curriculum is typically broken out into defined subject or content areas and the focus shifts from growth and development to academics. Strategies teachers use to implement curriculum for all young children should support individual and group needs of typically developing children, second-language learners, and those with special developmental needs (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

Teacher-Child Ratios

Young children usually spend their entire day with the same teacher, child-care provider, or small team of teachers, and early childhood educators usually plan for and implement all components of the curriculum. Typically, however, the teacher-child ratio, or the number of children each individual adult is responsible for, increases by age, because we know that owing to their physical needs and language capacities, infants and toddlers require more hands-on attention than do preschoolers, kindergarteners, and children in early elementary grades (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Therefore curriculum for infants and toddlers will emphasize one-on-one interactions between the adult and child, while curriculum for preschoolers and older children includes an increasing number of activities for small groups of children and sometimes a larger group.

Expectations

A high-quality comprehensive early childhood curriculum emphasizes global, integrated learning across all areas of development (NAEYC/NAECS/SDE, 2003). However, our knowledge of how children grow and develop across each of the individual developmental domains (cognitive, social-emotional, physical, creative) affects the expectations we have for children of different ages in each of these areas. For example, we don't expect toddlerswho, at this stage of development prefer to play on their ownto interact with a group of children during play. We might however, be concerned about a kindergarten-aged child who doesn't play with others, since by this age children have typically developed a preference for play with peers (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

Corner of an early childhood classroom with rug, child sized table and chairs, and shelves with assorted learning materials.

Comstock Images / Thinkstock

A well-equipped early childhood classroom provides a range of materials specifically chosen to support the needs and interests of the children.

Materials

Adults who work with young children rely on instructional materials and strategies, or "tools of the trade," that support children's needs and interests. Early childhood classrooms or child-care settings usually have basic furniture, equipment, and learning materials specifically designed for small children. Some curricula specify exactly what materials are needed; others provide general guidelines or suggestions.

Some early childhood materials, such as puzzles, are constructed to be used for very specific purposes (in this case, developing fine-motor coordination and matching a shape with a corresponding space). But the designs of these materials will vary according to the age of the child for whom they are intended. For example, toddler puzzles typically have fewer, larger pieces, some even with knobs on them, while puzzles designed for older children would have many more pieces and be smaller in size.

Similarly, blocks intended for toddlers will be large enough to be handled easily and might be made of foam or cardboard, while kindergarteners might have access to a large selection of wooden blocks of all sizes and shapes as well as a selection of accessory items, like small people and vehicles, to be used with them.

As children acquire language and an interest in reading and writing, the amount and kinds of paper and writing implements increase as well. Once children gain the ability to talk and move about, they will gradually become more interested in activities like easel painting, drawing with crayons and markers, and manipulating a large variety of materials that help them to acquire the fine motor skills they will need for writing. Their interest in reading and writing continues to develop as the curriculum exposes them to many different kinds of stories and nonfiction books. While reading and writing become a more prominent element of curriculum in the later part of early childhood, materials of all kinds that children can handle and manipulate remain an important feature throughout.

1.2 How Did Early Childhood Curriculum Evolve?

Prior to the seventeenth century, childhood was not generally considered a distinct phase of the life span. Children who survived the first years of life were quickly incorporated into the work routines that sustained the well-being of the family. However, beginning with the Enlightenment, thinkers like John Locke (16321734) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (17121778) began to describe the period of childhood as developmentally distinct and significant.

The way we think about early childhood curriculum today is influenced by many ideas about childhood that have emerged and evolved since that time. The curriculum models and approaches we use today reflect ongoing work with young children in places as diverse as the tenements of Rome and the laboratory preschools of influential universities.

A Cast of Influential Thinkers

Many scientists, theorists, and philosophers have contributed to the current view that children should be respected as individuals in their own right. Further, these thinkers continue to help us understand how children learn and the methods and environments that best encourage the learning process. The following brief profiles describe individuals whose ideas and theories have generated important themes for early childhood curriculum; these will be addressed throughout this text.

Friedrich Froebel

Assorted materials, some of which are in compartmentalized wooden boxes. They include various bright colored beads, tiles, wooden blocks, balls of yarn, and shaped tiles.

Source: http://www.froebelweb.org/gifts/

Many of Froebel's gifts, including various blocks and tiles, can be found virtually unchanged in preschool classrooms today.

Friedrich Froebel (17821852) is generally credited with proposing the seminal idea that young children need a systematic program and materials specifically designed for their unique learning style. Froebel likened children to seeds to be cultivated in a "garden of children," or kindergarten. He believed a teacher's role was to observe and nurture the learning process, in part by encouraging them to play. He also believed that children's play should be structured for their own protection and maximum benefit.

Froebel's curriculum for young children centered on concrete materials he called "gifts" as well as activities, including songs and educational games, he described as "occupations." Gifts were objects such as wooden blocks and colorful balls of yarn designed to teach children concepts about color, shape, size, counting, measuring, comparing, and contrasting. The purpose of occupationswhich involved the child's manipulation of items like clay, paper, and beadswas to develop the fine motor and visual discrimination skills needed for reading and writing. Froebel encouraged the use of the play circle, a curriculum feature that looks familiar in any preschool classroom today, as a time to sing songs that would help to reinforce concepts and develop memory.

Maria Montessori

Many of Maria Montessori's (18701952) ideas are embedded in virtually every early childhood program, and her influence on our thinking about curriculum has been profound (Goffin, 2001; Morrison, 2011). Montessori was the first woman in Italy to earn a medical degree, and she was a tireless child advocate. She insisted that through proper early education, underprivileged and cognitively impaired children could be successful. She worked first with children who were described at that time as "mentally retarded" (a term we would not use today) and subsequently with poor children in the tenements of Rome, establishing preschools, each of which was called a Casa dei Bambini (Children's House). In essence, Dr. Montessori proposed the idea of children at risk and the notion that society had a moral responsibility to devote resources to early intervention.

Dr. Montessori embraced and expanded Froebel's kindergarten concept. She felt that children were natural learners and should drive much of their own learning. She asserted that children should be grouped in multiage (2½ to 5 years) classes to allow flexibility and opportunities for peer mentoring. Montessori developed an extensive set of "didactic" materials and lessons designed to be attractive to children and used by teachers to teach specific concepts and skills. She adapted furniture to child size as a gesture of respect for the unique needs of early learners (Montessori, 2008).

Montessori believed that the environment in which children learn should be meticulously prepared and organized to offer materials and activities in a carefully orchestrated sequence. She trained teachers to observe children carefully and recognize sensitive periods, the most appropriate moments at which to introduce new lessons. Montessori's ideas about early education promoted the development of independence, responsibility, curiosity, and aesthetic sensitivity (Montessori, 2011). We will discuss her method in more detail in Chapter 2.

Maria Montessori, along with a teacher, observes two young children in the classroom.

Getty Images

Maria Montessori opened her first Casa dei Bambini in Rome in 1907.

John Dewey

At about the same time Montessori was conceptualizing early education in Italy, John Dewey's (18591952) work completely redirected the course of American education with a movement known as progressivism. Dewey, known first as a philosopher, believed in pragmatism, or faith in the value of experience (practice) to inform ideas (theory). He promoted a practical approach to education, the idea that "education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living" (Dewey, 1897).

Like Montessori, Dewey believed that the curriculum should be child-centered and school should be a place where children practice life through active, hands-on activities. Dewey also believed, like Froebel, that children learn through teacher-facilitated play. He viewed classrooms and schools as incubators for democracywhere we should learn social responsibility and citizenship (Dewey, 1916). To promote later success in society, progressive schools emphasized collaborative learning and problem solving.

Dewey also thought deeply about the role of the teacher, and his concept of the teacher as a facilitator represented a big departure from the commonly accepted notion of the teacher at the front of the room delivering information to children. He stated that "the teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child and to assist him in properly responding to these influences" (Dewey, 1897).

Dewey's idea that schools should be places where "education is life" gave rise to thinking about curriculum in a new way. Thomas Heard Kilpatrick, one of Dewey's students, published The Project Method in 1918, describing a scientific approach using long-term project work as a means of integrating learning across all areas of the curriculum and engaging children in topics of their own choosing. Dewey's ideas about education as a process, teachers as collaborative partners, and curriculum as a practical and meaningful activity had an enormous impact on educators of his timean impact that is still felt today (Pinar, Reynolds, Slattery, & Taubman, 2008).

Jean Piaget

A contemporary of both Montessori and Dewey, Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (18961980) proposed a theory of cognitive development that initiated a constructivist view of curriculum. Piaget's experiments with young children (some of them conducted at a modified Montessori school in Geneva, Switzerland) revealed them, during their play, to be active participants in the development of mental concepts through trial and error, repeated interactions with materials, and adaptation to the environment. His work confirmed early learning as distinct from other developmental periods, implying, therefore, that materials and activities for young children should reflect the idiosyncratic way in which they think and process stimuli (Branscombe et al., 2003; Chaille, 2008).

Piaget proposed that cognitive development occurs in four distinct stages, three of which occur either wholly or partially during early childhood (Piaget, 1977). In the sensorimotor stage, infants and toddlers process experience and begin to coordinate movement through sensory exploration (Branscombe, Castle, Dorsey, Surbeck, & Taylor, 2003). Preoperational thinking of preschoolers emerges spontaneously, as they are internally motivated to make sense of their environment by testing ideas and theories in play and exploration with materials (Chaille, 2008).

More From the Field

In this video, teacher Meredith Iverson describes how her experiences with young children help her see developmental theory in action.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Identify an experience you have had with a young child that provided you with insight about how they think and learn differently than older children or adults.

At about age 7, children figure out that they can solve problems logically by using objects to perform "operations" (like addition and subtraction). They also begin to understand that operations are reversible (e.g., 2 + 3 = 5 is the same as 5 2 = 3) (Branscombe et al., 2003). Formal operations, or the ability to think logically and perform operations entirely in the abstract without the support of objects, begins to emerge at about age 11.

Piaget's ideas and experiments have been challenged and reinterpreted in ways that continue to expand our understanding of a constructivist view of curriculum (Branscombe et al., 2003; Cannela, Swadener, & Chi, 2008). Most early childhood teachers recognize that children are "concrete thinkers" who require large blocks of time to explore materials and processes. However, "Constructivism is not a method, a curriculum model, or a series of appropriate practices. . . . Rather, constructivism is the theory that underlies the choices and decisions you make about how you set up the classroom, choose the curriculum, and respond to the children's work and ideas" (Chaille, 2008, p. 5).

Lev Vygotsky

While Piaget's work continues to have an immeasurable influence on early childhood researchers, teachers, and theorists, Lev Vygotsky (18961934) expanded constructivist theory in ways that also make particular sense to early childhood educators. Vygotsky proposed that cognitive growth was not just the result of individual interactions with materials, as described by Piaget, but a socially constructed process requiring interaction with others (Bodrova & Leong, 2008). He described the zone of proximal development (ZPD) as a window of time when childrenwith thoughtful and intentional teacher coaching known as scaffoldingare most likely to be able to advance what they can do independently (Vygotsky, 1962). The ZPD is not unlike what Montessori described as a "sensitive period."

Vygotsky's work is most evident in early childhood curriculum today in the prominence of sociodramatic play and emphasis on language; these are considered mental tools that enable the child to convert experiences into internalized understandings, a key process in cognitive development (Bodrova & Leong, 2008). For example, when a group of children decide to set up a pizza parlor, they determine who will be the cook, servers, and customers. They might use paper to make hats and aprons and roll out modeling dough for pizza shells, pepperoni, and other toppings. They develop self-regulation as they apply mental and physical self-control and social rules to act out the scenario, all the time using language to negotiate, communicate, and offer ideas to keep the play going. As children begin to use objects symbolically, plan and take on roles in play, and use language to share experiences, higher-order thinking (executive functioning) develops.

Uri Bronfenbrenner

Uri Bronfenbrenner (19172005) proposed thinking about the growth of relationships as a multilayered, interactive ecological system of five expanding spheres of influence (Figure 1.2):

  1. The microsystem, which includes the environment with which children have the most direct and concrete experience, such as their family, neighborhood, schools and churches.
  2. The mesosystem, which consists of relationships among the elements of the microsystem, such as parent-teacher conferences or a school-sponsored back-to-school picnic.
  3. The exosystem, which influences children indirectly through policies and decisions of which children are largely unaware, such as the implementation of learning standards.
  4. The macrosystem, or the larger societal environment, which affects our daily lives. For example, living in a high-crime neighborhood would influence the resident children in a variety of ways.

Bronfenbrenner's theory is important, as early childhood educators develop curriculum to be responsive to diversity and culture. The microsystems experienced by the young children in your group or class may be quite different in terms of language, ethnicity, foods, and family traditions. Including materials that reflect this diversitysuch as African American, Asian, Hispanic, and Caucasian baby dolls and play food from different culturesprovides a connection between the school or care and home environments.

Figure 1.2: Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model
Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory can be visualized as a series of concentric circles that represent increasingly larger spheres of environmental influence.
Figure: Five concentric circles. The smallest circle is labeled "child." The next circle is labeled "microsystem." The third circle is labeled "mesosystem." The fourth circle is labeled "exosystem" and the fifth circle is labeled "macrosystem."

Loris Malaguzzi

Loris Malaguzzi (19201994) founded the municipal early childhood programs in Reggio Emilia, Italy, immediately after the end of World War II; he is therefore known as the father of the Reggio Emilia approach. Malaguzzi is not considered a theorist or philosopher like Dewey or Piaget, but his contribution to early childhood curriculum is significant because he integrated and refined the ideas of others to legitimize an eclectic articulation of curriculum (Goffin, 2001; Hill, Stremmel, & Fu, 2005; Chaille, 2008).

A contemporary of theorists like Gardner, Piaget, and Bronfenbrenner, Malaguzzi modeled curriculum and program development through ongoing critical reflection, merging new ideas with old and reinventing as necessary. He envisioned curriculum as an organic process, responsive to the unique characteristics, interests, and community of children and families at any particular moment in time (Gandini, 1993; Malaguzzi, 1993). Chapter 2 includes a fuller description of key ideas associated with the Reggio Emilia approach.

Howard Gardner

Until 1983, the prevailing view of intelligence held that it could be measured by assessment of verbal and mathematical abilities and assigned a number, the intelligence quotient (IQ). The widespread use of standardized IQ tests, emphasis and time commitment in elementary school on language, literacy, and mathematics is evidence of the major influence of this perspective. In 1983, Howard Gardner (1943), a cognitive psychologist like Piaget, published Frames of Mind, challenging that view by describing intelligence as multidimensional, interactive, and fluid. Gardner identified seven distinct intelligences and added two more in 1995 (see Table 1.1).

Table 1.1: Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Dimension of Intelligence Example of Profession
Interpersonal Counselor
Politician
Salesperson
Intrapersonal Researcher
Novelist
Entrepreneur
Bodily/Kinesthetic Athlete
Firefighter
Actor
Musical/Rhythmic Musician
Composer
Disk Jockey
Verbal/Linguistic Journalist
Teacher
Lawyer
Logical/Mathematical Engineer
Programmer
Accountant
Naturalist Environmentalist
Farmer
Botanist
Visual/Spatial Navigator
Sculptor
Architect
Existential Philosopher
Theorist

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (MI) immediately attracted a great deal of attention in education. Within a year of its publication, plans were under way to establish the Key School in Indianapolis (now known as the Key Learning Community), with a curriculum entirely based on MI theory.

Because he is a contemporary theorist, the full impact of Gardner's MI theory has yet to be determined, and determining its influence on early childhood curriculum is a work in progress. In the latest edition of Frames of Mind, Gardner describes two major curricular implications of MI theory for teachers, individualizing and operating from a pluralistic perspective:

By individualizing, I mean that the educator should know as much as possible about the intelligences profile of each student. . . . and to the extent possible . . . teach and assess in ways that bring out that child's capacities. By pluralizing, I mean that the educator should decide which concepts, topics, or ideas are of greatest importance, and should then present them in a variety of ways. (Gardner, 2011, p. xvi)

How Has Thinking about Curriculum Changed over Time?

The theories and ideas of the individuals profiled above, as well as those of others, continue to affect our thinking about early childhood curriculum. Other factors that influence curriculum development today include society's values, standards, accountability systems, research findings, community expectations, culture and language, and individual children's characteristics (NAEYC, 2003).

Our society's core values are expressed through primary documents like the U.S. Constitution as well as through our laws, national holidays, social programs, and public education system. The variety of family structures and traditions, religious practices, and socioeconomic conditions reflected across our changing population continually shapes our culture. Globalization, art, the media, recreational pastimes, scientific discoveries, and technology also all play a role.

Individuals and society process these factors as internally held perspectives, a world view, that affects how we relate to others, react or respond to events, and imagine the future (Mezirow, 2000; Miller & Seller, 1990).

Black and white photo of a worried woman and three children.

Photo Inc / Getty Images

This famous photo by Dorothea Lange shows a "Dust Bowl" mother and three of her seven children. It characterizes a time when the national world view was dominated by a mood of stress and worry. This made for an environment in which progressive ideas about education could take hold.

The Importance of Our World View

The goals, foundations, and characteristics of curriculum can be directly affected by changes in our societal world view, or the way individuals and groups of people perceive reality and how those perceptions affect the way they function in their day-to-day lives. For example, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, optimism and faith in our economic system were replaced by uncertainty among millions of people about their immediate and long-term prospects, especially among those impacted by the ten-year drought known as the Dust Bowl. This was the perfect environment in which progressivism, as led by John Dewey, could take hold and shape curriculum for students of all ages. Early childhood curricula at that time reflected Dewey's pragmatic approach to education, which emphasized the development of useful skills, teamwork, and collaboration. University laboratory preschools also flourished as education researchers sought to generate imaginative long-term solutions to our problems.

Similarly, in the late twentieth century, as America became firmly established as a superpower both economically and militarily, a general attitude of confidence prevailed. The standard of living was at an all-time high, but a report, titled A Nation at Risk, commissioned by President Ronald Reagan and published in 1983 by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, claimed that we were in trouble:

"Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world. . . . and the well-being of [America's] people, the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people." (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983)

The report described public schools as failing institutions. Citing a 1982 Gallup poll confirming that "people are steadfast in their belief that education is the major foundation for the future strength of this country," the report set new goals for American education, redefined "excellence," and called for comprehensive reform. The "nation at risk" report led to wide-ranging changes in public education. A debate as to whether the report helped or hurt education, including early childhood education, continues to this day (Hyun, 2002; Toppo, 2008).

As you might imagine, shifts in world view tend to be cyclical, as each new generation reacts to current events. Typically, when times are good and people feel confident and secure, they tend to adopt the attitude, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Conversely, support for innovations and experimental curricula arises when the view of the world and the future is more negative or tenuous.

Early childhood curriculum developers will continue to adapt to movements like the development of state and national learning standards, demand for accountability, and changing public school configurations. This work is complicated by three conflicting world views reflected among curricula, communities, and individual teachers. These perspectives can be described as transmissional, transactional, and transformational (Miller, 2007; Miller & Seller, 1990).

Three T's: Transmissional, Transactional, and Transformational Views of Education

In short, the transmissional view is traditional, in that students are expected to master information delivered by the teacher. This reflects a teaching method that was standard around the world until the twentieth century. The transactional perspective is more egalitarian, and people with a transformational orientation believe that a curriculum should represent the actual lived experiences of diverse groups of learners.

The goals of a transmission-style curriculum, in which the teacher typically stands at the front of the class delivering information, are efficient whole-group instruction, sequential presentation of information, and transfer of information from teacher to student (Smith, 1996, 2000; Tyler, 1949). The method does not allow much room for individual learning styles or rates of learning, as all children are expected to master the same material in the same amount of time.

A good analogy for the transmission style is an assembly line, where the "product" is uniformly prepared students. This approach is derived from and mimics the factory model that made America so successful following the Industrial Revolution and throughout the twentieth century (Miller & Seller, 1990; Sears, 2003; Toffler, 1970, 1990). While most early childhood classrooms today no longer reflect this approach, your own schooling experiences or those of your parents may have been primarily based on this view.

The goal of a transactional teacher or curriculum is to promote individualized learning through process-oriented experiences and activities that are meaningful and relevant to both students and the teachers (Smith, 1996, 2000). Transactional classrooms are often organized with different activity areas and blocks of time when children are free to choose to work alone or with playmates and to direct their own activities. Teachers work with students individually and in small groups. Curriculum is often organized around topics or themes into units of study that integrate different areas of learning.

Transactional curriculum originated with progressivism and is heavily influenced by constructivism (Fenwick & Anderson, 2005; Miller & Seller, 1990). Early childhood classrooms and curriculum today reflect this highly interactive, collaborative style of teaching and learning.

The primary goal of transformative teachers and curriculum is to ensure that multiple perspectives are reflected among children and families in increasingly diverse communities (Bredekamp & Rozengrant, 1992; Miller & Seller, 1990). In early childhood, this view is promoted by a group of researchers and educators who call themselves reconceptualists and interpret and develop curriculum from a social justice perspective (Cannela, Swadener, & Chi, 2008). A teacher with a transformative orientation emphasizes curriculum focused on inquiry, driven by questions relevant and important to the students rather than predetermined goals or outcomes.

Table 1.2 provides a succinct comparison of each view. As you work through this text, keep the 3 T's in mind, as all are represented across the wide variety of early childhood curricula. Teachers often find it helpful to be able to recognize their own world view and how it compares/contrasts with the curriculum they use.

Table 1.2: Three T's Comparison Chart
Transmissional Transactional Transformational
Source of instruction Teacher directs lessons & activities Teacher coordinates activities & themed studies Teacher manages curriculum that emerges over time
Learning via . . . Practice Experience Open-ended inquiry
Assessment focus Products Process & progress Process & products
Desired outcome Mastery of information Attainment of individualized goals Authentic representation of learning

1.3 The Big Picture: Developmentally Appropriate Practice

In this section, we consider the relative position of early childhood curriculum within the larger framework of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP). The early childhood period from birth to 8 years of age is unique in life-span development in terms of growth and learning. Curriculum for young children reflects and supports the amazing changes that occur during this time.

What Is DAP?

More From the Field

In this clip Diana McGawley, an intervention specialist, emphasizes the importance of a developmental perspective.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Why should teachers be concerned about "pushing" children academically?

DAP is not a curriculum but a framework for how to think about curriculum in a way that takes into account what we know about how young children grow and learn. The concept behind DAP is that it should support children's individual needs and interests in accordance with what they are physically and mentally ready to learn (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Principles of child development that inform DAP include the following:

  • All areas of development are important and interrelated.
  • Development is sequential but uneven.
  • Individual children develop at varying rates.
  • Maturation and experience are interactional.
  • Sensitive (optimal) periods create windows of opportunity for the most effective introduction of concepts and materials.
  • Development proceeds from simple to complex, concrete to abstract.
  • Children need secure, consistent relationships.
  • Multiple sociocultural influences may be found within any group of children.
  • Children exhibit a variety of learning styles and preferences.
  • Play is necessary and important to children's healthy development.
  • Children's learning should be supported with teacher scaffolding.
  • There is a relationship between approaches to learning and the development of positive dispositions. (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009)

Essentially, five elements characterize a developmentally appropriate curriculum. First, it supports the creation of a caring community where all are safe, valued, and respected. Second, it balances adult-guided and child-initiated learning opportunities through careful planning, good decision making, scaffolding, and attention to individual needs. Third, a developmentally appropriate curriculum includes clear goals, prioritizes integrated learning, and provides a useful framework for planning daily activities. Fourth, a developmentally appropriate curriculum uses multiple ongoing assessment strategies that are goal oriented, systematic, and purposeful. Finally, a high priority of DAP is to build reciprocal, open, and supportive relationships with families (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

Developmental vs. Academic Curriculum Organization

Every curriculum articulates what children should learn from both theoretical and organizational perspectives. In early childhood, two different approaches predominate. In some curricula, goals, concepts and activities are designed and organized in terms of academic content areas such as math, science, social studies, reading, and writing. In other curricula, these three elements are expressed according to growth and learning across developmental domainscognitive, social/emotional, physical, and creative.

This might be confusing, as many of you are probably wondering about the "right way" to think about curriculum for young children. In later chapters, we will examine both types of curriculum design more closely, but either can be effective and developmentally appropriate as long as:

  • The curriculum is grounded in sound principles about how young children think, learn, and interact.
  • Designated materials and activities reflect the interests and abilities of children.
  • Goals and outcomes promote learning that is integrated, meaningful, and relevant.
  • Assessment methods and tools are used authentically to accurately represent what children know and can do. (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009)

From time to time, early childhood educators have been pressured to diverge from these principles. By the mid-1980s, for example, after the publication of A Nation at Risk, concerns about public schools resulted in a "back to basics" movement, which promoted basic skills and a unilateral focus on reading and math. Some felt that this approach led to the exclusion of other areas of the curriculum. Pressure to implement what early childhood educators called "pushing down" the curriculum and wide-scale standardized testing of young children was intense (Katz, 1999; Willis, 1993).

Push-down advocates assumed that long-term achievement could be improved by implementing a strict academically oriented curriculum that focused earlier on reading, writing, and mathematics. They also assumed that strategies used with older childrensuch as whole-group instruction, rote memorization, and paper-and-pencil activities, rather than a play-oriented curriculum, could be used with 4-year-olds. Thus the incentive for a massive collaborative response on behalf of the early childhood field was born.

NAEYC and the DAP Position Statement

Many professional organizations advocate for the rights and welfare of young children and their families (see Feature Box 1.2). Among these groups, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), which originally organized in 1926, is the largest, with approximately 60,000 members and 50 affiliate chapters (NAEYC, n.d.). This group's purpose is to advance knowledge and advocate on behalf of young children, their teachers, and their families.

NAEYC published its first position statement describing and advocating for developmentally appropriate practice in 1986. The overall goal of the DAP statement was to achieve high-quality ethical practice. NAEYC was at that time developing a voluntary accreditation system for early childhood programs and provided the statement in part to differentiate between developmentally appropriate (DAP) and developmentally inappropriate practices (DIP). The following examples of DAP and DIP were provided:

Appropriate (for toddlers): "An adult initiating conversation with a toddler gives the child ample time to respond. Educators listen attentively for children's verbal initiations and respond to these. Educators label or name objects, describe events, and reflect feelings to help children learn new words."

Inappropriate (for toddlers): "Educators talk at toddlers and do not wait for a response. Adult voices dominate or educators do not speak to children because they think they are too young to respond. Educators either talk 'baby talk' or use language that is too complex for toddlers to understand." (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997)

The 1986 statement was quickly followed in 1987 with an expanded, comprehensive document covering children from birth to age 8. The subsequent impact of the DAP position statement and its effects on curriculum development cannot be overstated.

The DAP position statement is an organic document, revised regularly to include new information and insights about how young children learn and what they need. Revisions of the original statement were published in 1997 and 2009, after intensive review of new research, consideration of critiques, and solicitation of feedback from its membership in open forums, meetings, and workshops.

The 1997 revision included increased emphasis on children with special needs and cultural diversity. The current (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009) version responded to three challenges: (1) reducing learning gaps and increasing achievement, (2) building stronger relationships between early childhood and elementary education, and (3) emphasizing the importance of teacher knowledge and decision making.

A Century of Advocacy

Over the past century, early childhood advocates have addressed poverty, child labor, access to high-quality affordable day care, health, and nutritionall issues that affect children. Currently early childhood professionals and organizations are working to promote many issues that directly relate to or impact early childhood curriculum, including

  • Federal, state, and local policies that reflect DAP
  • Early Learning Standards aligned with curricula and assessment
  • Comprehensive teacher professional development systems
  • Program quality rating and improvement systems
  • Public funding to support quality initiatives (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009)

Professional organizations often participate in or sponsor conferences or regular opportunities to meet for collaboration, networking, continued learning, and renewal of professional commitment. The list below provides information about a sampling of professional organizations (in addition to the NAEYC) that focus in particular on providing support for early childhood educators.

The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI). ACEI was initially organized in 1892 as the International Kindergarten Union (IKU). Its current mission is "to promote and support the optimal education and development of children worldwide, and to influence the professional growth of educators and the efforts of others who are committed to the needs of children in a changing society." ACEI resources include publications, conferences, and online training.

The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC). The mission of the NAFCC is to "promote quality child care by strengthening the profession of [in-home] family child care." It does so by providing access to an accreditation system, training, conference and local membership activities as well as by advocating nationally for the needs of family child-care providers.

The National Child Care Association (NCCA). Founded in 1975, the NCCA is a professional trade association whose mission is to "promote the growth and safeguard the interest of quality early childhood care and education focusing on licensed, private providers of these services [child care centers]." NCCA resources include training and professional development opportunities through state and national conferences and activities, publications, a member buying club, and legislative advocacy.

The National Coalition for Campus Children's Centers (NCCCC). "NCCCC supports research and activities affecting college and university early childhood education and service settings, family and work issues, and the field of early childhood education in general. NCCCC expresses this mission through its newsletters, publications, conferences and grants." NCCCC members represent child-care and laboratory and demonstration programs located on college, university, and community college campuses across the country.

The National Head Start Association (NHSA). The mission of the NHSA is to "coalesce, inspire, and support the Head Start field as a leader in early childhood development and education." NHSA provides networking, employment opportunity information, disaster relief, professional development and scholarships, and a radio station devoted to the interests of Head Start professionals.

The Southern Early Childhood Association (SECA) Since 1948, SECA has been committed to "improving the quality of care and education for young children and their families through advocacy and professional development." SECA's focus areas are the fourteen southern states; they provide publications and other print resources including position statements and policy briefs. SECA also works actively through national and local avenues to provide leadership and professional development opportunities.

Stop and Reflect

After reading the descriptions and mission statements of these groups, what do you think they have in common? How are they different? How would you, as a professional early childhood educator, decide which one(s) to join?

1.4 Politics, Government, and Early Childhood Curriculum

President Johnson holds the signed War on Poverty document.

Getty Images

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the War on Poverty legislative initiative in August 1964. This program included authorization for the Head Start Programs, which continue today.

Trends in early childhood curriculum can be significantly affected by public policy and government intervention, innovations in technology and media, and the infrastructure of teacher education programs. Early childhood professionals need a solid grounding and awareness of the context in which they will be working, as any of these factors has the potential to significantly impact their professional lives.

Policy and its impact on early childhood curriculum are driven in large part by politics, and support for early childhood education can be inconsistent. Today, the adoption and implementation of early learning standards, accountability systems, and funding mechanisms are the government initiatives that most affect curriculum.

Head Start

The national Head Start program was launched in 1964 under the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Its primary goal was to help reduce or eliminate the effects of poverty by providing comprehensive support and education to young children and their families.

Today Head Start early childhood preschool programsand the companion Early Head Start program for infants, toddlers, and pregnant women that was authorized in 1994serve close to a million at-risk American children annually. Head Start must be reauthorized every five years by the U.S. Congress. Each time the legislation comes up for review, new rules can be applied that affect the way in which Head Start programs select, implement, and evaluate curricula for use in Head Start classrooms.

No Child Left Behind

More From the Field

This clip provides information about some of the curriculum requirements for Head Start programs.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Why do you think having a research based curriculum is considered so important?

In 2001, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act included a mandate to develop early learning standards in each state, but it did not dictate what those standards should be. A NCLB task force developed a set of standards known as Good Start, Grow Smart (GSGS) for children aged 3 to 5 as a voluntary model for states (Scott-Little, Lesko, Martella & Milburn, 2007). GSGS blended an academic content focus in sections on math, language, and literacy with developmentally focused sections devoted to approaches to learning, physical growth and health, and social/emotional growth.

Popular early curriculum models currently in widespread use, such as High Scope and the Creative Curriculum, subsequently matched their goals, objectives, and concept frameworks with the standards for each state, some based on GSGS and others not. The purpose of this effort was to help teachers account for how their curriculum and assessments match standards while still maintaining the intentions and integrity of the model they use. In sum, one of the biggest issues in early childhood today is the extent to which standards should drive or dictate curriculum.

1.5 Why Is It Important for You to Think about Curriculum?

Think of the maxim "Practice what you preach." It will be relevant every day of your teaching career, as your actions represent what you believe about teaching and learning. Consciously and unconsciously, whether adhering to a curriculum approach or using specific materials from a curriculum model, teachers make decisions about curriculum all the time. The key to being an effective teacher is to make those decisions as deliberately, intelligently, and sensitively as possible (Hill, Stremmel, & Fu, 2005).

The Concept of Theory to Practice

In simple terms, "theory to practice" describes the translation of ideas about how children grow and learn into the decisions we make and actions we take as teachers (Dewey, 1904; Mezirow, 1997). As you have learned in this chapter, our thinking today about early education and curriculum is derived from multiple sources and principles that have evolved over time. Curricula vary depending on how those core ideas are combined, integrated, interpreted, and influenced by culture, society, and individuals involved in curriculum development and implementation.

The Reflective Teacher

Your early childhood education studies will provide you a knowledge base and professional dispositions that will continue to be informed by your experiences as a teacher and curriculum developer. Excellent teachers are also reflective, purposefully thinking about the curriculum decisions they make and their teaching in three principal ways (Schon, 1983, 1987; Winter, 1998; McAlpine, Frew, & Lewis, 1991). You could describe these modes as advance planning, in-action decisions, and debriefing. In other words, you should think about your work before, during, and after you do it.

Reflective teachers who think about their work at the highest level are metacognitive, thinking not only about what they do but also about the process they use to make decisions, thus developing an internal dialogue built on insights and close examination of their actions. This critical reflection process includes (1) identifying beliefs and attitudes, (2) applying insights from teaching to modify assumptions on which those beliefs are based, and (3) adapting practices to be consistent with revised beliefs (Mezirow, 2000).

A Case Study: Mary and Jane

Let's look at how this process works. In this scenario Mary and Jane are reflective co-teachers for a multiage class of 4-year olds and kindergarteners. They observe that six of the boys in the class are entirely focused on "superheroes." This is evident in many aspects of the curriculumlanguage, artwork, journal writing, block structures, and outside play.

A young boy wears goggles and a cape while pretending to be a superhero.

Jupiterimages

Teachers Mary and Jane used a systematic reflection process to understand and respond to children's superhero play.

The teachers are unsure about the value of superhero play or why it seems so important. They assume that it is gender-specific to boys but also notice girls engaged in themes about fairies, witches, princesses, and other powerful creatures. Mary and Jane decide to:

  • Identify relevant resources and research (Cooper, 2009; Erdman & Downing, 2015; Paley, 1992)
  • Develop a plan for recording observations in the classroom
  • Devote some of their daily planning time to talking together about what they have read, seen, and thought about
  • Involve the children in conversations about superhero play
  • Make decisions and adjustments to the curriculum to address problems and new questions
  • Keep a journal of their thoughts about the issue of superhero play

After two weeks, Mary wrote:

I had no idea that the characters involved were princesses and witches and I find it interesting that the preferred role is that of the witch. Something to think about [sic]. Is this version of good guy/ bad guy? I don't think so since neither role is really seen as a "bad guy" role by them. I think this is "power" play on the line of superman, etc. and in this case the witch has the power, doesn't she always? Another thing I notice when I reflect on this is the social give and take. When Susan leaves the play because she doesn't want the role assigned to her Anastasia steps back and [I believe] thinks about it and realizes that if they switch roles then Susan will be willing to continue the play. As it turns out she was right.

One week later, Mary said,

We have been allowing superhero play and there have been no real problems. We had to solve the problem of tagging too hard but scarves in the pocket have solved that problem. We decided that when there were problems we could have a meeting and ask the children to help us find a solution. I think they are motivated to solve problems because they know that too many hurts or tears will result in at least a temporary end to our approval of this play. They are just beginning to experiment with the idea that it might also be ok to tell stories that involve power play.

Now let's look at what happened as a result of Mary and Jane's reflective process. Their original beliefs about superhero play have changed, as they think they understand better the dynamic between the theme and important concepts of good/bad and power. They no longer assume that it occurs only with boys and realize that dialogue with the children is meaningful and can provide ideas for problem solving. They are confident that their decision to adapt curriculum to include superheroes is based on sound information. They have new questions to pursue about the possible applications of superhero themes to literacy.

Reinventing the Wheel

You will work with many people and resources to shape the early childhood curriculum of the future. Intergenerational professional relationships can be very important and helpful, as this is one of the ways in which we pass along practical curriculum wisdom (Henderson & Kesson, 2004) acquired over many years of teaching.

As a new teacher, you will likely be so focused on your day-to-day work that you might not think you will ever have time to think about the "big picture" or take a long view of what is happening as you work with curriculum. However, keeping the big picture in mind is critical to teaching from a metacognitive stance. Consider the following suggestions for things you can do to develop a reflective approach to your work:

  • Seek out a mentor who models reflective teaching.
  • Keep a journal and write in it regularly.
  • Maintain a file of questions that arise about different aspects of curriculum.
  • Engage in regular conversations with your students.
  • Find and read resources related to your questions.
  • Join a professional association, such as one of those listed in Feature Box 1.2, and attend conferences to network with others and develop a perspective on the context in which you work.

Five Key Questions

As we proceed in our exploration of early childhood curriculum, five key questions provide the organizing elements for the twelve chapters in this text. Together, they represent a coherent philosophy of education and a practical framework for reflection:

  1. What is the purpose of curriculum? (Chapters 1 and 2)
  2. What are children like and how do they learn? (Chapters 3 and 4)
  3. What is my role as a teacher? (Chapters 5 and 6)
  4. What do children need and want to know and learn about? (Chapters 7 through 11)
  5. How should curriculum be implemented? (Chapters 7 through 12)

If you begin to think about these questions now and revisit them regularly, you will establish habits of mind that will serve you well and help you make sense of triumphs and challenges you encounter.

Chapter Summary

  • Curriculum is a structured framework for teaching that is articulated with varying levels of specificity.
  • Early childhood educators have substantial responsibilities and varying degrees of flexibility about how to implement curriculum depending on the curriculum they use and the context in which they work.
  • While curriculum for young children is based on principles consistent across the span from birth to age 8, the needs, abilities, and interests of children at different times affect what curriculum includes and how it is implemented.
  • Many individuals have contributed to our understanding of how children learn and the methods and environments that best encourage the learning process. Among some of the most influential are Maria Montessori, John Dewey, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky.
  • Factors such as social values, socioeconomic conditions, politics, research, and culture contribute to individual and social world views, which in turn are reflected in different perspectives about what curriculum should include and how it should be implemented.
  • Through the work of professional organizations like NAEYC, early childhood educators advocate for developmentally appropriate practice as a framework for curriculum development. Teachers use knowledge about how children grow and learn to make decisions about curriculum and how to adapt to changing demands that affect their work.
  • Good teachers engage in regular and thoughtful reflection and inquiry about their work to integrate theory and practice.
Discussion Questions
  1. Choose one of the influential thinkers profiled in this chapter and explain why you might want to know more about his or her work and ideas.
  2. Which of the 3 T's (transmission, transactional, transformative) perspectives comes closest to describing your own view? Why?
  3. What do you think could be some of the most difficult obstacles in the way of implementing developmentally appropriate practices? Why?
Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Comprehensive curriculum

A curriculum that addresses all areas of learning

Constructivist

A person whose approach to teaching is based on Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development

Content area

A specific subject area of curriculum, such as literacy, math, or science

Curriculum

A structured framework for teaching

Curriculum approach

A broad, flexible conceptual framework for teaching based on a particular theoretical perspective

Curriculum model

A conceptual framework for teaching that describes everything about what and how a teacher will teach

Developmental domain

A specific aspect of overall child development, such as cognitive, social/emotional, physical growth, or creativity

Developmentally appropriate practice

Teaching based on developmental and cultural knowledge of both individuals and groups of children and their families

Early intervention

Providing instructional and family support to identify and address special needs at the earliest possible time in order to give at-risk children the best possible transition to elementary school

Environment

The physical space within which early childhood curriculum is implemented

Executive functioning

Higher-order thinking, characterized in young children by the ability to plan activity and control impulses

Head Start

Federally funded preschool programs established in 1964 to provide early childhood education for children considered at risk for school failure

Hidden curriculum

Things children and teachers are expected to know that may not be intentionally taught

Infants

Children from birth to 18 months of age

Kindergarten

The transitional year between preschool and first grade

Limited-scope curriculum

A curriculum that addresses a single or limited number of learning areas (like math or literacy)

Metacognition

Intentional thinking about one's ideas and thinking process

Preschoolers

Children from ages 3 to 5

Scaffolding

A teaching strategy that focuses on providing help and support to enable children to advance from tasks or activities they can do independently to a higher level

Self-regulation

The ability to exercise impulse control

Standards

Statements about what children should know and be able to do, developed by states, programs, or organizations that represent different dimensions of curriculum

Teacher-child ratio

The number of children an individual teacher is responsible for, such as 1:4 for infants

Toddlers

Children from 18 to 36 months of age

World view

Internalized values that affect how people perceive and interpret the ideas and actions of others

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Described by Vygotsky as a time window between what a child can do independently to what he or she can do with teacher assistance

Recommended Reading

Educating Esm: Diary of a Teacher's First Year, by Esm Raji Codel (first published in 1999, updated in 2009 by Algonquin Books (Chapel Hill, NC). This is a lively and insightful account of a young teacher who describes the challenges she faced as a first year teacher and how she navigated her way through them.

References

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. J. (2007). Tools of the mind: The Vygotskian approach to early childhood education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Branscombe, N. A., Castle, K., Dorsey, A. G., Surbeck, E., & Taylor, J. B. (2003). Early childhood curriculum: A constructivist perspective. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Bredekamp, S., & Copple, C. (1997). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Bredekamp, S., & Rozengrant, T. J. (1992). Reaching potentials: appropriate curriculum and assessment for young children. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Bronson, P., & Merryman, A. (2009). Nurture shock: New thinking about children. New York: Twelve.

Cannela, G., Swadener, B., & Che, Y. (2008). Reconceptualists. R. S. New & M. Cochran (Eds.), Early childhood education: An international encyclopedia. pp. 693696. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

Chaille, C. (2008). Constructivism across the curriculum in early childhood classrooms: Big ideas as inspiration. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Charlesworth, R. (2004). Understanding child development (7th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Initiative. (2010). Common Core State Standards for mathematics [PDF file]. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/wp-content/uploads/Math_Standards1.pdf

Cooper, P. M. (2009). The classroom all young children need: Lessons in teaching by Vivian Paley. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in programs serving children birth to eight. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Dewey, J. (January, 1897). My pedagogic creed. School Journal, 54, 7780.

Dewey, J. (1904). The relation of theory to practice in education. Third Yearbook of the National Society for the Scientific Study of Education (pp. 930). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. New York: Macmillan.

Epstein, A. (2009). Growing readers early literacy preschool curriculum (2nd ed.) Ypsilanti, MI: High Scope Educational Research Foundation.

Epstein, A. (2010). Numbers plus mathematics curriculum for preschool. Ypsilanti, MI: High Scope Educational Research Foundation.

Epstein, A. S., & Hohmann, M. (2012). The high scope preschool curriculum. Ypsilanti, MI: High Scope Educational Research Foundation.

Erdman, S., & Downing, M. (2015, February/March). The science of superheroes. Teaching Young Children, 8(3). Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/tyc/feb2015/science-superheroes

Fenwick, W. E., & Anderson, G. L. (Eds.). (2005). The Sage handbook of educational leadership: Advances in theory, research, and practice (p. 499). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Frede, E., & Ackerman, D. J. (March, 2007). Preschool curriculum decision-making: Dimensions to consider. Preschool Policy Brief, Issue 12. New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, Rutgers University.

Gandini, L. (1993). Fundamentals of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Young Children, 49(1), 48.

Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books.

Giroux, H., & Purpel, D. (1983). The hidden curriculum and moral education: Deception or discovery? Berkeley, CA: McCutchan.

Goffin, S., & Wilson, C. (2001). Curriculum models and early childhood education: Appraising the relationship (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Henderson, J., & Kesson, K. R. (2004). Curriculum wisdom: Educational decisions in democratic societies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Heroman, C., et al. (2010). The creative curriculum for preschool (5th ed.). Bethesda, MD: Teaching Strategies.

Hill, L. T., Stremmel, A. J., & Fu, V. R. (2005). Teaching as inquiry: Rethinking curriculum in early childhood education. Boston: Pearson.

Hyun, E. (2002). No Child Left Behind Act. R. S. New & M. Cochran (Eds.) Early childhood education: An international encyclopedia. New York: Greenwood.

Jackson, P. W. (1968). Life in classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press.

Katz, L. (1999). Curriculum disputes in early childhood education. ERIC Digest Document Number #ED436298.

Kilpatrick, T. H. (September 1918). The project method. Teachers College Record, 19, 319334.

Malaguzzi, L. (1993). For an education based on relationships. (Lella Gandini, Trans.). Young Children, 49(1), 912.

McAlpine, L., Frew, E., & Lucas, M. (1991). Mechanisms for helping becoming practitioners develop professional ways of knowing. M. Baskett, V. J. Marsick, T. G. Pearson, D. R. Klevans, & J. Delehanty (Eds.), Proceedings of the continuing education preconference of the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education (pp. 6773). University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.

Mezirow, J. (1997). Transformative learning: Theory to practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 74, 512.

Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Miller, J. P. (2007). The holistic curriculum (2nd ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Miller, J. P., & Seller, W. (1990). Curriculum: Perspectives and practice. Toronto: Copp, Clark, Pittman Longman Division.

Montessori, M. (2008). The Montessori method. Lexington, KY: BN Publishing. (Original work published in 1909.)

Montessori, M. (2007). The absorbent mind. Radford, VA: Wilder Publications, Inc. (Original work published in 1949.)

Morrison, G. (2011). Early childhood education today (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merril Prentice Hall.

Myles, B. S., Trautman, M. L., & Schelvan, R. (2004). The hidden curriculum: Practical solutions for understanding unstated rules in social situations. Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8 (position statement with expanded resources). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (n.d.). More about us. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/about-us/people/more-about-us

National Association for the Education of Young Children, National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education. (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation (a joint position statement). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC) Curricula/Teaching approaches for preschool education. Retrieved from: http://occ-archive.org/poptopics/curricula-ece.html.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2000). Number and operations standard for grades PreK2. Retrieved from: http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=7564.

Newkirk, T. (2002) Misreading masculinity. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2008) Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues (5th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Paley, V. G. (1992). You can't say you can't play. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Piaget, J. (1977). The development of thought. New York: Viking Press. (Original work published in 1975.)

Pinar, W., Reynolds, W. M., Slattery, P., & Taubman, P. M. (2008). Understanding curriculum. New York: Peter Lang.

Schon, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.

Schon, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass.

Scott-Little, C., Lesko, J., Martella, J., & Milburn, P. (2007). Early learning standards: Results from a National Survey to Document Trends in State-Level Policies and Practices. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 9(1). Retrieved from: http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v9n1/little.html.

Sears, A. (2003). Retooling the mind factory: Education in a lean state. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Smith, M. K. (1996, 2000). Curriculum theory and practice. The encyclopaedia of informal education. Retrieved from: www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm.

Spodek, B., & Brown, P. C. (1993). Curriculum alternatives in early childhood education: A historical perspective. B. Spodek (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (pp. 91104). New York: Macmillan.

Toffler, A. (1990). Future shock. New York: Random House. (Original work published in 1970.)

Toppo, G. (2008). Nation at risk: The best thing or the worst thing for education? USA Today. Retrieved from: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-04-22-nation-at-risk_N.htm.

Tyler, R. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2011). Administration for Children and Families. A guide to good start, grow smart in child care. Retrieved from: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/initiatives/gsgs/gsgs_guide/guide.htm.

Vygotsky, L. (1962). Thought and language (E. Hanfmann & G. Vokar, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (Original work published in 1934).

Willis, S. (November 1993). Teaching young children: Educators seek "developmental appropriateness." Curriculum Update. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/curriculum-update/nov1993/Teaching-Young-Children.aspx.

2
The Curriculum Landscape: Major Models and Approaches
Young boy sits at a table playing with Montessori cylinder blocks.

Moneky Business / Thinkstock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Describe the key elements considered in curriculum development and major research efforts that have affected curriculum.
  • Describe the key features of classic curricula developed prior to the 1960s.
  • Describe key features of modern curricula developed since the 1960s.
  • Establish a conceptual framework for making decisions about curriculum.

Introduction

Congratulations! Your interview went great! You have been offered a position in the preschool classroom of a public school in a farming community. The area has a growing immigrant population as well as many families who have lived there for generations. The school is small (one class per grade level) and most of the low-income and middle-class families and children know each other through agriculture work as well as neighborhood and church activities.

Your principal tells you that you will have two curricula to use: (1) a state-approved comprehensive curriculum with supplemental early literacy resources and (2) materials for second-language learners. The comprehensive curriculum provides guidelines, objectives, suggested learning centers, and materials. The second-language package, which contains specific printed materials and instructions for activities, was chosen to provide focused instruction for at-risk children. The principal says that you will make most of your own decisions about how to organize your classroom and will be able to choose topics of study that are relevant to your students.

As you explore the information and materials about the curriculum you will be using in your classroom, you may wonder how a curriculum is created in the first place and what makes one curriculum different from another. For example, if the director of your preschool says that it is a Reggio Emilia-based program or that it makes use of Creative Curriculum, what does that mean? Where did the curriculum come from? Who developed it? How does it compare with other curricula? How flexible is it? In this chapter, we will answer those questions and explore important considerations about curriculum development. We introduce many of today's most commonly used early childhood curricula and establish a process you can use to compare and contrast curriculum features.

From the Field

Program director Lucia Garay describes the importance of making curriculum decisions with each individual child in mind.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. How is Lucia's statement, "curriculum is the child," consistent with the concept of developmentally appropriate practice?

2.1 How Is Early Childhood Curriculum Developed?

A young girl is coloring while receiving instruction from her teacher.

Jupiterimages / Thinkstock

Early childhood curricula can vary widely in philosophy and approach. Early childhood educators can benefit from having a framework within which to compare them.

The curriculum a program or school chooses or develops is defined in many ways, both theoretical and practical. From a theoretical perspective, curriculum reflects the vision and philosophy of the program. From a practical perspective, it may have to address mandates or requirements that the program must meet, teacher qualifications and professional development needs, and available financial and other resources. In addition, a curriculum must be clearly understood by all who use it, be sensitive to individual and community needs, and provide opportunities for parent involvement (Frede, 2007; Posner, 2004; Trister-Dodge, 2004).

Other practical considerations include purchasing materials, ensuring accountability, and setting up an environment that will support the curriculum. The type of curriculum a program or school chooses provides different levels of flexibility in how these decisions are made.

In some cases, a curriculum choice drives all the other decisions so that it will be implemented with fidelity. For example, the decision to use the Montessori curriculum means that many things will have to be done in a certain way; for example, classrooms will have to be set up into clearly defined and named areas. Moreover, classroom equipment and materials will have to be purchased according to a list of materials specifically designed, manufactured, and approved by the Association Montessori Internationale for Montessori classrooms. Teachers will meet qualifications recommended by the North American Montessori Teacher Association (Kahn, 2010). Once a Montessori program is set up, it is readily recognizable as a Montessori space and can't easily be transformed to serve a different kind of curriculum.

Other curricula are flexible or cross-compatible with one another to varying degrees, using similar equipment and learning materialssuch as items for art, dramatic play, blocks, or music activitiesbut perhaps organizing and using them in different ways. Sometimes there are particular elements of the curriculum that require special attention, such as the aesthetics of a Reggio Emilia or Waldorf classroom. But with many early childhood curricula, changing from one curriculum to another means devoting resources to professional development of staff to implement the new curriculum as well as those changes that can reasonably be made with the equipment and materials already on hand.

In short, curricula can vary widely in the degree to which practical decisions are affected by their characteristics. But all currricula that are effective and stand the test of time are based on strong conceptual elements, including (1) vision and mission, (2) research and theoretical base, (3) stakeholders, (4) curriculum content, and (5) implementation. We'll discuss these conceptual elements in more detail next (Goffin & Wilson, 2001; Jaruszewicz, 2005).

Vision and Mission

Typically, early childhood programs are guided by a particular vision statement that clearly articulates what the program wants to achieve and a mission statement that succinctly describes how it will do so. The vision and mission of individual programs can be quite different (see Figure 2.1). One program might emphasize literacy, for example, while another focuses on the arts. Although they are both working toward the same purposeto provide high-quality care and education for young childrentheir methods can vary considerably. Theoretically, all decisions made for the program, including choice of curriculum, should be consistent with the articulated vision and mission.

Figure 2.1: Mission Statements from Four Programs
These mission statements are from four different preschool programs. Can you see that they represent specific goals and use particular words or phrases to emphasize the different curricula that the facilitators use?

College of Charleston
N.E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center

ECDC's three part mission is to provide:

  • A demonstration preschool for research, observation and practicum purposes.
  • Quality care and early education for children ages two through five from the College and neighboring community
  • An active model of child advocacy in the Charleston community.

N.E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center, College of Charleston, Carleston, SC 29424

Daniel Island Academy

Mission: Daniel Island Academy's mission is to provide the best learning and developmental environment in which a child may reach his or her full potential.
Courtesy of: Daniel Island Academy, 300 Seven Farms Road, Daniel Island, SC 29492

SETA Head Start program

The SETA Head Start program's mission is to improve the lives of low-income children by providing quality comprehensive child development services that are family focused, including education, health, nutrition and mental health.

Our mission is accomplished by involving parents in the total operation and administration of the program and supporting the growth of children, families and staff through encouragement, nurturing, education and empowerment.
Courtesy of: SETA Head Start, 925 Del Paso Blvd., #100, Sacramento, CA 95815

Little Tree Montessori Mission Statement

Support the child's healthy drive for independence;
Honor the child's natural desire to learn, to be helpful, to contribute;
Nourish the child's spirit, imagination, creativity and intellect
Guide a joyful mixed age classroom-as-community where the child's personality will naturally blossom and unfold;
Respect, protect and celebrate childhood.
Courtesy of: Little Tree Montessori Preschool and Kindergarten, 21204 Monument Rd. SW, Vashon, WA 98070

Basis in Theory and Research

The educators who develop curricula for young children are informed and influenced by ongoing research that continually refines our understanding of how children learn. Thousands of researchers from around the world, coming from a variety of perspectives, have contributed to our body of knowledge on early childhood. However, they often differ in their interpretation of data and conclusions and in the questions that drive their inquiries. The nature of such questions, some general and others very specific, has changed over time, largely in response to societal priorities.

For the first half of the twentieth century, primarily by observing children at play, researchers focused on finding out how children learn and grow (Barbour, 2003; Goffin & Wilson, 2001). During the 1960s, federal funding for the fledgling Head Start program, spurred by a government commitment to equal opportunity for all children, produced efforts to identify a "best model" for academic achievement. When that proved difficult, researchers began to try to tease out the benefits of a particular curriculum from the benefits of early childhood education overall (Goffin & Wilson, 2001). After 2001, the No Child Left Behind legislation and increasing demands for accountability spurred research that helped connect curricular elements to specific desired outcomes.

Today, researchers examine early childhood education in broader contextual terms than they did in the past, partly as a result of the changing demographics of our population (Cohn & Caumont, 2016; Goffin & Wilson, 2001). Recent economic conditions have led to reduced funding for many government programs, including those tied to early childhood education. Such conditions have encouraged bureaucrats to reassess the value of early childhood programs as long-term investments. Some large-scale national studies have also been supplemented by research funded and targeted at increasingly local levels. Written summaries and testimonials of research are often used to support the effectiveness of specific curriculum products.

Let's look at a selection of research efforts, from laboratory schools to various longitudinal studies, which are considered to have had a significant impact on curriculum development.

Laboratory Schools

In the early twentieth century, G. Stanley Hall, an American psychologist, was a principal founder of what we now consider the field of child psychology (Barbour, 2003). To conduct research into how the minds of children work, he and his colleagues needed access to natural but controlled settings where subjects could be observed over long periods of time. Meanwhile, the progressive movement, led by John Dewey, sparked intense curiosity about the teaching/learning dynamic and a desire to study curriculum theory. Researchers soon established laboratory preschools in which young children could be cared for and educated while being carefully observed. This movement crystallized during the 1920s.

Black and white photo showing a young boy and girls playing on the floor with blocks.

George Marks / Getty Images

Laboratory preschools proliferated in the 1920s and 1930s as places in which to observe and conduct research on early learning. These preschool children are at the Newcomb College Nursery School at Tulane University.

To facilitate faculty research and provide practical experience for teachers-in-training, these programs were primarily located at universities. Many of the early programs are still in operation, including the program John Dewey established at the University of Chicago in 1897 and the Bureau of Educational Experiments (1919), which became the Bank Street College in New York City.

While support for laboratory programs has waxed and waned over time and some have endured fluctuating levels of financial and institutional support, their role in the research history of early childhood education continues to evolve. Some, like Bank Street, ended up producing their own curricula, while others allow curriculum developers to try out their ideas and then take what they had learned back to their own settings.

Either way, what these programs have learned about children, and their continuing commitment to research, continues to influence curriculum development. For example, at Bank Street, researchers discovered the importance of field trips and helping children make connections between curriculum and the real world. This knowledge changed curriculum development: Instead of setting up curriculum with materials entirely designed for instructional purposes, most curricula now advocate including real-world materials in the classroom. Dramatic play areas might include pots, pans, baskets, dishware, and grocery store items along with replicas of food for play. Curriculum today also promotes opportunities for children to visit places like a local bakery or fire station so that they can base their classroom activities on actual experience.

Longitudinal Studies on the Benefits of Preschool

In addition to studying students for several months or a year in a day-care setting, laboratory school, or other classroom environment, researchers often seek to understand the long-term impact of early childhood education. Hence they institute longitudinal studies to track the same individuals over periods of several years or even decades. Outcomes from this type of research can inform changes to curriculum. One example of this is a study that had its roots in a startling report issued in the 1960s.

In 1969, the Westinghouse Learning Corporation and Ohio University issued a report asserting that the benefits of preschool, specifically, Head Start, were short-term, and that they "faded out" by third grade (Westinghouse, 1969). Six years later, partly in response to this report, twelve researchers formed the Consortium for Longitudinal Studies to study the effects of experimental preschool programs in the 1960s. They pooled data from multiple small individual projects and agreed to work together to track a group of 3,000 children over time (Darlington, 1981). The findings from this unique study revealed a positive, lasting impact on achievement and a lower number of children retained or placed in special education programs (Besharov, 2011; Darlington, 1981; Lazar, 1978; Lazar., 1982). This major study served to restore credibility in early education as a worthy investment.

Another important ongoing longitudinal study is the Perry Preschool Study (PPS), which began in 1962. It was designed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of High Scope, a specific curriculum that emphasizes active learning and family involvement and was used as an early intervention measure.

In Ypsilanti, Michigan, 123 poor African American children between the ages of 3 and 4 were divided into two groups, with one group attending preschool at the Perry Elementary School. There, the High Scope curriculum was implemented from 1962 to 1967. The other group also attended preschool but did not use the High Scope curriculum. Researchers have checked in with the children, who are now in their forties, ever since, and have updated their findings periodically (Schweinhart, 2005). The study continues to find that those in the High Scope preschool program had more positive long-term outcomesin terms of earnings, level of education and employment rates, and crime statisticsthan those who attended the other preschool (Figure 2.2). "The High Scope Perry Preschool Study is now widely regarded as a landmark study that established the human and financial value of high-quality preschool education" (Schweinhart, 2002).

The Abecedarian Project, from the University of North Carolina, shifted the focus of study from federally funded preschool classrooms to low-income children in a child care setting. Educational activities were developed in the form of "games" intended for all domains of development, with particular emphasis on language. Findings were reported on the children at ages 12 (Campbell, 1994), 15 (Campbell., 1995), and 21 (Campbell, Ramey, Pungello, Sparling, & Miller-Johnson, 2002); these linked the importance of high-quality child care begun at infancy to later academic success and achievement. Because each child received individualized attention from a teacher, this study also provided evidence of the importance of well-educated teachers (Campbell, 1994, 1995; Campbell et al., 2002; University of North Carolina, 1999; Masse, 2002).

Figure 2.2: Perry Preschool Study Data
The Perry Preschool Project has tracked the progress of 123 African American subjects since 1965. The age 40 data continue to provide evidence of positive effects.
Figure: Four bar graphs. First bar graph shows School Readiness and the percent of kids who were ready for school at age 5. Only 28% of children who did not receive a high quality preschool program at ages 3 and 4 were ready for school at age 5 while 67% of children who did receive a high quality preschool program were ready. The second bar graph shows the percent of kids who graduate from high school. Only 45% of children who did not receive a high quality preschool program at ages 3 and 4 graduated from high school while 65% who did receive a high quality preschool program at ages 3 and 4 graduated from high school. The third bar graph shows the percent who earn over $20,000 at age 40. Only 40% who did not receive a high quality preschool program at ages 3 and 4 earned over $20,000 while 60% who did receive a high quality preschool program at ages 3 and 4 earned over $20,000. The fourth graph shows the percent who had been jailed five or more times by age 40. Of those who did not receive a high quality preschool program at ages 3 and 4, 55% had been in jail five times or more by age 40 while only 36% of those who did receive a high quality preschool program at ages 3 and 4 had been in jail 5 or more times by age 40.
Source: High Scope Educational Research Foundation

The Search for a "Perfect" Curriculum

Wouldn't it be great if we could figure out the perfect curriculum? Project Follow Through (FT) and the Head Start Planned Variation studies were research efforts that attempted to do exactly that (Stebbins, 1977). These two longitudinal studies emerged from the national Head Start program.

By 1967, the Johnson administration wanted to extend the benefits of Head Start early education through the primary grades 13, so they requested $120 million to fund the new FT program. When funding would not support that kind of an initiative, the FT effort became a research project. The purpose of FT was to determine the "best" curriculum for disadvantaged children by evaluating gains in academic achievement over time. Thus a planned variation research model was proposed that allowed participating schools to choose from twenty approved curricula.

In 1969, Head Start implemented a similarly structured effort, comparing eight models at demonstration sites (Klein, 1971). Unfortunately the findings from both studies were inconclusive and researchers as well as those with vested interests in one curriculum or another have been arguing about it ever since (Stebbins, 1977). However, these efforts did serve to (1) spur the development of new curricula, which remain with us today; (2) provide an incentive to reexamine traditional approaches, such as the Bank Street model; and (3) encourage thinking about early childhood curriculum in a structured, intentional way.

Today, the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) and the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) sponsor the largest number of early education research initiatives. The NCEDL is funded through the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), and the NIEER is funded through a consortium of charitable organizations in collaboration with the U.S. DOE. The websites for these programs provide a great deal of information on current and past studies.

Brain Research

In the past two decades research in the field of neuroscience has provided irrefutable evidence of the importance of the early childhood period to the development of the brain (this is discussed more fully in Chapter 4 and later chapters). As a result, early childhood curriculum developers are learning more and more about the architecture of the brain and its structures, the nature of intelligence, and the influence of emotions (Rushton, 2011). This research confirms long-held theoretical and intuitive beliefs about the value of active learning and socially reciprocal relationships during early childhood.

We first mentioned Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (1983) in Chapter 1. Gardner is part of a research consortium at Harvard University known as Project Zero. Philosopher Nelson Goodman of Harvard's Graduate School of Education initially began the project in 1967 to study ways to use the arts to improve education. Project Zero focuses on "understanding learning in and through the arts . . . while drawing together diverse disciplinary perspectives to examine fundamental questions of human expression and development" (Project Zero, n.d., para. 1). But many of the projects are inextricably linked with new information coming from neuroscience. Of particular interest to early childhood educators is the "Making Learning Visible" (MLV) project, which explores the benefits of group learning and the documentation processes, originally developed in the Reggio Emilia preschools in Italy, to represent learning visually over time. As a result, teachers are encouraged to use a wide variety of tools and strategies to describe what and how children are learning.

Approved Curricula for State-Funded Preschool Programs

In 2011, thirty-nine of the fifty states (Figure 2.3) provided publicly funded preschool programs; in Oklahoma, Florida, and Vermont, for example, these enrolled as many as 75 percent of 4-year-olds.

Figure 2.3: NIEER Public Preschool Data
Publicly funded preschool programs served 1.3 million 3- and 4-year-old children in 20102011.
Figure: Map showing the percent of 4-year-olds served in state preschool programs. States where no 4-year-olds are served in state preschools are New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Indiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Hawaii. States serving 1-10% of 4-year-olds are Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Delaware, and Alabama. States serving 11-20% of 4-year-olds are California, New Mexico, Michigan, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine. States serving 21-30% of 4-year olds are New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas. States serving 31-40% of 4-year-olds are Maryland, Kentucky, and Louisiana. States serving 41-50% of 4-year-olds are New York, South Carolina and Arkansas. States serving 51-60% of 4-year-olds are Georgia, West Virginia, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Texas. States serving 61-71% of 4-year-olds are Florida, Oklahoma, and Vermont.
Note: Data from more recent NIEER yearbooks may be available. Visit http://nieer.org/state-preschool-yearbooks for updates.
Barnett, W. S., Carolan, M. E., Fitzgerald, J., & Squires, J. H. (2011). The state of preschool 2011: State preschool yearbook. New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research.

As a result of their own studies or findings from national research projects, many of these states officially recognize only certain curricula for use in their publicly funded preschool programs. Table 2.1 displays the states that have approved preschool curricula as of 2009. Curricula indicated on the chart are models that will be discussed further in this chapter.

Table 2.1: State-Approved Curricula in Publicly Funded Preschool Programs (2009)
State Approved Curricula
BS CC CCR HS M OWL RE TM Other
Alabama
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Louisiana
Maryland
Missouri
New Jersey
New Mexico
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
West Virginia
Key: BS = Bank Street; CC = Creative Curriculum; CCR = Curiosity Corner; HS = High Scope; M = Montessori; OWL = Opening the World of Learning; RE = Reggio Emilia; TM = Tools of the Mind; Other.
Note: Data from more recent NIEER yearbooks may be available. Visit http://nieer.org/state-preschool-yearbooks for updates.
Source: NIEER 2010 Yearbook.
Stop and Reflect

Look at the chart and see if your state is represented. If so, which curricula are approved for public programs? Which curricula seem to be the most popular? As you read about these curricula in the rest of this chapter, think about why that might be so.

Identifying Stakeholders

As we learned in Chapter 1, all early childhood teachers must be aware that the decisions they make about curriculum affect not only the children in their classrooms but also the immediate and larger community (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Stakeholders are those people who have a vested interest in or can be affected by the decisions we make about what and how we teach. In your classroom, primary stakeholders will be teachers, children, and families (Henderson & Kesson, 2004; MacPherson & Brooker, 2000). Other important but secondary stakeholders could include other teachers in your school or program who will teach your students at a later time, your director or principal, and families of students you will have in the future who may develop an image of you based on what they hear from your current students' parents.Indirect stakeholders might include future employers of your students, their communities, and society in general, since the quality of what you do in the classroom has long-lasting effects.

When curriculum development is an inclusive process, we actively seek out the views and needs of stakeholders, creating a sense of shared ownership and investment. When curriculum development is an exclusive process, we may find it much more difficult to engage and gain support for our efforts. For instance, "quality standards should reflect local values and concerns and not be imposed across cultural divides. In a heterogeneous society such as the U.S., notions of quality should arise out of conversations in local communities among early childhood educators and parents" (Tobin, 2005, p. 424).

Some of the questions to ask yourself when implementing a curriculum include:

  • Who will be affected by the decisions I make about curriculum?
  • What is the spectrum of needs and interests across the population I serve?
  • Who is available to participate in discussing decisions about curriculum choices?
  • How can the children's ideas and interests be respected?

Curriculum Content

Decisions about "what to teach" are a major determinant in choosing and writing curriculum; they are influenced by what children should know and be able to do, the degree to which children and teachers share control, and how learning should be organized and managed (Biber, 1977). Historically, school districts and programs operated independently, decisions were made locally, and teachers typically had a significant voice in the process of choosing curriculum content. In publicly funded schools and programs today, those decisions are increasingly centralized and driven by state and federal standards and conditions attached to funding streams.

Choosing what children should learn is a values-driven process, as the choices made represent what the community, state, or country thinks is worth knowing. Over time, as society changes, our ideas about what is important evolve as well. In the early days of our country, curriculum included the study of literature, philosophy, writing, grammar, history, science, math, Latin, modern languages, art, music, and rhetoric (debate, public speaking).

After the progressive movement in the early decades of the twentieth century, social priorities shifted to include practical knowledge, skills, and citizenship as part of the curriculum (Dewey, 1903). This was the beginning of vocational and career education as part of the curriculum: Older boys learned carpentry, metalworking, and auto mechanics, while girls might study home economics (cooking and sewing, among other things). Gardens were a common feature in the schoolyard. Learning about "community helpers," and block and dramatic play, became a valued part of the kindergarten curriculum because of the possibilities for learning about and acting out real-life roles (Shapiro & Biber, 1972).

With the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983, which described a "rising tide of mediocrity," priorities shifted almost entirely away from "undemanding and superfluous high school offerings." The report quoted survey results that described what the American public wanted curriculum to include:

More than 75 percent of all those questioned believed every student planning to go to college should take 4 years of mathematics, English, history/U.S. government, and science, with more than 50 percent adding 2 years each of a foreign language and economics or business. The public even supports requiring much of this curriculum for students who do not plan to go to college (National Commission on Excellence, 1983). The public response to this report ultimately led to the writing of state academic standards and the No Child Left Behind legislation of 2001.

Many believe that this development has occurred at the expense of other valuable parts of the curriculum, especially the arts and physical education. Advocates for these curriculum areas point to an increasing body of research that documents the ways in which the arts (Chapman, 2005, 2007; Jalongo, 2002; Whitfield, 2009) and physical education (Prosser & Jiang, 2008; Smith & Lounsbery, 2009; Tremarche, Robinson, & Graham, 2007) support cognitive functioning and academic performance. Early childhood educators, as discussed in Chapter 1, continue to fight for curriculum content that is developmentally appropriate and balances children's interests and experiences with what adults think they need to know. As we explore different curriculum options later in this chapter, consider how the question of "what's worth knowing" can vary significantly from one curriculum to another. Think about how the experiences children bring to the early childhood education setting will vary by culture and circumstances. Look for indications about how each curriculum responds to this challenge.

Implementation

"An official curriculum is meaningless unless it is translated by teachers into an operational curriculum" (Posner, 2004, p. 191). The delicate dance of choosing and acting out strategies that ensure desired learning in real preschool and school settings may be the hardest part of teaching. Research shows that perhaps the best predictor of high-quality education is the skill with which curriculum is implemented (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). All decisions about the technical aspects of implementing curriculum that we mentioned at the beginning of this section must be made with respect to the context and culture of the classroom, school, and community.

As we look at different early childhood curricula, imagine implementing them yourself. What strategies and recommendations for implementing ideas and activities make the most sense to you? What important skills do you already have and what do you need to learn?

Benjamin Franklin Elementary School Community Garden

One example of a progressive era shift to practical education is the Benjamin Franklin Community Garden in Cleveland, Ohio. This large community garden was established in 1923, and it continues to flourish today. This excerpt (paraphrased and abridged) from a history of the gardens, written in 1977 by Nicholas Paserk, Melissa Radish, and Kimberly Sante, describes the origins and concept for the gardens:

The gardens were first used to grow plants for the schools in the vicinity. One part of the nursery was used as an outdoor classroom and picnic area. The Brooklyn Garden Club donated a summer house (gazebo). Parts of the nursery were divided into garden plots. This allowed more children to experience gardening under qualified adult supervision. Children from all the surrounding schools were eligible for a garden. Also Carl J. Hopp, the first garden program director, tried gardening in the kindergarten class and the kindergarten teacher supervised. This subject was taught to the various other grade levels as horticulture.

The author's mother attended Benjamin Franklin Elementary School and vividly remembers the gardens. She says:

My dad paid $1.25 or $1.50 for the seeds. We children did everything but spading. Everything was numbered and we would go to the big barn and get our suppliesa rake, hoe, a water sprinkler and a wheelbarrow. When the seeds came up we thinned the plants. It was a big responsibilityneglect your garden and you were done. I laugh when I remember taking a kohlrabi home and my mother said she had never seen one before!

Today, the gardens continue as an ecofriendly resource involving a number of community partners, including the Ohio State University Extension Program. The five-acre site is divided into 204 plots, some of which are allocated to the schoolchildren. In 2005 the Cleveland Landmarks Commission designated the BFCG a Cleveland Landmark. You can learn more about the gardens at http://benfranklincommunitygarden.org/index.html.

Stop and Reflect

Do you think gardening activities are beneficial as part of an early childhood curriculum? Why or why not? What do you think young children might learn from participating in such a garden?

2.2 "Classic" Curricula (Pre-1960s)

This section describes, for the purposes of this book, "classic" curricula, those that were well established prior to the research efforts of the 1960s and the initiation of Head Start programs. These are the Montessori, Waldorf, Project Approach, Bank Street, and Reggio Emilia curricula. The next section describes "modern" curricula, developed from the 1960s onward. They are presented in chronological order, and Figure 2.4 displays each of the curricula discussed in following sections on a time line. As you read the next two sections, consider how the ideas grounding earlier models or approaches may have influenced those that came later.

Montessori Method

While Maria Montessori is a major historical influence on early childhood education, the methods that today bear her name go beyond the work she accomplished in her lifetime; they represent her ideas in action.

Figure 2.4: Curriculum Time Line
The emergence of well-known early childhood curricular models and approaches is interconnected with research, developmental theories, and accumulated practical knowledge about how children learn.
Figure: Timeline showing the development of ECE curriculum throughout history. In the Mid-1800s, Froebel gifts were developed. Between 1900 and the 1930s, John Dewey, Montessori, and Waldorf became influential. Between the 1930s and Post WW2, the Bank Street and Project Approaches were developed. In the time after WW2 and before the 1990s, Piaget, Vygotsky, Bronfenbrenner, and Howard Gardner became influential and the High Scope and Reggio Emilia models were developed. Between 1988 and the mid-1990s brain research began and the Tools of the Mind and Creative Curriculums were developed.

Basic Philosophy and Principles

The books Maria Montessori wrote, including The Absorbent Mind (1949) and The Montessori Method (1909), describe the philosophical and pedagogical principles of her method as well as the expected characteristics and responsibilities of teachers and children that underlie its execution. Among these are the principles of the absorbent mind; the concept of the prepared environment; and the use of child-sized, didactic materials and practical activities designed for a specific purpose.

The Absorbent Mind

The principle of the absorbent mind refers primarily to the notion that children have an innate desire to learn. Further, they are intrinsically motivated to communicate and particularly disposed to learn through imitation and practice (Montessori, 1949). This principle has significant implications for the role of Montessori teachers, as their primary obligation is to encourage children's natural propensity to learn. They observe children carefully for sensitive periods, or windows of time when a child is developmentally and intuitively most receptive to learning particular skills and behaviors. They plan and orchestrate activities according to each child's unique but predictable learning timetable and needs. Montessori teachers see themselves as facilitators or directors of learning who maintain a low profile as they move around the classroom. They observe children's work, demonstrate lessons, and redirect behavior.

The Prepared Environment

Montessori classrooms are orderly and calm, and the environment is carefully organized and sequenced. The classroom is characterized by three primary areas: practical life, sensory materials, and academic materials for reading, writing, and mathematics. Montessori children are free to move about the classroom but must stay on their chosen tasks and use only materials that the teacher has introduced or demonstrated.

The Use of Didactic Materials and Practical Activities

A young child holds a card and traces the letter "I" with her index finger.

Vanessa Davies / Getty Images

The materials used in many of today's Montessori programs were inspired by the objects originally developed by Maria Montessori more than a hundred years ago. This image shows a child using the "sandpaper letters," which provide sensory reinforcement of the shape of each letter as the child traces the textured surface.

Like the Montessori environment, Montessori materials and demonstration lessons are organized and sequenced. Some resources and activities, like taking care of plants and sorting picture cards that depict the different parts of a plant, support nature study and physical education, while others, like working with puzzle maps and cards that identify different types of land forms, emphasize geography. Children actively manipulate materials to train their senses, refine their motor skills, and learn academic concepts.

Sensory materials promote discrimination skills and are typically self-correcting. For instance, knobbed cylinders made of wood with a small knob on top encourage manipulation with the thumb and forefinger. Each cylinder fits into only one corresponding hole in a wooden block, so the child knows when a correct match is made. There are several sets of cylinders intended to teach how objects vary by a particular attributedepth, diameter, or both.

In addition to the cylinders, some of the more commonly recognized sensory materials include:

  • Color tabletsThree sets of color tiles that focus on primary colors, secondary colors, and shade and tints of both
  • Sound boxesCylinders filled with various materials for matching sounds
  • Smelling jarsSmall glass jars with lids that have holes through which children can smell and compare the contents
  • Pink towerGraduated set of pink wood cubes that vary by one centimeter in each dimension
  • Brown stairsGraduated set of wooden blocks that vary by height and width

Montessori believed that children learn reading through writing first. The academic materials prepare children to hold writing implements properly; learn the shapes and sounds of letters and numbers; gradually put together words, phrases, and sentences; and develop a sense for numbers and geometric forms. While children typically master the practical life and sensory materials by age 4, elementary Montessori still employs the academic materials for math and language activities. Some of the most recognizable academic materials include:

  • Sandpaper letters and numeralsfor tactile internalization of the shapes of numbers and letters
  • Metal stencilsfor tracing geometric shapes
  • Geometric solidswooden models of basic shapes
  • Movable alphabetblue vowels and red consonant letters with wooden trays for arranging letters
  • Golden beadsbeads grouped as singles, tens, hundreds, and one thousand that can be manipulated in various ways to teach the decimal system

Activities are practical and emphasize everyday routines for care of the person, environment, social courtesies, and movement control. Children develop physical coordination and concentration and learn to be self-directed, independent, and responsible. Lessons introduce and reinforce the left-to-right and top-to-bottom orientation children will eventually use to learn to read, write, and perform mathematical operations.

Some of the practical life activities include:

  • Pouring rice from one pitcher to another
  • Washing and polishing plant leaves
  • Mastering different kinds of clothing fasteners
  • Walking and balancing on a line
  • Greeting visitors
  • Dusting tables

Finally, Montessori programs often include gardening and extended periods of time set aside for outdoor activities and exploration.

Waldorf

Waldorf education emerged at about the same time as Montessori education. Although the curriculum is not as well known, Waldorf programs can be found worldwide and in all fifty states in the United States. Moreover, interest in Waldorf is increasing. Some people consider the principles that underlie Waldorf and Montessori to be mutually exclusive ideologically, but others believe that there are elements that can be compared (Peterson, 2010).

Basic Principles

Rudolf Steiner (18611925) is generally credited with founding the Waldorf approach, known for its attention to aesthetic beauty and the spirit. He was an Austrian who believed that children learn by imitation and sensory stimulation for about the first seven years of life. Steiner coined the term anthroposophy (Trostli, 1998)what Gardner might call intrapersonal intelligence, or knowing and understanding one's true nature. Like Montessori, Steiner believed the purpose of education was to allow children the freedom to develop their inner potential. He also believed that learning should be driven by children's interests and questions.

The Waldorf Classroom

A young boy and girl sit outside at a table that has a green and red apple holding down pieces of paper so they can draw.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

The Waldorf curriculum emphasizes the importance of an aesthetically pleasing environment, use of natural materials, and time for children to experience the natural world.

A Waldorf classroom environment is designed and organized to be aesthetically pleasing, inspiring, and "nourishing to the senses" (Trostli, 1998). Materials are attractive, engaging, and colorful. Most are open-ended, like paints, clay, or blocks, as Steiner felt that didactic materials (like those found in a Montessori classroom, or a puzzle, for example) limited a child's imagination (Edwards, 2002). Imaginary dramatic, creative, and exploratory play is encouraged, as are many activities throughout the day that foster oral language. Followers of the Waldorf approach believe that the intentional teaching of reading and writing is not necessary until the age of seven.

Teacher as Performer

A Waldorf teacher could be considered a "performer," as a primary function of the teacher is to demonstrate activities and model exemplary behavior, since Steiner believed that children are highly motivated to imitate adults and real life through play. Another important idea in the Waldorf curriculum is the concept of natural rhythm; thus, daily and seasonal cyclical rhythms are emphasized partly as a way to develop reverence for the natural world, adults, and others.

The Project Approach

An early-twentieth-century approach (Kilpatrick, 1918) to learning through long-term study of topics that allowed teachers to integrate different areas of the curriculum is enjoying something of a reemergence as the Project Approach (PA). The PA is most closely associated with Lilian Katz and Sylvia Chard, who describe the project method's origins in the progressive movement in their 1989 book Engaging Children's Minds: The Project Approach. Dr. Katz wrote on her personal blog, "I became involved with the Project Approach when I visited the infant schools in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and saw wonderful project work being done by very young children. I then began teaching teachers how to incorporate projects into their curriculum. So, I have been involved in the Project Approach since about 1970." Sylvia Chard explains on the Project Approach website that "Projects typically do not constitute the whole educational program; instead, teachers use them alongside systematic instruction and as a means of achieving curricular goals."

While there are many ways to lead children through an integrated study of a topic, the distinguishing characteristic of the Project Approach as described by Katz and Chard is the framework for how that can be accomplished. Katz and Chard recommend that teachers conduct projects in three stages or phases:

  1. Teachers and children together identify a topic of general interest. Teachers use multiple strategies to uncover children's prior knowledge, questions, and predictions.
  2. Children investigate the topic, again using various strategies to collect information and learn about the topic. They represent and communicate their emerging understanding with media of different kinds.
  3. Teachers and children revisit their initial thinking about the project topic and reflect on what they have learned (Katz & Chard, 2000).

More From the Field

Kindergarten teacher Meghan Ling describes initial impressions and reflections from experimenting with project-based learning and curriculum.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. What does Meghan seem to view as primary benefits of a project-based curriculum?

In this way, each project investigation is unique and personalized to the particular child investigators, as two groups of children could study a topic such as "Birds" with entirely different goals, activities, and outcomes. Or a project can serve to help children process experiences, such as this description of a project about Hurricane Katrina:

Project Katrina 
Conducted by the LSU Child Development Laboratory Preschool in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this project emerged in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina. It serves as an excellent example of a teaching team turning a challenging local event into a valuable learning opportunity through community involvement and service. Note how the project evolved naturally from students' needs to make sense of the natural disaster and to tell stories from their own lives. (http://www.projectapproach.org/pre-k_to_k.php)

Because the Project Approach is a rearticulation of the approach as originally defined, it is also influenced by curricula that have emerged since. Katz and Chard recommend using many strategies similar to those used in the Reggio Emilia (see below) approach to represent what and how children are learning. They also emphasize the value of documentation as a reflective process for teachers.

Bank Street (The Developmental-Interaction Approach)

The Bank Street curriculum was developed as a play-based curriculum at the demonstration program for the Bureau of Educational Experiments, founded in 1919 by Lucy Sprague Mitchell and Harriet Johnson; that institution is now known as Bank Street College in New York City. It was renamed and articulated as the Developmental-Interaction Approach for inclusion as the traditional preschool model for the Head Start Planned Variation and Follow Through initiatives (Biber, 1977).

Basic Principles

Most curricula today that emphasize developmentally appropriate practice and development of the whole child are influenced by ideas embedded in the Bank Street approach. These "big ideas" include the following:

  • Teaching decisions are based on knowledge and understanding of all the developmental domains and cognitive processes.
  • Teachers function as researchers; they record their observations and use them to learn about children and their families and adapt curriculum to meet children's needs.
  • The physical environment is arranged to promote exploration, social interactions, and active participation.
  • The curriculum is grounded in social studiesbuilding awareness of community and a sense of belonging and civic responsibility.
  • Play serves as an important context for consolidating and integrating understanding and solving conflicts (Mitchell & David, 1992).

Bank Street conceives teaching as a "work in progress," since teachers adapt and change activities and topics of study according to the interests and abilities of the children (Goffin & Wilson, 2001). Table 2.2 shows how the Bank Street theoretical approach has evolved over time. It is grounded in the psychosocial perspectives of Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, and others. It has also long been characterized as representative of John Dewey's progressive approach to education. A Bank Street classroom models democracy in action through emphasis on the importance of community, collaborative rule making, cooperation, and respect for others (Mitchell & David, 1992, p. 19).

Table 2.2: Developmental Interaction Approach (Bank Street) Time Line
1916 to 1930 1930s to 1960s 1960s to Today
Experimental/progressive origins/ political reform agenda Psychodynamic psychological orientation developed Formalized articulation of approach/labeling as "model"
Organizational period Psychological Basis Practices derived from philosophical, cognitive, and psychological constructs

The Bank Street Classroom

Young girl sits on a beanbag chair to read a book.

Scholastic Studio / Getty Images

We associate things like a cozy reading corner and quiet space in the classroom with the Bank Street curriculum.

Teachers consider the environment in a Bank Street classroom to be a powerful messenger in that it communicates key values and philosophical beliefs. For example, the orderly and accessible arrangement of materials promotes independence and responsibility; comfortable seating areas invite conversation and interaction; displays of children's work at their eye level conveys respect for their ideas and products (Mitchell & David, 1992, pp. 6162).

Like Montessori, a Bank Street classroom is organized with centers to promote particular kinds of activities. But unlike Montessori, the functions of these centers are fluid, adapted to the changing rhythms of the classroom. At a minimum, classrooms contain areas for both group play and privacy, storage, creative activities, and outdoor space to extend learning opportunities. Practical considerations for arranging space include attention to traffic patterns, access to water, and the control of noise levels.

Role of the Teacher

According to the Bank Street approach, "We think of curriculum not as a series of recipes for activities, but rather as the opportunities for experience you offer children that help them deepen their understanding of the world. The curriculum is the sum of those opportunities and it is created through a dynamic process of planning and decision making" (Mitchell & David, 1992, p. 121). Teachers plan activities and choose materials to match children's abilities and interests (Figure 2.5); arrange opportunities for direct interaction with the physical and social world; and help children to represent their questions and ideas through writing, speaking, and visual representation. Finally, teachers use the information they have gleaned to drive future planning. Bank Street gave birth to the concept of a theme-based, inquiry-oriented curriculum.

Reggio Emilia

Shortly after World War II, a teacher named Loris Malaguzzi (19201994) founded a series of municipal preschools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. When they were designated the best in the world by Newsweek in 1991, (Kantrowitz & Wingert, p. 50) these schools became widely known in America. Early childhood educators began to visit the Reggio Emilia preschools in Italy, and were much impressed; they began to think about adapting the Reggio Emilia principles to American classrooms (Bredekamp, 1993; Hertzog, 2001; Hewett, 2001; Linn, 2001).

Basic Principles

The Reggio Emilia philosophy is a continually evolving dynamic process defined and refined by its primary stakeholdersteachers, children, parents, and the community. It is grounded in an image of children as innately competent and powerful with the right to a stake in decision making about their learning. Malaguzzi drew from the ideas of John Dewey about active and meaningful learning and from the constructivist theories of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky in particular, as well as Montessori, Bronfenbrenner, and the social psychologists.

According to Malaguzzi, education for young children is built on relationships (1993). The concept of reciprocity is a key element to building, maintaining, and transforming relationships between teachers, children, the environment, and the community (Gandini, 1993). Reciprocity can be likened to a game of catchcommunications and interactions are tossed like a ball between adults and children in a gentle, playful exchange that creates meaning (Rankin, 1992). Reggio Emilia teachers are never in a hurry to push children through exploration and conversation about their ideas.

Communication is essential to the reciprocal process of relationship building. In the eyes of Reggio Emilia teachers, it takes many forms from which children should be free to choose at any time to convey their ideas and express themselves. This idea gave root to the phrase "100 languages of children," which became the title of the first book published about the Reggio Emilia approach (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998). It is also the title of a continually changing exhibit of children's work sponsored by the Reggio Emilia Children organization that has been traveling the world since 1981.

The Reggio Emilia curriculum is an emergent curriculum, meaning that topics of study and time frames are fluid and not predetermined. They are driven instead by the interests, questions, and reflections of children and teachers as they interact with each other and the environment.

Ideas for long-term inquiries (projects) come from three sources: children's personal experiences, school experiences, and "provocations"events structured by teachers to generate interest and curiosity. Teachers establish general goals; they then plan by predicting what might happen next and prepare accordingly.

The Reggio Emilia Classroom

More From the Field

Meredith Iverson describes some of the considerations that need to be addressed by teachers in Reggio-inspired classrooms.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Consider Meredith's statement that Reggio teachers consider the environment a "third teacher." What does that mean to you and why might it apply to a Reggio classroom?

Malaguzzi stated that the goal of the Reggio Emilia system was to create, "an amiable schoolthat is, a school that is active, inventive, livable, documentable, and communicative.  . . . a place of research, learning, revisiting, reconsideration, reflection." (Malaguzzi, 1993, p. 9). Toward these ends, the preschool Reggio Emilia classrooms in Italy and those inspired by them in the United States are aesthetically beautiful and filled with details that are intended to intrigue, delight, and surprise children as they encounter and interact with the environment. The environment is considered part of the curriculum and even referred to as the "third teacher."

Each Reggio classroom is unique because it is intended to reflect those who inhabit the space. Teachers carefully design space for individuals, social interactions, and "marginal" community areas like kitchens and bathrooms (Gandini, 1993). Reggio Emilia schools usually also include an "atelier"a studio space that includes art materials of all kinds, so that children can express and represent their ideas. Here children work to master techniques and media that add to their repertoire of "languages" and teachers come to broaden their understanding of how children are thinking. The atelier also serves as an archive for present and past work (Gandini, 1993). When American teachers using a Reggio Emilia approach do not have access to an entire room for the atelier, they create a "miniatelier" space within the classroom.

Visual Documentation of Learning

The Reggio Emilia curriculum is best known for its emphasis on visual documentation of learning, not to be confused with the typical classroom and hallway displays of student work with which you might be familiar. Such documentation provides a "window on learning," (Helm, Benecke & Steinheimer , 2007), essentially telling the story of children's thinking over time. Teachers meticulously use children's words, their own thoughtful reflections, and children's work products to represent the origins and ongoing iteration of an inquiry over time. Ongoing documentation also serves another important purpose: Teachers use it to help children revisit earlier stages of a project and to develop higher-order thinking in the process.

Because the Reggio Emilia approach to curriculum revolves around project work, many teachers assume that it is similar to the use of thematic units, a popular strategy featuring a topic theme that American teachers use to integrate learning across multiple content areas of the curriculum. Look at Table 2.3 and consider how each of the elements of an emergent project differs significantly from thematic units.

Table 2.3: Comparing Thematic Units and Emergent Projects
Thematic Units Emergent Projects
Adult-generated Adult-anticipated
Teacher choice Child-initiated
Whole class Small groups
Teacher-directed Child-directed
Teacher-planned Child investigates
Time frame Time varies
One theme at a time Several ongoing projects
Document ending Document process
Disseminate, transfer knowledge Child constructs and builds knowledge

2.3 "Modern" Curricula (Since the 1960s)

This section describes some of the more recently developed curricula: High Scope, Creative Curriculum, Tools of the Mind, Success for All, and Opening the World of Learning. In some respects, early childhood curriculum development over time could be interpreted as an ongoing dialogue. As you will see, the curricula described in this section were influenced by those in the previous section, but they also reflect the interpretation and application of theories and research that have emerged since the mid-twentieth century.

High Scope

While the people at Bank Street were working to reinterpret their work as the Development-Interaction Approach in the 1960s, another idea about how to apply a constructivist perspective to early childhood curriculum emerged out of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Incorporating the theory of cognitive development proposed by Jean Piaget, David Weikert and his colleagues developed the High Scope curriculum.

Figure 2.5: The High Scope Wheel of Learning
The High Scope Wheel of Learning represents how the four elements of the curriculum work together to produce active learning.
Figure: Circle diagram with 5 concentric circles divided into 4 segments. Center circle reads "Active Learning. Initiative. Key Experiences." Next circle has "Daily Routine" written in the lower right segment. The third circle has "Learning Environment" written in the lower left segment. The fourth circle says "Adult-Child Interaction" in the top right segment and the fifth circle says "Assessment" in the top left segment.

Basic Principles

The High Scope Wheel of Learning (Figure 2.5) represents the curriculum concept visually, indicating the four elements controlled by adults (environment, assessment, adult-child interactions, and daily routine) working to achieve active, hands-on learning for children.

Important goals for children include:

  • Thinking about actions and interactions
  • Problem solving
  • Self-directed learning (Goffin & Wilson, 2001; Epstein, Schweinhart & McAdoo, 1996)

High Scope identifies "key developmental indicators" across areas of the curriculum (formerly "Key Experiences"). Table 2.4 lists the key indicators for the Infant/Toddler and Preschool Curricula included in the current version of High Scope.

Table 2.4: Key Indicators for Infants/Toddlers and Preschoolers
Infants/Toddlers Preschoolers
Approaches to learning Initiative
Problem solving
Self-help
Initiative
Planning
Engagement
Problem solving
Use of resources
Reflection
Social and emotional development  Distinguishing self and others
Attachment
Relationships with adults
Relationships with peers
Emotions
Empathy
Playing with others
Group participation
Self-identity
Sense of competence
Emotions
Empathy
Community
Building relationships
Cooperative play
Moral development
Conflict resolution
Physical development and health Moving parts of the body
Moving the whole body
Moving with objects
Steady beat
Gross motor skills
Fine motor skills
Body awareness
Personal care
Healthy behavior
Communication, language, and literacy Listening and responding
Nonverbal communication
Two-way communication
Speaking
Exploring print
Enjoying language
Comprehension
Speaking
Vocabulary
Phonological awareness
Alphabetic knowledge
Reading
Concepts about print
Book knowledge
Writing /dual language learning (DLL)
Cognitive development (infants/toddlers)
Mathematics (preschool)
Exploring objects
Object permanence
Same and different
One-to-one correspondence
Number
Locating objects
Filling and emptying
Taking apart and putting together
Seeing from different viewpoints
Anticipating events
Time intervals
Speed
Cause and effect
Number words and symbols
Counting
Part/whole relationships
Shapes
Spatial awareness
Measuring
Unit
Patterns
Data analysis
Creative arts Imitating and pretending
Exploring media
Identifying visual images
Listening to music
Responding to music
Sounds
Vocal pitch
Art
Music
Movement
Pretend play
Appreciating the arts
Science and technology Observing
Classifying
Experimenting
Predicting
Drawing conclusions
Communicating ideas
Natural and physical world
Tools and technology
Social studies Diversity
Community roles
Decision making
Geography
History
Ecology

The High Scope Educational Research Foundation also provides resources that assist teachers, schools, and programs in documenting alignment of the High Scope curriculum and statewide early education standards.

The High Scope Classroom

High Scope classrooms are organized much like a Bank Street classroomwith orderly, planned, and supplied activity areas; an active outside learning space; and a welcoming, inviting environment. Using symbols, diagrams, and words to designate the proper place for each material, High Scope teachers carefully label shelves and other storage and play areas, helping children to develop independence and responsibility but also providing prompts that reinforce key indicator concepts such as matching numbers with quantity.

Figure 2.6: High Scope Labeling
Careful labeling in High Scope classrooms helps children learn important concepts while they play and complete routines like cleanup. Visual labels that use both a diagram and word also help to make connections between objects and printed letters.
Outlines of a fork, knife, plate, glass, spoon and drawn onto a placement. Each outline is labeled with the name of the object.

Daily Routine

The daily routine emphasizes intentional teaching through routines, transitions, and a predictable order of events. The Plan-Do-Review sequence (PDR) in particular is a great example of a concept that represents both a strategy and an intended outcome. Before the time of the day when children are free to choose center activities, teachers guide them to plan what they will do. This provides teachers with information they can use during center time to facilitate play and learning. Afterwards, teachers debrief children and encourage them to reflect on and share their work. So PDR serves to organize movement and activities and also to promote intentional thinking, focus, and "thinking about thinking," or metacognition.

A teacher helps three students mix playdough.

Michelle Del Guercio / Getty Images

Making play dough in the cooking center is one activity children enjoy as part of the Creative Curriculum.

Assessment

The High Scope curriculum was one of the first to provide a comprehensive integrated assessment system using the Child Observation Record (COR), which relies heavily on teacher observation and anecdotal record keeping and skills assessments of various kinds. Specific tools focus on emergent literacy (Early Literacy Skills Assessment, ELSA) and program quality in Infant/Toddler, Preschool, and Elementary classrooms.

Creative Curriculum

Early in her career, Diane Trister-Dodge, a graduate of the Bank Street College and the author of Creative Curriculum, became interested in the impact of the environment on interactions and learning. The first edition of Creative Curriculum grew out of her efforts to translate the time-tested principles of traditional preschool into guidelines and specific suggestions for effectively arranging environments to promote play, interactions, and learning. Trister-Dodge founded Teaching Strategies, Inc., in her basement in 1988; today Creative Curriculum (5th ed.) is widely known and used across the United States. Like High Scope, the curriculum developers provide alignment information for both states and the national Head Start standards.

Basic Principles

The Creative Curriculum is now a complete system of resources that address the four areas of (1) curriculum, (2) assessment, (3) professional development, and (4) making connections with families. It is based on five research-based principles that draw heavily from the theories of Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bronfenbrenner as well as recent research supportive of those foundational theorists:


  1. Positive interactions and relationships with adults provide a critical foundation for successful learning.
  2. Social/emotional competence is a significant factor in school success.
  3. Constructive, purposeful play supports essential learning.
  4. The physical environment affects the type and quality of learning interactions.
  5. Teacherfamily partnerships promote development and learning (Teaching Strategies, p. 2).

Table 2.5 displays the thirty-eight Creative Curriculum learning objectives for children that address all ten areas of learning.

The Creative Curriculum Classroom

Teachers using the Creative Curriculum organize their classrooms and materials in ten interest areas, using suggestions and recommendations for materials and how to arrange them. The Creative Curriculum now offers manipulatives and other learning materials that complement the goals of the program and provide teachers with ideas about the kinds of materials considered appropriate for hands-on activity. It also offers kits that accompany study units on trees, buildings, clothes, and recycling; these include materials for groups of children. The ten classroom areas are:

  1. Blocks
  2. Dramatic play
  3. Toys and games
  4. Art
  5. Sand and water
  6. Library
  7. Discovery
  8. Music and movement
  9. Cooking
  10. Outdoors

Teacher Resources

Resources include detailed examples and ideas for daily, weekly, and long-term planning in each activity area to support the learning objectives. The curriculum offers ideas and guidance for individualizing instruction, observing children, and supporting dual-language learners and children with special needs. The aim of these resources is to give teachers ways to integrate the "what, why, and how" consistently across the curriculum (Teaching Strategies, 2010).

Table 2.5: Creative Curriculum Learning Areas and Objectives
Area of Learning Learning Objectives
Social/Emotional Regulate own emotions and behavior
Establish and sustain positive relationships
Participate cooperatively and constructively in group situations
Physical Demonstrate:
Traveling skills
Balancing skills
Gross motor/manipulative skills
Fine motor strength and coordination
Language Listen to and understand increasingly complex language
Use language to express thoughts and needs
Use appropriate conversational and other communication skills
Cognitive Demonstrate positive approaches to learning
Remember and connect experiences
Use classification skills
Use symbols and images to represent something not present
Literacy Demonstrate phonological awareness
Demonstrate alphabet knowledge
Demonstrate knowledge of print and its uses
Comprehend and respond to books and other texts
Demonstrate emergent writing skills
Mathematics Use number concepts and operations
Explore and describe spatial relationships and shapes
Compare and measure
Demonstrate knowledge of patterns
Science and technology Use scientific inquiry skills
Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of living things
Demonstrate knowledge of the physical properties of objects and materials
Demonstrate knowledge of the earth's environment
Use tools and other technology to perform tasks
Social studies Demonstrate knowledge of self
Show basic understanding of people and how they live
Explore change related to familiar people or places
Demonstrate simple geographic knowledge
The arts Explore the visual arts
Learn musical concepts and expression
Learn dance and movement concepts
Explore drama through actions and language
English-language acquisition Demonstrate progress in listening to and understanding English
Demonstrate progress in speaking English
Source: Teaching Strategies (2010)

Assessment

Assessment in the Creative Curriculum is conceived as an ongoing process of documenting observations and progress available in a fully integrated online platform. Color-coded charts describe incremental progress for each of the thirty-eight objectives with examples, so that teachers will be able to match their observations with a reporting process that helps them communicate growth over time to parents. For example, to assess counting, benchmarks include the following:

  • Verbally counts, not always in the correct order (says, "one, two, ten" as she pretends to count).
  • Verbally counts to 10, counts up to 5 objects accurately, using one number name per object (counts to 10 when playing hide and seek; counts out 4 scissors and puts them on the table).
  • Verbally counts to 20; counts 10 to 20 objects accurately; knows the last number, knows how many in all; tells what number comes next (1 to 10) in order by counting (counts to 20 while walking across the room; counts 10 plastic worms and says, "I have ten worms"); when asked, "what comes after six?" says "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven . . . seven").
  • Uses number names while counting to 100; counts 30 objects accurately; tells what number comes before and after a specified number up to 20 (counts 28 steps on the way to the cafeteria; when asked what comes after sixteen, says, "seventeen") (Teaching Strategies, 2010, p. 109).

Revisiting VygotskyTools of the Mind

The emerging body of neuroscience research discussed earlier in this chapter has produced a renewed interest in social constructivism (Barnett, Junga, Yarosza, & Thomasa, 2008; Bodrova & Leong, 2001; Lynch, 2016). Many of the studies seem to confirm Vygotsky's theories about the importance of symbolic representation and learning as a scaffolded process.

Elena Bodrova and Debra Leong first published Tools of the Mind in 1996. This approach focused on the development of self-regulation, teaching literacy and math through socially mediated processes, and play.

Basic Principles

Essentially, Bodrova and Leong (2005, p. 30) believe "learning to control impulsive behavior is the most critical requirement for young children." The premise of this statement is that in order to achieve academic success later in life, an individual must be able to focus, avoid distractions, plan and organize time, carry through an assignment from start to finish, and get along with others. These are traits that require perception, memory, attention, and the ability to talk oneself through a problem or dilemma (Bodrova & Leong, 2007). But in contrast to using a system of rewards, punishments, and reinforcement, the curriculum is based on the idea that children develop the "tools of the mind" through activities designed to promote these qualities and extensive experiences and opportunities to engage in sociodramatic play.

The Tools of the Mind Classroom

Classroom arrangement, materials, and management strategies for individual, small-group, and large-group activities resemble those of other developmentally based curricula. But in a Tools classroom, dramatic play takes center stage. Bodrova and Leong believe that sociodramatic play provides the best opportunities for children to integrate the mental processes necessary for self-regulation. Teachers use a play-planning process that encourages complex, "mature" play.

Two young girls dressed as doctors, listen to a baby's heartbeat and record notes on a clipboard.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Dramatic play, turn taking, and self-regulation are important concepts in the Tools of the Mind curriculum.

Children engage in sustained, complex scenarios involving multiple roles and possibilities. Teachers plan with children, help them to write play plans and encourage them to consciously monitor, evaluate, and modify their play. Dramatic play is key because, as children take on reality-based roles, they must use what they know about social rules and conventions to portray their characters authentically. For example, in setting up a pretend veterinarian office, children may assume the roles of receptionist, doctor, client, and animal patient. They must act out their roles according to what they know about how the character should behave (e.g., cats don't speak to doctors, they meow!).

Turn taking is another important feature of self-regulation; the child must be able to resist the urge to dominate and act impulsively and learn to respond in socially acceptable ways to others in the group. Teachers help children with abstract concepts like turn taking by providing them with props initially; eventually the desired behaviors are internalized and the props are no longer needed.

Opening the World of Learning

The Opening the World of Learning (OWL) curriculum, by Judith Schickedanz and David Dickenson, was written in collaboration with the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Schools in North Carolina. Vanderbilt University conducted pilot studies with 100 teachers and 3,000 low-income children in eight preschools over a four year period (Pearson Education, 2009). The research focused on early language, literacy, and social-emotional development, identifying critical skills and attitudes that young children need in order to be successful. Promising findings for literacy gains over time have generated substantial interest in the curriculum, and it is now approved for use in several states besides North Carolina.

Basic Principles

The curriculum has six units of study that make extensive use of high-quality children's books. Table 2.6 shows the topics of the studies and books that are recommended for use.

Table 2.6: Books Used with the Six Units of the OWL Curriculum
Unit 1
Family
Unit 2
Friends
Unit 3
Wind and Water
Unit 4
The World of Color
Unit 5
Shadows and Reflections
Unit 6
Things That Grow
Core storybooks Oonga Boonga

Peter's Chair

Noisy Nora

Whistle for Willie

Corduroy
The Little Red Hen Makes Pizza

A Letter to Amy

Matthew and Tilly

Dandelion

Hooray a Piata
Gilberto and the Wind

One Dark Night

Rabbits and Raindrops

The Snowy Day

A Hat for Minerva Louise
The Lion and the Little Red Bird

Max's Dragon Shirt

Dog's Colorful Day

Dear Juno
Play With Me

The Puddle Pail

Raccoon on His Own

Dreams

Kitten for a Day
I Heard Said the Bird

Bigger
Make Way for Ducklings

The Ugly Vegetable
Predictable books Over in the Meadow

Time for Bed
Hush!

Golden Bear
The Very Noisy Night Cat's Colors Clap Your Hands

Night Shift Daddy
Just Enough
Expository text Let's Make Music Road Builders Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain

See How They Grow: Kitten
The Tortilla Factory

Chickens Aren't the Only Ones

See How They Grow: Chick
Fun With Shadows See How They Grow: Duck

Play and Learn: Growing Things

Animals Born Alive and Well

The curriculum provides activity plans for center time, small groups, informal conversation, story time, songs, and word play. Manipulative materials can be purchased to implement the units. OWL is intended to promote learning in the major domains of:

  • Language and literacy
  • Social studies
  • Science
  • Mathematics
  • Arts
  • Physical development
  • Social and emotional development

Success for All: Curiosity Corner and Kindercorner

The Success for All (SFA) approach was developed in 1986 by faculty members at Johns Hopkins University as an effort to engage the entire school community in curriculum that meets the needs of its children. SFA is the most prescriptive of the approaches discussed so far, and teachers are expected to adhere to the curriculum in their daily practice. Teachers, families, and the external community work together to promote comprehensive supports from preschool through high school, with a focused curriculum targeted to early childhood, elementary, and middle/high school students. The early childhood components are known as Curiosity Corner (3- and 4-year-olds) and Kindercorner (kindergarten).

Curiosity Corner

Curiosity Corner is used across the country in a variety of settings, mostly in programs serving low-income children. Curiosity Corner emphasizes language and literacy within a comprehensive curriculum that addresses physical, social, and emotional development and math, science, social studies as well as the visual and performing arts. It includes thirty-eight weekly thematic units complete with teaching guides and detailed daily plans, children's books, manipulative materials, and games for each unit. The suggested daily routine includes times and activities for Greetings and Readings, Clues and Questions, Rhyme Time, Learning Labs, Story Tree, Outside and Gross Motor Play, Snack, and Question/Reflection, all related to the weekly theme.

Kindercorner

The Kindercorner curriculum uses the same approach as the Curiosity Corner but extends thematic units to two weeks in length. During the second half of the school year, teachers introduce KinderRoots, a supplemental reading program.

2.4 How Do I Choose? Comparing and Contrasting Options

As explained in Chapter 1, the extent to which you will have a voice in choice of curriculum will vary by setting. Let's say, as in the opening vignette, that you walk into your classroom knowing that you will be teaching Creative Curriculum with the additional Learning Games and Dual-Language Learners support resources. You still have much work to do to make sure that you use the curriculum in the intended manner and in a way that meets the needs of your program stakeholdersyou, your students, and their families. You must determine to what extent this curriculum is a good fit for you, and whether you will have to compromise any of your natural inclinations or beliefs in order to do a good job with it.

Limited-Scope Curricula

In many classrooms, teachers use limited-scope curricula (LSCs) that focus on a single content area or developmental domain. These types of curricula frequently provide intensive, focused activities designed to develop specific skills and knowledge. Often, the decision to use a LSC is made because of a particular need or priority. For example, many early literacy programs are used with children who come to school with limited experience and language skills, and are designed to increase their chances for later academic success.

The list of options and sources of information about LSCs is extensive and fluid as new curricula are developed. The U.S. government sponsors two online sites that provide information and research findings about many different types of early childhood curricula. The National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center (NCCIC), for example, provides information about limited or single-domain curricula used in child care programs and preschools. The What Works Clearinghouse provides another tool for locating information about research on effectiveness of different types of limited programs.

LSC in early childhood classrooms are frequently used in conjunction with a comprehensive curriculum like High Scope or Creative Curriculum. In fact, both of these programs offer supplemental resources for literacy and math carefully designed to be consistent with the comprehensive curriculum goals, philosophy, and theoretical underpinnings. The Bank Street curriculum provides specific suggestions for literacy, math, science, art, music, and movement in addition to its general guidelines.

In other instances, however, particularly in the primary grades, it is not unusual for the entire curriculum to consist of a patchwork of different subject-area limited-scope curricula for literacy, math, science, social studies, and so on. A compatibility problem may arise when you find, for example, that the literacy program uses direct instruction, the math program relies heavily on manipulative materials, and the science program encourages open-ended exploration! In the next section, we will explore this challenge in more detail.

Stop and Reflect

Review the information on the government websites and select two early childhood curricula to compare. Apply the process described in Table 2.7. Which of the two do you think you would prefer? Why?

Part of this work centers on knowing yourself, your core beliefs about children, your image of yourself as a teacher, the details of the curriculum, and how to teach to your natural strengths. Part of it is related to your preparation and knowledge base. And some of it relates to the assumptions and internalized values you bring to this particular school and classroom. How much do you identify with the children you will be teaching? How do you feel about second-language learners? Will you be comfortable talking with parents and your program or school administrator? This last section of the chapter will describe and encourage you to use reflective strategies to uncover the answers to these questions.

Consistency between Beliefs, Attitudes, and Actions

Do teachers practice what they preach? Studies of congruency between teacher beliefs and practices have been conducted for a long time and much of the more recent research confirms earlier findings (McMullen et al; Vartuli, 1999). Children benefit from consistency when a teacher's practices are congruent with a belief system that reflects a well-developed knowledge base and experience with children over time (Buchanan, Burts, Bidner & White., 1998; DeWitt, 2015; McMullen, 1999; Stipek & Byler, 1997).

Unfortunately teachers sometimes say one thing and do another, especially when they are expected to use practices that conflict with their personal philosophy (Mayo, 2010). Typically this happens when teachers must use a curriculum or approach that they do not fully support, perhaps because they feel it is not developmentally appropriate (Burts, Hart, Charlesworth & Kirk, 1990; Charlesworth, Hart, Burts, Thomasson, Mosley & Fleege, 1993). Further, teachers tend to perceive their teaching orientations as either/or choices between basic skills and child-centered approaches (McMullen et al., 2006; Stipek & Byler, 1997). Teachers of younger children tend to believe in and use child-centered approaches more than do teachers of elementary school children (Buchanan, 1998). Most teachers do seem, however, to acquire the ability to operate out of a pragmatic or practical perspective and do what they think best for their students regardless of whether or not that is consistent with the theoretical orientation of the curriculum in use (McMullen, 2006).

Figure 2.7: Assumptions Flowchart
Your beliefs are grounded in assumptions and influence the way in which you will teach.
Figure: Flow chart showing the relationships between filters, assumptions, beliefs and actions. This flow chart moves from bottom to top with filters as lowest level. The filters, from left to right, are gender, socioeconomic status, values, ethnicity, experience, and other. These filters flow into assumptions. Assumptions flow up to beliefs, from left to right, about learners, teachers, families, and curriculum. The beliefs flow up to actions.

Recognizing Assumptions

As you think about your beliefs, you need to be mindful that they are grounded in assumptions that you may or may not know you have made about children, families, and the learning process (Mezirow, 2000; Jaruszewicz, 2006). Assumptions are significantly affected by filtersthe lenses through which you view the world. Common filters include your gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, among others. For example, female teachers may misconstrue behavior they see in their male students simply because they process their observations from the perspective of their own experiences growing up as girls. Teachers who grew up in stable homes with ample economic resources may find it difficult to understand the challenges facing students who come to school hungry or whose homework isn't completed because of difficult conditions at home.

Your actions represent decisions you make either consciously or unconsciously based on beliefs; therefore it is helpful to identify the assumptions you hold, as they are the key to the connections and consistency between beliefs and actions. Your growth as a teacher and your ability to create, manage, and facilitate an environment conducive to powerful learning depends on your willingness to honestly, intentionally, and regularly identify, examine, and revise your assumptions as needed. Figure 2.7 represents the dynamic relationship between assumptions, beliefs, and actions.

Developing a Personal Philosophy

So how do you know what you believe, so you can measure that against the curriculum you choose or develop, or the one that is chosen for you? Table 2.7 provides a simple but effective way for you to construct a personal philosophy and compare your beliefs with any of the many curricula described in this chapter or any not described.

The questions listed vertically on the left, when considered as a whole, represent a cohesive but concise philosophical statement. Think carefully about how to answer them. Consider how your values and assumptions about families, the way you were raised, and your own experiences with education might influence the way you answer the questions. As you reflect on the information presented in this chapter and continue to do your own research about curricula that interest you, propose answers to each of the questions from the perspective of the curriculum developers. As you look across the chart, you should be able to see how one curriculum compares with another, and with your own beliefs.

Table 2.7: A Matrix for Reflection and Decision Making
My Beliefs Curriculum A Curriculum B Curriculum C
What is the purpose of early childhood education?
What are young children like and how do they learn?
Who participates in early childhood education and what are their roles?
What's worth knowing? What should children learn?
How should curriculum be implemented and acted out?

Hopefully, you will find that your philosophy and the curriculum you work with are a good match. If, however, you find yourself in the sticky position of having to implement a curriculum you know to be highly inconsistent with what you believe, at least you will be prepared to deal with that and make compromises from an informed stance, knowing that there are always things you can do in the best interests of your students.

These first two chapters provide foundational information about the history and nature of early childhood curriculum. In the next two chapters, we will shift our focus to the child. Chapters 3 and 4 will focus on the critical relationships between knowledge of child development and curriculum decision making.

Chapter Summary

  • Curriculum is developed from a vision about what early education should be like. It reflects assumptions and attitudes about children, teachers, families, and other stakeholders. Curriculum content answers the question, "What's worth knowing?" Moreover, the manner in which it is implemented has a great impact on outcomes for children.
  • Curriculum is inspired and informed by a long history of research about how children learn. Time-tested classic comprehensive curricula such as Montessori, Waldorf, Bank Street, and Reggio Emilia are internally consistent; all the parts fit together as a cohesive whole.
  • Modern curricula in use today are inspired by the work of those who came before. While there are differences across the spectrum, abiding principles about how children grow and learn coexist alongside evolving notions about how those principles can be implemented to make learning interesting and exciting for children and their teachers.
  • Established curricula can be adapted to an ever-expanding knowledge base and new curricula continue to emerge to meet societal changes and demands. Good teachers understand the importance of developing a personal philosophy as a framework from which to analyze and implement the curriculum they work with responsibly.
Discussion Questions
  1. Think about the way you experienced curriculum as a child in preschool or elementary school. How does that compare with the way curriculum is described in this chapter?
  2. What are the most significant differences between Montessori, Creative Curriculum, and Reggio Emilia? What is consistent across them? If you could choose between them, which would you choose and why?
  3. As the teacher in the opening scenario, suppose you realize, after thinking about your personal philosophy and comparing it with the curriculum you've been asked to use, your beliefs differ significantly from those represented in the curriculum. What would you do?
Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Child psychology

Field of study that assesses and analyzes how the minds of children work

Didactic

A material designed for a specific instructional purpose

Emergent curriculum

Learning through long-term studies that evolve over time

Laboratory preschools

Experimental and demonstration programs, located mainly at universities, that provide clinical sites for research about young children

Longitudinal study

Research that tracks changes over time among a specific group of research participants

Mission statement

Succinctly describes how the vision will be achieved

Vision statement

Statement about what a program wants to achieve

References

Barbour, N. (2003). The early history of child development laboratory programs. B. A. McBride and N. Barbour (Eds.), Bridging the gap between theory, research, and practice: The role of child development laboratory programs in Early Childhood Education (pp. 929). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Barnett, W. A., Junga, K., Yarosza, D. J., Thomasa, J. (2008). Educational effects of the tools of the mind curriculum: A randomized trial. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 299313.

Besharov, D. G. (2011). Consortium of Longitudinal Studies. Assessments of twenty-six early childhood evaluations . Silver Spring, MD: Maryland School of Public Policy, University of Maryland. Retrieved from http://www.welfareacademy.org/pubs/early_education/pdfs/ Besharov_ECE%20assessments_Consortium_for_Longitudinal_Studies.pdf.

Biber, B. (1977). A developmental-interaction approach: Bank Street College of Education. M. C. Day & R. Parker (Eds.), The preschool in action: Exploring early childhood programs (pp. 423460). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. (2001). Tools of the mind: A case study of implementing the Vygotskian approach in American early childhood and primary classrooms. Geneva, Switzerland: International Bureau of Education.

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. (SeptemberOctober, 2005). Self-regulation: A foundation for early learning. Principal Magazine, pp. 3032.

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. (2007). Tools of the mind: the Vygotskian approach to early child­hood education (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Bredekamp, S. (November 1993). Reflections on Reggio Emilia. Young Children, 49(1), 1318.

Bronfenbrenner, U. I. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Buchanan, T. B., Burts, D., Bidner, J. & White, B. F. (1998). Predictors of the developmental appropriateness of the beliefs and practices of first, second and third grade teachers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13, 459483.

Burts, D. C. , Hart, C. H. , Charlesworth, R., & Kirk, L. (1990). A comparison of frequencies of stress behaviors observed in kindergarten children in classrooms with developmentally appropriate versus developmentally inapppropriate instructional practices. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 5, 407-423.

Campbell, F. A. (1994). Effects of early intervention on intellectual and academic achieve­ment: A follow-up study of children from low-income families. Child Development, 65, 684698.

Campbell, F. A. (1995). Cognitive and school outcomes for high-risk African-American stu­dents at middle adolescence: Positive effects of early intervention. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 743772.

Campbell, F. A., Ramey, C. T., Pungello, E., Sparling, J., & Miller-Johnson, S. (2002). Early childhood education: Young adult outcomes from the Abecedarian project. Applied Developmental Science, 6, 4257.

Chapman, L. (2007). An update on No Child Left Behind and national trends in education. Arts Education Policy Review, 109(1), 2536.

Chapman, L. H. (2005). No child left behind in art? Art Education, 58(1), 616.

Charlesworth, R., Hart, C. H. , Burts, D. C., Thomasson, R. H., Mosley, J., & Fleege, P.O. (1993). Measuring the developmental appropriateness of kindergarten teachers beliefs and prac­tices. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 8(3), 255276.

Cohn, D., & Caumont, A. (2016, March 31). 10 demographic trends that are shaping the U.S. and the world. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/03/31/10-demographic-trends-that-are-shaping-the-u-s-and-the-world/

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.) (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8 (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Darlington, R. B. (1981). Consortium of Longitudinal Studies. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 3(6), 3745.

Dewey, J. (1903). Democracy in education. The Elementary Teacher, 4(4).

DeWitt, P. (2015, June 2). Do we practice what we preach? Education Week. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2015/06/do_we_practice_what_we_preach.html

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.) (1998). The 100 languages of children (2nd ed.). Norwich, CT: Ablex.

Epstein, A. S., Schweinhart, L. J., & McAdoo, L. (1996). Models of early childhood education. Ypsilant, MI: High Scope Press.

Gandini, L. (November 1993). Fundamentals of the Reggio Emilia approach to early child­hood education. Young Children, 49(1), 48.

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Goffin, S., &. Wilson, C. (2001). Curriculum models and early childhood: Appraising the rela­tionship (2nd ed.). New York: Merrill.

Helm, J. Beneke, S. & Steinheimer, K. (2007). Windows on learning: documenting young childrens work (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.

Henderson, J. & Kesson, K. (2004). Curriculum wisdom: Educational decisions in democratic societies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Hertzog, N. (Spring 2001). Reflections and impressions from Reggio Emilia: Its not about art! Early Childhood Research & Practice.

Hewett, V. M. (Winter 2001). Examining the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood edu­cation. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(2), 95100.

Jaruszewicz, C. (2005). Responsible eclecticism: Using a structured analysis process to facilitate curriculum discourse with graduate preservice early childhood education students. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 26(4), 361375.

Jaruszewicz, C. (2006). Opening windows on teaching and learning: Transformative and emancipatory learning precipitated by experimenting with visual documentation of stu­dent learning. Educational Action Research, 14(3), 357375.

Kahn, D. (Winter 2010). The 200910 NAMTA Montessori School salary and tuition survey. The NAMTA Journal, 35(1), 345. Retrieved from http://www.montessori-namta.org/PDF/2009survey.pdf.

Kantrowicz, B. & Wingert, P. (December 2, 1991). The ten best schools in the world. Newsweek, pp. 5053.

Katz, L. A., & Chard, S. (2000). Engaging childrens minds: The project approach (2nd ed.). Stamford, CT: Ablex.

Kilpatrick, W. H. (1918). The project method. Teachers College Record, 19, 319335.

Klein, J. (October 1971). Head Start: Intervention for what? Educational Leadership, pp. 1619.

Lazar, I. (1978). Lasting effects after preschool. A report of the Consortium for Longitudinal Studies. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Lazar, I. D. (1982). Lasting effects of early education: A report from the Consortium for Longitudinal Studies. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 47(195), 23.

Linn, M. I. (December 2001). An American educator reflects on the meaning of the Reggio experience. Phi Delta Kappan, pp. 332334.

Lynch, M. (2016, November 19). Social constructivism in education. Retrieved from https://www.theedadvocate.org/social-constructivism-in-education/

MacPherson, I. & Brooker, R. (2000). Positioning stakeholders in curriculum leadership: How can teacher educators work with teachers to discover and create their place? Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 28(1), 6985.

Malaguzzi, L. (1993). For an education based on relationships. Young Children, 49(1), 912.

Masse, L. N. (2002). A benefit cost analysis of the Abecedarian early childhood intervention. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, National Institute for Early Education Research.

McMullen, M. B. (1999). Characteristics of teachers who talk the DAP talk and walk the DAP walk. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 13(2), 216230.

McMullen, M., et al. (2006). Using collaborative assessment to examine the relationship between self-reported beliefs and the documentable practices of preschool teachers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33(6), 8191.

Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Mitchell, A., & David, J. (1992). Explorations with children: A curriculum guide from the Bank Street College of Education. Silver Spring, MD: Gryphon House.

Montessori, M. (2008) The Montessori method. Lexington, KY: BN Publishing. (Original work published 1909.)

National Commission on Excellence (1983). A nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Pearson Education (2009). Opening the world of learning. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonlearning.com/microsites/owl/pdfs/FoundationalResearch.pdf.

Peterson, J. W. (2010). Waldorf and Montessori combined: A new impulse in education. Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 23(3), 2127.

Posner, G. J. (2004) Analyzing the curriculum (3rd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Project Zero. (n.d.). What is PZ? Retrieved from http://www.pz.harvard.edu/who-we-are/about

Prosser, L. & Jiang, X. (2008). Relationship between school physical activity and academic performance of children. The International Journal of Learning, 15 (3), 1116.

Rankin, B. (1992). Inviting childrens creativity: A story of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Child Care Information Exchange, 3035.

Schweinhart, L. (2002). How the HighScope Perry Preschool study grew: A researchers tale. Phi Delta Kappa Center for Evaluation, Development, and Research. Retrieved from http://www.highscope.org/Content.asp?ContentId=232.

Schweinhart, L. J. (2005). Lifetime effects: The HighScope Perry Preschool study through age 40. Ypsilanti, MI: HighScope Educational Research Foundation.

Shapiro, E., &. Biber, B. (1972). The education of young children: a development-interaction approach. Teachers College Record, 74(1), 5580.

Smith, N. J., & Lounsbery, M. (January 2009). Promoting physical education: The link to academic achievement. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 80(1), 3943.

Stebbins, L. S. (1977). Education as experimentation: A planned variation model, (Vol. IV-A). Cambridge, MA: ABT Associates.

Stipek, D. J. , & Byler, P. (1997). Early childhood education teachers: Do they practice what they preach? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12(3), 305325.

Teaching Strategies. (2010). Research Foundation: the Creative Curriculum. Retrieved December 4, 2011 from http://www.teachingstrategies.com/national/creative-curriculum-preschool-system-research-foundation.html.

Tobin, J. (2005). Quality in early childhood education: An anthropologists perspective. Early Education and Development, 16(5), 421434.

Tremarche, P. V., Robinson, E. M., & Graham, L. B. (Spring 2007). Physical education and its effect on elementary testing results. Physical Educator, 64(2), 5864.

Trister-Dodge, D. (JanuaryFebruary 2004). Early childhood curriculum models: Why, what, and how programs use them. Child Care Information Exchange, pp. 7175.

Trister-Dodge, D. E. (2010). Creative curriculum: (Vol. 5). Mathematics (5th ed.). Teaching Strategies, Inc.

Trostli, R. (1998). Rhythms of learning. Herndon, VA: Anthroposophical Press.

Vartuli, S. (1999). How early childhood teacher beliefs vary across grade level. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 14(4), 489519.

Early Learning, Later Success: The Abecedarian Study. (1999). Highlights of the age 21 follow-up study. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, FPG Child Development Center.

Westinghouse Learning Corporation. (1969). The impact of Head Start: An evaluation of the effects of Head Start on childrens cognitive and affective development, vols. 1 and 2. Report to the Office of Economic Opportunity. Athens, OH: Office of Economic Opportunity, Westinghouse Learning Corporation and Ohio University.

Whitfield, P. T. (2009). The heart of the arts: Fostering young childrens ways of knowing. M.Narey (Ed.) Making meaning: Constructing multimodal perspectives of language, liter­acy, and learning through arts-based early childhood education (pp. 153165). New York: Springer.

3
Our Image of the Child
A group of multiethnic children play on a tire swing.

Blend Images / SuperStock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Explain how the image of the child has changed over time.
  • Describe American children today in the context of changing national demographics and expectations.
  • Identify important factors that influence how teachers view children today.
  • Describe strategies teachers can use to learn about the children they teach and to foster the development of a positive self-image.

Introduction

Your first day with your preschool children is rapidly approaching. You obtain a roster of the seventeen children you will be teaching and begin to think about how you will welcome them to the class and get to know each one. Your list indicates that there are nine boys and eight girls. Of the four Hispanic children, two speak Spanish as their first language. Two children are African American, nine are Caucasian, and one is Asian. You also know that two of the children have been identified as having special needs. What do you imagine the children will be like? What kind of life experiences will they bring to your class? How will the actual children compare with your ideas about what they might be like?

Research reveals that teachers' images of the child can be a more powerful influence on the way they teach than what they have learned in the way of theories and strategies (Hill, Stremmel, & Fu, 2005). For example, consider the statement, "The core value I hold is that children are competent, confident, curious theory builders" (Chaille, 2008, p. 3). The author continues to say, "this value is the essence of constructivism," indicating that her idea about what children are like informs her acceptance of a theory closely aligned with that view. In other words, we need to understand that our perceptions about what we think children are like can affect our expectations and interactions with them and how we choose and implement curriculum.

From the Field

To introduce the focus of this chapter on our image of children, Beverly Prange talks about the need for teachers to embrace diversity.

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. What do you think Beverly means by "funds of knowledge?"
  2. Beverly also advises acknowledgement of personal biases. What biases might you have that could affect how you might respond to students?

3.1 Where Do Our Views of Children Originate?

Our ideas about childhood and what it means to be a child today have changed over time and will continue to be shaped by many factors. Examining how our view of children in America has evolved can help us understand the things that influence the way we see them today and what might happen in the future. Historically, events such as western migration across the frontier, massive waves of immigration into American cities, and wars have affected family dynamics and, correspondingly, the lives and roles of children. Societal change, such as women's suffrage and the feminist movement of the 1960s, has produced changes in perceptions about gender roles. Scientific and social science research has also contributed to our understanding of the biology and psychology of human growth and development and how children learn. This section addresses how our image of the child is informed and shaped by history, society, and science.

History

We can tell a great deal about how the image of the child has changed over time by looking at pictures and paintings of children from different periods. What, for example, do you notice about the children depicted in the paintings in Figure 3.1? Can you tell anything about their economic or class status from the way children are dressed? Do you see signs of their assigned gender roles? From the activities represented, can you infer how children were expected to behave? How do they appear to interact with adults or other children? Do you see any evidence of cultural stereotypes or historical prejudices? Some of your thoughts may be reflected in the following descriptions of three predominant historical viewschildren as miniature adults, conflicting views of innocence, and children as the property of others.

Children as Miniature Adults

Until the mid-eighteenth-century Enlightenment period, childhood as the distinct period we know today did not exist. Rather, children were considered miniature adults. They wore the same style of clothing as adults (Figure 3.1a) and, like adults, their clothes reflected their social 3or economic class. They were expected to behave and carry themselves as any other person, and expectations for their behavior were not modified simply because they were children (Hill, Stremmel, & Fu, 2005; Morrison, 2001). From a very young age, children in wealthy, landed families were groomed and educated by tutors to assume the social, financial, and political roles of their parents. Children of peasants, farmers, and tradesmen, meanwhile, were expected to shoulder an equal burden of work as soon as they possibly could to ensure the survival of the family. After the Enlightenment, childhood gradually began to be seen as a period of immaturity, with expectations for children adjusted accordingly.

Figure 3.1: Historical Images of Children
The way societies view children is often reflected in artwork from the period. As you may notice in these four paintings the small boy (a) is represented as a miniature adult, the group of boys (b) are depicted as ruffians, and the girls are painted from idealized (c) and realistic (d) perspectives.
Top left photo shows a young boy in the late 1700s dressed as an adult. Top right photo shows a group of young boys in the early 1900s sitting against the outside wall of a building with a black and white dog. The bottom left photo shows a man varnishing a doll bed for a little girl who looks on, wearing a dress and knee socks in the 1920s. The bottom right photo shows a young girl in the 1930s who sits holding a stuffed animal at a table with a bowl of fruit.

Has the belief that children are miniature adults resurfaced? Some advocates for young children insist that since the advent of television in the mid-1950s, children are once again experiencing pressures and incentives to behave, dress, and act like adults (Elkind, 2001; Postman, 1992). Adult-inspired clothing, beauty pageants, and access to adult-themed television, advertising, movies, music, entertainment, and even the concept of "play dates" are common examples that blur the lines between children and adults.

A young girl walks the red carpet wearing a ball gown and heavy make-up.

Associated Press

It is controversial but not unusual to see children today depicted in adult roles.

However, this is different from children wanting to "act like" the adults they see in their lives. In preschool classrooms, children will commonly and naturally use "dress up" clothing to assume and dramatize what they know about adult roles, like firefighter, doctor, chef, and so on. Given societal pressures on children, early childhood teachers have a responsibility to balance opportunities for young children and to explore their ideas about adulthood without pressuring them to be like adults. Our expectations for behavior and achievement must be grounded in appropriate expectations based on what we know about how young children think and act rather than on standards for adults.

Childhood and Conflicting Ideas about Innocence

By the mid-eighteenth century, philosophers such as John Locke (16321704), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (17121778), and Johann Friedrich Pestalozzi (17461827) had introduced a new, romanticized vision of childhood as a period of natural innocence (Figure 3.1c). Painters and book illustrators of the nineteenth-century Victorian period often depicted children in rural or domestic scenes whiling away their time in pastoral pursuits. This view conflicted with notions held over from the Middle Ages, of children as sinful, deceitful, and even depraved (Morrison, 2001).

A changing concept of the nature of children affected schooling and curriculum. Early American education, especially for poor children, was primarily limited to religious instruction focused on curbing "sinful" behavior (Boers, 2007). As Americans were increasingly influenced by a more humanistic view of children, curricula became more secular and child-centered, as evidenced, for example, in the emergence of the playground in the late 1800s and the evolution of the famous McGuffey Readers. These simple textbooks were introduced in 1836 as a series of graded readers that made ample use of biblical text and references as a means of both reading instruction and moral education. For example, a passage from the 1836 second reader states: "Never forget before you leave your room to thank God for his kindness. He is indeed kinder to us than an earthly parent" (p. 3). Only 3 of the 32 story titles in the 1836 version included the name of a child, compared with 15 of 71 in the 1879 revision.

By the 1870s, in response to an increasingly pluralistic society, the emphasis on purity and obedience had shifted to more of a focus on patriotism and civic responsibility, as this passage from the 1879 primer demonstrates: "This house is on fire. Look! The roof is in a blaze. Run, boys, and ring the bell. Call some men to put out the fire. We may yet save the house if we work hard" (p. 40). The older notion of schools as a place where children must be controlled and tamed had given way to seeing young children as unique individuals and to considering certain pursuits, such as play, as part of the domain of childhood.

Beliefs about the innate nature of children play out in the way adults interpret children's motivations and the choices they subsequently make about curriculum and classroom management (File & Gullo, 2000; Scarlett, Ponte, & Singh, 2009). Suppose that a 3-year-old turns all the puzzles on a shelf upside down, dumping all the pieces on the floor. In the past, a teacher who viewed children as innately mischievous or motivated to misbehave might reprimand the child, saying, "I knew that was bound to happen one of these days." She might ban him for a time from the puzzle center and make him sit on a bench during outside time as punishment. Today, we are more likely, because of the influence of developmental research, to see children as "works in progress" and recognize this episode as an opportunity to introduce natural consequences and promote self-modification of the child's behaviors. Now a teacher might explain that since all the puzzle pieces are mixed up on the floor, no one can use them. She could tell the child that she will be happy to help, but that until the puzzles are put back together, he may not play with other toys.

Children as Property

Three young girls wear dirty clothes and aprons.

Prisma / SuperStock

Until 1938, American children routinely worked in factories, fields, and domestic service. This photo from 1911 shows three young girls who worked as oyster shuckers for the Maggioni Canning Company in Port Royal, South Carolina.

Before the late nineteenth century, white American children were largely considered the property of their fathers. Black American children were often born into slavery and, along with their families, were literally and legally considered the property of their masters. Up through the Colonial Period, poor 8- to 12-year-old children were commonly sold as indentured servants, and all slaves, including children, could be bought and sold at will up until the 1860s. While most slave children were likely to live and die enslaved, indentured servants might work off the cost of their upkeep and complete an apprenticeship lasting as many as 7 to 10 years. After the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the factory, children as young as 6 years of age were sent to work to help provide for their families.

Slavery was abolished with the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, but the use of young children to work long hours under harsh conditions did not end until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 prohibited child labor.

Today, Americans typically no longer think of children as the property of their parents, though parents generally do enjoy broad latitude and full authority over their children provided they are not found to be abusive (Morrison, 2001). However, the related practice of describing children as commoditiesproducts of schooling or investment in the futureis common (Morrison, 2001). Costs associated with educating young children are periodically quantified in terms of cost-benefit ratios and return on investment (Partnerships for America's Economic Success, 2011). While this may be understandable, given the need to allocate public and private resources wisely, early childhood professionals advocate making curriculum decisions from developmental and individual perspectives. Fortunately research increasingly demonstrates the long-term economic value of high-quality early childhood education!

Teachers may subtly convey a proprietary relationship with their students when they use expressions like "my children" or "my class." Moreover, different curricula allocate varying levels of ownership to teachers and children respectively, and a curriculum that is wholly "owned" by the teacher is very different from one that emphasizes child-initiated activities (Chaille, 2008; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). As you learn more about the curriculum choices available to you, think about the extent to which you will actively and intentionally balance opportunities for decision making between yourself and the children in your charge.

Society

Today, most experts agree that the concepts and images associated with young children are socially constructed according to cultural values and norms (Arnold, 2000; Heywood, 2001; Hill, Stremmel, & Fu, 2005). Increasing globalization provides American educators with access to competing points of view that challenge embedded notions about what education for young children should be like. These divergent perspectives are discussed in this section in terms of competency versus dependency, risk versus promise, labeling, and gender roles.

Competency vs. Dependency

American teachers' beliefs and curricula were traditionally built around the idea that young children depend on adults to know what is best for them (Hill, Stremmel, & Fu, 2005). Certainly the younger the child, the more adults need to be directly involved in his or her physical care for the sake of the child's safety and well-being. But the extent to which children throughout the early childhood period are encouraged and allowed to direct their own learning and make intuitive decisions is changing. In particular, educators in the Reggio Emilia infant-toddler and preschool programs subscribe to a view of children as innately competent, strong, and powerful (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998). This alternate image of children focuses on what children can do rather than what they can't. Adults are challenged to see children as having not needs but rights. Rather than focusing on what adults think children need, teacher educators are encouraged to focus on who they are as individuals, casting them as stakeholders in their own learning (Chaille, 2008). Going forward, you will see how this idea plays out to greater or lesser extent in planning and implementing curriculum.

At Risk vs. Promising

In American society, the vision of children as the promise of our future is a cherished ideal. But the language used to describe efforts to provide equal opportunities for all children and a solid foundation for success is changing. Closely related to the dialogue about competency vs. dependency was criticism of what many believed was a "deficit" approach to early childhood (Harry & Klingner, 2007; Swadener & Lubeck, 1995). This controversy emerged with the authorization of federally funded early childhood initiatives, including Head Start in the 1960s. The premise of this view is that certain childrenmostly second-language learners and those from low-income minority groups, begin their educational careers at a disadvantage. The perception about these children was that they lacked access to the resources necessary to be successful in school and life and were thus at risk for failure.

Critics of the practice of describing children "at risk" contended this perspective was grounded in an assumption that children must conform to a prescribed set of expectations largely driven by mainstream culture rather than the needs and cultural experiences of each child. When children did not live up to these expectations, they were considered deficient (Delpit, 2006; Hyun, 1996). These critics assert that all children should be considered "at promise," that is, viewed in consideration of their potential (Brice-Heath, 1991; Swadener & Lubeck, 1995).

Further, advocates against a deficit mindset called for understanding that poor minority children arrive at school with different rather than deficient experiences, language, and culture. For example, in terms of literacy, anthropologist Shirley Brice-Heath's seminal research in the 1980s revealed that African American children often come from homes where oral language and storytelling are highly valued and practiced (Brice-Heath, 1991). But in an education setting that places a higher value on reading and writing, this strength was not recognized. Similarly, children learning English as a second language were at that time considered at risk. However, neuroscience now confirms that rather than being linguistically impaired, bilingual preschoolers can concentrate and retain information better than children who speak only one language (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008).

Over the past three decades, educators and curriculum developers have worked hard to advance curriculum for young children that includes and values multiculturalism, diverse language traditions, and social experiences that children bring to their care or school setting.

Labeling

Like 1960s funding for early intervention programs, the laws that mandated special education services (beginning with the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975) were also inspired by the desire to create equal opportunities and services for all children.

However, labels like at risk, disabled, gifted, hearing-impaired, hyperactive, and autistic, which are applied to children for purposes of funding service programs, had the unintended consequence of creating stereotypes. Particularly because minorities are overrepresented in special education programs that focus on disabilities and underrepresented in gifted and talented programs, questions about cultural discrimination and testing/identification biases also emerged. Parents and advocates for children in special education programs claimed that applying a label as their children's defining characteristic interfered with recognition of their children's many positive characteristics, unrelated to the label. As a result, "person-first language" emerged (Research and Training Center on Independent Living, 2008). The examples in Table 3.1 illustrate the subtle but powerful difference that labeling conveys.

Table 3.1: Applying Labels to Children
Label as the Whole Child Person-First Language
Susie is autistic. Susie has autism.
Susie is hearing-impaired. Susie has a hearing impairment.
Susie is learning-disabled. Susie has a learning disability.

As you begin your teaching journey, it will be important for you to approach the curriculum you use with respect to all the children you will teach. You will want to try to view the qualities and experiences they bring to the classroom or child care setting as strengths and opportunities. The curriculum is your starting placea means to advance their strengths rather than focusing on their shortcomings.

Gender Roles

A third important socially constructed concept is our image of gender roles (Kohlberg, 1966) and the ways boys and girls are represented in media, curricula, and instructional materials. This is important because gender identification and roles are acquired during the early childhood years.

The fact that each child is unique and complex should not blind us to the fact that gender is one of the two great organizing principles in child developmentthe other being age. Trying to understand a child without understanding the role of gender in child development is like trying to understand a child's behavior without knowing the child's age. (Sax, 2005, p. 95)

Teachers and child care providers have a great deal of influence on how this process occurs (Chick, Heilman-Houser, & Hunter, 2002), especially in terms of expectations associated with femininity and masculinity (Gropper & Froschl, 2000).

A young boy removes tools from a tool box.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Between 3 and 5 years of age, until they learn that their gender is both fixed and constant, children commonly define gender roles rigidly.

Children's construction of gender identity is closely associated with prevailing stereotypes and power dynamics and the extent to which those are accepted or challenged by adults (Blaise & Taylor, 2012). Generally accepted notions of what boys and girls are like and who takes a dominant or submissive role in play can be dictated by assumptions children make that may or may not be true. For example, if some children are planning for a pretend hiking trip to the mountains, one child might state that only the boys can drive the car, or that the girls must be in charge of making lunches and packing food for the trip. If no one questions these statements, stereotypes are implicitly reinforced. But play can provide opportunities for the construction of alternate "definitions" of what boys and girls can do if and when adults (1) challenge stereotypes and serve as models in talking about gender roles and (2) prohibit the marginalization of any child based on gender role identification (Blaise & Taylor, 2012; Katch & Katch, 2007).

Typically between the ages of 3 and 5, children associate with a gender identity as "boy" or "girl" and the concept that boys are supposed to do "boy things," and girls are supposed to do "girl things," but they may not necessarily know that gender is also constant and not subject to change. Therefore it isn't unusual for preschool children to appear excessively rigid in their expression of roles that boys and girls may play (Katch & Katch, 2010; Ruble, Taylor, Cyphers, Greulich, Lurye, & Shrout, 2007). Once they also understand that wearing pink shiny slippers will not cause a boy to turn into a girl, they become more open to discussion and the assumption of gender roles that may contradict a stereotype.

Teachers and caregivers can take a number of steps to help children develop healthy concepts of gender; these measures will also help to combat stereotypes that can be damaging to a child's self-esteem or lead to bullying behaviors (Blaise & Taylor, 2012; Chick, Heilman-Houser & Hunter, 2002; Gropper & Froschl, 2000; Moss, 2007).

These steps include:

  • Talking directly with children about stereotypes
  • Looking for and eliminating gender bias in classroom materials
  • Using gender-neutral language
  • Emphasizing fairness in discussing gender roles and stereotypes
  • Acknowledging and dealing with bullying behavior associated with gender stereotypes

Science

Today, science is producing a continually expanding body of knowledgefrom biological, psychological, and sociological perspectivesabout who children are. This knowledge is helpful to teachers in many ways. Research on the interplay of biology (nature) and environment (nurture) and how children develop and establish identity helps teachers (1) approach their teaching from an unbiased perspective and (2) support the development of a healthy self-image among their children.

Ethnically diverse children stand in a field.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Today's early childhood programs and our images of children are increasingly diverse.

The consensus is that neither nature nor nurture is solely responsible for a child's development but that both are significant and interrelated in complex ways (Cherry, 2018; Maynard & Nigel, 2004; Schiller, 2001; Silcock, 2008). Bronfenbrenner (2004) concluded, after decades of work on his theoretical model of interactive ecological systems. that developmental processes are profoundly affected by events and conditions in the larger environment.

What teachers need to know is that the environments they create and the curricula they implement will affect children in ways that may not be obvious but are important both for the way we see children and the ways they perceive themselves. Furthermore, while earlier images of children were romanticized and generalized to an idealized version of the child, an ecological perspective seeks to acknowledge the "real" child (Gardiner & Kosmitzki, 2005).

Our image of the American child today is kaleidoscopica wonderful montage of shapes, colors, personalities, interests, and abilities. In the next section, we will examine our image of today's child and, in particular, the important role teachers play in choosing and adapting curricula that support positive and authentic images of children.

3.2 Who Is the American Child Today?

The historical image of the child as white, middle-class, and from a nuclear family with two working parents does not represent the American population at large today (Kids Count, 2011). This is especially important because white female teachers continue to be overrepresented as compared with the changing populations of the classrooms in which they teach (Frankenberg, 2009; Han, West-Olatunji, & Thomas, 2010; Loewus, 2017). Consequently many children come to care or preschool without the opportunity to interact with adults who look like them and perhaps share common experiential knowledge about culture, language, and sociocultural traditions.

Children in Context

Demographic data about young children and their families are continually collected, analyzed, and reported by many different groups, agencies, and individuals for a variety of purposes, including:

  • Federal, state, and international funding for programs that support families and children
  • The development of goals, standards, and accountability measures for programs, schools, and services
  • Continual development and improvement of teacher education programs to best prepare teachers and caregivers to work in the "real world"

Statistical profiles that describe groups by income, ethnicity, religion, family structure, and so on provide early childhood professionals with a clear picture of the characteristics of children and their families. The imaginary class presented in the opening vignette closely parallels the demographic statistics of the nation as a whole. While it is unlikely that a class you teach will mirror this breakdown exactly, it is important for you as a teacher to represent the rich diversity of both the children and families in your class and the country as a whole in respectful ways.

Demographics

Data from the U.S. census, which is taken every ten years, provide comprehensive information about ethnicity, economic status, and other individual and family characteristics of the U.S. population. Table 3.2 offers a snapshot of the statistics that describe children under the age of 18 in America today.

In 2011, the overall percentage of children living with two married parents was 65 percent, a figure that decreased from 85 percent in 1970 but that has been relatively stable since the late 1990s.

Table 3.2: American Children under the Age of 18
Percent of Children Under Age 18 (total number 74.1 million) Ethnicity: Percent of First- and Second- Generation Immigrant Children (total number 17.3 million) Percent of Children Living in Poverty (total percent of population 22%) Percent of Children Living with Two Married Parents
White 56 17.5 13 71
Black 15 8.6 38 33
Hispanic 22 51.0 32 60
Asian/Pacific Islander 4 22.6 14 85
American or Alaskan Native American Less than 1 Less than 1 35 No data
All other races 4 No data No data No data
Note: The next U.S. Census will occur in 2020. Visit the following website for more information: https://www.census.gov/2020census.
Source: U.S. 2010 Census Data.

What do these statistics have to do with your role as a curriculum decision maker? Critics have claimed that many curriculum materials, learning standards, and assessment materials (especially standardized tests) are representative of ethnocentrism (Hull, Goldhaber & Capone, 2002; Manning & Baruth, 2000). This means they are written and designed from a white American mainstream cultural perspective that doesn't represent the population or actual lives of many people. Curriculum developers and government recognize the need to represent all children accurately. The latest reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) identified three priorities:

  • Rigorous and fair accountability
  • Meeting diverse learner needs
  • Greater equity to provide equal opportunities for student success (U.S. Department of Education, 2010)

The ESEA emphasizes the need to improve education to be more inclusive of children with disabilities, second language learners, migrant and homeless children, native and rural populations, and those who are neglected or delinquent.

Diversity and Cultural Relativism

More From the Field

In this clip, Beverly explains why and how teachers can begin to cultivate relationships with families that inform the curriculum.

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. What anxieties or stresses might an immigrant family experience as they try to prepare their child for entrance to school?
  2. What are some things you might do to alleviate their concerns?

Despite a long-standing effort in teacher education programs to help prospective teachers develop cultural sensitivity to the children they will teach, misunderstandings and inaccurate assumptions about children and their families remain a challenge (Han, West-Olatunji, & Thomas, 2010). Teachers can become more culturally sensitive by reflecting on and identifying the ways in which their own racial identities affect their beliefs and practices (Lee & Dalmon, 2008). Essentially, this means that you think about your own experiences and attitudes in relation to those of others whose ethnicity, culture, and traditions are different from what is familiar to you. You can develop empathy with your students and families and incorporate their perspectives into your curriculum by:

  • Encouraging the children to share stories about their personal experiences (Lake, 2010) and sharing your own stories with them
  • Modeling and affirming respect for differences (Manning & Baruth, 2000)
  • Incorporating activities that reflect the home culture and language of the children you teach (Hull, Goldhaber & Capone, 2002)
  • Creating and developing reciprocal relationships with families (Hull, Goldhaber, & Capone, 2002)

Expectations for Children

Demographic statistics can certainly provide a general image of American children, especially if you look beyond national reporting to your state or local level (see www.KidsCount.org). Teachers know, however, that certain policies and conditions also affect the ways in which children are described and how they, in turn, experience curriculum. In early childhood, three things that affect how children are viewed are the concept of school readiness, learning standards, and the achievement gap.

Readiness and Developmentally Appropriate Practice

A boy and girl give ethnically diverse dolls a bath.

blue jean images / Getty Images

Classrooms should contain materials and offer experiences that reflect the diversity of the class and provide them with opportunities to learn about the many ways in which Americans are diverse.

One way in which children are described is in terms of readiness, most notably kindergarten readiness, but also at any age level or in other terms whereby children may be excluded from an age/class group based on a judgment that they do not have the prerequisite knowledge or skills to meet expectations. Readiness means that a child has mastered certain skills and dispositions towards learning in order to be considered "typical" and eligible for entry. Readiness criteria can be anything from being toilet-trained and thus ready for entry to a 3-year-old class to being able to sit still and pay attention for a specified period of time for kindergarten. Currently at least thirty-four states continue to require testing for entry to kindergarten (Education Commission of the States, 2018).

Long-term research findings show, however, that readiness tests in terms of predictive value are largely unreliable (Ackerman & Barnett, 2005). Hence the image of children as "ready" or "not ready" has been a big issue in early childhood education. The National Association for the Education of Young Children asserts that the schools or programs and the curriculum in use should be "ready" and responsive to children rather than the other way around (NAEYC, 1995). One of the primary features of all the major early childhood curriculum approaches and models previewed in Chapter 2 is an image of the child that isn't dependent on externally imposed readiness criteria.

Learning Standards

Closely related to readiness is increasing use of early learning standards and explicit expectations about what a child should know and be able to do at a particular point in time. Because of the developmental orientation of early childhood as a field, advocates work with states to ensure that expectations are framed to accommodate individual variations among children. Otherwise the image of a "typical" child might be defined too narrowly.

Standards are used not only to describe what children should learn but also to guide the development of state-by-state standardized tests used to assess the effectiveness of teachers and curriculum. Curriculum developers refer to standards in order to design content and activities that align with their stated expectations. You will see in later chapters how teachers use standards to plan and evaluate curriculum activities with individual children in mind.

As explained in Chapter 1, the language of standards expresses both broad outcomes and more detailed descriptions of expectations. However, early educators take care not to interpret standards as suggesting an ideal image of what a child should be like but rather try to use them to support the learning of each child as a unique individual. As you look at the examples in Table 3.3, which contains sample statements from the Infant/Toddler Guidelines and Early Learning Standards for 35 Year Olds, used in South Carolina, you can see that the language can be interpreted broadly and inclusively.

Table 3.3: Sampling of Infant/Toddler and 3- to 5-Year-Old Early Learning Standards for Language Development
Standard Detail (Subcriteria)
Infants: 6 to 18 months Understanding language:
The child will comprehend the message of another's communication
In the beginning of this period, I recognize the names of familiar objects and people. By the end of this period, I show understanding of an adult's simple requests and of statements referring to the present situation.
Toddlers: 16 to 36 months In the beginning of this period, I show understanding of adults' simple requests and of statements referring to the present situation. By the end of this period, I understand my caregiver's more abstract and complex statements and requests that refer to positions in space, ideas, feelings, and the future.
3-Year-Olds The child will begin to read and comprehend a variety of literary texts in print and nonprint formats. I explore realistic books and materials in classroom centers.
I listen to simple stories, songs and rhymes.
4-Year-Olds I show interest in informational texts about familiar objects.
I make relevant comments or appropriate responses to story events or characters.
5-Year-Olds I summarize the main idea and details from literacy texts read aloud.
I use pictures and words to make predictions regarding a story read aloud.
Source: South Carolina Early Learning Standards; Retrieved from http://childcare.sc.gov/main/docs/gsgs_finalbook_022608.pdf; South Carolina Infant-toddler Guidelines. Retrieved from http://childcare.sc.gov/main/docs/SCInfantToddlerGuidelines.pdf.

The Achievement Gap

When expectations in standards are tied to state testing processes, children who consistently do not achieve the desired outcomes fall into the so-called achievement gap. States report test scores on a continuum, with descriptors such as below basic, basic, or proficient (National Report Card). State and federal monies for many supplemental programs and Title 1 funding are reserved for those with high numbers of children in the achievement gap. Consequently the labeling of individuals, groups of children, or even entire schools as underachievers is a sensitive issue.

While students need and deserve to be assessed and evaluated so that teachers can provide them with appropriate support, NAEYC and other early childhood advocacy groups insist that these processes should view children first in terms of what they know and can do. The core principles of the 2011 Reaffirmed NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct clearly promote positive and respectful images of young children. They suggest that we:

  • Appreciate childhood as a unique and valuable stage of the human life cycle
  • Base our work on knowledge of how children develop and learn
  • Appreciate and support the bond between the child and family
  • Recognize that children are best understood and supported in the context of family, culture, community, and society
  • Respect the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of each individual (child, family member, and colleague)
  • Respect diversity in children, families, and colleagues
  • Recognize that children and adults achieve their full potential in the context of relationships that are based on trust and respect (NAEYC, 2005, p. 1)

Individual Stressors

A child at her desk with her head in her hands.

Creatas / Thinkstock

Even young children today experience numerous stressors, including increasing academic pressure.

Today's young children are probably unaware of the arguments over how they should be tested, measured, categorized, and labeled. But they develop a self-image and are influenced by interactions with their families, immediate environments, peer groups, and teachers. They are also not oblivious to the hardships and challenges they may encounter as a result of socioeconomic conditions, family dynamics, and the pressure to be successful in school.

In the Hurried Child (2001), psychologist David Elkind asserts that today's child is overscheduled, overtested, overfed, and overmarketed; pressured to grow up too soon; and denied the pleasures of being a child. Elkind describes this child as the "Superkid, with precocious powers, even as an infant" (p. xvi), a victim of "overwhelming stress borne of rapid, overwhelming social change and constantly rising expectations" (p. 3).

Early childhood classrooms and care settings offer opportunities for teachers to create environments without these kinds of pressuresplaces where children can be children, with the teacher's image of each one constructed from interactions with that child. Having reasonable developmentally appropriate expectations without imposing or projecting adult issues onto children is a significant priority for preschool teachers. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to practical suggestions about how this is to be done.

3.3 How Do Teachers Individualize the Curriculum?

In later chapters, we discuss teaching strategies for implementing different aspects of the curriculum. In this section, we concentrate on strategies and practices that specifically address getting to know your students and developing the objective eye that enables you to approach curriculum decisions that will best serve the specific children you teach.

Introductions

Philosopher John Locke (Chapter 1) believed that each baby begins life as a "blank slate" on which all of later experiences are written. Teachers can apply this concept to their own experience by thinking about each child who enters a program or classroom as a blank slate. The teacher might greet each child thinking, "I can't wait to meet you and get to know you!" or "I wonder what interesting and amazing things you will do today!" As you make plans to meet the seventeen children we described in the opening vignette, let's look at some ways you might gather information about them so as to "start from scratch" with each child.

Home Visits

Consider that meeting a new teacher, entering the child-care or school setting for the first time, or changing classroom groups can be scary for children! It is therefore advisable to schedule and conduct home visits so that your initial meeting will be in surroundings familiar to the child. A home visit can ease the child's transition from home to school and give you a chance to see the context in which the child operates outside of school. You can develop valuable insights about children that demystify some of the characteristics they show at school, such as shyness, independence, a boisterous or subdued personality, and social skills. A home visit also tells the family and child that you are interested in them and that you want to develop a positive relationship.

More From the Field

Interventionist Diana McGawley uses the example of a home visit as an opportunity for parents to embrace their role as the child's most important teacher.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Diana described the importance of parents playing with their children. What might parents learn from doing so?

A home visit should focus on developing initial rapport with the child, but it also gives a parent or guardian the opportunity to ask questions or have an initial conversation about any particular concerns or goals they have for their child. Some families may not be comfortable with a "teacher visit" because of family circumstances, logistics, or negative past experiences with teachers or schools. In those cases, suggesting a visit to school or "neutral territory" such as a neighborhood caf or the public library can work.

Things you can do to engage the child on a home or preliminary visit include:

  • Bringing along a small gift (such as a seashell with the child's name on it to welcome him or her to the "seashell" class at preschool).
  • Reading a story (a favorite book at home or one you bring with you)
  • Playing an age-appropriate game (or with a toy the child suggests)
  • Taking the child's picture (for later use in the classroom)
  • Taking a picture of the child and his or her family (for later use in the classroom)

Some programs, like Head Start, incorporate home visits as part of the program (Administration for Children and Families, 2012). If your school or program does not do so, try to work with the child's caregiver to find a time and place that is satisfactory. Thirty minutes is a reasonable time to allow for a visit; less doesn't give you enough time to interact substantively, and more may put undue stress on the family or child. One teacher described the home visits she conducts as

a window on the world of my prospective students that I find invaluable; it isn't always easy to find the time to visit, but it makes the beginning of the year so much easier, as I get a feel for what each child is like and ideas for what to do in the first few days of school to help them feel comfortable and excited about being in my class. (Personal interview, August, 24, 2011)

Interest Inventories

An interest inventory is a questionnaire constructed to collect information about children's routines and habits, likes and dislikes, interests, and even fears or anxieties. The inventory can be given to parents or guardians before the child enters your class or care group or can be conducted as a phone conversation or email correspondence. Especially with children who are preverbal, knowing some personal information about a child's preferences ahead of time can at give you a "short list" of ideas or strategies to try to help the child settle in with you in the first few days.

Over the long term, having an idea about what the children in your group or class are interested in can be invaluable. As you plan activities, pick curriculum themes, and choose materials and books for activity centers, knowing something about the children's interests takes some of the guesswork out of planning how to engage them in the curriculum.

Personal Interviews

With children who are old enough to converse and especially when a home visit is not practical, a one-on-one interview with each new child can be helpful to obtain the kind of information described above. Think of it as finding "quality time" for each child in your care, not just when you first meet the child but on a regular basis thereafter. Many times children reveal information only once they have developed a trusting and open relationship with their caregiver or teacher. The earlier a trusting relationship can be established, the earlier the teacher or caregiver can get the information needed to effectively plan curriculum activities and goals. "Face time" with individual children is essential so that you learn, for example, what motivates or inspires them to good behavior, why they may be struggling socially, or how they are responding to the curriculum.

Preparing the Classroom to Represent the Children in It

Three framed photographs of children.

Image Source / SuperStock

Representing actual rather than generic children is an important strategy for constructing an authentic image.

As you prepare your classroom or care setting to receive and welcome new children, one of your primary objectives should be to represent the actual children and their families as authentically as possible. You can use the pictures you took on your home visit (or on the first day of school if that wasn't possible) in a number of ways, including:

  • Making or using frames and displaying each child's picture in the classroom. Picture frames are valuable because their use conveys a "hidden curriculum" message that what is in them is important.
  • Assembling a book of pictures of all the children, with a short story about each child based on information you collected in your inventories or interviews. Read it often and consider it part of your literacy curriculum. For children who are not native English speakers, provide the story in the child's home language as well as English. If you don't speak the child's home language, ask the parents to help you translate or use an online text translator tool (e.g., https://translate.google.com/).
  • Using a picture and the child's printed name to label the storage place for his or her personal belongings and/or classroom work cubby.
  • Starting a small scrapbook or photo album for each child and family that the child can add to as time goes on. Having their families "with them" at school can help children manage separation from their families or a difficult day.
  • Making a collage of all the children's family photos. This contributes to developing a sense of community, as it is personalized to the actual families in your class.
  • Printing out the pictures of the children in "index" format (multiple small images on a single sheet of paper). Laminate them or cover them with clear contact paper so that they will be durable, and use or hide them in places around the classroom so the children will find themselves and their friends unexpectedly. For example, they can be put in the sand table, taped onto the sides of blocks, on the backs of chairs or puzzle pieces, inside lunchboxes, and so on.
  • Indicating each child's birthday with a photo on the classroom calendar.
  • Putting Velcro or another fastener on the back of the child's picture and creating a "here" and "not here" chart that the children can manage independently to announce their arrivals and departures.
  • Making a matching "lotto" game using the children's pictures. This is a game with pictures arranged in a grid and a set of individual pictures that children place on top of the matching image.

More From the Field

Beverly relates how she prepared her classroom to welcome Mexican-American children.

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. What cultural traditions are you most familiar with? With which cultures are you less familiar?
  2. Where might you begin to search for cultural resources in your local community?

"One Size Does Not Fit All"

As explained in Chapter 1, the factory model of schooling involves a "one size fits all" approach, assuming all children need or should work on the same thing at the same time, with an expected uniform mastery of skills. As some early childhood curricula in use today are designed from this perspective, it can be especially challenging to construct an individual image of each child when you are expected to deliver a curriculum for a large group. A curriculum with preprinted worksheets or workbooks and commercial artwork or graphics that represent "generic" children may or may not accurately represent the children in your class. Moreover, such activities are generally considered developmentally inappropriate for preschool-aged children (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009, p. 154). If the curriculum does not represent the children in your class, the "hidden curriculum" can confuse children when they don't see images that depict how they view themselves, or it can contribute to construction of an "outsider" image that makes children less likely to engage with literature and activities.

In this type of circumstance teachers and caregivers can ensure the individual engagement of children by:

  • Supplementing commercial curriculum materials with photos of the children from the class/group and real-life materials that represent their cultures and life experiences.
  • Finding ways to connect stories and activities to experiences relevant and meaningful to the children in the class or group.
  • Balancing required whole-group activities with one-on-one time for each child.

Fostering Independence

A primary goal of early childhood education is helping each child to become independent (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). The concept of independence is obviously relative to a child's age, environmental awareness, language facility, and physical strength. We wouldn't assume that a 3-year-old can cross a street, bake cookies, or operate mechanical equipment safely without assistance. But there are many things we can do to guide the development of self-help skills and involve children in classroom routines that foster a sense of responsibility and an "I can do it" attitude. Furthermore, the teacher who wants to create a supportive classroom or home-care community understands that independence happens more surely and quickly with careful planning.

Two children sit at a table with rows of labeled bins behind them.

Neil Beckerman / Getty Images

Limiting choices and storing one material per space helps children know where each item belongs.

Promoting Responsibility, Accountability, and Organization

Sometimes we do things unconsciously that reinforce child dependency. There are certainly products and tools that for safety purposes must be stashed safely out of a child's reach. However, when you store classroom materials in locations that are inaccessible to the children, they always have to ask you to get them out and put them away. Each time that happens, it takes time away from your focus on instructional priorities and conveys a message to the children that you don't believe them capable or helpful. You might want to store the materials in this way because you think that the children won't care for them properly, but even children as young as age 2 can use materials and put them back where they belong.

The key is organization and logical, thoughtful arrangements, an idea first put forth by Montessori and an important feature of developmentally appropriate practice (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Many of the things we can do to involve children in access to classroom materials can also be structured to teach and reinforce important concepts, such as matching and sorting.

Here are some suggestions to provide children with direction and encourage them to be helpful and involved in care of the classroom or care setting:

A young girl stands next to a chart of classroom jobs and points to her name.

Scholastic Studio 10 / Getty Images

Children who are involved in classroom care routines develop a sense of ownership, empowerment, and identity as members of a community.
  • Make one space for each material. A child will find it much easier to put a truck away when there is one clear space reserved for it.
  • Provide picture, symbol, or cutout silhouette labels on shelves so that children know where items are to be replaced.
  • Explain your expectations for how to manage materials and routines. If children are to meet the classroom expectations, they need to know what those expectations are.
  • Store bulk materials in clear containers with picture labels that indicate what belongs in each one. For example, you can cut pictures out of product catalogs that match each material and tape the pictures on the outside of the container. Children old enough to manage scissors can help with this job and often enjoy doing so.
  • If your budget for classroom storage equipment or shelving is limited, many affordable options are still available, such as plastic stackable crates, cement blocks, and boards. Avoid large toy storage boxes or containers that encourage dumping.
  • In dramatic play areas, hang only one piece of dress-up clothing per hook or hanger. Line up shoes. Organize pots and pans, dishes, utensils, and play food with diagrams or picture labels to indicate where they belong.
  • Use color-coded storage for markers, crayons, paints, and other art materials.
  • Assign or allow children to self-select age-appropriate classroom helper responsibilities for everything you can think of that they would be capable of doing themselves. Make a picture chart that clearly indicates each job and who is responsible for it.

Self-Help Skills

Similarly, developing the ability to tend to their personal needs provides young children with a sense of independence and pride. There are many ways in which self-help routines can be incorporated into classroom activities. For example, times of the day when children arrive and leave, lunch, nap, and hygiene routines include many personal tasks that children can learn to manage by themselves.

Practical items for mealtimes like "sippy cups" give toddlers the chance to develop grasping and control of a cup without having to deal with the spills that would otherwise occur. Other things that you can do to help children learn how to take care of themselves include:

A young boy sits at a table with a Dressing Frame, trying to button the shirt on the frame.

Moneky Business / Thinkstock

Materials like the Montessori Dressing Frames can be regularly incorporated as classroom activities that help children develop the fine motor skills needed to manage their clothing.
  • Making photo charts that display step-by-step directions, using the children in the class to model things like hand washing and entry and departure routines. Teach the children a simple song that will help them to time how long to soap, rinse, and so on.
  • Asking parents to dress children who are being toilet-trained in pull-up pants or other clothing that is easy for them to remove and put back on without help. Similarly, ask for shoes, jackets, and other clothing that children can manage with a minimum of adult assistance.
  • Asking parents to send nap/rest-time supplies in an open tote bag with a simple snap closure so children can pack and unpack themselves. Fully zippered backpacks and book bags often require adult assistance, and managing them can be very frustrating for young children.
  • In programs where children bring their own lunches, provide a place mat that is diagrammed with places to put their utensils, cups, and food containers.
  • For older preschoolers, rather than having adults serve snacks, set up the snack area as a self-serve area with picture instructions for how much they may take, what utensil to use, and so on.

Balancing Child-Initiated and Teacher-Directed Choices

We want to imagine young children as "problem solvers" because children benefit from being allowed to make choices that they and we consider important in many ways. They can learn about cause and effect in a way that is personally meaningful. When they see that adults not only trust them to make choices but hold them accountable in consistent, reasonable, and logical ways, they become more confident. Our image of them as decision makers is also informed by observing what they are able to do unassisted and the kind of initiative they exhibit independently. The keys to balancing when and how children can make decisions are good judgment, intentional role modeling, and a thorough understanding of each child's capabilities and interests.

Figure 3.2: Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Step-by-step instructions for classroom routines are especially meaningful if the photos used picture children from the group.
Poster with instructions for a morning routine. The first photo is step one, post picture. The first photo shows a young boy placing his photo on to a chart. The second photo is step two, put lunch away. The second photo shows a young boy putting his lunch box into a cubbyhole. The bottom left photo is step three, sign-in. The third photo shows a young boy writing his name on a piece of paper. The fourth photo  is step 4, wash hands. The fourth photo shows a young boy at a sink, washing his hands.

Developing Self-Regulation and Problem-Solving Skills

Learning to make decisions is a developmental process. With young toddlers, you make sure there are several baby dolls, for example, because deciding to share is not something we expect from them yet. You might, however, give the same toddler two equally acceptable choices for snack. The child must choose one and set aside the other and thus begins to understand what making a choice means. Since toddlers are also typically beginning to understand the power of the word no, the two-choice strategy can be very helpful when they refuse to do something. When we tell the child who refuses to put on his shoes that he can put them on now and go outside to play immediately or sit with you and watch his friends play until he puts them on, we let him know he has a choice but that no isn't one of them. Thus a power struggle is avoided.

If you want children to see themselves as problem solvers as they get older, then you have to intentionally teach them how to resolve conflicts in a way they can manage themselves. Let's say you observe two children arguing over what to do next while building a block structure. Telling the children what to do next eliminates any opportunity for them to make a decision. Instructing them to "use your words" to solve the problem is also useless if they don't understand what that means. However, if you model and practice a conflict-resolution process as a regular part of your curriculum and set aside a designated place for problem solving, with a special name such as the peace table or problem-solving spot, you can turn over control for resolving the issue to them with a reasonable expectation that they will be successful.

Figure 3.3 Problem Solver
A hands-on prop can be very helpful to children who are trying to resolve a conflict because it helps them to manage the steps in the process. Note that this example uses clip art, but a prop that used photos of the children would be even better.
Figure: Illustrated six-step process to solve a problem. Top row, from left to right, two girls frowning with the text "We've got a problem." Two girls thinking, with a question mark above their heads and the text "What is the problem?" Two girls smiling, with light bulbs above their heads and the text "Think of possible solutions." Bottom row, left to right, two girls looking at each other with the text "Give it a try." Two girls high-fiving each other with the text "Make a sign of friendship." Two girls facing each other with speech bubbles and the text "Use your words!"

Once children are at the peace table, let them know they are to follow a certain process. The process might go something like this: (1) the children take turns speaking, (2) each child states his or her idea of what the problem is, (3) each child offers a solution, (4) they agree to accept one or more of the solutions, and (5) they offer one another a gesture of friendship to conclude the process (Southern Poverty Law Center, 1997). Creating a picture chart or other kind of diagram with a movable indicator can help move the children through the problem-solving steps. Also let them know that they need to consult with you only if they reach an impasse or if the solutions they offer aren't reasonable and safe.

Developing Executive Functioning

Young children can be included in making decisions and solving problems that enhance or are consistent with your curriculum objectives in ways that also promote executive functioning. In particular, giving children opportunities to make decisions that involve planning promotes higher-order thinking because it requires processing mental "what-if" scenarios.

For example, two teachers, Jane and Mary, were planning a summer field trip and picnic to a city park with their group of 5-year-olds. The children had visited the park once before. Jane had recently broken her ankle and was in a wheelchair. When one of the children asked, "How will Miss Jane get to the park in her wheelchair?" a "Miss Jane Committee" of children was formed to deal with logistical issues.

The big planning question was, "What kind of things might make it difficult for Miss Jane to get around in the wheelchair?" The children remembered that the park had both sidewalks and gravel pathways. They knew there was a step to get on the city bus. They didn't think Miss Jane could carry her purse, water bottle, sunscreen, and camera and use both her hands for the wheelchair at the same time. They also worried that the sidewalks and pathways might not provide shade on a hot, sunny afternoon and that she might not be able to get to the area of the park where the playground was. A big question was the location of the handicapped-accessible bathroom.

The teachers helped the children make a list of the challenges and brainstorm possible solutions and recommendations, which they reported to the whole class. After much discussion, the class decided that:

  • The two strongest children in the class would be in charge of pushing the wheelchair.
  • They designated one child to be responsible for all of Miss Jane's personal belongings and to pack all of her supplies in a cloth grocery bag and tie it to the handles of the wheelchair. She was also responsible for getting Miss Jane's things in and out of the bag when they were needed.
  • They borrowed a large golf umbrella from one of the other teachers to provide shade.
  • They asked Miss Jane to help them make a phone call to the city bus company to find out how they would get the wheelchair on the bus.
  • They found a map of the city park from the previous visit and plotted out the best route to get Miss Jane from the bus stop to the playground and to the bathroom.
  • They practiced pushing Miss Jane's wheelchair up and down the hallway and all around the classroom and playground to learn how to navigate turns, slopes, and uneven surfaces.
  • They also decided to give Miss Jane some notepaper and a pen to write down anything at the park that they didn't think of for "next time."
A teacher in a wheelchair sits at a table with a student.

John Rowley / Thinkstock

We reinforce the image of children as problem solvers when we allow and encourage them to deal with real-world challenges.

The teachers obviously could have identified these challenges and planned how to deal with them, but they also knew that the children had plenty of prior knowledge about the park. And because they saw the children as problem solvers and had modeled different decision-making strategies with them, the teachers felt that the children could collaborate to anticipate and plan for what might happen.

After the trip, a debriefing session focused on the importance of the children's planning to the successful outcomes of the trip. During several subsequent trips to other city parks, unanticipated problems were encountered from time to time, but the children solved them; they even ended up tutoring a new bus driver about how to use the lift (Personal interview, June 30, 2011)!

To involve children in regular opportunities to develop and practice planning strategies, your classroom helper chart might include responsibilities like

  • Choosing the read-aloud stories and rest-time music for each day of the week
  • Planning the weekly snack menu from a list of available choices
  • Reporting on the weather in terms of what kind of clothing will be needed for outdoor time
  • Deciding when the classroom plants and garden need to be watered
  • Announcing transition times

Finding Joy in School

As you make decisions about how to organize your classroom, involve young children in problem solving, display their work products, and report their progress, you demonstrate to the rest of the world how you view your students and what you think they are capable of. Your classroom or care setting can be a cheerful or somber place, and the children's faces will reflect the kind of setting they are in. Finding and expressing joy in your daily interactions with children can make the difference between children who believe in themselves as strong and optimistic about the future and those who plod through their days in care or school feeling helpless and disengaged.

The Inner Child

One of the ways you can find joy in teaching is to regularly revisit your own inner child. As teachers plan activities and work with curriculum, they need to think about goals, objectives, and logistical arrangements. Equally important, however, is to consider how children will experience the curriculum. Even though we understand theoretically why a child stands endlessly at the water table, pouring water back and forth, we may not remember or appreciate the tactile satisfaction which is part of that experience. The wonder that we see on a young child's face the first time he sees a monarch butterfly emerge from its cocoon or discovers that yellow and red paint combine to make orange may be long forgotten in our own memory. So get down on the floor or sit beside your children and participate! A child who seems reluctant to smear finger paint across a wet paper will be much more likely to take the risk if you do it too. Teachers regularly structure activities for children or put materials in front of children and ask or expect the children to use them. The teacher who experiences curriculum with the children is in a better position to make decisions about how to engage and support them.

Experiencing the curriculum with the children will also help you understand the inner child in each of the students you teach. Often that is the child you need to reach to really understand how to make the curriculum work. Your first impressions will most likely span the gamut from children who seem reluctant, curious, shy, enthusiastic, hostile, laid back, or ambivalent. The teacher who is distant and aloof will never know who he or she is really working with; that teacher's image of the child will continue to be informed by what others say and by impressions that may not accurately represent the child within.

Building trust requires connecting with each child on a personal level, so that they know you care about them and what happens to them, are curious about what they think, and firm with them when they need guidance. These things give children the emotional security they need to share with you their impressions, confidences, questions, and fearsinformation you can use to develop, adapt, and personalize whatever curriculum you use to best represent what your children know and do.

Connecting Children with the Natural World

Last, part of our image of today's children involves their need to be protected from a dangerous world. Children are constantly supervised in commercial outdoor spaces that are created especially for them and include plastic, brightly colored structures, clearly defined boundaries, and artificial turf. Gone are the days when children roamed the fields, dug in the dirt, or were pushed out the door to play on the street or in the neighborhood until dusk or until the streetlights came on.

Particularly in urban areas, many children are not familiar with natural space; they may think that milk and vegetables "come from the grocery store," and they may be frightened by anything that crawls. Gary Nabhan and Stephen Trimble wrote that "many now consider children's experience of wildness a luxury rather than a basic human need" (1994, p. xiii). In Last Child in the Woods (2008) Richard Louv goes so far as to say that children are suffering from "nature-deficit disorder."

In a later chapter we will address outdoor curriculum in greater detail, but it is relevant to consider here the importance of structuring an image of the future child who is connected to the natural world. As neuroscience continues to reveal the complexities of how children process stimuli and experiences, early childhood educators also realize that active outdoor play is instrumental in the development of psychological health, cognition, and higher-order thinking (Schiller, 2001). Outdoor curriculum can be justified not just because it promotes development but also for esoteric reasons and the reconstruction of a lost image of children that early childhood educators would like to regain (Wirth & Malcusak, 2012).

Chapter Summary

  • Images of children and childhood have changed greatly over the centuries, from portrayal as miniature adults and the property of others to the romanticized visions of young children popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
  • Societal values and science inform the ways we view children, and while we know more about the ways they grow and develop than ever before, our image of children today is complex and sometimes conflicted.
  • Children are characterized and labeled alternatively as competent and dependent, at risk and promising. Their development of gender identity is influenced by adult attitudes and changing social standards.
  • The diversity in our classrooms as well as conditions and policies imposed on teachers have a great deal to do with how teachers view their students, who are increasingly described in terms of readiness and achievement or lack thereof.
  • Children today experience many stressors related to adult expectations and a childhood that feels rushed.
  • There are many things teachers can do with curriculum to construct and portray authentic images of the children they teach. These include (1) gathering information about children's families and interests; (2) using photographs and other objects to represent the classroom community accurately; (3) personalizing the curriculum; and (4) promoting independence, responsibility, and problem-solving skills.
  • Finding ways to connect children with nature promotes physical and psychological health.
Discussion Questions
  1. What is your image of the young child? What experiences or ideas influenced the construction of this image?
  2. How do you imagine we will perceive the child of the future, and how will curriculum adapt?
  3. Using the description of the seventeen imaginary children from the opening vignette, describe how you would prepare for and welcome these children to your class.
Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Achievement gap

The distance between what a child is expected to know and be able to do at any point in time and what achievement test scores indicate the child does not know and cannot do

Cultural values and norms

Standards for behavior derived from socially constructed values

Ethnocentrism

A view of others that is limited by the belief that one's own race is superior

Gender role

The expectations for behavior considered socially appropriate for each sex

Label

In education, a descriptor applied to individuals or groups of children indicating a particular disability or special need

Readiness

Criteria that must be met before a child is considered eligible for school (kindergarten); usually social and academic skills are considered among those criteria

Recommended Readings

There Are No Children Here, by Alex Kotlowitz.(1992). New York: Anchor Books. This is the true story about how two brothers, Lafayette and Pharaoh, navigate and survive the "other world" of the housing projects in South Chicago. Farmington, PA: Plough Books.

The Hurried Child, by David Elkind. (2001). Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. This book frames the experience of modern children in terms of the pressures they face and provides insights about what adults can do about it.

Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv (2008). Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books. This award-winning book describes how and why exposure to nature is critical to maintaining an image of childhood that includes joyful connections with the out of doors.

References

Ackerman , D. J., & Barnett, W. S. (2005, March). Policy report prepared for kindergarten: What does "readiness" mean? National Institute for Early Education Research. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/publications/policy-reports/policy-report-prepared-kindergarten-what-does-readiness-mean.

Administration for Children and Families. (January 16, 2012). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. Retrieved from the Office of Planning, Research, & Evaluation: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/perf_measures/reports/resources_measuring/res_meas_impl.html.

Arnold, J. (2001). Endangered: Your child in a hostile world. Farmington, PA: Plough Books.

Blaise, M., &. Taylor, A. (January 2012). Using queer theory to rethink gender equity in early childhood education. Young Children, 67(1), 8898.

Boers, D. (2007). History of American education. New York: Peter Lang.

Brice-Heath, S. (Ed.). (1991). Children of promise: Literate activity in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms. Washington, DC: National Education Association.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (2004). Making human beings human: Bioecological perspectives on human development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Carlson, S., &. Meltzoff, A. N. (2008). Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children. Developmental Science, 11(2), 282298.

Chaille, C. (2008). Constructivism across the curriculum in early childhood classrooms: Big ideas as inspiration. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Cherry, K. (2018, March 29). What is nature vs. nurture? Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-nature-versus-nurture-2795392

Chick, K. H.-H. (Spring 2002). The impact of child care on gender role development and gender stereotypes. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(3), 149154.

Copple, C., &. Bredekamp, S. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Delpit, L. (2006). Other people's children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: New Press.

Education Commission of the States. (2018, June). State kindergarten-through-third-grade policies. Retrieved from http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/MBQuest2RTanw?rep=KK3Q1811

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.) (1998). The hundred languages of children: the Reggio Emilia approach advanced reflections (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Ablex.

Elkind, D. (2001). The hurried child. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.

File, N., & Gullo, D. F. (November 57, 2000). Preservice teachers' beliefs about primary classroom practice: Similarities and differences between early childhood and primary prepared students. Issues in early childhood education: Curriculum, teacher education, and dissemination of information. Proceedings of the Lilian Katz Symposium. Champaign, IL: ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 470 684.

Frankenberg, E. (2009). The segregation of American teachers. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 17(1), 145.

Gardiner, H., & Kozmitzki, C. (2005). Lives across cultures: Cross-cultural human development (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Glover, J., & Ronning, R. R. (1987). Historical foundations of educational psychology. New York: Plenham Press.

Gropper, N., &. Froschl, M. (2000). The role of gendering young children's teasing and bullying behavior. Equity and Excellence in Education, 33(1), 4856.

Han, H. S., West-Olatunj, C., & Thomas, M. N. (Winter 20102011). Use of racial identity development theory to explore cultural competence among early childhood educators. Journal of the Southeastern Regional Association of Teacher Educators, 20(1), 111.

Harry, B., &. Klingner, J. (February 2007). Discarding the deficit model. Educational Leadership, 64 (5), 1621.

Heywood, C. (2001). A history of childhood: Children and childhood in the West from medieval to modern times. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Hill, L. T., Stremmel, A. J., & Fu, V. R. (2005). Teaching as inquiry: Rethinking curriculum in early childhood education. Boston: Pearson.

Hull, K., Goldhaber, J., & Capone, A. (2002). Opening doors: An introduction to inclusive early childhood education. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Hyun, E. (Fall 1996). New directions in early childhood teacher preparation: Developmentally and culturally appropriate practice (DCAP). Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 17(3), 719.

Katch, H., & Katch, J. (Fall 2010). When boys won't be boys: Discussing gender with young children. Harvard Educational Review, 80(3), 379390.

Kids Count. (January 12, 2011). Kids count data book. Retrieved from Kids Count: datacenter.kidscount.org/databook/2011.

Kohlberg, L. (1966). A cognitive-developmental analysis of children's sex-role concepts and attitudes. E. E. Maccoby (Ed.), The development of sex differences (pp. 82173). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Lee, S., & Dalmon, M. E. (2008). Engaging in a reflective examination about diversity: Interviews with three preservice teachers. Multicultural Education, 3644.

Loewus, L. (2017, August 15). The nation's teaching force is still mostly white and female. Education Week. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/08/15/the-nations-teaching-force-is-still-mostly.html

Louv, R. (2008). Last child in the woods. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.

Manning, M., & Baruth, L. G. (2000). Multicultural education of children and adolescents. Needhan Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Maynard, T., & Nigel, T. (Eds.) (2004). An introduction to early childhood studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Morrison, G. (2001). Early childhood education today (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merril Prentice Hall.

Moss, P. (Fall 2007). Not true! Gender doesn't limit you. Teaching Tolerance, 5154.

Nabham, G. P., & Trimble, S. (1994). The geography of childhood: Why children need wild places. Boston: Beacon Press.

Partnerships for America's Economic Success. (December 30, 2011). Long term economic benefits of investing in early childhood programs. Retrieved from Partnerships for America's Economic Success: http://www.readynation.org/docs/researchproject_dickens_bartik_200802_brief.pdf.

Postman, N. (1994). The disappearance of childhood. New York: Vintage Books.

Research and Training Center on Independent Living, University of Kansas. (2008). Guidelines for reporting and writing about people with disabilities (7th ed.). Lawrence, KS: Author.

Ruble, D. N., Taylor, L. J., Cyphers, L., Greulich, F. K. , Lurye, L. E. & Shrout, P. E. (July/August, 2007). The role of gender constancy in early gender development. Child Development, 78(4), 11211136.

Sax, L. (2005). Why gender matters: What parents and teachers need to know about the emerging science of sex differences. New York: Random House.

Scarlett, W. G., Ponte, I. C., & Singh, J. P. (2009). Approaches to behavior and classroom management: Integrating discipline and care. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Schiller, P. (2001). Brain research and its implications for early childhood programs. Child Care Information Exchange, 140, 1418.

Silcock, P. (May 2008). Towards a biologically informed primary school practice. Education, 36(2), 162169.

Southern Poverty Law Center. (1997). Starting small: Teaching tolerance in preschool and the early grades. Montgomery, AL: Author.

Swadener, B., & Lubeck, S. (Eds.) (1995). Children and families "at promise." Deconstructing the discourse of risk. SUNY Series, the Social Context of Education. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

U.S. Department of Education. (March 2010). A Blueprint for reform: The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

4
Curriculum and Development
A woman and young girl read a book together.

Wavebreaker Media / Thinkstock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Describe the general characteristics of typically developing children.
  • Explain what special needs are and some of the ways in which teachers make adaptations to meet those needs.
  • Describe, from social and cognitive perspectives, how children's play develops over time.
  • Explain how play is integral to important elements of curriculum.
  • Match developmental characteristics of different age groups with appropriate curriculum considerations.

Introduction

You have conducted home visits with the seventeen preschool children in your class. Their ages at the time of your visits ranged from 3 years, 11 months, to 4 years, 10 months. You read a story as one part of each visit, either from a book the child chose from those they had at home or one they chose from the three that you brought with you. After your visit, you made notes on each child, including these two entries:

  1. Maria (age 4 years, 7 months) sat next to me on the sofa and introduced me to her stuffed monkey, which she used as a puppet to ask questions and respond to mine. She eagerly selected Curious George, telling me it was one of her favorite stories. She pointed out the title on the book's cover, and the letters "C" and "G." As I read the story, Maria pointed to and identified details in the illustrations, laughed at several points, predicted what would happen next, and turned the pages carefully each time I paused. After we finished, she clapped her hands and asked me to read the book again.
  2. Marissa (age 3 years, 11 months) sat on her mother's lap next to me on the sofa. When I asked if she had a book that she wanted me to read, she shook her head. When I asked if she would choose a book I had brought, she pointed to Eating the Alphabet (Ehlert, 1989). While I read, she was quiet and sucked her thumb with one hand and played with her mother's hair with the other. She was very attentive, looking back and forth between my face and the book, but did not volunteer questions or comments. When we finished, I asked if she liked the book and she nodded her head.

From the Field

Understanding the relationship between development and curriculum begins with getting to know the children you will teach. In this video, intervention specialist Diana McGawley emphasizes the value of home visits.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Think about young children you already know - what do you expect might be developmental characteristics that are unique to the early childhood period?

Although these anecdotal entries do not constitute a formal assessment, it should be clear that while both children are interested in age-appropriate books, you would have to provide different types of access to literacy curriculum activities for each child. Maria clearly appears enthusiastic about sharing what she already knows about books, stories that have characters and a plot, and letters (print). Marissa seems very interested in books, perhaps letters and the alphabet, but, given her demeanor, it might be difficult to tell what she knows about them and how likely it is that she will engage in reading activities independently.

In this chapter, we will consider the relationship between development and curriculum; as you read, think about what these anecdotes reveal about teaching all areas of the curriculum from a developmental perspective. This chapter focuses on how developmental knowledgeboth general and individualabout infants, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and primary-aged children should guide and inform decisions that teachers make about curriculum. We also consider the reciprocal and integrated relationship between play and development and the important role of play in the curriculum.

4.1 Teaching from a Developmental Perspective

One of the primary goals of teachers as decision makers is to make sure that the curriculum "opens the door" to learning for all children in the group or class (Hull, Goldhaber, & Capone, 2002). Excellent teachers evaluate and adapt curriculum to respond to the interests, abilities, needs, and culture of every child. As explained in Chapter 1, developmentally appropriate curriculum for young children changes as their particular characteristics change over time.

Universal Expectations vs. Individual Variations

You already know that developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) addresses both the general characteristics of groups of children as well as unique variations from child to child at any particular point in time. A good curriculum will be one that is flexible enough to allow the teacher to use insights and observations of children to plan, adapt, and implement activities. The scenario from the opening vignette illustrates the need for a flexible curriculum. It is also advisable to describe and communicate curriculum decisions and adaptations in terms of the elements of DAP, so that families and administrators can understand the rationale for your choices. (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011). To do this, teachers need to be aware of:

  • What is generally accepted as typical in each of the three major domains of development (physical, affective, cognitive)
  • What constitutes normal individual variations in both development and learning style
  • The influence of culture and family on development
  • How developmental delays and other special needs affect children's learning and behavior patterns

Further, we know that developmental researchers describe, from differing theoretical perspectives, how children grow and learn. Teachers need to be able to recognize when a curriculum is written or described from a particular point of view. The DAP position statement describes growth and development generally from a constructivist perspective (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). However, a behaviorist orientation emphasizing sequential learning and positive reinforcement for desired responses or actions can be seen in early childhood curricula as well, particularly those that focus on direct instruction. For example, teachers provide children with exploratory experiences (constructivist), by using materials like blocks, to promote acquisition of fundamental concepts about size, shape, balance, symmetry, and so on. But they also use rhymes, songs, and stories to provide intentional practice and positive reinforcement for rote counting (behaviorist).

The constructivist influence can be seen in advocacy for standards and curriculum that are goal-oriented, while curriculum scope and sequence still display activities for development of discrete skills on a time line (Clements & Sarama, 2004). Teachers use their knowledge of diverse developmental perspectives to make decisions about curriculum that match what they observe about how individual children learn best.

We expect to see children's development follow a general trajectory over time as they master increasingly complex skills and gradually move from concrete to abstract thinking. For example, a 2-year-old will learn to put on his shoes, but by the time he is 4 or 5 he will also be able to tie them. That same 2-year-old may be able to name and differentiate between a horse and tiger, but 2 years later he will also be able to describe how they are similar and different.

Within this predictable sequence, curriculum must account for and support uneven development from child to child and differences in personality, interests, and dispositions (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011). Some children are more physically active or assertive; others are passive or submissive; some children are very verbal; others are introspective and quiet. One child may hone fine motor skills primarily through the use of manipulative materials like Legos or puzzles; another might want to spend a lot of time cutting paper, painting, and drawing. And during any general age period, a child may seem to be surging ahead in one area of development seemingly to the exclusion of others. It all evens out eventually, but a "one-size-fits all" approach to curriculum for young children is not considered developmentally appropriate at any time.

Typically Developing Children

Group of ethnically diverse children hold hands.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Children in any particular age group exhibit generally similar developmental characteristics, but with many variations for which teachers must adapt.

Typically developing children are those considered to be representative of most children in a population. The developmental progression of typically developing children is often expressed in terms of norms, benchmarks, or milestones. Growth and development are usually described with respect to specific domains, such as physical, social/emotional, cognitive, or creative.

However, researchers and curriculum specialists also emphasize that growth and learning occur as an integrated process across multiple domains (Alvior, 2014; Gestwicki, 2011; Hull, Goldhaber, & Capone, 2002; Levine & Munsch, 2011). For example, as Maria interacts with the story of Curious George in our opening vignette, she is using cognitive skills and language in different ways and demonstrating symbolic representation in her use of the monkey as a puppet and by pointing out letters. She uses fine motor skills to point, clap, and manipulate her puppet. Her attentiveness and engagement indicate emotional connection with the characters in the story and emerging understanding about the social roles of reader and listener.

A brief summary of typical developmental progression follows. Developmental progression will be discussed with respect to curriculum in greater detail later in the chapter.

Physical Development

From infancy throughout the early childhood period (birth to age 8), physical development typically progresses from the head downward (cephalocaudal) and from the center of the body outward (proximodistal). As the body lengthens and the head assumes a smaller proportion of the rest of the body, the child's center of gravity gradually rises. Gross motor control progresses from nonlocomotive movements to eventual walking, running, hopping, skipping, and so forth. Control of fine motor processes involves everything from eye tracking to the highly controlled manual dexterity needed to draw, write, or play a musical instrument. The brain grows at a faster pace during early childhood than at any other time across the life span (Charlesworth, 2004; Levine & Munsch, 2011).

Affective Development

Affective development describes how children behave and feel. Social competence, emotional character, and personality develop in highly individualized patterns influenced by the interplay of nature (biological processes) and nurture (environmental influences). Over time and as children acquire language, their affective responses become less outwardly focusedon physical needs (e.g., crying when hungry, tired, or wet)and more internally focusedon emotional motivations such as pride, guilt, and wanting to belong. An ethic of sharing, caring, and moral reasoning develops as children gradually gain the ability to consider multiple perspectives and adapt to various forms of authority. Theories from many branches of psychology inform our understanding about the development of ego, personality, identity, empathy, and morality in young children (Charlesworth, 2004; Levine & Munsch, 2011) and lead to the different approaches that teachers use to guide children to function in socially acceptable ways.

Five images of the same baby. First image, he is sitting. Second image, he is on all fours. Third image, he is crawling. Fourth image, he is moving into a standing position. Fifth image, he is walking.

Photodisc / Thinkstock

Children achieve several significant milestones in their gross motor development as they acquire mobility, strength, and coordination.

Cognitive Development

Our views of intelligence, thinking, and understanding of neurological functions are changing as a result of significant research conducted over recent decades. We know that the brain receives, processes, and stores different kinds of information in specific locations. Neural connections, the development of hard and soft "wiring," and brain density increase dramatically from the neonatal period throughout early childhood. Children's thinking skills shift in focus from processing stimuli through their senses, to learning how to pay attention, understand and process information, and construct memory (Hull, Goldhaber, & Capone, 2002). Children learn to speak and develop language in predictable patterns that culminate in the ability to read, write, speak, and comprehend the nuances of language. Bilingual or multilingual children develop the ability to code switch back and forth between languages.

Learning theories describe these mental processes differently but not necessarily in ways that are mutually exclusive. Constructivists believe that children acquire mental constructs or concepts through reciprocal processes of responding and adapting to experiences. Behaviorists believe that learning across the life span is represented by a continual process of operant conditioning based on positive and negative reinforcement (Charlesworth, 2004; Levine & Munsch, 2011).

Developmental Delays and Special Needs

When we observe that young children do not seem to be following the generally expected path of development in one or more domains, evaluation may be indicated to determine whether the child has a special need. Special needs include any kind of needphysical, emotional, or cognitivethat differs substantially from the normal range of abilities. The child could have a developmental delay, or she could be gifted.

While it is not unusual, as discussed earlier, for an individual child's growth and development to be uneven, at some point it may become apparent that the child is either not meeting or exceeding expected benchmarks or milestones. Sometimes special needs are apparent at birth, as in a child with a cleft palate. But in many instances it takes months or years for such needs to be recognized. You wouldn't know, for example, if a child had speech articulation problems until that child was expected to be speaking clearly, between ages 3 and 4.

Sometimes delayed progress, a physical condition, or atypical behavior is due to factors that can be addressed with the expectation that a child will "catch up." For instance, a toddler with frequent ear infections may experience a hearing impairment resulting in delayed language fluency. While medical intervention and natural growth of the structures of the inner ear will eventually resolve the frequency of infections, speech therapy and hearing accommodations may be indicated for a period of time until the child has regained normal functioning. A child born with a congenital physical condition like club feet (abnormally rotated inward) may experience many surgeries to correct the condition. The child's orthopedic disability may require adaptations to the arrangement of the classroom to accommodate leg braces or a wheelchair, with the expectation that the condition will eventually be corrected.

But other developmental disabilities will require long-term support to address learning and emotional needs throughout the early childhood period and beyond. For example, a child who displays distinctive physical behavior such as hand-flapping, inability to make eye contact, or repeating the same words over and over again should be referred for evaluation to determine if the child has autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Once diagnosed with ASD, the child may be offered occupational, speech, and cognitive therapies. Other cases of physiological, biological, or genetically inherited conditions, such as cerebral palsy or Down syndrome, constitute special needs that require active intervention and support on a long-term basis. Table 4.1 describes various special needs conditions (Cook & Cook, 2005).

Inclusion

Federal lawthe Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)requires that children with disabilities be included in regular classroom or care settings to the maximum extent possible and provides funding for resources to meet their special needs. (IDEA does not provide funds to address the special needs of gifted children; programs and funding for these children are localized.)

Inclusion of children with disabilities serves several important purposes. First, typically developing young children who grow up within a diverse environment learn and internalize acceptance of their differently abled peers, which leads to higher levels of self-esteem among children who might otherwise feel marginalized or stigmatized. Second, separating children with disabilities and categorizing them by a single factor they may have in common (such as ADHD) risks grouping those who are otherwise very different from one another in many respects (Greenspan, Wieder, & Simons, 1998). Third, keeping children with delays or special needs isolated from their peers almost guarantees that they will be labeled for life in spite of the fact that except for their identified special need, they are like typically developing children in many other ways.

Table 4.1: Special Needs
Special Need Description
Physical (orthopedic) conditions Physical limitations caused by birth defects or injury that prevent or impair mobility and/or dexterity.
Visual impairment Many potential causes that result in partial to total blindness or limited sight requiring corrective lenses.
Hearing impairment Any condition that results in less than normal hearing; may be permanent or temporary; profoundly hearing-impaired children may also have limited speech.
Speech/language impairment Difficulty in producing speech, or delayed development of language.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd) Difficulty paying or maintaining attention and organization, possibly accompanied by high activity levels and restlessness.
Conduct (behavior) disorder
Oppositional defiant disorder
Problems with authority, obedience, or anger/impulse control.
Learning disability Normal intelligence but difficulty learning due to a variety of perceptual problems such as reversing or inverting letters and numbers.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) Broad continuum of behaviors that range from mild (Asperger's syndrome) to profound difficulties with sensory processing, social interaction, and communication.
Intellectual disability Lower than normal intelligence that can be due to a number of factors, mostly genetic in origin.
Giftedness Much higher than normal intelligence or aptitude in one or more developmental domains.

Therefore teachers are expected to adapt all elements of the curriculum to serve and engage not only typically developing children but also those with special needs of all different kinds. Some teachers and caregivers without extensive training in special education may feel that they are not prepared to meet the needs of children with disabilities. Early childhood educators must remember that one of the key principles of DAP is that if we consider each child as a unique individual, we accept that all children have special needs (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Making decisions about how to individualize curriculumincluding the environment, materials, and teaching strategiesis appropriate for all children. The key is a thorough understanding of development across all the domains, so that curriculum is implemented with sensitivity to each child's strengths and challenges as he or she grows and learns.

Adapting for Children with Special Needs

Adaptations for children with disabilities are intended to provide as normal a school or child care setting experience for the child as possible. An adaptation is something we do to alter the physical environment, curricular materials, and/or teaching strategies to include the child in the daily life and learning opportunities of the classroom or child-care setting.

IDEA requires that all states have a Child Find process to identify children with disabilities and provide services as early as possible. Communities administer special education services for preschool children in different ways. But if a child has been officially referred, evaluated, and diagnosed with a condition that qualifies under IDEA as a special need, a team of peopleincluding the teacher, family, and specialistswill work together to provide support in the school or care setting. The team will work with an individualized plan (called an Individualized Family Service Plan [IFSP] for children from birth to age 3 or an Individualized Education Plan [IEP] for a child over 3 years of age) that identifies specific curricular and developmental goals, needed resources, adaptations, and support personnel, time lines, and follow-up measures.

Table 4.2 provides examples of the kinds of adaptations that might be made for children with different kinds of special needs.

Table 4.2: Examples of Adaptations for Special Needs
Physical Limitations (Office of Head Start, 2012) Visual Impairments (Cox & Dykes, 2001; Monahan, 2011) Speech and/ or Hearing Impairments (Anderson, 2012) Learning Disabilities and Behavioral Issues (Office of Head Start, 2012) Gifted and Talented (Cook & Cook, 2005)
Modify equipment for access (e.g., raising or lowering easel, taping feet to trike pedals). Maintain unobstructed pathways and keep furniture and materials always in the same place. Reduce background noise; make eye contact when speaking. Reduce distractions (e.g., give one material at a time; limit choices). Offer differentiated materials and activities that provide sufficient challenge.
Arrange furniture for safe and easy access. Familiarization with locations of all spaces the child will use. Use hand signals to communicate needs; offer interpreter and/or sign language training. Use picture charts for step-by-step directions or schedules. Provide opportunities to work independently.
Adapt materials so child can work as independently as possible. Arrange special lighting and/or magnification devices. Maintain predictable routines. Work with children in small groups or individually. Work with children in small groups or individually.
Allow extra time for physical tasks that are difficult, such as dressing or eating. Provide seating close to needed resources. Arrange seating close to the teacher. Seat distractible child in lap for large-group activities.
Simplify routines to as few steps as possible. Provide reading matter with large or raised print; large, brightly colored or high-contrast toys; materials with textured surfaces. Provide amplification devices. Ensure that there is ample time and notice of transition times.

4.2 The Importance of Play

Five children run and do cartwheels.

Smith Collection / Getty Images

All children are motivated to play. In 1989 the United Nations expressed the conviction that every child has a right to play.

Whatever their needs, we know that all young children learn through all their senses, and that a good curriculum will provide activities that encourage looking, listening, tasting, smelling, and touching. Early childhood educators and researchers agree that young children are primarily active learners. They should not spend long periods of time in whole-group or drill-and-skill activities; that is, hands-on experiences with objects and materials and time to move and use their bodies are the best match for this developmental period. The primary focus of a curriculum for young children should be the integration of experiences across all of a child's developmental domains and learning through play.

The child's right to play was expressed as a global concern in 1989 in the form of a U.N. General Assembly resolution at the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (International Play Association, 2009) Article 31 states the following:

That every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

That member governments shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity.

What Is Play?

Most early childhood educators agree that play is an active and enjoyable activity that is internally motivated, process-oriented, and directed by the players. The International Play Association (2009) has this to say about play:

[It should be] controlled by children rather than adults, and . . . undertaken for its own sake and not for prescribed purposes. The term "free play" is often used to distinguish this from organized recreational and learning activities, which of course also have important roles in child development. However, the characteristics of free playsuch as control, uncertainty, flexibility, novelty, non-productivityare what produce a high degree of pleasure and, simultaneously, the incentive to continue to play. Recent neurological research indicates that this type of behavior plays a significant role in the development of the brain's structure and chemistry.

Play seems to be a universal. Left to their own devices, all children play, regardless of parental or teacher involvement. We examine and research play, then, in terms of how children engage and the influence and impact that play has on child development and learning.

Benefits of Play

Neuroscientists have become increasingly focused on the connections between play and brain development. A theory of mind has emerged that describes how the child's process of understanding the difference between reality and the abstract develops through symbolic play (Bodrova & Leong, 2007). When a 3-year-old begins to use wooden blocks to represent a road or pieces of colored paper to represent fish in an imaginary aquarium, the foundation is laid for later representation of sounds with the squiggles we call letters or the measurement of temperature by a column of mercury in a thermometer.

More From the Field

Program director Rita Palet describes play as an important source of insight about young children's learning.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. What might you expect to learn about a child's cognitive, physical, or social development from observing the child at play?

Much has also been learned over time about the role of language as children develop play scripts (Bateson, 1976). When one child announces to another, "Let's play veterinarianI'll be the doctor and you be the puppy," we see them acquiring the ability to assume roles that may be based on reality or what they clearly know to be absurd. They demonstrate a tentative understanding about the relationships between doctors and patients or the difference between doctors who treat humans and those who treat animals. As they share their ideas about how to act out this theme, perhaps arguing or changing the direction of the story line, they practice using words to be persuasive, solve problems, and give each other feedback on how the play is going.

Some studies have also confirmed that play promotes higher-order thinking. This is characterized by children's ability to carry on an internal dialogue, essentially self-talking their way through the decision-making process by weighing options, analyzing information, and making subsequent choices. Children develop cognitive control as they (Bodrova & Leong, 2007; Bunge & Crone, 2009) stifle impulsivity and learn to focus and concentrate. This happens when they are encouraged to make their own activity choices, learn through trial and error, and construct and apply rules to different situations. Cognitive science is helping teachers learn when, how, and how much to intervene to promote the kind of complex play scenarios that develop executive functioning.

Play provides powerful natural consequences and opportunities for children to use language so that the play can continue. Adults tell children to use their words to solve problems, but children need practice that play provides in order to do so. Let's say that four children have proceeded to set up the veterinarian's office, with one child assuming the role of a sick puppy. As they act out bringing the puppy to the examining table, he is creeping on all fours as a puppy would but using words to tell how he feels sick. The other three children complain and claim that he is ruining their play because "puppies don't talk, they whine or whimper when they are sick. If you don't act like a puppy, someone else will have to be the puppy." They have given the puppy actor the information he needs to modify his actions so he can continue to be included in the play.

Two young girls use plastic phones to talk to each other.

Brand X Pictures / Thinkstock

Dramatic play is important to development in many ways.

While the children have had a difference of opinion, they have also used matter-of-fact language to explain their feelings without being hurtful. It's important for children to have time and the opportunity to invent their own games and direct their own play if they are to understand the value of rules and consequences and the importance of consensus.

Play is where everything children experience in isolation comes together. It's where they begin to make sense of the present world and to imagine the future. It happens inside a bubble of safety that allows mistakes to occur without punishment, encourages experimentation without the pressure of accountability, and supports risk taking without fear of disapproval or a bad grade. It is where creativity, imagination, and problem solving are rewarded with acceptance, joy, and satisfaction (Jaruszewicz, 2008).

Play Perspectives

Most modern research and theory about play falls into two categories: play as cognitive construct and play as social construct. Both of these perspectives are important and provide a useful framework for teachers to observe and interpret children's play as a part of the curriculum planning and implementation process.

Cognitive Perspectives

Piaget described qualitative changes to play over the early childhood period; he saw play development as a series of stages that paralleled the child's increasing complexity of thought and reasoning. Practice play is characterized by reflexive, repetitive, or functional actions, as when a toddler pounds large pegs into a block of wood with matching holes. Also known as functional play, this type of activity takes place during the sensorimotor stage of development in infants and toddlers.

Symbolic play develops during the preoperational period from ages 2 to 7 but includes two distinct types of representational play. In the early part of this stage, children begin to use one thing to represent another, such as a block for a truck or, on the playground, wood chips and water to make soup in a bucket. A higher and more complex form of symbolic play occurs as 4- and 5-year olds begin to develop and engage in pretend play with roles and themes.

Play that focuses on games with rules emerges as children move from preoperational to concrete operational thinking. At the early part of this stage, children in kindergarten and first grade attempt to play games with rules, understanding their purpose but not necessarily the concept that for a game to work, all players must be using the same ones! For instance, while playing tag, with the very simple rule that when you are tagged you are out, different children may have very different ideas of what constitutes a "tag"one child may interpret a tag as a touch while another equates a tag with a tackle.

As they gain an understanding of the need for constancy, children embrace and enjoy all kinds of board and card games as well as sports and active games, and they make up games with their own rules. During this period, children also become consumed with the concept of fairness, since they often interpret what is fair according to their developing understanding of rules.

Social Perspectives

In 1932 Mildred Parten described a continuum of four increasingly interactive social levels of play. She named these solitary, parallel, associative, and cooperative to correspond with children's level of involvement with others during play. Although the time frames Parten initially described have been shown to be more fluid than was first thought, early childhood educators still widely accept this way of characterizing the social aspects of play over time (GEMS World Academy Chicago, n.d.; Howes, Unger, & Matheson, 1992).

In solitary play, the older infant or young toddler (1 to 2 years old) is absorbed in her own actions, independent of other children, manipulating objects and engaging in the type of practice or functional play Piaget described.

The next three stages of social play occur during Piaget's cognitive stage of symbolic play and occur as the child becomes more interested in friendship and playing with others. Parallel play continues with 2- and 3-year-olds, who play separately but with increasing curiosity in the activities of other children nearby. You might see two children playing side by side with wooden tracks and toy cars, watching each other and one perhaps imitating what the other is doing but not choosing to share their cars and build a road together.

Between 3 and 4 years of age, preschoolers begin to engage in associative play, which involves sharing play items with another child, taking turns, and showing interest in play activities with a shared goal. For instance, you might see two 3½-year-olds both pushing a big truck to move a pile of wooden blocks across the floor.

Cooperative play is the highest form of social play. Observed in 4- and 5-year-olds, it is characterized by group play and differentiated roles. Although children may negotiate or argue about details, they will commit to a general understanding of how they want the play to evolve.

Play as an Organizing Element of the Curriculum

A group of preschoolers build a block tower.

Ross Whitaker / Getty Images

Classroom space is defined for specific activities, in this case an area for block play.

A convincing body of evidence confirms the importance of play in the setting of early childhood education. As the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) stated in a 2011 clinical report, "Play is essential to the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical wellbeing of children beginning in early childhood. It is a natural tool for children to develop resiliency as they learn to cooperate, overcome challenges, and negotiate with others (Milteer, Ginsburg, Council on Communications and Media and Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, 2011, p. e203). Nonetheless, pressures on early childhood educators to limit play in favor of more "academic" activities remain, especially in grades 1 to 3.

All major early childhood curricula either suggest or direct classroom organization to support play and exploration. Let's look at the ways in which teachers and caregivers provide for integrated play across the curriculum.

Environment

Activity areas or centers provide a means for children to move freely and efficiently within the environment. Early childhood teachers establish clearly defined spaces for both focused and integrated play activities. Table 4.3 describes typical dedicated play spaces that support different types of development and learning.

All teachers must consider the characteristics and limitations of their classroom's physical indoor and outdoor spaces so that play can occur safely. They also make decisions about planning the environment for play based on their knowledge about how children play at different ages. Early childhood curricula encourage an organizational scheme that provides for a balance of quiet and active play. Finally, teachers arrange materials and equipment to encourage independence and responsibility without disrupting the flow of play.

Table 4.3: Types of Activity Centers
Dedicated Space Play Focus
Dramatic play Pretend play with props (themed materials) that allows children to take on roles and develop play scenarios about familiar themes
Construction Building with blocks and other materials that can be put together and taken apart; woodworking
Language and literacy Reading, listening to tapes and stories, learning about letters and sounds, emergent writing
Art Using a variety of materials to explore line, color, shape, texture, and dimension; exposure to works of art that are pleasing and interesting to children
Music Exposure to many genres of music and opportunities to sing and make music with different kinds of instruments
Science Opportunities to explore physical and natural properties of organisms and the environment
Math Materials, games, and activities that help children develop concepts about number, quantity, measurement, and time
Sensory Materials and activities that engage the senses, such as sand, water, and modeling dough
Fine motor Experiences with objects that develop manual dexterity and eye-hand coordination
Gross motor Room, equipment, and materials that encourage the development of large muscles
Table 4.3: Types of Activity Centers

Materials

Play requires materials that children can use to explore their physical limits, to learn about natural phenomena, to employ imagination and make believe, and to develop language and conceptual understandings. An extensive commercial market offers an array of choices targeted to the needs and interests of young children. However, a teacher must be able to distinguish between items that are flexible and open-ended versus those needed for the development of specific skills. For example, children can use wooden blocks and props such as animals, people, or vehicles to build an airport, racetrack, or space station. But they need writing implements such as pencils, markers, and chalk that allow for their emerging fine motor skills, and scissors designed to help them safely coordinate the motions needed to cut on a line without becoming frustrated.

Little girl playing dress up in grown up shoes and jewelry.

Ryan McVay / Thinkstock

Real-world materials help children make connections in make-believe play.

Children also need materials that will help them to explore and develop their ideas about both real and imaginary worlds. Teachers can easily purchase ready-made puppets, dress-up clothes, pretend foods and dishes, but a trip to the local thrift shop for pots, utensils, oven mitts, and other items can also provide tools for playtools that children recognize and can practice using as they create scenarios and roles around a theme.

Similarly, many print and online resources are available with recipes for everything from play dough to paint and paste that help teachers stretch their budgets and also generate opportunities to involve children in making play materials. Parents and families can sometimes contribute items like cell phones, old clothes and scarves, or restaurant menus. The Reggio Emilia preschools make such extensive use of recyclable materials that there is a dedicated community Remida (an Italian word meaning "recycle") center for the collection, organization, and display of such materials as well as for teacher training in how to use reclaimed objects of all kinds for creative and useful purposes (AGAC, 2004).

The Challenge of Time

Time is one of the biggest challenges for teachers who want to use play as the foundation for their curricula. Curricula may be divided into segmented blocks of time that may be inadequate for optimal focus and engagement. Consider children playing with blocks. Block building involves a developmental sequence of increasingly complex skills. If playtime is restricted, there is only a limited supply of blocks and props, and all the blocks must be put away at the end of each play period, children may lose interest in block building altogether. When they are repeatedly denied the time they need to acquire block-building skills, children can become frustrated or disinterested and the potential value of this play is diminished.

A Box with Three Lives

On a Monday morning, Owen's dad brought a large cardboard box to the class after a weekend delivery of a new washing machine. The teacher, Ms. Mary, set the box in the middle of the meeting circle and said, "H-mmm, I wonder what we could do with this, would you like to play with it?" A chorus of voices ensued with many children talking all at once. Ms. Mary said, "let's get a big piece of paper and write down all of our ideas and then maybe we can decide." A few minutes later, the list included turning the box into a space ship, boat, zoo, race car, and bus.

Four children build a car out of cardboard boxes.

Alistair Berg / Getty Images

With some craftwork and creativity, a simple cardboard box can become almost anything.

The children decided after much discussion that it should become a spooky house. Ms. Mary helped the children generate a list of needed materials, create a design team, and assign jobs. After the house was finished and the children had played in it for several days, they decided they wanted to share it with the children in another classroom. They made additional items such as spiders, paper ghosts, and bats. They recorded a sound track of scary noises and wrote invitations, and, when the other children came to visit the house, took turns as tour guides using dress-up clothes from the dramatic play area.

When Ms. Mary noticed that the children's interest in the box had waned, she asked them if they were finished. Instead of discarding it, the children decided that since it already had windows and doors, they could repaint it to turn it into the Three Little Pigs' brick house, which they worked on over the next two weeks. Play in the box ended only when it finally collapsed, but then, since it had been painted on the outside to look like bricks, they cut it up to make a road on the playground. One box, weeks of inventive play!

Stop and Reflect

Can you think of other materials that might provide the kind of open-ended play described above? What might be the pros and cons of each?

A young boy stands in the block center where he builds a tower.

Scholastic Studio 10 / Getty Images

Children need extended periods of time to fully develop their ideas. Block structures, for example, can take several days to complete.

Teachers may be reluctant to encourage block play when they observe it devolving into seemingly random or destructive activity. However, children will benefit from more, rather than less, building time to fully engage with the process. In classrooms where time and supply must be limited, teachers can create ways in which structures in progress can be preserved from one play period to the next, and they or the children can document or photograph the children's work.

Early childhood curricula may diverge significantly in the logic and labels applied to center locations, how boundaries are established, the level of emphasis devoted to specific areas, or materials and strategies used to support children's interactions. For example, Montessori classrooms include an area called "practical life," in which children use everyday things like pitchers, spoons, brooms and dusters that would be consistent with the concept of a housekeeping center in other models. But the intended outcomes of these two seemingly comparable activity centers and the means by which they are achieved are very different. Regardless of interpretation, all early childhood curricula devote considerable effort to articulating the way in which play serves as an organizing element for the curriculum.

4.3 Development and Curriculum across the Early Childhood Years

This final section of the chapter examines how the developmental characteristics of children at different times influence the way curriculum is conceived to meet their needs and interests.

Infants and Toddlers

Good curriculum for infants and toddlers is significantly different from curriculum for preschool and older children in many ways, but it is grounded in the same principles of DAP (described in Chapter 1) that apply throughout the early childhood years (Gestwicki, 2011). Curricula for children from birth to age 3 focus on developing a warm and secure relationship between child and adult and providing an environment that is safe, calm, orderly, predictable, responsive to the child's needs, and engaging (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011).

A key to planning a curriculum for infants and toddlers is applying the concept of the zone of proximal developmentthat is, anticipating what skills are likely to emerge soon, actively working on what is current, and practicing what has already been mastered (Deiner, 2009, p. 515). Curricular goals for infants and toddlers focus on attainment of expected milestones in each of the developmental domains, primarily:

  • Locomotion and control of large muscles
  • Acquisition of self-help skills through fine motor control
  • Comprehending and beginning to express language
  • Developing secure attachments with adults
  • Acquiring an emerging sense of self
  • Expressing curiosity about others and the environment (Miller & Albrecht, 2001; South Carolina Program for Infant and Toddler Care, 2009)

Physical Domain

Infants are completely dependent on adults to meet their physical needs and move them from place to place. As they become mobile and develop an "upright" perspective (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009), older infants and toddlers become more interested in exploring their surroundings; they need freedom to move about while maintaining their sense of security and safety. Infant-toddler curriculum that supports the acquisition of locomotion will include:

A baby with her foot in her mouth.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Babies' development is rapid, and they quickly become interested in exploring their surroundings, starting with the parts of their bodies.
  • Supporting the head, body, and limbs as the infant gains control and balance of the upper and lower trunk
  • During routines such as diapering or floor play, moving the infant's arms and legs in motions that mimic those needed for later crawling and walking
  • Providing room and time to creep and crawl; using motivators such as a soft squeaking toy to entice the child to move toward the adult holding the toy
  • Manual and environmental assistance for the child attempting to stand and take tentative steps, such as standing behind the child, letting him or her grasp the adult's fingers for support
  • Placement of low furniture that the child can use for cruising, which means holding onto objects to move around the room
  • Opportunities to practice walking forward, backward, and sideways on different kinds of surfaces both barefoot and with shoes
  • Opportunities to practice climbing and walking on steps and stairs safely
  • Time and space for learning to run, stop, and regulate speed (Deiner, 2009)

Like gross motor development, fine motor movements of the hands and feet involve the integration of vision, perception, and muscle control to master reaching, grasping, holding, and coordinating movements of the hands, fingers, and feet (Deiner, 2009). These movements are necessary for all eventual self-help skills such as dressing, feeding, and maintaining balance and control of locomotion. An infant-toddler curriculum for fostering fine motor skills will include:

  • Helping infants develop their visual tracking ability by moving a small toy or object across their field of vision or, for example, providing a rotating mobile above the crib. Providing incentives for children to reach out by placing interesting objects in front of them.
  • Letting the infant practice grasping an adult's fingers and small toys.
  • Coordinating movements with both hands and/or feet, such as clapping, playing peek-a-boo, and so on.
  • Providing a selection of interesting objects, materials, and toys that give older infants and toddlers opportunities to practice and refine their fine motor skills and coordinateeye-hand movements. Objects must be sized appropriatelysmall enough to be managed without frustration but not so small they pose a choking hazard. Objects that are small should be tested with a choke tube.
The "Jump, Jump" Song for Toddlers

Learning to jump involves coordinating the legs and body to move upward of one surface and land in the same place or on another surface, such as a lower step. Children learn to jump from one foot to another, jump off a surface with both feet, and develop the skill to jump from increasingly high levels. To encourage children to develop this skill, one toddler teacher uses what she calls the "Jump, Jump" song as part of the children's daily greeting circle.

The song serves four purposes. It (1) helps children learn names of friends, (2) encourages and motivates children to develop their jumping skill, (3) encourages coordination of fine (clapping) and gross (jumping) motor skills, and (4) provides a means to monitor skill development of individual children.

Children love this activity and take increasing delight over time as their jumping skill develops. Learning to jump in this kind of safe environment also helps them develop the control they will need in using their emerging ability to jump in less structured environments such as the playground.

The activity proceeds as follows:

  • Children sit in a small circle with the teacher on the floor.
  • The teacher invites a child to the center of the circle to jump. The child may accept or decline, choosing to watch other children instead.
  • While the child inside the circle jumps, the teacher and children clap and chant or sing, "There was a child in a class and [insert name of child] was her name-o; jump, jump [name of child]; jump jump [name of child]; jump, jump [name of child]; we're glad you're here today." The activity is repeated until all children who want to jump have had a chance to do so.
Stop and Reflect

In addition to development of motor skills, what other benefits do the children gain from this kind of activity?

Affective Domain

Human beings are social creatures, and early affective development is highly dependent on the extent to which the child learns to trust adults, form secure attachments, and feel secure that her needs will be met consistently. If an infant is consistently left wet, tired, hungry, or alone most of the time, it isn't hard to see why it will be more difficult for him to develop a cheerful disposition and interest in others (Maslow, 1943).

A baby looks in a mirror and laughs.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Infants and toddlers become very interested in mirrors and other reflective surfaces as part of the developmental process of forming a self-image.

Many mid-twentieth-century studies of institutionalized infants who had only their physical needs met but were otherwise deprived of interaction with adults reported failure to thrive physically, severe delays and/or intellectual deficits, and even death (Bowlby, 1940; Ribble, 1944; Spitz, 1945). These and similar findings were so alarming that, in the United States, they led to replacement of institutionalized care with the foster home system. Adults are also reminded, for example, that toddlers are motivated to test their boundaries and may use temper tantrums to express what they have not yet developed the ability to communicate efficiently in words.

A good curriculum for infants' and toddlers' social and emotional development is likely to feature:

  • Pairing each infant with a single or primary caregiver or teacher to the extent possible
  • Giving prompt attention to the child's physical needs
  • Helping children manage separation from their families
  • Allowing time for cuddling, holding, and soothing
  • Acknowledging the child's emerging personality
  • Offering activities that promote a sense of self, gender identity, and belonging
  • Supporting the toddler's increasing desire for independence within an atmosphere of acceptance for an emerging capacity for verbal communication
  • Providing opportunities to engage with other children and adults
  • Providing opportunities to help with simple chores and classroom care routines

Curricula for infants and toddlers also address the need to help children acquire self-control. Teachers are expected to provide encouragement and maintain reasonable expectations. They also manage the environment and daily schedule so that children are not overwhelmed or overstimulated with too many choices, activities, or materials.

Cognitive Domain

While many of the behaviors of very young infants are driven by instinctive survival needs, they react, respond, and begin to acquire mental concepts (schema) as a result of interaction with their environment from birth. Infancy and the toddler periods are incredibly important for cognitive development, as all later intellectual functioning is based on earlier learning; therefore infants and toddlers need stimulation and exposure to new experiences, objects, and language (Deiner, 2009). Long before children can speak, they recognize voices, tone and inflection, and are fascinated by words and language.

Important curriculum features for cognitive development include:

  • Access and opportunities to observe their surroundings and the people in them
  • Games and activities that promote the concept of object permanence, awareness that objects or people that are out of sight still exist
  • Opportunities to play with toys and sensory materials that develop early concepts of cause and effect
  • Simple sorting activities and materials
  • Naming and narrating what is happening during care routines
  • Reinforcing words and the names of people and objects
  • Frequent opportunities to handle board books, picture cards, and other materials that introduce shapes, objects, words, animals, and so on.
  • Reading to children individually and in small groups frequently throughout the day
  • Predictable routines that help children develop a rudimentary sense of sequence and time

More From the Field

Program director Rita Palet talks about the necessity of adapting rules and routines to suit the varying age groups within a program.

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. Why is it important to modify routine and structure for different age groups?
  2. How can you use classroom routines to support different developmental domains?

Preschool

Young children are perpetual motion machines! In addition to developing increasing control over their bodies, 3- to 5-year old preschoolers use language to express their feelings, questions, and thoughts. With preschoolers, much of the guesswork about their needs and interests is replaced by the need to provide a wider variety of experiences and materials that (1) challenge them to refine their physical skills, (2) help them begin to form friendships and navigate social relationships and conflicts, (3) explore their theories about how things work, (4) foster emergent literacy, and (5) develop a love of learning. Further, beyond the infant-toddler period, preschoolers have acquired the ability to engage in much more complex play that provides a platform for highly integrated development of thoughts, feelings, and conceptual understandings (Gestwicki, 2011).

Critical considerations for preschool curriculum from the perspective of DAP (Copple & Brekekamp, 2009) include the following:

  1. A preschool curriculum should represent real learning in the present, not preparation for later (p. 111).
  2. Three- to five-year-olds bring an already wide variety of experiences to the preschool setting, which should serve to inform curricular decisions.
  3. The curriculum should support and integrate cultural knowledge.
  4. Scaled-down versions of curricula for older children are not appropriate.

Physical Domain

The goals of curricula for physical development focus on developing coordination and fluidity of movement. Children are growing so fast during this time that their body image may lag behind their actual physical appearance, and they may have difficulty with spatial awareness. Preschoolers are also, compared with adults, farsighted, and may not yet have firmly established "handedness," bolstering the case against using work sheets and small print with children of this age (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

Many of the physical developmental needs of preschoolers can be supported by careful planning of the environment and blocking out indoor and outdoor time periods where children are free and expected to make choices, direct their own play, and moderate their personal behavior; thus the curriculum can be largely intentional without being overly teacher-directed. This is not to say that specific activities focused on movement and exercise should be excluded. Many fine resources and activities are included in comprehensive preschool curricula, including supplementary programs specifically directed at physical growth and health activities and practices for 3- to 5-year-olds.

A little girl draws a picture with a marker.

Antoine Juliette / Oredia / Oredia Eurl / SuperStock

Access to plenty of writing materials can help encourage preschoolers to develop their fine motor skills.

In general, curricular considerations for supporting and promoting physical development indoors include:

  • Organizing the classroom or care setting for high mobility (Gestwicki, 2011)allowing for freedom of movement from center to center and with room for children to play on the floor
  • Displaying and labeling materials so that children can retrieve, move/carry, and replace independently
  • Access to age-appropriate games that encourage movement and dexterity
  • Access to a wide variety of materials in each activity area that encourage refinement of fine motor skills while allowing for differences in interests and ability levels
  • Plentiful formal and informal opportunities for learning to use and practice with writing tools

Extending the curriculum for physical development to the out-of-doors should be intentional to ensure plentiful opportunities for the development of physical strength, agility, coordination, and endurance. Increasing concern about obesity among young children in particular points to outdoor play as a critical strategy for encouraging children to be more active.

Outdoor curriculum is addressed in more detail in Chapter 8, but in general the curriculum should include the following:

  • Opportunities for swinging, sliding, rolling, climbing, jumping, running, throwing, kicking, and riding (Gestwicki, 2011, p. 105)
  • Organized games and activities intended to develop particular skills and learning about rules
  • Engaging interest areas that provide additional opportunities for active play, such as digging, gardening, water play, dramatic play, and so on, which support the development of fine motor and perceptual skills

Affective Domain

Curricula for preschoolers support the affective domain primarily by promoting the development of identity, community and friendship, and self-regulation. The emergence of the social self takes center stage and with it attention to cultural and gender identity, making and being friends, and solving problems without coming to blows or hurting someone else's feelings. Children at this age are also emerging from what Erikson called the psychological stage of trust vs. mistrust into the period of autonomy vs. shame/doubt. In other words, infants and toddlers have learned to trust and feel secure in their relationships with those who are most significant in their daily lives and care. Now, as preschoolers, they are ready to venture into a wider circle of people, places, things, and ideas, but they are perhaps not always confident and sure about how to do so.

Three young girls sit on the playground with their arms around each other.

Stockbyte / Thinkstock

Preschool children are just beginning to learn how to make and keep friends; they need a lot of practice and understanding as they develop socially.

Children of this age are also highly motivated by the desire to please the adults they care about, and are apt to forge significant bonds with, and admiration for, their teachers. Sensitive teachers channel these tendencies toward the development of prosocial behaviors while also realizing that the bravado often displayed by a 3-, 4-, or 5-year-old child may camouflage a surprisingly fragile and easily damaged ego. How children navigate their way through this new territory can significantly impact their social competence for the rest of their lives (Gestwicki, 2011).

The curriculum supports preschoolers' affective development with an environment, activities, ample time, and materials that provide opportunities for:

  • Exploring identity (gender, culture, language, personality)
  • Creating an ethic of acceptance, respect, and caring for self and others
  • Modeling and practicing effective strategies for problem solving and conflict resolution
  • Extended sociodramatic and pretend play
  • Identifying and communicating feelings and ideas with words
  • Developing resilience, or the ability to cope with stress and a range of emotions that can be volatile and difficult to manage at this age

Cognitive Domain

Preschool curricula abound with ways to promote and extend cognitive development. Key goals in this area include development of memory, attention, symbolic representation, logic and reasoning, language and literacy, multiple perspectives, and the acquisition of concepts fundamental to later learning across all content areas. Balance in curriculum is extremely important in the preschool years, so teachers must not concentrate on this area of development to the exclusion of the other important domains.

Curriculum supports preschool children's cognitive development with activities, materials, room, and extended periods of time for:

  • Sorting, classifying, and grouping objects
  • Exploring number, quantity, matching, and patterning
  • Observing objects and processes
  • Learning about the physical properties of objects
  • Pretend play focused on themes with ready access to props
  • Drawing, painting, writing

Finally, an increasing number of studies confirm the highly integrated nature of learning at this age. Healthy social, emotional, and physical development in preschoolers provides a foundation for future academic success and is closely correlated with it (Bakken, Brown, & Downing, 2017; Bodrova & Leong, 2007; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Preschoolers' experiences with curriculum have a significant impact on their long-term attitudes toward learning and school. High levels of natural energy, enthusiasm, and curiosity can be nurtured or destroyed during this time!

Many states currently recognize these connections with a section of their early learning standards that addresses "Approaches to Learning" (South Carolina Department of Education, 2005). These are dispositions that represent a merging of social, emotional, and cognitive development such as initiative, persistence, engagement, risk taking, creativity, compliance, and reflection.

Preschool curricula that support development in these integrated domains include:

  • Daily chances for children to make and be accountable for choices
  • Regular practice in planning and communicating actions and intentions
  • Having a voice in discussion of issues and events that are important to the classroom community
  • Ways to include and respect the interests of children about topics and ideas in curriculum content
  • Documentation and sharing of children's ideas, efforts, and products with others

Primary Grades

Of paramount concern to early childhood educators is maintaining a developmentally appropriate approach to curriculum for children in kindergarten through third grade in the face of increasing pressures to test, pace, and standardize curricular goals and content. The NAEYC states that "Education quality and outcomes would improve substantially if elementary teachers incorporated the best of preschool's emphases and practices (e.g., attention to the whole child; integrated, meaningful learning; parent engagement)" (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009, p. 2).

Many schools use a patchwork of limited-scope curricula to address learning standards and desired outcomes in defined content areas such as language arts, mathematics, science, and so on. It can be especially difficult, therefore, to ensure that children's developmental needs are addressed in an integrated fashion within and across domains.

Unfortunately, many of the practices that characterize primary classrooms are those that are least connected with the ways in which children of this age learn and grow, including:

  • Segmented curricula with a many transitions from one subject to another during the day
  • A curriculum that does not allow for children to work at their own pace or provide for a range of interests and abilities
  • Large-group instruction or small group instruction (e.g., reading groups) that leaves the remaining children to do seat work or using work sheets and spending a lot of time waiting for the next activity
  • Using appropriate activities as incentives or rewards rather than as primary learning modes (special projects, learning centers, outdoor play)
  • Large amounts of time spent in solitary, silent work with limited opportunities for using oral language and conversation
  • Limited or no opportunities for children to make choices (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011)

In the face of such challenges, well-prepared teachers of children in K3 settings do need to know how curriculum for this age group can be developmentally oriented to effectively promote learning and growth across all domains.

Physical Domain

Primary aged children still have a great need for activity, although their rate of growth slows over this time period and much of their activity serves to refine skills that have already emerged. A number of recent research studies confirm strong positive correlations between physical activity/exercise and intelligence, academic achievement, and learning (Donnelly, et al., 2016; Smith & Lounsberry, 2009; Tomporowski, Davis, Miller, & Naglieri, 2008; Tubic & Golubovic, 2010). In other words, active children are smarter and learn better! Experts recommend that 14 to 26 percent of the elementary-aged child's time be spent in physical activity (Smith & Lounsberry, 2009). For a typical week in a school with a seven-hour day, that amounts to approximately 5 to 8 hours per week of not sitting.

A young girl jumps rope.

Photodisc / Thinkstock

Children of primary school age should have at least thirty to sixty minutes per day of unstructured and unguided time to engage in games, movement, and strength/coordination activities.

It is highly preferable, therefore, that the primary classroom be arranged and organized with many of the same features as that for younger children so as to allow as much freedom of movement as possible. The curriculum should prioritize the use of learning/activity centers and continue to emphasize real, concrete materials over paper-and-pencil activities. Since many elementary school classrooms are not large enough to accommodate individual desks and learning centers, tables and chairs distributed around the classroom in activity areas can also serve as work areas for times when children do need to be seated for instructional purposes.

Primary children still need extensive opportunities for active hands-on learning, which is also helpful for refining the fine-motor skills they now need for writing and developing advanced manual dexterity, strength, and coordination. They should have time to play outdoors or with a trained physical education specialist at least thirty to sixty minutes per day.

Affective Domain

Erikson characterizes the years when children are in the primary grades as those when they are highly motivated psychologically to be industrious but also extremely vulnerable to feelings of inferiority. The primary school curriculum should therefore provide for an individualized approach that encourages children to use their energy and motivation to become fully engaged in learning and experience success and feelings of competence. A good primary curriculum promotes acceptance and respect for social, cultural, and intellectual differences. It is also flexible, allowing for in-depth investigations of topics that interest and engage children rather than surface learning of facts and concepts unrelated to children's prior experiences. Learning centers as well as individual and small-group times should also be emphasized, rather than large-group instruction.

The years from kindergarten to grade 3 are also a time when children are passionately involved in making and maintaining friendships. They do this on a much more sophisticated level than preschoolers, who are just taking their first tentative steps into the social world. Compliments and insults, real or imagined, affect primary school children deeply, as they are losing their egocentric perspective and really beginning to develop empathy, compassion, and concern for others (along with parallel negative feelings of envy, jealousy, and rejection). Their strong need for belonging lends itself to a curriculum that fosters collaboration, cooperation, and working in pairs and small groups.

Cognitive Domain

Young girl sits outside and writes in a journal.

iStockphoto/Thinkstock

The cognitive development of children in the primary grades is best supported when they can engage in integrated learning that is closely related to their interests; this kindergarten child is working on her science journal.

Given the characteristics of primary children previously mentioned, curriculum for this age group best complements cognitive development with organization and content that promote and/or include:

  • Thematic or project-based inquiry to allow for in-depth integrated learning across content/subject areas
  • Large blocks of time for work that allow children to pace themselves, stay involved, and work interactively with other children
  • Opportunities for children to engage in planning and making choices directly connected to children's learning experiences

A literacy-rich environment in the primary years is critical to the development of the written and oral communication skills and comprehension that are so necessary for later academic success. Primary school children benefit greatly from daily opportunities to interact with meaningful printed materials that become part of the curriculum, such as charts, lists, schedules, labels, and notes, which represent practical applications of language. Literacy materials should be available in all areas of the classroom, so that children can incorporate reading and writing in all of their activities and play. Books and other curricular materials for reading and writing should be plentiful, varied, and reflect the cultural experiences and real lives of children in the classroom.

Primary curricula are typically designed with good intentions by knowledgeable people to meet specific needs and goals; this is not a guarantee, however, that all the important domains of development will be addressed adequately or evenly. It may indeed be challenging for teachers in the primary grades to forge a comprehensive, developmentally appropriate approach from multiple separate subject area curricula, but it is not impossible, and such teachers have an opportunity to advocate for best practices that can make the school lives of children more productive, effective, and developmentally appropriate.

Chapter Summary

  • Developmental knowledge about infants, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and children in the primary grades should guide and inform the decisions that teachers make about curriculum.
  • While we expect children to achieve specific developmental milestones in the physical, affective, and cognitive domains, growth and learning occur in a highly integrated and gradual process.
  • Curriculum must account for and support the needs and interests of both typically developing children and those with special needs. Specific supports, processes, and adaptations are implemented when children exhibit developmental delays or other special needs.
  • A large body of research confirms the benefits of play across all developmental domains. Early childhood curriculum should incorporate support for play as a primary means of integrating experience and learning.
  • Theories about play describe it as a developmental process from both cognitive and social perspectives; they are useful for teachers as they plan for, observe, and facilitate children's play activities.
  • In developmentally appropriate classrooms, teachers typically provide for play with designated activity or learning centers, materials that support development in many different ways, and large blocks of time that allow children to engage deeply in various activities.
  • Curriculum for infants centers on care routines and developing secure relationships with adults.
  • Toddler curriculum supports their increasing mobility and desire to explore, acquisition of language, and emerging social behaviors.
  • Curriculum for preschoolers focuses on the refinement of gross and fine motor skills, developing social relationships, fostering emergent literacy, and internalizing a love of learning through exploration of their environment.
  • Classrooms for children in the primary grades should look in many ways similar to those for younger children. Curricula for children from kindergarten through third grade include an increased emphasis on literacy and mathematics but should continue to balance learning in an integrated and individualized fashion.
Discussion Questions
  1. What do you think will be most challenging as you work at learning and understanding how to teach from a developmental perspective?
  2. Think about your experiences playing as a child; what kind of things did you enjoy doing the most and how do you think your play experiences supported your growth and development?
  3. What themes can you identify that run throughout early childhood curriculum?
Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Adaptation

Modifications made to environments, materials, curriculum content, or strategies

Affective Development

The domain of development that focuses on social and emotional growth

Associative play

Social stage of play when children begin to share and play together without necessarily sharing a desired goal or theme

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Broad continuum of behaviors related to difficulties with sensory processing, social interaction, and communication

Choke tube

A small tube open on both ends that is the approximate size of a baby's airway, used to determine whether a toy or material presents a choking hazard

Code switch

The ability to shift seamlessly between one language and another

Cooperative play

Highest social level of play, when groups of children play together with a shared purpose or theme

Cruising

Holding onto furniture or other objects placed close together to move from one spot to another

Developmental delay

Exists when a child does not meet benchmarks or milestones typically expected for children in a particular stage of development

Domain

Patterns or sequences of development or learning specific to a particular dimension of the human organism, such as the cognitive (thinking), affective (social/emotional) or physical (gross/fine motor and brain) domain

Games with rules

The highest stage of cognitive play, which parallels concrete operations; groups of children play games with common understanding of rules or make up their own rules for games they want to play

Gifted

Characteristics indicative of intellectual capacity beyond what is considered typical

Inclusion

A practice that places children with special needs in regular classroom or care settings with typically developing children

Individualized education plan (IEP)

A plan developed for an individual child with special needs 3 years of age or older that includes curricular and developmental goals, needed resources, adaptations, and support personnel, time lines, and follow-up measures

Individualized family service plan (IFSP)

Service plan developed for children from birth to 3 years of age with services sometimes delivered in the home

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

A federal law requiring that children with disabilities be included in regular classrooms or care settings to the maximum extent possible, also providing funding for resources to meet these children's special needs

Object permanence

Developmental milestone achieved when an infant realizes that an object or person out of sight continues to exist

Parallel play

Playing side by side but not interacting with another child

Practice play

Cognitive stage of play that parallels the sensorimotor stage, when children engage in repetitive or reflexive activities

Primary caregiver

An adult designated as the principal caregiver for a child or children

Solitary play

Characteristic of infant and young toddlers, playing without awareness of or interest in others

Special need

A condition or set of characteristics or behaviors that is not typical for other children of the same age, requiring resources or support services

Symbolic play

A cognitive stage of play that occurs during the preoperational period, characterized by using objects to represent other objects and pretend

Typically developing child

A child whose observable characteristics conform to those reported and/or observed in the majority of children in a given population

References

AGAC. (2004). Remida day. Reggio Emilia, Italy: Friends of Reggio Children Association, Muncipal Infant-Toddler Centers and Preschools of Reggio Emila.

Alvior, M. G. (2014, December 13). The meaning and importance of curriculum development. Retrieved from https://simplyeducate.me/2014/12/13/the-meaning-and-importance-of-curriculum-development/

Anderson, K. (2012). Parents Know. Retrieved February 4, 2012, from Minnesota Department of Education Parents Know: http://parentsknow.state.mn.us/parentsknow/index.html.

Bakken, L., Brown, N., & Downing, B. (2017). Early childhood education: The long-term benefits. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 31(2), 255269.

Bateson, G. (1976). A theory of play and fantasy. A. &. J. S. Bruner (Eds.), Play: Its role in development and evolution (pp. 119129). New York: Basic Books.

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. J. (2007). Tools of the mind: The Vygotskian approach to early childhood education (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Bowlby, J. (1940). The influence of early environment. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 154178.

Bunge, S., & Crons, E. A. (2009). Neural correlates of the development of cognitive control. M. J. Rumsey (Ed.), Neuroimaging in developmental clinical neuroscience (pp. 2237). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Charlesworth, R. (2004). Understanding child development (7th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Clements, D. A., & Sarama, J. (Eds.). (2004). Engaging young children in mathematics: Standards for early childhood mathematics education. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Cook, J. A., & Cook, G. (2005). Child development: Principles and perspectives. Boston: Pearson.

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds) (2009). Key messages of the position statement. Reprinted from Developmentally appropriate practices for programs serving children birth-age eight. Retrieved February 14, 2012, from National Association for the Education of Young Children: http://www.naeyc.org/positionstatements/dap.

Cox, P. R., & Dykes, M. K. (2001). Effective classroom adaptations for students with visual impairments. Teaching Exceptional Children, 33(6), 6874.

Deiner, P. (2009). Infants and toddlers: Development and curriculum planning (2nd ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.

Donnelly, J. E., Hillman, C. H., Castelli, D., Etnier, J. L., Lee, S., Tomporowski, P., . . . Szabo-Reed, A. N. (2016). Physical activity, fitness, cognitive function, and academic achievement in children: A systematic review. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 48(6), 11971222.

Ehlert, L. (1989). Eating the alphabet. New York: Scholastic.

GEMS World Academy Chicago. (n.d.). Six stages of play: How young children develop their social skills. Retrieved from http://gemschicagoearlyyears.com/six-stages-of-play-how-young-children-develop-their-social-skills/

Gestwicki, C. (2011). Developmentally appropriate practice: Curriculum and development in early childhood education (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Greenspan, S. I., Wieder, S., & Simons, R. (1998). The child with special needs: Encouraging intellectual and emotional growth. Reading, MA: Perseus Books.

Howes, C. Unger, O., & Matheson, C. C. (1992). The collaborative construction of pretend: social pretend play functions. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Hull, K. G., Goldhaber, J., & Capone, A. (2002). Opening doors: An introduction to inclusive early childhood education. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

International Play Association (IPA) World. (2009). Retrieved February 5, 2012, from International Play Association: promoting the child's right to play. Retrieved from: http://ipaworld.org/general-comment-on-31/uncrc-article-31/un-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child-1/.

Jaruszewicz, C. (November 11, 2008). The continuing importance of play. Keynote Speech at Charleston County First Steps Annual Meeting. Charleston, SC.

Levine., L. E., &. Munsch, J. (2011). Child development: An active learning approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370396.

Miller, L. G., & Albrecht, K. (2001). Infant & toddler curriculum: Trainer's guide. Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House.

Milteer, R., Ginsburg, K. R., Council on Communications and Media, & Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. (2011). The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bond: focus on children in poverty. American Academy of Pediatrics. Retrieved from: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/12/21/peds.2011-2953.full.pdf+.

Monahan, E. (November 22, 2011). Adaptations for young children that are visually impaired. Retrieved February 4, 2012, from LiveStrong.com: http://www.livestrong.com/article/130693-adaptations-young-children-visually-impaired/.

Office of Head Start. (2012). Early childhood learning and knowledge center: Adaptations for children with disabilities. Retrieved February 4, 2012, from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/teaching/eecd/Curriculum/Teaching%20Strategies/edudev_art_00602_121305.html.

Ribble, M. A. (1944). Infantile experience in relations to personality development. J. M. Hunt (Ed.), Personality and the behavior disorders (pp. 621651). New York: Ronald Press.

Smith, N. J., & Lounsberry, M. (January, 2009). Promoting physical education: The link to academic achievement. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance 80(1), 3943.

South Carolina Department of Education. (2005). South Carolina Good Start Grow Smart Task Force. South Carolina good start grow smart early learning standards. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Department of Education and Department of Social Services.

South Carolina Program for Infant and Toddler Care. (2009). South Carolina infant-toddler guidelines. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina.

Spitz, R. A. (1945). Hospitalizm: An inquiry into the genesis of psychiatric conditions in early childhood. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1, 5374.

Tomporowski, P. D., Davis, C. L., Miller, P. H., & Naglieri, J .A. (2008). Exercise and children's intelligence, cognition,and academic achievement. Educational Psychology Review, 20, 111131.

Tubic, C., & Gulubovic, S. (2010). The effects of physical exercise on externalizing and internalizing behaviors in children. HealthMED, 4(4), 750758.

5
Curriculum as a Collaboration with Families and the Community
A father kneels to help his daughter with her bag at the entrance to her classroom.

Yellow Dog Productions / Getty Images

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Explain the importance of a collaborative approach to working with families.
  • Summarize accepted principles, effective strategies, and typical challenges for understanding and working with families.
  • Explain how teachers can help families understand the current standards-driven environment.
  • Describe ways in which teachers can help families understand the curriculum.
  • Describe how the community can be incorporated as a resource for your curriculum.

Introduction

After completing your home visits, you realize that you now have a lot of additional information about the families of the children who will be in your class. You know which children have a single parent as the household head and have some information about family occupations and work schedules. You now know who lives with siblings and/or an extended family and which children have pets. You have also identified the parents and children with limited English proficiency, and you have some information about what steps have been taken to support the two children with special needs.

But you also have many remaining questions about how the families will respond to you as the teacher and how to create and sustain productive and satisfying relationships. You want the families to feel like partners in the adventure of early childhood education, but you also realize that there may be many factors that could complicate your efforts.

What can you do to learn more about the values, traditions, hopes, and wishes of your families? What strategies to include them in their children's school lives will be most successful? How will you help them understand the curriculum as partners in their children's learning? How will you make connections between the school, your families, and the local community?

In this chapter, we will address the very important challenge of how to construct meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships with families and the community, particularly with respect to curriculum. (Note: In this chapter, all references to interactions and communications with families are made on the assumption that they would be conducted in or translated to the home language as needed.)

From the Field

Program Director Lucia Garay discusses the importance of establishing a sense of community.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. How might you address or approach the challenges and benefits Lucia describes relative to establishing community?

5.1 What Is a Collaborative Approach and Why Is It Important?

As an expanding number of households have both parents working outside the home. As of 2010, the number of women in the workforce is 58.6 percent or 72 million; women are projected to account for 51 percent of the increase in total growth in the labor force between 2008 and 2018 (United States Department of Labor, n.d.). Therefore it can be challenging to effect a significant representation of families in the affairs of programs and schools. In one survey, approximately 58 percent of parents with students in grades K-12 did not volunteer or serve on a committee at their child's school; 26 percent did not attend a school or class event (Noel, Stark, Redford, & Zukerberg, 2016).

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) states that there is no single formula for collaboration between programs and families. However, as part of their recent Engaging Diverse Families project, they have outlined six principles that focus on communication, engagement, and decision making. The principles suggest that:

  1. Teachers and programs engage families in two-way communication 
  2. Programs implement a comprehensive program-level system of family engagement
  3. Programs and teachers engage families in ways that are truly reciprocal 
  4. Programs provide learning activities for the home and in the community
  5. Programs invite families to participate in program-level decisions and wider advocacy efforts
  6. Programs invite families to participate in decision making and goal setting for their children (NAEYC, 2012)

Many years of research and well over one hundred studies on initiatives connecting families, schools, and communities overwhelmingly attest to the value and benefits of strong, positive connections (Fiese, Eckert, & Spagnola, 2006), not just for the children but for the parents and teachers as well. When families are actively involved in the daily lives of their children in school or care and they know what their children are doing during the day, children feel more secure, have a higher sense of self-worth, and learn better. Parents can benefit from feelings of affirmation, increased knowledge about early education and child development, and higher self-esteem. Teachers feel supported and gain additional, relevant knowledge and resources from working closely with families (Gestwicki, 2004).

These kinds of positive correlations with student achievement are most closely associated with programs that feature:

  • Support and respect for family values and expectations
  • Attention to and observation of parent behaviors and interactions
  • Promotion of parent and family participation in school activities and affairs
  • Inclusion of parents in decision-making processes that affect their children (Weiss, Krieder, Lopez, & Chatman, 2005)

Early Collaboration: Parent-Teacher Associations

A one-room schoolhouse is wheeled across a prairie by a tractor.

Candace Jaruszewicz

In the days of mostly rural schools, the community shared all responsibility for the education of its children. This photo documents the author's great grandfather using his tractor in 1918 to move the local one-room "Liberty" school across the prairie to its new location.

Like other aspects of early childhood education, the characteristics of parent/family involvement in schools have evolved over a long period of time (Olsen & Fuller, 2008). In the 1800s, when schools were primarily isolated and rural, the men in a community typically had control over all school matters. As more schools were built to accommodate the population growth that occurred with large-scale immigration, schools were located increasingly in urban areas.

In response to growing concerns about social issues and the welfare of children, womenwho did not yet have the right to votebegan to organize and advocate. Alice McLellan Birney and Phoebe Apperson Hearst established the National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) in 1897. The goals established at that time (and subsequently achieved over the following century) were:

  • The creation of kindergarten classes
  • Child labor laws
  • A public health service
  • Hot-lunch programs
  • A juvenile justice system
  • Mandatory immunization

By the 1950s, parent involvement in elementary schools through PTA membership had swelled to more than 6 million members. As many women returned to homemaking after World War II, they became increasingly involved in their children's schools in both volunteer support and PTA leadership roles. Today, the PTA (https://www.pta.org/) continues as a national organization, with the mission to "make every child's potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children."

In addition, local parent-teacher organizations, loosely referred to as PTOs, have established a parallel network of independent groups. Most recently, federal funding for Title 1 schools through the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act mandates that schools receiving funding should establish parental involvement policies that focus on:

  • Assisting their child's learning
  • Being actively involved in their child's education at school
  • Serving as full partners in their child's education and being included, as appropriate, in decision making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child (National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, 2012)

More From the Field

Preschool Director Donna Willson describes working with children and their families as a "package deal."

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Donna proposes the need for teachers to be resilient and reflective about working with children and their families. What does she mean by that?

In child care centers, no such national grassroots effort took place. Public funding for child care began during the Great Depression through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and with the Lanham Act of 1940, which established child care for the many women working in factories to support the war effort (Cohen, 1996). These programs were temporary, ending with the crises that spurred their establishment. However, federal funding for early education, starting with Head Start, expanded the missions of programs to include a focus on families.

The Goals of a Collaborative Approach

According to the NAEYC, the goals of a collaborative approach to home/school/community involvement should be to increase learning and reduce the achievement gap that still persists in our society (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). One of the core considerations of DAP is the need to understand sociocultural family contexts as essential to developing curriculum and experiences that are meaningful and relevant. Curriculum should be "clearly defined for, communicated to, and understood by all stakeholders, including families" (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009, p. 20).

Engaging the entire family, particularly fathers, is a very high priority today. As Glenn Olsen and Mary Lou Fuller (2008, p. 11) have stated, "Educators are experts in . . . the education of children, and parents are the experts on their children. However, because past experiences have given either parents or teachers disproportionate power in the relationship, both now have to learn to work as a team."

5.2 Understanding and Collaborating with Families

Many collaboration approaches have been devised, implemented, and studied over the past half-century. With shifts in priorities and technological advances, the details about how early care and education programs connect with families continue to change and evolve. But in general the emphasis and goals have been to promote mutually inclusive, collaborative, and productive relationships (Gestwicki, 2004). When teachers understand the cultural context and dynamics of families, they can use that knowledge to create opportunities and encourage family involvement in their children's learning.

Children with Special Needs

While all children, families, and teachers benefit from high-quality, ongoing interactions, this dynamic might be considered absolutely essential for children with special needs. In a recent study of nine child-care centers that serve children with disabilities (Bradley & Kibera, 2007), the researchers learned that understanding and attention to family culture was the key to successful inclusion. The provision of an individualized approach, ongoing communication, and the flexibility needed to adapt to different needs depended on understanding family values and beliefs, sociohistorical influences, and attitudes about seeking help. Therefore taking a collaborative approach to curriculum will naturally fit in with the needs of families with children who have special needs.

Understanding Families

Two theories in particular are helpful to teachers for understanding the families with which they work: Uri Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological theory (introduced in Chapter 1) and family systems theory (FST), used widely in family therapy settings (Christian, 2007; Fiese, Eckert, & Spagnola, 2006; Grant & Ray, 2010; Hill, Stremmel, & Fu, 2007; Weiss, Kreider, Lopez, & Chatman, 2005). Taking a family-centered approach departs from older, more traditional parent involvement models by shifting emphasis from the program to the families (Hill, Stremmel, & Fu, 2007). Further, a family-centered approach respects families as decision makers and culture bearers and assumes that all members of the family should benefit from home-school collaboration.

Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Theory

Bronfenbrenner's theory makes particular sense as a foundation for thinking about home/school/community relationships because it represents the child's experience in the context of interrelated influences. When teachers understand and apply these influences to the particular community environments in which they teach, they can use this knowledge to customize their strategies for the development of relationships with families. Table 5.1 lists the priorities, suggested by ecological theory, for educators who want to develop family involvement in their programs (Weiss, Kreider, Lopez, & Chatman, 2005).

Family Systems Theory

Family systems theory describes family dynamics and provides insights about family structures. Teachers and programs can apply their understanding of family systems to develop productive and collaborative relationships. From a family systems perspective, educators recognize that while the families they serve today are increasingly diverse, all have elements in common that may be represented and operate in different ways (Christian, 2007; Grant & Ray, 2010).

Table 5.1: How Ecological Theory Plays Out in Family Involvement Programs
Sphere of Influence System Features Family Involvement Program Features
Microsystem Home and immediate surroundings
  • Develop family-focused services
  • Tailor different kinds of support for moms vs. dads
  • Provide teacher professional development focusing on family systems
Mesosystem Relationships among immediate contexts
  • Reduce barriers to family participation
  • Cultivate welcoming settings
  • Communicate effectively
  • Promote decision-making skills
  • Help navigate program activities
Exosystem Links between contexts that do and do not include the child
  • Focus on family strengths
  • Identify the social supports families need
  • Promote civic engagement
  • Celebrate family cultures
Macrosystem Links among other systems
  • Ensure that classroom culture is informed by the community
  • Encourage familiarity with children's lives at home
  • Provide balance of individual/larger group interactions
  • Embed family values and culture in classroom activities, goals and expectations
  • Self-awareness of teacher values/biases
Source: Weiss, Kreider, Lopez, & Chatman, 2005.

When teachers use strategies such as home visits, child interviews, or questionnaires, they can acquire information for six specific areas of focus within FST about how families establish and maintain:

Two toddlers fight over a stuffed animal.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Understanding the rules that exist in a child's home, such as those about interacting with siblings, can help a care provider to teach the child the rules in the care setting.
  1. Boundaries: Across families, the desired level of involvement with schools varies, as families have different ideas about the lines that should be drawn between home and school. Understanding why a family might or might not want to be involved in school activities can help teachers make decisions about how to encourage involvement.
  2. Roles: Children's behavior and interactions at school reflect what they know about and how they experience roles they inhabit at home. Children may emulate these roles at school, as helpers, caretakers, peacemakers, problem solvers, or, conversely, victims or even bullies. Teachers who work to identify positive role models among their families can offer opportunities at school where family members can apply these skills in roles that are already familiar to them.
  3. Rules: Both families and programs have explicit and unspoken rules that children have to integrate. This will be harder when a rule at school is very different from one at homefor example, a child who is allowed to fight with siblings at home but clearly not with other children in the care or educational setting. When these discrepancies are identified, communications can be focused on balancing what the child understands about expectations and interactions.
  4. Hierarchies: The ways families make decisions, who makes them, and who holds and wields power is greatly influenced by diversity and circumstances. Teachers learn, for example, which family member assumes responsibility as primary contact.
  5. Climate: Physical and emotional environments vary widely across families and can change with circumstances, as in the loss of a job or a significant illness in the family. Teachers can convey sensitivity and respect for a family's need for privacy or assistance when they identify and understand the stresses families experience.
  6. Equilibrium: Rituals, customs, and traditions provide consistency, security, and balance. Gaining insights into the importance of these things can be helpful to a teacher for planning activities that represent the diversity among students' families.

Involving Families at School

Family involvement models and approaches today aim to achieve what the Reggio Emilia educators call an "amiable school," envisioning programs that welcome, incorporate, and reflect everyone's ideasthose of children, families, teachers, and community (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998; Eliason & Jenkins, 2008; Hill, Stremmel, & Fu, 2007). Teachers and families might take a grassroots approach, constructing their own vision and strategies for how to promote collaboration and involvement. Or, planning for family involvement might be done within the framework of an established model if the teacher works in a program that uses one.

More From the Field

Director Beverly Prange explains the importance of face-to-face communications with families.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. How would you characterize an "ideal" relationship between the teacher and children's families?

Grassroots Approach

Frameworks for collaboration with families typically include some or all of the six types of parent involvement proposed by Joyce Epstein (2001) for the National Network of Partnership Schools initiative:

  1. Parent education: Providing information or training about topics important to parents in structured or informal ways.
  2. Communication: Understanding the ways in which parents and teachers interact with one another and share information.
  3. Volunteering: Inviting family participation at the educational setting including social events, classroom support, clerical work, and so on.
  4. Learning at home: Finding ways to involve parents in activities that support their learning at school.
  5. Decision making: Inviting parent participation in all levels of decisions, from those related to individual children to advisory councils or committees that participate in establishing and enacting policies and initiatives.
  6. Collaborating with the community: Inviting families to help the program establish relationships with merchants, organizations, and public services such as libraries or health centers.

Teachers and programs seek input from families about what kinds of involvement would best serve their needs, recruit parents who might be interested in leadership roles, and work together to develop and implement plans.

Family Involvement Models

Some programs, especially those funded by the state or federal government, or grants, establish and operate comprehensive family involvement programs with different kinds of features. If you work in a Head Start program, for example, there are clearly defined policies about how teachers and the program will collaborate with families. In a pilot or experimental program such as Leaps and Bounds, the framework might be more open-ended as the program is developed.

Table 5.2 displays a range of examples of family involvement models with a short description of each (Gestwicki, 2004; Lim, 2008; Narvaez, Feldman, & Theriot, 2007; Rhodes, Enz, & LaCount, 2007).

Table 5.2: Examples of Family Involvement Models
Program Description
Even Start
Federally funded Title I home-based program that promotes family literacy; GED programs, and workforce skills development (over 800 sites).
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Among mandated activities are annual informative meetings for parents; involvement in planning, review, and improvement of schools; opportunities for parent input/suggestions.
Head Start (3-to 5-year olds) Includes parents directly in program decision making; provides opportunities to work with child as volunteer with career-ladder support; planned parent activities; ongoing communication; leadership via parent committees and policy council.
Early Head Start (infant/toddlers) Similar to Head Start but with home-based services.
Minnesota Early Childhood Family Education Program (ECFE) Started in the Minneapolis Public Schools in 1974 with classes and activities for parents of children from birth to 5 years of age. Expanded statewide and used as a model for other states to establish parent education programs.
AVANCE Private nonprofit organization started by Gloria Rodriguez and the Zale Foundation in 1973 to serve primarily Hispanic families in San Antonio; programs as of 2012 in Texas, New Mexico, and California with partnerships in several other states around the country; focuses on parent education.
PBS KIDS Lab A partnership with Chicago public schools and PBS KIDS that provides virtual resources for children ages 3-8. Includes free online resources developed by master teachers in English and Spanish and modeling of high-quality activities parents can do with their children.

Barriers and Challenges

More From the Field

Preschool director and teacher Donna Wilson discusses how educators must confront their biases and preconceived notions of what families should be in order to be comfortable working with all the children and families who enter their classroom.

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. What are some of your preconceived notions about how families should be?
  2. What can you do to get to know the families and make everyone in your classroom feel welcome?

There is widespread agreement that home/school/community programs succeed only when mutual trust is well established among those involved (Dombro & Lerner, 2005; Fiese, Eckert, & Spagnola, 2006; Sciarra & Dorsey, 2007). Other factors are important as well. Parent education efforts, especially literacy-focused programs, require that educators appreciate and respect many "ways of knowing" and the life experiences of parentsa sociocultural perspective that doesn't regard teachers as the only authentic source of knowledge or information (Grant & Ray, 2010; Ordonez-Jasis & Ortiz, 2007). Involvement programs that establish clear goals (Fiese, Eckert, & Spagnola, 2006; Ordonez-Jasis & Ortiz, 2007) and boundaries (Christian, 2007; Sciarra & Dorsey, 2007) help create a climate for partnership and define vision and purpose.

Educators have also learned many lessons over time about pitfallsthe factors that can challenge those working to establish relationships and create practical and meaningful family and community-friendly activities and processes. Memories of past experiences with school, particularly negative ones, are powerful disincentives, especially for those who might feel marginalized to begin with by limited education or language proficiency (Gestwicki, 2004; Grant & Ray, 2010).

Some parents who might otherwise be very interested in participating in their child's classroom might be limited by logistical considerations, such as access to transportation or work schedules (Eliason & Jenkins, 2008; Gestwicki, 2004; Grant & Ray, 2010). Other factors, such as a lack of self-confidence, self-consciousness about family structures or alternative lifestyles, perceptions parents may have about teachers' "turf," or cultural norms and expectations may also be present but are even more difficult to acknowledge or recognize (Clay, 2007; Eliason & Jenkins, 2008; Gestwicki, 2004; Grant & Ray, 2010).

5.3 Helping Families Understand Curriculum, Goals, and Expectations

If we want families and the community to be more involved in our children's early education, we need to help them understand the nature and purpose of learning standards and how they affect the curriculum as well as the systems in place for achieving accountability to the standards. For instance, we need to explain that a curriculum standard is a statement that reflects society's current values about what children should know and be able to do. Families also need to know that standards do not dictate the specific curriculum a program or school uses but that school districts, child care, and preschool programs choose or design a curriculum that will address and meet learning standards. Finally, families deserve to know how their children's growth and progress is documented with respect to standards.

Aligning (Mapping) Curriculum with Standards

Standards are written to allow educators to make decisions on behalf of each individual child. At the local/site/classroom level, teachers should share the ways in which they interpret the standards. Sometimes teachers do this by identifying how the curriculum connects with specific standards or desired learning and development outcomesa process called alignment or mapping. Commercially produced curricula for early childhood may include written documentation of this process. For example, the Creative Curriculum includes documents that connect the objectives, dimensions, and performance indicators of the program with the specific domains and domain elements that Head Start programs are mandated to meet. Table 5.3 provides a selected example.

Table 5.3: Creative Curriculum Alignment (for 3-Year-Olds)
Head Start Domain Element Examples of Objectives and Dimensions from the Creative Curriculum for Preschool Examples from the Creative Curriculum for Preschool
Receptive language: the ability to comprehend or understand language 8. Listens to and understands increasingly complex language
8a. Comprehends language
8b. Follows directions
  • Mighty minute 73 "Are You Ready?"
  • Intentional Teaching "My Turn at the Microphone"
  • Intentional Teaching "Introducing New Vocabulary"
Expressive language: the ability to use language 9. Uses language to express thoughts and needs
9a. Uses an expanding expressive vocabulary
9b. Speaks clearly
9c. Uses conventional grammar
9d. Tells about another time or place
10. Uses appropriate conversational and other communication skills
10a. Engages in conversations
10b. Uses social rules of language
  • Trees Study: Day 4, Investigation 1 (Large-group discussion and Shared Writing, p. 34)
  • Buildings Study: Day 4, Investigation 3 (Large-group discussion and Shared Writing, p. 58)
  • Intentional Teaching "Introducing New Vocabulary"
Source: Teaching Strategies, 2012.

In classrooms that use curricula designed by individuals, parents should also have the opportunity to know whether the curriculum is consistent with the mission and goals of the program and the extent to which it aligns with or supports standards used in the state or local community. Regardless of the type of curriculum, this requires that the teachers and program administrators plan for and implement intentional communication about the curriculum. Information about the selected curriculum model or approach should be included in official program documents such as a family handbook, written curriculum guide or overview, or program websites. Teachers can provide parents with examples of standards that are being used in their classrooms and point out how they relate specifically to the activities that are planned for the children. Some teachers create classroom or hallway displays that indicate how an activity is related to a particular standard or group of standards.

See the annotated list of "Websites for Creating Classroom Blogs" at the end of this chapter for examples of the way in which programs describe or explain their approaches to curriculum.

Accountability: Testing and Assessment

Parents are entitled to accurate reporting designed to help them understand how the curriculum is working on behalf of their children. Teachers and programs need to provide information to families to help them understand the accountability measures in use and how that information is specifically relevant to the curriculum and its goals/objectives.

This responsibility is complicated by many factors. In the public schools, standardized tests are used that report results in terms of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Report cards are issued for schools and states, beginning with third-grade data intended to provide information about which schools and districts are making adequate yearly progress (AYP), with accompanying options for parents who wish to transfer their children from schools designated as low-performing to schools that report higher achievement.

Although test reporting in the public schools doesn't officially begin until third grade, many public and private schools feel pressure to use standardized tests with younger children for a variety of reasons that may or may not be related to determining progress, including:

  • Determining entry-level readiness for a class of 4-year-olds, kindergarten, or first grade
  • Screening children who must meet minimal score requirements for eligibility to charter, magnet, or private schools
  • Identification of special needs, including giftedness
  • "Coaching" to help children perform better on standardized tests to be administered later
A young girl writes in her workbook.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Teachers, children, and families are increasingly affected by high-stakes testing. Educators and families can benefit from a shared understanding of how external pressures and mandates affect goals and curriculum.

These kinds of activities are described as high-stakes testingwhen the outcome of an individual child's performance on a single measure can have significant effects on decisions that will affect the child's future access to educational opportunities. Oftenespecially in communities with high numbers of immigrant or low-socioeconomic, undereducated families and families navigating the elementary school choice system for the first timeparents aren't aware of the potential implications of high-stakes testing.

The terminology of curriculum standards can also be confusing to parents and families. While educators use professional jargon and terms such as AYP (adequate yearly progress), alignment, benchmarks, differentiating instruction, and high-stakes testing, it is best to communicate with families about standards-based curriculum in plain language; this helps to establish meaningful dialogue (Grant & Ray, 2010).

Developmentally Appropriate Accountability

Assessment and communicating information about assessments is a focus in Chapter 12, but here it is important to note that early childhood educators are mindful of the developmental issues associated with accountability and standards. The NAEYC position statements provide clearly articulated guidance about:

  • The types of assessment that are appropriate for young children
  • How programs can and should communicate, incorporate, and share assessment information with families
  • How assessments should be linked to curriculum
  • How early learning standards can be developed to maintain fidelity to developmentally sound principles about how young children learn (NAEYC/NAECS/SDE, 2002)

For early childhood programs seeking national accreditation through the NAEYC (2018), standard 4 is devoted to the identification of criteria that programs must meet to document that they:

  • Develop and use a written assessment system that describes the purposes, procedures, and uses of assessments and results
  • Use developmentally appropriate methods aligned with curricular goals
  • Are sensitive to and informed by family culture and home language
  • Use the information gathered to plan and modify the curriculum
  • Include information from families to inform the assessment process
  • Provide regular opportunities for two-way communication with families about children's progress

5.4 Helping Families to Understand the Curriculum

As you begin to develop reciprocal relationships with families, you will want to share information about developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) with regard to curriculum; this will provide a foundation for further discussion (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011).

For example, programs and teachers can:

  • Include a statement in promotional or informational materials that curriculum for young children is based on research about child development and is designed to complement and support how they learn best.
  • Invite parents to tour the classroom, emphasizing features that reflect DAP, such as displays at the child's eye level, carefully organized and labeled materials that promote independence, and a variety of materials that appeal to children in different ways.
  • Provide resource information about DAP in a notebook or parent library.
  • Post information in the classroom about developmental characteristics relevant to the age of the children in the group.
  • Create and display printed labels for classroom centers that briefly describe how activities promote development in different ways.
  • Include a statement on interest inventories or family questionnaires that information gathered is used to construct goals and make decisions about curricular activities.
  • Establish a communications notebook or log that goes back and forth between home and school.
  • In parent-teacher conferences, describe a specific example of a decision you made that was based on an observation about each child's development (Seplocha, 2007).
  • Enlist parents' support and input to establish learning and social/emotional goals for individual children (Kaczmarek, 2007).

In short, building relationships with families should include the use of multiple strategies that clearly communicate the importance of knowledge about child development as the foundation for learning. By sharing information about how children learn, one creates a logical context for providing visual documentation about what they are learning.

The Power of Documentation

Making the curriculum visible in the classroom and other appropriate areas of the school sends a powerful message to allchildren, families, and communitythat what young children learn and do is important. As mentioned in Chapter 2, visual documentation of learning is a concept associated with and highly developed in the Reggio Emilia programs (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998). Essentially, Reggio Emilia teachers construct displays that recount what and how children learn during long-term project work. The displays include images, scripts of children's words, teacher reflections, and examples of children's work. They focus on how a project was initiated and how the children think about what occurred over time. Judy Helm (2007) describes this process for American teachers as "windows on learning."

The use of visual documentation does not need to be restricted only to those programs that use an emergent curriculum or long-term project work. From a practical perspective, making curricular activities visible to others can be a powerful communications strategy in any early childhood setting. Visual documentation helps visitors understand the curriculum teaching from a developmental perspective, meeting children's individual needs, and meeting learning standards and/or program outcomes.

Reggio Emilia-style documentation was originally constructed on panelsdisplay boards that included cut-and-pasted photographs and text accompanied by displays of two-dimensional work or pictures of three-dimensional work. More recently, selected projects have been published by Reggio Emilia in book form, including The Theater Curtain (2002); Reggio Tutti: A Guide to the City by the Children (2000); Everything Has a Shadow Except Ants (1999); The Future Is a Lovely Day (2001); and Dialogues with Places (2008).

With advances in user-friendly technologies, teachers now have at their disposal many options for creating documentation (Berson & Berson, 2010). Many tools are currently available that can serve to streamline the process and help families feel a part of the daily learning experiences of their children.

Using Technologies for Documentation and Communication

With advances in user-friendly technologies, teachers now have at their disposal many options for creating documentation (Berson & Berson, 2010). Many tools are currently available that can serve to streamline the process and help families feel a part of the daily learning experiences of their children.

Certainly the digital camera and cell phone have revolutionized the way in which teachers capture the essence of classroom activities. The ability to take, store, edit, print, and insert images in a variety of applications suggests many possibilities for sharing the curriculum with families. Teachers can also scan children's two-dimensional work.

But pictures alone don't tell the whole story. Consider Figure 5.1. The image depicts a block structure built by children. Without a description, it could be interpreted in any number of ways. When the teacher adds a simple printed description to the figure (label A), more information is conveyed. Further expanding the label to include a short reflective statement about what the image represents (label B) connects the activity with the curriculum in a way that is meaningful. Label C fully describes the learning represented in the photo as well as the skills and knowledge the children used.

Figure 5.1: Labeling
Labels A, B, and C represent three increasingly informative levels of description that complement the visual depiction of a classroom activity.
Figure: Image of a large block tower with small animal and people figurines is shown at left and is described in three different ways on the right. Label A reads "Children in the 4/5K class worked in the block center this morning."Label B reads "This 4 story block tower represents a zoo. It was constructed during the work cycle period over two days by three kindergarten children."Label C reads "Three kindergarteners who have been developing their skills in the block center all year demonstrate their knowledge of balance, symmetry and classification in this 4 story construction. There are major math concepts included in the kindergarten math standards. They solved several structural problems as they worked over two days to complete the tower. The decision to add animals and people was made after the 4 levels were complete, but before the enclosing pieces were placed. At one point, they posted a sign that said, 'wrk n prgrs.' After they decided to add animals, they carefully counted out pairs of identical animals, sorting them by size and type, putting animals from like habitats together."

By posting captioned photographs, teachers can give families a glimpse into the everyday lives of their young children at school or in child care. Extended documentation of children's work and play over time goes even further, showing how the curriculum supports children's interests, development, and holistic learning. Feature Box 5.1 tells the story of how two teachers used a blog to document a curriculum study with a group of 5- and 6-year-olds.

Blogging

Two teachers, Mary and Jane, embarked on a month-long field-based investigation of the city parks in their community. The parks were all within walking distance of the child development center and easily accessible via public transportation. Family members were invited to participate in the planned excursions, but the teachers realized that not everyone would be able to do so.

Jane and Mary wanted all parents to feel that they were involved with this project, so they used a free online service to set up a password-protected classroom blog. For parents without computer access, daily pages were printed and kept in a notebook at the classroom sign-in area. Parents could review them as desired at dropoff or pickup times. The teachers posted photographs and daily entries dictated by the children. They scanned and uploaded children's drawings and excerpts from their journals to the blog.

Figure 5.2: Blog Entry
In this blog entry from the first week of the study a few of the children went with one of the teachers on a test run of the bus system to get maps from the City Visitor Center. Many of the subsequent posts were dictated by children to the teacher.
Figure: Webpage that shows the 4/5K class blog. The blog is date September 21, 2012 and is called "The Park Project Blog."Below the titles are five images, a white bird flying, a brown road sign that reads, "Main Parking & Visitor Center 1 Mile Ahead,"a birds-eye-view map, a satellite image of North America, and an African-American women in front of a chalkboard. Below the images is a search field and a menu bar with the buttons About, Our Classroom, Meet the Teachers, Photo Gallery, Upcoming Events, and Archives. The blog has two columns. The left column reads, "Birds Eye View by Butterfly Class. The first week of Summer I we showed the children some maps and talked about "birds-eye-view."We looked at maps we had picked up on a field trip to the Visitor's Center and also at Google maps and Google Earth. We asked the children to draw their own "birds-eye-view"maps. You will notice that the children generally combine birds-eye-view and side view. They draw their beds and other things they have seen from above as birds-eye-view and they draw everything else from a side view. We really enjoyed looking at these maps. The right column of the blog shows a September calendar labeled Upcoming Events. Underneath the calendar is a Contact Us section with three form fields  Name, Email, Question/Comment.

The blog also included teacher reflections, copies of articles they had read that informed their planning, and links to online resources they had used to develop and conduct the study. Other artifacts from their work, such as organizational charts and brainstorming lists that were too big to scan, were displayed in the classroom and photographed to upload to the blog. Figure 5.2 includes a sample entry from the blog.

Stop and Reflect
  1. Since a blog represents an online forum for sharing ideas or experiences with others and may be interactive, it has many potential applications. Can you think of a way you might use a blog in your classroom or care setting?
  2. Do you think there might be potential privacy issues associated with blogging about the children in your care or classroom? How might such issues be addressed?

Teachers can now use many forms of technology to connect families with the classroom and the curriculum (Grant & Ray, 2010). Ebooks, like the one you're reading now, show how technology is expanding our ability to provide remote access to learning materials. Of course teachers must follow school or program policies to protect privacy and restrict public access to online applications. Some programs are also creating policies regarding family and staff use of social networking sites (National Coalition of Campus Child Development Centers Listserve Communications, March, 2012).

The level of technological support will likely vary by setting. But to the extent that such applications are available, any or all of the following can be used to link home and school:

  • Newsletters (see example in Figure 5.3) can include descriptions of activities; features on children, families, and teachers; favorite stories and songs; upcoming events; classroom recipes; and much more.
  • Classroom or program websites can include both permanent and time-sensitive information (see annotated list of websites at the end of this chapter).
  • Blogs (see list at end of chapter for free online blogging sites).
  • Email distribution list to families in addition to individual communications.
  • Text or instant-messaging for real-time announcements.
  • Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or other social networking applications to connect with families and connect them to one another.
Figure 5.3 Newsletter
Many teachers publish a newsletterdaily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthlywith user-friendly software programs. This is a sample newsletter, the Sunflower Gazette, about a 3-year-old class.
Figure: Three-year-old class newsletter dated September 21, 2012. Title of the newsletter is "Sunflower Gazette."Below the title are five images. From left to right the images are of a space shuttle launch, a harvest moon, a miniature paper rocket, a child holding a large poster board rocket and a half-moon. The newsletter has two columns. The left column reads, "In the Classroom. Mini Rockets: Each child created a miniature rocket out of a toilet paper tube and film canister. They decorated these, and will launch them for our grand finale of space after spring break! Moon Cake: We enjoyed a delicious snack of "moon cake"on Thursday. It was mentioned in a book we read about a bear who woke up in hibernation surrounded by snow and thought he was on the moon! He ate "moon cake"there as well."The right column reads, "Moon Rocks and Astronauts. As you may have guessed, we are now studying outer space! After many weeks of the children pretending they were on a trip to the moon while pushing them on the tire swings, we realized the interest wasn't going away. A few of our students even knew the names of the planets; naturally, everyone started taking a great interest. (We are not learning about Star Wars, although we could probably learn all about it from a few of our students ☺.) The Sunflower astronauts helped us create their own class rocket ship for imaginary trips to the moon! The astronauts are learning to count down from 5, play a space board game to enhance 1:1 counting and numeral recognition, and have learned the four phases of the moon. We practice making patterns with the moon phases at circle time. Out of the full moon, gibbous moon, half moon, and crescent moon, gibbous moon was by far the favorite to say ☺. We have been doing many fun space related activities. Each child found a rock to bring to circle time. We put them in a special "space proof"container for safekeeping and talked about the surface of the moon. We also watched a real rocket launch on You Tube! Please take a moment to look at our solar system mural outside. The astronauts worked on tracing, cutting, and identifying the objects in our sky. It is a joy to see them learn and develop self-efficacy through building skills."The bottom of the right column says, "See what we've been reading,"and shows a book called "Why Does the Moon Change Shape?"with a picture of a full moon. At the bottom of the newsletter is the Student of the Week feature. There is a picture of a young boy named David who answered the flowing questions: "What is your favorite food? Pizza. What is your favorite color? Orange. Who is in your family? Mommy and Daddy and big sister and me. What is your favorite book? The Hungry Caterpillar.

Informational and Interactive Events and Programs

More From the Field

Administrators work hard to help parents feel involved and connected in their child's education. Preschool director Lynda Way talks about how to determine in which decisions parents can be involved and which they should not.

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. Do you agree with Lynda's position? Why or why not?
  2. If parent's aren’t involved in setting the curriculum, how else might you include them in the classroom?

As described in Table 5.2, many well-known models for formal family involvement include components focused on parent education. These priorities may include such things as general education, improving literacy and/or facility with English, career-ladder opportunities, or parenting skills. The focus or intent of these kinds of programs is different from parent education about the child's curriculum.

In this section, we briefly consider programs and experiences intended to inform and engage parents/families in dialogue about the curriculum itself. These types of activities fall into three broad categories: (1) providing access to curriculum resources, (2) planned events that engage families in first-hand experiences with the curriculum, and (3) sending the curriculum home (Berger, 2008, Gestwicki, 2004; Sciarra & Dorsey, 2007; Wentworth, 2006).

Providing Access to Curriculum Resources

First, parents should be able to see printed information about the curriculum and relevant books, articles, or other references they can read or review at any time. If a purchased curriculum is being used, samples of teacher resource books, printed assessment materials, and examples of print materials that children use should be accessible at school for parents to view.

Teachers who develop their own curricula should make a description of the approach or model and assessment system available in writing. An organized notebook of print resources, such as articles that inform the curriculum and examples of children's activities, can help parents understand its goals. A specific location for resource information should be created that is clearly designated for parent/family/community use. If a separate room is not available, this space could be in the entry or reception area, a book rack in a hallway or office, or in classroom observation areas if the site is so equipped.

The point is that parents need to sense that you want to share information about curriculum with them, that you make an effort to do so, and that the information you provide is current and accurate. If at all manageable, a circulating or lending system can reach family members who can't get to the resource location.

Planned Events That Engage Families

More From the Field

Preschool teacher Sonia Sandoval describes the importance of honoring different types of families, and of being inclusive when celebrating families' traditions and cultures.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. How will you help ensure that all families feel included in all aspects of the classroom and program?

Events provide information and/or hands-on activities that give parents the opportunity to learn about and interpret the curriculum at first hand. Ideally, parents and teachers together should have input about topics.

Examples of this kind of activity can include:

  • Social eventssuch as a picnic, pancake supper, or cookoutdesigned to develop a sense of community at school.
  • An orientation meeting or information session to share general information about the curriculum and/or particular elements such as literacy, math, or art.
  • Informal discussion groups focused on a specific topic (such as temper tantrums or toilet training) or sharing a film or reading an article of relevance or timeliness.
  • A panel discussion with representatives from local schools focused on helping parents prepare for children's transitions to elementary school.
  • A back-to-school night or open house intended to familiarize family members with classroom organization, materials, and activities that are part of the children's daily experience.
  • Hands-on workshops that engage parents in activities demonstrating how children learn, such as story reading, a math/science cooking night, or even finger painting.
  • Special events that highlight children's work, such as an art exhibit, harvesting the classroom garden, or celebrating children's writing.

These events also provide for informal discussion and question-and-answer opportunities with the teacher. When teachers and families engage in ongoing dialogue about the curriculum, children benefit indirectly from insights they gain and a sense of shared purpose.

Three fathers checking-in their children at school.

Ingram Publishing / Thinkstock

Teachers can create many different kinds of informal occasions to give families the opportunity to become familiar with and participate in their children's activities.

Sending the Curriculum Home

Inventive teachers also employ practical strategies to directly extend children's curriculum activities from school to home. Academic homework is inappropriate for young children. But you could, for example, create a "traveling suitcase" or book bag (Gestwicki, 2004) with items that a child might not have at home but that the family would enjoy using together, such as a favorite book and puppet or puzzle. You might also provide paper, markers, and envelopes for a drawing and note to put in the classroom mailbox for a friend. You can ask parents if it would be appropriate to make a special call to children at home as an incentive for learning their phone number, or send a postcard when they can tell you their address. You might send home a photograph of the child at school, with paper and a pen for the parents to record how the child describes what he or she was doing.

Families as Primary Curriculum Resources

If you reach out to the families in your classroom, you will find that they enrich your curriculum tremendously. Every group of children brings a host of familial language, cultural, occupational, and personal knowledge that, when combined, forms a unique community in ways both obvious and subtle. Luis Moll and colleagues described this perspective toward family involvement as a "funds of knowledge" approach (Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005; Grant, Ray, 2010; Ordonez-Jasiz & Ortiz, 2007), cautioning that failure to recognize parents as a significant resource constitutes a deficit approach (pp. 45).

If you were writing a case study paper for a course assignment, you would certainly rely on primary or first-hand sources (e.g., observation, interviews, and so on) as the most reliable information for your description of the study subject(s). Similarly, you can consider your children's families as primary resources for the curriculum. The knowledge and insights you gain about them should serve as a major influence for the decisions you make to plan and adapt activities so that the curriculum is relevant, meaningful, and respectful.

Antibias Curriculum

Further support for these perspectives comes from the antibias curriculum guidelines developed by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards (2010). The premise of antibias curriculum is that a central focus of our work should be "to support children's full development in our multiracial, multilingual, multicultural world and to give them the tools to stand up to prejudice, stereotyping, bias, and eventually to institutional 'isms'"(p. vii).

The four broad goals of antibias curriculum can inform our work with families as curriculum resources:

"Each child will:

  1. Demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities.
  2. Express comfort and joy with human diversity, accurate language for human differences, and deep, caring human connectedness.
  3. Increasingly recognize unfairness, have language to describe unfairness, and understand that unfairness hurts.
  4. Demonstrate empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or discriminatory actions." (pp. 45)

While there are many dimensions of the curriculum that can be enhanced with family support, learning about the families of the young children you teach is certainly one way to individualize curriculum and promote the goals outlined above.

Learning About and Connecting with Families

There are several useful strategies you can use to begin gathering information to help you connect your curriculum with the children and their families. In this section we will consider three: (1) questionnaires and interviews, (2) family mapping, and (3) storytelling.

Asking parents to complete an informational questionnaire or to participate in an interview, either at school or during a home visit, can be extremely useful. The purpose of these activities should be twofold: to gather information about the child and to learn about the family. Including a brief introductory statement that describes the purpose of the interview or questionnaire can answer questions parents might have about its intent.

Family survey questions should be framed in a manner that gives parents control over how they report information. For example, asking to list family members who live in the home and indicate their relationship to the child is preferable to listing family roles such as "mother," "father," "sisters," "brothers," with an adjacent fill-in blank.

Table 5.4 lists several examples of questions about children and families you might want to ask.

Table 5.4: Examples of Interview or Family Survey Questions
Questions about the Child Questions about the Family
  1. What are your child's favorite activities?
  2. What are your child's least favorite activities?
  3. Who does your child like to play with?
  4. What are your child's food preferences?
  5. Does your child have any particular fears?
  6. Does your child enjoy being read to or telling stories?
  7. Describe your child's personality.
  8. What does your child seem to be most interested in learning about?
  1. List the names of the family members who live in your home and their relationship to your child.
  2. What is your family's country of origin?
  3. What language(s) are spoken in your home?
  4. Describe your family's favorite recreational activities or hobbies.
  5. How does your family observe holidays?
  6. How do the members of your family share family history?
  7. What kind of work do members of your family do?

As you gather information, you can begin to represent it by using a graphic organizer or chart to create maps for individual families (Bennett, 2007) and/or your class as a whole. In this way, you can start to see patterns and opportunities for ways to connect your curriculum, children, and families. Figure 5.4 displays a map for an individual child/family in our imaginary class. Figure 5.5 provides an example of the kinds of things you might learn about the group of seventeen children in our opening vignette.

Figure 5.4: Family Map
From this family map you can see that Joseph lives with a bilingual extended family. They own a landscaping business. His mother is a nurse and she is expecting their third child. The family enjoys camping and fishing. The family reports that Joseph is generally happy but fights with his brother. He seems to have science-related interests.
Figure: Family map for Joseph, age 4. Joseph's name and age are in the middle shape and is surrounded by 6 other shapes providing information about Joseph's family. The top shapes reads, "At Home: Mom (Josie), Dad (Robert), Brother (David, 9), Baby on the way, Grandmother, Uncle (Jim)."The top right shape reads, "Work: Mom  nurse, Dad  landscaping, Uncle  landscaping (own business)."The bottom right shape reads, "Traditions: Christmas, Halloween, Tooth Fairy, Annual Family Reunion, Birthdays, 4th of July Picnic."The bottom shape reads, "Child Profile: fights with brother, has 2 best friends, generally sociable and friendly, learning to play soccer, afraid of the dark, loves baking with grandmother, collects rocks and bugs, hates vegetables, likes 'Bob' books."The bottom left shape reads, "Family Activities: camping/fishing."The top left shape reads, "Language and Origins: Mom/Dad (U.S), Grandmother (Puerto Rico), English/Spanish."
Figure 5.5: Classroom Map
From charting family survey data, you learn that you have family members who might be able to support a study of community helpers (nurse, law enforcement); there is expertise related to growing, producing, distributing, and preparing foods and learning about stores and services; there also might be interesting possibilities for photography and music.
Figure: Six squares categorizing family data of the children in a class. Top left square reads, "Countries of Origin: US (13), Guatemala (1), Mexico (1), Jamaica (1), China (1)."Top middle square reads, "Home Languages: English (15), Spanish (2)."Top right square reads, "Hobbies/Recreation: Camping/hiking (3), Moto-cross (1), Hunting/fishing (4), Carpentry (2), Flea Markets (3), Soccer (6), Dancing (4), Playing in a band (1), Painting (1)."The bottom left square reads, "Family History: Oral History/Storytelling (3), Photo albums (12), Facebook (1), Annual reunion (1)."The bottom middle square reads, "Work (parents or extended family): Agriculture (6), Retail (3), Service industries (5), Book-keeping (1), Photographer (1), Baker (1) Law Enforcement (1), Teacher/caregiver (2) Landscaping (3), Entertainer/Singer (1), Nurse (1)."The bottom right square reads, "Traditions: Christmas (17), Easter (16), Day of the Dead (1), ,Chinese New Year (1), Birthdays (17), Tooth Fairy (16), St. Patrick's Day (2), 4th of July Picnic (10), Halloween (16), First Communion (6)."

A third option for developing insights about families is storytelling. Stories can serve as powerful tools for learning, both as modeling an important component of literacy, and a means to identify strengths and values within family groups (Fiese, Eckert, & Spagnola, 2006; Overton, 2005). Typically, the focus of family stories and legends varies by culture and reflects the family's worldview.

In Western cultures influenced by the Judeo-Christian tradition, stories often feature main characters that exemplify strength and a focus on individualism, qualities highly valued in the American mythology and folklore. In non-Western traditions, a collectivist orientation influences narrative themes that frequently revolve around family responsibilities and a group orientation (Fiese, Eckert, & Spagnola, 2006). Asking families to share a favorite story about their child, history, or interesting characters can be done in numerous ways, including:

  • Sending home a tape or digital audio recorder and asking a parent to read or tell the story for use in the classroom listening center.
  • Transcribing the story during a face-to-face meeting or visit to the classroom or care setting.
  • Giving each family a large index card to summarize a story and keeping the cards in a file box.
  • Providing each family with a piece of "language experience paper" that has lines for writing on the bottom and space for an illustration at the top. Short narratives can then be assembled into a book for the classroom library or book center.

Family stories can reveal patterns of strengths not perhaps observable in other ways, such as perseverance, resourcefulness, spirit, humor, or diplomacy (Overton, 2005). When used in the classroom, they offer children a concrete connection to home and opportunities to learn about their friends.

Strategies for Involving Families in Your Curriculum

More From the Field

Douglas Regin stresses the importance of parent involvement in their child's education.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Douglas describes monthly meetings as an effective collaborative strategy. What challenges might you foresee in setting up these regular meetings? How might you overcome these challenges?

If you have engaged in the kinds of activities described above, you most likely will have already formed initial relationships with the families of your students. Armed with information and motivated by a desire to include them in the curriculum and classroom culture, what can you do to encourage them to actively participate? Providing a range of options is critical, as at any given time family members' ability and motivation to participate can vary (Hallacka-Ball, 2007). As a general rule, planning ahead and providing clear guidance, and a formal orientation about your expectations if necessary, is also good practice.

Informal visits can help you welcome families and make them feel comfortable in the classroom or care setting. Such visits do not require a tremendous amount of preplanning, but you should think about an overall approach, according to what the visit or occasion requires. For example:

  • Informal visits or observationsadvance notice is helpful, but an open-door policy makes families feel welcome and lets them see curriculum in action.
  • Birthdays or other special occasionsthese require advance notice and time limits; advise families of any policies relative to allergies or food restrictions.
  • A visit from the family of the week or month schedule the visit and let the family know ahead of time what the routine is and what you would like them to share about their family.
  • Invitations to siblings or grandparents to schoolschedule in advance and set aside time for introductions and interactions.
  • Lunch visitsletting the child know ahead of time is important, as separating from the parent a second time, after lunch, can be difficult.
  • Assisted/chaperoned field tripsfield trips often require additional adults. Parents need to know that sometimes children's normal classroom behavior changes when parents are present. But parents can be very helpful with the logistics of transporting lunches, rain gear, a first aid kit, supplies, and so on, and they can provide the closer supervision that is usually needed when children leave the school or center.
  • Guest reader or storytelleradvise the family member on how the choice of a book or story will be made; consider audio- or videotaping such a presentation for later use (with permission).

Another range of options centers on more intentional, volunteer-type involvement that is directly related to curriculum activities. These kinds of activities may require active recruiting, some orientation, or directions regarding the specific nature of expectations or procedures and the need for confidentiality and limits of authority. Volunteering in the classroom can provide family members with a high level of satisfaction and self-esteem (Sciarra & Dorsey, 2007).

Note: Long-term volunteers in a child-care setting, licensed preschool, or elementary school classroom who will interact with children may have to secure health and security clearances according to your state's licensing regulations.

Volunteer opportunities are limited only by your imagination, but some of the more common examples include:

A Grandmother sits with her granddaughter on her lap. Together, they are drawing a picture.

Hemera / Thinkstock

Members of a child's extended familysuch as grandparents, aunts, or unclesare often ready, willing, and able to attend both formal and informal school functions. Their involvement can extend the security of family relationships to the education setting.
  • Reading to childrenReading on a regular basis rather than the one-time visit described above. You may need to provide a reading list and some introduction to effective strategies for introducing and reading a book, such as previewing the cover, naming the author/illustrator, helping children predict what might happen, and moderating expression while reading. But family members who might want to do this are likely enthusiastic readers already. Reading to a group of children can be very different from the one-on-one reading they do at home, so establishing a comfort level with the number of children a volunteer reads to can also be wise.
  • Clerical supportSome volunteers prefer to work "behind the scenes," but they can still learn a lot about and support your curriculum by working with materials: fixing toys or mending books, cutting paper, laminating, printing announcements, assembling classroom books, making labels. Task cards that provide simple directions are helpful, especially if the helper is working when you are busy doing other things.
  • Work/play facilitatorsIf a family member wants to volunteer as an "extra hand" in the classroom for instructional support, the educator must provide him or her with the same kind of orientation given to a paid assistant. Observing the classroom beforehand will help the volunteer adapt to standard procedures and routines as well as the teacher's approach to classroom management. In the elementary school, volunteers may be asked to help with homework or even assist at the computer station. Areas of the preschool/kindergarten classroom particularly adaptable to this kind of help are dramatic play, art, cooking, and the block area. With babies and toddlers, an extra "rocker" is usually welcome, and volunteers willing to get down on the floor and play can be priceless!
  • "Experts"Enlisting the help of parents or other family members with particular areas of experience, expertise, or interest that relate directly to curriculum topics. Once you know what kind of informational resources your parents can provide (via your surveys and conversations) you can intentionally include topical studies or enrichment experiences in the curriculum that relate to skills and knowledge present among your family population. Family members are an excellent resource for sharing multicultural activities, including the stories, but also for the music, food, song and dance of native cultures.

5.5 Collaborating with the Community

A developmentally appropriate approach to the curriculum assumes that teachers consider communities an important source of information for planning (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011). This requires that teachers and administrators figure out how to gather and share information and successfully integrate the community into the lives of their children in school or care settings. This part of the chapter focuses on practical ways to do so.

Communities as Primary Curriculum Resources

A group of volunteers use paint brushes and rollers to paint the outside of a school.

Bridgepoint Education

In this image, volunteers, with the support of corporate sponsors, are painting a school. This is an example of how community partnerships can be mutually beneficial.

Every content area of a curriculum is represented in the real world by individuals, organizations, businesses, and the natural/physical environment. Teachers and schools that attempt to integrate children's experiences with the community provide them with a meaningful context for what they are learning, and there are many practical ways to do so.

Knowing and Connecting with the Community

If you have lived in the community where you work, you will already have some familiarity with the stores, neighborhoods, businesses, schools, and hospitals that make up the community. If you are not familiar with the area, you can make an effort to get to know these features over time. Once again, creating a file or notebook with information about community resources can be very helpful. You can also add suggestions for how each resource can support your curriculum in some way. Figure 5.6 displays a template for recording information in a resource file.

Other ways in which you can gather information about your community include the following:

  • Take walks in the immediate neighborhood.
  • Obtain a calendar of community festivals and cultural events.
  • Locate the nearest university extension service.
  • Find out what child-friendly programs are available through local museums, parks, media outlets, and tourist destinations such as zoos or historical sites.
  • Identify closest access to public transportation, routes, and fare information.
  • Gather menus from local restaurants.
  • Make use of city/community websites and retail listings or Yellow Pages directories.

Strategies for Involving the Community in the Curriculum

Experienced teachers know that once you have established relationships with individual families and community partners, those networks don't disappear at the end of each school year or when your students move on to other schools or programs. The connections you make over time constitute a store of personal resources that enhance any curriculum you use and also serve to inform the community about how they can become involved with and invested in early childhood education.

Figure 5.6: Template for a Resource File Card
On the sample card, information is recorded for a nearby retail store, including the name of an individual who would be willing to come to the classroom.
Figure: An index card that reads. "Date of Entry 10/1/2012. Resource: Pottery Place. Address: 123 Any Road. Phone: 111-222-333. Email: potteryplace@mail.com. Website: www.localpotteryplace.com. Contact Individual: Susie Potter. Potential Connections: Owner is professional potter with 20+ years of experience. Also certified teacher. Can schedule visit any Monday or Friday, preferred hours 9-11am. For $3.00 per child she will do a mini-workshop and we can pick up finished pieces the next day.

Opportunities for involving community in the curriculum are limited only by your imagination and ability to make creative use of resources. The following list provides brief narrative examples from the author's recent experiences:

  • A toddler teacher notices that her 2-year-old children seem very interested in animals but easily confuse larger farm animals, such as cows, horses, and goats. In her community, horse-drawn carriage tours are a major tourist attraction. She arranges with a local tour company for a short carriage ride around the neighborhood and a visit to the company's barn, which has a small petting area with baby farm animals.
  • Kindergarten children observe a nest being built by a bird on the playground and begin to request information about how eggs hatch. The teacher contacts the state university extension service. They have a program that offers to send schools a field agent who will bring an incubator and eggs to the classroom, teach the children how to monitor and turn the eggs daily until they hatch, and then reclaim the chicks.
  • In a class of 3-year-olds, the teacher notices a high level of interest in rocks. She provides many activities and books about rocks and arranges a walking trip to a nearby store that specializes in minerals, stones, and rocks. The store owners answer children's questions and allow each child to choose a small rock to bring back to the classroom.
  • Children in a class of 4-year-olds who are studying different kinds of bread plant a small patch of wheat in their class garden. One of the parents from the class works as a cashier for a local grocery store. The parent approaches the operations manager of the store, who agrees to send the head baker to the classroom to demonstrate bread making.
  • The director of a child care program contacts a local lumber yard that agrees to save and donate trimmings from their custom woodworking shop to the center rather than processing them through their chipper. The teachers then have a ready supply of interesting wood shapes for construction and three-dimensional art projects.

In some instances, more formal, long-term collaborations that enhance curriculum are established between schools, programs, and communities. There are many examples across America of "public-private" partnerships that represent significant investments of personnel, money, services, or equipment in early education and child-care programs (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). A local business may "adopt" a school to provide it with computers and technology support. A benefactor might donate or bequeath gifts for a variety of purposes, or a local charitable group may actively pursue a mission to support young children and their families. The United Way is a good example of a community organization that funds and organizes activities to "help children and youth achieve their potential."

Advocacy as a Community Effort

When communities work together with programs, early educators, schools, and families, advocacy for young children becomes a shared, personalized endeavor. Through formal and informal interactions, particular areas of strength and need become apparent that provide communities with the information they need to set priorities and distribute resources. Teachers and caregivers are in a unique position to facilitate this process; besides membership in national professional organizations (see Chapter 1), at a local level, they can:

  • Participate in local or regional professional association activities, such as the NAEYC's Week of the Young Child
  • Serve on site-based school improvement councils
  • Volunteer for community improvement projects and initiatives
  • Write letters to local government or private-sector representatives to identify areas of need or opportunity
  • Collaborate and network with educators in other programs

As you gain experience and knowledge about families and the community, your understanding of how to connect these resources with your curriculum will grow. You will see that the curriculum can respond to, include, and reflect unique perspectives that reinforce John Dewey's observation that "the school must represent present lifelife as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or on the play-ground" (1897, p. 78).

Chapter Summary

  • Collaborating with families and communities involves communication, engagement, and shared decision making between teachers, programs, and families. Research documents the many ways in which collaboration among teachers, families, and communities benefit all involved.
  • Ecological and family systems theories provide a basis for understanding how productive relationships can be established and maintained.
  • Despite challenges such as building trust and logistics, family involvement at school or the child-care program can be effectively accomplished through formally established programs or grassroots efforts.
  • Helping parents understand learning standards includes providing information about standards, accountability systems, and developmentally appropriate assessment.
  • Teachers use many different strategiesincluding curriculum documentation, technologies, and interactive eventsto help families understand and connect with the curriculum.
  • Teachers gather information about children and their families to gain insights about the kinds of ways in which they can be considered primary resources for the curriculum and to help them identify and respond to interests and needs.
  • Teachers also gather information about the community in order to uncover opportunities for enhancing the curriculum with real-world, meaningful experiences.
Discussion Questions
  1. Identify aspects of working with families that you feel most and least confident about and what you might do to either strengthen or enhance those capabilities.
  2. From what you already know about the community in which you live or work, brainstorm an initial list of possible curriculum resources; use the card format from Figure 5.6 to record information about them.
  3. From the information you have so far from the opening vignettes about your imaginary class, what kinds of opportunities and challenges for successful family involvement might you anticipate?
Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Adequate yearly progress (AYP)

Refers to the expected average gain in achievement test scores of a school's population from one year to the next.

Alignment (mapping)

Documentation in writing of how curriculum goals and compo­nents connect specifically with elements of learning standards.

Benchmark

Description of a desired goal that represents a gain of knowledge or skills by a particular time.

Differentiating instruction

Adapting the environment, materials, and planning to meet the needs and interests of individual children

Family systems theory (FST)

Looking at and studying children in the context of family.

Graphic organizer

Charts or other templates used to organize ideas, information, or procedures.

High-stakes testing

When the outcome of an individual child's performance on a single test is tied to decisions that will impact access to educational opportunities.

Parent-Teacher Association

An organization of parents, teachers and staff, all of whom work together to encourage parent participation in the school or classroom.

Examples of Programs Offering Website Curriculum Information

Clicking on the links below will take you to the home page for each school, which provides examples of the curriculum in use at each.

N. E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center, Charleston, SC. The N. E. Miles ECDC is a university-based preschool and kindergarten demonstration program.

Nautilus Montessori School, Roseville, CA. A private preschool and kindergarten using an academic Montessori program with additional curricular elements specific to the school.

Emerson Waldorf School, Chapel Hill, NC. A school spanning pre-K through grade 12 using the Waldorf approach inspired by Rudolf Steiner.

Mini University, Miami, OH. Four NAEYC-accredited centers in southern Ohio using the Creative Curriculum. Clicking on "age groups" provides access to information about curriculum and standards used with children of different ages.

Rosalie Cooperative School of Young Children, Albuquerque, NM. This is a home-based cooperative of families inspired by Reggio-Emilia.

Pine Village Spanish Immersion Preschools, Boston. An early childhood program for toddlers and preschoolers with a curriculum focused on global citizenship and bilingual education.

Websites for Creating Classroom Blogs

Blogger (for teachers) Google site with version designed for teachers.

EduBlogs Designed for teachers to easily create and manage with features for customizing designs, privacy, and uploading videos, photos, and podcasts.

Kidblog Set up so that teachers can easily create blogs for kids to use. The teacher functions as the blog administrator to manage children's accounts.

SchoolRack Award-winning site for creating classroom websites and blogs with features for communication and collaboration.

References

Bennett, T. (2007). Mapping famly resources and support. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 2023). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Berger, E. H. (2008). Parents as partners in education: Families and schools working together (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Berson, I. R., & Berson, M. J. (Eds.) (2010). High-tech tots: Childhood in a digital world. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Bradley, J., & Kibera, P. (2007). Closing the gap: Culture and promotion of inclusion in child care. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 3843). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Bronfenbrenner, U. I. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Christian, L. (2007). Understanding families: Applying family systems theory to early chlid­hood practice. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 411). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Clay, J. (2007). Creating safe, just places to learn for children of lesbian and gay parents. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 2427). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Cohen, A. B. (1996, Summer/Fall). A brief history of funding for child care in the United States. The future of children. Financing Child Care, 6 (1), 2640.

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds) (2009). Key messages of the position statement. Reprinted from Developmentally appropriate practices for programs serving children birthage eight. Retrieved February 14, 2012, from National Association for the Education of Young Children: http://www.naeyc.org/positionstatements/dap/.

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and our­selves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Dewey, J. (1897). My pedagogic creed. School Journal, 54, 7780.

Dombro, A. L., & Lerner, C. (2007). Sharing the care of infants and toddlers. D. Kovalek. (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 1619). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Education Week (May 25, 2011). Issues: Charter Schools. Retrieved from Education Week: http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/charter-schools/.

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.) (1998). The 100 languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach advanced reflections (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Ablex.

Epstein, J. L. (2001) School, family, and community partnerships: preparing educators and improving schools. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Fiese, B., Eckert, T., & Spagnola, M. (2006). Family context in early childhood: A look at prac­tices and beliefs that promote early learning. B. S. Saracho (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (pp. 393409). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Gestwicki, C. (2004). Home, school and community relations (5th ed.). Clifton Park, NJ: Delmar.

Gestwicki, C. (2011). Developmentally appropriate practice: curriculum and development (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Gonzalez, N. E., Moll, L., & Amanti, C. (Eds.) (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing prac­tices in households, communities, and classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Grant, K. B., & Ray, J. A. (2010). Home, school, and community collaboration: Culturally responsive family involvement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Halacka-Ball, R. A. (2007). Supporting and involving families in meaningful ways. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 23). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Helm, J. (2007). Windows on learning: Documenting young children's work (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.

Hill, J. L., Stremmel, A. J., & Fu, V. R. (2005). Teaching as inquiry: Boston: Pearson.

Hirsch, E. (March 12, 2008). Education Week: Teacher PD Sourcebook. Retrieved from Education Week: http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2008/03/01/02hirsch.h01.html.

Kaczmarek, L. A. (2007). A team approach: Supporting families of children with disabilities in inclusive programs. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 2836). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Lim, S.-Y. (2008). Family Involvement Models. In G. Olsen & M. L. Fuller, Home-school rela­tions: Working successfully with parents and families (3rd ed., pp. 182189). Boston: Pearson.

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (March 18, 2012). 20112012 National Schools Overview. Retrieved from National Alliance for Public Charter Schools: http://dashboard.publiccharters.org/dashboard/schools/page/overview/year/2012.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2012). Engaging diverse families. Retrieved from: http://www.naeyc.org/familyengagement.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (2018). NAEYC early learning program accreditation standards and assessment items [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/accreditation/early-learning/standards_and_assessment_web_0.pdf

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) & National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS/SDE). (2002). Early learning standards: Creating the conditions for success. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education. (2012). NCLB Action Brief: Parental Involvement. Retrieved September 16, 2012 from http://www.ncpie.org/nclbaction/parent_involvement.html.

National Coalition of Campus Child Development Centers (March 2012). Posting on Listserve.

National Home Education Research Institute. (March 18, 2012). National Home Education Research Institute. Retrieved from National Home Education Research Institute: http://www.nheri.org/.

Navarez, A., Feldman, J., & Theriot, C. (2007) Virtual Pre-K: Connecting home, school, and community. In Young Children: Spotlight on Children and Families, p. 5354. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Noel, A., Stark, P., Redford, J., & Zukerberg, A. (2016, June). Parent and family involvement in education, from the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2012 [PDF file]. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013028rev.pdf

Olsen, G. & Fuller, M. L. (2008). Home-school relations: Working successfully with parents and families (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Ordonez-Jasis, R., & Ortiz, R .W. (2007). Reading their worlds: Working with diverse families to enhance children's early literacy development. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young chil­dren and families (pp. 4449). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Overton, S. (2005). Collaboration with families: A case study approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Rhodes, M., Enz, B., & LaCount, M. (2007). Leaps and bounds: Preparing parents for kindergarten. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 5051). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Robinson, A., & Stark, D. R. (2002). Advocates in action. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Sciarra, D. J., & Dorsey, A. G. (2007). Developing and administering a child care and educa­tion program (6th ed.). Clifton Park, NJ: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Seplocha, H. (2007). Partnership for learning: conferencing with families. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 1215). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau. (n.d.). Women in the labor force in 2010. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/wb/factsheets/qf-laborforce-10.htm

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (March 3, 2012). Administration for Children and Families. Retrieved from Child Care Partnership Project: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/.

Teaching Strategies. (March 18, 2012). The creative curriculum system for preschool. Retrieved from Teaching Strategies for Early Childhood: http://www.teachingstrategies.com/page/73756-creative-curriculum-system-preschool.cfm#alignments.

Weiss, H. B., Krider, H., Lopez, M. E., & Chatman, C. M. (Eds.). (2005). Preparing educators to involve families: From theory to practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Wentworth, G. (2006). Parent involvement in an international school: Piloting an early child­hood reading group. Young Children, 61(1), 5660.

10
Cognitive Development Mathematics, and Science
Teacher showing a bamboo plant to her students.

Hemera / Thinkstock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter you will be able to:

  • Define and explain the concept and components of cognitive development.
  • Explain how early learning standards for cognitive development relate to mathematical and scientific thinking.
  • Describe early childhood curriculum activities that support the development of mathematical concepts and processes.
  • Describe early childhood curriculum activities that support development of scientific concepts and processes.

Introduction

So far, so good! The children are beginning to form friendships and you are paying careful attention to the emotional challenges some of them are facing. Your focus on strategies to promote self-regulation seems to be paying off, and you have been successful in helping the children develop some confidence in problem solving and conflict resolution. You've launched a study of the neighborhood, using the social studies standards as a guide. James's mother and Eduardo's grandfather have been able to accompany you on excursions, and that seems to be helping James and Eduardo with their feelings of insecurity. Your children have enjoyed meeting some of the nearby merchants, and they are starting to play "store" in the dramatic play center.

You enjoy listening to the children's conversations and have noticed that they have many questions and theories about how things work. You've observed that every day, Alonzo takes out a bin of plastic animals and arranges them in different ways. Yesterday, Monique and Destiny came to you and asked how they could make paper dresses that would be the same size as the doll babies. You recognize that, in your role as an early childhood educator, you want to support the children' interests, but you also need to cultivate their cognitive development, in part by providing intentional activities that teach important concepts.

Cognitive development occurs as children acquire and process different kinds of knowledge. Mathematics and the sciences for children share a focus on inquiry, problem solving, and the development of critical thinking skills through processes and practices that engage them in hands-on explorations. This chapter focuses on the early learning standards for cognitive development and experiences that build a good foundation for math and science standards and curricula.

From the Field

Donna Willson advises teachers on the importance of mathematics in preschool curriculum.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Donna emphasizes that much mathematics learning occurs naturally. What does she mean by that, and what balance do you think there should be between "natural" and "planned" mathematics instruction?

10.1 Cognitive Development and General Knowledge

Cognitive development is the process that occurs as thinking and reasoning develop and become more complex over time. Early learning standards for cognitive development are based on the broad assumption put forth by the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) that "cognition and general knowledge represent the accumulation and reorganization of experiences that result from participating in a rich learning setting with skilled and appropriate adult intervention. From these experiences children construct knowledge of patterns and relations, cause and effect, and methods of solving problems in everyday life" (Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995, p. 4). In other words, cognition includes the various ways in which humans know and represent their understanding of the world.

According to cognitive psychologists, there are three different kinds of interrelated knowledge:

  1. Physical knowledge consists of concepts about physical properties observed through first-hand experience. Examples of how children might gain physical knowledge include learning about colors by mixing paints or using an ice cube tray and freezer to learn that water can change from a liquid to a solid and back again.
  2. Logicomathematical knowledge consists of mentally constructed relationships about comparisons and associations between and among objects, people, and events. This is the least understood and most complicated cognitive process. Examples include a child sorting a group of small cars, who must apply criteria that make sense to him, such as color, to separate them into logical groups. He may then put them back into a pile and resort them according to size, while another child might divide them into groups of cars of different sizes or by which cars go fast or slow.
  3. Social-conventional knowledge consists of arbitrarily agreed upon conventions that provide a means for representing or expressing physical and logicomathematical knowledge (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). The conventions may vary by culture or group; examples include the names of numbers or letters.

Accommodation and Assimilation

Regardless of type, all knowledge ultimately consists of basic concepts, or schema, a term originally coined by psychologist Jean Piaget. Examples of individual schema include concepts about colors, such as the ideas of "blue," "red," and "green," or the idea that a rubber ball is round and smooth and rolls when pushed. Piaget (1969) described how children acquire and modify concepts through the assimilation and accommodation of experiences.

When a child encounters something new, the brain tries to process it in terms of concepts already stored. That is, the brain assimilates or integrates the new object or experience if it conforms to schema already formed. Using the ball example above, if you give the child similar balls that are smooth, round, and roll when pushed, the existing concept is confirmed and the child moves on to exploring other things.

An infant plays with an orange soccer ball.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

A discrepant event is a previously unencountered experience or object that induces a state of mental disequilibrium; this motivates the child to adapt existing schemas in order to regain intellectual balance.

If, however, you structure a discrepant event, by giving the child a different kind of ball that he has not previously encountered, disequilibrium (cognitive conflict) arises owing to tension between the child's concept of "ball" and the new unfamiliar balls. Because humans are wired to prefer equilibrium, the child will be motivated to expend mental effort to make sense of the new balls. He will thus accommodate the new information by modifying or expanding the original schema to include the characteristics of the new balls (e.g., whether the ball is knobby or made of leather or wood, or much larger or smaller than those he encountered before).

Accommodation is a more complex process than assimilation, affected by the quantity and kinds of experiences a child encounters. As one concept builds upon another, children develop more complex thinking. This is one of the reasons early childhood experiences are considered so critical to future intellectual and academic functioning and one of the premises of early intervention programs such as Head Start.

Early childhood educators foster accommodation as well as the three kinds of knowledge, by introducing a variety of familiar and new materials as children are ready for them and using language to help them expand and create new schema. In the early childhood years, children progress through two of Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, sensorimotor (birth to age 2) and preoperational (ages 2 to 7). Thereafter they begin the transition to concrete operations (ages 7 to 11). Teachers must therefore adapt the experiences and materials they use to complement the different ways in which children think during each of these developmental periods, as the next two sections illustrate.

Sensorimotor Stage

Infants and toddlers begin to acquire tentative concepts through their senses simply by exploring their world (hence they are in the sensorimotor stage, per Piaget's description). Giving an infant a new ball and saying "this is a squishy ball," or "here is a blue ball," provides the child with the new terms squishy and blue as characteristics that apply to balls. The child can also apply these concepts to things that are not balls. The teacher has thus introduced an opportunity to develop new physical knowledge (a different kind of ball that can be handled and observed), logicomathematical knowledge (making mental connections with other kinds of balls), and social-conventional knowledge (giving names to the characteristics of the new ball).

The Preoperational and Concrete Operations Stages of Development

Children in the preoperational stage are beginning to expand logicomathematical knowledge, but the process is hampered by their tendency to center or focus on one characteristic or feature of what they observe to the exclusion of others. For example, if a child looks at a picture of five dogs and two cats and the teacher asks, "are there more animals or dogs?" the child is likely to say, "more dogs."

Further, they are egocentric, which means they tend to consider the appearance of objects from only their perspective. So if a teacher held a puppet with its face toward a child, the child would assume that the teacher also saw the puppet's face rather than its back. Third, pr-operational children are easily deceived by appearances and unable to mentally conserve or retain the idea of fixed quantities. For example, if eight ounces of water is poured from a short, wide container into a tall, narrow one, the child is not likely to recognize that the amount of liquid remains the same; instead, he may think that the taller glass holds more (Figure 10.1).

During the concrete operations stage of cognitive development, children gradually acquire the ability to conserve, but they still need objects such as counters to model and solve computational problems. This shift from concrete to abstract thinking is best facilitated through repeated direct hands-on trial-and-error explorations, such as pouring water back and forth into different sized containers in the water table.

Knowledge of Patterns and Relationships

Two babies sit and clap.

Photodisc / Thinkstock

Children begin to form an understanding of auditory patterns as rhythm when they take turns clapping or clap along to music or a rhyme.

As young children encounter repeating patterns in daily life, they begin to understand that the natural world is organized. As their thinking becomes more sophisticated, they apply knowledge of concrete patterns to more abstract concepts and ideasthe essence of understanding the predictability and rhythms of phenomena, social interactions, and behavior. For instance, the idea of taking turns represents a simple patternfirst I use the red marker, then I give it to you, then you give it back to me.

In the absence of an internalized sense of predictability and patterns, the child would not know what to expect nexta chaotic existence to be sure. Decisions teachers make about materials, routines, schedules, and how to organize a classroom reinforce concepts of patterns and relationships. Teachers promote an understanding of patterns and relationships in many kinds of activities, as discussed later in this chapter.

Cause and Effect

Young children frequently display magical thinking, proposing preposterous or clearly unrealistic explanations (often humorous to adults) for why something happens because they have not yet discerned the relationship between cause and effect (Catron & Allen, 2003; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007). Determining why something happens and predicting what might happen when certain conditions are present or constructed represents a complex hierarchy of increasingly analytical concepts.

Logical reasoning develops slowly, gradually replacing magical thinking and animism, children's tendency to attribute human qualities to inanimate objects or animals (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Children's explanations may be "intuitively reasonable" and therefore hard to change; thus the importance of a constructivist approach that aims to facilitate reconstructing misconceptions through exploring, questioning, predicting, and testing (Landry & Forman, 1999).

A teacher watches while a young boy stacks blocks.

Stockbyte / Thinkstock

Teachers foster problem solving by giving children the freedom to select materials and explore them through hands-on manipulation.

Understanding the relationship between cause and effect is also fundamental to many aspects of behaviorone of the reasons teachers and adults strive to be clear about consequences. Children begin learning about cause and effect intuitively from birth: when I am wet someone changes me, when I am hungry someone feeds me, when I smile, my mommy smiles back, etc. They learn intentionally through informal trial and error during play when they exert force on an object or mix colors of paint, for example.

After repeated trials with identical results, they begin to understand causality and develop confidence in their predictions. Teachers help children learn about cause and effect when they ask questions like "What happened when you put yellow paint on top of the blue paint?" or "What do you think will happen if you put water in the bucket of sand?" or even "What happened the last time you took the baby doll away from Steven?".

Problem Solving

Problem solving is a part of daily life for children and is fostered in a flexible environment that promotes exploration and experimentation (Catron & Allen, 2003; Seefeldt & Galper, 2004). Children are naturally curious and motivated to pursue questions and solve problems about why things happen and how things work, first through sensory exploration and gradually by using mathematics and science tools and logic to represent their thinking.

Children's problem solving parallels the development of their thinking, proceeding from concrete to abstract. At first, they model solutions to problems with concrete objects and then proceed to relying less on objects and more on recall and reasoning (Campbell, 1999; Charlesworth, 2005).

10.2 Promoting Cognitive Development

To create an environment that promotes the three types of cognitive knowledgeas well as learning about cause and effect, patterns, and problem solvingteachers should aim to:

  • Provide a wide variety of interesting and challenging materials and experiences for children.
  • Foster cognitive conflict by introducing discrepant events or information that motivate children to experiment and test their theories.
  • Document the way children solve problems to make their thinking visible, and provide opportunities for metacognition (thinking about their thinking).
  • Promote conversation about problem solving; social debate about ideas, theories, and inferences leads to powerful learning (Landry & Forman, 1999).

Physical Knowledge

Mathematics and science are subject areas that help children make connections between concrete materials and abstract concepts. The preschool classroom should have interest areas designated for mathematics materials and science/discovery investigations. The materials in these centers provide children with opportunities to develop the three kinds of cognitive knowledge. They acquire physical knowledge through handling and manipulating materials and making observations about their properties. Block play and sensory activities were discussed in detail in Chapter 7, and many of the materials listed in Chapter 8 that support fine motor development (manipulatives) are also used for mathematics.

Figure 10.2 displays examples of materials commonly used to support important mathematics concepts. Figure 10.3 displays examples of basic equipment for science explorations.

Figure 10.2: Part 1 Mathematics Materials
Most mathematics materials for young children foster the development of multiple concepts. But since concepts are typically developed in a predictable sequence, certain materials such as matching activities and counters are more appropriate for younger children than number tracing boards or base-ten cubes.
Figure 10.2: Part 1 Mathematics Materials
Most mathematics materials for young children foster the development of multiple concepts. But since concepts are typically developed in a predictable sequence, certain materials such as matching activities and counters are more appropriate for younger children than number tracing boards or base-ten cubes.
Figure 10.2: Part 2 Mathematics Materials

Figure 10.3: Basic Science Equipment for Early Childhood
Basic science/discovery materials promote observation of the natural world, data collection, and the conduction of experiments.
This figure is a table with five rows and five columns. The first row has the text "Observing: Prisms, magnifying glasses, magnifier stand, butterfly cage," and has illustrations of a prism, a magnifying glass, a magnifying stand with two magnifying glasses embedded in a small table, and a butterfly cage with two butterflies and a tree branch. The second row has the text, "Classification: Sea animals, rocks, insects, shells," and has illustrations of plastic sea animal figures: a seal, a shark, a fish, and a lobster; a collection of rocks and plastic insect figures; a grasshopper, a butterfly, and a caterpillar; and a collection of seashells. The third row has the text, "Sensory Exploration and Discrimination: Montessori color tiles, Montessori baric (weight) tablets, feely box, Montessori smelling jars," with illustrations of six similarly colored tiles, five wooden squares, a wooden box with an opening on one end for a child to place their hand through to feel the object inside the box, and three jars filled with scented salts. The fourth row has the text, "Ecology: Planting equipment, composting box, rain gauge, thermometer," with illustrations of two packets of seeds with a shovel and terra cotta pot filled with soil, a wooden box filled with compost, a plastic cylinder filled with rain, and a thermometer. Row five has the text, "Physical Science: Gears/pulleys, balance scale, ramps, balls, magnetic wands," with illustrations of three interconnected gears, a balance scale, two towers with ramps connecting them and marbles to roll down the ramps, a magnetic wand with paper clips.

A mathematics area should have ample space on the floor or tabletop for children to spread out materials and work in small groups. The science/discovery area should be located as close to a water source as possible. As with other classroom interest areas, materials should be organized and labeled for easy access and cleanup. Clear storage containers or open baskets make it easy for children to choose items and also provide sorting and classification practice when they are being put away.

Logicomathematical Knowledge

From infancy, children start to notice relationships, and any time you introduce additional complexity, unfamiliar materials, or a problem to solve, you encourage children to construct and refine concepts and discern relationships between materials and ideas. For instance, because infants are developing object permanence (knowing that someone or something is present even when not visible), any action that involves hiding an object creates a problem for the baby to solve. Further, putting a favorite rattle inside a bag where it can still be heard is very puzzling to an infant because the sound is familiar and recognized but the child is not sure where it is coming from (the bag). The child will be motivated to find the rattle and thus to make progress towards object permanence.

Table 10.1 provides examples of simple things babies and toddlers do that educators can facilitate to encourage and extend their explorations (Geist, 2003, pp. 1012).

Table 10.1: Facilitating Logicomathematical Knowledge with Infants and Toddlers
Behavior/Activity Concept(s) Teacher Strategies
Sorting objects Discerning similarities and differences among objects Offer a wide variety of toys in different shapes, colors, etc., such as large colored beads with containers or compartmentalized trays for sorting.
Shaking, striking, beating instruments Counting beats and rhythm Provide objects that make sounds and help children to use in different ways; count out rhythms during use.
Nesting objects Comparing relative size Use "comparing" words that describe what they are doing (such as big, bigger, biggest).
Putting toys away Matching Provide picture or shape labels on containers so children can match an item they are holding with the corresponding picture on a storage container.
Crawling, finding places to sit/hide Spatial relationships Set up a collapsible tunnel, large cardboard boxes, or stack of mats or pillows to climb on.
Filling/pouring Conservation Set up a sand/water table with containers, funnels, etc., of various sizes.
Stringing beads Patterns, shapes Point out and name patterns.

Social-Conventional Knowledge

Conversations are part of teachers' daily interactions with children. These exchanges provide numerous opportunities to help them develop socioconventional knowledge by modeling the language and vocabulary of mathematics and the sciences. As you describe and label what they do, you also ask them questions that prompt thinking. As an educator, you will want to formulate your questions so that they maximize the thinking required to answer them.

One effective strategy is to use the categories provided in Bloom's taxonomy to guide your questions. This is a model introduced in 1956 by cognitive psychologist Benjamin Bloom that illustrates the increasing complexity of intellectual behavior. Revised during the 1990s, the current model (Figure 10.5) provides guidance for teachers about how to promote cognitive development (Anderson & Cruikshank, 2001).

For instance, suppose you posed this question to older preschoolers: "How many ways can we make a boat that will float in the water table?" As you observe them in action and talk with them about their boat-building activities, you can apply the taxonomy to questioning them about their work. If you ask "Did the paper boat float or sink?" children only have to recall what happened to respond, the lowest level on Bloom's taxonomy (Figure 10.4). But if you ask, "Can you use your words to tell us what happened to the paper boat?" the responses would reflect the next higher level, "understanding."

Figure 10.4: Bloom's Taxonomy
Bloom's Taxonomy can help teachers plan activities and use interactions with children to promote higher-level critical thinking.
Six concentric circles. They are labeled, from largest to smallest, creating, evaluating, analyzing, applying, understanding and remembering.

Extending this example, other questions of increasing complexity could be:

  • Applying: "Since we know that crumpling the paper in a ball makes the paper float, is there another material we might also try crumpling?"
  • Analyzing: "How can we organize testing our boats so we can find out what makes them sink or float?"
  • Evaluating: "LaShawn, I heard you say that any boat made of aluminum foil will float; why do you think that is the case?"
  • Creating: "Let's look at all the boats you made and give each of you a chance to tell the story of how you made it."

Documenting Children's Thinking

Using different strategies to document children's work makes their thinking visible. Documentation gives teachers a means of reflecting on children's cognitive growth to inform ongoing decisions about curricular materials, activities, and instructional strategies. For example, taking pictures and writing down children's words or ideas as they work on a problem or inquiry provides data that can later be used for assessment, gives children a visible record of their progress, and establishes concrete reference points for conversations about problem solving.

Table 10.2 represents children's words and thoughts a teacher might record about the boat-building activity described above. The teacher could use the chart with children to help them remember what they did and talk through what to do next.

Table 10.2: Documentation of Boat-Building Observations
Ideas for Materials Things We Tried That Work Problems We Had So Far
Paper Crumpling up paper in a ball keeps it from sinking. If paper stays in the water too long, it gets wet and collapses.
Plastic lids We can use a lump of clay on the lid to hold up the sail mast, so it doesn't make a hole in the boat. If water gets on top of a lid, it sinks.
Sponges The sponge will float with the green side up but not with the sponge side up.
Marshmallows Marshmallows float at first, then they melt.
Wood Wood definitely floats. We can't figure out how to attach a sail.
Other Ideas for Materials Other Things We Tried That Work Other Problems We've Had So Far
Foil
Bottle caps
Sticks
Clay
Cork
Trying the materials in the water first to see if they float before we make the rest of the boat.

Making the bottom of the boat bigger than the sail keeps it from sinking.
If we put a toothpick and paper sail in a cork, it falls over.

Opportunities for routine documentation of a work in progress could include:

  • Block constructions
  • Different ways children sorted a collection of objects
  • Progress of planted seeds as they sprout and grow
  • Children using bubble wands
  • Different strategies children use to finger paint and the resulting visual effects
  • An easel painting from start to finish
  • Children putting a puzzle together
  • Figures constructed with pattern blocks
  • Distances measured with plastic chain links

10.3 Mathematics and Science Standards

Fundamental concepts and their application to problem solving in mathematics and the sciences are interrelated. This idea is reflected in the current national standards for mathematics and emerging new standards for science that integrate knowledge and process skills in mathematics and practices in science and engineering while also placing increasing emphasis on technology in both disciplines.

In the early childhood classroom, the relationship between mathematics and science is evident in highly integrated activities and investigations. Suppose that children are helping the teacher make a snack mix. They may look for recipes in cookbooks or on the Internet to choose one they want to try. They may hypothesize or predict how well they think they will like it or what it might taste like.

More From the Field

Director Donna Willson explains why it is important for children to fall in love with mathematics and science.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Many prospective teachers have "math or science anxiety," due to less than positive experiences with these subjects in their own schooling. How can this be overcome?

They will apply math concepts as they set up and count their equipment ("We need one big spoon, two bowls, three measuring cups"), sort/group ingredients (crackers, dried fruits, cereal, seeds), and follow ordinal (sequential) directions in determining what to do first, second, and so on and in using different size cups to measure. They apply operations to divide items (mix in one big bowl and divide into smaller bowls for serving) and one-to-one correspondence for serving (one napkin/scoop for each child).

They will also use science skills as they observe the process ("Look at all the colors we have in the bowl!"). They will decide when ingredients are fully mixed, and ask questions ("Why are the raisins and cranberries all wrinkly?") that could lead to further investigation (drying fruits). They will evaluate the results of their recipe trial, perhaps graphing the preferences of children in the group.

Mathematics Standards

The national mathematics and science standards differ in content and the ways in which strategies are applied and used for problem solving and inquiry. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) developed the standards (2000) for math education from pre-K through high school. The NCTM describes principles on which math education should be based, content knowledge, and processes for development of mathematical competence. The 2010 revised joint position statement by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and NCTM also stresses that high quality mathematics for young children is grounded in their natural interests, daily experiences, and opportunities for play. Children acquire informal mathematical knowledge and skills needed for understanding formal mathematics from daily life (Baroody, Lai, & Mix, 2006; Charlesworth, 2005; Sypek, 2017; van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2007). Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for education from kindergarten through high school were finalized in 2010. Although CCSS for mathematics are being used in 35 states, the standards do not address pre-K education (Ujifusa, 2017).

The development of mathematical concepts is cumulative, so informal knowledge is very important as a basis for intentional and systematic mathematics instruction. But because children's experiences can vary significantly by socioeconomic context, the early childhood years provide opportunities for both informal and planned experiences with mathematics, which occur and develop concurrently. Research supports an approach to mathematics instruction that focuses neither on direct instruction nor unguided discovery but on guided discovery that includes both:

A teacher helps a young girl assemble a math puzzle.

Getty Images / Thinkstock

In guiding instruction, the teacher doesn't use directed instruction or take a completely hands-off approach but carefully facilitates play and scaffolds activities.
  • Adult-initiated experiences, such as games, tasks, and projects
  • Child-initiated activity with guided adult responses, such as building upon a child's questions during play (Baroody, Lai, & Mix, 2006; Campbell, 1999; Charlesworth, 2005; Rice, 2014)

The content standards identify what children should know and be able to do in five strands within mathematics:

  1. Numbers and operations
  2. Algebra
  3. Geometry
  4. Measurement
  5. Data analysis and probability

Emphasis on each of the strands varies over time, depending on where the children are developmentally and what they've already learned. But one thing is sure: future success in mathematics is based on sound foundations of conceptual and procedural understanding in the early years (Campbell, 1999; Linder, 2017; NAEYC/NCTM, 2010; Seefeldt, 1999; Witzel, Ferguson, & Mink, 2012).

Science Standards

The Next Generation Science Standards for K12 reflect and are guided by A Framework for K12 Science Education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas, published by the National Research Council in July 2011. The framework emphasizes an approach for standards development that integrates three dimensions: science/engineering practices (the methods used in science and engineering), cross-cutting concepts (integrated understandings across the science disciplines), and core ideas within each of the four science disciplinesphysical science; life science; earth science; and engineering, technology and applications.

Doing Math and Science

The process standards for mathematics and practices for science focus on how children learn and apply concepts. Common to the disciplines is an emphasis on using concrete materials (Witzel, Ferguson, & Mink, 2012) for inquiry and problem solving, active involvement in the processes and practices used in mathematics and the sciences, developing and using critical thinking skills, and communication. Early childhood educators understand that developing dispositions and skills through first-hand experiences is essential to a firm foundation for mathematical and scientific thinking (NAEYC/NCTM, 2010).

Table 10.3 displays the interrelated nature of the mathematics process skills and the science/engineering practices. You can see how they reflect the different levels of Bloom's taxonomy.

Table 10.3: Mathematics Process Skills and Science/Engineering Practices
Mathematics Process Skills Science/Engineering Practices
Inquiry and problem solving

Reasoning and proof

Communication

Connections

Representations
Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)

Developing and using models

Planning and carrying out investigations

Analyzing and interpreting data

Using mathematics and computational thinking

Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)

Engaging in argument from evidence

Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Processes focus on analysis of patterns, structures, and the testing of hypotheses or predictions. Learning to make inferences and predictions and to justify data-based conclusions helps children begin to make sense of the physical world. Through active listening to others' explanations and communicating their own results and reasoning, they begin to appreciate multiple perspectives to problem solving and also learn to use communication as an effective means for sharing ideas.

Teachers apply knowledge of children's general and individual characteristics and learning styles to encourage them to represent ideas in a variety of ways. Mathematics and science for young children are no longer primarily paper-and-pencil activity, as our understanding of children as concrete learners now stresses representation of thinking with words, pictures, materials, graphic organizers, and symbols (Campbell, 1999).

10.4 Mathematics Concepts and Curricular Activities

Content standards and mathematics concepts are heavily emphasized in preschool and primary grades curricula and classrooms. It is important for early educators to understand the hierarchical nature of how mathematical thinking grows and children's need for concrete materials and hands-on experiences to eventually develop abstract reasoning. Each of the following sections describes mathematical concepts, materials, strategies, and activities that support the goals and expectations expressed in the national mathematics standards for PreK-2 children.

Number and Operations

The primary goal for numbers and operations is developing number sense, or "intuition" about the meaning of numbers in relation to other numbers (Charlesworth, 2005; Campbell, 1999; Witzel, Ferguson, & Mink, 2012) For example, a child who knows that 4 represents 1 more than 3 (2 + 2, 3 + 1), and 1 less than 5 understands that numbers are more than a matter of simple counting (Campbell, 1999, p. 113). Number sense links to future success in mathematics much as phonological awareness (recognizing and using language sounds) relates to achievement in reading (Witzel, Ferguson, & Mink, 2012).

One-to-One Correspondence

A shape puzzle for young children.

Hemera / Thinkstock

One-to-one correspondence develops as the child learns to match one object with a corresponding space or item.

The most fundamental concept of number is one-to-one correspondence, which is basic to understanding equivalence and conservation and necessary for counting. Children demonstrate one-to-one correspondence when they distribute items saying, "one for me, one for you," or match materials to silhouette or picture labels on shelves and baskets during cleanup time. When you label each child's cubby with a photograph, they associate these spaces with their belongings. Likewise, providing a sign-in sheet where each child has a preprinted line with his or her name and an adjacent blank space for signing in reinforces one-to-one correspondence.

Matching and one-to-one correspondence activities and materials include:

  • Lotto boards and matching games (see Figure 10.2)
  • Tossing rings of different colors onto matching-colored posts
  • Musical chairs
  • Repeating hand-clap patterns or clapping once for each word in a rhyme
  • Solving puzzles that have one space for each matching piece (see Figure 10.2)
  • Place mats with outlines for plate and utensils that children use to set their table
  • Using tweezers or tongs to remove one item at a time from a full bowl and transfer it to an empty bowl
  • Shadowing gameschildren repeat/mimic the motions of a leader
  • Making puzzle cards (such as the ones Ms. Phyllis made for her insect unit in Chapter 6 (Figure 6.8)

Counting

A child's ability to recite numbers, or count by rote, doesn't necessarily mean that he or she associates the name of a number with quantity or the name of the number with its numerical symbol. To rote count, children memorize number sequences, and it is not unusual for them to skip a number or group of numbers, as in "one, two, three, six, eight, nine, ten."

Once past ten, they also sometimes have difficulty mastering the number names as they are expressed in English and may say "eleventeen" or "twelvety." Children gradually move from rote counting to rational counting, correctly associating the name of a number with objects in a group (Charlesworth, 2005).

It is important to work with children at their level of understanding, so a teacher would not, for example, lead rote-counting practice or use finger plays that count in descending (backwards) order before children had mastered ascending order. Rote counting is reinforced through the use of rhymes/finger plays such as, "one, two buckle my shoe, three four, shut the door. . . ," or counting songs, like "one little, two little, three little monkeys, four little, five little . . . ." These are reinforced by regular practice and routines like "Let's count to ten before I open the doorrepeat after me: one, two . . . ."

You promote rational counting to associate number with discrete quantities by pointing to each object as children count; also by asking children to count groups of objects and then saying, "How many did we count in this pile?" Daily opportunities abound for rational counting, including:

  • Counting different numbers of sticks or straws and putting them in a can with a corresponding number of dots.
  • Counting the number of children in a group seated at a table and then counting the correct number of red crayons needed so that each child has one.
  • Counting the number of steps to "4" as they step on each number of a number line taped to the floor.
  • Counting the number of fish in the aquarium.
  • Counting off while standing in line waiting to go outside.
  • Counting the number of stacking blocks needed for a construction in groups of one, two, three, etc.

Operations

Understanding numbers as parts of other numbers is the basis for the operations of addition and subtraction. Once children have achieved rational counting, whether they can represent numbers in writing or not, they can begin to perform operations. The child who takes three bears from a bin and puts them on the table, counting "one, two, three, I have three bears," and then takes two more bears from the bin and counts, "four, fivefirst I had three and now I have five," is beginning to perform the simple operation of combining or adding sets of objects. The child with five bears who announces separating them into two separate piles of 3 and 2, is demonstrating understanding of the concept of assigning referent numbers to subsets (Campbell, 1999). There is some evidence to suggest that in early education, emphasizing parts and wholes over direct teaching of computation steps and base 10 operations promotes a more flexible understanding of algorithms (multiple-step problem solving) (Campbell, 1999; Witzel et al, 2012). Thus if you use an open-ended question to ask a child to partition 12 Unifix cubes in as many ways as possible, the child might construct sets of 1 + 11, 2 + 10, 3 + 9, etc., but subsets of 1 + 4 + 5 + 2 would also be correct. Later on, that approach may lead to computation strategies that do not necessarily have to match the "one right way" you might remember from your own experiences with math instruction.

Understanding the relationship between parts and wholes is also the beginning of fractions. Children learn that parts may be of either equivalent or nonequivalent size. Eventually they learn that fractions represent equally divided subparts that can be combined and expressed in different ways (Charlesworth, 2005). Children should be encouraged to combine and divide whole objects and groups of objects in different ways, such as cutting or tearing paper, separating piles of objects into multiple containers, putting interlocking puzzles together, or counting the number of slices in a pizza.

A young girl writes numbers for practice.

Monkey Business / Thinkstock

Writing numbers correctly represents a long developmental sequencerote counting, rational counting, recognizing numerals, identifying numerals, associating each numeral with the correct quantity, and finally learning to write numerals legibly.

Children need manipulatives to work out operations and the symbols for addition, subtraction, and equivalence before representing them abstractly with their number symbols. You help them make this transition by modeling with objects and gradually moving to two-dimensional representations (flannel board, overhead projector, paper and pencil).

Symbolic Representation

Like counting, learning to represent numbers with the corresponding numeral is developmentally sequenced. A child who counts correctly does not necessarily associate the number with its matching symbol. Thus many materials that support learning to countsuch as an abacus, Unifix cubes, or dominoesdo not feature numerals. Conversely, being able to trace or write a number may not mean that the child understands the connection between the numeral and the quantity it represents. In order for that to happen, children need to recognize the symbol, be able to identify and associate it with the correct number of objects in a set, and then represent the number in writing legibly (Charlesworth, 2005, p. 218; Witzel, Ferguson, & Mink, 2012).

Typical examples of materials that focus on one or more of these three tasks are included in Figure 10.2; they should be accessible and used in both preschool and primary classrooms (Witzel, Ferguson, & Mink, 2012). Because of individual variations in the development of this concept, teachers can best help children to acquire symbolic representation through one-on-one and small-group activities such as:

  • Making number books with stickers or stamps (Seefeldt & Galper, 2004)
  • Writing numerals on sequence picture charts
  • Using magnetic letters to represent numbers
  • Using calendars with blank spaces and modeling writing in the numbers
  • Making numbers out of pipe cleaners, play dough, or wire

Algebra

The foundations for algebra begin with understanding classification, ordering, and patterns (Taylor-Cox, 2003). Classification (sorting and grouping) activities help children begin to distinguish, compare, and categorize concrete objects by characteristics or attributes (such as color, shape, or size) and reinforce the concept of sets. Applying comparison skills leads to identification of simple color, shape, or sound patterns in the environment necessary for algebraic reasoning.

Classification

Classification includes sorting and grouping. When children sort, they separate (subtract) objects into categories; when they group, they combine (add) by noting the characteristics that items have in common, thus making and rearranging sets according to different criteria.

A square box divided into fourteen sections filled with buttons sorted by color.

Imagebroker.net / SuperStock

How many ways can you sort buttons? A box of buttons and any kind of container with compartments offers the child opportunities to sort by many different attributes, including color, shape, size, number of holes, material (plastic/wood/fabric), and pattern (solid, printed, striped) .

Children begin classifying by a single obvious attribute, such as color or shape (red bears, blue bears, yellow bears; squares, circles, triangles). At first they don't necessarily know or express what the criteria are, but they do demonstrate observation about how the items are alike or different.

Gradually they begin to classify by less obvious criteria such as material (hard/soft), pattern (striped/checked), texture (rough/smooth), or function (moves/doesn't move) and more sophisticated characteristics such as animal type (sea/land animals or reptiles/birds). They also move to classifying objects by more than one attribute, such as color and size (big blue cars, small blue cars, big red cars, small red cars). A child's approach to classification reflects his or her growing sense of logic. It is important to understand, however, that children represent logical thinking in different ways; what seems an obvious attribute to one child might not be apparent to another. You can learn a lot about how children think by asking them to explain the way they sorted a particular group of objects.

Teachers promote classification indirectly with activities such as lining up by shirt color or by boys vs. girls or by listing foods that children like/dislike. They also provide intentional sorting activities with materials such as buttons or beads. Children can also be encouraged to place different toys and propssuch as blocks, play foods, and carsinto appropriately labeled bins during cleanup time.

Teachers facilitate classification skills by introducing and modeling different ways to sort or group and suggesting more challenging criteria. Using effective language will also help. The directions teachers give to children

  • Reflect recognition of what they observe, such as "It looks like you are sorting the animals according to where they live. Is that right?"
  • Add to the child's repertoire of criteria, such as "I see you have sorted the buttons into color groups. Can you sort them again by how big they are?"
  • Encourage application of multiple criteria as a child's ability to sort by a variety of single attributes develops, as by saying, for example, "Hmmm we have all these turtles. Some are big, some are small, and they are yellow, brown, and green. Do you think you could sort them into big/green, small/green, big/yellow?"
  • Encourage children to describe and label the criteria they are using.

Classification activities provide a natural segue to graphing and representing data, as discussed a bit later in this section.

Ordering

At first children compare pairs of objects and later each additional item to the selected criteria. Ordering, or putting items into seriesalso called seriationrepresents the graduated comparison of more than two things or sets in a larger group. This procedure is more complex than making comparisons in pairs (Charlesworth, 2005).

Seriation activities focus on ordering according to any applicable attribute, by size in ascending or descending order, or temporal ordering of events from first to last (Hendrick, 2007), or ordering by graduated differences such as color shades, sound, or weight.

Any activities that involve paired comparisons can be extended to ordering and seriation simply by addition of materials such as:

  • Graduated paper shapes
  • Sticks, straws, or rods of different lengths (e.g., Cuisenaire rods)
  • Nesting items such as measuring cups and spoons
  • Arranging different shades of a single color in order from lightest to darkest
  • Storing pots and pans in dramatic play on hooks from smallest to largest
  • Arranging pictures of children in order of birthday from January to December
  • Lining up by size
  • Time lines
  • Sequencing picture cards or flannel-board cutouts for familiar stories such as Goldilocks, The Three Little Pigs, or If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
  • Playing/singing a favorite song several times, varying the volume from soft to loud
  • Using pictures to represent the daily routine and having children put them in order

Note that because of preschoolers' egocentrism, they often represent people or objects in their drawings and paintings by relative importance rather than by actual size/proportion. Thus, in a picture of mom's flower garden, mom and the flowers might be bigger than the house! Comparing, seriation, and ordering activities with real objects help children gradually move from psychological to more accurate concrete representations.

Patterns and Patterning

In mathematics, a pattern represents a repeating series of any kind. We want to help children learn to recognize, replicate, represent, and extend visual, sound, and motor patterns. Many of the typical materials in Figure 10.2 are useful for learning about, copying, and creating patterns. To identify a pattern, children apply classification, comparison, and ordering concepts to establish where a pattern starts, ends, and repeats. Teachers help children "read" patterns by encouraging them to name the items in sequence, as in "blue, red, green, blue, red, green," etc. (Taylor-Cox, 2003). Teachers label different kinds of patterns to indicate the level of complexity in a repeating segment, such as a/a, a/b, a/b/c, or ab/ac/bc, and so one.

A pattern of shapes rendered with triangles, squares, diamonds and hexagons.

Recognizing and constructing repeating patterns is fundamental to algebraic thinking. Children begin with simple a/b/a/b patterns and advance to patterns of increasing complexity.

A growing pattern increases the number of repetitions in each sequence, such as jump, squat, jump 1x/jump, squat , jump 2x/jump, squat, jump 3x . . . (Taylor-Cox, 2003). Many children find the inherent rhythm of patterns soothing. Some children may find it easier to identify one type of pattern than another. Patterns presented to children for identification should represent at least one repeat to help them determine what comes next (i.e., square, circle, rectangle/square, circle, rectangle/ square, circle . . . ) (Taylor-Cox, 2003).

Learning to recognize patterns is important not just for mathematics but for interpreting text in reading as well. Teachers can foster learning about patterns by:

  • Displaying photographs of patterns in nature, such as a pine cone or nautilus shell
  • Pointing out a pattern in the brickwork of a building
  • Having a "pattern hunt" in the classroom or on the playground
  • Clapping out the rhythm patterns in songs
  • Making up motor games with actions that represent a pattern
  • Decorating cupcakes with cutout patterns
  • Filling in the days and weeks on a calendar
  • Making patterns on paper with stamps or stickers

Geometry

"If mathematics is perceived as the search for order, pattern, and relationships to characterize ideas and experiences, then geometry and spatial sense should be central topics in a mathematics curriculum for young children" (Campbell, 1999, p. 124). Young children can begin to learn about geometry as they encounter a variety of shapes in play and daily life. Children play with and often recognize objects and symbols (including letters and words) by shape. As with other developmental sequences, children first match, then identify, name, and finally represent shapes (Charlesworth, 2005).

Spatial awareness develops as children learn prepositional and directional words such as on top of, below, next to, and so on. Teachers can help children learn the vocabulary of geometry, to develop a sense of two- and three-dimensional shapes and their respective characteristics as well as to think in terms of spatial relationships (Seefeldt & Galper, 2004).

Shapes

A young child bends to look inside a large blue box.

Getty Images

As children explore spatial relationships, they learn to use vocabulary that describes positions in space, relative size, and directionality.

Concepts about shape include the ideas that:

  • There are different kinds of shapes
  • Shapes can be found everywhere in different kinds of objects
  • A single item can have different shapes (e.g., cookie or rock)
  • A shape can be modified (made bigger or smaller, etc.)
  • Combining shapes can create new or different shapes

Activities that promote learning about shapes include:

  • Holding and feeling the edges of cutouts or models of different flat and three-dimensional shapes
  • Tracing shapes
  • Matching shapes with cutouts
  • Making shapes with their bodies
  • Using shape cookie cutters with play dough and for baking
  • Making and cutting foods like a tray of brownies or pancakes into different shapes
  • Folding paper to make simple origami
  • Having a "shape hunt"
  • Making mobiles with straight-sided shapes from objects like straws or toothpicks or making curved shapes with yarn or pipe cleaners
  • Making silhouette cutouts of objects and matching them or having guessing games
  • Making collections based on different shapes
  • Using geoboards to make shapes with rubber bands
  • Staking out "giant" shapes on the playground with crepe paper or string

Spatial Relationships

Activities that promote spatial relationships focus on encouraging children to locate bodies or objects in space, use their knowledge of spatial relationships to describe where something is located, interpret representations of spatial relationships (mapping), and represent spatial relationships with symbols (mapping). Active games such as hide and seek, duck-duck goose, or building an obstacle course build spatial awareness.

Measurement

Children learn to measure first by nonstandard means such as pacing off distances and later with uniform but nonstandard measurement tools (e.g., measuring the width of a tabletop with paper clips) and later still with conventional measurement tools. As they do so, they develop a sense of the kinds of things that are measured. Concepts related to measurement include measuring to represent comparisons, using a variety of different tools to measure, and seeing estimation as useful but not the same thing as accurate measurement. We encourage children to think about measurement with questions that start with "How far," How much," How long," and so on.

Linear Measures, Weight, and Volume

Examples of standards measuressuch as a growth chart, weight scale, or masking tape on the floor to mark off distances in inches or feetshould be displayed and used to build awareness of linear measures (length, width, height). Children should be encouraged during play to describe nonstandard measurements, such as "How many blocks long/high is your castle?" (Charlesworth 2005.)

Activities for linear measurement can include:

  • Using any long object (crayon, paper clip, straws, pipe cleaners, string) to measure objects or distances (classroom dimensions, rugs, furniture, height of children, etc.)
  • Filling up cups, quart/liter/gallon containers with liquids or sand
  • Counting the number of marbles it takes to fill different-sized jars
  • Comparing measurements of objects in terms of longer, shorter, wider, narrower, etc.
  • Cooking activities
  • Using a balance to compare the weights of different objects and combinations of objects
  • Pacing off longer distances such as the length of a hallway, sidewalk, or rows in the garden
  • Using standard measurement tools such as rulers, yardsticks, or a tape measure

The Twenty-Four Foot Python: A Teachable Moment about Measurement

Ms. Deanna was working her way through Shel Silverstein's book Light in the Attic (1981, p. 44) with her preschool/kindergarten class when she came to "Snake Problem":

It's not that I don't care for snakes,
But oh what do you do
When a 24-foot python says . . .

I love you.

A young boy sits on the ground with a painted paper plate model of a python.

As children painted the model, they tried to replicate patterns they had observed in many photographs of pythons.

The poem prompted an animated discussion about how long a twenty-four-foot python would be. Many ideas were suggested, but they could not agree on a single answer. Ms. Deanna decided to follow up, asking what they could do to find out. The children said they wanted to make a twenty-four-foot-long paper python model. It became evident that the focus of the investigation was going to be accuracyexactly twenty-four feet, not an inch shorter or longer! Ms. Deanna produced a ruler, introducing it as a standard unit of measure for one foot. Using the ruler, the children quickly realized the classroom floor tiles all measured exactly one foot square. They spent several hours measuring off distances in the classroom in floor tiles but found that no matter how they measured, there was no twenty-four-foot space in which they could build their model.

Betty, in a flash of insight during a conversation about the problem said, "I know! The hallway is really long. What if we build it in the hallway?" They used masking tape to mark off the beginning and end of twenty-four feet and commenced building the python out of white mural paper, stuffing it with crumpled newspaper. They pored over books and online pictures of pythons to get an idea of how big the head should be in relation to the body. They "amputated" the first head they made when they realized it was too large proportionally and made a smaller one that was "just right." They painted the python to replicate the coloring patterns they found in their pictures.

The children carried the python to show it to their friends in another classroom, and it lived a long life in their classroom, since Ms. Deanna hung it from the ceiling, where it became a frequent source of reference in other conversations about measurement and snakes.

Stop and Reflect
  1. How did this project involve children in mathematics and science processes reflected in the standards?
  2. How might you have documented the work children were doing to encourage ongoing discussion and problem solving?

Temperature

Understanding that temperature is something that can be measured is abstract and difficult for young children other than in general terms such as hot, cold, and warm. The classroom should include different tools for measuring temperature with displays in both analog and digital format, including oral, candy, meat, and refrigerator thermometers and outdoor digital and clock-style thermometers. Children can be encouraged to observe and record temperatures and engage in activities that involve materials that they can heat, melt, or freeze.

Children can also be encouraged to monitor the movement of mercury or dials as temperature changes. For example, many states' licensing laws prohibit play outdoors when the temperature exceeds 90 degrees Fahrenheit; in applicable climates, if you mark the window thermometer at the 90 degree mark and children can be on the lookout for when the mercury or dial handle reaches that mark to announce "It's 90!"

Time

Children confuse general use of the word time in the context of nap time, time to go, and so on with actual measurement of time. The various dimensions of timeclock, calendar, and historical timeare also abstract and take time to develop. Charlesworth (2005) describes three kinds of time: personal experience (past, present, future), social activity (routines/order), and cultural (fixed by clocks and calendar measurements).

You can promote basic concepts, such as that:

  • Time is relative and cyclical
  • Time can be represented as sequence or by duration
  • Time always goes forward but we can talk about time that has passed.
  • We measure time by equal intervals of different kinds (e.g., seconds, hours, days, years)

It is also important to develop a "time vocabulary"words like time, age, morning, afternoon, soon, tomorrow, yesterday, early, and late. Concrete tools for measuring time can be very helpful. For example, setting a kitchen timer or using a small sand hourglass while children are engaged in an activity helps them gain a sense of how clock time passes. This is particularly useful for helping impulsive children learn to wait for "just a minute" or "two minutes." Other things you can do include:

  • Counting days until birthdays, holidays, or an anticipated special event
  • Talking about what children did over the weekend on Mondays
  • Displaying the daily routine in a linear sequence of pictures
  • Emphasizing what came before and what comes next in sequenced activities, such as following a recipe
  • Gardening activities that offer opportunities to count days and measure growth over time
  • "How many things can we do in a minute" games
  • Installing a sundial outdoors

Currency

Children find American currency challenging because of centrationthey assume bigger means more and that therefore a nickel should be worth more than a dime or penny. They also have trouble with paper vs. coin. As with the representation of number as quantity in general, it takes time for them to understand the symbolism behind currencythat the nickel represents 5 cents, the dime 10 cents, the dollar 100 cents, and so on.

A young girl counts change.

iStockphoto / Thinsktock

Children learn to count change in meaningful activities that they can relate to real-life transactions.

Children do learn about the value of money and its concrete uses (buying things) and can be engaged in using real money judiciously. For example, children in Mr. Dick's 4-year-old class decided to use the outdoor playhouse to set up a store for selling snacks. They made juice popsicles, secured a "loan" to buy a big box of Goldfish crackers, and determined that each item would cost a penny to buy. They made signs for the store and dictated a note for home, asking parents to send their friends with pennies to spend in the store. They also "hired" children in the 2-year-old class to do jobs for them they didn't want to do (such as sweeping out the playhouse) for a penny!

While the value placed on work and their product was not realistic in terms of the real world, it definitely showed their understanding of how money is used and critical to the exchange of goods and services. They carefully tracked their revenues over a week and were able to determine when they had enough pennies to pay back their loan. They were also ecstatic to find, at the end of the week, that they had made a profit of $3.34!

Data Analysis and Probability

Through daily experiences, children learn to answer questions of practical value by organizing, interpreting, and representing information with graphs and charts, pictures, and words. Graphing activities should move from concrete to abstract, starting with three-dimensional graphs using beads on a string, stacking rings on dowel rods, or interlocking Unifix cubes to represent each unit of data (Charlesworth, 2005). Two-dimensional charts, wipe-off boards, or lines, paper squares or circles taped on the floor or wall can be used to represent many different kinds of information as children's understanding grows.

Whitin and Whitin (2003) suggest developmentally appropriate guidelines for using graphs with young children, pointing out that they can:

  • Tie to a social context (favorite story, group activities)
  • Represent the same data set in multiple ways
  • Lead to open-ended discussion questions
  • Encourage children to name/title graphs
  • Revisit data during/after discussions
  • Model/demonstrate throughout process of data collection and creating graphs (p. 39).

Graphs should represent data meaningful to children, such as shoe colors, birthdays, tracking number of children present per day for a week, or preferences. Very simple graphs can be done with children as young as two or three. For example, Ms. Stephanie conducted a unit on babies with her older 2-year-old class, including sampling baby foods. She made a picture graph with the different jar labels across the top and each child put their fingerprint underneath the picture of the food he or she liked the best.

Graphs can be effectively used to represent the cycle of prediction, testing, and results in an investigation of any kind. For example, if you plan to plant seeds, children can predict how many days it will take for them to sprout and compare predictions with observations. Any activity with an either/or outcome, such as sinking/floating can be graphed in terms of predictions/ outcomes. Likewise, any unknown future activity can be graphed by possible outcomes children suggest. Suppose you are reading a new story with a problem to solve. Before getting to the end of the book, children can suggest several possible endings and then you can graph their preferences and compare with the actual ending.

Figure 10.5 Three-Dimensional Graph
Three-dimensional graphs are a good way to begin using graphs with young children, since they involve the use of concrete objects that children can manipulate to represent data. This graph represents animals on land, on sea, and in the air.
Four column graph with four rows. The first column from top to bottom lists the numbers 3, 2, 1, with the last row in this column blank. The second column from top to bottom shows a panda bear, an elephant, a lion, and a child's drawing of a grassy hill and the sun. The third column from top to bottom has two blank rows, a shark, and a child's drawing of ocean waves and the sun. The final column from top to bottom shows a blank row, a butterfly, a bird, and a child's drawing of clouds and the sun.

10.5 Science Concepts and Curriculum Activities

Science content and curriculum are currently not emphasized in early learning standards and primary grades curriculum to the same extent as mathematics. But teachers should facilitate science learning and scientific inquiry through both informal and structured or facilitated investigations (Hamlin & Wisneski, 2012).

Informal science learning occurs daily as children explore their surroundings during play. They apply science concepts and skills as they make observations about practically everything, from the temperature of soup to whether their parent is driving fast or slowly to classifying the rocks they have collected for study. Their perennial question "why" reflects the natural human drive to make sense of the world.

A child wears a rain coat and rain boots to splash in a puddle.

Hemera / Thinkstock

Children are natural scientists as they explore their world and all of its mysteries.

Scientific thinking involves the application of curiosity and reasoning to answering questions, and teachers promote systematic investigation by helping children focus on questions like "What's wrong here? What happened here?" and "What proof do you have?" (Campbell, 1999 p. 134.) As documented in the study of power, force, and motion in Chapter 6, teachers support informal science inquiry during exploratory play by choosing provocative materials, posing questions, and furthering learning with additional activities (Hamlin & Wisneski, 2012; Stoll, Hamilton, Oxley, Eastman, & Brent, 2012).

Physical science describes and explains the properties of objects and phenomena. Life science is the study of living things and their habitats. Earth science focuses on learning about the forces of nature and studying problems that affect the health of our planet.

This part of the chapter will focus on general ideas for planning activities and units and facilitating transformation of everyday concepts acquired through play to science concepts that represent structured thinking and logic using the language of science (Hamlin & Wisneski, 2012, p. 85).

Physical Science

Everyday concepts about physical science are acquired as children do such things as paint in the art center, build with magnetic translucent tiles on the light table, see their shadows while running outdoors, or try to push a heavy truck up a wooden ramp in the block center. As they manipulate and observe everyday objects, they learn about natural forces such as gravity, magnetism, light, and speed. Sensory play (Chapter 7) allows children to exert force on pliable materials, develop conservation in water play, and compare stimuli such as the difference between the way an onion and a flower smells.

Physical science inquiries appropriate for young children focus on explorations, building models, and using simple machines (Cur, 2011). Children investigate phenomena that they can reproduce on their own, allow for variations, are observable, and produce immediate results (Devries, Zan, Hidelbrandt, Edmiaston, & Sales, 2002). The sections below provide suggestions for topics that are both interesting and appropriate for young children about:

  • Light/shadow
  • Color
  • Magnetism
  • Solids, liquids, and gases
  • Weight, force, and motion
  • Static electricity

Light and Shadow

Young children are highly intrigued by the interplay of light and shadow and the ways light can be manipulated to achieve different kinds of effects. Young children can understand and use terms such as light, shadow, reflection, filter, rainbow, image, transparent, translucent, and magnify.

Concepts that can be acquired by young children include the ideas that:

  • Light comes from the sun and stars
  • Light appears invisible but contains colors
  • Blocking light creates shadows
  • Some materials allow light to pass through (transparency)
  • Light bounces off of shiny objects (reflection)
  • Light passes through objects (refraction), changing the way they look by magnification and reduction
A child looks through a kaleidoscope.

Design Pics / SuperStock

Experiences with objects such as a kaleidoscope provide opportunities for children to explore the qualities of light and its effects on different kinds of materials.

The topic of light and shadow lends itself well to both indoor and outdoor activities. To explore transparency, children can sort objects that allow or block light, make sunglasses or put different colors of cellophane over a flashlight to filter light. Children can watch as you make a kaleidoscope using household materials and online directions (requires use of cutting tool not appropriate for young children).

Viewing objects in water or using different types of glass containers and magnifying glasses or other curved glass objects such as marbles reveals the effects of refracted light. To explore how shadows are made and change, children can make a shadow-puppet theater or pantomime stage or they can measure or draw shadows outside. They can also make shadow prints by placing objects on photo-sensitive or construction paper and exposing it to light.

Observing prisms in different locations and at different times of day, using a water hose in the sunshine to make rainbows, or adding oil to a water puddle outdoors in the sunshine allow children to see the light spectrum as a rainbow. They are naturally intrigued by images in mirrors, and setting up several mirrors so that images are reflected in multiple ways provides a fascinating challenge for them.

Color

Color is all around us, providing a context for informal learning and intentional activities to help children learn concepts such as that

  • There are many different colors.
  • A single color can have different shades/tints.
  • Colors have names.
  • Color is not an object but a means to describe objects.
  • Colors can be combined.
  • Sometimes colors can change.
  • Objects can be classified by color.
  • An object of one color can be changed to another color.

As with the difference between rote counting and number sense in mathematics, children may be able to recite the names of colors without being able to identify the corresponding color correctly; likewise, they may match and sort colors before being able to name them. Also, just as there are variations in the ways numerals are represented or written in different fonts, color tints or shades such as lemon, light, or gold may be difficult for a child to all categorize as being in the yellow family. Therefore as children play informally with colored objects and engage in activities such as drawing with crayons or markers or using paints, teachers can help them learn the names of colors and distinguish between them. Children should learn words such as shade, tint, dark, light, primary colors, and secondary colors.

Many materials are useful for explorations with color, including food coloring, water, different colors and kinds of paints, eggs, crayons, markers, colored pencils, colored cellophane, containers; eyedroppers, ice cube trays, paint-chip sample cards, and color sticker dots.

Activities that promote learning about colors include these:

  • Sorting and/or matching paint-chip cards (from hardware or paint store) within color groups
  • Having a color scavenger hunt
  • Making a set of colored water bottles that represent the three primary (red, blue, yellow) and three secondary (orange, green, purple) colors
  • Using paints, crayons, or markers to combine colors and mix them together
  • Mixing multicultural paints to match exact skin tones among children
  • Dyeing eggs

Magnetism

Children are naturally attracted to the unique qualities of magnets and the invisible power they represent for attracting and repelling some objects but not others. Terminology appropriate for young children includes words such as force, magnet, repel, attract, pole, and metal (iron). Materials to include in the classroom for exploring magnets can be made available in interest centers for informal exploration as well as intentional activities with an experimental approach to distinguish magnetic from nonmagnetic objects, note strength of magnetic force, etc.

As children use magnets and metal and nonmetal objects of different kinds, concepts such as the following are supported:

  • Magnets exert force and cause objects to move
  • Only metal is magnetic
  • Only certain kinds of metal are magnetic
  • Magnets both attract and repel
  • The earth has magnetic force

Discovery activities focus on providing assorted objects and different kinds of magnets; children can subsequently classify, graph, or label magnetic/nonmagnetic materials. Informal play with magnets can be set up, for example, by attaching magnets to the fronts of small metal cars and pulling them along a premade or improvised racetrack or attaching paper clips to cutout paper fish and fishing with a magnet attached to the end of a string or line. Children could also use a magnet wand to move floating corks with an inserted straight pin in the water table. Although a bit on the abstract side as far as making symbolic geographic connections, young children can easily learn how to tell where "north" is with a compass and understand that magnetism is what makes the compass work.

Solids, Liquids, and Gases

Basic concepts related to states of matter appropriate for young children include the following:

  • Liquids assume the shape of their container
  • Solids retain their shape
  • Some solids dissolve in liquid; some do not
  • Water changes form when frozen or boiled
  • Liquids move at different speeds (viscosity)
  • Air is a gas
  • Adding liquid to a solid changes its properties
  • Some objects float in water; some sink

Corresponding terminology includes the words liquid, solid, gas, volume, dissolve, and solution. Different liquids (milk, juice, syrup, water), cornstarch, bubble wands, glycerin, dish soap, straws, blender, and empty soda bottles are all materials that can be kept on hand for explorations with solids, liquids, and gases. These activities should encourage children to do things like dropping marbles into different fluids to see how long they take to sink to the bottom or observing ice cubes as they melt in water.

Teachers can enlist children in mixing equal parts cornstarch and water, which confounds them as it exhibits properties of both solids and liquids at the same time. Making bubble solution with glycerin and dishwashing liquid and then blowing bubbles with wands fascinates them, and the teacher can help them to understand that the air inside the bubble is trapped by a liquid "shell." Children can also blow bubbles through a straw into milk, water, and syrup or pour these kinds of liquids back and forth to explore viscosity.

Making fruit smoothies demonstrates the principle of a suspension. Children can classify and label objects in the classroom as liquids or solids or have a liquid lunch, and they will certainly spend a great deal of time at the water table exploring the concepts of sinking and floating.

Weight, Force, and Motion

Applying force to an object makes it movea concept children employ every day as they push cars or blocks across the floor, draw with a crayon, or pedal a tricycle on the playground. Simple machines such as pulleys, gears, ramps, and levers are endlessly fascinating to children in their efforts to figure out what makes things work, as illustrated by the emergent investigation example in Chapter 6.

Other important ideas are the concepts that moving air is called wind, friction occurs when one object moves over another and produces heat, objects fall down, moving water has force, and machines help people work in different ways. Vocabulary for young children includes pulley, cause/effect, push/pull, force, motion (and names of motions such as roll, glide, fly, bounce), weight, balance, friction, and incline.

Young children play tug of war and pull on one side of a rope.

Goodshoot / Thinkstock

Many routine activities children engage in during the course of the day involve principles of physics, such as the push-pull forces at work during a game of tug of war.

Many materials for learning about this element of physics are easily found in preschool classrooms, such as wood planks in the block area, train track, marbles, wheeled toys, straws, and heavy paper. Other materials can include a balance, pulleys, pendulum, scooters, oscillating fan, rope, plunger or suction cups, clear plastic tubing, and cove molding.

Activities that help children learn about weight, force, and motion include:

  • Using blocks and different types of materials to build ramps of different heights/lengths; timing the speed of different kinds of objects rolled down and categorizing/graphing them as fast/slow
  • Setting up a clothesline pulley on the playground and using it to move objects
  • Going on a ramp hunt throughout a building or neighborhood
  • Building a marble maze with tubing
  • Setting up an obstacle course for scooter races
  • Using magnets to move objects underneath paper
  • Tracking shadows over the course of a day on the playground
  • Blowing objects across a flat surface with straws
  • Tying crepe paper streamers to a fan
  • Having a tug of war
  • Making paper airplanes and measuring how far they fly
  • Applying suction cups to different surfaces
  • Placing a cardboard box outside in the sun and drawing different colored chalk lines around its shadow at different hours during the day

Static Electricity

Activities with static electricity help children learn that electricity has force and makes light. Children can easily produce a static electricity charge by rubbing a balloon on their hair, socks on a carpet, or a comb through their hair and then on a piece of wool. When they take a charged object such as a balloon and place it next to something very light, such as crisped rice cereal, they can observe the cereal pieces stick to the balloon. While we want children to be wary of the power of electricity so they don't do things like putting an object into an electrical outlet, learning about static electricity can be both fun and harmless.

Life Science

Life science investigations focus on the study of living things and their habitats. It makes the most sense, in terms of concrete learning and consideration of prior experience, to begin the study of living things with those that are most relevant and in closest proximity to your setting. So, for example, if you live in a rural area, you might study farm animals and local crops; if you live on the coast, you might study ocean animals, reptiles, and beach grasses.

Important life science concepts for young children to learn include the facts that:

  • All living things grow and change over time.
  • Living things need food.
  • When living things die, they decompose.
  • Fossils are the remains of living things.
  • Living organisms have systems that make them work.
  • Living things inhabit and interact with different kinds of environments.

Plants

Children learn about plants of different kinds with first-hand experience by growing, examining, and observing them and using them for different purposes. Even in programs without enough outdoor space for a traditional garden, vegetables and flowers can be grown in containers or a terrarium, in window boxes, or from seed or bulbs in pots or trays in the classroom. Some plants grow in soil, others in sand, and some even in water. Children can observe the stages of growth from germination through the plant's life cycle.

They can learn about how plants distribute nutrients by putting celery in water with food coloring and watching as the color moves through the stalk and leaves. They can measure growth, care for, draw, and photograph plants as they grow. In short, gardening provides many opportunities for learning. For example, Ms. Mary's preschool class has a garden receiving varying amounts of sun/shade during the day; children wondered if all their bean plants would grow to the same height. This question led to a controlled experiment that continued over two months as children tracked the growth of plants mostly shaded and those mainly in the sun. These same children went to a nearby park and harvested bamboo stalks which their teachers helped them fashion into trellises of different kinds to train their (pole) bean plants, eventually growing a "bean house" big enough to put a small table and chairs inside.

At the end of the school year, the children wondered aloud how big the weeds would become over the summer, so they were left unattended; to the children's delight, when they returned in the fall they had a "forest" of weeds, through which they trampled paths. They made "houses" and "forts" in this forest and enjoyed it for several weeks before pulling it out to begin a new garden. Finally, these children wondered what would happen to a pumpkin they had carved if they left it in the garden. Over the entire winter they documented its decomposition until it eventually hardened into a petrified, shrunken shell.

Children love flowers and can collect, press, dissect, and classify them by color, petal type, etc. They can sort and classify seeds, pods, and leaves; make collages or rubbings of different kinds of plants; cut or slice vegetables and fruits; and make prints to compare shapes and characteristics.

Young girls holds a seedling that is about to be planted in a garden.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Gardening activities are intrinsically satisfying to children and a means to help them connect to the earth and learn many concepts related to plants, seasons, the life cycle, and sustainability.

Similarly, to learn about trees, a "tree cookie" (cross-sectional slice of a tree trunk) provides opportunities to measure circumference and count rings. Planting or adopting a tree in a city park or finding and photographing the oldest tree in the community helps children begin to understand the long-term investment that trees represent. If there is a tree on the playground, to help them learn how trees experience changes over time, children can collect all the twigs that fall from it for a month; they can press leaves between sheets of wax paper or assemble photographs of the tree taken at different times of the year.

Animals

One organized approach to the study of animals is by habitatsea, farm, jungle, desert, mountains, etc. As with plants, learning about animals can be a hands-on experience. Indoors, activities such as incubating eggs; taking care of a class pet, aquarium, or ant farm; and dissecting owl pellets all offer opportunities for children to observe the life cycle. There are also many activities for the outdoors, such as planting milkweed to attract monarch butterflies, installing a bird feeder on the playground, or doing a pond study to observe the stages of life. National Geographic offers crittercams at different global locations that enable children to observe wild animals in their natural surroundings in real time.

Children can practice close observation skills by examining insect specimens or making them with bugs they catch or find themselves. They can apply what they learn to sort and classify plastic toy animals and construct habitats for them; they can also make collections of animal pictures and then match them in different ways, such as baby and adult animals.

The Human Body

Young children should certainly begin learning about the human body and can begin acquiring names for its various parts when they are toddlers, while they learn other words. Children can paint or trace their feet and hands and draw outlines of the body, or they can play games that involve the identification of body parts, such as "pin the body part," with cutouts and a life-size paper figure. The light table or overhead projector can serve as a means for viewing x-rays, and a shadow box will enable children to draw silhouettes. Many teachers measure, weigh, and photograph children regularly and keep a growth chart or book in the classroom as well as a record of lost teeth.

Earth Science

Children need go no farther than outside the classroom door to encounter earth science. As natural collectors, they love to pick up, examine, collect, and sort rocks. They dig and play in the dirt. They are fascinated by weather, seasonal changes and by clouds, the stars, the sun, and the moon. Children who live near or visit the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans see the effects of tides and waves. Children who live near the great American deserts watch the sand blow and explore dunes and rock formations. They see the effects of earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and tornadoes on television.

Earth science represents all the mysterious and enormous forces that affect the rhythm of life. Children fall in love with the earth and want to take care of it, so recycling and efforts to solve environmental problems make sense to them.

One of the challenges of earth science is that some topics, like astronomy, are very difficult for adults let alone children to grasp. Some earth science tools, such as the satellite imagery that guides our weather forecasting, also require an understanding of a bird's-eye perspective, which children have not yet acquired. Thus learning about the solar system, for example, outside of the heavenly bodies that are directly observable, is really not developmentally appropriate for young children. What we can do is focus children's curiosity on observation, hands-on investigation of the elements of earth that are accessible, and work on the development of environmentally responsible attitudes and dispositions.

Basic concepts important to earth science for young children include the following:

  • Earth is the place where all living things (that we know about) reside
  • The earth is very big
  • The earth is constantly changing
  • The earth is made of different kinds of materials, including dirt, rocks, minerals, air, and water
  • The sun and moon affect the earth in different ways

Experts and researchers are placing increasing emphasis on creating outdoor environments that connect children to the natural world. (Bronson & Merryman, 2009; Wirth & Rosenow, 2012) While some educators assume they don't have the time or resources to do so, there are many ways to add opportunities for access to nature to an existing playground, such as raised-bed or container planters, a rain barrel, composting bin, weather observation tools, and natural materials (e.g., dirt, logs, etc.). In addition, a growing number of print and online resources are available to teachers who want to promote learning about the natural world (see the reference list at the end of this chapter).

Two young children look through a magnifying glass at a collection of rocks.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Children seem naturally drawn to rocks and fascinated by their individual characteristics, weight, hardness, colors, and textures.

Dirt, Earth, and Rocks

Concepts and terminology about dirt, earth, and rocks include soil, composition, erosion, hardness, and variety. Children can learn what is in dirt by digging up a square foot of soil, screening it, and examining everything they find. They can collect samples from different areas on the playground or in the neighborhood and compare them with their original sample. Creating a mud kitchen (see Chapter 4) or a worm bed or allowing children to run a hose in the sandbox or sand table to create water channels allows them to see the effects of erosion.

Children should be encouraged to collect, sort, weigh, measure, and label rocks and stones. They can examine them in different ways, including putting them between layers of heavy paper or canvas and breaking them apart with a hammer (using safety goggles). Children also enjoy creating displays; they can fill jars with rocks, lay them out in trays or on shelves, or place them in a display case.

At the program where the author works, the children helped dig out and create a rock pond which we filled with rocks instead of water. It provides endless hours of fascination as the children enjoy bringing new ones to add to the pond, washing the rocks, wetting them with squirt guns or the hose to see them change colors, and taking them out and rearranging them periodically.

Air, Wind, and Weather

As children experience the natural elements daily, concepts about air, wind, and weather are very relevant and real to them. Terms that represent concepts young children can learn and use include wind, evaporation, condensation, conditions, cloud, fog, rain, snow, sleet, hail, change, season (spring, summer, fall, winter), and prediction.

To explore the effects of wind, children can make pinwheels or observe a windsock or streamers on the playground to determine its direction and strength. To investigate evaporation, they can dissolve salt in water and use squirt bottles to spray on paper, leave outside or overnight and observe residue. They also enjoy painting with water on the walls or sidewalks and watching the water disappear as it dries. Putting a mirror or other objects in the freezer and then taking them out is a way to observe condensation.

Daily monitoring and weather reporting with children should focus on applying observations to meaningful applications, such as decisions about appropriate clothing for outdoor play, when the garden needs watering, interpreting signals such as gathering dark clouds or a drop in temperature to predict how the weather might be changing, and observing seasonal changes. A simple clear plastic rain gauge and outdoor thermometer can provide data that children will be able to track on a calendar or chart. They can also choose a spot on the playground or in the neighborhood and photograph it monthly to observe seasonal changes over time.

Many communities have TV weather personnel willing to visit or host children and interactive materials to promote interest in weather reporting and forecasting. Many teachers plan seasonal units or explorations that focus on clothing, activities, foods, holidays, and weather to help children understand the influence of these annual cycles on our daily lives.

Environmental Stewardship

Recycling is a concrete activity that develops math and science concepts such as sorting, classifying, and identifying different kinds of materials. It is difficult, however, for children to understand the more abstract concept about how recycling and other kinds of conservation efforts represent responsible environmental stewardship, sustainability, and reducing waste. Therefore it is helpful to establish routines and do activities with children that begin to build those connections.

For example, in the program directed by the author, children have been engaged in recycling classroom materials for many years. Children in each class take turns bringing a small container to the recycling center at the end of the day and sorting its contents to the bins for paper, cardboard, plastic, and metal. In the past year, we decided to reduce the number of consumable cups used by providing an individual water bottle for each child and installing a drinking fountain on the playground.

In addition to the composting bin in the garden, a rainwater collection system with two fifty-gallon barrels was also established. To help children understand how these measures would reduce waste, we involved them in:

  • Counting all the paper cups recycled in a week on the playground before installation of the drinking fountain.
  • Collecting and measuring water used as the teacher brushed her teeth with the water running and brushed them again with the faucet turned off to estimate how much water could be saved (several gallons per person!) Counting how many watering cans we were able to fill and use for daily watering before needing the garden hose after the first rainstorm filled the water barrels.

Many American educators are inspired by the Reggio Emilia concept of remidausing recycled materials for aesthetic purposes (Ferrari & Giacopino, 2005). There are many online and print resources with ideas for using recycled materials for arts, crafts, and other activities. Teachers in the program described above have, for instance, saved soda can pop tops and then used them to make holiday wreaths and jewelry. They have also permanently installed a wooden frame on the playground on which children hang painted or decorated found items such as pine cones, cast-off puzzle pieces, old compact discs, and festival beads. Children learned how to make paper from recycled cardboard and constructed a large permanent painted sculpture from cast-off boxes and packing containers.

Chapter Summary

  • Cognitive development occurs as children accumulate and reorganize experiences and begin to apply logical reasoning to solve problems through application of their understanding of patterns, relationships, and cause and effect.
  • Children develop and adapt concepts in a continual cycle of assimilation and accommodation in response to experiences and interactions.
  • Teachers promote cognitive development by facilitating the acquisition and processing of physical, logicomathematical, and social-conventional knowledge.
  • Teachers support knowledge acquisition by providing interesting materials, fostering cognitive conflict, encouraging children to think about their thinking, and modeling collaborative problem solving.
  • Mathematics and the sciences for children share a focus on inquiry, problem solving, and the development of critical thinking skills through processes and practices that engage them in hands-on explorations.
  • Mathematics and science standards differ in the specific content and ways strategies are applied to solve problems.
  • Mathematics standards focus on number and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data/probability. Each strand of the standards emphasizes important concepts that build on one another.
  • Teachers apply their knowledge of how mathematical thinking develops and direct observations of children to facilitate informal learning through play and planning appropriate mathematics activities as children are ready for them.
  • Science standards address physical, life, earth science, and technology. Science activities for young children engage them in observation of and interaction with the natural world and phenomena that they can experience at first hand through their senses.
  • Teachers promote scientific thinking by involving children in systematic investigations of phenomena and objects with questions that focus on questions like "What's wrong here?" "What happened here?" "What proof do you have?"
Discussion Questions
  1. Identify and explain three examples of things toddlers might do that indicate they are assimilating or accommodating new information.
  2. Many adults have "math phobia" due to negative experiences with learning mathematics as children. How will you use the information in this chapter to promote enthusiasm and a love for mathematics with young children?
  3. Time devoted specifically to a science curriculum is often limited in primary classrooms. What are some examples of ways you might integrate science learning across the curriculum?
Science Resources

The Exploratorium in San Francisco: https://www.exploratorium.edu/

EPA site for recycle city: https://www3.epa.gov/recyclecity/

Science for Preschoolers: http://scienceforpreschoolers.com/

PBS Learning Media, Science and Engineering: https://pbslearningmedia.org/science/

Teach Preschool Science: http://www.teachpreschoolscience.com/index.html

NASA Kid's Club: https://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub/index.html

Geography4Kids: http://www.geography4kids.com/

Geography and Geology for Kids: http://www.kidsgeo.com/

Earth for Kids: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/earth.html

NWS: http://www.weather.gov/

The Science Spot, Kid Zone: http://sciencespot.net/Pages/kidzone.html

Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Accommodation

Adapting existing schema

Algorithm

In algebra, a formula, or series of steps for problem solving

Animism

Tendency to attribute human characteristics to animals

Assimilation

Accepting new stimuli as consistent with existing schema

Bloom's taxonomy

Benjamin Bloom's 1956 hierarchy of critical thinking skills

Centering

Focusing on one attribute of an object to the exclusion of others.

Concrete operations

Stage of development (from ages 7 to 11) when children can per­form abstract operations with the assistance of concrete objects

Conservation

Understanding that changing the arrangement of objects does not change the quantity (number, length) or that changing the size of a container does not affect the volume

Continuous quantity

Amounts that are not counted

Discrepant event

An experience that causes disequilibrium, prompting the brain to adapt existing schema to accommodate to the new experience

Discrete quantities

Amounts that are counted

Disequilibrium

A state of mental imbalance when existing schema do not match a new experience

Egocentric

Cognitive characteristic of children in the preoperational period who are not yet able to understand the concept of multiple perspectives.

Equilibrium

State of intellectual balance between the self and world

Guided discovery

Providing scaffolding rather than direct instruction to promote learning

Informal mathematical knowledge

Learning that takes place through daily experience and play

Linear measurement

Measuring length, width, distance

Logicomathematical knowledge

Mentally constructed relationships

Magical thinking

Irrational beliefs about why things occur

Metacognition

Thinking about one's thinking

Nonstandard measurement

Using unconventional means for measuring, such as paper clips or string

Number

The idea or concept of quantity

Numeral

The graphic symbol for a discrete quantity

Number sense

Intuitive sense about quantity

Object permanence

Understanding that an object out of sight still exists

One-to-one correspondence

Understanding that each number represents one and only one quantity

Operations

Processes used for solving mathematical problems

Order irrelevance

The fact that counting in any order does not change quantity

Ordering

Putting items into a series

Ordinal numbers

Numbers expressed in terms of sequence, as first, second, third

Pattern

Repeating series

Physical knowledge

Concepts based on observable properties of objects and phenomena

Process skills

Skills used in mathematics to solve problems and think mathematically

Rational counting

In counting, associating each number with the corresponding quantity

Rote counting

Reciting numbers without knowing what they represent

Schema

Mental construct of a single idea

Science/engineering practices

Comparable to math process skills; methods and pro­cesses used for science inquiry

Social-conventional knowledge

Concepts based on arbitrary understandings determined by groups of people, societies, or cultures

Seriation

Comparing multiple items in a set and ordering them by logical sequence

References

Anderson, L., & Cruikshank K. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assess­ing: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman.

Baroody, A. J., Lai, M., & Mix, K. S. (2006). The development of young children's early num­ber and operation sense and its implications for early childhood education. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 187221). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Bloom, B. S., & Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: Handbook I. The cognitive domain. New York: Longman.

Bronson, P., & Merryman, A. (2009). Nurture shock: New thinking about children. New York: Twelve.

Campbell, P. (1999). Fostering each child's understanding of mathematics. In C. Seefeldt (Ed.), The early childhood curriculum: Current findings in theory and research (3rd ed., pp.106132). New York: Teachers College Press.

Catron, C. E., & Allen, J. (2003). Early childhood curriculum: A creative play model (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Charlesworth, R. (2005). Experiences in math for young children (5th ed.). Albany, NY: Delmar.

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Initiative. (2010). Mathematics standards. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/Math/

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Cur, C. (February 2011). Physics in preschool. International Journal of the Physical Sciences, 6(4), 939943.

Devries, R., Zan, B., Hidelbrandt, C., Edmiaston, R., & Sales, C. (2002). Developing construc­tivist early childhood curriculum: Practical principles and activities. New York: Teachers College Press.

Ferrari, A., & Giacopini, E. (Eds.). (2005). Remida day. Reggio Emilia, Italy: Reggio Children.

Geist, E. (January 2003). Infants and toddlers exploring mathematics. Young Children, 58(1), 1012.

Hamlin, M., & Wisneski, D. B. (May 2012). Supporting the scientific thinking and inquiry of toddlers and preschoolers through play. Young Children, 67(3), 8288.

Hendrick, J., & Weissman, P. (2007). Total learning: Developmental curriculum for the young child. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Kagan, S. L., Moore, E., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.) (1995). Reconsidering children's early devel­opment and learning: Toward common views and vocabulary. Washington, DC: National Education Goals Panel.

Landry, C. E., & Forman, G. E. (1999). Research on early science education C. Seefeldt (Ed.), The early childhood curriculum: Current findings in theory and practice (3rd ed., pp. 133158). New York: Teachers College Press.

Linder, S. M. (2017, October). Early childhood mathematics: Making it count. Institute for Child Success [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.instituteforchildsuccess.org/themencode-pdf-viewer/?file=https://www.instituteforchildsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/EarlyMathBrief.pdf%20

National Association for the Education of Young Children & National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2010). Where we stand summary: Early childhood mathematics. Washington, DC: Authors.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Retrieved from National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: http://www.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/Math_Standards/12752_exec_pssm.pdf.

National Research Council Board of Science Education. (2011). A Framework for K12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York: Basic Books.

Rice, M. (2014, February 18). What is the teacher's role in supporting play in early childhood classrooms? Virginia Department of Education’s Training and Technical Assistance Center. Retrieved from http://www.ttacnews.vcu.edu/2014/02/what-is-the-teachers-role-in-supporting-play-in-early-childhood-classrooms/

Silverstein, S. (1981). A light in the attic. New York: HarperCollins.

Stoll, J., Hamilton, A., Oxley, E., Eastman, A. M., & Brent, R. (March 2012). Young thinkers in motion: Problem solving and physics in preschool. Young Children, 67(2), 2026.

Sypek, D. (2017, July). Playful math instruction in the context of standards and accountability. Young Children, 72(3). Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/jul2017/playful-math-instruction-standards

Taylor-Cox, J. (2003). Algebra in the early years? Yes! Young Children, 58(1), 1417.

Ujifusa, A. (2017). Map: Tracking the Common Core State Standards. Education Week, 36(11). Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-states-academic-standards-common-core-or.html

van Hoorn, J. L., Nourot, P. M., Scales, B. R., & Alward, K. R. (2010). Play at the center of the curriculum (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Whitin, P., & Whitin, D. J. (January 2003). Developing mathematical understanding along the yellow brick road. Young Children, 58(1), 3640.

Whitin, P., & Whitin, D. J. (May 2011). Mathematical pattern hunters. Young Children, 66(3), 8490.

Wirth, S., & Rosenow, N. (2012). Supporting whole-child learning in nature-filled outdoor classrooms. Young Children, 67(1), 4248.

Witzel, B. S., Ferguson, C. J., & Mink, D. V. (2012). Number sense: Strategies for helping pre­school through grade 3 children develop math skills. Young Children, 67(3), 8995.

9
Social and Emotional Development and the Social Studies
Small boy and girl in standing in sand box.

Radius / SuperStock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Describe the kind of environment and teacher interaction patterns that support early learning standards for social and emotional development.
  • Explain how teachers can help children acquire identity and self-esteem and develop socialization skills.
  • Describe the importance of self-regulation and how teachers help children develop self-control and learn to solve problems and conflicts.
  • Identify important concepts in the national standards for the social studies and resources, activities, and themes appropriate for young children.

Introduction

You know that in addition to meeting children's physical needs and approaches to learning standards, a very important part of teaching young children is promoting and encouraging healthy social and emotional development. Some of the families of your class group are experiencing great stressat least one family in your class is struggling with unemployment and at risk of losing its home, another has a military parent deployed to a combat zone, and a third is providing in-home care for a grandparent who recently had a stroke. You wonder how these circumstances might affect the children's emotional stability and behavior and how you can help all the children to become confident in their ability to deal with challenges and solve problems they experience at school.

You want the children to develop a strong sense of self and relate well to their teachers and peers. You also want to incorporate a developmentally appropriate approach to encourage them to regulate their own behavior and create a caring and vibrant classroom community. In this chapter, we explore important concepts and effective strategies for social and emotional development and a developmentally appropriate approach to social studies curriculum and standards.

From the Field

Director Lucia Garay explains the difficulties related to identifying and describing emotionally healthy children.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Lucia explains how important it is to address social/emotional considerations as part of an integrated approach to teaching. Why is this so important?

9.1 Early Learning Standards for Social and Emotional Development

As described in Chapter 4, the social and emotional needs of young children vary by age, personality, and circumstances. Social psychologists, led by Erik Erikson (1950), consider it critically important that young children develop secure attachments and trusting relationships, a positive self-image and confidence, independence regulated by awareness of and sensitivity to others' feelings and expectations, and the ability to make and keep friends and function as a member of a community. Social and emotional development is an important element of early childhood curriculum for a number of reasons related to the development of resilience, self-regulation, and early childhood as a window of opportunity.

Resilience

Children who acquire the skills emphasized in the early learning standards for social-emotional development are far more likely to be resilient, able to cope with stress and overcome adversity. (McClelland, Cameron, Wanless, & Murray, 2007; Pawlina & Stanford, 2011; Pizzolongo & Hunter, 2011; Weir, 2017). The kinds of significant challenges children face today include violence, abuse or neglect, natural disasters, economic distress within their families, and separation from loved ones. They also experience the typical developmental dilemmas that emerge as they begin to form friendships, experience rejection, and bond with unfamiliar adults.

Resilient children display a sense of agency, a feeling of control over their own decisions, and confidence in their ability to solve problems. They also do better in school over the long term. Their mindset tends towards optimism in face of a dilemma or challenge (Pawlina & Stanford, 2011, p. 31). People without resilience, in contrast, feel powerless to improve their circumstances or solve problems (Pizzolongo & Hunter, 2011).

Consider the family caring for a disabled grandparent and the range of reactions the child might displaythe resilient child might see his grandpa's illness as an opportunity to spend more time with him, reading books, sitting with him in the room and helping his parents with care needs; the child with a lack of resilience might instead pick up on a sense of parental distress, feel anxious, and act out for attention as he observes his parents spending time caring for grandpa when he feels he needs their attention himself. Children with special needs face additional challenges and may particularly need to develop skills associated with resiliency (McClelland, Cameron, Wanless, & Murray, 2007).

Self-Regulation

Self-regulation is the ability to make decisions to control impulses in varying situations. An increasing body of research confirms strong links between early and long-term academic success and a child's ability to regulate her own behavior, work independently, control impulses, and follow directions (Duckworth, White, Matteucci, Shearer, & Gross, 2016; McClelland, Cameron, Wanless, & Murray, 2007; Papalia & Feldman, 2011). These are learning skills that emerge with the development of executive functioning, as stressed in the Approaches to Learning standards (Chapter 7). While multiple factors including temperament, brain development, and home environment contribute to shaping these abilities, teachers certainly play an important role in helping children learn how to thrive in educational environments (Jewkes & Morrison, 2007).

Social and academic competence is linked to classrooms with warm and responsive teachers and positive teacher-child interactions. Self-regulation that is internally motivated, rather than a response to expected rewards, also seems to develop best in classrooms where children have many opportunities to make and be accountable for their own decisions (Pianta, LaParo, Payne, Cox, & Bradley, 2002).

The Early Childhood Window

A father gives his son a piggyback ride.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

A secure relationship with important adults sets the stage for healthy social and emotional development.

Brain research points to the importance of acquiring these learning-related skills during the early childhood period (Masten & Gewirtz, 2006). The field of early childhood education has long emphasized the need for social and emotional competence and teachers who understand how children construct their social selves in a similar hands-on fashion as in other areas of development; studies today confirm more than ever that this continues to be the case (Saracho & Spodek, 2007).

In the next two sections, we explore a social environment that promotes healthy development of these qualities and how teachers facilitate development of self-concept, social competence, and self-regulation.

The Social-Emotional Learning Environment

Providing an environment that promotes healthy social and emotional development requires considering the social ecology of the classroom (van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011), or how interaction patterns vary according to setting and type of activity. Think of social ecology from the perspective of Bronfenbrenner, as a network of individual personalities as well as overlapping peer groups, characterized by different ways children join, create, or are assigned by othersby popularity, interest, friendship, ability, and so on. Understanding group identification as a natural human activity is important, since groups can have an impact on the social development of individuals (Kindermann & Gest, 2009).

For instance, a teacher creates an artificial social ecology by assigning children to permanent or fixed reading groups using a single characteristic such as ability (homogeneous grouping). Subsequently, the children may recognize these distinctions and label their peers in these groups as "smart" or "dumb" and behave toward one another with this label in mind. Classroom ecology evolves more naturally when teachers vary the assignment of children to working groups (heterogeneous grouping) and monitor how children create and self-select their own membership in groups. Teachers learn a great deal about individual strengths and needs from observing the ways children form groups and interact with one another.

In the class discussed above, those same children whom the teacher labeled by ability might categorize themselves by interest, such as "artists," or "block builders." Or they might develop perceptions about ability but express them differently, such as "fast runners" or "good storytellers." Of course it is also possible that some group assignments would not be positive, such as "troublemakers" or "mean kids." Teachers use this information to help individual children with social skills and to guide groups toward inclusive and positive interactions.

Social acceptance, rejection, confidence levels, and self-image are all affected by social ecology and can also be very distinctive, fluid, or idiosyncratic from one class to the next. Teachers are most likely to establish a positive social atmosphere when they:

  • Help children separate from parents and integrate quickly into the flow of classroom activity (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2007), so that they don't remain isolated or begin the day as bystanders.
  • Build an inclusive, responsive, and diverse community (van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales & Alward, 2007) that values similarities and differences.
  • Establish a positive verbal environment (Meese & Soderman, 2010) that sets the stage for friendly social interactions.
  • Create opportunities for developmental levels and types of play that promote face-to-face contact and socialization (Fox & Lentini, 2006; Howes & Lee, 2007; van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales & Alward, 2007).
  • Intentionally teach and model appropriate social skills (Fox & Lentini, 2006; Howes & Lee, 2007).

Helping each child feel comfortable and safe at school or care is best achieved with a gradual approach. Preenrollment visits and individual interactions with the teacher build trust. Small-group play before whole-group activities helps children get to know each other. Acknowledging, modeling, and helping children express their feelings from the start allows them to feel emotionally safe and secure (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007).

Little girl wearing a backpack waves goodbye to her father as he drops her off at preschool.

Corbis / SuperStock

Teachers understand that part of establishing a positive social climate is helping families establish separation routines that allow the child to transition easily into school or care.

Building community is an ongoing process that also starts before children enter the program, with home visits as well as written and verbal communications. It continues every day as teachers welcome children, establish routines that involve them in caring for the classroom and each other, and plan and conduct activities that help them learn about the concept of community and investigate the community in which they live and go to school or care.

Teachers establish a positive verbal environment when they use language to demonstrate respect for children and their abilities by showing genuine interest in their activities and asking a variety of questions. Perhaps a teacher might say, "Wow, I see that you have brought in some very interesting rocks to share with uscan you tell us about where you found them and what you know about them?" Teachers model courtesy and help children understand expectations with language such as, "It would be so helpful if you could . . . " Or "Thank you so much for putting your trucks awayyou knew right where they belong."

Teachers should also encourage children to use their words to describe the choices they make, with opportunities to make decisions that are meaningful and important (Meese & Soderman, 2010). For example, a teacher might say, "I see you have put the 'work in progress' sign on your block structureyou must have some big ideas about what you are buildingcan you tell me about what you want to do next?" These kinds of verbal interactions help children feel valued and special and create conditions that affirm positive perceptions of themselves and others.

The positive verbal environment can be used as a context for facilitating play interactions as teachers establish defined activity areas and pathways to allow for different types of social exchange. For example, by choosing and arranging furniture and equipment that encourage face-to-face encounters, teachers increase the chance that children will engage with one another (van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2007). A comfortable area with pillows or soft furniture and homelike lighting for reading and looking at books encourages conversation and personal interactions. A playhouse in the outdoor space invites children to congregate and play in small groups.

Direct teaching and modeling takes many forms, from having a conversation with an individual child about how to communicate anger with words to guiding three children through settling a dispute or constructing a set of "friendship guidelines" with an entire group or class.

Teacher Practices and Interaction Patterns

A teacher claps for a toddler she is observing.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Teachers use words and body language to show affection for and interest in individual children.

In many ways, a teacher or caregiver's behavior and interaction patterns are as important to children's social and emotional development as any materials or activities in the classroom (California Department of Education, 2018; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gallagher & Mayer, 2006; Willis & Schiller, 2011). In general, regardless of the age of children, teachers support social and emotional or affective development by building high-quality relationships with them. The specific characteristics of teacher-child interactions will vary over time and by age as teachers get to know their children, become familiar with them as individuals, establish mutual trust and respect, and commit to a long-term relationship with each child and family (Gallagher & Mayer, 2006).

Teacher behaviors that promote high-quality relationships include:

  • Using words and body language that show affection and interest for individual children
  • Responding promptly to children in distress
  • Engaging in personal interaction or conversation with each child daily
  • Recognizing and acknowledging individual and group accomplishments
  • Respecting children's need or desire for privacy
  • Respecting children's need or desire to finish an activity
  • Providing children with a number of choices or directions that are manageable for their age
  • Waiting to see if children can solve a problem independently before intervening
  • Using positive language (I need you to . . . can you please . . . ) to convey expectations (rather than 'no, don't', etc.) (Gestwicki, 2011)

9.2 Self-Concept and Socialization

More From the Field

Preschool director Heather Addy Crider talks about the importance of supporting a child's independence and self-esteem.

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. Why is it important for children to be able to choose their own activities and have some independent time?
  2. What other developmental benefits might be gained by allowing children to work or play independently?

Self-concept begins to develop very early, as babies first realize that their limbs are part of their bodies; it grows as toddlers, for example, begin to recognize their images in a mirror (Papalia & Feldman, 2011). This is a multidimensional concept that also affects how a child develops relationships with others.

Children acquire personal identity as they learn to recognize and feel comfortable with their self-images and bodies. They begin to understand their social identity as comprising the kinds of things that characterize them as individuals within larger groups, such as ethnicity, culture, gender, and social standing (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010; Kowalski, 2007). They develop an attitude of confidence and an internalized sense of self-worth as they experience repeated success at completing tasks and solving problems. Young children also begin to develop empathythe ability to imagine or understand how another person might feel in different situations. All these things are needed for a child to build healthy social relationships with peers and others.

Personal Identity

Young children tend to describe themselves in concrete terms, according to what they look like, what they can do, or what they like or don't like. They can't typically provide a description with multiple, integrated or qualitative characteristics until middle childhood (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007). Therefore it makes sense to do activities with them that focus on these concrete attributes so they can begin to develop a vocabulary for describing themselves in terms of things that are real to them, such as, "I have brown eyes" or "I like to dance." Table 9.1 offers suggestions for steps teachers can take to foster a sense of self.

Table 9.1: Strategies for Promoting the Development of Personal Identity
Activity Focus Sample Activities
Mirrors
  • Place mirrors strategically around the classroomvertically, horizontally, or diagonallyperhaps even on the ceiling.
  • Provide hand mirrors and/or a magnifying mirror in the dramatic play area.
  • Consider making or purchasing a pyramid-shaped structure that children can crawl inside with mirrors on the inside surface.
  • Use small reflective materials like foil and mirror tiles for collages.
Photographs
  • Give each child a small photo album and periodically insert pictures taken at school.
  • Frame family photos and display them in the room.
  • Print out a sheet of adhesive labels with each child's photo and use them in ways that allow the children to find their pictures unexpectedly; for example, tape some pictures on small plastic cubes and hide them in the sand table, in a basket of cars, or freeze them inside ice cubes to put in the water table.
  • Print out a 4- by 6-inch image, laminate it to poster board, and cut it up into a puzzle.
  • Print out 8- by 10-inch photos, put each one on a cutout paper birthday cake, and make a birthday wall.
  • Project a child's picture on a piece of poster paper and let him or her trace the image.
  • Photograph the front and back images of each child and make a guessing game chart.
Names
  • As with photos, print out sheets of labels with each child's name on them and use them whenever and wherever possible.
  • Play name games at circle/group time or while waiting for transitions; for example, "I'm thinking of a child whose name starts with S. . ." or " I am . . . and I like to . . . ," and so on.
  • Incorporate finger plays or songs that include the opportunity to insert a child's name.
  • Print names on sentence strips, laminate them, and use them for tracing.
  • Write names in glue on cardboard and sprinkle with glitter or colored sand.
Accomplishments
  • Start an "underwear club" for toddlers with a pocket folder holding each child's picture, with a Velcro tab on the back and a matching tab for each child at the top. When a child is toilet trained, he or she posts his or her picture to the club.
  • Create a display board with the words, "___________ can . . . ," and fill in the blanks with the child's name and what he says he can do.
  • Make a class book, "I (or we) can. . . ." For each page, use a photo and sentence dictation from a child or the group about things they can do.
  • When children learn their home addresses, mail a note addressed to the child at home; make a special call when they know their phone numbers.
Preferences
  • "I like/I don't like . . ." class book.
  • Make a chart that graphs foods children like and don't like, with each child's name or picture and smiley or frowny face stickers.

Social Identity

Acquiring social identity includes learning about gender, ethnicity, and ability issues. Experts on multicultural and antibias education advise teachers to focus on values, interaction patterns, and equitable teaching practices, rather than curriculum activities that highlight superficial features like flags or potentially stereotypical images of different cultures, such as a sombrero or feathered headdress (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007). In other words, children are taught to respond to each other courteously as individuals. This helps to create a classroom culture that values respect, caring, and the matter-of-fact recognition of similarities and differences. It also provides the grounding children need as concrete learners to understand their places in the context of others.

Strategies that promote an accurate and unbiased environment include the following:

  • Using pictures of actual children and families rather than drawings.
  • Making sure that photographs, displays, and materials depict at a minimum the ethnic groups represented in your class; also be sure that people of all ages are represented.
  • Examining and removing any literature that includes stereotyping of any kind.
  • Using only materials that are culturally inclusive and gender-neutral (e.g., showing both men and women in different occupations).
  • Encouraging children to bring materials from home for the dramatic play area.
  • Making sure that dolls in the dramatic play area accurately reflect ethnic features rather than dolls that are identical except for skin pigment.
  • If you notice "gendrification" in play areas, where, for example, only girls are playing in the kitchen area, designate "girl only" or "boy only" days in those centers to encourage cross-gender participation.
  • Making sure classroom job assignments are gender-neutral.

Activities that can be used in the classroom to contribute to development of social identity include the following:

A young boy plays with a pretend iron and ironing board.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

As children acquire a concept of their social self, it is important to support gender-neutral play that doesn't steer children into stereotyped roles.
  • Cut out and paint a life-size tracing of each child's body and display these in small groupings, or as a "class portrait."
  • Mix paint to match the skin color of each child when making portraits, or to do handprints or footprints.
  • Have children cut out pictures from magazines to make a book or collage of boys and girls doing similar things.
  • Make personal time lines with photographs children bring from home that depict important events in their lives.
  • Make class books of things children like or don't like to eat or do, or things they fear or that make them happy or angry.
  • Pair or group children to ensure cross-cultural and balanced gender interactions.

Confidence and Self-Esteem

As children's cognitive awareness and ability to use words to describe "who I am" develops, they also begin to make comparative judgments about themselves in relation to others. Children tend to have perceptions about their self-worth long before they begin to talk about it, which typically occurs toward the end of the early childhood period (around age 7 or 8) (Papalia & Feldman, 2011). Younger children also seldom make subtle distinctions, usually categorizing themselves at one or the other end of a spectrum, such as good/bad. Further, their ability to be realistic about strengths and weaknesses can be affected by adults who lavish unwarranted praise or who are continually critical.

Essential to healthy self-esteem and confidence that motivates children to persist through difficulties is "unconditionality" (Papalia & Feldman, 2011). In other words, if a child's self-esteem is solely contingent on success, she can develop a sense of helplessness if she is not successful on the first try. Conversely, if a child's self-esteem and confidence are unconditional attributes, a failed attempt will only lead him to try repeatedly until he succeeds. Over time, children who lack confidence expect to fail and become more reluctant to take risks, while an overconfident child may not learn how to react to failure (Willis & Schiller, 2011).

The goal for teachers of young children is to help them develop realistic confidence in several ways, as Table 9.2 illustrates.

Table 9.2: Strategies and Examples for Developing Confidence and Self-Esteem
Strategy Example
Encourage trial and error, so children learn that mistakes are a normal part of progress and the way we learn what does work. Trying several different combinations of paint to make green.
Share your own experiences with success, failure, and problem solving. "Last weekend I was making cookies and I burned them all in the oven; I had to start over, but the second time, I set a timer, and that batch turned out great!"
Identify challenges. "Wow, our plan for the garden is going to include a lot of digging and hard work, but I know if we take our time and work together, we can do it!"
Model talking through options or pros and cons for solving a problem so that children see that decision making is a process. "Well, if you want to put a tower on top of this airport, there are a couple places it could go. Let's think about what might happen if we put it here or there before we move the blocks."
Read stories to children that provide good examples of how one finds success and deals with failures. See the appendix for a list of children's books geared to social-emotional development.
Emphasize the value of trying something new as an important part of learning. "This puzzle doesn't have the little knobs you are used to, but look at the great dinosaur picture on the cover of the boxit shows what it will look like when the puzzle has been put together."
Acknowledge accomplishments. Documenting with photos, displaying work, sharing a construction or art product during group time with other children, etc.
Praise effort over ability. "I know you tried three times to cut that paper circle to get it just right."
Sources: Gartrell, 2012; Pawlina & Stanford, 2011; Willis & Schiller, 2011.

Empathy

As defined earlier, empathy is an abstract concept that develops over a long time. Very young children generally do not experience or express empathy. Infants, toddlers, and young preschoolers tend to be highly egocentric, acknowledging only their own needs and assuming that everyone experiences the world from a single perspectivetheirs (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969)! It would not be effective, for example, to address an 18-month-old child who bit another child with, "That was mean! How do you think you made him feel?"

The teacher or caregiver could, however use such an episode as an opportunity to begin building empathy. The teacher might say, "Oh, you hurt your friend," and ask the biter to help comfort the other child, perhaps by holding his hand or helping to hold ice on the bite. Parents, teachers, and caregivers can encourage childrenbeginning around age 3to consider how others are feeling, keeping in mind that it takes many such experiences for empathy and compassion to grow.

As with many other dimensions of social learning, it is essential to use language to help children recognize what others are feeling or thinking. You might, for example, say "Remember this morning when you couldn't find the block you were looking for and you got upset? I see that Molly is getting frustrated because she can't find what she is looking forcan you help her?" Here you are letting both children know that emotions and feelings are universal and that one can demonstrate sympathy and concern.

Caregivers can support the development of empathy by providing children with opportunities to care for and recognize emotional signals and body language in others. Children should also be encouraged to consider the fact that different people have different perspectives about the same situation. Simple activities such as looking at, describing, or drawing an interesting seashell from multiple angles, or asking children what they see when they lie on their backs and look up at the sky, provide concrete reference points for discussing point of view.

Additional caretaking activities that help children to develop empathy include:

A father hugs his young son.

Fotosearch / SuperStock

Adults model compassion and concern, which helps children learn to respond to others in distress.
  • Encouraging children to wash, dress, feed, change, and speak to baby dolls in the dramatic play area.
  • Caring for classroom petseven a fish needs daily care; provide a feeding schedule and record children's daily observations about what the fish is doing or how it is behaving. If your state allows other kinds of pets, consider inviting children to take a pet home over a weekend.
  • Noting when a child is out sick and making cards or sending a note/email message to a child at home.
  • Using sticky notes to jot down brief anecdotes when you observe a child doing something thoughtful or particularly sensitive to another child's feelings; put the sticky note in the child's take-home materials or make a wall chart.

To help children learn to recognize and acknowledge others' feelings, try activities such as:

  • Making "persona dolls" (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010)simple rag dolls that children name and for which you make up a back story relevant to the circumstances of children in your group. Use them to role play empathetic interactions.
  • Making stick puppets, each with a photo/face of a child in the classroom. Use them to reenact caring or hurtful interactions that you observe.
  • Giving plush animal puppets names like Fearful Frog, Sickly Snake, Angry Alligatorthus encouraging children to use them for role playing.
  • Making or buying a matching lotto-type game that incorporates facial expressions indicating feelingsdelight, anger, frustration, boredom.
  • Making a book with pages that start with, "I feel sad when. . . . I feel happy when . . . ." Record children's responses and keep your record handy to read frequently.
  • Singing songs like "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands . . . if you're angry and you know it, stomp your feet. . . ."

Healthy Social Relationships

More From the Field

Director Beverly Prange offers examples of the range of social behaviors a preschool teacher might expect.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. How did Beverly's comments relate to considerations for planning the physical environment to support social interactions?

With young children, developing healthy social relationships depends a great deal on a general feeling of safety and confidence (Willis & Schiller, 2011) as well as on established interactions with family members and caretakers, and making/maintaining friendships in the neighborhood and at school or child care (Howes & Lee, 2007). One of the most heartbreaking things a teacher can witness is a child who is a social outcast, unable or unwilling to make friends, clearly miserable and unhappy most of the time. Infants as young as 2 months begin to distinguish peers from others and by 2 years of age have begun to display preferences in play partners (Kowalski, 2007; Ladd, Herald, & Andrews, 2006).

Play-based group settings that provide children with adequate space, time to play, open-ended and creative activities support positive and complex interactions between and among children more than those with highly directed programs and limited access to materials (Howes & Lee, 2007; Ladd, Herald, & Andrews, 2006). Important as well is evidence that close and trusting relationships between children and their teachers provide children with emotional resources that help them manage stress and aggressive tendencies (California Department of Education, 2018; Gallagher & Mayer, 2006; Gallagher, Dadisman, Farmer, Huss, & Hutchins, 2007; Howes & Lee, 2007; Ladd & Burgess, 2001). Two challenges for teachers to help children develop healthy social relationships are promoting peer-group acceptance and facilitating and creating the conditions for children to form friendships with other individuals.

Peer Acceptance

Five children play with a yellow ball.

Visions of America / SuperStock

Children who want to join play stand a better chance of being welcomed if there are four or more children already in the group.

Through observation and interactions with children, early educators learn to distinguish between general acceptance of a child by his peers and true friendships between individual children characterized by mutual affection, companionship, and longevity (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2007). The factors that attract children to their peers are very similar to those that attract adultsshared interests, personality, appearance, and behavior (Howes & Lee, 2007; Kowalski, 2007).

General peer acceptance is important, since much of a child's day at school or care involves interactions with others in play, small- or large-group activities with adults, snacks and mealtimes, story time, or rest. Some of these activities are more "high profile" than others; for example, if a child states loudly, "Ewww, I don't want Timmy to sit with me at lunch," it is likely other children will hear and the probability of Timmy being rejected by others increases (Ladd, Herald, & Andrews, 2006). Further, once a child has established a negative reputation, that reputation becomes more and more difficult to overcome, and it becomes harder for the child to form individual friendships as well (Buhs & Ladd, 2001; Gallagher et al., 2007; Persson, 2005).

Because play is typically a fluid activity, with children moving about and highly engaged in what they are doing, a child can "practice" negotiating relationships with peers by inviting others to play or asking them to join a play in progress. Studies have shown that children are most successful in their attempts to join group play when teachers encourage them to:

  • Approach a group of four or more children, as the personal dynamics of pairs and triads are characteristically more exclusive and likely to result in a rejected offer or request.
  • Observe for a few minutes so the child can gain a sense of what is going on, and then make an effort to join the play by imitating what other children are doing and using language that focuses on the group, rather than on themselves. For example, instead of saying, "I want to play," a child will be more successful by asking, "Can I help you build the bridge?" (Ladd, Herald, & Andrews, 2006.)

Teaching Friendship Skills

Young children communicate and cooperate more with their friends than with other children (Howes & Lee, 2007; Kowalski, 2007). They also have more conflicts but usually find ways to resolve them (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2007). Over time, from spending a lot of time together and sharing experiences (mutual socialization), they may even take on similar characteristics or preferences, such as hairstyles, clothing, or musical tastes (Howes & Lee, 2007; Kids Matter, 2009).

Young children are more likely to make friends when they are able to use their words effectively to initiate conversations, express feelings, provide ideas for play, and compliment other children. They are also more successful when their behavior is generally helpful and cooperative, demonstrating the ability to share and take turns, refusing to join in others' negative behavior, playing fair, following rules, and being good losers (Bovey & Strain, 2012; Kids Matter, 2009).

Engaging young children with activities that model and teach friendship integrates all the elements of self-concept, as Figure 9.1 shows.

Figure 9.1: Friendship as an integration of the elements of self-concept.
Engaging young children with activities that model and teach friendship integrates all the elements of self-concept.
Figure: Center circle with five arrows pointing outward to five circles. The center circle is labeled "Me." The five circles, starting at the top and moving clockwise read, "I am a friend (personal identity). I have friends (social identity). I am happy when my friend is happy (empathy). I know how to make a friend (confidence). I know how to be a good friend (self-esteem).

Many types of activities can be used to promote friendship, pro-social skills, and a sense of community and belonging. Such activities might include those listed in Table 9.3.

Table 9.3: Friendship Activities
Activity Examples
Friendship-themed literature see reading list in appendix.
Friendship songs Online resources such as: http://www.songsforteaching.com/friendshipsongs.htm;)
Friendship finger plays The Friendship Song ("London Bridge")
A friend is someone who is kind, who is kind, who is kind.
A friend is someone who is kind, just like (child's name).
A friend is someone who can help, who can help, who can help.
A friend is someone who can help, just like (child's name).
A friend is someone who can share, who can share, who can share.
A friend is someone who can share, just like (child's name).
A friend is someone you can trust, you can trust, you can trust.
A friend is someone you can trust, just like (child's name).
http://educationalcreativity.blogspot.com/2011/08/fingerplay-friday-friends -and-family.html
Friendship games Roll a ball to a child sitting in the meeting circle, greeting her by name and naming a positive quality about her as a friend; the child then repeats this with another until every child has been included.
Social stories: first developed for use with children with special needs but also effectively used in everyday classroom situations to provide examples of appropriate interactions or behavior (Gray, C.; Broek et al., 1994). A social story is written in three parts, describing an action, a perspective, and directions for an appropriate response or behavior.

SHARING

Sharing is when I let a friend use something I have.

Sharing is also when I give something to someone else.

Sharing is something friends do.

Sometimes I feel like sharing, sometimes I would rather not.

Sometimes it is hard to share, but I feel better when I do.

It can make me sad or angry when my friends don't share with me.

I will remember that when I share, I am being friendly.

I will try to remember that when I don't want to share,

I will use my words to tell why.

"Friendship recipe" Each child writes (or dictates to the teacher) one thing that a good friend does on an individual item, such as a paper-chain link or a cutout star, that you subsequently combine to write a recipe for friendship.
Friendship snacks Each child identifies one favorite ingredient to create a snack mix that all share.
Tell/share personal stories that help children learn about each other (Lake, 2010) Telling a story about a pet or favorite grownup (including the teachers).
"Me" books to keep in the classroom library for sharing periodically or as a way of introducing children to one another. Book pages include things like "my family," "my pet," "things I like to do," etc.
"Happy photo" gallery Each child uses the digital camera to take a photograph of one of the other children doing something he or she likes to do.
Classroom mailbox Provide or make a mailbox in the classroom that children can use to write/draw/send notes to one another.
Window garden Plant a window garden together that includes children's favorite flowers.
"Friendship book" corner Designate a special place that includes a selection of the children's favorite stories about friends, and put a sticker on the cover of each book with the name of the child who chose it.
"Yuck" board Make a display or poster that lists children's least favorite things to eat or do; there's camaraderie in shared misery!
Special "smile" days Designate days periodically with special focus on smilesgive children a "high five" each time you notice them smiling at someone else, saying "Caught you smiling!"
Puppets Act out specific skills such as inviting a friend to play or asking to join play.
Flannel board stories Use cutouts on a flannel board to act out appropriate interactions with familiar characters (such as the Rainbow Fish).
Role playing Act out prosocial behaviors, such as how to give a compliment to another child.
Coaching Invite a child to demonstrate desired friendship skills to another, for example, Peter, can you thank Sam for helping you put the cars away?"
Friendship journal Help children dictate, write, or draw pictures in a book they keep to document successful friendship skills: for example, drawing a picture about how the child welcomed a new child to the class.
"Kind words" poster Keep track of and display on a poster that you can use for reference actual words children use to give each other compliments or express kindness.
Table 9.3 Friendship Activities

9.3 Promoting Self-Regulation

Self-regulation links all the domains of development and is considered one of the most reliable predictors of academic and social success in later life (McClelland, Cameron, Wanless, & Murray, 2007; Montroy, Bowles, Skibbe, McClelland, & Morrison, 2016; Papalia & Feldman, 2011). It is important during early childhood because children need to learn how to delay gratification; respond and adapt to rules; and handle frustration, challenges, and disappointments in socially acceptable ways. We want them to do so not only because of the sense of satisfaction they feel when they know they are making good decisions but also because being able to control themselves sets them up as more likely to achieve success as adults.

Adults promote self-regulation when, before stepping in to help, they wait to see if the child can solve a dilemma alone. That is, they wait not so long that the child becomes frustrated and angry or at risk for getting hurt but to communicate confidence that at some point they expect that the child will be able to solve problems independently.

Behavior Management

The primary goal of classroom or group-care behavior management is not for the teacher or adult to manage the children but for the children to learn how to regulate themselves. Behavior is the visible representation of the child's effort at any given moment to integrate what he or she wants or feels with what he or she chooses to do.

Many factors motivate children's behavior and the decisions they make, and a "one size fits all" approach to classroom management is neither universally effective nor considered developmentally appropriate (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Kohn, 1999). A sound approach to guidance includes the following:

  • Building a trusting relationship with each child
  • Accepting feelings children express without judgment
  • Determining the precipitants or causes of behaviors
  • Establishing guidelines that allow for a range of consequences rather than a fixed or predetermined punishment
  • Intentionally teaching and modeling decision making
  • Regarding children as problem solvers and expecting them to participate in finding acceptable solutions for conflicts
  • Communicating expectations clearly and praising children's efforts to meet them
  • Pointing out good decisions

When you see a child "fly off the handle," know that the child decided to do so because it seemed the only option, whether or not the child is aware of having come to that conclusion after weighing alternatives. Brain research has revealed that when children experience prolonged or significant stress, a chemical reaction interferes with the "fight or flight" response, resulting in reactive aggression as a protective measure against a perceived threat (Bruno, 2011; Gartrell, 2011). Therefore children experiencing high levels of stress at home or in school may act out for reasons much more complex than a simple mischievous desire to break a rule or get something they want.

Automatically punishing reactive aggression only serves to make the situation worse, as punishment compounds the stress that caused the behavior in the first place. Sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what is going on when a situation erupts or a child consistently misbehaves, but it is important to do so in order to help the child make connections between feelings and actions so that he or she can begin to make better decisions.

A young girl on a tricycle pushes a young boy away.

Hemera / Thinkstock

Children typically engage in frequent conflicts; developing self-regulation focuses on acquiring the ability to control impulses.

The Development of Self-Regulation

Self-regulation begins in infancy, as babies gradually learn that their needs will be met by responsive adults (Papalia & Feldman, 2011). For example, the newborn cries in response to all stressors (being wet or soiled, hungry, thirsty, and so on). Over time, baby learns to wait before crying as he begins to trust that when hungry, he will soon be fed, when wet, he will be changed, and so forth. Caregivers help infants and toddlers with self-regulation by providing a context and routines that are predictable and anticipating their needs when possible so they don't have to handle too many challenges at once. When an adult remains calm while the child is angry or crying and uses words to describe what the child might be feeling, the child learns that his feelings are acceptable.

By interacting with babies and toddlers in routinessuch as diapering, bathing, and feedingand communicating what they can do to participate, adults help them to establish self-efficacy. For instance, while changing a 6-month old, the caregiver may say, "Can you lift up your bottom to help me get the dirty diaper out so we can put the new one on?"

More From the Field

Program director Lucia Garay explains the importance of self-regulation to emotional health.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Lucia described teachers' need to provide opportunities for children to control their own behavior. What implications does this have for the approach you might take to advance children's self-regulation?

Some infant-toddler curricula include the use of signing with preverbal infants and toddlers to begin giving them tools with which to communicate what they need or want as well as "announcing" what they might choose to do (Vallotton, 2008). For example, a 12-month-old might learn to shake his head, signifying "no," as he approaches a hot stove, to indicate that he has learned not to touch it. Similarly, he might learn to stroke his forearm to indicate that he knows he needs to use a gentle touch.

As children acquire language and become increasingly able to control their movements, early educators help preschool and primary children develop self-control by emphasizing that how they feel or what they think is not the same thing as what they choose to do. Thus adults need to first help them acknowledge or identify emotions and, second, learn how to express themselves and solve problems with words or other appropriate actions.

Acknowledging and Expressing Feelings

Suppressing or denying emotions teaches children that certain feelings are not permitted, or bad, and damages the self-esteem a child needs to make difficult decisions with confidence. Children are also sometimes frightened by the intensity of their feelings. Therefore three of the most helpful skills you can develop as a teacher are close observation, active listening, and modeling how to express feelings with words.

Close Observation

Close observation, or monitoring how children seem to be feeling and looking for signs of distress, gives you the opportunity to invite a child to open up and talk before losing control. Especially with infants and toddlers but also with older children, you focus on interpreting their body language, as sometimes children don't know an appropriate word or the ones they do know seem inadequate to convey their feelings. As you get to know the children, you begin to recognize signals and can guess at describing how they are feeling.

Particular emotions have recognizable features, such as a red face or clenched fists (anger), diverted eyes or a crumpled body (guilt), or tears (sadness) (Bruno, 2011). Picking up on these cues, you might say to a child, "Your body seems all stiff and tight; I'm wondering if you are feeling mad about something."

Active Listening

Little girl sitting on step with baby doll, looking sad.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

One of the most important skills teachers need to acquire is the ability to "read" children's body language.

Active listening means giving a child your undivided attention and accepting what is said without judgment. You reserve your approval or disapproval and focus on how the child chooses to act on his or her feelings. Active listening conveys and models empathythat you care about how children feel and acknowledge that their problems are real and important (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007). Further, if you paraphrase, or repeat back in your own words what you heard a child say, you help teach the subtle difference between lashing out with words (to hurt another in an attempt to make oneself feel better) and the more constructive process of reporting to another person how you feel as the first step in solving a problem.

For example, LaToya, a 4-year-old playing in the housekeeping center, is pretending to make pancakes and goes to the refrigerator where play food is stored to get some milk. Mario is already there and takes out the very item LaToya wants. She turns to Mario, stomps her foot, and says, "No, no, stupid, that's mine!" and then proceeds to try to take the milk away from him. The teacher steps in, saying, "LaToya, your words tell me that you are upset because Mario has something you wanted to use" (paraphrasing). The teacher might follow with, "but you hurt his feelings with the words you used; can you try again to tell him what you need and see if he can help you with that?"

Modeling Talking about Feelings

Teachers can model how to talk about feelings as a natural part of conversation and to let children know that experiencing a range of feelings is normal. For instance, you might describe how pleased you are that you will be going out to dinner with friends for your birthday, that you are sad at having to say goodbye to your son going off to college, or that you felt frustrated because you were in a hurry but had to wait in a long line at the grocery store.

Finally, you can provide children with alternatives for expressing their feelings with words or actions that are harmless, such as:

  • Using expressive materials like easel or fingerpaint, modeling dough, or clay
  • Physical activities that release tension, like jumping up and down, throwing a ball at a target, or hammering pegs into a block of clay or a pounding board
  • Redirecting to a soothing activity like swinging, rocking, or putting on a set of headphones and listening to music
  • Using the "silent scream"mimicking screaming as loud as possible without letting any noise come out!

Problem Solving and Conflict Resolution

Teacher talking to small boy who is obviously upset.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Teachers help children learn how to solve problems by modeling and coaching them through the necessary steps in a calm and reasoned process.

As children begin to identify, acknowledge, and express their feelings, they also need practice to learn how to solve problems and resolve conflicts. Key to this process is not only actively facilitating problem resolution when conflicts are happening but also having intentional conversations with children about decision making when they are not.

First, discussion provides an opportunity to think objectively and dispassionately about the kinds of problems children have or might experience. Second, children develop a shared sense of responsibility and ownership over the process. Third, identifying typical problems and brainstorming solutions provide them with resourcesa "toolbox" of strategies they can draw from to try to solve problems themselves. Teachers need to keep in mind that there can be more than one appropriate response for a given situation and that children sometimes generate potential solutions that the teacher might not think of.

A teacher might encourage children to generate a list of scenarios and possibly useful strategies or solutions, writing them down on a chart posted in the classroom for future reference. For instance, to resolve conflicts over toys or other objects, the list of alternatives might include trading one object for another, asking to use the item when the child is finished, or asking to join the play and share. Later, when children are faced with a dilemma or conflict, those ideas can provide a place to start in solving the problem.

As with expressing feelings, adults can also help children learn to recognize good decisions by using instructive language that describes the choices they make; for example, saying, "I know you wanted the green marker very badly, but you made a good choice to ask your friend if you could use it when she was finished instead of taking it away from her." Descriptive language helps children separate feelings from actions and understand that decisions have natural consequences that can be either positive or negative: "When you took the ball away from your friend, you made a bad choice because now your friend is upset and doesn't want to play with you anymore; was there a better decision you could have made?"

In general, classrooms or care settings with a positive social/emotional climate have fewer confrontations, but young children do often have conflicts (Singer & DeHaan, 2007). Such conflicts typically focus on arguments about objects, physical encounters, entry to play, and ideas. There is wide consensus among constructivist theorists that conflict is a normal part of life which helps children learn about social and moral rules (Singer & DeHaan, 2007; Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998). Teaching them to resolve conflict peacefully requires all of the above approachesmodeling, coaching, and direct teaching.

Some teachers use a process modeled after the Peace Table, a strategy first proposed by three-time Nobel Peace Prize winner Thomas Gordon (Teaching Tolerance Project, 2008). This process can be effectively used with young children because it gives them a concrete means for resolving conflicts. The principle behind the Peace Table is scaffoldingintentional assistance and modeling of a series of steps that the children gradually take over for themselves until they are able to solve a conflict unassisted and without prompting from an adult.

A place in the classroom is designated specifically for problem solving, with a place for two or more children to sit and a tool they can manipulate, such as a clock-face type of circle with movable hands to mark their progress through the series of steps listed below.

  • Identify the problem.
  • Teacher or child initiates mediation by inviting children to the Peace Table.
  • Each child describes the problem.
  • Teacher summarizes each child's perspective using simple, clear language.
  • As a group, children generate possible solutions. Teacher may offer prompts, but children's ideas should be the focus of this step.
  • Group agrees on a solution.
  • Children offer one another a sign of friendship, such as a hug, to close the process.
  • Teacher follows through by checking in with children to verify that the problem has been solved.

Table 9.4 documents how two children solved a problem using steps based on the Peace Table model.

Table 9.4: Sarah and Maria Solve a Problem
The problem, part 1

Sarah found a small black volcanic-looking rock on the playground; it looked very interesting.She loves science and loves to collect interesting natural things, and she thought that the rock was exceptionally "cool."

She showed it to her good friend Maria who also liked it a lot, so Sarah (impulsively) gave it to Maria.

But then Sarah. had second thoughts.

When Sarah asked for it back, however, Maria said no, she wanted to keep it.

Maria said when you give something away, it isn't fair to ask for it back.

The problem, part 2

The teacher intervened, and after the girls described the problem, she initially proposed a simple solution: find another rock together and keep searching until they found one that Maria. liked. Maria did not like that idea, and the teacher realized this was a problem that would take time to resolve

The teacher asked the girls to think of problem-solving ideas, and more ideas were floated:

Find a new rock for one of the girls

Because neither of them wanted to give up the original rock, split that rock in half.

But since that might be too difficult, the teacher suggested keeping the rock in the classroom for everyone to share.

Once again, however, neither girl wanted to give up ownership of the original rock.

Reaching an impasse

The girls argued back and forth and realized that they would not be able to come to an agreement quickly and they needed more time to think. (The closest they came was to take turns taking the rock home at night.)

Tears were flowing!!!

The teacher asked them to summarize what had happened so far

Sarah said they had discussed several alternate solutions but none were acceptable to both of them

The teacher said that a "satisfying" solution did not mean that everyone had to be 100 percent happy, and suggested that some problems need more time to be solved and that this might be a good problem to "sleep on it."

The girls decided on a secure spot on the teacher's desk where the rock could be kept until the next day. They agreed that they would think hard overnight on a solution to the problem.

Tomorrow is a new day

Sarah and Maria tried several times in the morning to get together with a teacher to discuss their problem, but it is not a good morning at the school! The teachers have some other immediate problems that need attention. They talk with the girls about "priorities" and the girls understand.

Sarah and Maria were very patient, and continued to talk during the morning activities. Finally, just before lunchtime, they were able to sit down together and Sarah announced a possible solution to their problem.

Tomorrow is a new day

Sarah presented three things she had made at home that she thought Maria might like to trade for the rock, and just to be sure, made something extra specially new that she thought Maria would like.

Sarah made up some math problems on a piece of paper because she knows Maria likes math.

She drew a glow-in-the dark butterfly and a picture of a young girl.

Sarah also made a colorful flower out of popsicle sticks.

Maria. really liked all of them and said she would accept any one of them in exchange for the rock. Sarah said she could have them all.

Final agreements

Maria then asked if she could hold the rock one last time.

The teacher commented on the obvious value of the rock to Sarah, given what she was willing to trade for it to get it back.

Maria said she was very happy that Sarah still wanted to be friends.

Sarah asked to keep the big see-through envelope she had brought the trade items in.

Another (blue) see-through envelope was found so that each child had a secure place for their items.

Teacher reflections

It is important to

Identify exactly what the problem is, as often there is an underlying issue that is being masked by the incident.

Give the children as much ownership over the process as they can developmentally handle.

Give enough time to the process.

Restate the children's words as needed so everyone understands.

Determine ahead of time that the grownups will accept the children's solution, as it is often something the adults might not predict.

Table 9.4 Sarah and Maria Solve a Problem

Rules vs. Guidelines

As early educators work to help children develop self-regulation, they need to identify socially acceptable behaviors as goals for them to achieve. Traditionally this has meant establishing a set of classroom rules for children to follow. However, research has shown that rules for young children tend not to be helpful because they:

  • Are usually stated as negatives (e.g., don't hit, no running, etc.), which can suggest to children that such behaviors are expected to occur (Wien, 2004)
  • Tend to define the teacher's role as one of technician/enforcer (Gartrell, 2012)
  • Don't provide information about what children should do (Gartrell, 2012; Readick & Chapman, 2000)
  • Can result in labeling (e.g., good/bad children) and uneven application (i.e., being lenient with "good" children, stricter with "bad") (Gartrell, 2012)
  • Can lead to long-term problems with aggression (Gartrell, 2012)

While teachers need to set expectations for individual and group behavior, many experts recommend using a few broad guidelinesrather than many specific rules and punishmentsso as to construct a positive classroom dynamic and climate (Gartrell, 2012). Guidelines for preschoolers and children in the primary grades should frame expectations in positive terms, such as, "We are careful with our bodies," or "We use words to solve problems." Guidelines should also be framed as open-ended statements to allow children to infer more specific friendly behaviors (like sharing a toy) from the general statement, "We are friendly with others." They should be displayed or posted in the classroom or care setting with pictures and words as visible reminders of desired behavior. Caregivers who work with infants and toddlers (who are too young to verbalize guidelines) should use gentle prompts and modeling to help children meet expectations.

Positively worded guidelines function as standardsdefining common goals that the community as well as individuals work together to achieve (Gartrell, 2012, p. 57). Finally, guidelines provide teachers and caregivers with opportunities to involve children in setting goals for behavior and problem solving. Preschoolers are generally able to participate in talking about and creating guidelines, and many teachers use the framework of a class meeting to do so.

The Class Meeting

An extension of the time-honored custom of "circle time" (which traditionally includes group activities or routines planned by the teacher) is the class meeting, a forum for informal and intentional discussions including those that help foster self-regulation (Gartrell, 2012; Pawlina & Stanford, 2011; Vance & Weaver, 2002) Like its adult counterpart, a classroom meeting can be a regular part of the daily or weekly schedule or called as needed (by either a teacher or child) when situations arise that require consideration by the group as a whole. Examples of functions that might be carried out in a group setting include:

  • Problem solvingaddressing issues that affect the group or helping individuals brainstorm solutions for a problem with which they are struggling
  • Creating, discussing, or revising guidelinesincluding children in this process enhances their sense of community involvement and investment in the welfare of the group
  • Role playing/demonstrating appropriate actions or behavior
  • Affirmations/acknowledging efforts and accomplishments
  • Making joint decisions about curriculum that can involve children, such as choosing a field trip destination, determining what direction a project should take, or making a plan for how the garden will be planted

Class meetings teach children about the purpose of shared goals and foster a sense of partnership in a learning community (Galinsky, 2012), where all members learn from each other and actively engage in meaningful and relevant decision making.

Time Out

Small child sitting in the corner on a stool.

Comstock / Thinkstock

If used too much or without proper follow-up, children's feelings of isolation, anger, or sadness may overwhelm their ability to regain control and think about making a better decision.

Many teachers (and parents) believe that designating a chair or spot where a child can be sent for time out supports the development of self-regulation and fulfills a commitment to peaceful discipline, giving children a chance to calm down, think about what they did wrong and what to do next, and be ready to return to group play when released. Rules of thumb such as one minute in time out per year of age are commonplace.

However, an increasing number of early childhood researchers observing children placed in time out find fault with this traditional format and believe that it should be discouraged if not discontinued (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Karson, 2014; Readick & Chapman, 2000). Among their findings are that time out can result in feelings of isolation, sadness, and not being liked by the teacher; confusion about why they were there; and uncertainty about what to do when released. Moreover, when time out is used routinely for noncompliance rather than reserved for the most serious problem behavior, its effectiveness dramatically decreases (Readick & Chapman, 2000).

To avoid these negative outcomes, teachers who use time out should modify the practice to provide the child with a more active and meaningful role in self-regulation, by:

  • Reserving time out for only the most serious negative behaviors (i.e., hurting someone else or damaging property) when other strategies such as redirection have failed.
  • Keeping the child with an adult rather than sending him or her to a corner or isolated location. (This maintains the teacher-child connection and also reduces the possibility that the adult might forget about the child!)
  • Helping the child use words to discuss what happened and how to make a better decision.
  • Rather than imposing a specified time, let the child indicate when he or she is ready to return (modified from recommendations from Hendrick & Weissman, 2007).

9.4 Social Studies

A large piece of the development of the whole child involves helping each child acquire a sense of self in the world. The content area of social studies focuses on how children learn about themselves and groups of people in relation to others (National Council for the Social Studies [NCSS], 2010). The integrated study of the social sciences draws from several disciplineshistory, geography, political science, economics, anthropology, archaeology, psychology, religion, philosophy, and sociology (Seefeldt, 2001).

Black and white photo showing young Asian-American students gathered around the American flag in their classroom.

Everett Collection / SuperStock

The concept of social studies in the early twentieth century was primarily focused on promoting citizenship education, especially in public schools with high populations of immigrant children. This class with Asian American children is learning to recite The Pledge of Allegiance.

Social studies today evolved from an early-twentieth-century focus on citizenship education, influenced by John Dewey and others, which was intended to provide children (especially immigrant children) with direct experiences using a project-based curriculum orientation (Mindes, 2005). A 1988 position paper by the NCSS Task Force on Early Childhood/Elementary Social Studies spoke to the importance of the social studies for young children:

The social studies in the early childhood/ elementary years are crucial if we expect the young people of this nation to become active, responsible citizens for maintaining the democratic values upon which this nation was established. Unless children acquire the foundations of knowledge, attitudes, and skills in social studies in the important elementary years, it is unlikely that teachers in the junior and senior high schools will be successful in preparing effective citizens for the 21st century.

Social Studies Standards

Today, a high-quality and developmentally appropriate approach to social studies in early childhood is one that is integrated with other areas of the curriculum and includes experiences that are meaningful to children's lives and understanding and are highly engaging (Seefeldt, 2001). The national standards focus not just on content knowledge but also on the skills and methods of social scientists, attitudes, and values. The preschool/primary classroom or group-care setting provides a natural environment from which to learn about democracy and practice citizenship. The Bank Street School, discussed in Chapter 2, has demonstrated this idea and social studies as the heart of the curriculum for nearly one hundred years.

The revised national standards released by NCSS in March 2010 continue to organize content around ten themes that reflect the variety of disciplines within the social studies:

  1. Culture
  2. Time, continuity, and change
  3. People, places, and environments
  4. Individual development and identity
  5. Individuals, groups, and institutions
  6. Power, authority, and governance
  7. Production, distribution, and consumption
  8. Science, technology, and society
  9. Global connections
  10. Civic ideals and practices

Early childhood educators and researchers have reservations about the developmental advisability of some standards and performance indicators that address abstract concepts such as time (history) and spatial relationships (geography) (Jantz & Seefeldt, 1999). But the NCSS explanations of each theme suggest "big ideas," or avenues of inquiry teachers can explore with young children, that are developmentally appropriate, especially in curricular activities that focus on:

  • The self in social settings
  • Individuals in school and family life
  • The neighborhood
  • Sharing the planet with others (Jantz & Seefeldt, 1999; Mindes, 2005)

The remainder of this chapter will focus on inquiry themes and strategies early childhood educators can use to develop key concepts, skills, and values embedded in the NCSS standards.

Identifying and Organizing "Big Ideas"

In choosing ideas for social studies themes, teachers should guide children toward questions that promote sustained investigation, with many opportunities to integrate other areas of the curriculum. Remember from Chapter 6 (Planning) that activities can be preplanned and also emerge as work progresses to change the direction of an original idea.

Planned Big-Idea Themes

Table 9.5 identifies nine inquiry themes that many teachers and curricular programs choose to use because they relate to children's immediate environment, prior experiences, and typical interests. These themes are also flexible and can be readily adapted to the age/developmental level of children, and connected with local or regional culture, geography, demographics, and history. Alongside the big ideas, Table 9.5 lists key inquiry questions, coded to the ten NCSS themes listed above, and ideas for activities and strategies.

Table 9.5: Big-Idea Themes for Social Studies
Theme and NCSS links Questions Key Concepts Activities and Strategies
Families
1,2,3,4,5,9

What is a family?

Who is in my family?

Where do families live?

What do families do?

How do families communicate?

Relationships

Continuity of human life

The past

Methods of the historian

Humans are alike and different

Families share language, culture, and traditions

Alike and different

Concept mapsrelationships

Interviews with family members

Photographs of family members

Share stories about families

Journal things family does together for a week

Family tree

Family portraits

Dramatic play

Pictures of parents as children

Graph number of siblings in class

Grandparents' tea

Send email/make cards/write letters

Earth
2,3,5,8,9,10

What is the earth?

What is the earth made of?

How big is the earth?

Who lives on the earth?

How do we take care of the earth?

Earth is where we live

Direction and location

Distance and measurement

Maps and globes

Perspective

Relationships within places

Regions

Climate, weather, and seasons

Land forms

Caring for the earth

Life forms

Sky, earth, land, water

Interdependency

Ecological responsibility

Dig/observe: "What's in a square foot of earth?"

Earth collections: rocks, shells, etc.

Field tripsobservatory, virtual tours

Examine/make a globe

Draw the sidewalk from the second story

Cloud pictures

Weather station

Recycling

Making maps

Map puzzle

Photo spot in garden at different times over the year

Neighborhood
1,2,3,4,5,
9,10

What is a neighborhood?

How big is a neighborhood?

Where are neighborhoods?

Who lives in neighborhoods?

What is my neighborhood like?

How do people in neighborhoods interact?

How do neighborhoods change over time?

Direction and location

Earth is where we live

Distance/measurement

Relationships within places

The past

Culture/traditions

Continuity/change

Field trips

Photo map of neighborhood

Survey people in neighborhood

Graph types of structures

Old pictures of neighborhood

Neighborhood events

Make street signs with names of streets in neighborhood

Measure distances (steps) to different places in school and neighborhood

The Past
1,2,3,5,8

People in the past

Objects in the past

Places in the past

Patterns of continuity and change

Measuring time

Passage of time

Personal/family time line

Daily class journal

Party for 100th day of school

Museum visit

"What is it?" (old objects)

Old photo gallery

Stories about famous people

Take pictures of classroom over the year to observe changes

Sort pictures of self by age

Stores
3,7,8,9,10

What is a store?

Who works at a store?

How does a store work?

How do people get/buy things?

Needs and wants

Location

Relationships

Distribution

Production

Services

Consumption

Supply and demand

Visit different kinds of stores

Graph/web different stores children know about/visit

Set up store

Make shopping lists/clip coupons

Raise money to buy something

Set up trading post

Make lists: I need/want . . . because . . .

Sort pictures by want/need

Holiday Celebrations
1,2,3,4,5,
9,10

What is a holiday?

How do people celebrate holidays?

What are the holidays we celebrate?

What holidays do people far away celebrate?

Cultures share traditions

Continuity of life

Time

Graph/track birthdays

Collect/display different kinds of flags

Plan a party

Read stories about celebrations in different places

Invite families to share holiday traditions

Make up and name a class holiday

Celebrate holidays: make decorations/food, etc.

Learn holiday and patriotic songs

Plan/have a parade

Homes
1,3,4,5,7,9

What is a home?

Where are homes?

Who lives in a home?

How are homes built/made?

What is in a home?

Earth is where we live

People work together to build things

Homes vary by location/culture

Measurement

Old homes/new homes

Photo document a house or building under construction

Block playbuildings

Photo album of children's homes

Collage of different kinds of homes

Blueprintsvisit with an architect

Take pictures of "For Sale" signs

Furniture arranging

Dramatic play

Work
2,3,4,5,6,
7,8,9

What is work?

What is a vacation?

Where do people work?

How do people get to work?

When do people work? (shifts, weekends, vacation, lunch)

What do people do at work?

How do people get paid?

Visitors

Trip logs

Classroom jobs chart

Time cards

Planning chart for centers

Work clothes for dramatic play

Visitsoffice, hospital

Visitorsprofessionals, trades, public services

Transportation
2,3,5,6,
7,8,9

How do people move?

How do "things" move?

Where do people go?

What is a vehicle?

How have vehicles changed?

What is public transportation?

Distribution

Distance and location

People build/make things

The past

People work together to get things done

Collect pictures of buses, cars, trains, trucks, planes, boats, spaceships

City bus systemmap a route and take a ride

Watch local traffic cam at different times during the day and count cars/trucks

Carriage tour

Make roads, bridges, tunnels, rivers in sand table

Airports, bus/train stations

Dramatic play

Block play

Take pictures of different kinds of traffic signs in neighborhood

Collect literature about vehicles and transportation

Table 9.5 Big-Idea Themes for Social Studies

Emergent Themes

Recall that big ideas can also emerge from the interests or questions of a particular group of children, either to initiate a study or change the path of work under way. Published accounts of project work from Reggio Emilia schools often describe topics deeply embedded in the social studies. For example, a project described in the first edition of The 100 Languages of Children, "The City in the Rain," emerged after children took a walk following a thunderstorm and wondered where the rain went after it fell, leading to a long-term study of the public water and storm drainage systems in their city (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998).

My own experiences with emergent project work include many examples of investigations that demonstrate deep connections with social studies concepts but evolved unexpectedly. Table 9.6 lists short descriptions of some of these inquiries.

Teachable Moments
Dalmatian dressed in firefighter coat and hat lying on a lawn.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Teachable moments happen every day, adding a dimension to the curriculum that can provide important opportunities to support social and emotional development.

In addition to curriculum themes and activities we plan or anticipate, teachers experience daily encounters with teachable moments that often provide opportunities to address social and emotional development or issues and concepts. For example, you decide to take your students on a field trip to a nearby fire station during a study of community helpers. You find, when you get there, that the firefighters have a dog named Dottie, who lives with them and rides on the fire truck when they go out on a call. You remember that you have several children in your class who are afraid of dogs and see potential trouble looming! What if Dottie growls at the children? Suddenly, you realize you have a perfect teachable moment.

You gather the children around one of the firefighters and ask him to tell the children a story about Dottie. He describes how Dottie helped them locate a small child in a burning house and shows them a newspaper article with a picture of Dottie on the truck. You realize that the very children you know to be afraid of dogs are now asking questions and wanting to pet Dottie. As you leave the firehouse, you think about how you can follow up back at school with a discussion about fears that you can directly relate to the children's experience with Dottie and perhaps use the field trip as a "remember when" anecdote when the issue of fears comes up again.

Stop and Reflect

Imagine your group of children is outside on the playground and one of the children brings you a bone fragment she found when digging in the dirt, wondering what it is. How could you use this opportunity as a teachable moment?

Table 9.6: Examples of Emergent Social Studies Projects
Theme/Big Idea Origin and Description of Inquiry
The city bus system As teachers began a series of field trips as part of a study of the city parks with 4- and 5-year-olds, the children became very interested in the city's public transport system (buses and trolleys). The study expanded to include a study of bus routes, previews of destinations via GoogleEarth, interviews with bus drivers, mechanics, and tour guides, and a visit to the central garage.
The City Market and the basket ladies In the historic district of Charleston, South Carolina, is the City Market, with many shops, restaurants, and open-air vendors, including the "basket ladies," who make and sell traditional Gullah seagrass baskets. On a walk through the market, children spoke to some of the ladies and became very interested in their stories and work. This led to a study of basket making and Gullah culture.
Graduation Kindergarten children at a university demonstration program observed the annual construction of the platform for May graduation ceremonies. Their questions about the structure led to an interest in graduation ceremonies, robes, and parties, which included interviewing all the senior student teaching assistants about their graduation parties and planning the kindergarten graduation outdoors in one of the campus gardens.
Fancy-dress project An effort to make patterns for paper dresses led to a long-term study of "fancy clothes." The children visited a museum exhibit of vintage wedding clothes, learned about garment design and construction, and planned a museum exhibit and fashion show.
Playground snack shop After setting up an indoor classroom "mall" with different kinds of stores, one group of children decided to establish a snack shop in the playground playhouse. They secured a "loan" to buy crackers and juice and for several weeks, made and sold (at 1 cent each) snacks to the other children and teachers. They collected and counted money, made advertising items, and hired other children to do some of their work.
Hurricane Katrina The day after the hurricane, one child whose cousin lost her home asked if there was something they could do to help. Children decided to make/sell pizza and collect school supplies, which turned into a community-drive which culminated in the donation of a rental truck to take supplies to the Gulf Coast.
Jambo Watoto (Hello, children!) A teacher from Kenya visited a class of 4-year-olds to tell them about a well-drilling project in the village she was from. Children asked how they could learn about the children in her village. For several weeks, they drew pictures, took photographs, and wrote/dictated letters for the teacher to take back to her school, sending back replies and connecting the children via Skype and videocam with the children in her class.
Bricks When a bricklayer came to fix a portion of the old brick wall on the playground, children watched and talked with him and had many questions about how bricks are made and used. Many of the city streets and sidewalks are paved with brick or cobblestone and the neighborhood includes many brick-walled gardens and homes. The study included photographing many different kinds of bricks and documenting different kinds of paving patterns around the neighborhood, visiting a brickyard, and learning how bricks are made and used.
The tea ceremony When a child's mother came to help them celebrate Chinese New Year, children were particularly interested in the tea ceremony she described. It led to a study of tea, teacups and teapots, associated rituals, and a visit to a tea plantation.
Fishing, crabbing, shrimping During a visit to one of the city riverside parks with a crabbing/fishing dock, children observed several people with shrimp nets, crab pots, and fishing gear. They asked many questions, leading to a study of the fishing/seafood industry, salt marshes, cuisine, and fishing boat fleet.
Table 9.6 Examples of Emergent Social Studies Projects

Chapter Summary

  • Resilient children are able to adapt to stress with a sense of optimism and confidence in their ability to solve problems, and they are much more likely to be successful later on.
  • Teachers support early learning standards for social and emotional development by providing a safe, secure, and inclusive emotional environment with warmth, positive language, and intentional modeling of social strategies.
  • Self-concept begins in infancy and develops slowly as children acquire a sense of who they are as individuals and in relation to others. Personal and social identity, self-esteem, and an emerging sense of empathy provide a foundation for the development of social and friendship skills.
  • Teachers build self-esteem with activities and strategies that allow children to develop realistic perceptions of their strengths and challenges, which encourages the confidence to persist in problem solving.
  • Self-regulation includes the ability to defer gratification, control impulses, and solve problems in different kinds of situations; this ability is critical to the development of resilience and later academic and personal success in life and school.
  • An individualized approach to promoting self-regulation includes interpreting children's body language, active listening, helping them learn to identify and express feelings in nonviolent ways, providing affirmation and praise for their efforts, and teaching decision- making skills.
  • Social studies include the multiple disciplines of history, geography, political science, anthropology, psychology, sociology, archaeology, religion, philosophy, and economics and provide abundant opportunities to integrate curriculum.
  • National social studies standards emphasize development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes through active engagement in long-term inquiry-based investigations based on ten themes drawn from the various disciplines. Teachers plan for flexible curriculum themes that focus on "big ideas" connected to children's prior experiences, such as "My Family" or "Our Neighborhood," and take advantage of opportunities to adapt to emerging ideas, questions, and interests.
Discussion Questions
  1. Think about the three children in the opening vignette who are experiencing serious stress in their families. What strategies might you use to develop an individualized approach to help them become more resilient?
  2. Think about a teacher you had who made you feel empowered and confident. What did that teacher do that was consistent with the recommendations in this chapter for teacher interactions and strategies?
  3. Think about the last time you had a conflict with another person. What strategies or approach did you use to solve the problem? How was that process consistent with the things you need to do with children to help them learn how to solve problems?
Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Active listening

Giving a child your undivided attention and accepting what is said without judgment.

Affective development

The dimensions of development that focus on social and emotional growth

Behavior management

Teachers' approach to promoting socially acceptable behavior

Class meeting

Planned or spontaneous gathering of all children in the group to discuss ideas, behavior guidelines, or other topics that require collaborative consideration

Close observation

Monitoring children carefully, paying particular attention to body language and other nonverbal cues

Empathy

Feelings of compassion for others, indicating the ability to consider another person's feelings and perspective

Learning community

A group that views learning as a collaborative venture and whose primary purpose is to learn from and support one another

Modeling

Demonstrating or showing children how to do something

Personal identity

The child's internalized concept of his or her individual characteristics, ideals, and abilities

Reactive aggression

Instinctive aggressive behavior due to high or sustained stress levels that compromise chemical processes in the brain, resulting in a fight or flight response

Resilience

Ability to adapt to stress

Self-regulation

Internalized cognitive process of impulse control

Social ecology

Characteristics of interaction patterns in a classroom or care

Social identity

Sense of self with respect to others

Social story

Strategy involving the creation of a personalized short story in three parts that is useful for providing intentional teaching of social skills

Teachable moment

An unexpected, unplanned opportunity for teaching concepts or skills

Time out

Popular strategy for disciplining children by removing them from the situation that was problematic and requiring them to sit alone for a specified period of time before resuming or returning to activity

References

Bovey, T., & Strain, P. (July 10, 2012). Promoting positive peer social relationships: What works research brief. Retrieved from Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning: http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/briefs/wwb8.pdf.

Broek, E. C., et al. (July 10, 1994). The original social stories book. Arlington, TX: Future Education. Retrieved from Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations of Early Learning: http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/scriptedstories/tips.html.

Bruno, H. E. (2011). The neurobiology of emotional intelligence: using our brain to stay safe under pressure. Young Children, 66(1), 2227.

Buhs, E., & Ladd, G. W. (2001). Peer rejection as an antecedent in young children's school adjustment: An examination of mediating processes. Developmental Psychology, 37, 550560.

California Department of Education. (2018, April 12). Social-emotional development domain. Retrieved from https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/itf09socemodev.asp.

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Duckworth, A. L., White, R. E., Matteucci, A. J., Shearer, A., & Gross, J. J. (2016). A stitch in time: Strategic self-control in high school and college students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(3), 329341.

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.). (1998). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach advanced reflections. Westport, CT: Ablex.

Erikson, E. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.

Fox, L., & Lentini, R. H. (2006). You got it! Teaching social and emotional skills. Beyond the Journal: Young Children on the Web, 17.

Galinsky, E. (2012). Learning communities: an emerging phenomenon. Young Children, 67(1), 2027.

Gallagher, K. C., & Mayer, K. (2006). Teacher-child relationships at the forefront of effective practice. Young Children, 61(6), 4449.

Gallagher, K. C., Dadisman, K., Farmer, T. W., Huss, L., & Hutchins, B. C. (2007). Social dynamics of early childhood classrooms. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education (pp. 1748). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Gartrell, D. (2011). Children who have serious conflicts: Part 1. Reactive aggression. Young Children, 66(2), 5860.

Gartrell, D. (2012). From rules to guidelines: Moving to the positive. Young Children, 67(1), 5658.

Gestwicki, C. (2011). Developmentally appropriate practice: Curriculum and development in early childhood education (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Hendrick, J., & Weissman, P. (2007). Total learning: developmental curriculum for the young child. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Howes, C., & Lee, L. (2007). If you're not like me, can we play? O. S. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education (pp. 259277). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Jantz, R., & Seefeldt, C. (1999). Early childhood social studies. In C. Seefeldt, The early childhood curriculum: Current findings in theory and practice (3rd ed., pp. 159178). New York: Teachers College Press.

Jewkes, A. M., & Morrison, F. J. (2007). Parenting and schooling influences on early self-regulation development. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education (pp. 133148). Charlotte, NC: InformationAge.

Karson, M. (2014, January 14). Punishment Doesn't Work [Blog post]. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/feeling-our-way/201401/punishment-doesnt-work.

Kids Matter. (2009). Helping children learn positive friendship skills. Retrieved from Kids Matter: http://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/primary/uploads/2009/09/friends-overview.pdf.

Kindermann, T. A., & Gest, S. D. (2009). Assessment of the peer group: Identifying naturally occurring social networks and capturing their effects. K. H. Rubin, W. M. Lukowski, & B. Laursen (Eds.), Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups (pp. 100120). New York: Guilford Press.

Kohn, A. (1999). Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A's, praise, and other bribes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Kostelnik, M. J., Soderman, A. K., & Whiren, A. P. (2010). Developmentally appropriate curriculum: Best practices in early childhood education (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Kowalski, K. (2007). The development of social identity and intergroup attitudes in young children. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education (pp. 4982). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Ladd, G. W., & Burgess, K. B. (2001). Do relational risks and protective factors moderate the linkages between childhood agression and early psychological and school adjustment? Child Development, 72, 15791601.

Ladd, G. W., Herald, S. L., & Andrews, R. K. (2006). Young children's peer relations and social competence. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 2354). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Lake, R. (Fall 2010). Reconstructing multicultural education through personal story. Multicultural Education, 4347.

Masten A. S., & Gewirtz A. H. (2006). Resilience in development: The importance of early childhood. R. E. Tremblay, R. G. Barr, & R. De V. Peters (Eds.), Encyclopedia on early childhood development (pp. 16). Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development. Retrieved October 1, 2012, from: http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/documents/Masten-GewirtzANGxp.pdf.

McClelland, M. M., Cameron, C. E., Wanless, S. B., & Murray, A. (2007). Executive function, behavioral self-regulation, and social-emotional competence: Links to school readiness. O.S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.) Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education. (pp. 83107). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Meese, D., & Soderman, A. K. (2010). Postive verbal environments: Setting the stage for young children's social development. Young Children, 65(5), 8186.

Mindes, G. (September 2005). Social studies in today's early childhood curricula. Beyond the Journal, Young Children on the Web, 18.

Montroy, J. J., Bowles, R. P., Skibbe, L. E., McClelland, M. M., & Morrison, F. J. (2016). The development of self-regulation across early childhood. Developmental Psychology, 52(11), 17441762.

National Council for the Social Studies. (2010). National curriculum standards for social studies: A framework for teaching, learning, and assessment. Washington, DC: Author.

National Council for the Social Studies Task Force on Early Childhood/Elementary Social Studies. (1988). Social studies for early childhood and elementary school children: Preparing for the 21st century. Washington, DC: Author.

Papalia, D. E., & Feldman, R. D. (2011). A child's world: Infancy through adolescence (12th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.

Pawlina, S., & Standford, C. (2011). Preschoolers grow their brains: Shifting mindsets for greater resiliency and better problem solving. Young Children, 66(5), 3035.

Persson, G. E. B. (2005). Young children's prosocial and aggressive behaviors and their experiences of being tageted for similar behavior by peers. Social Development, 14, 206228.

Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York: Basic Books.

Pianta, R. C., La Paro, K. M., Payne, C., Cox, M. J., & Bradley, R. (2002). The relation of kindergarten classroom environment to teacher, family, and school characteristics and child outcomes. Elementary School Journal, 102, 225239.

Pizzolongo, P. J., & Hunter, A. (2011). I am safe and secure: Promoting resilience in young children. Young Children, 66(2), 6769.

Readick, C. A., & Chapman, P. L. (2000). Young children's perceptions of time out. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 15(1), 8187.

Saracho, O. S., & Spodek, B. S. (2007). Social learning as the basis for early childhood education. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education (pp. 303310). Charlotte, NC: Information Age .

Seefeldt, C. (2001). Social studies for the preschool/primary child (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Singer, E., & DeHaan, D. (2007). Social life of young children: Co-construction of shared meanings and togetherness, humor, and conflicts in child care centers. O. S. Saracho & B.S. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education (pp. 279302). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Southern Poverty Law Center. (2008). Teaching tolerance project. Starting small: teaching tolerance in preschool and the early grades [video]. Montgomery, AL: Author.

Vallotton, C. (September 2008). Infants take self-regulation into their own hands. Zero to Three, 2934.

van Hoorn, J. L., Nourot, P. M., Scales, B. R., & Alward, K. R. (2011). Play at the center of the curriculum (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Vance, E., & Weaver, P. J. (2002). Class meetings: Solving problems together. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Wien, C. A. (2004). From policing to participation: overturning the rules and creating amiable classrooms. Young Children, 59(1), 3440.

Weir, K. (2017). Maximizing children's resilience. Monitor on Psychology, 48(8). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/09/cover-resilience.aspx.

Willis, P., & Schiller, P. (2011). Preschoolers' social skills steer life success. Young Children, 66(1), 4249.

8
Physical Development, Wellness, and Creative Movement
Young girl climbs on playground equipment.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Describe the rationale for promoting physical wellness and fitness in the curriculum.
  • Explain the function and benefits of outside play.
  • Describe appropriate curricular activities and strategies for promoting the development of gross motor skills.
  • Describe appropriate curricular activities and strategies for promoting the development of fine motor skills.
  • Describe appropriate curricular activities and strategies for promoting health and safety education.

Introduction

Yesterday on the playground you noticed that while some of the children seem to have an inexhaustible supply of energy for climbing and running, there is clearly a small group who are not interested in moving at all and spend most of their time sitting or lying on the ground waiting to go back inside. Also, Lottie does not want to play any games with a ball, because she says the kids make fun of her clumsiness. Further, you have had conversations about food connected with your visits to a couple of restaurants in your neighborhood study and learned that many of children do not have healthy diets and are already overweight for their age and size.

You do know that Lottie loves to dance, acting as the DJ, and she has organized a dance party in the afternoon, choosing music for the CD or MP3 player and dancing in front of the mirror. In the classroom, you've also noticed that you have several children without much experience using either writing tools or scissors, and you are a bit worried about that, as they are frustrated and don't want to practice, draw, or write. Your program doesn't have any itinerant teachers for physical education, music, or art, so you know you are entirely responsible for addressing those areas of the curriculum.

How can you lead your children towards an active, healthy lifestyle and development of the motor skills they will need for first grade? In this chapter, the focus is early learning standards for physical growth and health, and physical education.

From the Field

Teacher Meghan Ling describes how she integrates physical activities and movement throughout the day.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Sometimes physical development and activities are regarded as a lower priority than "academic" curriculum. What approach would you take to advocate for equal emphasis?

8.1 Promoting Physical Skills, Fitness, and Well-Being

As early childhood educators, we want our curriculum to both encourage physical activity and help children learn why it is important to be active, safe, and healthy. One of the most important habits for young children to engage in is the regular exercise that comes with being physically active. This is key to their health for several reasons, not the least of which is that it helps combat the inclination towards a sedentary lifestyle, which is associated with obesity and a host of chronic health problems. Research attests to higher incidence of early onset obesity and increasingly sedentary lifestyles among children and teenagers (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2011; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). These figures are highest among poor African American and Latino/Hispanic populations. Also alarming is evidence in those reported statistics that poor eating/exercise patterns established among young children tend to persist over the life span.

According to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), the organization responsible for national physical education standards, children need both physical activity and physical education to build and maintain strong healthy bodies (NASPE, 2012). Physical activity refers to body movements that require energy expenditure beyond what is required during rest; it is important for lifelong health; for controlling weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels; and for reducing the risk of debilitating diseases such as diabetes. Physical education, in contrast, refers to intentional instruction focused on development and care of the body. Physical activity and physical education promote physical fitness, which is a set of factors that includes strength, endurance, flexibility, and performance. These are all important for overall health (Gallahue & Ozmun, 2006).

Although many schools have cut back on physical education in favor of more instructional time for academic subjects, there is increasing evidence of positive correlations between physical fitness, cognitive development, and academic achievement (Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2013; Prosser & Jiang, 2008; Tomporowski, Davis, Miller, & Naglieri, 2007). In a review of multiple studies published over the past fifteen years in academic journals, Smith and Lounsberry (2009) synthesized research findings about the relationship between physical activity and academic achievement. Among their conclusions:

  1. Engagement in physical activity is associated with academic achievement.
  2. When children engage in physical activity, cognitive performance improves significantly.
  3. Physical fitness levels correlate positively to performance on standardized achievement tests.
  4. Many of the physical and social benefits of physical activity are associated with success in school.
  5. Children who spend between 14 and 26 percent of the school day in physical activity, including physical education, learn more rapidly.

Therefore the goal of physical education, according to the NASPE web site, "is to develop physically educated individuals who have the knowledge, skills and confidence to enjoy a lifetime of healthful physical activity" (2012). Luckily, toddlers and preschoolers are naturally predisposed to spend significant parts of their day walking, running, climbing, jumping, and generally being as physically active as their small bodies will allow.

Physical Education Standards

Two children run in a circle while spinning a merry-go-round which two of their classmates ride.

Stockbyte / Thinkstock

Early childhood is an important period of development for children's bones, muscles, and general fitness levels.

In terms of official guidelines and standards, state early learning standards emphasize two elements of physical development: overall health and well-being, and motor development; these refer to children's ability to efficiently control, coordinate, and move large and small muscle groups. The NASPE guidelines describe broad goals about time for structured and unstructured activity, skill development, access to safe physical environments, and adult support. Table 8.1 displays the NASPE guidelines for children up to age 5.

The NASPE also identifies six national physical education standards:

  1. Demonstrating competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities.
  2. Demonstrating understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics as they apply to the learning and performance of physical activities.
  3. Participating regularly in physical activity.
  4. Achieving and maintaining a health-enhancing level of physical fitness.
  5. Exhibiting responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings.
  6. Valuing physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and/or social interaction.
Table 8.1: NASPE Physical Activity Guidelines for Children up to Age 5
Physical Activity Focus Infants Toddlers Preschoolers
Time for structured physical activity Interact with caregivers in daily physical activities dedicated to exploring movement and the environment. Engage in a total of at least 30 minutes of structured physical activity each day. Accumulate at least 60 minutes of structured physical activity each day.
Time for unstructured physical activity Caregivers place infants in settings that encourage and stimulate movement experiences and active play for short periods of time several times a day. At least 60 minutesand up to several hoursper day of unstructured physical activity; should not be sedentary for more than 60 minutes at a time, except when sleeping.
Skill Development Physical activity should promote skill development in movement. Ample opportunities to develop movement skills that will serve as the building blocks for future motor skillfulness and physical activity. Develop competence in fundamental motor skills that will serve as the building blocks for future motor skillfulness and physical activity.
Safety Environment meets or exceeds recommended safety standards for performing large-muscle activities. Indoor and outdoor areas meet or exceed recommended safety standards for performing large-muscle activities.
Adults in charge of planning for young children Caregivers, teachers, and parents are responsible for understanding the importance of physical activity and should promote movement skills by providing opportunities for structured and unstructured physical activity.
Source: www.aapherd.org

By structuring the curriculum to promote daily physical activity, early educators thus find themselves in the unique position of being able to impact the long-term physical and intellectual well-being of children who may be at significant risk for lifelong health issues. For young children, much of the strenuous daily physical activity needed to promote physical fitness occurs during outdoor play.

Outdoor Play

The NASPE standards and the American Heart Association (2012) recommend at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous play for children over the age of two, in no shorter than 15-minute segments. One of the easiest ways to accommodate this is to make sure that children spend plenty of time outdoors, being active in a variety of games and activities.

Young children should have ready access to outdoor play space, if not onsite, then within walking distance. Outdoor areas should be planned as thoughtfully as indoor space, with a balance of open space, age appropriate play structures that are safe and in good repair, and materials that children can use in physical activities. Well-designed exterior space represents opportunities for "big body play"activities that involve all the major muscle groups, which may be limited by the confines of the indoor environment (Carlson, 2006)as well as extension of other indoor curriculum activities.

Considerations for planning outdoor environments include:

  • Managing risk with age-appropriate equipment and materials.
  • Supervision policies that protect children from physical harm but do not limit their freedom.
  • Scheduling playtimes to accommodate children from multiple groups or classes.
  • Adapting the environment to support children with special needs.
  • Providing for a balance of activities and practices compatible with developmental, cultural, and environmental concerns.
  • Accommodating climatic issues such as temperature, sun/shade, and access to water.
  • Maintenance of equipment and materials.

Table 8.2 displays suggested outdoor activity areas and ideas for equipment and materials for their support.

Outdoor activity areas should be identified with signs or labels, as with indoor classroom interest areas, and supervision guidelines should be posted. Storage for materials used exclusively outdoors is highly desirable. Spaces can be designed for multiple/flexible purposes. For example, a gathering space could also accommodate music activities, or an outdoor picnic. A paved area could be used with vehicles at one time of the day and games like four square or jump rope another. Most playground structures are also designed to accommodate a range of large muscle activities. Many of the same materials used indoors can be brought outside if storage is not available.

The important thing to remember is that outdoor space should not be an afterthought or thought of as only needed for "recess." Rather, it should be intentionally planned with specific goals for physical development in mind.

Table 8.2: Planning Outdoor Activity Areas
Space or Interest Area Supported Activities Examples of Equipment and Materials to Support Area
Open area Running, games, planned physical activities such as an obstacle course or play with a parachute Paved or cushioned surface (e.g., grass, mulch, rubber) balls, ropes, hula hoops, parachute, cones, bean bags
Water/mud play Filling, pouring, measuring, water channeling Water table; dishwashing basins; pots/pans; measuring cups, funnels, kitchen utensils, hose/running water; plastic PVC-type tubing
Playground structures Climbing, swinging, crawling, sliding, balancing Structures must be rated for age-appropriateness and professionally installed to meet local licensing codes for spacing and safety
Gardening, recycling Planting, transplanting, weeding, watering, harvesting, composting, sorting/recycling Movable containers; designated ground space for ornamental, herb, or vegetable garden; wall frames, features such as an arbor, fences, pergola, or trellis; recycling and composting container; rainwater collection barrel; tools, pots, potting bench; watering can; hose/sprinkler
Dramatic play Pretend play and opportunity to create fantasy structures such as tents, houses, fort or castle, etc. Playhouse and/or designated area; performance platform; structural props such as tent, poles, small tree branches or bamboo poles, sheets/fabric; weatherproof containers to store themed props that support current fantasy interests
Music Playing and listening to music; singing; dancing; movement Weatherproof permanent installation such as chimes or marimba; rhythm instruments; tape/CD player; scarves, bells
Art Painting, drawing, sculpture, weaving Table, access to water, weatherproof storage containers for supplies and tools such as paper, brushes, clay, paints, sidewalk chalk, fabrics, etc.
Gathering space Relaxing, conversation, storytelling/reading, performing, providing directions or instructions Defined area with decking, paving stones, grass, small sitting wall, etc.; weatherproof chairs or stools; tree stumps; picnic table
Sand/digging Sifting, pouring, digging, scooping, measuring, etc. Sandbox or pit, covered to protect from animals when not in use; weatherproof construction toys such as trucks, cars, bulldozers, etc.
Science and observation Collecting, sorting, observing and recording Bins for sorting found or provided objects such as stones, leaves, sticks, shells, bark, etc.
Construction Building Flat platform or building space; weatherproof blocks or other items that can be used for construction (hammers, wood scraps, nails, etc.)
Vehicles Riding, scooting, pushing, pulling Wagons, trikes (must meet safety regulations); scooters; paved or hard-packed surface that provides track or pathways for riding that will not interfere with or provide safety concerns for other children; traffic cones or signs; bridge/tunnel
Hills Rolling, sliding, crawling Small earthen mound or inclined space covered with grass or cushioning material
Source: Nature Explore Sourcebook (Arbor Foundation, 2012).
Table 8.2 Planning Outdoor Activity Areas

8.2 Motor Skills

Gross and fine motor activities and materials are designed to help children develop muscle strength and the ability to control large and small muscle groups effectively. Many of the physical activities that help children stay fit advance the development of these skills as well.

Gross Motor Skills

Four young children chase a ball across the grass.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

A running game with a large ball is an activity that integrates all the components of gross motor developmentcoordination, balance, agility, power, and speed.

Teachers can use many activities and materials to promote the acquisition and development of coordination, balance, agility, power, and speed (Gallahue & Ozmun, 2006)the gross motor skills that involve the large muscles of the body both in isolation and in coordinated movements. Locomotor movement involves moving from one spot to another; axial movement occurs while the child is in place.

Activities that can promote these gross motor skills include:

  • For coordination: jumping, hopping, skipping, dribbling, throwing, catching, kicking, pedaling
  • For balance: walking or running on line or beam, standing on one foot, spinning, twisting, bending forward and backward, squatting
  • For agility: moving sideways, starting/stopping, stepping, navigating obstacles, crawling, rolling, tumbling, twisting, jumping rope
  • For power: vertical jumping, long jumping, distance throwing and kicking, lifting, pedaling
  • For speed: running, walking fast

Materials and Equipment

In addition to permanent playground structures designed for climbing, swinging, and sliding, early childhood educators should have and regularly use a variety of materials and equipment to promote the attainment of gross motor skills. Table 8.3 provides a list of small equipment items and the type of development they support.

Active Games

The list of traditional games that promote gross motor skills is long and old. Many games such as tag and hide and seek that children play today have been used for centuries, handed down from one generation to the next. Children don't always have access to equipment, and games with simple rules are easy to remember. The open-ended nature of games like these also makes them responsive to the coming and going of players, without a definitive beginning or ending.

Table 8.3: Gross Motor Equipment and Materials
Skills Equipment Uses
Coordination Playground balls

Sport balls (football, soccer, basketball, tennis available in foam)

Large floor balls

Whiffle balls

Basket/hoop

Goal/net

Hula hoops

Bean bags, ring toss

Foam "noodles" or bats

Horseshoes (foam or rubber)

Bowling pins (plastic)

Ball catcher cups

Frisbees

Streamers/scarves
Throwing, catching, rolling,

Kicking, foot/hand dribbling, striking, throwing

Rolling, pushing, stretching

Throwing, catching, striking

Aiming, tossing

Aiming (kicking/throwing)

Twisting, rotating, spinning

Aiming, tossing

Striking, "fencing"

Aiming, tossing

Aiming, rolling

Tossing, catching

Tossing, catching

Twirling, back-forth, up-down
Balance Ball hopper (large ball with handle)

Beam

Rubber floor spots

Cup stilts
Bouncing

Balancing while moving

Controlled stepping/jumping

Controlled stepping
Agility Jump ropes

Mesh ladder (laid on ground)

Collapsible crawling tunnel

Cones (like small traffic cones)

Bases

Parachute

Scooter/roller boards

Tumbling mats

Jumping sacks
Twirling, jumping in rhythm

Stepping

Crawling

Navigating obstacles

Landing, stopping

Running under, stopping/starting

Stopping/starting, turning

Rolling, creeping, crawling

Hopping
Power Rubber activity bands

Tricycles

Wagon

Jump-off board (can be anything)
Stretching, pulling

Pedaling, turning, starting, stopping

Pulling, pushing

Long jumping
Speed Batons/sticks Relays

While older children might enjoy more complicated physical games with teams or a specified number of players and rule structures, such as soccer, children younger than age 6 don't have a fully developed sense of the abstract concept of "rules." Thus, games for children in preschool tend to be simple and require teacher guidance and modeling. Children under the age of 5 or those who have not yet acquired an understanding of rules are not yet psychologically prepared to be highly competitive (Gartrell, 2007). Young children play games for the sake of playing, such as those that involve running or skipping and those that include role-playing (i.e., pretending to be an animal, airplane, etc.). Modifying games to reduce competition and make sure everyone gets a turn to lead or follow nurtures a sense that all children "win" through successful participation. Table 8.4 describes familiar games or variations you might use that promote gross motor skills.

Parachute Games

A group of preschool children play with a parachute.

Visions of America / Superstock

Playing with a parachute is noncompetitive: children work together to move the parachute while exercising their large and small muscles and using eye-hand coordination.

A particularly useful piece of equipment for the development of gross motor skills is the parachute, which is commercially available in different sizes for use with children of varying ages. The parachute is made of very lightweight fabric and circular, sewn together in wedges so that it will easily billow and move evenly when manipulated in different ways. If no parachute is available, a bed sheet can be modified to circular shape or used as is, but it will not react to the motions children apply to it in exactly the same way.

Working with a parachute requires coordination, as children must observe what everyone else is doing and time their actions simultaneously. It also develops agility, as parachute activities involve a range of motions with the entire body. Following is a short description of the use of a parachute with young children (adapted from the website for Hummingbird Educational Resources).

Getting started: When you are introducing the parachute, space children evenly around the outside edge and tell them to hold onto it with both hands. Have them carefully step backward until the parachute is taut. Then they must lower it to the ground. At your signal (choose a word the children will remember, like mushroom), have all the children pull the chute upward simultaneously. The chute will fill with air and rise up to form a dome. Practice this before moving on to other games.

Variations:

  • Running together under the chute
  • Letting go entirely and watching the chute rise
  • Putting a ball on top of the chute and coordinating different kinds of motions to move it around the chute
  • Having the children all go underneath chute and creep/crawl together to move the chute, making "waves" by moving chute up and down together, varying speed and range of motion
  • Operating the chute while all are sitting on the ground
  • Pulling the chute back and forth
  • Calling out one or more children at a time to run under the chute and back out before it falls
  • Having each child hold the chute with one hand and walk it around in a circle
Table 8.4: Simple Action Games for Young Children
Game Gross Motor Skill Description
Crab tag Agility and coordination One child is the crab and chases other children, who must all move with feet and hands on the floor. Crabs who are caught go to a spot designated "the net."
Stop/go (red light/green light) Agility and speed Children stand next to each other with one child in front of the rest; when leader says "go," the others move/run forward until the leader turns around and says "stop"; anyone then caught moving is "out." The first child to tag the leader becomes the next leader.
Red rover Power and speed Children form two lines and link arms; one line calls a child from other line ("red rover, red rover, let [child's name] come over"), who runs as fast as possible to try to break the chain; if the child succeeds, he or she gets to claim a child for his line; if the child fails, he or she joins other line. The game is over when only one child is left.
Duck, duck goose Agility and coordination The children sit in a circle. The child who is "it" moves around, tapping each child in turn on the head, saying, "duck." When "it" taps a child and says "goose," the sitting child must get up quickly, chase first child around the circle, and try to tap another before first child sits in his or her empty spot. Variation: Catch the lion tailattach a tail to the chaser, and the child tapped must try to grab the tail before going all the way around the circle.
Follow the leader Agility and coordination Children form a line and must mimic how the first child in line moves as the leader moves around the space.
Musical chairs Agility and coordination Make a circle with one chair for each child. As the music plays, tell the children to move in different ways around the circle; when music stops, each child must sit in the closest chair. Variation: place one less chair than the number of children. The child who doesn't get a seat becomes the one to tell when music stops next time.
Dance party Coordination Play music on a CD and tell the children to freeze when the music stops. Variation: birds or airplanes the children pretend to fly (without crashing into anyone else) until the music stops and they must "land." Variation: Jumping frogsthe children squat; when the music plays, they jump like frogs.
Balloon volleyball Agility and coordination Inflate large balloons and tell the children to try to keep them from touching the ground.
Relay races Speed and agility Using anything appropriate for passing from one runner to the next (i.e., a "baton"), the children are divided into small groups who line up facing each other. They race, one at a time, in any number of waysrunning, hopping, skipping, and so on, passing the baton to the next child.
Bubble wrap stomp Power, agility, coordination Collect bubble wrap; place it on the floor and allow the children to stomp on it until it is completely deflated. (For fine motor skill, do this on a tabletop with the children using small mallets or their fingers.)
Table 8.4 Simple Action Games for Young Children

Fine Motor Skills

The average age for mastering the fine motor skills necessary for writing, cutting, and using tools in elementary school is 6½ years (Lippincott, 2004). Fine motor activities we do with young children help them gradually build strength and coordination, or manual dexterity, in the muscles of the hands and wrist and encourage the visual perception necessary to coordinate eye-hand movements. Through manipulation of many kinds of materials and tools over time, children acquire the ability to control fine motor actions such as pinching, grasping, and squeezing.

Writing and Cutting

The benchmarks children need to achieve to be able to hold and use a pencil or other writing implement correctly include the following:

  1. Development of the arches in the hand (the palm surface) needed for cupping the hand around small items
  2. Wrist flexion and extension
  3. Achieving and sustaining an open O-shaped space with the tips of the thumb and index finger touching, needed for grasping and holding small items and writing tools (as opposed to a "key" grip, when the pad of the thumb rests on the side of the index finger)
  4. Acquiring muscle strength and coordination of the thumb, index, and middle fingers (Lippincott, 2004)

Likewise, learning how to cut with scissors is challenging for children and takes much practice, encouragement, and the right kind of equipment. Occupational therapist Carrie Lippincott explains (2009):

The child is learning to use the thumb, index and middle fingers together to manipulate objects or tools. He or she must also learn to keep the ring and little fingers loosely tucked into the palm of the hand. This part of the hand plays a crucial role in providing stability for the dexterity fingers. So the best type of scissors to use is the "old fashioned" type with two loops of the same size.

Let's Move Initiative
The logo says, "Let's Move," and uses and apple for the "o" in move. To the right of the text is a child jumping over a ball to act as an exclamation point for "Let's Move!"

letsmove.gov

Schools and programs that promote the Let's Move! initiative are encouraged to use the program's logo.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama launched Let's Move! in February 2010. For 7 years the initiative was dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams. The website for Let's Move! , now frozen in time as historical material, provides information and many different types of resources for the five dimensions of the initiative:

  • Learning about obesity
  • Healthy eating
  • Physical activity
  • Strategies for building more active, healthy lives
  • Opportunities to join in advocacy efforts that promote the principles of the Let's Move! initiative

Statistics indicated that 1 of every 5 children is clinically obese by age 6, as determined by a body mass index (ratio of weight to height) above the 85th percentile. Therefore the White House Task Force on Obesity recommended a five-pronged approach during the early childhood years:

  1. Strengthening prenatal care
  2. Promoting breastfeeding
  3. Evaluating the impact of chemical influences in the environment
  4. Reducing "screen time" (the amount of time children spend in front of a TV or computer screen)
  5. Improving the quality of child-care settings so they can consistently support our children's healthy development
Michelle Obama and three young girls harvest vegetables in the White House garden.

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

The White House kitchen garden includes fifty-five varieties of vegetables and herbs as well as a bee-hive for harvesting honey.

Almost 500 communities participated in the initiative with public/private partnerships assisting in efforts to provide healthier food in schools, healthier and more affordable foods in stores, incentives for increased physical activity, and better/earlier diagnosis of children at risk for early onset obesity.

Stop and Reflect
  1. Do you think eradicating obesity within a generation is a reachable goal? Why or why not?
  2. What might you do to support efforts to reduce childhood obesity in your school or community?

In general, there is no need to push scissor cutting before the age of 4, since children can get very discouraged if they try to cut without the necessary hand strength. In helping children learn to use scissors, it is important to keep these guidelines in mind:

  • Start with proper positioning, the thumb in the top loop, and middle finger in the bottom loop, using index finger to guide movement of hand. Scissors should always point away from the body, and work should be positioned no closer than 8 inches from the face.
  • The child should hold paper with the noncutting hand, thumb on top. This hand does most of the paper turning, so the focus of the cutting hand is controlling the scissoring motion.
  • Start with snipping paper, and as the child masters this skill, move to cutting on a line, cutting simple shapes without curves, broad curves, and last circles.
  • Use sturdy materials such as index cards and construction paper to begin with rather than lightweight papers.
  • Right-handed children cut in counterclockwise direction, left-handers cut clockwise, to allow for unobstructed view of material and the cutting line (Lippincott, 2009).
Figure 8.1: Correct Hand Positioning for Writing and Cutting.
Children are most successful writing and cutting when they are taught proper positioning initially, to prevent the need for corrective relearning later. Incorrect hand positions lead to fatigue, inefficient use of tools and writing implements, and difficulty seeing work.
Figure: Image on the left shows a child's hand holding a pencil between the thumb and index finger with the text, "Correct position of hand for writing," underneath the image. The image on the right shows a child using both hands, the left hand to hold a piece of paper, and the right hand to manipulate a pair of scissors. Underneath the image is the text, "Correct position of hands for cutting."

Manipulative Materials

Early childhood product catalogs are full of different kinds of manipulative materialssmall items that children play with or use in different ways to practice and develop their fine motor skills. Many of these are inspired or derived in one way or another from Montessori's practical life and sensory materials, designed to promote fine motor skills and the left-right/top-bottom visual progression of reading and writing (in Western languages). Preschool classrooms or home-care settings typically include a manipulatives area or center and teacher-directed or facilitated activities, games, and projects designed to support fine motor development.

Manipulative materials can serve multiple purposes. One example of a multiuse manipulative is a set of small plastic counting bearschildren use their fine motor skills to pick them up, arrange them in rows, or place them in groups, but they are also sorting and classifying them by color, size, or some other attribute, which helps to develop early math skills. Similarly a child doing a knobbed puzzle is developing a pincer grasp but also depth perception and spatial awareness by comparing the shapes of the puzzle piece to the possible places where they could fit.

Frequently used manipulative materials include:

  • Hand and finger puppets
  • Puzzles
  • Small plastic animals or objects such as bears, boats
  • Blocks
  • Sets of interlocking shapes that can be put together in different ways, such as Legos, Bristle Blocks, or plastic chain links
  • Small vehicles and tracks
  • Pegboards
  • Beads and string
  • Lacing boards or shapes
  • Gears
  • Dressing frames
  • Objects for stacking or nesting
  • Crayons, markers,
  • Parquetry (pattern) blocks
  • Dominoes
  • Squishy or knobbed rubber balls

Many of these materials are available in different sizes to accommodate a range of developmental levels, from young toddlers to children in the primary grades.

Fine Motor Activities

There are many online and print resources that provide suggestions for activities that promote fine motor skill development (see list at end of chapter). This selection of fine motor activities and games represents curricular activities for both open-ended play and teacher-facilitated work with individual children or small groups. All fine motor activities contribute to the development of the visual/perceptual skills of depth perception, visual tracking, and focus, but activities can be loosely grouped into three general categories of pinching/grasping, dexterity, and strengthening exercises and games that require the use or practice of fine motor skills.

Pinching/Grasping:

  • Using the thumb and index finger, tongs, tweezers, or a spoon to pick up small items such as pompoms, cotton balls, beads, and move them from one place to another (use small segmented tray or bowls for objects)
  • Using water droppers with colored water or paint
  • Bead-stringing: wooden beads, colored pasta, buttons, thread spools (with shoelaces, pipe cleaners, or other easy-to-handle stringing materials at first)
  • Clothespins: hanging doll clothes, affixing to the sides of cards or boxes for matching games
  • Sewing/lacing with large plastic needles and yarn or shoelaces on lacing boards or prepunched Styrofoam trays
  • Tracing/dot-to-dot pictures
  • Gluing small objects on paper (e.g., beans)
  • Tearing paper: collages
  • Puzzles (especially knobbed variety for youngest children)
  • Pegboards: putting golf tees, dowels, or pegs into holes
  • Card games that require cards to be turned over one at a time
  • Using the flat side of chubby crayons to draw with
  • Painting with sponges cut into small pieces
A young boy sits in his high chair dismantling equipment with his play tools.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

From a very early age, children are interested in taking things apart and putting them back together.

Hand and/or Wrist Strength:

  • Screwing jar lids on and off
  • Putting together and taking apart nuts and bolts (start with large plastic variety and move to real metal ones of different sizes)
  • Using small mallets to hammer golf tees into block of modeling clay
  • Using hole punchers to make confetti
  • Using ice cream or melon scoops to pick up marbles or other small objects
  • Pouring liquid or solid materials (e.g., rice) from one cup or small pitcher to another
  • Use modeling materials (play dough, Plasticene clay) to roll coils, make balls, and press clay pieces together
  • Stretching rubber bands over a small box or other solid shape
  • Stapling and removing staples from paper

Dexterity (Coordinated Movements):

  • Stacking objects such as blocks, buttons, cubes
  • Nesting boxes of different sizes
  • Using safety pins
  • Fitting shapes into matching holes
  • Playing with a keyboard (either musical or typing)
  • Sharpening pencils (with rotary or handheld sharpener)
  • Passing a squishy ball from one hand to the other or from child to child
  • Finger painting
  • Easel painting and writing on vertical surfaces

Games (Lippincott, 2006):

  • Air ponguse empty spray bottle or turkey baster to blow Ping-Pong balls or pompoms back and forth across a line
  • Finger tug-of-warplay tug of war with crooked index fingers (works on "O" grip)
  • Challenges: see how many small objects child can pick up before set kitchen timer goes off
  • Finger "push ups" with clothespins
  • Finger soccer or football (flicking crumpled paper balls or pompoms on tabletop)

8.3 Health and Safety Education

Like the standards for physical education, the focus in the standards for health education is on applying knowledgeparticularly about nutrition, healthy behaviors and personal safetyto develop good lifelong habits and practices. Helping children make good decisions is embedded in the ultimate goals of health and safety curriculum activities. The American Cancer Society (2007) developed the eight national Standards for Health Education as a framework for health instruction in schools:

  1. Knowing how to be healthy and prevent diseases
  2. Understanding factors that affect health
  3. Knowing how to find information and products that promote health
  4. Using interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid risk
  5. Demonstrating the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health
  6. Setting appropriate goals
  7. Practicing healthy behaviors
  8. Advocating for a healthy lifestyle

Learning about Nutrition

More From the Field

Kindergarten teacher Meghan explains the importance of cooking activities as support for learning about nutrition.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. What safety considerations should be addressed when cooking with children? How would you accommodate the needs of children with allergies without having to eliminate working with foods as part of the curriculum?

One area of great importance in developing healthy lifelong habits is in making decisions about eating. As soon as they begin to eat solid foods, infants and toddlers begin to indicate preferences for things they like or don't like, and enjoy learning the names of foods. Preschoolers display curiosity about what is in food and how it is grown and made; hence cooking/gardening activities are an important part of many early childhood curricula. Food preparation activities also integrate science, math, literacy, and sociocultural learning. Snack and mealtimes provide opportunities to talk about healthy eating and also to teach conversation skills, manners, and good eating habits (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Marotz, Cross, & Rush, 2001). In the Reggio Emilia schools, the kitchen is often designed as a central architectural feature, visible to children, with food preparation personnel considered key assets to the curriculum (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides many resources for teachers, children, and families, including information about initiatives such as the Farm to School program, which encourages schools to purchase fresh food from local farms and other producers, and a special section of their website devoted to Health and Nutrition Information for Preschoolers. Additionally, the USDA has created a graphic, known as MyPlate, to help consumers of all ages put together a healthy diet. Shaped like a dinner plate, this colorful diagram illustrates the types of foods, and proportions of each, that make up a healthy diet. It can be displayed in the classroom and used to help children learn about food groups, and how to plan a healthy meal.

Teachers promote concepts that support health standards related to nutrition with activities we discuss in the following section, focusing on:

  • The names of foods and food groups
  • Characteristics of foods, such as color, texture, flavor, smell
  • Where foods come from
  • The difference between healthy and unhealthy foods
  • The basics of food safety
  • What a recipe is and how to follow one
  • Food as fuel the body needs for energy, growth, and health (Marotz, Cross, & Rush, 2001)

Activities with Foods

Visual diagram showing the appropriate distribution of the five food groups on a dinner plate. Vegetables and grains should be more than one-half the plate and protein and fruits should make up the rest of the plate. Dairy should accompany the meal and is represented here as a glass.

United States Department of Agriculture

"MyPlate" is a diagram that provides an easy to understand process for making healthy meal choices and food combinations.

As with other curricular areas, children learn best through active involvement and hands-on experiences. There is an active, unresolved debate in early childhood education about the developmental or cultural appropriateness of including food items in play activities, such as some of those mentioned in Chapter 7 (e.g., using rice in the sensory table or pasta for collage) (Marotz, Cross & Rush, 2001; Swim & Freeman, 2004). Some believe that the use of food items such as rice in a sensory table is appropriate as this provides an inexpensive source for materials with sensory qualities that are hard to duplicate with commercial materials. Others believe, given the economic hardships experienced by many families in America and around the world, using items that could otherwise be consumed as food is wasteful.

However, food activities with a focus on nutritionincluding guided food preparation, games, songs/poems, puzzles, manipulatives, dramatic play props, art, field trips, tasting parties, and gardeningcan provide rich learning experiences across the curriculum. Children can use the MyPlate logo as a format to apply concepts they are learning about foods, nutrition, and healthy menus vicariously, by placing or pasting pictures of foods into appropriate categories or with hands-on activities and experiences with real foods. All activities that involve preparation or tasting foods should be planned with consideration for any children who have documented food allergies.

Many children's picture books have food themes, and nonfiction books about foods or food products can be readily incorporated into the classroom library as needed (e.g., cookbooks; books on vegetable or herb gardening; and books about animals, fish, and plants from which foods are derived). The appendix includes a comprehensive list of books with food themes that teachers can use to support activities with foods.

The idea of a recipe is not difficult for young children to grasp, since they are learning one-, two-, and three-step directions already, although their immature understanding of mathematical concepts such as fractions and proportions can lead to some very amusing moments! Consider this recipe contributed by 3-year-olds for a class book made and duplicated as a take-home project; it provides insight regarding what Caroline knows about ingredients, measurement, the steps in following a recipe, and cooking safety.

Caroline's Banana Pie

20 spoons of salt
11 cups of flour
1 cup of spices
10 strawberries
8 bananas

Stir it. Mix it. Put tea in it. Put it in the oven. We take it out of the oven.

We wait on it till it cools off. Then we get to eat it.

Activities with foods connect with concepts about nutrition. For example, Figure 8.2 displays activities that could be planned to explore learning about vegetables, using four major concepts about food as organizers.

Ideas for studies of other food types or groups can be similarly planned. Table 8.6 lists suggestions for themes and activities across the food spectrum.

Figure 8.2 Example of Plan for Vegetables Theme
Many activities with a food theme are developmentally appropriate for young children. Food themes are a rich source of hands-on learning opportunities.
Figure: A square segmented into four smaller squares. The top left square reads, "Food Preparation Activities: Mash potatoes or squashes; peel/scrape/shred carrots, potatoes, turnips, cabbage; Make pickles or relishes; baked potatoes, squashes; vegetable soup; pizza or pasta sauce; veggie tacos; veggies and different kinds of dips; salads  tossed, marinated, molded, coleslaw; Zucchini/carrot pancakes, muffins; make vegetable juices." The top right square reads, "Growing Vegetables: Germinate seeds for fast growing vegetables like beans, peas, or spinach and transplant to garden; Plant different varieties of a vegetable such as pole beans, bush beans, yellow wax beans, lima beans; Root an avocado seed, potato, or carrot in water; Plant zucchini, cucumbers, or pumpkins in a mound; Plant a window garden of greens and herbs; Visit a farm, gardening center, grocery store, "farm-to-table" restaurant." The bottom right square reads, "Play with vegetables: Set up a vegetable stand or grocery store in dramatic play area; use cut vegetables such as potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, zucchini for printing; make potato heads; poems/songs; puzzles with vegetable or farm themes; juggling potatoes; games: e.g. Hot Potato, Farmer in the Dell, I Spy...a vegetable that is..." The bottom left square reads, "Characteristics of vegetables: Tasting party  graph results into like/dislike or other attributes such as sweet, sour crunchy, soft; put celery stalks in colored water and observe capillary action; identify while blindfolded; leave vegetable such as a hollowed out pumpkin to decompose and chart observations over time; use magnifying glasses or microscope to view sectioned samples; sorting pictures or samples of vegetables by color, such as green, yellow, and red peppers; sort vegetables by shape/size."
Table 8.6 Curricular Topics and Activities about Foods

Food Safety

When they are handling food, teachers should scrupulously follow and teach safe food preparation guidelines (USDA, 2011), including handwashing (the primary means of preventing spread of germs and parasites), precleaning of foods, safe use of utensils, using gloves when handling raw foods, and direct supervision of any activities that take place in the kitchen or involve use of appliances. Safe food handling practices minimize the risk of food-borne illnesses that can be transmitted by unwashed or improperly cooked or undercooked foods.

Proper cleaning guidelines for dishes and utensils after each use in group settings stress the need for sanitizing, either with commercial dishwashers that include a sanitizing cycle or a three-step handwash process that includes washing, rinsing, and sanitizing with a weak bleach solution. If your school or program makes/serves meals on site, consult with kitchen staff for help or supervision of food preparation activities, and make sure to follow policies relative to food allergies.

Figure 8.3: Handwashing Instructions Poster
Children can easily learn the recommended procedure for thorough handwashing with some physical help and a poster or series of photographs that remind them of the steps. Many teachers encourage children to use a simple song like the "ABC" song or "Happy Birthday" while scrubbing to approximate the recommended time for washing.
Figure: Six-step chart shows children how to wash their hands. First step says, "get hands wet," and shows a running faucet with two hands under the water. Step 2 says, "Squirt soap on," and shows a soap dispenser and two hands with soap on them. Step three says, "Scrub. Sing," and shows two hands with soap foam, as well as music notes and the text, "Happy Birthday." Step four says, "Rinse," and shows a faucet with two hands under the running water. Step five says, "Dry," and shows to hands being dried on a towel. Step six says, "Turn off water," and shows a faucet being turned off by a hand holding a towel.

Cultural Dimension of Food Studies

A boy adds sprinkles to frosted cupcakes.

Ableimages / SuperStock

Children of all ages enjoy both the sensory and conceptual learning opportunities that cooking activities provide.

Learning about foods and the proper ways to handle and prepare them provides opportunities for natural connections with families as the primary source for modeling attitudes, customs, and experiences with foods. Communication between the teacher or caregiver and the family is essential so that parents can help reinforce good nutritional and eating habits promoted at school or in the care setting (Marotz, Cross, & Rush, 2001).

In addition, sharing favorite family foods is an excellent way to integrate and honor the cultures and traditions of children and families. Many teachers engage families in collecting recipes for class cookbooks or visiting the classroom to demonstrate/share in food preparation activities. In programs where children pack lunch, the different kinds of foods children bring from home present a rich source of information for teachers and arouse curiosity among children.

Regional cuisines offer additional opportunities for planning experiences that are relevant to the daily lives of children. For instance, preschool teachers who live in the coastal plain, where the program directed by the author is located, planned excursions with family members to introduce the children to crabbing, learning how to cast a shrimp net, and pier fishing. These activities produce many of the foods available in local markets and restaurants. In addition, these teachers made use of cookbooks written for children that describe the African, Caribbean, and Native American origins of many of the foods eaten in this region for more than three hundred years.

Knowledge and Care of the Body

In addition to providing a foundation for understanding the importance of good nutrition, learning about the body and self-care practices supports the goals of health education standards for establishing lifelong practices and attitudes. Curricular activities that center on concepts of anatomy, hygiene, and illness prevention help children learn about how their bodies grow and what they can do to stay well and be healthy.

Table 8.7 provides ideas for activities that stress these important concepts for young children. An associated list of books about the body and hygiene for children is included in the appendix .

Personal Safety

Finally, early childhood educators understand they have the primary responsibility in their classrooms and care settings for keeping children safe and properly supervising their activities as well as helping them learn how to be safe. This can be challenging with young children owing to (1) a developmentally characteristic range among them from fearlessness to risk-aversion, (2) the abstract nature of the concept of risk, and (3) changing attitudes about what constitutes real dangers to children (Gill, 2007; Guldberg, 2009; Louv, 2008). Tim Gill, author of No Fear (2007, p. 1) states "We all want to keep children safebut are we going the right way about it? By bubble wrapping children we stop them developing the skills and resilience they need to protect themselveswhile those working with children can become so anxious about risk prevention they lose confidence in their own good judgment."

Table 8.7: Concepts and Activities about the Body
Anatomy
Concepts Activities
Naming and identifying body parts Songs: "Head, shoulders, knees and toes," "Hokey Pokey," "Them Bones, Them Bones."

Games: Pin the tail on the . . . [body part].

Silhouettes.

Body tracing paper cutouts.

Drawing on mirror image with wax crayon.

Puzzles

Make mobiles with cutout pictures of parts of the body.

Make finger prints and footprints with tempera paint or washable ink and rollers.

Hygiene and Body Care
Concepts Activities
Daily care of teeth and mouth Songs: This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth ( to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat").

Bring in a dentist to visit and talk about dental care.

Examine molds of teeth/mouth with magnifying glasses.

Online games (National Museum of Dentistry).

Brush baby doll or puppet teeth in dramatic play area.

Decorate toothbrushes.

Skin protects the inside of our bodies; clothing helps protect our skin; sun safety Go on a shade walk; construct temporary shady spots on the playground with blankets or sheets; make wide-brimmed sun hats from newspaper, decorate them and wear them outside; shine a flashlight through clothing to show children how the sun's rays penetrate; put sun hats and sunglasses in the dramatic play area; find pictures in magazines of people wearing sunglasses and sun hats; practice applying sunscreen on baby dolls (Sun Safety Alliance).

Put construction paper outside with objects on it to show how the sun causes paper to fade over time; make "sunprints" with photosensitive paper (same principle).

Germs cause illness To demonstrate how germs are released when you cough or sneeze, fill a balloon with confetti, blow it up, and then release the pressure so that all the confetti escapes; repeat this with a hand over the balloon opening to prevent most of the confetti from escaping (Marotz, Cross, & Rush, 2001).

Practice handwashing.

Bathe baby dolls.

Show picture of sneeze.

Four young children stand at sinks and brush their teeth at a preschool facility.

Exactostock / SuperStock

Oral hygiene can be practiced at school or in the child-care setting with activities, games, and simple songs that help children remember how to brush properly.

However, government statistics published by the Center for Disease Control in 2009 indicate that among children aged 1 to 9, unintentional injury is the leading cause of death. This dilemma suggests a balanced approach to teaching children about personal safety that is focused on decision making, providing them with information about real dangers, and helping them respond to incidents or injuries without diminishing their natural desire for exploration, adventure, and new experiences. Embedded in planning for safety education is a focus on cause-and-effect relationships, since young children developmentally often do not yet anticipate or appreciate the potential consequences of decisions they make (Hendrick, 2007).

Adults are responsible for making sure that the environment, materials, and equipment are age-appropriate, are in good repair, and that children use them under proper supervision. Recommended and appropriate topics for safety education for young children include:

  • Body rights and touch awareness (i.e., "good touch, bad touch")
  • Victimization as a result of bullying
  • Awareness of strangers
  • What to do if lost or injured
  • Fire safety
  • Vehicle safety (school bus, cars, seatbelts, pedestrian rules)
  • Awareness of poisonous or toxic substances (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010; Marotz, Cross, & Rush, 2001)

Many communities provide programming and/or resources for children during the typical school year (e.g., Fire Safety Week in October, Poison Prevention Week in March, etc.). Local safety professionals may be asked to come to school, or special field trips to visit such individuals can be arranged, providing effective strategies for impressing upon children the importance of safe and responsible behavior. Online access to many programs and organizations that advocate for different dimensions of personal safety can also provide teachers with resources and information. A list of helpful websites is provided at the end of the chapter.

Chapter Summary

  • An increasing body of research provides evidence that physical fitness and wellness is very important to combat rising obesity levels among children and promote cognitive development and academic achievement.
  • The NASPE Physical Education standards stress the need for both structured and unstructured activity, skill development, access to safe physical environments, and adult support, with a minimum of sixty minutes of physical activity daily for ambulatory children (toddlers and older).
  • The outdoor space should be designed to promote safe but unrestrained opportunities for children to exercise their large muscles through "big-body play" with a balance of open space, safe play structures, and materials for games and activities.
  • Outdoor space includes many different areas that extend the curriculum to the outdoors.
  • Many materials, games, and activities can be used for planned gross motor activities that promote and develop coordination, balance, agility, power, and speed.
  • Children aged 5 and under typically don't understand the concept of rules; therefore games with preschoolers stress enjoyment and skill development rather than competition.
  • Fine motor skill activities and materials focus on developing manual dexterity and the coordinated eye-hand movement necessary for reading, writing, cutting, and manipulating small tools and objects.
  • Fine motor activities contribute to the development of the visual/perceptual skills of depth perception, visual tracking, and focus.
  • Health and safety education for young children focuses on activities with food that promote good nutrition, knowledge and proper care of the body, and developing good judgment about personal safety.
  • Activities with foods provide opportunities to integrate and teach children about the cultural traditions of families, local communities, and regions.
Discussion Questions
  1. Think about community playgrounds or parks you have visited. What features could be adapted or used to inspire a playground design for a child-care or preschool playground?
  2. How might you include children with allergies in activities with foods without compromising their need for protection?
  3. Think about the food traditions in the community where you live or work. How do they reflect culture and regional characteristics? How might you incorporate activities that acquaint children with them or develop knowledge they already have?
Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Food preparation guidelines

A set of principles and procedures published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture about the safe handling and preparation of foods that child-care professionals and schools are expected to follow

Manual dexterity

Strength and coordination of the small muscles in the hands, which are required for writing and manipulating tools and objects

Physical activity

Body movements that require energy expenditure beyond that required during rest

Physical education

Intentional instruction focused on the development and care of thebody

Physical fitness

Acquisition of strength, endurance, flexibility, and performance, which are important for overall health and aerobic functioning

Risk aversion

Unwillingness to engage in activities due to fear of injury or harm

Visual tracking

Coordinated movement of the eye muscles to follow an object as it moves or to follow a static figure, such as text on a page

Helpful Websites for Personal Safety

Ehow.mom: Includes ideas for conversation, songs, and activities to teach preschoolers about the importance of vehicle safety belts.

City of Milwaukee: Teacher's guide for activities about pedestrian safety.

National Safety Council: Information and guidelines about school bus safety for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Prevention of bullying in school environments

National Criminal Justice Reference Service: Pamphlet for families with guidelines for teaching young children about personal safety.

SafeKidsUSA: Comprehensive website that provides resources for all dimensions of safety including fire, injury prevention, personal safety, etc. for families and educators.

References

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (March 2011). Obesity in children and teens. Retrieved July 7, 2012, from Facts for Families, 79: http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=Obesity+in+ Children+and+Teens&section=Facts+for+Families.

American Cancer Society. (2007). National Health Education Standards. Retrieved from: American Cancer Society: http://www.cancer.org/Healthy/MoreWaysACSHelpsYouStayWell/SchoolHealth/national-health-education-standards-2007?sitearea=PED.

American Heart Association. (June 20, 2012). Physical activity and children. Retrieved from American Heart Association: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/Physical-Activity-and-Children_UCM_304053_Article.jsp#.T3sY49lNUko.

Arbor Foundation. (2012). Nature Explore sourcebook: Field-tested components for inspiring outdoor learning. Lincoln, NE: Arbor Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundations.

Carlson, F. (2006). Big body play: Why boisterous, vigorous, and very physical play is essential to children's development and learning. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.) (1998). The hundred languages of children: the Reggio Emilia approach advanced reflections (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Ablex.

Gallahue, D. L., & Ozmun, J. C. (2006). Understanding motor development: Infants, children, adolescents, adults. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Gartrell, D. (March 2007). Competition: What place in our programs? Beyond the Journal: Young Children on the Web. 14. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200703/BTJGuidanceMatters.pdf.

Gill, T. (October 2007). No fear. London, UK: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Guldberg, H. (2009). Reclaiming childhood: Freedom and play in an age of fear. New York: Routledge.

Hendrick, J., & Weissman, P. (2007). Total learning: Developmental curriculum for the young child. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Hummingbird Educational Resources. (2010). Large and fine motor skills plus playdough recipes. Retrieved July 8, 2012, from Hummingbird Educational Resources: http://www.hummingbirded.com/fine-motor.html.

Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. (2013). Physical activity, fitness, and physical education: Effects on academic performance. In H. W. Kohl III & H. D. Cook (Eds.), Educating the student body: Taking physical activity and physical education to school (pp. 161196). Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201501/.

Kostelnik, M. J., Soderman, A. K., & Whiren, A. P. (2010). Developmentally appropriate curriculum: Best practices in early childhood education (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Lippincott, C. (July 21, 2004). Fine motor activities for preschoolers. Retrieved from Make the grade OT.com: http://make-the-grade-ot.com/Fine%20Motor.html.

Lippincott, C. (2006). Activities to aid in the development of an efficient grasp. Retrieved from Make the grade OT.com: http://make-the-grade-ot.com/Activities%20to%20Aid%20in%20the%20 Development%20of%20an%20Efficient%20Grasp.pdf.

Lippincott, C. (2009). Learning to cut with scissors. Retrieved from Make the grade OT.com: http://make-the-grade-ot.com/Learning%20to%20Cut%20with%20Scissors.html.

Louv, R. (2008). Last child in the woods (rev. ed.). Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.

Marigliano, M. L., & Russo, M. J. (September 2011). Moving bodies, building minds: Foster preschoolers' critical thinking and problem solving through movement. Young Children, 66(5), 4449.

Marotz, L. R., Cross, M. Z., & Rush, J. M. (2001). Health, safety, and nutrition for the young child (5th ed.). Albany, NY: Delmar.

National Association for Sport and Physical Education. (2012). Standards and position statements. Retrieved from National Association for Sport and Physical Education: http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/standards/nationalStandards/PEstandards.cfm.

Office of Statistics and Programming, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2009). 10 Leading causes of death by age group for 2009. Atlanta: Center for Disease Control. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/Injury/wisqars/pdf/10LCD-Age-Grp-US-2009-a.pdf.

Prosser, L., & Jiang, X. (2008). Relationship between school physical activity and academic performance of children. International Journal of Learning, 15(3), 1116.

Rushton, J. (2011). Neuroscience, early childhood education, and play: We are doing it right! Early Childhood Education, 39, 8994.

Smith, C. J., &. Hood-Hooten, A. (2012). Sun safe activities for preschool children. Retrieved from Sun Safety Alliance: http://www.sunsafetyalliance.org/resources.html.

Smith, N. J., & Lounsberry, M. (January 2009). Promoting physical education: The link to academic achievement. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, 80(1), 3943.

Swim, T. J., & Freeman, R. (2004). Viewpoint. Time to reflect: Using food in early childhood classrooms. Young Children, 59(6): 1822.

Tomporowski, P. D., Davis, C. L., Miller, P. H., & Naglieri, J. A. (2007). Exercise and children's intelligence, cognition, and academic achievement. Educational Psychology Review, 20, 111131.

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (June 29, 2011). Basics for handling food safely. Food Safety and Inspection Service. Retrieved from: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Basics_for_Handling_Food_Safely/.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (July 7, 2012). Childhood obesity. Retrieved from Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation: http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/child_obesity/.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2013, February 13). Why obesity is a health problem. Retrieved from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/wecan/healthy-weight-basics/obesity.htm.

7
Approaches to Learning: Exploratory Play and Creative Arts
Young girl paints at an easel.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Explain the difference between early learning and academic standards as well as the different ways in which curricula may be organized.
  • Describe concepts, skills, and interest areas that support the Approaches to Learning Standards.
  • Identify four important themes in national standards for the arts and describe an arts-infused approach to curriculum.
  • Describe how teachers support the visual arts in early childhood settings.
  • Describe how teachers support the performing arts of music, creative movement/dance, and drama in the early childhood setting.

Introduction

You have put a lot of thought and work into creating an inviting and interesting classroom. Photographs and cultural materials throughout the room represent the children in your class and their families. Youve labeled materials and equipment with images and words in English and Spanish. To make a tentative plan for interest areas, you went through all the materials in your classroom and used information from your comprehensive curriculum resources and the interest inventories you made at home visits to select books, puzzles, dramatic play props, and other materials for activity areas that you hope will be a good match for some of the things the children might be interested in. Youve made sure that these areas are flexible to accommodate working with children individually or in small or large groups. How will you now make sure that you are incorporating activities and experiences that are consistent with the developmentally focused early learning standards for preschoolers in your state? Do those standards provide guidance and support for play? How do the early learning standards connect with those the children will encounter in elementary school?

In this chapter, we begin to focus on the "whats worth knowing" (the content of curriculum) and "curriculum in action" (implementation) dimensions of curriculum. Each chapter will emphasize important concepts, skills, and activities for interrelated areas in the early learning standards for preschoolers and academic standards that apply to children in K-2 settings. We begin by examining early learning standards for Approaches to Learning and the National Content Standards for the Arts.

From the Field

Kindergarten teacher Meghan Ling explains how children's literature can provide inspiration for music, movement, and dramatic activities.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Why do you think Meghan stresses the importance of paying attention to children's ideas and questions?

7.1 Early Learning and Academic Standards

Most states now have two types of standards for children in the early childhood period. Standards for children from birth to age 5 are provided as guidelines for infants and toddlers, and early learning standards for 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers. These standards emphasize child development. Standards that apply to children in the primary grades are part of the academic standards for children from kindergarten through grade 12. Each set of academic standards articulates what children should know and be able to do in the content (subject) area (e.g., math, literacy, science, social studies, physical education and health, and the arts).

The fifty states diverge on implementation time lines, but in general the country is moving on a steady path toward both early learning and academic standards (Kauerz, 2006; Petersen, Jones, & McGinley, 2008; NAECY, 2016; Scott-Little, Kagan, Frelow, & Reid, 2008). Some curricula used in early childhood classrooms provide teachers with alignments, or mapping of the elements of the curriculum to early learning or academic standards. In other instances, teachers do that themselves as they interpret curricular goals, planning and adapting activities to be consistent with learning standards.

Early Learning Standards

In 1990, the president and fifty governors created the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) to formulate goals for education in the twenty-first century. Subsequently, in 1995, the NEGP endorsed recommendations from the early childhood education field to write learning standards for young children from a developmental perspective, encouraging the use of common language and terminology to promote clarity in five areas of development (Kagan, 2003; Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995):

  1. Approaches to Learning
  2. Physical Well-Being and Health
  3. Social and Emotional Development
  4. Language Development
  5. Cognition and General Knowledge

By 2008, more than twenty states and several territories had produced guidelines for infants and toddlers that addressed these five domain areas (Petersen, Jones, & McGinley, 2008; Scott-Little, Kagan, Frelow, & Reid, 2008). By 2010 more than forty states had also either adopted or adapted the Good Start Grow Smart early learning standards template proposed with the 2001 No Child Left Behind initiative or used the NEGP recommendations to address the five domains in their early learning standards for preschool children (aged 3 to 5) (NIEER, 2012). As of 2017, more than 40 states adopted or have adapted early learning and development standards (NIEER, 2018).

Academic Standards

While the early learning standards clearly reflect the developmental focus from which they are written, it can be more difficult to discern those developmental goals in K-2 standards. For instance, the South Carolina Good Start, Grow Smart early learning standards explicitly state one standard as: "Children [will] demonstrate initiative, engagement, and persistence in learning" (p. 16). In contrast, this desired outcome appears in the area of social studies (for example) not as an explicit standard to be met for learners but as part of the introductory explanation in expectations for social studies teachers about how the standards should be taught, "Social studies teaching and learning are powerful when the learning is active . . . . teachers gradually move from providing considerable guidance by modeling, explaining, or supplying information that builds student knowledge, to a less directive role that encourages students to become independent and self-regulated learners" (NCSS, 2002, p. 13).

Integrating curriculum content, materials, and activities in the early childhood years from both developmental and academic perspectives, as evident in the various sets of standards and guidelines, can be challenging. Therefore Chapters 7 to 11 will address academic content areas (creative arts, physical education and health, social studies, mathematics, science, and literacy) within the context of the five early learning developmental domains (Approaches to Learning, Physical Well-Being, Social-Emotional, Language, and Cognition/General Knowledge) listed above. This chapter begins with the early learning standards that address Approaches to Learning and the National Core Standards for the Arts.

7.2 Approaches to Learning Standards and Interest Areas for Exploratory Play

Approaches to Learning (ATL) standards are grounded in research on brain development. They emphasize the importance of a particular set of skills and mental processes that constitute executive functioning, which is necessary for effective problem solving and higher-order thinking (Berk, 2001). Central to executive functioning are self-regulation, attention, and memoryskills that prove highly valuable later in life for such tasks as completing homework assignments independently or planning, researching, and writing a report. The extent to which a child exhibits these characteristics may actually be a better predictor of future success in school than intelligence measures (Berk, 2001; Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academics, 2015; McClelland, Cameron, Wanless, & Murray, 2007). Figure 7.1 displays key elements of executive functioning.

Figure 7.1: Key Elements of Executive Functioning
Executive functioning is the process by which the brain organizes, processes, and applies information to active problem solving.
Figure: Organization chart illustrating executive functioning. The Brain's Executive Functions is broken down into six sub-functions. Activation is the process or organizing, prioritizing, and getting to work. Focus means tuning in, sustaining focus, and shifting attention. Effort means regulating alertness, sustaining effort, and adjusting process speed. Emotion is managing frustration and modulating emotions. Memory is holding on and working with information, and retrieving memories. Action means monitoring and regulating one's actions.

ATL early learning standards stress the importance of mental processes that represent, "learning how to learn" (Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995). They further suggest that the mere acquisition of knowledge, skills, and capacities is insufficient for developmental success, as having a capacity, for example, does not mean that it will be used. Children must go further and marshal these qualities. For example, a child may have the capacity to listen (her hearing may be intact), but she may or may not have the disposition to be a listener (Kagan, 2003,p.2).

The five elements of ATL standards emphasize development of executive functioning via:

  1. Learning through play
  2. Curiosity, eagerness, and satisfaction as a learner
  3. Initiative, engagement, and persistence
  4. Setting and achieving goals
  5. Memory, reasoning, and problem solving (Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995)

Lets look at how learning through play, for example, the first element of ATL standards, fosters the development of executive functioning. Open-ended play is a highly integrative activity that promotes intuitive learning in many ways (van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011). Play gives children opportunities to explore the properties of objects and materials, experiment and take risks, and use their imaginations to assume roles and situations grounded in both reality and pretend. When children are encouraged to make choices about how they play, they engage in self-talk, weighing the merits of one direction over anotherthe kind of internal dialogue that leads eventually to abstract reasoning. They develop the ability to focus and are more likely to sustain or persist in longer-term or more complex play that can eventually extend from one play period or day to the next. (Wood & Atfield, 2005).

When children experience school or care in an inviting environment that validates their curiosity about the world, their eagerness to learn translates into a willingness to try new things, adding to the childs store of experiences. These are important to establishing a knowledge base that children will draw from as they continue to learn. Success in play, satisfaction with the results of their efforts (such as a painting or completed block structure), and reinforcement of interests and questions also build the confidence children need to be able to set a goal and believe that it can be achieved, despite the insecurities or lack of experience accompanying an intellectual risk.

We also know from brain research that both short- and long-term memory are needed for reasoning and problem solving. Reasoning requires consideration and determination of cause-and-effect relationships, and application of logic to decision making and problem solving requires that multiple possible solutions be weighed and considered. In play, children have the opportunity to work through problems that are real to them and to practice using what they know and remember to make decisions about how to proceed.

Now consider a classroom scenario that illustrates how the five elements of ATL apply. A child decides to go to the painting easel, puts on a smock, and attaches a clean sheet of paper with clothespin clips to the easel. Paint choices include red, yellow, blue, green, orange, and purple. Suppose, as the child begins to paint, he notices that layering of yellow and blue paint results in the color green, but it is not exactly the same shade of green as the paint in the green container. Curious, (#2) his attention shifts to reasoning (#5) that he might use different amounts of yellow and green to achieve a goal (#4) of trying to match the green in the container in the grass he is painting across the bottom of the paper. He takes the initiative (#3) to do so, and begins applying and observing what happens by mixing different amounts of yellow and green on the paper. As he works, he becomes deeply engaged (#3) and actually fills up and changes paper three times, persisting (#3) in this activity until at last he exclaims, "I did it!" calling the teacher to come and view his painting and recounting (#5) with great satisfaction (#2) how he approached (#5) and solved the problem (#5).

Now imagine how this childs learning would be affected if, for example, the teacher told the child what or how to paint, required children to move from center to center every 20 minutes, or limited them to one sheet of paper per painting. Would he be inclined to start his methodological trial-and-error process knowing that he might not be allowed to finish? Would he experience satisfaction or frustration if he filled his first paper and could not continue on another? Would he have found out what results could be achieved by mixing colors in different proportions?

Early childhood educators keep the important elements of ATL standards in mind as they plan the environment and opportunities for open-ended play and exploration. In the remainder of this section, we consider three major interest areas/centers in the early childhood classroom to illustrate how play supports these most important dispositions toward learning. These areas are sensory play, blocks/construction, and dramatic play.

Sensory Play

More From the Field

Teachers Jennifer and Elise describe the need to balance pre-planned curriculum and on-going adaptation based on the interests and needs of children.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. What part do you think teacher confidence plays in teachers taking the initiative to adapt curriculum?

Teachers understand that sensory play provides a perfect context for exposing children to both familiar and unfamiliar materials that challenge them to process and organize stimuli through their senses. Children use their sense of touch to explore textures, surfaces, and weight/pressure. They acquire depth perception, learn to differentiate between colors and shapes, and develop a sight vocabulary of objects and eventually words through visual processing. They learn to distinguish tone, pitch, and volume through hearing. As a sense of smell develops, children learn to identify and classify odors, acquire preferences, and acquire an "early warning system" for things that might not be good for them. Their sense of taste is closely correlated to smell; exposure to a wide variety of foods encourages discernment of the sweet, sour, salty, or bitter qualities of foods.

The process of converting sensory inputs helps the brain grow and become more efficient (Rushton, 2011). In this section we discuss open-ended sensory play in two areas common to many early childhood settings, sand/water (sensory) tables and exploratory activities withlight.

Sand/Water (Sensory) Table

A sand or water sensory table provides children with opportunities to touch, feel, and manipulate different types of solid and liquid materials. (Sand and water tables are also used to promote the development of mathematics and science concepts, discussed in Chapter 10.) The ATL standards are supported because children are intensely curious about materials available in this kind of experience and become deeply engaged in exploring their properties and figuring out what happens when they try different things.

Two boys play with sand at a sand table.

Susan Woog-Wagner / Getty Images

Water/sand tables are functionally flexible, so teachers have many options for activities that engage the children's senses and foster exploration of the properties of many different kinds of materials.

The materials used are intrinsically satisfying to the senses; many a teacher will attest to the calming influence of a sensory table for a child who is upset or one with the sensory processing difficulties that some children on the autism spectrum experience. Technically, any container such as a large plastic dishpan or baby bathtub can be used to hold water, sand, or other materials, but most early childhood settings make use of equipment designed for this purpose and sized to accommodate three or four children at a time. Commercially produced tables are widely available in different sizes/heights to accommodate a range of child age groups and contexts, have drains for easy cleanup, and may include space for storage or additional features such as a water pump.

Sensory play is not limited to the indoors, since most sand/water tables are made of durable materials and have wheels that enable them to be easily transported outside. In addition, a sandbox and/or dirt-digging area is a common feature of most child-care and preschool programs.

As soon as a child can stand unassisted, the sensory table typically becomes a magnet for activity, beckoning the child to touch, pour, sift, squish, poke, dig, mold, and handle materials that behave in both predictable and unpredictable ways. The list of materials for use in sensory play is limited only by requirements for safety and cleanliness, such as emptying and disinfecting water tables daily. Materials should be chosen with regard to the age of children; for instance, dried beans would not be a good choice for toddlers who might want to put them in their noses or ears! When sand or dirt-based material is used, it should be clean and free of any debris that could be harmful to the skin or if ingested.

Table 7.1 includes a list of base materials, tools or props, and activities that can be used or adapted for the sand/water table to promote the kinds of activities listed above.

Table 7.1: Sensory Table Materials, Tools/Props, and Activities
Water and Additives Sand and Other Natural Materials Other Media Including Recyclables Food-Based Materials
Food coloring Beach or playground sand, plain or colored Packing materials (peanut-shaped, disc-shaped, etc.) Rice
Dish soap Potting media Cotton or fiberfill Flour/cornstarch
Bubble liquid Pebbles or small rocks Buttons Oatmeal or other cereal
Ice cubes Aquarium gravel Rubber bands Dried beans/peas
Snow Cedar chips or shavings Shredded paper Dried pasta
Gelatin Sawdust Ribbons Pumpkin seeds
Cornstarch ("oobleck") Straw (not an allergen like hay) Pompoms or confetti Popcorn kernels
Baking soda and vinegar Dried leaves, seed pods, pine cones Torn or cut colored tissue, or wrapping papers Flax seed
Natural clay Artificial grass filler Bird seed
Small metal objects such as paper clips
Tools
Water/Liquids

Cups, funnels, things that sink/float (aluminum foil, corks, clothespins, etc.), plastic pitchers, rotary egg beater or whisk, straws cut into different lengths, bubble wands, items with pumps (like a hand soap dispenser), washcloths and sponges, droppers/poultry basters, spray bottles, small toys or plastic fish, toothbrushes.
Sand/Other Solids

Kitchen utensils such as spoons, funnels, measuring cups and spoons, ice cream scoop, strainers/sieves/sifters, tongs or tweezers, small hand rakes or combs, seashells and/or small toys/plastic animals, buckets, shovels, cookie cutters, rolling pins, pie tins, magnifying glasses, scissors, hole puncher, tweezers, magnet wands
Examples of Prompts/Activities for Water, Sand, and Other Materials
Digging: bury items in sand to be uncovered (perhaps relating to a current theme) such as plastic dinosaurs, insects, worms, coins, plastic "jewels," small mirrors or laminated photos of the children
Washing: wash baby dolls, small cars, dishes, toys
Molding: provide molds of different kinds for damp/wet sand, dirt, or other modeling materials
Fishing: bamboo poles with magnet attached to end of string, paper clips and small paper or rubber fish with paper clips attached
Road building: sand or dirt-based materials, small vehicles
Challenges: use tongs or giant plastic tweezers to pick up different sized colored pom-poms and put them in plastic tubs or jars
Table 7.1: Sensory Table Materials, Tool/Props and Activities
Sensory Material Recipes

Many materials for sensory play can be made cheaply and easily with readily available ingredients. Following a recipe and making sensory materials with children can also be a valuable and enjoyable activity. The distinct sensory qualities of these materials support the ATL standards because they engage children for long periods of time in experiences that are satisfying to their senses and promote exploration and experimentation.

Young girl plays with modeling dough and a rolling pin.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Many familiar commercial sensory materials such as modeling dough can easily be made following recipes that closely approximate the commercial products.

The following recipes can be used or adapted to make materials that are well known and often used in early childhood classrooms and care settings.

Cooked play dough (very similar to the commercial product): 2 cups flour, 2 cups water, 1 cup table salt, 4 teaspoons cream of tartar, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or baby oil), and food coloring or scents such as oil of peppermint or vanilla if desired. Mix all ingredients and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly till mixture forms into large ball. Remove from pot, let stand till cool enough to handle, and then knead for several minutes.

Oobleck (also known as goop): 1 part cornstarch, 1 part water (and food coloring if desired). When mixed together, the material confounds children because it exhibits properties of both solids and liquids.

Silly putty (also known as gak): 1 part liquid laundry starch, 1 part white school glue. Food coloring may be used to tint it. Mix together and knead on a flat surface until it has the texture of silly putty.

Colored rice or pasta: 2 cups uncooked white rice or pasta plus 1 tablespoon of rubbing alcohol and food coloring to achieve the desired color intensity. Dissolve food coloring in alcohol and add to pasta, stirring till evenly colored. Let dry. Because the rubbing alcohol takes the place of water, the rice or pasta does not become gummy and the resulting colors are bright and durable.

Moon sand: 4 cups play sand, 2 cups cornstarch, and 1 cup of water or 9 cups sand and 1 cup baby oil (if colored sand is desired, use powdered tempera added to dry sand for best results).

Artificial snow: Ivory Snow powder or flakes and water; mix with rotary or electric beater till light and fluffy. Using brand-name soap achieves the best consistency.

Artificial mud: 1 or 2 toilet paper rolls and 2 bars of Ivory Soap plus hot water. Grate soap with a cheese grater; tear toilet paper roll in pieces and soak everything in a bowl of warm water, mixing with hands till it reaches the consistency of mud.

Slime (also known as flubber): 1 tablespoon borax powder dissolved in 1 cup water, cup school glue (clear or white) and cup water (add food coloring if desired or glow-in-the-dark paint). Pour both mixtures into a sealable plastic bag, seal, and knead. Keep refrigerated when not in use.

Source: Recipes for these materials can be obtained from a wide variety of sources. These recipes come courtesy of the N. E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC.
Stop and Reflect
  1. What kind of sensory materials did you enjoy playing with as a child? Why?
  2. How might engaging children in making and using one of the above recipes promote the five elements of the ATL standards?
Two children and a teacher play at a light table.

Eyecandy Images / Thinkstock

As children manipulate translucent and opaque materials on a lighted surface, they learn about color, shadow, and transparency.

Playing with Light

Over the past several decades many American early childhood educators have embraced light play as a valuable part of the curriculum. As with the sand/water table, light play delights a childs visual and tactile senses but also promotes learning in other areas of the curriculumsuch as art, science, and mathematicsthat are discussed in other sections of this text.

The idea of playing with light came from the Reggio Emilia programs in Italy (Fraser & Gestwicki, 2002). Light is intangible, endlessly fascinating to children, and provides opportunities to engage, manipulate, and develop visual memory and perception differently than with more concrete materials such as water, sand, or modeling dough. A childs visual perception of the world changes or expands when he or she is introduced to the element of transparency that occurs when light shines through an object or when an object is viewed through a colored lens. Conversely, the element of three-dimensionality disappears in the opaque images of shadows, challenging the ways in which children store and remember images of shapes and objects. One only has to observe the facial expressions of a child engaged in activities with light to see their value as an option for play.

A light table is a piece of equipment with a translucent horizontal surface lighted from below. Both stand-alone and tabletop versions are available through education supply companies, along with a rapidly expanding commercial selection of translucent learning materials children can use to observe and examine, manipulate, or construct on the lighted surface. These materials include two-dimensional geometric shapes (pattern blocks), magnetic tiles, letters, numbers, color paddles, Lego-style blocks, and three-dimensional shapes of different kinds.

An inexpensive homemade light table can be assembled easily by putting a string of rope lights inside a translucent plastic storage tub, cutting a hole for the cord and plug, and using the tight-fitting lid as the table top. As with materials for a sensory table, household items or materials found at local stores are suitable or adaptable for a light table. Using a shallow tray with a clear bottom facilitates the use of granular substances like salt or materials that need cleanup like finger paint with no risk of scratching the surface of the table or having the materials leak into the light chamber. Table 7.2 displays some of these materials and different types of exploratory play in which children might engage with them.

Table 7.2: Common Materials Suitable for Light Table Play
Materials Applications
X-ray films; colored or black/white slides; microfiche film; shells; small clear plastic boxes for holding specimens children might collect, such as butterfly wings or leaves Close observation with magnifying glasses to examine images and/or embedded details that are enhanced when lighted from below
Salt, flour, gelatin crystals, colored sugar or rice Using hands and fingers for tactile exploration and making impressions/designs, tracings, or drawings in the material
Colored cellophane, tissue, glow-in-the-dark festival bracelets Layering and observing color transparency, creating shapes and images
Clear plastic tubing cut to different lengths; fill with clear or colored liquids, oils, gels, or glitter, and seal with hot glue Observing movement of liquids, layering and observing how light reveals changes in colors and density
Tightly sealed clear heavy-duty zip-locking-style bags filled with colored hair gel, baby food, shaving cream, or "water beads" (expandable beads used in floral arrangements) Tactile exploration by pressing, squishing, and moving material inside the bags. Observing changes in density and transparency
Colored pasta, plastic buttons, beads, jewelry, and clear plastic ice cube trays, bowls, or small trays Sorting/matching: moving, arranging, or stacking in different ways to create patterns and shapes
Shadow of a boy dancing on a playground.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Shadow play with or without props can provide endless hours of fun, creativity, and learning about how light affects the creation of shadows and makes them change.

Children can play with and explore light in other ways. Taping a white sheet of paper, poster board, or mural paper to a wall in front of a traditional overhead projector allows children to pantomime, create shadows, and make and use stick puppets. They can also enlarge drawings, text, or photographs. Flashlights or strings of holiday lights can be used inside a cardboard box to make a small shadow theater. Children can use colored cellophane and cardboard and tubes to make "sunglasses," binoculars, kaleidoscopes, or colored viewing filters that alter their visual perception of everyday scenes and objects. Children love to trace their shadows on a sidewalk, observe how a prism hung in a window or oil in a puddle creates the colors of the rainbow, and track the movement of the shadow on a sundial over the course of aday.

Like sensory play, play and activities with light and shadow support the ATL standards since they can engage children for extended periods of time in open-ended play, provoking curiosity and exploration through introduction to unfamiliar materials and the exploration of familiar materials in unfamiliar ways.

Blocks and Construction

Childrens use of blocks for construction play has been heavily researched and the benefits of such play, particularly as related to later mathematical achievement, are well documented (Shaklee, OHara, & Demarest, 2008; Trawick-Smith et al., 2016). As in many other kinds of play, children playing with blocks refine physical coordination, use language to represent thinking, and develop self-esteem, the ability to cooperate, and responsibility through social interactions (Hewitt, 2001). Block play follows a developmental sequence over time as children between birth and age 5 acquire and internalize concepts about space, balance, weight, symmetry, shape, size, number, and operations (Shaklee, OHara, & Demarest, 2008). While the developmental stages of block building have been described in many different configurations (Guanella, 1934; Reifel & Greenfield, 1982), Figure 7.2 illustrates block building in six stages as described by Sharon MacDonald in 2001.

Figure 7.2: Developmental Stages of Block Building
Block-building skills and concepts develop over time in a predictable sequence that requires time, space, and an adequate number and variety of blocks and accessories.
Figure 7.2: Developmental Stages of Block Building
Block-building skills and concepts develop over time in a predictable sequence that requires time, space, and an adequate number and variety of blocks and accessories.

Block Center

There are many different kinds of building blocks and construction materials; the most familiar to early childhood educators are unit (kindergarten) blocks, created by Caroline Pratt in the early 1900s. These and other types of blocks of different sizes, shapes, and materials are incorporated into the block-building area as children are physically able to handle them. The benefit of having various types of blocks is that they provide children with different options for the types of constructions they want to build.

Figure 7.3 displays and describes different kinds of blocks children use at different developmental stages. Teachers should also provide accessories and planning tools. As childrens experience with blocks increases, they frequently build structures around play themes such as airports, stores, or mapped layouts of other kinds.

Props can include things like:

  • Small cars or other vehicles
  • Play people and animals
  • Flexible tubing or track
  • Measuring tools
  • Clipboards, paper, and writing tools for drawing or planning
  • Miniature traffic signs
  • Stickers or labels with familiar print, such as store or product logos

Teachers can provide inspiration and reference information for children by displaying pictures or posters of buildings and creating a file or notebook with photographs of structures children are familiar with, such as those in the immediate neighborhood or city, as well as those they may not know that have interesting architectural features, such as arches, turrets, bridges, skyscrapers, famous buildings, and airports. Documenting structures that children build by keeping photos of them in a three-ring binder or file-card box is also highly effective, both for tracking their progress over time and "preserving" work to make it less difficult for them when blocks must be put away.

Physical considerations for setting up the block center include:

  • As large a floor area as the room can accommodate, and protected from high traffic
  • Flat, sound-absorbing floor surface (such as mat or carpet) to provide a stable building surface and keep construction noise from interfering with other classroom activities
  • Tabletop surface for working with small blocks
  • Shelving that is adequate to sort and store blocks by size, type, with silhouettes or photos taped to the shelves to show where each kind of block belongs
  • Containers such as bins or baskets for accessories
  • A "work-in-progress" sign to preserve structures that are more than one play period or day in the making
  • Chart with simple picture guidelines for safe and responsible play, such as handing off rather than throwing or tossing blocks
  • Digital or video camera at the ready for planned or spontaneous documentation of in-progress and finished structures

Teachers facilitate block play by:

  • Understanding the developmental process of block building
  • Observing and describing what they see children doing
  • Documenting structures and using them to assist children in planning and problem solving
  • Engaging the children in conversations about their constructions
  • Asking open-ended questions that help children think about their processes and problem solving, such as "Can you tell me why you put the ramp there?" rather than questions that produce a yes or no reply, such as "Is this a ramp for cars?"
Figure 7.3: Building Blocks
Children benefit from having an assortment of different types of building blocks that complement their behavior and activities at different stages of block building."
Figure 7.3: Building Blocks
Children benefit from having an assortment of different types of building blocks that complement their behavior and activities at different stages of block building."

Outdoor Constructions

The confines of a classroom space are not an issue when construction materials are moved or provided outside. Most blocks are made of highly durable materials and can be transported and used, even if they cant be stored, on the playground. Some large, portable blocks are specifically designed for outside use (see Figure 7.3).

Materials other than blockssuch as cardboard boxes, packing crates, milk crates, or other everyday materialscan offer children opportunities to apply their understanding of building concepts on a bigger scale. Outdoor constructions have the added benefit of potentially being so large that children can crawl or maneuver inside, around, and on top of them. (Revisit Feature Box 4.1, A Box with Three Lives).

A stack of blocks made from wood with the bark stripped off.

Tree Blocks

Both small and large blocks and building materials can easily be incorporated into outdoor constructions. Blocks that resemble tree limbs, for example, are well suited for outdoor use.

Nature Explore , a collaborative project of the Arbor Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation, provides guidelines and voluntary certification of outdoor habitats for children. Their recommendations include materials for outside construction activities that include:

  • "Tree cookies" (rounds cut horizontally from tree trunks)
  • Tree blocks (blocks made from or to resemble parts of tree limbs)
  • Miniature but real bricks that children use as they do Legos inside
  • Bamboo, reeds, and tree branches that children use to build enclosures

Dramatic Play

Research confirms strong connections between pretend or dramatic play and the development of higher-order thinking (Seifert, 2006) and early literacy (Kavanaugh, 2006; Ryan, 2018). Elena Bodrova and Deborah Leong, in particular, have written extensively about the connections between sociodramatic play and executive functioning in conjunction with the Tools of the Mind curriculum (Bodrova & Leong, 2006). It begins with (1) a simple representation of one object to symbolize another (such as a plastic banana for a phone); (2) emerges through the reenactment of daily routines and events that are familiar to children from observing adults, such as cooking, taking care of doll babies, or fixing things; and (3) develops fully as children devise pretend themed scenarios, assign and take on characters/roles, and negotiate conflicts to allow play to continue.

As dramatic play becomes more complex, all the elements of ATL standards are represented. Lets look at a sample scenario. Four-year-olds Alyssa, Noah, Niamh, and Miguel are talking about the fiberglass cast on Miguels arm, the result of a fall at his home. Alyssa shares what happened when her older brother broke his wrist, and Noah and Niamh ask many questions about Miguels experience at the emergency room, remembering when each of them visited, one for stitches in her chin and the other for an illness. Alyssa says, "I know, lets make a hospital in the dramatic play center and the baby dolls can be our patients." Miguel counters with, "No, lets have real patientsIll be the doctor, Alyssa can be the x-ray lady, Niamh can be the kid with the broken arm, and Noah can be the daddy."

This idea appeals to the other three children and they begin to assess the equipment and props they might need to set up an emergency room. They ask their teacher for markers and permission to use an empty cardboard box to make an x-ray machine, set up three chairs in a row covered with a scarf to use as the examining table, and find white lab coats in the dress-up clothing for Alyssa and Miguel. They are stymied about what to use to make a cast and ask their teacher, who brings out a box of cloth remnants and asks, "Could you do anything with these?" Noah says, "I know, we could cut it up into long strips and wind it around and around." Alyssa replies, "But it wouldnt be hard like Miguels cast," and Niahm says, "Well, if we put tape around it, it would be kind of hard. Can we have some tape too?" A clipboard, paper, and pencil complete their prop list and the children commence acting out the arrival of a crying patient; the interactions between doctor, daddy, and patient; and the medical procedures culminating in the successful application of an arm cast and discharge from treatment. The next day, they switch roles, acting out the same scenario again and deciding to invite other children to visit the ER, which extends and expands this play theme over several more days.

This play addressed all ATL standards as the children (1) explored their curiosity about this kind of event, (2) applied what they already knew and learned from each others experiences through play, (3) displayed initiative and persistence to solve logistical challenges and differences of opinion about the direction of the play, (4) set and achieved a goal, and (5) experienced satisfaction as directors of a play that eventually included other children.

The Dramatic Play Area

Like construction play, dramatic play at its best is directed by children, open-ended, and closely tied to ideas children have that come from experiences they have had and imagining those they might have or wish they could have. A key to facilitating effective pretend play is to provide many real-world props for children to use, and the more similar they are to the "grownup" versions of these items, the better.

Most early childhood settings include a housekeeping area, typically stocked with child-sized furniture, dishes, pots/pans, a small table and chairs, play food, baby dolls, laundry items, dress-up clothing, decorative items such as curtains or a vase with flowers, and other items that might be found in the typical home (cell phone, camera, wall art, etc.). There have been concerns over the years that this type of setup encourages gender stereotyping and a notion that "boys play with blocks, girls play in housekeeping" (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2012; Gestwicki, 2011; Trawick-Smith, 1994). This can be addressed by teachers as they select materials that are attractive to all children and of sufficient variety to support their interests without establishing or encouraging predetermined ideas about what boys or girls might prefer as play themes.

The dramatic play area is frequently located near blocks, since play in both areas can be noisy and integrated by the transport of items from one area to the other. It should be large enough to accommodate several children and flexible to facilitate moving furniture and supplies around per play theme or focus.

Props, Accessories, and Themes

To properly facilitate and encourage rich and complex dramatic play, teachers provide materials and accessories or props that children use, just like actors in a play or film, to lend credibility and realism to their language and actions. Artificial props and dress-up clothing for dramatic play may be purchased, but as noted previously, real-life items may be easily acquired and adapted if necessary, with a little help from families, neighbors, and local thrift shops and businesses. Play props should be sorted, organized, and stored in labeled boxes (copy paper cartons work well) or clear plastic storage tubs so they can be rotated in and out of the classroom as needed.

A prop box focuses on a single or set of closely related themes. Because storage can be a challenge in some settings, teachers keep a primary collection of prop boxes for themes that are predictably popular with children, such as the grocery store or a restaurant, but are always ready to create temporary collections of props by borrowing items from families or friends when an interest or theme emerges unexpectedly. Teachers should also expect that as play around a theme develops, additional props may be requested or larger items may be needed that arent suitable for storage in a box (like a car seat for travel play or folding beach chairs).

Teachers anticipate opportunities to involve children in making incidental or unique props when possible. A single theme, such as a bakery, can take many possible directionsone group of children might pretend to be the local cupcake store, wanting pictures of cupcakes with which to create menus, name tags, and signs for the shop; they might also need a basket for deliveries. Another group might not care about cupcakes but would have great interest in designing wedding cakes, which would call for a different set of items to personalize theirplay.

Table 7.3 lists examples of commonly used themes and basic items to support them.

Table 7.3: Prop Box Themes and Materials
Theme Materials
Travel/Recreation Themes
Beach or pool Towels, blanket, folding lawn/beach chairs, sunglasses, hats, umbrella, flip-flops, radio, water wings, inflatable raft, small cooler, beach ball, Frisbee, empty sunscreen bottle, buckets/shovels and sand molds, snorkel, lifeguard hat or T-shirt, whistle, first aid kit, bathing suits
Fishing, camping, hiking Tent, camp stools, sleeping bag, cooler, fishing pole, bobbers, wading boots, tackle box, scoop or cast net, fishing license; binoculars; canteen or water bottle, compass, flashlight, backpack, small grill, hooded sweatshirts and hiking pants/shorts; hiking boots, knee high socks, utility belt, weather radio
Road trip Suitcases, maps, wallet, money, credit cards, postcards, cellphone, camera, lap games, snacks, travel pillow, car seat, binoculars, tickets, pet carrier, sunglasses, travel magazines or information leaflets, such as those for national/state parks or an amusement park
Airplane trip Tickets, suit jackets, name badges, security wand, cardboard box for x-ray machine, suitcases, passport, wallet, ID cards, neck pillow, cellphone, magazines, water bottles, travel posters, cart, empty snack and drink containers
Retail Themes
Grocery store or vegetable stand Empty, cleaned boxes, cans, egg cartons, and other food containers, apron, toy vegetables, bins/baskets, cardstock for signs, shopping cart, cash register, counter space, purses/wallets, coupons, newspaper advertising circulars, grocery bags
Frozen yogurt/ice cream store Small table and chairs, scoops, empty/cleaned ice cream and whipped cream containers and play money, bowls, spoons, confetti for toppings, cash register, apron, paper cones, clipboard/order pad and pencils, paper for signs and wipe-off or chalkboard for "specials"
Pizza shop Empty pizza boxes, play money and order pads, phone, aprons, cash register, box or play oven, pizza paddle, cardboard circles and cutouts or play dough for shells, plastic pizza cutter, toppings, paper for signs, wipe-off board
Local restaurant Menus from local establishments, paper for signs and wipe-off board for daily specials, table and tablecloth, table setting items, waiter/waitress tray, order pad, uniform or apron, chef hat, area for cooking, play food
Salon/spa Combs, brushes, wall and hand mirror, rollers and hair pins, spray bottles, appointment book, chair, magazines and pictures of hair models, plastic cape, nonworking dryer and curling iron, empty shampoo and hair product bottles, towels, basin, empty nail polish bottles
Bookstore/library Books, magazines, old keyboard, cozy chairs or beanbags, library cards, wallet, credit cards, play money, boxes for book cases, cash register, "Sh-h-h" sign, reading glasses, paper coffee cups
Medical
Hospital Sheets, pillow, stethoscope, masks, scrubs, white coat, booties, first aid items, flashlight, latex gloves, thermometer, x-ray films, crutches, empty medicine containers, Rx pad
Veterinarian White coat, stuffed animals or puppets, gloves, first aid items, stethoscope, pet carrier, leash, play money, paper and pencils, exam table, magazines about animals, splint and gauze, eye patch, paper ear cone
Miscellaneous
Repair shop Tool box, tools, safety glasses, broken/nonusable items such as CD player, camera, alarm clock, watches, small appliances, name tags, order pad, workbench, plastic bins and miscellaneous hardware parts, pvc, measuring tape, level, work shirt
Office File folders, desk organizers, paper, markers, pens, ruler, old keyboard and/or printer, phone, paper clips, stapler, briefcase or rolling suitcase, box to make copy machine, eyeglasses, desk nameplate, photo frames, table/chairs, books, office catalogs, empty water cooler bottle and paper cups
Table 7.3: Prop Box Themes and Materials

To effectively facilitate sociodramatic and pretend play, teachers must keep in mind that their goal is to balance childrens opportunities to direct their own activity with appropriate intervention or participation when needed to extend and develop play themes. Children may stop playing simply because they get "stuck" and not necessarily because they have played out an idea to their satisfaction. They may need additional props, more information about a topic, or assistance with solving an interpersonal or logistical problem.

7.3 Creative Arts Standards

Creativityconsidered from a broad frame of reference about how children approach, interpret, and process informationis an integral element of ATL standards (Kagan, 2003). "The creative arts are our universal languagethe language of our imagination, of musicians and dancers, of painters and sculptors, storytellers and poets" (Edwards, 2009, p. iv). Early childhood curricula are also informed by 1994 national standards for the arts used in grades K12, which can be found at the Kennedy Center Arts Edge website. New national standards for arts educationincluding dance, media arts, music, theater, and visual artswere released by the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) in October, 2012 (Wilkerson, 2011). The development of the new standards represents input from eight different national organizations representing different areas of the arts.

The inclusion of media arts, in addition to the existing four subdisciplines in the 2012 arts standards, is explained by the NCCAS thus:

Growing interest and use of technology in classroom instruction has gained even more momentum as a wide spectrum of creative activity in media arts has taken the education scene by storm. While general instructional technology continues at all levels of public education, there are increasingly new and vigorous experiences in media arts that include cinema, animation, sound imaging design, virtual design, interactive design, as well as multimedia and intermedia. (NCCAS, April 6, 2012)

The framework for the new standards indicates that they continue to emphasize four predominant themes from the 1994 standards:

  1. Active creative involvement and personal expression through the various dimensions of the arts
  2. Performing and sharing personal work with others
  3. Responding to the works of others in modern and historical context
  4. Making connections between the arts disciplines (NCCAS, 2012)

The intent of the standards is comprehensive, integrated involvement of children as creators, performers, and consumers of the arts, and there are many ways in which early educators can plan and implement curricula to do so. An arts-infused approach to curriculum in early childhood settings blends the goals of both early learning standards and national arts standards. It fosters creative expression through exploratory play and intentional exposure to and experiences with the arts supported by the national arts standards (Edwards, 2009; Narey, 2009). The final two sections of this chapter focus on materials, strategies, activities, and interactive media for the visual arts, and music, creative movement, and drama.

7.4 Visual Arts

The visual arts provide opportunities for children to use materials they know to engage in experiences and also create products that encourage expression and imagination. In the 100 Languages of Children, from Reggio Emilia, arts media are considered a primary means for expressing thoughts, feelings, and cognitive understandings (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1993). In early childhood classrooms, the art center is usually a hub of activity, fostering delight and satisfaction, invention, imagination, and problem solving.

Early childhood educators provide materials and experiences that encourage original rather than programmed or expected outcomes. The processes of engagement with visual arts media are worthwhile and satisfying in and of themselves (Edwards, 2009).

When young children produce works of art, they should be encouraged to use their own creativity and imagination in ways that are meaningful to them. They should not be asked or encouraged to reproduce patterns found in adult models, use precut materials (such as parts of a face and body to construct a bunny), or be directed specifically through a series of steps that result in identical products. This type of product is neither developmentally appropriate nor creative (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Edwards, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011).

Teachers can and should, however:

  • Encourage children to explore the properties and possibilities of different kinds of media
  • Demonstrate techniques for using tools and materials
  • Provide inspiration with books, magazines, and print examples of realistic and abstract art that appeal to children, and photos of animals, birds, people, boats, and landscapes

The Art Center

Artists work in different media, including drawing, painting, print making, sculpture, collage, fabrics/fibers, and so on, choosing materials according to their intentions or ideas or what is available. With proper supervision and safety precautions, even the youngest toddlers can use a variety of materials.

Table 7.4 lists a broad range of supplies for different media areas and representative applications for the kinds of skills and processes they support through open-ended exploration. Note: All art activities support to varying degrees the development of fine motor (drawing, cutting, etc.) and gross motor (easel painting, rolling out dough, etc.) skills, which are discussed in further detail in Chapter 8; the focus in this chapter is the creative enterprise.

For cleanup, the art center should be located as close to a water source and sink as possible. The center should have a table surface big enough to accommodate several childrens supplies. The art area should have at least one easel, as children like to stand while working, and the eye-level perspective afforded by an easel allows them to stand back and look at their work as it emerges. Some provision is also needed to store wet products as they dry, such as a drying rack made for that purpose to keep work horizontal or a clothesline (caution: may drip, affecting the appearance of the original image).

When needed, children should be provided with smocks to protect their clothing. These can be purchased or modified from adult-sized shirts to adjust the arm length and body girth. Most "messy" materials, such as paints and markers, can and should be purchased in washable versions, and paint cups and stubby brushes are available with caps that minimize spillage and the slopping of paint from one container to another. Paints, papers, crayons, markers, modeling clay, and colored pencils are also available in multicultural colors that represent a variety of skin tones.

The art center should be organized and labeled with picture or symbol labels such as those described for other interest areas. This allows for easy and independent access to and replacement of materials. Teachers must show children how to use materials and tools responsibly. For example, paintbrushes should be stored with the handles down, and caps should be replaced on markers when children are finished using them. Many teachers use a block of wood with holes drilled out to hold markers upright and racks for storing scissors with the blade-side down. These make it easy for children to use the items and then put them away.

Table 7.4: Art Center Materials
Media Materials Applications
Drawing Pencils, crayons, markers, colored pencils, chalk/pastels, erasers, rulers, different kinds and sizes of papers to draw on (drawing paper, sandpaper, construction paper, mural paper).
(Crayons are available in "chubby" or "block" versions for easy handling by toddlers.)
Exploring line quality, using tools in different ways (such as the side of a chalk as well as its point), and creating forms and shapes, with different effects.
Print making Print makingrollers, water-based ink, tempera, or finger paint; Styrofoam trays, heavy string or yarn, glue, sponges, wooden spoons; papers (see above). Transferring an image from one surface to another (such as pressing a piece of paper onto an image made on another); using a tool or template to make multiple repeated images in different ways (such as using sponges or stamps to make a picture).
Collage A variety of papers for cutting/tearing, such as tissue, construction paper; magazines, scissors (for children old enough to handle them); glue sticks, tape, stickers, fabric scraps, yarn, any small objects or materials that can be glued onto a flat surface, such as buttons, leaves, sequins, glitter, feathers, etc.; papers including cardboard or posterboard. Staplers, hole punchers, scissors. Layering or using the kinds of materials listed to create an image design, or objects such as paper bag puppets.
Modeling Play dough, modeling clay, air-dry or ceramic clay (requires firing); implements such as rolling pins, scrapers, tongue depressors, small mallets, or textured dough tools. Rolling, cutting, and making impressions in modeling materials to construct three-dimensional forms or objects that might also be decorated with paints or glazes.
Painting Finger and tempera paint, watercolors, paint cups, brushes, sponges, Q-tips, easel/clips and paper of different kinds/sizes, including easel paper, poster paper, construction paper, finger-paint paper. Exploring color and the qualities of different kinds of paints with hands, fingers, or tools to create abstract or realistic figures, lines, and forms.
Sculpture Small boxes, wood scraps, wire, pipe cleaners, straws, toothpicks, thread spools, etc. Taping, gluing, or using other means of attaching materials together to make free-standing or relief creations.
Fabric/fibers Yarn, string, twine, fabric scraps, strips or loops, felt, cotton or batting, tapestry needles (for older children), simple looms, socks. Fabrics can be used for collage and, as children acquire the skill to do so, simple weaving or sewing projects.
Table 7.4 Art Center Materials

General Strategies

The general strategies listed in Table 7.5 are organized according to the four themes in the national arts standards, but they are developmentally appropriate for young children of any age. These practices encourage open-ended exploration and creative expression in the art center and ways to promote exposure to the visual arts through environmental planning and informal activities with children.

Table 7.5: Visual Art Standards Themes and Corresponding Strategies
Theme Strategies

Creative involvement and expression
  • Rotate materials in the art center so that children are exposed to a variety of media, techniques, and processes.
  • Involve children in conversation about materialsfor example, talking about how drawing with chalk produces results that are different from drawing with markers, or what happens if the side of a crayon is used rather than the point.
  • Include a florist as one of the classroom jobs; keep a selection of real or artificial flowers and greenery and a variety of interesting items on hand.
  • Create a file box with interesting pictures, photographs, and postcards that children can use for reference and that include images contributed by children and their families.
  • Display interesting items in the art area with a variety of shapes, textures, and colors.
  • Take "drawing walks" with clipboards and encourage children to draw what they see. (Always take clipboards/paper on field trips!)
  • Collect interesting natural items such as leaves, flowers, and seashells for collages.
  • Press flowers and leaves between sheets of waxed paper.

Performing and sharing
  • Ask children to describe what they are working on and transcribe their comments on the back or create a label with their words for three-dimensional work.
  • Ask about art children might see at homeon the wall or collected by their parents.
  • Make blank books with different topics such as animals, flowers, and birds and encourage children to contribute pages.
  • Regularly display childrens artwork in the classroom and hallways with labels that represent how the children describe their work.
  • Be on the lookout for picture frames at garage sales and use them for displays, so that children understand that their work is important.
  • Periodically involve the children in creating a mural or group sculpture that will promote group discussion and decision making.

Responding to the work of others
  • Look at artwork during group times and ask children to describe it, noting differences in the responses they provide.
  • Display original art or reproductions representative of the cultures of the children in the group and artists from the local region.
  • Invite a local artist to visit the classroom.
  • Visit an art museum, local gallery, or community festival where art will be on display.
  • Look at pictures of art from earlier periods in history.
  • Provide books and display examples of art from different cultures.
  • Display a piece of artwork with a poster (or sticky note for each child) that includes each childs comments about it.

Making connections with other areas of the arts and curriculum
  • Periodically, use opportunities to create artwork for a particular purpose, such as a school event, greeting cards, or "get well" cards.
  • Go on a walk and point out different ways art is displayed in the environment, such as murals, signs or advertising posters, artwork in an office, or a sculpture in a park.
  • Include examples of art in other interest areas, such as botanical prints in the science area, framed book jacket covers or posters in the book corner, an art print from the cubist period in the math center, etc.
  • Display examples of artworks that serve different purposes, such as a calendar, framed decorative print, wallpaper, printed fabrics, or CD covers.
  • Play music while children are engaged in the art center or encourage them to respond to music with different kinds of media.
  • Involve children in making props or backdrops for the dramatic play center or child-created skits or plays.

Visual Arts-Based Themes and Studies

Visual arts-based activities, thematic units or emergent investigations might focus on an artist, style, or medium and also provide a natural means for integrating different dimensions of the curriculum. One of the richest sources of inspiration for teachers is childrens picture books, since children are naturally drawn to the illustrations. Teachers can refer to winners of the Caldecott Medal, an award established in 1938, in particular for examples of childrens books with exceptional artwork.

For example, Eric Carle (and many other picture-book illustrators) works in a distinctive collage style that is easily recognizable to children and inviting for exploration. A teacher we visited with earlier in this book, Ms. Mary, engaged preschool children in reproducing the "Eric Carle effect." She set up a "finger-painting factory" in the art center, and for several days the children filled 18- by 24-inch sheets of glossy finger-paint paper with every color of finger paint they could possibly manufacture by mixing and combining colors on the paper and using different kinds of toolssuch as brushes, scrapers, and combsto create textural effects. She then cut the dried papers into smaller 6- by 8-inch sheets and the children used them to create a massive "collage file," sorting and organizing the papers according to the color spectrum (a wonderful activity for visual discrimination as well). This supply of "Eric Carle paper" was used in dozens of ways over time, from reproducing collage illustrations inspired by the characters in Carles books to building a rain forest in the schools hallway, using the papers for tree trunks, leaves, exotic birds and flowers. The appendix to this book includes a selected list of author/illustrators with distinctive styles that could be used to inspire activities for exploring media.

The topics/subjects of picture books are also easy to connect with science, literacy, or math activities. An extensive online resource for preservice and practicing teachers who want to use picture books to design planned explorations around a theme is the Miami University searchable database of picture books, which provides a short annotated summary of each.

Interactive Media

In recent years, many forms of technology that teachers can use to support visual arts activities have become increasingly available. Teachers can use these tools with discretion to introduce and involve children in experiences with visual arts (NAEYC, 2012). Note that, particularly with children, the use of any technology should enhance and expand rather than replace experiences with authentic media and concrete materials.

Here are some examples of technologies that can be used to support arts activities:

  • The Internet can provide vicarious and sometimes interactive access to art images that teachers can use to share information about artists and examples of different kinds of artwork with children. Images can be printed for display or used in collages and displays.
  • Hardware such as computers or handheld devices with touch screens, whiteboards, and drawing tablets can also be used with young children to create and generate digital artwork.
  • Digital photographystill and video cameras are available in kid-friendly models that children can safely use with assistance to capture, print, and share images and video. Some young children can also manage video-editing software.
  • Software and applications made for children to use, such as KidPix, first introduced in 1989, which provides children with digital drawing and painting tools for free-form creations and the embedding of clip-art, 3D backgrounds, and animation.
  • Software and applications teachers can use to create digital stories with embedded images of childrens artwork and audio narration, such as Microsoft PhotoStory, Apple iMovie, or Voicethread.

7.5 Music, Creative Movement, and Drama

More From the Field

Beverly Prange describes the importance of using music to get children's attention.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. What songs or nursery rhymes you might use for this purpose?

Music, creative movement or dance activities, and experiences with drama provide natural support for both physical development and aesthetic awareness while simultaneously fostering critical thinking and problem solving through mind-body connections. (Marigliano & Russo, 2011) Listening to music, whether to classical works like Rimsky-Korsakoffs The Flight of the Bumblebee or folk tunes like Shell be Coming Round the Mountain, produces a range of emotional responses. Creative music and movement activities require the child to make perceptual/motor connections in order to move, balance, and develop awareness of space, time, and rhythm (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007).

Extending childrens love of dramatic play to creating or acting out stories provides them with confidence and opportunities for personal expression and communication (Edwards, 2009). Attending musical, dance, or theatrical performances gives children the chance to enjoy and respond to the ways others interpret these artistic disciplines. Creative activities that promote the expression of ideas and feelings are preferable for young children over teaching them prescribed dances, steps, or memorizing/rehearsing lines to perform a scripted play (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007).

Materials for Music, Creative Movement, and Drama

Space should be provided in the classroom as well as outdoors for music, movement, and drama activities. A music center in the classroom should provide storage and display space for instruments, rotated regularly to give children the opportunity to focus on the distinct features of different types. Taking musical instruments outdoors eliminates the element of noise, which can be distracting or may interfere with conversation levels indoors.

A listening center, set up at a small table or in a cozy area with pillows on the floor, supports exposure to music with CD/tape player and a multiple-jack outlet for one or more sets of headphones. Musical selections can include those that children particularly like as well as new music from different genres.

An open floor space, especially one with a large wall mirror, affords children the ability to see themselves move. If the classroom is not large enough to accommodate this, outdoor space can be used or designated for creative movement activities.

In addition to the dramatic play center, provision can be made for a puppet theater, purchased or made with children from a cardboard box. Children also love creating spontaneous "sets" outdoors, with sheets, sheer fabric, large boxes, or a platform constructed from wooden planks, blocks, or bricks. Additional materials are described below for music, movement, and drama.

Materials for music activities include rhythm instruments, basic pitched instruments, and other items such as media players, audio recorders, and accompanying instruments like a piano or autoharp (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2011). Rhythm instruments are those that can be strucklike sticks, triangles, gongs and cymbalsor shakensuch as maracas, tambourines, or rain sticks. Drums are readily available in a variety of shapes, sizes, forms, and cultural origins (see Figure 7.4). Pitched instruments produce a note or notes when struck, such as a xylophone or tonal bells, or blown, like a kazoo, harmonica, or recorder.

Materials for creative movement may include hoops, scarves, fans, and streamers. A prop box with dance costumes as well as ballet and tap shoeseasily procured from thrift storescan also inspire impromptu dancing and creative dramatics.

Props for dramatic activities will include masks, glasses, costumes, and other items already on hand to support the dramatic play center as well as others specifically obtained or made to enact a particular idea or story. Hats of all kinds are wonderful and beloved by children but may not be permitted in some programs owing to the risk of transferring head lice, while they are used in others with precautions and regular disinfecting. Similarly, teachers may need to introduce items such as masks and costumes carefully with very young children, who might have fears related to animals or characters.

Handheld and full-length mirrors can be very helpful for both movement and drama. Hand and finger puppets of many different kinds can be kept in the dramatic play center or rotated into the classroom for use with particular stories, poems, or songs. Children can also make stick and sock puppets and set up the type of pantomime/shadow theater described in the earlier chapter section about light play.

General Strategies: Routines and Transitions

Routines such as an opening/greeting circle and transitions that take place in changing from one space or activity to another provide opportunities for music, movement, and dramatic activities. For example, the opening routine could include short games such as inviting children to take turns naming a movement that starts with the first letter of a childs name, like "jump with John" or "step high with Sally." Some teachers do a series of "good-morning yoga" poses that emphasize stretching, bending, and breathing (Orlowski & Hart, 2010). Children can pantomime the weather report for the day or do favorite finger plays/poems that include body movements and creative expression, such as "Going on a Bear Hunt." There are many online websites that offer downloadable childrens exercise music for purchase and some for free, including Songs for Teaching, Free Songs for Kids, and The Teachers Guide.

Figure 7.4: World Music
A music curriculum should include experiences with instruments and music that represent cultural diversity and an appreciation for music from around the world. These examples include (from left to right and top to bottom) Native American rain sticks, marimbas, an African talking drum, a gathering drum, a Latin steel drum, a cabaca rasp, a thumb piano, a monkey drum, and a world music CD.
Illustrations of two Native American rain sticks, marimbas, an African talking drum, a gathering drum, a Latin steel drum, a cabaca rasp, a thumb piano, a monkey drumb, and a cd of world music.

Daily transitions include cleanup time, getting ready to go outside, preparing for meals, and bathroom or water breaks. Margie LaBella, an experienced music therapist, offers these simple songs on the previously mentioned Songs for Teaching website, that announce cleanup time and the end of circle time:

Cleanup Time
(Tune: Miss Lucy had a baby, she named him tiny Tim . . . )
Its cleanup time everybody.
Its cleanup time right now.
If I help you and you help me,
Then well get ready for __________.

Circle Time Is Almost Done!
(Tune: Buffalo girls, wont you come out tonight . . . )
Circle time is almost done,
Almost done, almost done.
Circle time is almost done,
Then were going to __________.

When children have to stand in line, teachers can play simple games with them such as:

  • Playing "snake," passing a ball or beanbag down the line, all using a similar motion like over the head, or under a knee, with the last child in line moving to the front to start again.
  • Moving within their personal space as the teacher or another child calls out "hop like a frog," or "swing your arms like an elephant trunk," etc.
  • Standing back to back and being instructed to move in sync up, down, and bending to the side.
  • "Scramble," reordering the line by height, clothing color, birthday, and so on.
  • "Telephone," but instead of whispering to start the chain, doing a movement that each child copies down the line.
  • Balancing on toes up and down.
  • Tapping knees, "chopping wood," or doing karate chops to the side, keeping time to a favorite song.
  • Doing "the wave."
  • Taking a pose and then switch to another, such as standing like a soldier and then a rag doll.
  • Playing "Simon says" with movements.
  • Doing the "balloon release," or breathing in and out as if blowing up a balloon.
  • Doing a "spider massage" on the back of the next child (Feldman, 2012).

Music, Creative Movement, and Dramatic Activities

Planned music and creative movement activities should emphasize enjoyment and participation without competition; it should be used to enrich childrens exposure to diverse musical and performance traditions. For instance, at the program directed by the author, parents most recently demonstrated and engaged children in traditional scarf dancing (from China and Russia), step dancing with ribbons (from Ireland), and belly dancing with bells (from Iran); these became favorite activities for months afterward.

Participating and Performing

A woman helps a young boy play the xylophone.

Banana Stock / Thinkstock

Singing, playing instruments, and creative movement engage children from the very early stages of development.

In choosing music for singing and creative movement, you should consider the childrens interests, vocal range, and language ability, including songs children may want to share from home. Nursery rhymes, simple folk songs, patriotic songs, and ballads are typically easy to learn if broken down into manageable sections or phrasing. You should make sure you have practiced and know a song before teaching it, so that you can devote your entire attention to the children without having to look at a book or sheet music.

If you have the music on a CD or MP3 player, you may want to play it several times so that the children can clearly understand the words and know what they mean. It is best to focus on one song at a time until children are very familiar and comfortable singing it rather than trying to teach several songs at once (Edwards, 2012).

Music selections for creative movement can include songs with words that children are already familiar with or instrumental music, encouraging focus on the melody, tonal qualities, and rhythms. Children dont need much direction and should never be forced to participate, but they can certainly be encouraged with prompts or suggestions.

Dramatic performances often occur spontaneously, arising from activities in the dramatic play center that children may want to share with others in the group, informally with role playing during story time, or as a means to demonstrate such things as how to invite a friend to play or solve a problem. Teachers can also facilitate more formal performances if they are careful to maintain a developmentally appropriate approach. For instance, the 4- and 5-year-old children in Ms. Mary and Ms. Janes class, after reading several versions of the traditional folk tale "Stone Soup," decided that they wanted to host a soup luncheon and dramatic performance of the story for their parents. Rather than assign parts and scripted lines, the teachers acted as narrators, with the children acting out the steps of the story in small groups. They knew the story so well that when they were performing for their parents, they spontaneously, in choral fashion, echoed some of the narration as their teacher read the story.

Responding

Responding to music can be a part of the classroom in many ways. Some teachers like to play classical music, world music, or soothing lullabies during rest time to help children settle. Background music can certainly be appropriate during different times of the day as well. You might notice children in the art center quietly humming along to music or painting in time to a particular rhythm, or children in the dramatic play center using scarves to make costumes for a "fairy dance." Free movement activities encourage discovery and release (Eliason & Jenkins, 2008); children enjoy acting out imaginary sequences such as a chick hatching from an egg, a thunderstorm, or popcorn popping.

Certainly inviting performers (especially from your parent/family community) to your classroom or program and taking children out to cultural events should be a priority to the extent that is logistically and economically possible. Fortunately many communities recognize the value of these experiences and are increasingly providing free or low-cost opportunities to make them happen. For example, in the authors community, programs for young children are available at little or no cost (less than $5); they include cultural events such as:

  • Childrens theater productions
  • Storytellers
  • Cultural/ethnic festivals
  • Concerts
  • Ballet and culturally diverse dance troupes
  • Puppet theater

You can talk with children about music and creative movement or dramatic performances in much the same way you would discuss visual arts. They will develop musical preferences and respond to activities with a range of ideas and opinions. Questions and discussions encourage children to use language to analyze and interpret (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2011). Increasingly abstract levels of questioning include the following:

  • Memoryrecalling details or features of a selection or performance
  • Closed questions (e.g., Was the music fast or slow? Which character in Peter and the Wolf was represented by the oboe?)
  • Open-ended questions (e.g., What do you think the dancers were thinking about in the very fast part of the music?)
  • Evaluative (Why did you say you felt frightened by the loud part of the music?)

Understanding and Integrating Concepts

Activities and games with music and movement help children learn vocabulary and concepts such as rhythm/beat, tempo, personal space, direction, melody, and harmony. The vocabulary of drama includes terms such as script, role, director, and scene that children learn and apply not just to dramatic play but also to stories and literacy activities.

Magliano and Russo (2011) suggest a word bank, writing words that name body parts, different movements (twist, bend, reach, etc.), dance elements (space, pathway, level), and using terminology to describe what children are doing (e.g., "I see you slithering backward and forward like a snake.") Similarly, a display of diagrams can prompt children and help them to remember motions and concepts. Games like "paper plate twist"giving each child two paper plates on which to put their feet and moving to Chubby Checkers "Peppermint Twist"reinforce rhythm, balance, spatial orientation, and bilateral movement. Likewise, the teacher can use a song like "Dueling Banjos" to perform a movement for each musical phrase, which the children can then echo/copy for the next phrase (Flynn, 2012). Keeping time comes more naturally to some children than others, and teachers can try using different parts of the body to tap, nod, or clap the childrens names, animal names, or simple rhymes to help them develop awareness of rhythm and musical patterns. Identification games or making up new words to a familiar tune can also focus on a particular element such as melody or rhythm ("name that tune"; Im thinking of a song . . . feel the beat and identify; sing your name, and so on).

Interactive Media

As with visual arts, the Internet provides almost unlimited access to information, interactive experiences with the performing arts, and prerecorded or live performances if they are not readily available in the community. Audio devices such as MP3 players enable teachers to develop a rich and varied library of music, video, and podcasts. Particularly useful are sites such as:

  • YouTube (for a variety of musical videos and clips)
  • Virtual Piano (interactive piano and instructional resources)
  • Button Bass (interactive and instructional guitar)
  • Button Bass (xylophone)
  • Arts Alive (interactive music, dance, and theater)
  • iTunes (music, TV performances, movies, podcasts)

Chapter Summary

  • Early learning standards emphasize development in ATL, physical well-being, social-emotional, language, and cognitive development.
  • Academic standards for K2 children are included in K12 standards for each subject area of the curriculum and focus on knowledge and skills related to the content ofeach.
  • ATL standards focus on the development of executive functioning and promote such dispositions as curiosity, engagement, persistence, and problem solving through play.
  • In the early childhood environment, interest areas such as sensory play, construction, and dramatic play promote ATL through open-ended exploration with a variety of materials.
  • The 2012 National standards for the arts represent a collaborative effort to actively engage and expose students to cultural experiences and activities across the disciplines of art, music, dance, and drama, and media arts.
  • An arts-infused curriculum approach provides early educators with opportunities to support both open-ended exploration and intentional experiences with all dimensions of the creative/performing arts.
  • Activities with the visual arts that emphasize experiences with many media, creative expression, and exposure to art and artists also provide an integrated introduction to the visual arts standards for K2.
  • Using high-quality childrens picture books can provide teachers with many ideas for arts experiences and connecting to other areas of the curriculum.
  • Materials and experiences with music, movement/dance, and drama enable and foster mind/body/aesthetic connections in many ways.
  • Music, movement/dance, and drama experiences can be integrated seamlessly into daily activities and routines as well as being provided through intentional activities and exposure to the performing arts.
  • An increasing array of technological resources provide access to informational and interactive arts experiences.
Discussion Questions
  1. How might you explain to parents the value of a play-based approach to the early learning standards?
  2. How do your own experiences with the arts affect preferences you might have for particular kinds of activities?
  3. What challenges do you face as you consider the increasing role of technology in early education?
Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Approaches to Learning (ATL) standards

Component of state early learning standards that focuses on executive functioning and the ways children learn and develop through play, exploration, and inquiry.

Arts-infused

An approach to curriculum that integrates experiences with the arts.

Executive functioning

A particular set of mental skills that contribute to the development of higher-order thinking

Light table

Piece of equipment specifically designed with a translucent surface lighted from below

Media

various materials and processes artists use for different effects and purposes

Picture book

Distinct genre of books incorporating extensive use of illustrations as an important storytelling feature

Problem solving

Weighing multiple possible solutions to devise a strategy for resolving an issue or challenge

Prop box

Set of props related to a single theme

Props

Items used as accessories for play

Reasoning

Applying understanding of cause-and-effect relationships; the application of logic to decision making

Self-talk

Internal dialogue, or "talking to oneself"

Unit (kindergarten) blocks

Wooden blocks of specific proportions children use for building structures

References

Berk, L. E. (2001). Private speech and self-regulation in children with impulse-control difficulties: Implications for research and practice. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 2(1), 121.

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. (2006). Tools of the mind: The Vygotskian approach to early childhood education (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, C. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Edwards, L. C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (1993). The 100 languages of children. Norwich, CT: Ablex.

Edwards, L. C. (2009). The creative arts: A process approach for teachers and children (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Flynn, S. (June 21, 2012). Brain boosters! Fun and easy movement activities to enhance cognition in young children. Presentation at 2012 College of Charleston Early Childhood Summit, Charleston, SC., June 2022, 2012.

Fraser, S. & Gestwicki, C. (2002). Authentic childhood: Exploring Reggio Emilia in the classroom (2nd ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Publishing.

Gestwicki, C. (2011). Developmentally appropriate practice: Curriculum and development (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Guanella, F. M. (1934). Block building activities of young children. Archives of Psychology, 174, 1192.

Hendrick, J., & Weissman, P. (2007). Total learning: Developmental curriculum for the young child (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Hewitt, K. (January 2001). Blocks as a tool for learning: Historical and contemporary perspectives. Young Children, 612.

Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academies. (2015). Child development and early learning. In L. Allen & B. B. Kelly (Eds.), Transforming the workforce for children birth through age 8: A unifying foundation (pp. 85204). Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310550/.

Kagan, S. L. (September 2003). Young children and creativity: Lessons from the National Education Goals Panel. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.

Kagan, S. L., Moore, E., Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (1995). Reconsidering childrens early development and learning: Toward common views and vocabulary. Washington, DC: National Education Goals Panel, U.S. Government Printing Office.

Kauerz, K. (2006). K2 Standards and assessments: A 50-state review. New York: Pew Charitable Trust.

Kavanaugh, R. D. (2006). Pretend play. In E. B. Spodek & O. N. Saracho (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 269278). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Kostelnik, M. J., Soderman, A. K., & Whiren, A. P. (2011). Developmentally appropriate curriculum: Best practices in early childhood education (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

MacDonald, S. (2001). Block play: A complete guide to learning and playing with blocks. Lewisville, NC: Gryphon House.

Marigliano, M. L., & Russo, M. J. (September 2011). Moving bodies, building minds: Foster preschoolers critical thinking and problem solving through movement. Young Children, 66(5), 4449.

McClelland, M. M., Cameron, C. E., Wanless, S. B., & Murray, A. (2007). Executive function, behavioral self-regulation, and social-emotional comptetence. In O. S. Spodek, Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education (pp. 83107). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Narey, M. (Ed.). (2009). Making meaning: Constructing multi-modal perspectives of language, literacy, and learning through arts-based early childhood education. New York: Springer.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (2016, May 25). NAEYC Announces a New National Collaboration to Set Professional Guidelines for All Early Childhood Educators [Press release]. Washington, DC: NAEYC. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/initiatives/profession/naeyc-announces-new-national-collaboration.

National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Fred Rogers Center for Early learning and Childrens Media at Saint Vincent College. (2012). Technology and interactive media as tools in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: Author.

National Coalition for Core Arts Standards. (April 6, 2012). Media Arts: frequently asked questions. Press release. NCCAS. Retrieved from: http://nccas.wikispaces.com/file/view/Media+Arts+FAQ-+Final.pdf.

National Council for the Social Studies. (2002). National standards for social studies teachers (Vol. 1). Washington, DC: Author.

National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). (May 31, 2012). 2010 NIEER state preschool yearbook. Retrieved from NIEER: http://nieer.org/sites/nieer/files/yearbook.pdf#page=188.

National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). (2018). The state of preschool 2017. State preschool yearbook [PDF file]. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/State-of-Preschool-2017-Full-7-16-18.pdf.

Orlowski, M. A., & Hart, A. (September 2010). Go! Including movement during routines and transitions. Young Children, 65(5), 8893.

Peterson, S., Jones, L., & McGinley, K. A. (2008). Early learning guidelines for infants and toddlers: Recommendations to states. Washington, DC: Zero to Three.

Reifel, S., & Greenfield, P. M. (1982). Structural development in a symbolic medium: The representational use of block constructions. G. Forman (Ed.). Action and thought: From sensorimotor schemes to symbolic operations (pp. 203233). New York: Academic Press.

Rushton, S. (2011). Neuroscience, early childhood education and play: We are doing it right! Early Childhood Education Journal, 39, 8994.

Ryan, M. (2018, April 19). Dramatic play and toddlers. VeryWell Family. Retrieved from https://www.verywellfamily.com/dramatic-play-290162.

Scott-Little, C., Kagan, S. L., Frelows, V. S., 7 Reid, J. (May 31, 2012). Inside the content of infant-toddler early learning guidelines. Retrieved from University of North Carolina at Greensboro: http://www.uncg.edu/hdf/facultystaff/ScottLittle/FINAL FULL REPORT - 2.28.08.pdf.

Shaklee, H., OHara, P., & Demarset, P. (March 2008). Early math skills: Building blocks for the future [white paper].

Trawick-Smith, J. (1994). Interactions in the classroom: Facilitating play in the early years. New York: Macmillan.

Trawick-Smith, J., Swaminathan, S., Baton, B., Danieluk, C., Marsh, S., & Szarwacki, M. (2016). Block play and mathematics learning in preschool: The effects of building complexity, peer and teacher interactions in the block area, and replica play materials. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 15(4), 433448.

van Hoorn, J. L., Nourot, P. M., Scales, B. R., & Alward, K. R. (2010). Play at the center of the curriculum (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Wilkerson, C. (June 9, 2011). New coalition will lead the revision of the National Standards for Arts Education. Press Release from the National Coalition for CORE ARTS Standards. Retrieved from: http://nccas.wikispaces.com/file/view/6-9-11+Press+Release.pdf/235736882/6-9-11%20Press%20Release.pdf.

Wood, E., & Attfield, J. (2005). Play, learning and the early childhood curriculum (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

12
Evaluation and Assessment of Learning and Programs
A woman sits with two young girls and shows them an iPad.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

  • Explain the concept of developmentally appropriate assessment.
  • Describe different types of formal and informal assessments teachers use with children.
  • Describe how teachers manage and use assessment information.
  • Identify and explain processes used to evaluate curriculum.
  • Describe developmentally appropriate considerations for using technology with children.
  • Describe important considerations for lifelong professional learning.

Introduction

Well here you are, on your way to understanding the intricacies of early childhood curriculum and the balancing act that a developmentally appropriate approach requires. Your classroom is a happy, busy place. Friendships are forming, children are playing, and you are using your understanding of the developmental emphasis in the early learning standards and content focus of K–12 academic standards to plan and implement engaging and challenging activities. You've also begun to notice the individual characteristics, strengths, and needs of your children and are beginning to think about ways of adapting the curriculum to meet their needs.

Your sense is that everything is going well, but how do you know for sure that you are meeting the goals and expectations of your curriculum? Throughout this book, we've addressed this question in part by discussing the need to observe children in order to scaffold their development. But what specific things can you do to determine your children's individual needs and chart their progress? How do you identify children who might have special needs? How do you know whether your curriculum is working as intended? What should you do to continue developing your own curriculum knowledge? In view of increasing use and awareness of technologies, what are the most effective ways to use these technologies for curriculum and/or assessment?

In this chapter, we examine the concepts of student assessment and ongoing evaluation for continuous improvement of the curriculum. We also address the emerging and changing role of technology as a tool for curriculum implementation and assessment.

From the Field

Administrator Douglas Regin describes the relationship between assessment and curriculum planning.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Programs and schools have many different types of assessment systems. What do you think the common elements of those various approaches might be?

12.1 Developmentally Appropriate Assessment

The primary goal of a developmentally appropriate approach to assessment is to inform your practices so that the curriculum you implement matches the developmental needs and interests of the children in your care or classroom (Gullo, 2006; NAEYC/NAECS/SDE, 2003). As you continue to think about theory as part of the "why" behind curriculum decisions, assessment of your students and your program also provides practical, ongoing information and evidence to guide what you choose to do. For example, setting up your classroom using sound principles of design should theoretically provide children with opportunities to engage with materials, explore their ideas and imagination, and promote socialization. Your assessment of how children actually use the environment, however, may reveal that some areas need more or fewer materials to balance movement and activity levels or perhaps additional strategies to encourage children to spend more time in the writing or math center.

Similarly, while you observe daily that Anna Bess is a highly verbal child, with a large vocabulary and sophisticated sense of story structure as she relates anecdotes with details and expression, you may learn through assessment that she needs a great deal of support to identify the sounds in words to help her progress in reading and writing.

Creating an Assessment Plan

Therefore planning for the assessment of groups and individual children should reflect a systematic, comprehensive approach (NAEYC, 2005). Assessment of young children is most effective when it is curriculum-basedthat is, aligned with learning standards as well as the goals and content of the curriculum and used to modify activities and practices to advance the development of each child (Gullo, 2006). In general, assessments are categorized either as formative if they document ongoing development and progress or summative if they are administered at intervals, such as end-of-year reports used to confer with a child's family.

Some widely used programs, such as Creative Curriculum and High Scope, offer integrated, curriculum-based assessment systems with tools, schedules, and guidance for teachers that are also aligned with state early learning standards. In elementary schools, assessment systems are driven by national and state standards and typically include a balance of formative and summative assessments (often standardized tests) that measure overall achievement at the end of a school year. Independent or private early childhood programs may design their own assessment systems, such as the one displayed in Table 12.1, designed by an NAEYC-accredited program to meet the standard for assessment. This example of an assessment system for a preschool program provides a timetable that indicates when and how assessment information is collected, communicated, organized, and applied.

Table 12.1: Sample Assessment System
Time Line Activity Instruments Product Follow-up
At enrollment Developmental screening Ages/Stages
Questionnaire (ASQ) for appropriate age and Social Emotional Questionnaire (ASQ/SE) if indicated
Formal report for child file Referral to BabyNet or Child Find and process via school district if warranted or follow up with additional questionnaires for more data
August Teacherteacher conference Child file Draft Goals Form (GF) for home visit Confer with prior teacher if more information needed
August Home visits Home Information Form (HIF), goals form photo Family/child profile
Initiate or revise existing goals
Regular informal communications; referrals if needed
September New family orientation (evening session about assessment system) All assessment system documents Present/discuss assessment system Q&A as indicated; ongoing informal communications
Ongoing Home/school communication Celebrations and Concerns form (CCF) Completed form Conversation, conferences if requested; information used to inform curricular decisions

Fall term, monthly:

August,
September,
October
Observation,
recording anecdotal evidence
Anecdotal record Updated goals Individualizing instruction and adjusting curriculum

Fall term, monthly:

August,
September,
October
Work sample collection Portfolio Photo, video/audio recording, artifact Used to inform curricular decisions and evidence of growth; shared during parent/teacher conference
Fall Conference Day Parent/teacher conference;
compile information from various sources used throughout the term

Goals Form (GF)

Celebrations and Concerns Forms (CCF)

Work samples

Early Learning Standards (ELS) checklist

Performance assessments

Early Learning Standards Report (SCELS) and work samples

Revised goals

Referrals to BabyNet or Child Find if warranted; entry signed by both parent and teacher on goals form; recommendations for future curricular decisions and individualization
Spring Term monthly: January, February, March Work sample collection Portfolio Updated portfolios with photos and artifacts Individualizing instruction and adjusting curriculum
By February 15 Quarterly communication: Verbal or written updates as indicated/needed per fall conferences Conference and/or written narrative progress report Celebrations and Concerns Forms (CCF) Update goals Conversation or formal conference if parent/teacher requests
April Conference Day Parent/teacher conference;
compile information from various sources used throughout the term

Goals Form

Celebration and Concerns Forms

Work samples

Early Learning Standards checklist

Performance assessments

Early Learning Standards Report (ELS) and work samples

Revised Goals
Referrals to BabyNet or Child Find if warranted;
April Conference Day "Paper Day"Update family information Home Information Form (HIF)

Health and Emergency Forms

Completed form Compile list of students with allergies, inform teacher for involving parents and children in family and culturally sensitive ways, planning curriculum

The NAEYC recommends that a well-developed assessment system should focus on identifying children's needs and interests, describing and reporting their progress accurately, and using assessment information to make curriculum decisions (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2005). As described in the 2003 NAEYC/NAECS/SDE position statement, an effective assessment system is characterized by:

  • Ethical practices
  • Fidelity between assessment practices and their intended uses
  • Age, developmental, and cultural appropriateness
  • Reliable and valid methods and instruments
  • Alignment with desired outcomes that are educationally significant
  • Application of results that improves learning and outcomes for children
  • Concrete evidence collected in real-world contexts
  • Conclusions based on multiple sources of evidence gathered over time
  • Follow-through as needed to provide referrals or other needed services
  • Limited use of standardized tests
  • Collaboration between teachers, programs, and families

These principles make sense because they focus on acquiring information that is used to improve teaching and learning and identify children who may need interventions. Practices consistent with these principles promote access to services, efficient use of resources, and confidence in determinations and decisions made on behalf of young children. NAEYC and NAECS/SDE assessment guidelines are based on professional standards established by the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Center for Measurement in Education (NAEYC/NAECS/SDE, 2003).

The Importance of Objectivity

Critical to the use of any assessment strategy or method is objectivity. Teachers must learn to separate the accounting of what they observe or measure in children from interpretation, which should be done separately in the context of analyzing multiple sources of data (Jablon, Dombro & Dichtelmiller, 2007). In other words, teachers strive to separate facts from opinions.

Consider the two sample anecdotal entries below recorded by a teacher of a 4-year-old class:

  1. Jamison stepped on a line of blocks that Camden was arranging on the floor in the block area. Camden looked at Jamison and said, "Stop it, you are wrecking my road." Jamison stepped on the blocks again and then kicked two of them out of the line. Camden started to cry and Jamison said, "You are just a big baby, I don't want to play with you anyways." Jamison backed away from the block center and stood off to the side with his fists clenched and tears in his eyes as Anya came and sat down next to Camden.
  2. Camden wanted to work alone and was minding his own business arranging blocks in a line to make a road; Jamison intruded and stepped on them. Camden felt frustrated and when he said "Stop it, you are wrecking my road," Jamison kicked the blocks and in typically mean fashion said, "You are just a big baby, I don't want to play with you anyways." Anya came over to make Camden feel better and Jamison just sulked and pouted over in the corner.

The first record preserves the events as they occurred with matter-of-fact language, while the second clearly assigns protagonist/antagonist roles to Jamison and Camden and assumes motivations for the behavior that occurred for all three children. The first note, compared with other narratives, can be analyzed for behavior trends over time for any of the children. Perhaps this episode is consistent with a pattern of aggressive (Jamison) or passive (Camden) or empathetic (Anya) behaviors, but it could just as easily represent a departure from any of the children's usual interactions. The second entry clearly indicates that the teacher has already made a judgment about each of the children, and its usefulness for gleaning insights is limited.

Similarly, suppose four times a year a teacher conducted a fine motor assessment by asking each child to cut out a paper circle with scissors. Table 12.2 displays two records of this task on separate occasions as it might be recorded by different teachers.

Table 12.2: Two Accounts of Cutting
Teacher A Teacher B
9/14: Does not hold scissors properly. Can't cut. 9/14: Holds scissors in right hand sideways with thumb in one hole and index finger in the other. Holds paper in left hand at 12 o'clock position. Attempting to cut in counterclockwise motion, starting at 6 o'clock, but paper slides through scissors.
11/15: Good grip; still can't cut very well. 11/15: Right-hand grip now includes thumb and first two fingers with thumb up. Holds paper with left hand at 9 o'clock position. Cuts counterclockwise from 3 to 12 o'clock and stops.

Teacher A uses subjective labeling ("properly," "good") and language indicating an opinion about the child's performance on each occasion, while teacher B records information that can be interpreted to describe progress in measurable terms.

Another way teachers ensure objectivity is by using scoring tools, or rubrics, that rely on criterion referencing based on observable behaviors or performance rather than subjective judgments. A criterion is similar to a standard or benchmarka statement or descriptor that conveys an expected outcome or level of performance. If a criterion describes an action or behavior that is observable, it is more likely that anyone who performs the assessment will score it objectively, as the behavior will either be observed or it won't.

For example, suppose you are assessing self-help skills. Using criteria such as "not independent, working on independence, independent" is subjective; if two teachers rated the same child they might each have a very different idea about what "working on . . ." means or what criterion must be met to be rated "independent." A scoring tool that lists criteria such as "ties shoes, zips, cleans up without being asked, puts nap items away unassisted, asks for help when needed" is objective because the assessor must see the child perform each task in order to check it off.

12.2 Identifying Children's Needs and Interests

Assessment methods can be formal or informal. Formal assessments include standardized measures that are norm-referenced; that is, they score an individual child's performance against the average, or mean, scores of a larger population of children. The larger population is selected to be representative of the smaller samples of children to whom the test is administered.

Informal assessments are not normed, may be narratively expressed, and can be obtained commercially or teacher-designed. Informal assessments are implemented in the classroom or care setting to document learning, skills, and/or behavior. These measures contribute valuable information that provides a holistic, context-specific view of growth over time.

Other measures, either formal or informal, are criterion-referenced, or designed to assess each individual child or group of children with respect to specific goals or desired outcomes expressed in curriculum materials, state early learning and academic standards, or individualized learning plans for children with special needs, such as the Individual Educational Plan (IEP) or Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP).

Formal Assessments

Normed standardized instruments generally fall into one of three categories: screens, achievement tests, or intelligence tests. The purpose of a screening tool such as the Denver II (Denver Developmental Materials, 2012) or the Brigance Early Childhood series (Curriculum Associates, 2011) is usually to obtain a general picture of development or behavior to determine if a more detailed assessment or evaluation is warranted. Screens can be administered by trained professionals, but instructions are typically easy for educators to follow. Some screens, such as the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (2012), are specifically designed for parents.

Achievement tests are intended to assess what a child knows or can do and are the types of tests administered annually to elementary and high school students to measure progress toward meeting state academic standards and curriculum outcomes. A battery of several subtests is typically administered over several days. Use of a single achievement test to make high-stakes decisions, such as a child's readiness for school, is considered inadequate and developmentally inappropriate (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

A pencil rests on an answer sheet for a standardized test.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Early childhood educators and researchers exercise caution in using standardized test for a variety of reasons.

Intelligence tests are designed to determine a person's aptitude and capacities for learning in comparison to all others in the population from which the norms are derived. The Binet-Simon Intelligence Test, developed by Alfred Binet and Lewis Simon in 1905, was the first to be introduced. In 1916, Lewis Terman, at Stanford University, adapted the scales for American use as the Stanford-Binet Scales (Levine & Munsch, 2011). The test score was expressed as an intelligence quotient (IQ) or ratio of mental to chronological age.

The Wechsler Intelligence Scales, introduced by psychologist David Wechsler in 1955, are also widely used and adapted the IQ concept to an intelligence deviation score, basing norms on a distribution of scores across the normal curve. These tests are reliable only when they are administered by trained professionals, usually psychologists, and typically not before age 6.

Concerns about cultural bias in the norming processes first expressed by Alfred Binet (Siegler, 1992) persist today, since many believe that the heavy reliance on language in these tests compromises results for children with limited English proficiency (Levine & Munsch, 2011).

Widespread implementation of standardized testing with children under the age of 8, especially if not balanced with the holistic data that informal assessments provide, is considered developmentally inappropriate (NAEYC/NAECS/SDE, 2003). Such tests offer only a "snapshot" of what the child can do, don't allow for modification to accommodate individual differences, don't accurately reflect a child's real-life experience, may be linguistically or culturally biased, and focus only on what rather than how a child learns (Anderson, Moffat, & Shapiro, 2006; Branscombe, Castle, Dorsey & Taylor, 2003; Gullo, 2006). While teachers need to understand how formal measures such as standardized tests are developed and used, their administration should be limited to instances where it is clear that the results may benefit children in a specific way, such as identifying a child with special needs who would be entitled to support services (NAEYC/NAECS/SDE, 2003).

Informal Assessments

A woman observes a young girl drawing a picture.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Authentic assessments take place in the learning setting, with familiar materials and adults that children know and trust.

Programs and teachers that apply developmentally appropriate principles to assessment make extensive use of informal assessments, also known as alternative or authentic methods. Informal assessments match curriculum goals, actively involve children and families, focus on change and growth over time, and occur in real time in the classroom or care setting (Branscombe, Castle, Dorsey & Taylor, 2003; Gullo, 2006; Jablon, Dombro, & Dichtelmiller, 2007; Wortham, 2011). Often, authentic assessments focus on recording observations of individual children during play (Beaty, 2009; Bodrova & Leong, 2007; Flagler, 1996; Gullo, 2006; Jablon, Dombro, & Dichtelmiller, 2007) or daily routines, interactions with family members, and in group interaction (Jablon, Dombro & Dichtelmiller, 2007).

Teachers also design performance or skills assessments and collect and analyze learning artifacts to evaluate growth and identify needed curriculum modifications. Authentic assessments don't require that the teacher "prep" children, in contrast to the coaching that teachers sometimes provide to prepare children for a paper-and-pencil standardized test. Rather than offering the child a preselected group of available responses that may not necessarily match what the child knows, authentic assessments record behavior and performance in the precise terms or actions displayed by the child (Anderson, Moffat, & Shapiro, 2006; Gullo, 2006).

Observational Strategies and Tools

Assessment information obtained via the direct observation of children can provide valuable data over time, in multiple contexts, in the words of the teacher or child, and during many kinds of activities (Jablon, Dombro, & Dichtelmiller, p. 42). For example, a teacher might observe a child during indoor or outdoor play, at lunchtime, or during transitions. Tools for observation can be premade, obtained from various resources, or constructed by the teacher. Observations should always be dated and the observer noted if multiple people are assessing the same group of children. Types of observational assessments include those described in Table 12.3.

Table 12.3: Observation-Based Assessments
Type of Observation Description and Uses Formats/Tools
Anecdotal record Descriptive narratives that record details of events, behaviors, or notes about children's activities, accomplishments, or needs. Index cards, notebook paper, bound journal, adhesive mailing labels, sticky notes, calendar.
Running record Real-time recording of activity, conversation, or behavior, often time-stamped as observation proceeds (akin to a video recording, but with words rather than a camera). Index cards, notebook paper, journal.
Daily log Records observations over the course of a day, in sync with different time or activity blocks. Clipboard with preprinted daily schedule and blanks for recording what child does at different times.
Checklists While observing, the teacher checks for presence or absence of targeted outcomes, behaviors, or language on a preprinted list; this may be used to track whether child completed sequence of activities; teacher checks off or records date target is achieved. Used to track growth of skills or development over time.
Time/event sampling Often used together to discern the frequency or cause of problem behaviors; the teacher may use a tally sheet to record the number of times a particular behavior (such as hitting or crying) is observed over a predetermined time period such as an hour or day; event sampling records what activity or behavior directly preceded or followed a behavior being tracked to look for patterns or cause/effect. Can also be used to track how many times a child visits a particular center, the rest room, etc., or how much time is spent there. Clipboard with tally sheet; notebook paper or index cards.
Diagrams/sketches Track movement of children around the room; can be helpful for identifying interaction patterns, and children's interests. Preprinted floor plan.
Interest inventories Can be used to gain information from children and families about what children like and dislike; helps in planning and selecting activities and materials. Checklist or questionnaires; sign-up sheets for activities.
Child interviews Conducted any time first-hand information about children's needs, problems, interests, or reasoning would be helpful for assessment, conflict resolution, behavior management, or planning. Audio- or videotape; written transcriptions.
Rating scales Records a qualitative assessment using predetermined indicators of achievement (e.g., emergent, developing, mastered) or frequency (e.g., never, sometimes, always). Preprinted forms that list activity or skills being observed with blank space for recording assessment.
Matrices/grids Preprinted chart that records activity of a group of children or for observing multifaceted activity, such as both social interactions and language during play. Usually represented on a chart with both vertical and horizontal axes. With a group of children, names are listed on one axis and targeted behavior or skills on the other. With an individual child, one type of behavior is noted on each axis. Clipboard and preprinted sheets.
Table 12.3: Observation-Based Assessments

What the teacher does while observing varies by the purpose, timing, and characteristics of the observational tool being used. For instance, an anecdotal record or note is an "after-the-fact" narrative; a teacher might make entries during planning time, at the end of a day or week while memory is fresh and events can be recalled accurately. A running record or time/event sampling is recorded in real time as behavior is occurring. A teacher might use a checklist to observe and assess a child or group of children for vocabulary and social interaction skills while interacting with them during lunchtime or he or she might record the same kind of data while standing or sitting off to the side as children build with blocks or engage in dramatic play.

Performance-Based Assessments and Developmental Checklists

Teachers sometimes conduct assessments with individual children in face-to-face interactions to determine their level of mastery of particular skills. Performance assessments provide information about what a child knows or does. The teacher may ask a child to perform an action, such as scissor-cutting to assess motor skills. Or the teacher might ask a child to complete a task to assess the extent to which a child has attained a cognitive skill such as one-to-one correspondence. She could select items from the classroom math or manipulative center, set them up in a line on the table, and ask the child to point to each item while counting, repeating the assessment as many times as necessary to determine for sure what the child can do. Further, to document a child's reasoning ability, a teacher may ask the child to demonstrate how he or she might solve a problem such as dividing a set of objects into two equivalent sets and record information about the child's ability to do so.

A woman sits at her desk and reviews her notes in a binder.

Monkey Business / Thinkstock

Teachers create anecdotal records by making notes about each child, either on a regularly scheduled basis or as needed to document behavior and observations. The narrative record about learning that builds over time may be used for many purposes.

The main advantage of this type of assessment is the opportunity to use materials familiar to the child in a context where you can also ask questions and invite the child to explain his or her thinking or reasoning. As discussed in earlier chapters, many of the state standards documents provide examples of things you should be observing as indicators that each criterion is being met. These "snapshots" can be very helpful as suggestions for skills assessments.

Some teachers do performance assessments on a predetermined schedule, such as two children per week for a particular set of skills; others do so on an as-needed basis for compiling conferencing reports or completing comprehensive developmental checklists.

Artifacts and Work Sampling

An artifact is a concrete sample of work produced by a child, such as a journal page, painting, photograph of a block construction, or recording of a child speaking or reading. Artifacts provide direct evidence of what a child can do, and a collection of artifacts contributes to the teacher's understanding of growth and learning.

Teachers employ work sampling by selectively choosing and saving artifacts that reflect curriculum goals and developmental benchmarks. The Work Sampling System developed by Samuel J. Meisels and colleagues (2012) is used by many early childhood programs, including a version specifically designed for Head Start.

Self-Assessment

Even very young children can provide information about what they know and what they can do through self-assessment, which helps teachers document their growth and learning. Sometimes self-assessment occurs naturally through conversation or verbal interactions. For instance, a 3-year-old might say "My jacket is wrong" as he tries to close the snaps before going outside. The teacher observes that he has fastened some snaps but that they are not matched correctly. Therefore she knows that he does indeed have the fine motor skill needed to press the two pieces of a snap closure together and that he realizes they also need to be matched properly.

A kindergarten child may come to the teacher with his writing journal and state, "I know the word "papa" starts with "p" but I don't know what letter comes next, "o" or "a." This statement reveals that the child has already narrowed down the sound that follows p to two viable alternatives, one that represents the sound he hears and the other perhaps an indication of emerging knowledge that words aren't always spelled the way they sound.

Two young girls paint pictures.

Digital Vision / Thinkstock

Teachers selectively choose learning artifacts, such as a child's artwork, to represent evidence of growth and change over time.

In other instances, teachers intentionally engage children in self-assessment in a short interview or conference. For example, upon completion of a study of birds, the teacher might ask each child, "What birds do you know about now that you didn't before? Can you tell me some things you learned about them?" Or, after a child has spent several days building an airport in the block center, the teacher could show the child several pictures of the structure in progress and ask, "What was the hardest part of building the airport? I see that you made a parking garage with a ramp, can you tell me how you figured out a way to make the roof? How did you decide when the airport was finished?"

Writing conferences with children allow for a child to isolate specific problems encountered or challenges overcome, such as circling words in the draft of a story that might be misspelled or underlining words the child is confident about.

Similarly, a teacher can engage a child in making evaluative judgments. For instance, she could ask the child to look at two different paintings and choose the one that represents his best effort and to explain why he thinks so. Or she could give him two different highlighters with which to identify his best examples of written letters and ones he needs to practice more.

The value of self-assessment is that it gives voice to a child's ideas about her own strengths and weaknesses and contributes to constructing an image of herself as a partner in the learning process. The child's observations may be congruent with the teacher's independent evaluations, identify misperceptions the child might have about her skills, or provide additional factors for the teacher to consider.

Identifying Children with Special Needs

Each state is required to provide a process for referring, evaluating, and implementing early intervention services for young children as needed under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). Part C of IDEA focuses on children from birth through age 2, and Part B covers individuals aged 3 through 21.

Providing support for children with disabilities is a collaborative process, and part of your role in assessment is noting and sharing observations with families when you see indications that a child may be showing signs of developmental delay or atypical behavior. Your concerns should be noted with a high level of sensitivity, as parents often feel anxious or confused and may need help with initiating a referral request.

A handicapped boy sits in his wheelchair.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Teachers play an integral role in the support system for children and families with special needs.

As an early childhood educator or caregiver, you will be part of an assessment team that determines the possible existence of delays or disabilities that constitute eligibility for services and, second, ensures that your curriculum and assessment strategies support those children who do need extra help (Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children, 2007). If a child in your care is determined to be eligible for services, you will also participate in documenting the child's progress toward goals that are established and periodically revised in the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). The kinds of authentic assessment strategies and tools described in this chapter are preferred:

Because the participants or informants for most criterion- or curriculum-based assessments are teachers and care providers who know the child best, these assessments [e.g., anecdotal records, performance assessments, work sampling, etc.] may be more efficient and may also facilitate the development of collaborative partnerships. Results also provide a direct and functional link to IFSP/IEP development, curriculum planning, and implementation. The information collected can easily be translated for use in instruction. (DEC, 2007 p. 14)

Children who may not qualify for the specialized education outlined in an IEP or ISFP but who have a disability such as an illness, injury, or chronic condition such as asthma or allergies are also protected under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. This provision declares that all children with disabilities are entitled to accommodations so that they may fully participate in public school activities. A "504" plan might include such things as a wheelchair ramp, peanut-free environment, or keeping an inhaler at school (U.S. Department of Education, 2012).

12.3 Describing Children's Progress and Adapting the Curriculum

As assessment data are collected, they must also be organized and stored so that this information will be available for interpretation, analysis, and reporting purposes. Because assessment products can represent a variety of materials, there are also different kinds of organizational systems. Programs with integrated online assessment systems will have a means to enter and store data and generate reports.

Organizing Data

The most common means for organizing early childhood assessment data is the portfolio, which may include examples of any or all of the assessments described above. The window of time a portfolio represents can vary considerably. For example, you might assemble a portfolio of artifacts to document one thematic or emergent group project, individual portfolios for one area of focus such as writing, or a comprehensive portfolio that tracks a child's general progress for an entire year.

A child's drawing of a house and family.

Exactostock / SuperStock

Early childhood educators commonly organize assessment information and artifacts in an individual portfolio for each child.

Portfolios provide powerful holistic evidence of learning because they include documentation of both process and products and demonstrate growth, change, and potential. Teachers have multiple sources of information to determine how the curriculum is working as they make planning decisions. Most of the samples in a portfolio are selected by the teacher. However, allowing and even encouraging children to choose some of their own samples is another means for children to be involved in the process and can reveal useful insights about their thinking. Families can also be included in the construction of a portfolio, since they may be able to provide examples of things children do at home to supplement those collected at school.

For instance, Ms. Mary was having difficulty collecting art samples from a child who routinely preferred the block and math centers or doing things that involved high levels of physical activity and the opportunity to interact with friends. In conversation with the child's mother, she learned that at home, as an only child in a neighborhood without many other children to play with, he often did spend a great deal of time drawing and coloring. She was able to contribute samples of artwork that provided his teacher with important information.

The amount of material included in a portfolio, particularly one assembled over a year, will vary, and storing the file can be a challenge. Teachers often use expanding files or a crate with file folders. Fortunately the increasing availability of technologies provides options for scanning and digital data storage that don't require the physical space of traditional folios.

Portfolios intended to be kept for multiple years typically require selecting a few artifacts that best represent progress, such as a drawing from the beginning and end of the year or a piece of writing that represents the highest technical quality achieved by a child.

Interpreting and Analyzing Data

Your interpretation and analysis of the assessment data you collect will be purposely targeted to match curriculum and developmental goals. Many programs use a comprehensive developmental checklist to provide families with an overall picture of the child's growth over time in multiple domains and specific information about strengths or needs.

Since early learning standards based on the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) recommendations are developmentally based and organized by domain, the indicators in these documents can be very helpful in the absence of commercially produced assessments that may accompany a curriculum. For instance, in one program teachers converted the criteria in the state's early learning standards to a master checklist, as Figure 12.1 illustrates.

Figure 12.1: Excerpt from South Carolina Early Learning Standards Checklist for 2-Year-Olds
In this example, developmental indicators from the state's early learning standards have been converted to a format that can be used as a checklist.
A woman reviews a gradebook with a father.

Comstock Images / Thinkstock

Face-to-face interactions such as a parent-teacher conference give teachers the opportunity to include families in a long-term conversation about the growth and learning of each child.

As you review observation data, anecdotal records, work samples, skills assessments, and so forth, you are looking for evidence that allows you to document that a goal has been met or a developmental benchmark achieved. Sometimes teachers develop a coding system that provides a kind of shorthand for noting evidence. For example, you might refer to anecdotal records as "AR1, AR2," or dated drawings as "D11/3, D3/4." These abbreviations can then be entered in different places on a global developmental assessment. One assessment artifact might provide evidence for multiple indicators, or you might need multiple artifacts to document a single criterion. Summarized data from individual child checklists or profiles can be aggregated to a profile for the group, helpful for seeing interests, strengths, and needs and for planning adaptations to the curriculum.

Reporting and Sharing Results

Teachers have many ways of reporting and sharing assessment results that may be predetermined by program or school policies or established independently by each teacher. Written reports that summarize assessment results for a given period of time are often distributed to families. The best way to share and explain assessment results, discuss a child's development and learning, and encourage parent participation in setting goals or identifying needs is to schedule a face-to-face meeting with the family members.

However, parent-teacher conferences held once or twice a year should not be the only means of communication. As discussed in Chapter 5, establishing and maintaining respectful ongoing relationships with each of your families is a critical component of an effective assessment system.

Adapting the Curriculum

As teachers compile and analyze assessment data, they make decisions about how to adapt or modify the curriculum and choose materials and strategies to diversify activities and instruction to meet identified needs and interests. In the broadest sense, this might mean, for example, rotating materials out of activity areas that you observe children are no longer interested in and replacing them with different ones that complement new inquiry themes, general advancement of skill levels, or materials specifically requested by children.

More From the Field

Douglas Regin describes the critical role teachers play in assessment.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Douglas identifies teacher interactions as an important factor in the quality of a learning environment. Why do you think this matters?

More specifically, you will use assessment information to plan adaptations for individual children. Strategies for doing so and representative examples include:

  • Planning small-group activities for children with similar skill levels (e.g., Anna Bess, Mario, and Katie will play a word game that requires identification of beginning letter sounds "p", "k", and "g"; Camden, Catherine, Adi, and Holland will use knowledge of beginning letter sounds to match all consonants with corresponding picture cards; Timmy and Noah will continue working on dictating dialogue for play they have been working on all week).
  • Providing options within an activity to accommodate different skill or interest levels (e.g., 3-year-olds have multiple materials for the construction of collages with fall theme; children can cut, tear, use hole punchers, glue sticks, papers of different weights, precut shapes, stamps, etc.; the light table in toddler class has colored straws for three children to sort; water beads in a bowl for four others, and shaving cream inside Zip-Loc bags for two others who are resistant to working with squishy things that are wet).
  • Individualized directed instruction (e.g., working with Blake on scissor cutting).
  • Providing opportunities for independent work (e.g., designating Charlie and Rosie to set up the balance scale, find materials of equivalent weight, and record their results on the observation chart).

12.4 Curriculum and Program Evaluation

Insights gained from the assessment of individual children will tell you a lot about how the curriculum is working. One of the problems, from a developmentally appropriate perspective, with standardized testing in public schools and programs is that they often result in limiting curriculum opportunities in favor of "teaching to the test" (Branscombe, 2003; Gullo, 2006; Lambert, Abbott-Shim, & Sibley, 2006). There are however, systems for the global assessment of an early childhood curriculum that are consistent with developmentally appropriate principles. These processes include licensing and regulatory structures, program accreditation, and environmental assessments.

Licensing and Regulatory Structures

Each state has child-care licensing regulations that describe what is minimally acceptable in a curriculum (Lambert, Abbott-Shim, & Sibley, 2006). Typically regulations require that teachers provide a safe and healthy environment, planned daily program of developmentally appropriate activities, balance of indoor and outdoor activities, quiet and active times, and limited use of media such as TV and computers.

Increasingly, states are engaging in the national Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) initiative, which is supported with resources provided by various organizations, including NAEYC (2005). NAEYC reports in their QRIS Toolkit, published in 2010, that more than twenty-one states had established QRIS systems with at least twenty-two more in the process of doing so. As part of a comprehensive approach to providing standards, accountability, outreach, financial incentives, and consumer education, states establish requirements for curricula that are much more specific than those found in older versions of child-care regulations.

While each state is free to develop its own vision of assessment or measurement, options presently include program standards, state-level approval of specific curriculum models (see the feature box in Chapter 2), use of environmental rating scales, and multitiered rating systems, which reward programs that complete an accreditation process. If you work in a state that currently has or is developing a QRIS, you will have access to specific tools you can use to monitor and continue to improve the quality of your curriculum.

Early Education Program Standards

Program standards are different from early learning standards in that they apply to all dimensions of the program, including curriculum, whereas early learning standards are written as expectations for individual children. States that provide program standards will include a set of global indicators for curriculum. For example, the Massachusetts Standards for 3- and 4-Year-Old Programs include a section on curriculum with multiple criteria for each of the following:

A women observes a facility and makes notes.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

State regulations for child-care programs always include regular facility inspections to ensure that the children's environment is safe and healthy and that it has a developmentally appropriate curriculum.
  • Opportunities for curriculum planning
  • Curriculum-based on information about children
  • Educational goals that promote concrete learning
  • Adapting goals to meet individual needs
  • Adapting curriculum based on the assessment of individual children
  • Flexible structure
  • Flexible and predictable daily routines
  • Smooth, unregimented transitions between activities
  • Quiet activities
  • Opportunities to develop self-help skills
  • Parental input about curriculum (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2003, pp. 912)

Accreditation

The NAEYC Academy was established in 1985 to provide the first comprehensive voluntary accreditation process, which was most recently revised in 2005. Subsequently, accreditation processes have been developed by other organizations including the National Early Childhood Program Accreditation and the National Accreditation Commission for Early Care and Education Programs.

Accreditation is a fee-based multistage long-term process focused on the self-study of program and teacher practices. The program personnel document and report staff qualifications and produce evidence about how their curriculum, teaching practices, and other dimensions such as relationships with families meet the accreditation standards. A trained professional visits the site to verify the accuracy of the program report. Typically teachers are most involved in documenting how they meet criteria related to curriculum, assessment, environments, and working with families.

Accreditation is designed to promote ongoing improvement through a multiyear renewal cycle. Standards are research-based. They are written so that the process of documenting how all parts of the program meet each standard provides information and opportunities for teachers to closely examine and strengthen their curriculum and practices. Figure 12.2 provides an example of how teachers of three different age groups answered the same sample NAEYC accreditation criteria.

Figure 12.2: Examples from an NAEYC Accreditation Folio
The NAEYC Standard 2 Curriculum includes many criteria that the teacher documents by providing a narrative explanation and supporting evidence in the form of images or artifacts.

Environmental Rating Scales

Prior to the launch of the 1985 NAEYC accreditation process, Thelma Harms and Richard Clifford of the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute developed the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS). This was expanded to a series of Environment Rating Scales (ERSs) that have since been revised. They include the ECERS-R (Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2005) and versions for infants and toddlers (Harms, Cryer, & Clifford, 2006), family child care (Harms, Cryer, & Clifford, 2007), and school-aged children (Harms, Jacobs, & White, 1995). Each scale has between thirty-eight and forty-nine items arranged in subscales that address different parts of the environment, including curriculum.

One of the distinguishing features of the ERS is that each criterion is scored on a rating scale of 1 to 7, ranging from inadequate (1), minimal (3), and good (5) to excellent (7). Narrative descriptions for each of the scoring indicators are unique to the item. The language is so precise that it provides both self-correcting information and a high level of interrater reliability, ensuring that observational ratings will be consistent even when different people conduct the assessment (Lambert, Abbot-Shim, & Sibley, 2006). For example, the "good" statement for greeting in the ECERS-R reads, "Each child is greeted individually (e.g., staff say 'hello' and use child's name; use child's primary language spoken at home to say 'hello')" (Harms, Clifford & Cryer, 2005, p. 22). The ERS is available in Spanish and widely used across the United States as a relatively quick and reliable means for gaining a measure of quality and information that can be used for improvement.

The format of the ERS is so popular and user-friendly that other educators have developed similar scales to assess different age groups or particular aspects of the environment or curriculum. These include the Assessment of Practices in Early Elementary Classrooms (APEEC) by Hemmeter, Maxwell, Ault, and Schuster (2001), the Rating Observation Scale for Inspiring Environments (Deviney, Duncan, Harris, Rody, & Rosenberry, 2010), and POEMS: Preschool Outdoor Environment Measurement Scale (Hestenes, DeBord, Moore, Cosco, & McGinnis, 2005).

12.5 Technology in the Curriculum

Technology today represents societal transition to an age driven by access to information and products, social networking, and an increasing array of devices, integrated systems, and platforms for delivery of technological processes and activities. Your ability to interact with this text in Ebook format is evidence of this phenomenon.

The term technology is also relative. For example, when the forerunners of today's copy machines, the mimeograph and ditto, were first introduced and used in schools in the mid-twentieth century, the ability to easily reproduce printed copy in classrooms produced dramatic changes. These machines enabled teachers to create a worksheet or handout on a single stencil or ditto-master that could then be duplicated via an inked drum to print multiple copies; thus the generic term dittos. Teachers prior to that time laboriously printed spelling words, math problems, and other seat work each day on the blackboard for children to copy by hand on their own papers.

With this one technological advance, curriculum materials changed significantly to include pre-printed masters for teachers to copy and distribute. Thus teacher time once spent creating board work became available for other activities, and teachers could arrange desks (which previously had to be aligned so that all desks faced the board) and other classroom furniture in different ways. Classrooms now feature wipe-off whiteboards and, increasingly, electronic smart boards not as the central means for instruction but one of many kinds of resources for teaching.

As yet we have no way of knowing the full impact of modern technologies on the future of education and specifically early childhood education, curriculum, and assessment practices. But we do know that technology is the focus of a great deal of research and dialogue about its potential effects and challenges.

Using Technology with Children

In 2012 NAEYC and the Fred Rogers Center (FRC) for Early Learning and Children's Media at Saint Vincent College released a revised position statement on using technology with young children reflecting the views, research, and experiences of experts and early childhood practitioners. While, before the advent of interactive technologies, the NAEYC has always promoted a developmentally appropriate stance, there were concerns among many early childhood educators who felt pressured to use software-based programs with young children. These programs, the educators pointed out, promoted rote learning and passive skill/drill activity in place of the active, play-based concrete experiences supported in developmental research.

Young girl plays with a tablet device.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

The use of emerging technologies by young children can be developmentally appropriate.

The potential applications of current technologies greatly expand the options teachers have to enhance rather than replace elements of the curriculum (Bers & Horn, 2010; Linder, 2012; McManis & Gunnewig, 2012; Parnell & Bartlett, 2012; Shifflet, Toledo, & Mattoon, 2012; U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology, 2017). A divide continues to exist between children who grow up as digital nativesthat is, those who have had ready access to and experience with technologies (Rosen, 2006; Yelland, 2010)and those with limited or no access to twenty-first-century technology. Classrooms are a logical context for providing equitable access and helping all children develop the technological proficiencies they will need to be successful in American society today (Wang, 2010; U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology, 2017). Further, the challenge of promoting digital literacy (National Institute for Literacy, 2008) is complicated when early childhood educators also face issues or a lack of resources affecting their access to technology.

Developmentally appropriate technology use (DATU) involves "the use of tools and strategies in ways that capitalize on children's natural desire to actively, collaboratively construct knowledge, respecting the unique challenges presented by children's levels of development across all developmental domains" (Rosen & Jaruszewicz, 2009, p. 164). The new position statement emphasizes the important role of adults in making appropriate decisions; it also places stress on active rather than passive involvement and on teacher education and professional development. Planning activities with technology must also be adapted to support children with linguistic challenges and special needs (Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, 2016; NAEYC/FRC, 2012; Simon & Nemeth, 2012). An ethical framework that protects children from potential exposure to online abuse (Beach, 2010; Croll & Kunze, 2010) should also be kept in mind.

The NAEYC/FRC (2012) and others recommend that teachers and caregivers follow the American Academy of Pediatrics 2010 guidelines, which prohibit the use of passive devices for children younger than age 2; they also recommend that early childhood educators consider the amount of screen time at school or care in the context of additional time spent with television or computers elsewhere, particularly at home (Hill, n.d.; Simon & Nemeth, 2012). In addition to the assessment of learning in other domains, teachers should also document children's emerging digital competencies (Rosen & Jaruszewicz, 2009).

Technology for Teachers

The range of technology tools that teachers can use to support, enhance, and document the curriculum and learning is increasingly broad, although they may continue to use older technologies as well. For instance, a teacher may be reluctant to give up an overhead projector because she uses it to enlarge images on the wall for tracing, or children make extensive use of it for pantomime, shadow pictures, and as a makeshift light table. Similarly, while an MP3 player is readily available, she might continue to provide a pushbutton cassette tape recorder that children can use independently to make audiotapes of themselves reading, which she later uses for assessment purposes.

Since many kinds of computers are no longer restricted to desktops, the increasing array of portable laptops, tablets, iPads, and Ereaders as well as mobile communications devices such as smartphones, offer opportunities to work on computers with children in any location. For example, an iPad can go on a field trip to document or search online for information about fish species seen at the aquarium, or a teacher might use a built-in camera to record interviews with children about a performance they have attended or send a message from children to families from an off-site location.

An increasing number of schools and classrooms have installed interactive whiteboards that provide computer capability for software and online access in a vertical format for both teachers and children to use. Digital cameras and uploaded software make it possible to document daily activities, videotape children for assessment purposes, translate images into products such as books or digital stories, and share images with families. Scanners, digital copiers, online access, and electronic communications make it possible to streamline data management, lesson or activity planning, and share information with families and others.

As the ditto and mimeograph machines freed teachers from the front of the room and the chalkboard, modern technology offers teachers the opportunity to reenvision their programs as schools without walls.

12.6 Growing as a Curriculum Decision Maker

This text has focused on five elements key to developing an integrated teaching philosophy:

  1. The purpose of early childhood education
  2. How young children learn
  3. The role of those who participate in the education of young children
  4. The characteristics and content of curriculum
  5. How to implement curriculum effectively

We have also emphasized the importance of continual intentional reflection about these factors. You know that your work will be shaped and influenced by the context in which you teach or care for children, the needs and interests of your children and families, and evolving public policy and sociocultural factors. The classroom or care setting is not just a place where children will develop and learn: it's also a laboratory for your continued learning and development. Several ideas can guide you in this journey:

More From the Field

Administrator Douglas Regin describes what a comprehensive professional development system includes.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Why is it so important for you to commit to life-long learning? Based on your experiences so far, what might your priorities be for professional development?
  • The way you approach teaching emerges from the way you experienced learning but is not bound by it.
  • Others have informed early childhood education in the past, but you have a role in conceptualizing the curriculum of the future.
  • Reflecting on your experiences should provoke more questions than answers.
  • Planning for curriculum should be informed by insights about how the curriculum is experienced by children.
  • Continual examination of your assumptions about learners, your role, and curriculum is at the core of intentional reflection about your teaching.

Finally, your influence on the children, families, and colleagues you work with will extend beyond any curriculum you develop or implement. Teaching is unique among the professions; you will remember children long after they have left your classroom or care and they will remember you as someone who has played an important role in their lives. You will learn as much from them as they do from you. Teaching gives those of us who choose it the opportunity for a professional life that is both challenging and fulfilling. Teachers are patient; they realize that the return on their efforts is often not realized for years or decades. As Rachel Carson stated in The Sense of Wonder (1965), the last book she wrote:

If I had influence with the good fairy, who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from sources of our strength. If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.

Chapter Summary

  • A developmentally appropriate approach to assessment is comprehensive, systematic, and focused on learning and development.
  • Objectivity is critically important to ensure assessment information is reliable and accurate.
  • Research has documented the limitations of using standardized testing with young children, although norm-referenced measures can be useful sources of information when combined with other more authentic measures and strategies.
  • Teachers rely on many tools, such as anecdotal and running records, checklists, skills assessments, and tallies to record their observations of children in the classroom or care setting.
  • Teachers use data from observational tools, interviews with children, and analysis of artifacts to construct a picture of what each individual child knows and can do and communicate effectively with families about their strengths and needs.
  • Teachers play an important role in the identification, referral, and support of children with special needs and their families, and they use assessment information to adapt the curriculum for individual children.
  • Global measures such as state program standards, accreditation processes, and environmental rating scales are increasingly being applied in early childhood across the United States to assess program quality.
  • Curriculum evaluation processes offer a valuable professional development opportunity for teachers to document and strengthen their practices.
  • An important consideration for teachers as they continue to assess and reflect on their practices is access to and the role of technology in the curriculum of the future.
  • Technologies can be used in developmentally appropriate ways to expand learning opportunities for young children and teachers.
  • Ongoing reflection about the purpose of early childhood education, how children learn, the roles of teachers and families, curriculum content, and strategies provides a cohesive framework for the continued development of a teaching philosophy.
Discussion Questions
  1. You know that early childhood educators are wary of using standardized tests with young children; how can early childhood teachers further the conversation about this issue?
  2. Imagine you have strong assessment evidence that one of your students needs further evaluation for autism spectrum. You are pretty sure the family will be resistant to the idea of referral. What kind of approach would you take to make sure the child gets appropriate supports?
  3. Now that we are at the end of this book, how have your ideas about your role as an early childhood educator changed or grown over time?
Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Achievement test

Norm-referenced test that measures what a person knows

Accreditation

Process involving self-study and documentation about how a program meets comprehensive quality standards

Alternative assessment

Assessments that occur in natural settings with tools that are not norm-referenced

Authentic assessment

Assessments that occur in natural settings with tools that are not norm-referenced

Coding

Using a notation system to organize assessment artifacts

Criterion referencing

Measuring a child's performance against specific outcomes or objectives rather than comparison to a larger population of children

DATU

Acronym for developmentally appropriate technology use, an extension of the principles of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) to using technologies with young children

Digital literacy

Development of skills, paralleling those of early literacy, that demonstrate awareness of communication with digital devices

Digital natives

Term that refers to children who grow up with access to technologies

Environmental rating scale

An assessment that uses a sliding numerical scale to denote performance or achievement

Formal assessment

A test that expresses performance in terms of norm-referenced scores and administration according to a strict, uniform protocol

Formative assessment

Ongoing evaluation

Informal assessment

Use of authentic or alternative tools and strategies

Intelligence deviation

Expressing an intelligence test score in comparison with others who took the same test

Intelligence quotient

Expressing an intelligence test score in terms of mental age compared with chronological age

Intelligence test

A standardized measure that assesses learning capacity and mental ability

Interrater reliability

The probability that consistent results will be achieved regardless of who conducts an environmental assessment

Learning artifacts

Samples of actual work produced by children

Norm-referenced

Referring to a test designed to report individual scores in comparison with a larger population selected to be representative of all those who will take the test

Objectivity

Recording, reporting, or assessing without bias

Observation

Assessment data obtained through close attention to children as they work and play

Portfolio

A collection of artifacts and assessment results intended to provide evaluation based on multiple sources of data

Program standards

A set of criteria intended for the comprehensive evaluation of all elements of a program, including curriculum

Rubric

A scoring tool that includes criteria based on observable behaviors

Screen

A standardized measure that provides evidence of possible deviations from normal development or behavior

Skills assessment

Direct observation of specific skills during either normal activity or constructed situations

Standardized tests

Norm-referenced assessments/tests

Summative assessment

An evaluation that provides a report of cumulative achievement for a particular period of time, such as the end of a teaching unit or a school year

Work sampling

The process of collecting individual learning artifacts over time

References

Anderson, J., Moffatt, L., & Shapiro, J. (2006). Reconceptualizing language education in early childhood: Socio-cultural perspectives. B. S. Saracho (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 135152). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Beach, R. (2010). Developing a cybersafety program for early childhood education: A New Zealand case study. I. B. Berson (Ed.), High tech tots: Childhood in a digital world (pp. 7192). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Beaty, J. (2009). Observing development of the young child (7th ed). Columbus: Merrill.

Bers, M. U., & Horn, M. S. (2010). Tangible programming in early childhood: Revisiting developmental assumptions through new technologies. In I. R. Berson & M. J. Berson (Eds.), High-tech tots: Childhood in a digital world (pp. 4970). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. J. (2007). Tools of the mind: The Vygotskian approach to early childhood education (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Branscombe, N. A., Castle, K., Dorsey, A. G., Surbeck, E., & Taylor, J. B. (2003). Early childhood curriculum: A constructivist perspective. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Carson, R. (1965). The sense of wonder. New York: Harper & Row.

Connecticut Office of Early Childhood. (2016). Supporting all children using the Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards: Meeting the needs of diverse learners [PDF file]. Retrieved from http://www.ct.gov/oec/lib/oec/DiverseLearnersApril_26_2016_Finalw.pdf

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8 (3rd ed.), Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Croll, J., & Kunze, K. (2010). Youth protection online: Joint efforts are needed. I. B. Berson (Ed.), High tech tots: Childhood in a digital world (pp. 153184). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Curriculum Associates. (2011). Brigance early childhood screens. New Jersey: Curriculum Associates.

Denver Developmental Materials, Inc. (2012). Denver II [online version]. Denver Developmental Materials, Inc. Retrieved from: http://denverii.com/denverii/index.php?route=common/home

Deviney, J., Duncan, S., Harris, S., Rody, M. A., & Rosenberry, L. (2010). Rating observation scale for inspiring environments. Silver Spring, MD: Gryphon House.

Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children. (2007). Promoting positive outcomes for children with disabilities: Recommendations for curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation. Missoula, MT: Division for Early Childhood.

Flagler, S. (1996). Multidimensional assessment of young children through play. Lewisville, NC: Kaplan Press.

Gullo, D. (2006). Alternative means of assessing children's learning in early childhood classrooms. B. S. Saracho (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 443 455). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. (2006). Infant toddler environment rating scale, revised edition, updated (ITERS-R). New York: Teachers College Press.

Harms, T., Clifford, R. M., & Cryer, D. (2005). Early childhood environment rating scale, revised edition, updated (ECERS-R). New York: Teachers College Press.

Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. M. (2007). Family child care environment rating scale, revised edition (FCCERS-R). New York: Teachers College Press.

Harms, T., Jacobs, E. V., & White, D. R. (1995). School-age care environment rating scale (SACERS). New York: Teachers College Press.

Hemmeter, M. L., Maxwell, K. L., Ault, M. J., & Schuster, J. W. (2001). Assessment of practices in early elementary classrooms (APEEC). New York: Teachers College Press.

Hestenes, L., DeBord, K., Moore, R., Cosco, N., & McGinnis, J. (2005). Preschool outdoor environment measurement scale (POEMS). Winston Salem, NC: Kaplan Company.

Hill, D. (n.d.). Mindful technology use DOs for parents [Blog post]. Media Cricket. Retrieved from https://keepingtechincheck.com/mindful-technology-use-dos-for-parents/

Jablon, J. R., Dombro, A. L., & Dichtelmiller, M. L. (2007). The power of observation for birth through eight (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Lambert, R., Abbott-Shim, M., & Sibley, A. (2006). Evaluating the quality of early childhood educational settings. B. S. Saracho (Ed.), Review of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 457475). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Levine, L. E., & Munsch, J. (2011). Child development: An active learning approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Linder, S. (2012). Interactive whiteboards in early childhood mathematics. Young Children, 67(3), 26 35.

Massachusetts Department of Education Early Childhood Advisory Council. (2003). Early childhood program standards for three and four year olds. Malden, MA: Massachusetts Department of Education. Retrieved from Massachusetts Department of Education.

McManis, L. D., & Gunnewig, S. B. (2012). Finding the education in educational technology with young learners. Young Children, 67(3), 1424.

Meisels, S. J., Marsden, D. B., Jablon, J. R., Dorfman, A. B., & Dichtelmiller, M. K. (2012). The work sampling system. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2005). Accreditation standard 4. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2010). QRIS toolkit. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media at Saint Vincent College. (2012). Technology and interactive media as tools in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAEYC/NAECS/SDE). (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Institute for Literacy. (2008). Developing early literacy: report of the national early literacy panel. A scientific synthesis of early literacy development and implications for intervention. Louisville, KY: National Center for Family Literacy.

Parnell, W., & Bartlett, J. (2012). iDocument: how smartphones and tablets are changing documentation in preschool and primary classrooms. Young Children, 67(3), 5058.

Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company. (2012). Ages and stages questionnaire 3. Brookes Publishing.

Rosen, D. (2006). Emerging research agenda for technology and young children. C. Crawford et al. (Eds.). Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2006 (pp. 42874291). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.

Rosen, D. & Jaruszewicz, C. (2009). Developmentally appropriate technology use and early childhood teacher education. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 30(2), 162171.

Shifflet, R., Toledo, C., & Mattoon, C. (2012). Touch tablet surprises: A preschool teacher's story. Young Children, 67(3), 3641.

Siegler, R. S. (1992). The other Alfred Binet. Developmental Psychology, 28, 179190.

Simon, F., & Nemeth, K. (2012). Digital decisions: Choosing the right technology tools for early childhood education. Lewisville, NC: Gryphon House.

U.S. Department of Education. (2012). Americans with Disabilities Act. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/hq9805.html.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. (2017, January). Reimagining the role of technology in education: 2017 National Education Technology Plan update [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://tech.ed.gov/files/2017/01/NETP17.pdf

Wang, X. C., Berson, I. R., Jaruszewicz, C., Hartle, L., & Rosen, D. (2010). Young children's technology experiences in multiple contexts: Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory reconsidered. I. B. Berson (Ed.), High tech tots: Childhood in a digital world (pp. 2347). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Wortham, S. (2011). Assessment in early childhood education (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson.

Yelland, N. (2010). New technologies, playful experiences, and multimodal learning. I. B. Berson (Ed.), High tech tots: Childhood in a digital world (pp. 522). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

11
Language, Literacy, and Language Arts
Two girls sit side by side on chairs, sharing a book.

Polka Dot / Thinkstock

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Identify important priorities for literacy in the early learning standards.
  • Describe the components of early literacy and how they develop over the early childhood years.
  • Describe important considerations for the literacy environment.
  • Identify and describe strategies and activities teachers use to promote early/emergent literacy.
  • Describe a developmentally appropriate approach to meeting learning standards in the primary grades for language arts.

Introduction

Your children have so much they want to share with you and their friends! They come to school every day eager to talk about their families and things they do outside of school; often their stories are funny, poignant, or thought-provoking. A few days ago Anna Bess told you a story about playing school at home with a teacher impression that was truly hilarious, and you realize that although she resists all activities that focus on writing, she has a gift for impersonation and oral storytelling. Some of your bilingual children get so excited when they are sharing a story they don't even realize that their words are spilling out in a mixture of Spanish and English.

Many of the children in your class do not have access to a lot of books at home, so you spend as much time as possible reading out loud every day. You have a quickly expanding list of favorite stories and a couple of the children in particular are very intrigued with the photographs in nonfiction books in the science and social studies interest areas. The writing center you have tentatively set up is a busy place, especially the write-on slates you made with black chalkboard paint, the white-board easel, and letter stamps used with a washable ink pad. You have made a great start toward encouraging the children's enthusiasm and emerging positive literacy dispositions.

You also want to use the supplemental literacy curriculum wisely to make as much progress as possible toward meeting early learning standards for these children's future success in school. In this chapter, we focus on how caregivers and early childhood teachers can promote language and early literacy and help prepare children for the national core standards in language arts.

From the Field

Meredith Iverson describes the importance and role of children's books as an integrating element in curriculum.

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. In addition to children's books, what other materials do you think are most important to promoting literacy in the classroom?
  2. What criteria would you use to determine quality of children's books?

11.1 Early Learning Standards for Language and Literacy

A teacher reads to a group of young children.

Kablonk / SuperStock

Federal funding supports early literacy in many different programs that promote early intervention and home-school connections.

Early learning standards are framed to support an integrated focus on oral language development and emergent or early literacy, the knowledge, skills, and attitudes young children acquire that lead to conventional reading and writing (Sulzby, 1991; Sulzby & Teale, 1991). This matters because "the ability to communicate with others is one of the most important characteristics human beings possess. It forms the foundation for all social relationships and profoundly affects each person's future success in educational, career, and life endeavors" (South Carolina Good Start Grow Smart Task Force, 2005, p. 42). "Communication allows children to learn about themselves, others, and the world" (Chen & Shire, 2011, p. 21). Literacy experts agree that language and literacy represent a continuous intersecting developmental process (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010; Siefert, 2006).

Research confirms in particular, positive correlations between high quality early literacy experiences and later success in school. (Barnett & Lamy, 2006; Hernandez, 2011) Significant public resources have thus been committed to support early literacy programs, including the Head Start Family Literacy Initiative (1998), Early Head Start Research and Evaluation project (2000), Even Start (2002), and Reading First (2002) (Rueda & Yaden, 2006).

Infants come to child care with language experiences, and young children know a great deal about reading, writing, and communication before they begin elementary school. In fact, the development of early/emergent literacy begins at birth. Later, as children acquire language and awareness of literature and print, they slowly develop the subskills needed for reading and writing (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007) and begin to extract meaning from the symbols that represent print (Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995).

Two babies sit together and interact.

Comstock / Thinkstock

Early/emergent literacy begins in infancy as babies focus their attention on the language of others and begin to use vocalizations and gestures to communicate.

In 2009 the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the International Reading Association (IRA) reemphasized the principles addressed in this chapter, as put forth in their original position statement about literacy (1998), which is meant to be considered by curriculum developers, teachers, and policymakers:

  • Literacy begins in infancy.
  • Children need intentional instruction.
  • Ongoing assessment should guide teacher decision making.
  • There is no one uniform approach that works for all children.
  • Emphasis on the specific skills needed for reading should be provided as children move from preschool into kindergarten and the primary grades.
  • Children who are dual-language learners need a strong foundation in their home language if they are to be most successful. (Neuman, Copple, & Bredekamp, 2000)

Pre-K literacy curricula developers, early learning standards, and teachers usually focus on four major elements of literacy that lead to reading and writing proficiency:

  1. Oral language, acquiring vocabulary and becoming fluent in the conventions of spoken language
  2. Phonemic awareness, hearing and distinguishing the sounds, syllables, and words that make up spoken language
  3. Concepts about print, or understanding how meaning is expressed through the graphic symbols (letters, numbers, punctuation) of language
  4. Emergent writing, using drawing, letter-like forms, and approximated spelling to purposefully convey meaning (Shanahan, 2006)

States with early learning standards for children from birth to age 5 emphasize the importance of language for participating in both the cognitive and affective components of the educational program (Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995; Newman, Copple, & Bredekamp, 2000). Experiences with the various forms of language provide young children with the tools they need to interact with others and to represent their thoughts, feelings, and experiences (Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995).

Early learning standards are also written to identify specific early literacy knowledge and skills young children need to work toward meeting the K12 academic standards for language arts that begin in kindergarten. Sometimes early learning standards reflect the same language, criteria, and benchmarks from kindergarten standards adapted, or "back mapped" for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children to create a common framework and seamless transition.

Table 11.1 displays an example of back mapping from the South Carolina Early Learning Standards. The selection begins with a description of what is expected for kindergarten and then provides adjusted expectations for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children. Note that the only difference in language for 5-year-olds and kindergarteners is the use of or rather than and in the examples of where symbols are used.

Table 11.1: Example of a Back-Mapped Kindergarten Writing Standard
Age Level Standard 1 Standard 2
Kindergarten standard Use symbols (drawings, letters, and words) to create written communications (for example, notes, messages, and lists) to inform a specific audience. Use symbols (drawings, letters, and words) to create narratives (for example, stories and journal entries) about people, places, or things.
5-year-olds Use symbols (drawings, letters, or words) to create written communications (for example, notes, messages, and lists) to inform a specific audience. Use symbols (drawings, letters, or words) to create narratives (for example, stories and journal entries) about people, places, or things.
4-year-olds Combine some letters with pretend writing. Use drawings, letters, or words to create narratives about people and things in their environment.
3-year-olds Pretend writing. Not expected at this level.

11.2 Language and Early Literacy Development

The characteristics and milestones of language acquisition and literacy are predictable because they emerge in stages, like other aspects of cognitive development. Between birth and age 5, young children's language and literacy awareness develops through interactions with others and exploration of their environment (Anderson, Moffatt, & Shapiro, 2006; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hill & Nichols, 2006). As preschoolers experiment with reading and writing and begin to make sense of print, they slowly make the transition to independent reading and writing in the early primary grades (Hill & Nichols, 2006; NAEYC/IRA, 1998; Neuman, Copple, & Bredekamp, 2000).

We know that the best literacy practices for young children are not unilaterally applied or adapted from those we use with older children but reflective of the way individual children play and learn (Elkind, 2012; NAEYC/IRA, 2009; Siefert, 2006). Researchers are just beginning to assess and predict how exploding access to technology and social media will expand our current view of literacy (Brice-Heath, 2012; Hill & Nichols, 2006; van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011). The next sections trace the development of language and early literacy skills.

Learning and Using Language

More From the Field

Kindergarten teacher Meghan Ling explains how she chooses books and literacy activities that are a good match for the developmental level of each child.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Meghan describes strategic grouping of children for paired and small group reading activities. Why does she feel this is such an effective approach?

After many decades of research, theorists continue to debate the balance between humans' innate capacity for language and their dependence on the environment for its development (Genishi & Fassler, 1999; Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010). That is, how much of an understanding and propensity for language are we born with and how much do we only know because of our constant exposure to it? Researchers and educators agree that children acquire language gradually, and interactions between adults and children promote fluency, increasing the potential for academic success (Anderson, Moffatt, & Shapiro, 2006; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Schickedanz, 1999). Children become effective communicators once they have integrated fluent language with an understanding of the social rules that apply (Genishi & Fassler, 1999).

Expressive language is the means by which we communicate to others through speaking and writing, and receptive language is how we understand others via listening and reading. Language has three components: meaning (semantics), structure (syntax), and functions (pragmatics) (Charlesworth, 2008; Genishi & Fassler, 1999; Kagan, Moore & Bredekamp, 1995). As children develop language, they learn to speak and listen, acquire vocabulary, and begin to understand the ways in which language is used.

The Development of Speech

Young infants (0 to 6 months) communicate with crying, gestures, cooing, and random vocalizations. Adult caregivers begin to notice patterns and differentiation between cries, smiling at familiar adults, and turning of the head to locate the source of a sound. At some time after 6 months, babbling becomes more systematic and repetitive (e.g., "ba, ba, ba, ba") as children move toward framing their first true words at about 1 year of age.

Toddlers often use holophrases, representing an entire thought in one word; saying, for instance, "Milk?" to mean, "May I please have some milk?" or "Did someone take my milk?" Most children have a vocabulary of fifty to a hundred words by the age of 18 months and acquire new words at an increasing pace, either gradually or in vocabulary bursts as they get older (Levine & Munsch, 2011).

By age 2, children use two- to three-word sentences (telegraphic speech) and begin to apply grammatical principles, although they make frequent errors, such as "Me went" (instead of "I went") or "Go bye-bye daddy" (instead of "Daddy went bye-bye"). By age 3, children begin to use tense correctly; they also ask questions, follow two-step directions, incorporate multiple parts of speech, and recognize rhyming words.

Four-year-olds have acquired most of the conventions of speech but are still refining articulation of some of the more difficult sounds and mixing up tenses or agreement of nouns and verbs. The school-age child has a typical speaking vocabulary of approximately 2,000 words but understands almost ten times that number (Catron & Allen, 2003; Charlesworth, 2008; Cook & Cook, 2005; Levine & Munsch, 2011)!

As preschoolers begin to use language, they apply constraints, or prior knowledge and cues from the physical and social environments, to make sense of words and what is heard (Cook & Cook, 2005; Levine & Munsch, 2011). Although preschoolers use speech to communicate with others, it is also not unusual for young children to engage in "self-talk" or private speech, and you may hear a child, for example, talking himself through the process of unpacking his lunchbox or congratulating himself for zipping up his jacket unassisted (Charlesworth, 2008; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Levine & Munsch, 2011).

Learning to Listen

Like producing speech, listening is also a complicated and developmental process affected by external factors such as ambient room noise, acoustics, and competing or distracting voices and activities. While the act of speaking involves coordination of brain and muscles of the lips, jaw, and tongue, listening requires activation of several different internal processes (Jalongo, 2010).

Group of young students listening to their teacher read.

Monkey Business / Thinkstock

Learning to listen attentively is a skill acquired through practice and requires the coordination of multiple mental processes, including the ability to screen out distractions and focus selectively.

Infants exhibit auditory awareness, with responses such as head turning or startling to acknowledge receipt of auditory signals by the brain. They quickly begin to develop auditory discrimination, or the ability to differentiate between sounds, particularly repeated familiar noises or voices. By 12 months, infants and young toddlers display auditory recognition, the ability to link a sound to its source, such as hearing mother's footsteps approaching and squealing, "mama!" In order to do so, they must mentally tap into memory and make connections or associations with what they already know, make sense of what was heard, and decide whether or how to respond.

As children progress through the preschool years, they must also learn to attend, or know when to "turn on the listening switch." That is, they must learn to focus their attention not only at times they choose but also when they are expected to do so by others. Sometimes teachers confuse a child's ability to listen with the concept of attention span, a skill that involves listening but is affected by many other factors across the developmental domains.

Achieving Milestones

Like other dimensions of child development, there is quite a range for attaining particular milestones. Parents may worry when they compare their child's speech with that of other children in group care or preschool; usually we can reassure them that each child has his or her own developmental timetable and all will be well eventually.

There are red flags, however, that definitely signal the need for focused observation and perhaps professional attention. Ear infections or high fevers in infancy can cause hearing loss, which affects onset of speech to varying degrees. Auditory processing disorders (APD) and global developmental delays, both of which are increasingly seen, also sometimes result in delayed or absent speech. APD affects about 5 percent of children, who may hear normally but who don't recognize subtle differences in sounds owing to the brain's failure to process signals correctly (Bellis, 2012; Morlet, 2014).

A global delay is suspected when a child seems delayed in two or more developmental areas. Therefore, if by the age of 2 any of the following are observed, parents should be encouraged to seek a physical evaluation for possible further referral:

  • There is a complete absence of speech.
  • The child communicates only with crying or gestures.
  • The child doesn't turn his or her head or look for the source of sounds.
  • The child doesn't respond to sounds (such as hands clapping) made out of his or her line of sight.
  • The child can't be understood by anyone outside of the family.
  • The child doesn't recognize common words.
  • The child can't follow a two-step direction.
  • The child can't name common objects. (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010; Levine & Munsch, 2011)

Dual-Language Learners

Young children who speak a language other than English at home or who are learning two or more languages simultaneously are increasingly referred to as dual language learners (Office of Head Start, 2008), or DLLs. Research indicates that when the home language is supported and preserved as the child learns a second language, being bilingual has long-term cognitive benefits and that bilingual children may outperform monolingual children academically in the long term (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hammer et al., 2014; Kagan, Moore, & Bredekamp, 1995; Rueda & Yaden, 2006; Youngquist & Martinez-Griego, 2009).

Especially in a school with teachers who are primarily or exclusively English speakers, bilingual or multilingual children and families can experience and pose challenges, but working together also provides opportunities for richer cultural and social communities and curricula (Chen & Shire, 2011; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Macrina, Hoover, & Becker, 2009; Patè, 2009; Youngquist & Martinez-Griego, 2009).

Stages of Second Language Acquisition

DLLs acquire a second language in much the same way as they learned their first. Receptive language develops first as the child listens and observes; during this stage, it is more important for the child to understand what is being communicated than how it is done (Patè, 2009). Thus a teacher who does not speak the child's home language may use body language, signing, pictures, facial expressions, or any other strategies that effectively help the child interpret meaning and communicate.

When a child begins to comprehend language but is not yet able to express her thoughts, a "silent period" may follow, lasting for several months before she begins to make tentative attempts to use the new language. Gradually, as in first-language acquisition, language production begins to emerge as the child nods or gestures to indicate understanding and uses single-word responses such as yes or no or holophrastic speech ("Me play?"). The complexity of language use now increases to echoing the words of others, the use of short phrases or sentences, the acquisition of a larger vocabulary, and finally the use of past, present, and future tenses and grammar (Patè, 2009; van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011).

Strategies to Support Dual-Language Learners

The acquisition of a bilingual staff, to the extent possible, is encouraged to support the second-language learning of DLLS (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007). Teachers who speak the languages of DLL children can then read to them, initiate conversations, ask questions, and encourage the use of the home language in school or care (Macrina, Hoover, & Becker, 2009). When several DLL children speak the same home language, they should be encouraged to use it with each other during play and other interactions.

Young Hispanic girl holds up a sign that says "me gusta escuela."

Creatas / Thinkstock

Developmentally appropriate classrooms and child-care settings celebrate and support linguistic diversity.

Teachers can also communicate with families in their home language and encourage them to continue to support and use their language at home. Bilingual teachers may choose to use both languages simultaneously, devote periods of the day to each language, or repeat activities with small groups of children in each language. For instance, a teacher might conduct a greeting circle conversation about the weather and record children's words in both English and Spanish, saying "What's the weather like today?" "Còmo està el tiempo hoy?" (Macrina, Hoover, & Becker, 2009). Or the teacher might read and discuss a story in English and then repeat later in the students' home language.

Some classrooms may have multiple languages represented, or there may be no adult who speaks a child's home language. In these instances, teachers can still use many strategies appropriate for any classroom with DLL children to show support for the home language, including:

  • Honoring the home languages of children in the classroom by representing linguistic traditions in literature, artwork displays, artifacts, dramatic play props, music, and foods.
  • Using many visual cuespictures, props, and gestures.
  • Speaking to children even if they don't respond but not ignoring them.
  • Providing many ways for children to express themselves nonverbally with art, music, and so forth.
  • Learning the child's name and a few basic words in the home language.
  • Speaking slowly and using the same phrases consistently, such as "let's read a story" instead of sometimes saying, "It's time to read" or "Come over here and I'll read to you."
  • Using predictable books with repetitive text and simple words to promote familiarity with words and phrases and make it easier for DLL children to participate.
  • Encouraging family visits to school.
  • Making picture/word labels for high-frequency words.
  • Making a "survival chart" or a series of picture cards that include the child's photograph, expressions (happy/sad/angry faces), symbols or pictures for learning/activity centers and the rest room, and materials that children can use to put together a "rebus" (thoughts expressed as a series of pictures) or sentences to assist in communicating their wants or needs. (Catron & Allen, 2003; Chen & Shire, 2011; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Macrina, Hoover, & Becker, 2009)
African American Vernacular English (AAVE)

African American children who speak Black English, or African American Vernacular English (AAVE), at home have been subject in the past to both incorrect and harmful assumptions about their linguistic knowledge (Charlesworth, 2008; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007). Although dialect is technically a neutral term in the sense that everyone has one (Genishi & Fassler, 1999), the sophisticated semantics and grammatical structure of Black English as a dialect differ from standard English to such a degree that some linguists consider it a language in its own right (Fasold, 1999; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Orr, 2000).

Others point out that at the very least, children who use AAVE must engage in code switching back and forth between home and school language in much the same way as children do who speak Spanish, Mandarin, or any other language at home (Bedore, Pena, Garcia, & Cortez, 2005; Wheeler, Cartwright, & Swords, 2012). Consequently, standardized tests and other assessment measures may not reflect what diverse speakers know about language and vocabulary or concepts in other content areas when facility in standard English is a prerequisite (Bedore, Pena, Garcia & Cortez, 2005; Wheeler, Cartwright, & Swords, 2012).

Teachers need to support both the home and emerging standard English language development of all children who speak dialects or languages that differ from the form of English spoken at school (Catron & Allen, 2003; Charlesworth, 2008; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Souto-Manning, 2009).

Stop and Reflect

What challenges or advantages might bilingual teachers or those who grew up speaking AAVE or another native dialect bring to the classroom?

Phonological Awareness and Concepts about Print

As children's language develops, our attention as early educators also focuses on helping them begin to develop and refine auditory and visual discrimination skills that build the competencies they need for reading and writing. Many of the literacy materials you use and the activities you do to promote early literacy help children learn English in its spoken and printed forms.

A major debate over the past three decades about how to teach reading and writing centers on the differences between a systematic phonics (word study) and whole-language approach. The phonics approach focuses on identification of letter-sound relationships to construct understanding of whole words and text in a bottom-up process (Gestwicki, 2011; Levine & Munsch, 2011). A phonics approach often uses books or readers written with controlled vocabulary specifically designed for sequential learning. The whole-language approach is based on an assumption that learning words as whole units promotes comprehension through internalization of language and print. A whole-language approach focuses on using authentic texts and high-quality children's literature.

The considerable body of research on this debate has produced a tendency today toward a balanced approach, recognizing the need for both (Cecil, Baker, & Lozano, 2017; Charlesworth, 2008; Gambrell & Mazzoni, 1999; Morrow & Gambrell, 2011; Pressley, 2006). In a balanced approach, teachers use both explicit instruction in word study and authentic texts. They engage children in guided reading and writing balanced with independent work.

More From the Field

Preschool teacher Tara Nelson discusses the importance of early literacy experiences. Teachers can use these experiences to egage children in reading, language, and communication.

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. How does Tara help her students develop phonemic awareness?
  2. What ideas might you have to incorporate literacy activities in your future role?

Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness includes all the skills children acquire and apply to make abstract connections between the sounds of language (phonemes) and their graphic symbols (graphemes) (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010; University of Oregon, 2012). The twenty-six letters of the English alphabet represent more than forty individual phonemes, and these sounds are spelled in approximately 250 different ways (University of Oregon, 2012). Children's level of phonological awareness is an important indicator of later reading success (Gambrell & Mazzoni, 1999; Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010; Levine & Munsch, 2011; van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011) and includes:

  • Phonemic awarenesshearing the sounds in spoken words and being able to manipulate them in various ways
  • Alphabetical knowledgeknowing the names, shapes, and sounds of letters and being able to write them

Children's acquisition of phonological awareness and alphabetical knowledge proceeds in much the same concrete-to-abstract manner as their developing number sense (Chapter 10). In other words, children can recite (learn by rote) the letters of the alphabet or memorize words by sight without knowing what sound each letter represents. They might also be able to match sounds without associating them with a particular letter or group of letters. Eventually they must be able to hear sounds, associate them with a letter or combination of letters, and be able to identify and write the corresponding letters.

As we do many activities with children that encourage them to listen to the sounds in words, they acquire the ability to recognize, identify, and reproduce:

  • Initial sounds (usually consonants first)
  • Ending sounds
  • Blended consonant sounds
  • Vowel and vowel combination sounds
  • Rhyming words
  • Segments in words

As they attain alphabetical awareness, children are able to:

  • Recognize that letters have different shapes
  • Identify and name letters
  • Associate each letter with its sound or sounds
  • Write letters correctly

Children eventually apply phonological awareness concepts and skills to decoding, the essential process of recognizing and converting graphemes to phonemes and writing, the reverse process of representing sounds as print or text. Some experts question whether phonemic awareness is a skill needed for literacy or a phenomenon that emerges as a result of literacy experiences (Anderson, Moffatt, & Shapiro, 2006).

Boy sits and looks at an open book.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

To decode and encode text, beginning readers must coordinate auditory and visual discrimination skills that don't fully emerge until about the age of 6½ years.

While we place great emphasis on building phonological awareness in preschool, children are generally not ready for phonics instruction until kindergarten and the primary grades. Although children often do memorize words by sight, especially in favorite books that are read to them over and over, they do not understand the concept of letters as units until they are about 5 or 6 years old (Elkind, 2012; Siefert, 2006).

If a child doesn't hear or recognize that dog and dig start and end with the same sound or can't blend the sounds for d . . . o . . . g, it will be nearly impossible to either read or write dog and connect the word with its associated meaning (University of Oregon, 2012). For this reason, commercial programs for infants and toddlers that rely exclusively on the rote memorization of words by sight are not effective. In fact, they may be detrimental in that they can produce a learning style that interferes with the eventual motivation for word study and reading comprehension that most children eventually need (Elkind, 2012).

Concepts about Print

As described above, alphabetical knowledge and phonological awareness are foundational to conventional writing and reading, but children begin to engage with print and text long before those concepts are fully acquired. As adults read to them and they explore books independently, some of the things children do to demonstrate increasing awareness of print/text include:

  • Pointing to pictures
  • Turning the pages of a book
  • Predicting what word will come next in a familiar story
  • Retelling stories they hear over and over again as if they were reading
  • Recognizing high-frequency words by sight
  • Attempting to read print (Adapted from Sulzby, 1985)

Even as toddlers, young children begin to recognize print in the environment, such as the logo of a favorite fast-food restaurant or grocery store. They pretend to write and demonstrate knowledge about the functions of print when scribbling on a birthday card or writing prescriptions in the doctor's office set up in the dramatic play center.

Stages of Writing

Children's interest in writing increases as they begin to understand that writing gives them tools to enable them to express their individuality, knowledge, and interests (Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007). They recognize early on, however, the difficulties inherent in learning to write, and they need a great deal of support to develop confidence in themselves and their identities as writers and authors (Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007).

Writing emerges in stages but in a somewhat nonlinear process in that children move back and forth between less and more mature writing on a general trajectory forward (Mayer, 2007). For instance, sometimes a child may be very interested in learning and writing new words in order to write a story about a frog noticed in a nearby pond while also preferring to use words he already knows to quickly make a sign in the dramatic play center.

Writing is a social process; children learn from their peers, work collaboratively with other children and adults to coconstruct writing products, and share their work with an audience (Bodrova & Leong, 2006; Mayer, 2007). Awareness of writing as a personalized activity adds to a child's sense of self (Baghban, 2007), and teachers need to remember that for a long time children understand writing and their identities as writers/authors differently than adults do (Love, Burns & Buell, 2007).

The stages of writing parallel and intersect with those of reading, in which children move from emergent reading of environmental print and the identification of contextual clues to beginning reading using knowledge of concepts about words. Finally they develop fluency with intonation, speed, and comprehension (Figure 11.1) (Catron & Allen, 2003; Clay, 1975). During the emergent writing stage, children progress from scribbling to drawing, gradually distinguishing between drawing and writing, pretend writing, and writing strings or sequences of actual letters.

Beginning writers dictate stories, use invented spelling to approximate words and short sentences, and attempt some use of conventional punctuation. Fluency occurs as children increasingly use conventional spelling, grammar, and punctuation to produce different types of narratives (stories) and expository (informational) products (Catron & Allen, 2003; Clay, 1975; Levine & Munsch, 2011; Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007; Mayer, 2007; Morrow & Gambrell, 2011; van Hoorn, Nourot, Sclaes, & Alward, 2011). Figure 11.1 displays examples of writing at different stages.

You must understand the connections between drawing and writing and the stages of writing in order to observe how and when individual children are ready for different kinds of materials and experiences (Clay, 1975). As children start to separate drawing from writing at around 2½ to 3 years of age, they frequently ask adults to "read" their pretend writing or identify what they have represented on paper (Baghban, 2007). Drawing changes at this stage to typically start in the center of a page with a more realistic use of color (e.g., blue for water) with "words" placed around the edges of the image (Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007). Drawing provides incentives for emergent writers as prompts for dictating stories and the labeling of portrayed objects. It also serves as a graphic organizer for writing, whereas fluent writers, later on, will represent their ideas in writing and add drawings as illustrations (Baghban, 2007).

Figure 11.1: Stages of Writing
Each stage of writing has specific, identifiable characteristics.
Figure 11.1: Stages of Writing
Each stage of writing has specific, identifiable characteristics.

11.3 The Literacy Environment

Current research on language development is increasingly focused on the settings and conditions that promote language acquisition rather than on the process as it occurs in individuals (Anderson, Moffatt, & Shapiro, 2006; Saunders, Goldenberg, & Marcelletti, 2014). We know that language development is best supported in an environment with:

  • Low teacher-child ratios
  • Higher levels of teacher education
  • Access to literature, writing, and language materials
  • Plentiful opportunities for play with peers. (Anderson, Moffatt, & Shapiro, 2006)

Teachers can support early literacy by creating a language and print-rich environment and providing materials, educational resources, books, and media that are age-appropriate, developmentally appropriate, and interesting to children (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007). The instructional and emotional support teachers provide is the other major and interdependent factor in determining the quality of an environment (Guo, Justice, Kaderavek, & McGinty, 2012).

A Print-Rich Environment

A print-rich environment is one in which children see examples of text in different forms that are meaningful to them (Neuman, Copple & Bredekamp, 2000). Examples of environmental print include lists, charts, sign-in sheets, travel posters, picture symbols/words for objects and activity areas, daily schedules, and labeled displays of children's work (Figure 11.2). Placing environmental print at the children's eye level is particularly important because it is easier for them to see as a readily available reference.

Figure 11.2: Familiar Print
Recognizing familiar print in the environment is one of the ways children build a foundation for reading.
Illustration of a bulletin board. In the center of the bulletin board is the question, "Can you read this," surrounded by common signs. Clockwise from top left the signs are a one way sing, male and female restroom signs, an exit sign, a men at work sign, a no smoking sign, a stop sign, and a traffic light sign.

You should exercise caution, however, not to overload the environment with so much print that children can't make sense of it. For example, you could label every piece of furniture and features like doors and windows in a 3-year-old classroom, but it isn't necessary, as children of that age don't need those references yet and labels should be used only for things children need for identification, reference, or examples (Mayer, 2007). On the other hand, creating a chart with familiar logos would provide opportunities for toddlers and young preschoolers to say, "I know what that means!"

Materials

Materials for promoting language and literacy include tools, games, and educational products that reinforce phonological awareness and alphabetical knowledge. A literacy-friendly environment encourages language and conversation and uses books and writing materials to integrate literacy across all the curriculum areas (Guo, Justice, Kaderavek, & McGinty, 2012; Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007; Mayer, 2007; NAEYC, 2005). Materials such as the items listed in Table 11.2 should be distributed among activity centers in the classroom to promote literacy connections.

Children also need developmentally appropriate tools. For instance, scribblers use watercolor markers, chubby/fat pencils, and crayons to accommodate their immature grasp. As their drawing develops, children benefit from other implements that approximate more conventional writing tools, such as colored pencils, pens, and different sizes of drawing paper. As children separate drawing from writing and move closer to being able to write on a line, language-experience paper (blank space on top, lines below for writing) becomes appropriate. Preschoolers and older children are also interested in keyboardingprinting out their words in different kinds of fonts exposes them to the variations in letter forms (Love, Burns, & Buell, 2007).

Table 11.2: Materials for Promoting Literacy across the Curriculum
Center/ Activity Area Materials Uses
Blocks Blueprint and graph paper, pencils, variety of papers, notebook with pictures/labels of buildings, road signs, books about architecture, maps Sketching plans, drawing representations of structures, using reference materials, making labels and signs, recognizing environmental print
Post office Mailbox, stamps, envelopes, a variety of papers, pencils, pens, stickers, postcards, junk mail, sticky notes, greeting cards Writing and sending letters and messages, "reading" mail, making cards
Writing center Pencils, markers, crayons, colored pencils, pencil sharpener, lined and unlined paper, journals, stapler, hole puncher, yarn or metal rings, letter stencils and tracing templates, erasers, rulers, tape recorder, picture dictionary, word cards, index cards, tape, wipe-off easel or whiteboard, slates and chalk, sentence strips (lined tagboard paper strips), tracing paper Making books, writing words and stories, practicing handwriting, dictating and recording stories, making signs
Science center Paper of different kinds for recording data such as graph paper, tracing paper, and index cards, file box, observation journals, pencils, markers, sticky notes, chart paper, science books appropriate to age, magazines, chart for feeding fish Drawing and recording observations, drawing pictures of animals, plants, etc., constructing graphs, labeling
Social studies Globe, maps, picture books about people and places, magazines (e.g., National Geographic for Kids), tracing paper Making and labeling maps, time lines, and pictures
Dramatic play Clipboards, menus, receipt books, recipe cards, prescription pads, sticky notes, paper and writing tools; advertisements, newspapers, puppets, other props as appropriate to themes Using writing materials to take on roles for themes such as waiter, doctor, grocery store clerk, builder; using puppets to act out stories; making and labeling props
Art Newspapers, collage materials, pens, pencils, markers, colored pencils, paints, brushes, easel and drawing papers, finger paints and paper, clay/play dough, scissors, books about art Cutting out letters and making collages, drawing, painting, practice writing with finger paints, making letters from modeling dough
Outdoors Popsicle sticks, markers, paper, cardboard, tape, brushes and water, sidewalk chalk, traffic signs Marking garden plants and rows, making signs for fantasy play, marking rocks and labeling collections, water writing, writing names on the sidewalk, reading signs for trike paths
Table 11.2: Materials for Promoting Literacy across the Curriculum

Educational Resources

As with math and science resources (Chapter 10), there is a wide variety of equipment and materials, from flashcards and puzzles to letter games and stamps (Figure 11.3) designed to promote alphabetical knowledge and phonological awareness as well as early reading and writing. You can duplicate or adapt many of these materials at far lower cost, with the additional benefit of being able to personalize to the children you teach or to themes you are working on with children.

Figure 11.3: Commercial Literacy Resources
Many commercial materials are used to promote phonological awareness. This selection focuses on alphabetical knowledge, phonemic awareness, and early writing.
Three column chart. First column shows commercial materials that relate to alphabetic knowledge such as magnetic letters, alphabet flashcards that show the capital and lowercase versions of each letter, a letter bingo board and letter stamps. The second column shows commercial materials used to promote phonemic awareness such as a picture lottery board, puzzles pieces that connect when the words pictured (bat and hat) match, a sound sort board where pictures of words are arranged according to their sounds  boat and butterfly go in the bat column when properly arranged, and plastic telephones for children to speak to one another through. The third column shows commercial materials that promote early writing such as oversized crayons, letter boards that allow the child to trace the letter with a pen, paper to practice writing the same letter repeatedly, and paper, pencils and scissors.

Books and Media

More From the Field

Director Beverly Prange emphasizes the need for teacher familiarity with children's books and literature.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Beverly says it would have been helpful to start her career more familiar with children's literature. What resources are available to you that might make this challenge more manageable?

Because you will spend a good bit of your time reading to children and helping them explore books, you will want to provide them with high-quality literature, informational books, and media that will encourage them to "fall in love" with language, reading, and print. There are literally millions of children's books. How do you choose?

Selecting High-Quality Children's Literature

High-quality literature engages children with interesting characters and plots, language and illustrations that draw them into the story, much the same way as you might react to a good book. Good literature for children is not stereotyped and does not trivialize issues that are important to them. Children's literature taps into the young child's emerging sense of humor and feelings about what is fair and unfair. The experience of curling up beside a loved adult and being read to can hardly be matched for developing a sense of security, pleasure, and safety.

Good books are generally liked by lots of children and capture their interest from beginning to end. But a good book for any individual child is simply one that is requested over and over again because something about it taps into the child's experiences, interests, or problems.

Another strategy for finding good children's literature is to look for those books that have received prestigious awards. In the United States, four well-known awards are given every year.

  1. The Caldecott Medal, described in Chapter 7, is awarded for excellence in illustration.
  2. The Newberry Medal is awarded by the Association for Library Service to Children in recognition of distinguished American children's literature.
  3. The Coretta Scott King Award has honored the life and work of Dr. and Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr., since 1969 with awards to African American authors and illustrators.
  4. Since 1968, the American Library Association has also presented the Mildred L. Batchelder award to a U.S. publisher for the best translation of a book into English.

Published lists of "best books for children" have also been compiled by various interest groups such as teachers (National Education Association), editors of Scholastic Parent & Child magazine, and The New York Times Parents' Guide to the Best Books for Children (Lipson, 2000).

Your decisions about what books to use in your own early childhood setting should be based on the genre (format and theme/focus) and the quality of the writing and illustrations. Useful general criteria are as follows:

  • Age-appropriatenesshow well does the type of book match the child's age level? For example, board books are good to use with babies, as they can't rip or tear the pages.
  • Individual appropriatenessthemes children are interested in or need. For example, a child with a loose tooth might enjoy Little Rabbit's Loose Tooth.
  • Balance between amount of text and illustrationsgenerally the younger the child, the fewer words per picture. With alphabet and counting books, it is better to choose books that have one letter or number with the corresponding picture spanning two adjacent pages when the book is open. This eliminates confusion about what the pictures represent.
  • Relevance of illustrations to textdo the pictures accurately convey the meaning of the text and promote comments/conversation?
  • Evidence of bias or stereotypingbooks at any reading level should respectfully portray ethnicity, socioeconomics, gender balance, etc.
  • Availability in multilingual versions.

Specific criteria that focus on analyzing the features of picture books include these:

  • Evaluating the setting as familiar and authentic
  • Believable and interesting characters
  • Interesting plot
  • Evidence of a central theme
  • Respectful and age-appropriate language
  • Illustrations that complement but don't overwhelm the text (Baker, 2005)

Choosing Books That Are Age-Appropriate

In choosing books for particular age groups, commonsense guidelines apply. For babies, you will want to select safe and sturdy books with pictures of objects, animals, and people that they can point to and begin to name. While toddlers will continue to want to be read to, they will also begin to explore books independently and are gaining the ability to hold a book and turn the pages. They enjoy simple illustrated stories with interesting characters.

Preschoolers are generally ready for a variety of artistic and narrative styles. Most preschool books are meant to be read aloud. By this age, however, children will begin to explore books on their own, so the books should be accessible and children should be taught how to handle them carefully. Kindergarten and primary-grade children are moving toward books with more text and print than illustrations and can be introduced to hardcover and paperback chapter books. Primary-grade children can choose and read books independently; a well-stocked and organized library is essential for this age group (Baker, 2005).

Reading aloud to these older children is still appropriate, since their listening skills and attention spans are more advanced. Their reading fluency is still developing, so reading aloud continues to be a means for introducing them to more complex characters, vocabulary, and stories. Table 11.3 displays genres appropriate for young children that are represented across the literature.

Table 11.3: Children's Literature
Format Description Examples
Baby (board) book Hard covers and thick, laminated pages that are easy for infants and young toddlers to turn. Some books written in paper format are also available in board book format.

Where's Spot? (Hill, 2003)

Rainbow Fish (Pfister, 1996)

Moo, Baa, La La La (Boynton, 1982)

Interactive books Features that children can handle and manipulate, such as pop-ups, holes, sliding tabs, etc.

Dinnertime (Pienkowski, 2008)

Wizard of Oz (Baum & Sabuda, 2000)

The Dwindling Party (Gorey, 1982)

Wordless picture books Books with no words encourage conversation, predicting, and multiple interpretations.

The Snowy Day, 50th Anniversary Edition (Keats, 2012)

The Red Book (Lehman, 2004)

Chalk (Thomson, 2010)

Picture books Text with accompanying illustrations that focus on storytelling.

Madeline (Bemelmans, 2000)

Curious George (Rey, 1969)

The Story of Babar (de Brunhoff, 1937)

Early reading Books intended for beginning readers with limited vocabulary, simpler sentence structure, etc. They are predictable, with text that is easy to decode, thus promoting independent reading.

Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers (Maslen & Maslen, 2006)

Big Egg: (Step-into-Reading, Step One) (Coxe, 1997)

Dr. Seuss's Beginner Book Collection (Seuss, 2009)

Fancy Nancy and the Too-Loose Tooth (I Can Read Fancy Nancy, Level 1) (O'Connor, 2012)

Alphabet Present the letters of the alphabet, usually with corresponding pictures.

On Market Street (Lobel & Lobel, 1989)

Eric Carle's ABC (Carle, 2007)

Counting Numbers with corresponding pictures.

Anno's Counting House (Anno, 1982)

Counting Kisses (Katz, 2001)

Concept Books that teach concepts such as color, size, shape.

Little Blue and Little Yellow (Lionni, 1985)

Freight Train (Crews, 1978)

Biography Books that portray real-life people.

Martin's Big Words: The Story of Dr. Martin Luther King (Rappaport & Collier, 2007)

A Picture Book of Cesar Chavez (Adler, Adler, & Olofsdotter, 2011)

Nursery rhymes Classic poetry often familiar as songs, teaching rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration.

Favorite Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose (Gustafson, 2007)

Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Favorite Nursery Rhymes (Mavor, 2010)

Poetry Single poems presented as a story or narrative or collections of poetry.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (Frost & Jeffers, 2001)

Birches (Frost & Young, 2002)

A Light in the Attic (Silverstein, 1981)

My Hippo Has the Hiccups (Nesbitt, 2009)

Informational Nonfiction books that provide topical reference information and photographs or illustrations for curricular areas such as science or social studies.

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction (MacCauley, 1981)

National Geographic Readers: Bats (Carney, 2010)

Meet the Howlers (Sayre & Miller, 2010)

Table 11.3: Children's Literature

11.4 Strategies and Activities for Promoting Early Literacy

Playdramatic play in particularfacilitates all the dimensions of early literacy when children have time, space, access to literacy materials, and guidance (Genishi & Fassler, 1999; Paley, 2011; Smith, 2017; van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011). Because play is child-initiated, children engage in themes and activities that interest them, increasing the likelihood of deep engagement, more complex use of language, and the development of literacy skills (van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales & Alward, 2011).

The kind of play and materials available to children affect the type of language and interactions that occur. For example, blocks and gross motor play are more functional, generating less interaction than board or card games, dramatic play, art, sand/water, and play with puppets, which encourage conversation and discussion (Sutterby & Frost, 2006). Play also offers children the opportunity to share and exchange literacy knowledge informally and for second-language learners to practice without pressure (van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales, & Alward, 2011).

Two children play with hand puppets.

iStockphoto / Thinkstock

Child-initiated play that encourages face-to-face interactions and role playing is especially helpful for promoting language development.

The curriculum you use impacts the language/literacy environment. An integrated thematic or emergent curriculum approach creates open-ended opportunities for introducing vocabulary, modeling the use of books and media for inquiry, collaboration, and the application of emergent writing skills. On the other hand, reliance on whole-group lessons, one-way teacher talk, and scripted lessons is generally ineffective and developmentally inappropriate (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011).

Basic strategies teachers and caregivers use to promote comfortable and supportive communication and a literacy-rich environment include the following:

  • Modeling standard English and correct grammar and punctuation
  • Modeling and teaching good listening skills
  • Asking open-ended questions
  • Accepting and celebrating linguistic diversity
  • Considering errors and mistakes a natural part of the learning continuum
  • Listening/talking with each individual child daily
  • Using teachable moments to introduce or expand on literacy-related skills and concepts
  • Planning the environment and opportunities for face-to-face interactions
  • Using one-on-one and small groups for most teacher-directed activities
  • Providing enjoyable listening media (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Hendrick & Weissman, 2007; Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2010)

Language and Communication

The specific strategies teachers use to encourage language development and communication vary according to the age and developmental levels of the children. For example with infants, you will want to consistently interact and speak face-to face and:

  • Acknowledge and reinforce verbalizations such as cooing and babbling
  • Develop your capacity to interpret and model gestures and body language
  • Use routines such as diapering and feeding to describe what you do and model conversational turn-taking
  • Use words to interpret gestures, such as "I see you waving your arms, are you a happy baby?"
  • Vary your inflection and intonation (e.g., "Do you see the BIG, BIG bird?" to encourage attending to speech)
  • Read, read, read (Catron & Allen, 2003; Cook & Cook, 2005; Gestwicki, 2011)

Because toddlers are beginning to speak and acquire vocabulary, we reinforce the use of naming words (nouns) predominant in early language and provide many objects to name. While speech is often difficult to understand at this stage, attending to a toddler's attempts and responding to them is helpful as it establishes feelings of acceptance and confidence. For the same reasons it's important to model speech and expand on toddler's words without explicit correction. For example, if a child says, "Me like paint," your restatement of those words might be, "I think I heard you say, 'I like to paint.' I enjoy painting, too!"

Determining what level of vocabulary and speech complexity to use with young children is challenging. With babies, most humans across cultures employ some form of child-directed speech (formerly known as motherese), characterized by a higher tone of voice, more variations in pitch, slower pacing, and more questions (Cook & Cook, 2005; Levine & Munsch, 2011). From a Vygotskian perspective, child-directed speech for children of any age means that adults simplify their language to a level just above what the child is presently using. This strategy applies the concept of the zone of proximal development to scaffold increasing complexity and the growth of vocabulary (Gambrell & Mazzoni, 1999; Gestwicki, 2011). In the example above, therefore, the phrase "I enjoy painting, too" represents an appropriate use of scaffolding because it directly follows, "I like to paint," so the child knows that it means the same thing with a new word.

Preschoolers can draw on experiences and increased knowledge about the world and things that interest them to engage in extended conversation and dialogue. However, their continuing egocentrism means that they tend to focus on what they want to say, so it requires practice and effort for them to learn how to listen to others, following along and contributing to a conversation. They also have the vocabulary, capacity for increased attention, and language facility to greatly expand the number and type of activities that focus on developing and refining the auditory discrimination skills needed to identify sounds in letters and words (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007).

When they are inviting dialogue and facilitating discussion, teachers should aim to talk about things that are important to the children and relevant to their experiences. There is a big difference between conversation and interrogation; the teacher is primarily responsible for creating the model for a balance between talking and listening (Hendrick & Weissman, 2007).

Things you can do to encourage children to listen and identify variations in sounds include the following:

  • Playing audio lotto games that match sounds with pictures of the source
  • Going on a sound scavenger hunt
  • Taping children's voices and guessing "Who is speaking now?"
  • Playing musical chairs
  • Playing games like "Simon says"
  • Whispering to begin a large group meeting or circle
  • Noting environmental sounds, such as the phone or doorbell ringing, a fire alarm going off, a clock ticking, the sound of wind chimes or door closing, etc.
  • Playing loud/soft games, repeating words or a short poem with varying volume levels
Finger Plays

Finger plays are short rhyming poems spoken, chanted, or sung with accompanying motions that encourage listening, following directions, and word play. They can be interactive, like "pattycake" or "five little piggies," and can be used with infants and toddlers even before they are able to follow along or mimic the words and motions.

Finger plays frequently provide indirect teaching of concepts such as counting, alphabet letters, or positional words, and teachers sometimes use teaching aids such as a flannel board to reinforce concepts, characters, or a story line within a finger play. Click on this link for a video sampling of finger plays by "Dr. Jean" Feldman.

Your own favorites might include such well-known examples as "Itsy Bitsy Spider" or "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." There are literally thousands of examples available in books, online sites, and those made up and shared between teachers.

Finger plays for babies and toddlers are simple, repetitive, and short, with motions they can easily manage and coordinate:

Teacher and little girl engaged in a finger play rhyme.

Jupiterimages / Thinkstock

Finger plays are favorite activities that foster memory and concepts about language and stories through engaging rhymes and songs with accompanying motions.

Baby bunny bounces high (raise hands high)
Baby bunny bounces low (touch or point to the ground)
Baby bunny blinks his eyes (blink eyes)
Baby bunny waves good-bye (wave bye-bye)

As children grow older and their auditory memory increases, finger plays are longer; they may be set to music or derived from nursery rhymes or simple songs, with multiple verses and more complicated motions. Compare the following with "Baby Bunny"; the language is more complex but still employs repeating phrases and a refrain that helps children remember the text:

Five little ducks that I once knew (hold up five fingers)
Fat ones, skinny ones there were too (spread arms wide and close)
But the one little duck with the feather on his back (turn around putting hands on behind and wiggle fingers)
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack (face front and use hands to mimic duck bill opening and closing)
Quack, quack, quack; quack, quack, quack, (use above motion to "quack" to friends in the circle)
Down to the river they would go (move hands in undulating motion)
Swimming back and forth all in a row (mimic breast stroke)
But the one little duck with the feather on his back (repeat first verse motions)
He led the others with a quack, quack, quack
Quack, quack, quack; quack, quack, quack

Variations of finger plays are too numerous to count. For example, different versions of "Five Little Ducks" are demonstrated here and here.

Stop and Reflect
  1. Why is a finger play a good example of a multisensory activity?
  2. Develop a list of two or three criteria you might use to choose finger plays to teach to young children.

You will also employ strategies that emphasize hearing the words, phrases, pauses, and stops in text and developing auditory memory through playful activities such as:

  • Cloze, leaving out a word in the middle or at the end of a poem or story for children to complete.
  • Before beginning a read-aloud story, identifying a key, repeating word or phrase and encouraging the children to give a signal, such as raising their hands each time they hear it.
  • Memory gamesrepeating short strings of nonsense words.
  • Repeating rhythmic patterns with words such as "baby; baby buggy; baby buggy bumper; baby buggy bumper bumping along the road."
  • Simple tongue twisters such as "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."
  • Finger plays and songs (see the feature box above).

Reading to Children

More From the Field

Kindergarten teacher Meghan Ling explains how her curriculum is planned around children's literature.

Critical Thinking Question

  1. Meghan describes the strong connections children make with literature. How does she use that to enhance curriculum?

The importance of reading to children cannot be overstated. You should read to children individually and in small and large groups at many times during the day. Every book genre has its own characteristics and benefits for promoting understanding of text, building vocabulary and auditory memory, and seizing opportunities to point out phonological features of words.

In reading to groups of children, it is important to make sure they are comfortable and can all see the book and to make frequent eye contact, using expression and animation to emphasize different characters or events in the story. Sometimes adults read books to children uninterrupted from beginning to end, purely for enjoyment, building rapport and meeting their individual needs. Other times, teachers use guided reading when they are introducing a new or unfamiliar book. Guided reading involves a series of steps that take children on a "book walk" to reinforce concepts about books and the elements of story, introduce strategies that help children identify and use contextual clues, encourage dialogue and comprehension, and model what good readers do (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gambrell & Mazzoni, 1999).

Guided reading is used extensively in the primary grades, but you can adapt the process for preschoolers, keeping in mind their attention span and skill level. When you are using guided reading, you will:

  • Introduce the cover of the book, pointing out the title, name of the author and illustrator, and inviting children to use clues from the cover art to predict what the story might be about.
  • Read the story, pausing occasionally to ask or invite questions about the characters, setting, and plot. A good story has a problem to solve (Schickedanz, 1999), and there will be a point in the story where it becomes apparent what the problem is. This is a good place to pause and invite predictions about what it is and how it might be solved.
  • If using a "big book" (larger version of a book, particularly helpful for reading to bigger groups of children), you might use a pointer or your finger to follow text as you read. This simple action reinforces the movement of text across and down the page as well as pauses or breaks between sentences or phrases, and it models fluency.
  • Pause to clarify vocabulary that might be unfamiliar or particularly interesting. With older children, you will identify context clues and practice strategies for sounding out unfamiliar words.
  • Close to the end of a book, revisit predictions about how the story will resolve, and upon finishing, compare children's predictions with the eventual outcome.
A teacher reads to a young boy sitting on her lap.

Ingram Publishing / Thinkstock

Teachers use guided reading to take children on a "book walk."

Story readings can be extended through teacher- or child-initiated retelling with different media, such as a flannel board, smart board, recording favorite stories in DLL children's home language for the listening center, dramatizing stories (Dombrink-Green, 2011), or reenacting them with puppets.

Oral Storytelling

Vivian Paley, one of early childhood's strongest advocates for the power and value of oral storytelling, says,

Think dramatically! Get in the habit of thinking of yourself and the children as partners in an acting company. Once we learn to imagine ourselves as characters in a story, a particular set of events expands in all directions. We find ourselves being kinder and more respectful to one another because our options have grown in intimacy, humor, and literary flavor. (Dombrink-Green, 2011, p. 93)

Storytelling builds community through shared experience (Berkowitz, 2011; Blake-Jones, 2011). For thousands of years, storytelling was a primary means by which groups of people passed down their genealogy, history, and traditions. Many of the children in our classrooms today are members of ethnic and cultural communities that value storytelling (Brice-Heath, 2012; Currenton, Craig & Flanigan, 2008; Miller, Cho & Bracey, 2005).

Storytelling is a powerful tool for making connections with literacy (Blake-Jones, 2011; Cooper, 2005; Miller & Mehler, 2005). It makes the child feel part of the story dynamic, reinforces concepts and elements of the narrative, models expressive and efficient use of language, and encourages children to become better storytellers themselves.

For some children, like Anna Bess in the opening vignette, a high level of confidence with telling a story may be a means of bridging her reluctance as a writer. When given the floor during group time or even in intimate conversations, many preschool children tend to ramble: "and then . . . and then . . . and then . . . ." Repeated experiences with oral storytelling model how a good story starts, progresses, and ends!

The benefits of storytelling as a group activity are many (Berkewitz, 2011), as you:

  • Maintain eye contact with each of the children individually
  • Eliminate competition to see book illustrations
  • Make the characters real through dramatization
  • Invite audience participation and kinesthetic involvement

If you are hesitant or lack confidence in telling stories, you might invite a local storyteller to your class for inspiration and guidance. But we all tell stories in our daily lives, and doing so with children does not have to be complicated or stressful. Developing a story for telling is also an emergent, organic process, and each time you retell a given tale, you have the opportunity to revise it, adapt the plot, or develop characters (Blake-Jones, 2011). Guidelines are simple but important (Berkowitz, 2011; Eliason & Jenkins, 2008):

  1. Start with personal stories. A funny story about taking your dog to the veterinarian, for example, is one that many children can connect with, and it allows them to see you as a regular person rather than The Teacher from the Black Lagoon! (Thaler, 2008).
  2. Learn a simple favorite story (such as a folktale or fairy tale).
  3. Identify and emphasize parts of the story or characters that are particularly appealing or humorous.
  4. Practice.
  5. Identify parts that invite child participation (such as making engine sounds when you start up the car to drive to the veterinarian or imitate the dog barking at the veterinarian).
  6. Create a refrain that the children can repeat at different times during the story, such as "You know, FIDO does NOT like going to the veterinarian . . . ," and use a cue and pause so they know when to chime in.
  7. Make use of literary devices such as alliteration or rhyming. For example, "when I opened the car door, Furry . . . Furious . . . Foul-smelling . . . FIDO jumped out."

Emergent Writing

As described previously, children's exposure to environmental print and text through story reading, independent exploration of books, and opportunities to draw and play with writing materials provides motivation and early concept development about the purposes of writing. Children can practice writing their names on sign-in sheets or sign-up lists and in labeling drawings, making name badges, and so on. You will also have many opportunities to model different types of writing during planned whole- or small-group activities, such as:

  • Writing children's questions or ideas on a chart about what they might see on a field trip
  • Developing friendship guidelines
  • Composing a thank-you message to the custodian
  • Composing an invitation to parents and families for a school event
  • Writing a class story about what happened on a field trip
  • Transcribing children's words as they dictate descriptions of drawings, paintings, or a block structure
  • Listing ingredients for a cooking activity recipe
  • Making a snack menu for the week and a grocery list
  • Making a "to-do" list for planting the garden
  • Brainstorming ideas for props children want to use in a new dramatic play theme
  • Recording a child's plan for where he intends to spend his time during play
  • Writing children's names on a classroom jobs chart
  • Making signs for the classroom or descriptive labels for classroom displays

Specifically, two powerful writing activities appropriate for preschoolers include making books and journaling. Many kinds of books are appropriate as models of different types of text that can also serve as prompts for children's dictation, drawing, or writing. For example, looking at several different kinds of ABC books can launch a class book where children choose the letters they want to represent, and make a separate page for each with an illustration or cut-and-pasted pictures of objects that start with the letter. A book such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (Martin & Carle, 1967), with predictable text, can be used as a model for a class book (excerpted below).

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I see a red bird looking at me.

Red Bird, Red Bird, What Do You See?

I see a yellow duck looking at me.

Yellow Duck, Yellow Duck, What Do You See?

I see a blue horse looking at me.

Blue Horse, Blue Horse. . . .

Even if children are too young to grasp the pattern of the repeating text, they can be asked the question, "What do you see?" with each child making a page for the book and dictating or attempting to write an answer. Figure 11.4 displays examples and descriptions of concept books, informational texts, and narrative/stories made with 2-year-old toddlers and 3- to 5-year-old preschoolers.

Setting aside a time daily or several times weekly for 4- or 5-year-olds to write in journals or logs is an appropriate and, for most children, enjoyable way to lead them toward writing. Having a "special" book for writing helps children understand that adults value their words and want to preserve them. Preschoolers don't need lined paper until they have mastered the forms of letters and acquired the fine motor control to be able to use it without frustration. Journals give children the opportunity to develop independently and provide teachers, families, and themselves with a chronological record of progress.

Journals can be simple bound black-and-white composition books or made from sheets of paper stapled together. Children can be encouraged to illustrate or decorate the covers and teachers should date each page. Writing time gives the teacher the opportunity to begin using grouping strategies for various purposes, including intentional teaching of skills, providing children with modeling and encouragement, and socialization. Because early writing integrates both drawings and print, children won't feel pressured or overwhelmed. Figure 11.5 displays several examples of different kinds of journal entries from 4- and 5-year-old children.

Figure 11.4: Class Books Made with Toddlers and Preschoolers
Many different kinds of books and experiences can be used as models and opportunities for children to use emergent writing or dictation of text.
This figure is a 6x6 table. The columns are grouped in pairs, with the first showing book covers and the second providing a description. The first pair of columns are labeled "Concept Books" and "Description." First row in the first two columns: a book cover with scribbles and paper cutouts of the letters A, P, M and C, pasted over the scribbles along with the title of the book, Our Name Book. The description for this book reads: "Only includes letters that start children's names in the class. For example, 'E is for Ellyse and.....' (child finishes)." Second row of the first two columns: Child's illustration of a flower with the book title Book of Colors written by The Daisies. The description says: "Each page has a photo of things children found of each color and their description of items." Third row of first two columns: The book is called Squares from Home and shows four different colored construction paper squares pasted onto the book cover. The description for this book says: "Children brought in objects from home in the shape of a square. Each page has a photo of a child who completes, 'I found.....'" Fourth row of the first two columns: The book is titled My Handprint Feels Rough and has a sandpaper cutout of a child's hand. The description of this book reads: "Each child made a handprint from textured material of their choice and described what it feels like on their page." Fifth row of the first two columns: Book is called Caterpillar that has a yellow caterpillar surrounded by scribbles. The description reads: "First child completes, 'first little caterpillar.....' Second child finishes, 'second little caterpillar.....' and so on." Sixth row of the first two columns: Image shows a child's illustration of a house with two children looking out of the house through a window. The description reads: "Each page has a photo the child chose from a carriage ride through the city and the child's description of what shapes they can see in the picture. For example, 'It's a house. Squares and people in squares. And the roof. And this sky. And this triangle. Look, there's some circles  the bushes!'" The second pair of columns are labeled "Expository" and "Description." First row in the second pair of columns: book cover with the title Making Paper typed in black. Written by Ms. Stephanie's Class. The description reads: "Children retell the experience of making paper. Each child dictated text for one of the photographs that document the process." Second row in the second pair of columns: book cover with a Panda bear and the title The baby is taking a nap. The description for this book reads: "Each child chose a photograph of a jungle animal and dictated what they knew about the animal and what they saw in the picture. For example, 'Panda bear! The baby is taking a nap. The mama is sleeping with the baby. They are black and white. They eat leaf. It is cold.'" Third row in the second pair of columns: complex image of an owl done as a collage of other images. The description reads: "'What We Know About Birds of Prey.' An encyclopedia with emergent writing and dictated by older preschool children with photographs and text." Fourth row in the second pair of columns: Book titled Our Recipes with a child's drawing of spaghetti and meatballs. The description reads: Each family sent in a recipe and children illustrated and dictated preparation directions." Fifth row in the second pair of columns: the text "I don't like Spinach" appears above a child's drawing of a plate of spinach and a fork. The description reads: "Each page contains a list of items dictated by children that they don't like." Sixth row in the second pair of columns: Book page with the text "I have ten toes," above a child's drawing of their feet. The text below the feet says, "My second toe is longer than my big toe." The description reads: "Each child described a picture of their feet and toes." The third pair of columns are labeled "Narratives" and "Description." First row in the third pair of columns: child's illustration of a simple treasure map showing a dashed black line leading to a red "X" with the text "You find the X" typed at the top of the page. The description reads: "Each child contributed one illustrated page with dictated text. For example, 'You find the X. You get a shovel and dig and dig and dig. Then you go home to bring it to Mom and Dad and show all the stuff. Inside the treasure chest you find swords, jewelry, patches and gold.'" Second row in the third pair of columns: Michael Says Goodnight is the title at the top of the book above a child's drawing of the night sky with a moon and stars. The description reads: "Using Goodnight Moon as the inspiration, each child dictates a narrative about their bedtime routine. For example, 'Mommy kiss me and I say I want my bear.'" Third row in the third pair of columns: Child's drawing of a magic carpet flying through the sky with the title, Magic Carpet Ride, at the top of the cover. The description reads: With a favorite song as the premise of the story, each page starts with 'I have a magic carpet. It can take me anywhere.' Each child imagines and then described where they would go on a magic carpet ride." Fourth row in the third pair of columns: Childs illustration of a boy holding a roll of orange duct tape. The description reads: "Anthology of poems written by four-year-olds and kindergarteners. For example, 'Orange Duct Tape. It's orange, and it's duct tape, and very sticky; It puts two things together like a piece of paper to the other side of a piece of paper. It matches my shirt.'" Fifth row in the third pair of columns: Child's writing at the tops says, "I saw a school of fish," and shows five fish below the water. The description reads: "Narrative with photos and text composed by a group of children about a walk to the nearby fish pond." Sixth row in the third pair of columns: The book, titled Wednesday, has multicolored scribbles with a paper cutout of the word Wednesday pasted on top. The description reads: "Book was written by kindergarten children as a response to the book, Tuesday, by David Weisner. Children imagined what happened next after the book ends with illustrations of flying pigs."
Figure 11.5: Journal Samples
Journaling reinforces concepts about books, makes children feel like writers, and provides an authentic record of progress over time.
Two rows showing a child's drawings above text explaining what the images is about. First column shows a journal cover with an illustration of a ladybug, the child's name  Lily, and the Mandarin symbols for Lily. The text beneath this image reads: "Cover with child's name in English and home language (Mandarin) and symbol representing first sound in name. Second column, first picture is a very basic sketch with some boxes and lines with the names Lily and Mark written by the child for practice. The second picture has the text: "It is Daddy birthday," above a drawing of four stick figures and a birthday cake. The text beneath these two images reads: "Entries at two-months apart, the first showing a child practicing letters and writing her name and a friend's name into a drawing of them building a road together in the block center. The second contains a complete sentence, 'It is Daddy birthday,' with a separate illustration of his family and a cake." The third column has an adults writing sample above the child's version. The text beneath the image reads: "Using a play plan with a diagram as an opportunity to practice writing, 'I am going to blocks.'" The final column has two images. The first is a list of items in a child's handwriting, "bolz o porige, bears, chairs." The second image is a drawing of a house with three bear heads above three chairs. The text beneath these images reads: "These two adjacent pages represent a brainstorming session for organizing a retelling of 'Goldilocks.'"

11.5 Language Arts in the Primary Grades

In the primary grades, teachers build on children's phonological awareness and alphabetical knowledge with more focused word study, reading with comprehension, exposure to an increasing variety of kinds of texts, and writing for purpose and clarity. Reading knowledge requires understanding the functions of print, knowledge of print in its various forms, and awareness of the conventions of print, such as how to handle a book, taking turns reading, etc. (Catron & Allen, 2003). Teachers also move children from their early drawing/writing habits and use of invented spelling to conventional spelling, correct use of grammar and punctuation, and use of critical thinking skills to engage in the writing process (Siefert, 2006).

Kindergarten and primary-grade children know more about the features of words and sentences and also have more experiences to draw from for making reading/writing connections (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Their vocabulary begins to advance more through reading than conversation alone and includes more abstract words as they are increasingly able to think about their own thinking.

A balanced approach incorporates daily opportunities for oral language and conversation, reading, and writing. Teachers model appropriate strategies and provide direct teaching of skills but also allow children time to explore reading and writing independently and with their peers. One way of doing so is to use whole-group time to prepare children to rotate in small groups through different types of activities so that focused instruction occurs in face-to-face interactions with individual children (Hansen, 2007; Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2007).

Language Arts Standards

The academic standards for literacy focus on reading, writing, and using reading and writing skills for inquiry. Standards for children in kindergarten and the primary grades should be viewed as an extension of the early reading and writing continuum rather than a rigid time line for introduction and mastery of individual skills. Many primary-grade teachers feel or experience pressure to eliminate play and devote large blocks of time to the language arts curriculum. But children in the early grades still need time, space, and play materials to make the transition from preoperational to concrete operational thinking required to develop as readers and writers. Inappropriate practices for primary-grade children include the following (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Gestwicki, 2011):

  • Teaching reading and writing as distinct, separate subjects
  • Emphasizing skills as an end rather than a means
  • Teaching skills in rigid sequence
  • Exclusive use of whole-group instruction
  • Reliance on workbooks

Reading

For a long time, from early primers such as the McGuffey Readers in the nineteenth century through the 1970s, basal readers were developed and used specifically to teach reading. Basals employ a controlled number of vocabulary words to promote sight reading, word study, and carefully paced mastery of increasingly difficult levels of text. With the advent of the whole-language approach in the 1970s, basals were replaced by the use of trade books, high-quality children's literature and nonfiction texts. In a balanced approach, both are used, sometimes interchangeably. For example, some children's literature makes use of controlled vocabulary (e.g., Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat) while efforts are also made to create stories of literary quality and informational-level reader texts.

When 113 exemplary teachers in the primary grades were surveyed about effective reading instruction (Gambrell & Mazzoni, 1999), the most frequently noted factors were:

  • A literate environment
  • High-quality literature
  • Student collaboration (e.g., students reading together)
  • Time for independent reading
  • Journal writing
  • One-on-one time to read with the teacher
  • Literacy integrated across the curriculum
  • Direct teaching of skills as needed
  • Home-school literacy connections

Writing

As children in kindergarten and the primary grades gain experience and confidence with writing, a more structured process can be applied. Building on early journaling in a writing workshop format, children work on pieces of writing in stages, and the teacher provides directed instruction as needed to individuals and small groups of children. From prewriting through the steps of drafting, revising, editing, and publishing (Calkins, 1994), the child takes ownership of the writing process, conferencing with the teacher as needed or requested. Writing experiences for children should occur daily and provide opportunities to share work with others, so that children will feel respected as authors and become accustomed to seeking and respecting the feedback of others.

As they learn to distinguish between different types of reading selections and materials, children also gradually learn to manipulate language and structure the style of their writing for different purposes and effects. Before writing, oral poetry developed as the primary means of communicating story and cultural knowledge. The performance dimension of this type of information transfer and the need to memorize large amounts of information led to the imagery, structural repetition, and other features of poems that we recognize today (Elster, 2010).

Poetry can be described as a mode of language, rather than a literary genre because, in contrast with everyday language, it has a regular beat or other pattern of formal organization (Elster, 2010, p. 48). Many adults struggled with poetry in school for a variety of reasons, but if it is introduced to children early, its unique, lyrical characteristics encourage slower reading and rereading, which invites children to pay close attention to words and syntax. Because learning to write is dependent on knowledge of oral language, poetry as an alternate form of expression contributes to the "toolbox" children will need to become fluent and confident writers (Elster, 2010).

We build a foundation and exposure to poetry through our use of finger plays, nursery rhymes, and songs in the preschool years. Primary-grade children can engage in more focused discussions about poetry that builds phonemic awareness and auditory skills. As children listen to and recite simple poems that they can remember, they can also learn to consider poetry not as something strange and unfamiliar but as one of many options for writing.

Finally, the primary grades are a perfect time to incorporate inquiry as a means for integrating reading and writing in a language-rich context (Kampmann & Bowne, 2011). Language activities evolve naturally as needs, interests, and questions are expressed. Long-term studies and project work that focuses on depth versus coverage of predetermined outcomes promotes authentic application of reading and writing skills and expanding vocabulary through "merging literacies" (Bartel, 2005).

Chapter Summary

  • Early/emergent literacy begins at birth and develops in predictable stages as adults model and encourage both receptive and expressive language.
  • Early learning standards promote the balanced development of oral language, phonemic awareness, concepts about print, and emergent writing.
  • Teachers respect and support the language traditions of children and their families, recognizing the cognitive and academic benefits of bilingualism.
  • The phonological awareness needed for reading and writing requires the development of both phonemic awareness and alphabetic knowledge
  • Teachers create literacy-rich environments with environmental print, informal experiences and activities with language, experimenting with literacy materials, and intentional teaching of skills as children are developmentally ready for them.
  • All interest areas should include materials and books that promote integrating language and literacy in play and activities.
  • Teachers help children develop auditory and visual discrimination skills to develop alphabetic knowledge and phonemic awareness needed for reading and writing.
  • It is important to read to children often and develop a love of literature, concepts about story, and awareness of different kinds of texts.
  • As they begin to make sense of print, children slowly make the transition to independent reading and writing in the early primary grades.
  • Early learning standards are developed to emphasize priorities in the academic standards for K12 in order to provide a seamless transition from early literacy and early reading and writing to more formal instruction and eventual fluency.
Discussion Questions
  1. How would you plan to address the literacy needs of children who might come to your class or care with extremely limited experience with books?
  2. How would you encourage a 4-year-old child with little interest in writing to address the skills you know he needs to develop?
  3. What kind of a plan could you create for the families in the opening vignette to promote support for early literacy?
Key Terms

Click on each key term to see the definition.

Alphabetical knowledge

Knowledge of letters and the sounds they represent and being able to write them

Auditory awareness

Physical responses [in infants] indicating that the brain is receiving sound signals

Auditory discrimination

Being able to tell the differences between sounds

Auditory recognition

The ability to link a sound to its physical source

Balanced approach

A current approach to teaching reading with elements of both phonics and whole language

Basal readers

Reading books developed with a controlled number of vocabulary words to promote sight reading and sequential skill development

Beginning writer

A child who can dictate stories and whose writing contains some features of conventional writing

Child-directed speech

The universal practice of adjusting the characteristics of speech to the developmental level of a child

Cloze

A teaching strategy of pausing to allow children to fill in an expected word or phrase to complete a thought or sentence

Code switching

The ability to switch back and forth between two or more languages seamlessly

Constraints

Strategies used by young children to apply contextual clues in figuring out the meaning of unfamiliar words

Decoding

The process of converting graphemes to phonemes to read text

Dialect

Characteristic features of various forms of a single language

Dual language learners

Children who speak a language other than English at home, or who are learning two or more languages simultaneously

Early/emergent literacy

The developmental process beginning at birth of acquiring language and communication skills

Emergent writer

A child who approximates writing behaviors but who doesn't yet use conventional features

Environmental print

Signs, logos, and other forms of text that children see in their surroundings

Expressive language

Speaking and writingthe forms of communication generated by a person

Fluency

The stage at which reading and writing are accomplished with ease

Grapheme

Graphic symbols that represent the sounds in language (letters)

Guided reading

A teaching strategy that calls children's attention to the features of books and content of the story or text

Holophrases

Single words used to represent entire thoughts

Invented spelling

Early writing in which children approximate words using the letters they hear

Phonemes

Individual sound units

Phonics approach

An approach to teaching reading that focuses on studying the sounds in words

Phonological awareness

Prerequisite skills for reading, including alphabetical knowledge and phonemic awareness

Phonemic awareness

The ability to hear and distinguish between sounds in words

Pragmatics

The social uses of words that vary by culture

Private speech

Self-talk

Receptive language

Reading and listeningthe communication forms a person responds to generated by others

Semantics

The characteristics of a language that focus on meaning

Syntax

Structural features of language

Telegraphic speech

Typical toddler speech using two- and three-word sentences

Trade books

High-quality children's literature used by teachers that is available commercially

Visual discrimination

The ability to distinguish the form and shape features of written letters and words

Vocabulary bursts

Periods of time during late infancy and early toddlerhood characterized by a rapid increase in vocabulary

Whole-language approach

An approach to teaching reading that focuses on whole words

Writing

The process of representing sounds as print or text

References

Anderson, J., Moffatt, L., & Shapiro, J. (2006). Reconceptualizing language education in early childhood: Socio-cultural perspectives. B. S. Saracho (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 135152). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Baghban, M. (January 2007). Scribbles, labels, and stories: The role of drawing in the development of writing. Young Children, 62 (1), 2026.

Baker, I. (2005). What makes a great childrens book? Scholastic Parent & Child, 13(1), 56.

Barnett, W. S., & Lamy, C. S. (2006). Estimated impacts of number of years of preschool attendance on vocabulary, literacy, and math skills at kindergarten entry. Retrieved from NIEER: http://nieer.org/resources/research/EstimatedImpacts.pdf.

Bartel, V. (2005). Merging literacies: A case study. Childhood Education, 81(4), 196201.

Bedore, L. P., Pena, E. D., Garcia, M., & Cortez, C. (July 2005). Conceptual versus monolingual scoring: When does it make a difference? Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36(3), 188200.

Bellis, T. J. (2012). Understanding auditory processing disorders in children. American Speech-Hearing Language Association. Retrieved from http://www.asha.org/public/hearing/disorders/understand-apd-child.htm.

Berkowitz, D. (March 2011). Oral storytelling: Building community through dialogue, engagement, and problem solving. Young Children, 66(2), 3640.

Blake-Jones, M. (May 10, 2011). Personal storytelling in kindergarten. Presented at the 56th Annual Convention of the International Reading Association. Orlando, FL.

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. J. (2007). Tools of the mind: The Vygotskian approach to early childhood education (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Brice-Heath, S. (2012). Words at work and play: Three decades in family and community life. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Calkins, L. (1994). The art of teaching writing: New edition. New York: Heinemann.

Catron, C. E., & Allen, J. (2003). Early childhood curriculum: A creative play model (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Cecil, N. L., Baker, S., & Lozano, A. S. (2017). A quest for balance. In Striking a balance: A comprehensive approach to early literacy (pp. 1530). London: Taylor and Francis.

Charlesworth, R. (2008). Understanding child development (7th ed.). Clifton Park, NJ: Thomson Delmar.

Chen, J. J., & Shire, S. H. (March 2011). Strategic teaching: Fostering communication skills in diverse young learners. Young Children, 66(2), 2027.

Clay, M. (1975). What did I write? Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Cook, J. L., & Cook, G. (2005). Child development: Principles and perspectives. Boston: Pearson.

Cooper, P. E. (2005). Literacy learning and pedagogical purpose in Vivian Paleys story-telling curriculum. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 5(3), 229251.

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Currenton, S. M., Craig, M. J., & Flanigan, N. (2008). Use of decontextualized talk across story contexts: How oral storytelling and emergent reading can scaffold childrens development. Early Education and Development, 19(1), 161187.

Dombrink-Green, M. (September 2011). A conversation with Vivian Gussin-Paley. Young Children, 66(5), 9093.

Eliason, C., & Jenkins, L. (2008). A practical guide to early childhood curriculum (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

Elkind, D. (January 2012). Knowing is not understanding: Fallacies and risks of early academic instruction. Young Children, 67(1), 8487.

Elster, C. A. (September 2010). Snow on my eyelashes: Language awareness through age-appropriate poetry experiences. Young Children, 65(5), 4855.

Fasold, R. W. (1999). Ebonic need not be English. ERIC issue paper. Eric Document Reproduction Service No. 436984.

Gambrell, L. B., & Mazzoni, S. A. (1999). Emergent literacy: What research reveals about learning to read. C. Seefeldt (Ed.), Early childhood curriculum: Current findings in theory and practice (pp. 80105). New York: Teachers College Press.

Genishi, C., & Fassler, R. (1999). Oral language in the early childhood classroom: Building on diverse foundations. C. Seefeldt (Ed.), Early childhood curriculum: Current findings in theory and practice (pp. 5479). New York: Teachers College Press.

Gestwicki, C. (2011). Developmentally appropriate practice: Curriculum and development in early childhood education (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Guo, Y., Justice, L. M., Kaderavek, J. N., & McGinty, A. (August 2012). The literacy environment of preschool classrooms: Contributions to childrens emergent literacy growth. Journal of Research in Reading, 35(3), 308327.

Hammer, C. S., Hoff, E., Uchikoshi, Y., Gillanders, C., Castro, D., & Sandilos, L. E. (2014). The language and literacy development of young dual language learners: A critical review. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(4), 715733.

Hansen, J. A. (January 2007). First grade writers revisit their work. Young Children, 62(1), 2833.

Hendrick, J., & Weissman, P. (2007). Total learning: Developmental curriculum for the young child. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Hernandez, D. J. (2011). Double jeopardy: How third-grade reading skills and poverty influence high school graduation. ERIC: Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED518818

Hill, S., & Nichols, S. (2006). Emergent literacy: Symbols at work. O. N. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 153166). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Jalongo, M. R. (2010) Listening in early childhood: An interdisciplinary literature review. International Journal of Listening, 24, 118.

Kagan, S. L., Moore, E., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (1995). Reconsidering childrens early development and learning: Toward common views and vocabulary. Washington, DC: National Education Goals Panel.

Kampmann, J. A., & Bowne, M. T. (September 2011). Teacher, theres an elephant in the room! An inquiry approach to preschoolers early language learning. Young Children, 66(5), 8489.

Kostelnik, M. S., Soderman, A. K., & Whiren, A. P. (2010). Developmentally appropriate curriculum: Best practices in early childhood education (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Levine, L., & Munsch, J. (2011). Child development: An active learning approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Lipson, E. R. (2000). The New York Times parents guide to the best books for children (3rd ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press.

Love, A., Burns, M. S., & Buell, M. J. (January 2007). Writing: Empowering literacy. Young Children, 62(1), 1219.

Macrina, M., Hoover, D., & Becker, C. (2009). The challenge of working with dual language learners. Young Children, 64(2), 2734.

Mayer, K. (January 2007). Emerging knowledge about emergent writing. Young Children, 62(1), 3440.

Miller, P. J., Cho, G. E., & Bracey, J. R. (2005). Working class childrens experience through the prism of personal storytelling. Human Development, 48(3), 115-135.

Morlet, T. (Ed.). (2014, September). Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). KidsHealth from Nemours. Retrieved from https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/central-auditory.html

Morrow, L., & Gambrell, L. (2011). Best practices in literacy instruction (4th ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

NAEYC. (2005). Standard 2: Curriculum, a guide to the NAEYC early childhood program standard and related accreditation criteria. Washington, DC: Author.

NAEYC/IRA. (2009). Learning to read and write: Where we stand summary. Retrieved from www.naeyc.org/positionstatements/learning_readwrite.

National Association for the Education of Young Children and International Reading Association. (July 1998). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Young Children, 53(4), 3046.

Neuman, S. B., Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2000). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Office of Head Start. (2008). Dual language learning: What does it take? Head Start dual language report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Head Start Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families.

Orr, J. E. (2000). Linguistic perspectives on African American vernacular English and implications for the language arts classroom. Eric Document Reproduction Service No. ED 458811.

Patè, M. (2009). Language and social development in a multilingual classroom: A dinosaur project enriched with block play. Young Children, 64(4), 1219.

Pressley, M. (2006). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching (3rd ed.). New York: Guildford Press.

Rueda, R., & Yaden, D. B. (2006). The literacy education of linguistically and culturally diverse young children: An overview of outcomes, assessment, and large-scale intervention. O. N. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 167186). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Saunders, W., Goldenberg, C., & Marcelletti, D. (2014, October 22). English language development: Guidelines for instruction. American Educator. Retrieved from https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/summer-2013/english-language-development

Schickedanz, J. A. (1999). Much more than the ABCs: The early stages of reading and writing. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Shanahan, T. (2006). The National Reading Panel Report: Practical advice for teachers. Naperville, IL: Learning Point Associates.

Siefert, K. L. (2006). Cognitive development and the education of young children. O. N. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (pp. 922). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Smith, P. K. (2017). Pretend play and children’s cognitive and literacy development: Sources of evidence and some lessons from the past. In K. A. Roskos & J. F. Christie (Eds.), Play and literacy in early childhood: Research from multiple perspectives (pp. 320). New Jersey: Routledge.

South Carolina Good Start Grow Smart Task Force. (2005). South Carolina Good Start Grow Smart early learning standards. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Department of Education and Department of Social Services.

Souto-Manning, M. (2009). Acting out and talking back: Negotiating discourses in American early educational settings. Early Child Development and Care, 179(8), 10831094.

Sulzby, E. (1985). Childrens emergent reading of favorite storybooks: A developmental study. Reading Research Quarterly, 20, 458481.

Sulzby, E. (1991). The development of the young child and the emergence of literacy. J.Flood, J. M. Jensen, D. Lapp, & J. R. Squire (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the language arts (pp. 273285). New York: Macmillan.

Sulzby, E., & Teale, W. (1991). Emergent literacy. R. Barr, M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, Vol. II (pp. 727757). New York: Longman.

Sutterby, J. A., & Frost, J. (2006). Creating play environments for early childhood indoors and out. O. N. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 305321). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Thaler, M. (2008). The teacher from the black lagoon. New York: Scholastic.

University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning. (August 18, 2012). Big ideas in beginning reading. Retrieved from http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/pa/pa_what.php.

van Hoorn, J. L., Nourot, P. M., Scales, B. R., & Alward, K. R. (2011). Play at the center of the curriculum (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Wheeler, R., Cartwright, K., & Swords, R. (2012). Factoring AAVE into reading assessment and instruction. Reading Teacher, 65(6), 416425.

Youngquist, J., & Martinez-Griego, B. (2009). Learning in English, learning in Spanish. Young Children, (64)4, 9299.

Glossary

This glossary defines the most important terms and expressions used in this text. For more complete definitions, consult an online dictionary.

Accommodation Adapting existing schema
Accreditation Process involving self-study and documentation about how a program meets comprehensive quality standards
Achievement gap The distance between what a child is expected to know and be able to do at any point in time and what achievement test scores indicate the child does not know and cannot do
Achievement test Norm-referenced test that measures what a person knows
Active listening Giving a child your undivided attention and accepting what is said without judgment
Adaptation Modifications made to environments, materials, curriculum content, or strategies
Adequate yearly progress (AYP) Refers to the expected average gain in achievement test scores of a school's population from one year to the next
Affective development The dimensions of development that focus on social and emotional growth
Algorithm In algebra, a formula, or series of steps for problem solving
Alignment (mapping) Documentation in writing of how curriculum goals and components connect specifically with elements of learning standards
Alphabetical knowledge Knowledge of letters and the sounds they represent and being able to write them
Animism Tendency to attribute human characteristics to animals
Approaches to Learning (ATL) standards Component of state early learning standards that focuses on executive functioning and the ways children learn and develop through play, exploration, and inquiry
Artifact Concrete product generated by a child such as a drawing or writing sample, or photograph of concrete product such as block construction, saved by teacher to use for assessment purposes
Arts-infused An approach to curriculum that integrates experiences with the arts
Assimilation Accepting new stimuli as consistent with existing schema
Associative play Social stage of play when children begin to share and play together without necessarily sharing a desired goal or theme
Atelier A special area in a Reggio Emilia school that is set up like an art studio and serves as a dedicated space for working on projects
Auditory awareness Physical responses in infants indicating that the brain is receiving sound signals
Auditory discrimination Being able to tell the differences between sounds
Auditory recognition The ability to link a sound to its physical source
Authentic assessment Assessments that occur in natural settings with tools that are not norm-referenced
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) Broad continuum of behaviors related to difficulties with sensory processing, social interaction, and communication
Balanced approach A current approach to teaching reading with elements of both phonics and whole language
Basal readers Reading books developed with a controlled number of vocabulary words to promote sight reading and sequential skill development
Beginning writer A child who can dictate stories and whose writing contains some features of conventional writing
Behavior management Teachers' approach to promoting socially acceptable behavior
Benchmark A statement in learning standards about when expected progress should occur
Bloom's taxonomy Benjamin Bloom's 1956 hierarchy of critical thinking skills
Brainstorming Generating ideas about possibilities without necessarily committing to them as a plan
Centering Focusing on one attribute of an object to the exclusion of others
Child-directed speech The universal practice of adjusting the characteristics of speech to the developmental level of a child
Child psychology Field of study that assesses and analyzes how the minds of children work
Choke tube A small tube open on both ends that is the approximate size of a baby's airway, used to determine whether a toy or material presents a choking hazard
Class meeting Planned or spontaneous gathering of all children in the group to discuss ideas, behavior guidelines, or other topics that require collaborative consideration
Close observation Monitoring children carefully, paying particular attention to body language and other nonverbal cues
Cloze A teaching strategy of pausing to allow children to fill in an expected word or phrase to complete a thought or sentence
Code switching The ability to switch back and forth between two or more languages seamlessly
Coding Using a notation system to organize assessment artifacts
Comprehensive curriculum A curriculum that addresses all areas of learning
Concept map Ideas about concepts that can be learned in a study organized to show how they relate to different areas of the curriculum
Concrete operations Stage of development (from ages 7 to 11) when children can perform abstract operations with the assistance of concrete objects
Conservation Understanding that changing the arrangement of objects does not change the quantity (number, length) or that changing the size of a container does not affect the volume
Constraints Strategies used by young children to apply contextual clues in figuring out the meaning of unfamiliar words
Constructivist A person whose approach to teaching is based on Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development
Content area A specific subject area of curriculum, such as literacy, math, or science
Cooperative play Highest social level of play, when groups of children play together with a shared purpose or theme
Criterion referencing Measuring a child's performance against specific outcomes or objectives rather than comparison to a larger population of children
Cruising Holding onto furniture or other objects placed close together to move from one spot to another
Cultural values and norms Standards for behavior derived from socially constructed values
Curriculum A structured framework for teaching
Curriculum approach A broad, flexible conceptual framework for teaching based on a particular theoretical perspective
Curriculum model A conceptual framework for teaching that describes everything about what and how a teacher will teach
DATU Acronym for developmentally appropriate technology use, an extension of the principles of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) to using technologies with young children
Decoding The process of converting graphemes to phonemes to read text
Developmental delay Exists when a child does not meet benchmarks or milestones typically expected for children in a particular stage of development
Developmental domain A specific aspect of overall child development, such as cognitive, social/emotional, physical growth, or creativity
Developmentally appropriate practice Teaching based on developmental and cultural knowledge of both individuals and groups of children and their families
Dialect Characteristic features of various forms of a single language
Didactic A material designed for a specific instructional purpose
Differentiating instruction Adapting the environment, materials, and planning to meet the needs and interests of individual children
Digital literacy Development of skills, paralleling those of early literacy, that demonstrate awareness of communication with digital devices
Digital natives Term that refers to children who grow up with access to technologies
Discrepant event An experience that causes disequilibrium, prompting the brain to adapt existing schema to accommodate to the new experience
Discrete quantities Amounts that are counted
Disequilibrium A state of mental imbalance when existing schema do not match a new experience
Domain Patterns or sequences of development or learning specific to a particular dimension of the human organism, such as the cognitive (thinking), affective (social/emotional) or physical (gross/fine motor and brain) domain
Dual language learners Children who speak a language other than English at home, or who are learning two or more languages simultaneously
Early/emergent literacy The developmental process beginning at birth of acquiring language and communication skills
Early intervention Providing instructional and family support to identify and address special needs at the earliest possible time in order to give at-risk children the best possible transition to elementary school
Egocentric Cognitive characteristic of children in the preoperational period who are not yet able to understand the concept of multiple perspectives
Emergent curriculum Learning through long-term studies that evolve over time
Emergent study A long-term investigation about a topic that evolves over time rather than being entirely preplanned
Emergent writer A child who approximates writing behaviors but who doesn't yet use conventional features
Empathy Feelings of compassion for others, indicating the ability to consider another person's feelings and perspective
Environment The physical space within which early childhood curriculum is implemented
Environmental print Signs, logos, and other forms of text that children see in their surroundings
Environmental rating scale An assessment that uses a sliding numerical scale to denote performance or achievement
Equilibrium State of intellectual balance between the self and world
Ethnocentrism A view of others that is limited by the belief that one's own race is superior
Executive functioning Higher-order thinking, characterized in young children by the ability to plan activity and control impulses
Expressive language Speaking and writingthe forms of communication generated by a person
Family systems theory (FST) Looking at and studying children in the context of family
Fluency The stage at which reading and writing are accomplished with ease
Food preparation guidelines A set of principles and procedures published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture about the safe handling and preparation of foods that child-care professionals and schools are expected to follow
Formal assessment A test that expresses performance in terms of norm-referenced scores and administration according to a strict, uniform protocol
Formative assessment Ongoing evaluation
Games with rules The highest stage of cognitive play, which parallels concrete operations; groups of children play games with common understanding of rules or make up their own rules for games they want to play
Gender role The expectations for behavior considered socially appropriate for each sex
Gifted Characteristics indicative of intellectual capacity beyond what is considered typical
Grapheme Graphic symbols that represent the sounds in language (letters)
Graphic organizer Charts or other templates used to organize ideas, information, or procedures.
Guided discovery Providing scaffolding rather than direct instruction to promote learning
Guided reading A teaching strategy that calls children's attention to the features of books and content of the story or text
Head Start Federally funded preschool programs established in 1964 to provide early childhood education for children considered at risk for school failure
Hidden curriculum Things children and teachers are expected to know that may not be intentionally taught
High-stakes testing When the outcome of an individual child's performance on a single test is tied to decisions that will impact access to educational opportunities
Holophrases Single words used to represent entire thoughts
Inclusion A practice that places children with special needs in regular classroom or care settings with typically developing children
Indicator A statement in standards about a typical behavior or action showing that a child is meeting the standard
Individualized education plan (IEP) A plan developed for an individual child with special needs 3 years of age or older that includes curricular and developmental goals, needed resources, adaptations, and support personnel, time lines, and follow-up measures
Individualized family service plan (IFSP) Service plan developed for children from birth to 3 years of age with services sometimes delivered in the home
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) A federal law requiring that children with disabilities be included in regular classrooms or care settings to the maximum extent possible, also providing funding for resources to meet these children's special needs
Infants Children from birth to 18 months of age
Informal assessment Use of authentic or alternative tools and strategies
Informal mathematical knowledge Learning that takes place through daily experience and play
Intelligence deviation Expressing an intelligence test score in comparison with others who took the same test
Intelligence quotient Expressing an intelligence test score in terms of mental age compared with chronological age
Intelligence test A standardized measure that assesses learning capacity and mental ability
Interrater reliability The probability that consistent results will be achieved regardless of who conducts an environmental assessment
Invented spelling Early writing in which children approximate words using the letters they hear
Kindergarten The transitional year between preschool and first grade
KWL chart A graphic organizer that categorizes brainstorming ideas into what we know, what we want to know, and how we might learn
Label In education, a descriptor applied to individuals or groups of children indicating a particular disability or special need
Laboratory preschools Experimental and demonstration programs, located mainly at universities, that provide clinical sites for research about young children
Learning artifacts Samples of actual work produced by children
Learning community A group that views learning as a collaborative venture and whose primary purpose is to learn from and support one another
Light table Piece of equipment specifically designed with a translucent surface lighted from below
Limited-scope curriculum A curriculum that addresses a single or limited number of learning areas (like math or literacy)
Linear measure Measuring length, width, distance
Logicomathematical knowledge Mentally constructed relationships
Longitudinal study Research that tracks changes over time among a specific group of research participants
Magical thinking Irrational beliefs about why things occur
Manual dexterity Strength and coordination of the small muscles in the hands, which are required for writing and manipulating tools and objects
Media various materials and processes artists use for different effects and purposes
Metacognition Intentional thinking about one's ideas and thinking process
Mission statement Succinctly describes how the vision will be achieved
Modeling Demonstrating or showing children how to do something
Nonstandard measurement Using unconventional means for measuring, such as paper clips or string
Norm-referenced Referring to a test designed to report individual scores in comparison with a larger population selected to be representative of all those who will take the test
Number The idea or concept of quantity
Number sense Intuitive sense about quantity
Numeral The graphic symbol for a discrete quantity
Object permanence A developmental milestone achieved when an infant realizes that an object or person out of sight continues to exist
Objectivity Recording, reporting, or assessing without bias
Observation Assessment data obtained through close attention to children as they work and play
One-to-one correspondence Understanding that each number represents one and only one quantity
Operations Processes used for solving mathematical problems
Order irrelevance The fact that counting in any order does not change quantity
Ordering Putting items into a series
Ordinal numbers Numbers expressed in terms of sequence, as first, second, third
Pacing guide A tool that provides sequencing information about when different aspects of a curriculum should be addressed
Parallel play Playing side by side but not interacting with another child
Parent-Teacher Association An organization of parents, teachers and staff, all of whom work together to encourage parent participation in the school or classroom
Pattern Repeating series
Personal identity The child's internalized concept of his or her individual characteristics, ideals, and abilities
Phonemes Individual sound units
Phonemic awareness The ability to hear and distinguish between sounds in words
Phonics approach An approach to teaching reading that focuses on studying the sounds in words
Phonological awareness Prerequisite skills for reading, including alphabetical knowledge and phonemic awareness
Physical activity Body movements that require energy expenditure beyond that required during rest
Physical education Intentional instruction focused on the development and care of thebody
Physical fitness Acquisition of strength, endurance, flexibility, and performance, which are important for overall health and aerobic functioning
Physical knowledge Concepts based on observable properties of objects and phenomena
Picture book Distinct genre of books incorporating extensive use of illustrations as an important storytelling feature
Portfolio A collection of artifacts and assessment results intended to provide evaluation based on multiple sources of data
Practice play Cognitive stage of play that parallels the sensorimotor stage, when children engage in repetitive or reflexive activities
Practice skills Specific activities defined in science standards that are associated with scientific inquiry
Pragmatics The social uses of words that vary by culture
Preschoolers Children from ages 3 to 5
Primary caregiver An adult designated as the principal caregiver for a child or children
Primary resources Those resources that come directly from an author or developer of a curriculum
Private speech Self-talk
Problem solving Weighing multiple possible solutions to devise a strategy for resolving an issue or challenge
Process skills Skills used in mathematics to solve problems and think mathematically
Program standards A set of criteria intended for the comprehensive evaluation of all elements of a program, including curriculum
Prop box Set of props related to a single theme
Props Items used as accessories for play
Rational counting In counting, associating each number with the corresponding quantity
Reactive aggression Instinctive aggressive behavior due to high or sustained stress levels that compromise chemical processes in the brain, resulting in a fight or flight response
Readiness Criteria that must be met before a child is considered eligible for school (kindergarten); usually social and academic skills are considered among those criteria
Reasoning Applying understanding of cause-and-effect relationships; the application of logic to decision making
Receptive language Reading and listeningthe communication forms a person responds to generated by others
Resilience Ability to adapt to stress
Risk aversion Unwillingness to engage in activities due to fear of injury or harm
Rote counting Reciting numbers without knowing what they represent
Rubric A scoring tool that includes criteria based on observable behaviors
Scaffolding A teaching strategy that focuses on providing help and support to enable children to advance from tasks or activities they can do independently to a higher level
Schema Mental construct of a single idea
Science/engineering practices Comparable to math process skills; methods and processes used for science inquiry
Scope and sequence Tool provided with some curricula that indicates when and how different skills and concepts are addressed
Screen A standardized measure that provides evidence of possible deviations from normal development or behavior
Secondary resources Information and resources about a curriculum that are developed by people other than the original authors
Self-regulation Internalized cognitive process of impulse control
Self-talk Internal dialogue, or talking to oneself
Semantics The characteristics of a language that focus on meaning
Seriation Comparing multiple items in a set and ordering them by logical sequence
Skills assessment Direct observation of specific skills during either normal activity or constructed situations
Social-conventional knowledge Concepts based on arbitrary understandings determined by groups of people, societies, or cultures
Social ecology Characteristics of interaction patterns in a classroom or care
Social identity Sense of self with respect to others
Social story Strategy involving the creation of a personalized short story in three parts that is useful for providing intentional teaching of social skills
Solitary play Characteristic of infant and young toddlers, playing without awareness of or interest in others
Special need A condition or set of characteristics or behaviors that is not typical for other children of the same age, requiring resources or support services
Standardized tests Norm-referenced assessments/tests
Standards Statements about what children should know and be able to do, developed by states, programs, or organizations that represent different dimensions of curriculum
Summative assessment An evaluation that provides a report of cumulative achievement for a particular period of time, such as the end of a teaching unit or a school year
Symbolic play A cognitive stage of play that occurs during the preoperational period, characterized by using objects to represent other objects and pretend
Syntax Structural features of language
Teachable moment An unexpected, unplanned opportunity for teaching concepts or skills
Teacher-child ratio The number of children an individual teacher is responsible for, such as 1:4 for infants
Telegraphic speech Typical toddler speech using two- and three-word sentences
Thematic unit A long-term study that is generally planned in advance
Time out Popular strategy for disciplining children by removing them from the situation that was problematic and requiring them to sit alone for a specified period of time before resuming or returning to activity
Toddlers Children from 18 to 36 months ofage
Trade books High-quality children's literature used by teachers that is available commercially
Typically developing child A child whose observable characteristics conform to those reported and/or observed in the majority of children in a given population
Unit (kindergarten) blocks Wooden blocks of specific proportions children use for building structures
Vision statement Statement about what a program wants to achieve
Visual discrimination The ability to distinguish the form and shape features of written letters and words
Visual tracking Coordinated movement of the eye muscles to follow an object as it moves or to follow a static figure, such as text on a page
Vocabulary bursts Periods of time during late infancy and early toddlerhood characterized by a rapid increase in vocabulary
Whole-language approach An approach to teaching reading that focuses on whole words
Work sampling The process of collecting individual learning artifacts over time
World view Internalized values that affect how people perceive and interpret the ideas and actions of others
Writing The process of representing sounds as print or text
Zone of proximal development (ZPD) Described by Vygotsky as a time window between what a child can do independently to what he or she can do with teacher assistance

References

Ackerman, D. J., & Barnett, W. S. (March 2005). Policy report prepared for kin­dergarten: What does readiness mean? National Institute for Early Education Research. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/publications/policy-reports/policy-report-prepared-kindergarten-what-does-readiness-mean.

Administration for Children and Families. (January 16, 2012). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. Retrieved from the Office of Planning, Research, & Evaluation: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/.

Alvior, M. G. (2014, December 13). The meaning and importance of curriculum development. Retrieved from https://simplyeducate.me/2014/12/13/the-meaning-and-importance-of-curriculum-development/

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (March 2011). Obesity in children and teens. Retrieved July 7, 2012, from Facts for Families, 79: http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=Obesity+in+Children+and+Teens&section=Facts+for+Families.

American Cancer Society. (2007). National Health Education Standards. Retrieved from: American Cancer Society: http://www.can­cer.org/Healthy/MoreWaysACSHelpsYouStayWell/SchoolHealth/national-health-education-standards-2007?sitearea=PED.

American Heart Association. (June 20, 2012). Physical activity and children. Retrieved from American Heart Association: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/Physical-Activity-and-Children_UCM_304053_Article.jsp#.T3sY49lNUko.

Anderson, J., Moffatt, L., & Shapiro, J. (2006). Reconceptualizing language education in early childhood: Socio-cultural perspectives. B. S. Saracho (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 135152). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Anderson, K. (2012). Parents Know. Retrieved February 4, 2012, from Minnesota Department of Education Parents Know: http://parentsknow.state.mn.us/parentsknow/index.html.

Anderson, L., & Cruikshank K. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assess­ing: A revision of Blooms taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman.

Arbor Foundation. (2012). Nature Explore sourcebook: Field-tested components for inspiring outdoor learning. Lincoln, NE: Arbor Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundations.

Arnold, J. (2001). Endangered: Your child in a hostile world. Farmington, PA: Plough Books.

Baghban, M. (January 2007). Scribbles, labels, and stories: The role of drawing in the devel­opment of writing. Young Children, 62 (1), 2026.

Baker, I. (2005). What makes a great childrens book? Scholastic Parent & Child, 13(1), 56.

Bakken, L., Brown, N., & Downing, B. (2017). Early childhood education: The long-term benefits. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 31(2), 255269.

Baldwin, S. (April 15, 2012). Waldorf Education in a Nutshell. Retrieved from Moon Child: http://blog.bellalunatoys.com/2010/waldorf-education.html.

Barbour, N. (2003). The early history of child development laboratory programs. B. A. McBride and N. Barbour (Eds.), Bridging the gap between theory, research, and practice: The role of child development laboratory programs in Early Childhood Education (pp. 929). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Barnett, W. A., Junga, K., Yarosza, D. J., & Thomasa, J. (2008). Educational effects of the tools of the mind curriculum: A randomized trial. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 299313.

Barnett, W. S., & Lamy, C. S. (2006). Estimated impacts of number of years of preschool attendance on vocabulary, literacy, and math skills at kindergarten entry. Retrieved from National Institute for Early Education Research: http://nieer.org/resources/research/EstimatedImpacts.pdf.

Baroody, A. J., Lai, M., & Mix, K. S. (2006). The development of young childrens early num­ber and operation sense and its implications for early childhood education. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 187221). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Bartel, V. (2005). Merging literacies: A case study. Childhood Education, 81(4), 196201.

Bateson, G. (1976). A theory of play and fantasy. A. &. J. S. Bruner (Eds.), Play: Its role in development and evolution (pp. 119129). New York: Basic Books.

Beach, R. (2010). Developing a cybersafety program for early childhood education: A New Zealand case study. I. B. Berson (Ed.), High tech tots: Childhood in a digital world (pp. 7192). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Beaty, J. (2009). Observing development of the young child (7th ed). Columbus: Merrill.

Bedore, L. P., Pena, E. D., Garcia, M., & Cortez, C. (July 2005). Conceptual versus monolin­gual scoring: When does it make a difference? Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36(3), 188200.

Bellis, T. J. (2012). Understanding auditory processing disorders in children. American Speech-Hearing Language Association. Retrieved from http://www.asha.org/public/hear­ing/disorders/understand-apd-child.htm.

Bennett, T. (2007). Mapping family resources and support. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 2023). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Berger, E. H. (2008). Parents as partners in education: Families and schools working together (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Berk, L. E. (2001). Private speech and self-regulation in children with impulse-control difficulties: Implications for research and practice. Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, 2(1), 121.

Berkowitz, D. (March 2011). Oral storytelling: Building community through dialogue, engage­ment, and problem solving. Young Children, 66(2), 3640.

Bers, M. U., & Horn, M. S. (2010). Tangible programming in early childhood: Revisiting devel­opmental assumptions through new technologies. In I. R. Berson & M. J. Berson (Eds.), High-tech tots: Childhood in a digital world (pp. 4970). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

Berson, I. R., & Berson, M. J. (Eds.). (2010). High-tech tots: Childhood in a digital world. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Besharov, D. G. (2011). Consortium of Longitudinal Studies. Assessments of twenty-six early childhood evaluations. Silver Spring, MD: Maryland School of Public Policy, University of Maryland. Retrieved from http://www.welfareacademy.org/pubs/early_education/pdfs/Besharov_ECE%20assessments_Consortium_for_Longitudinal_Studies.pdf.

Biber, B. (1977). A developmental-interaction approach: Bank Street College of Education. M. C. Day & R. Parker (Eds.), The preschool in action: Exploring early childhood programs (pp. 423460). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Blaise, M., &. Taylor, A. (January 2012). Using queer theory to rethink gender equity in early childhood education. Young Children, 67(1), 8898.

Blake-Jones, M. (May 10, 2011). Personal storytelling in kindergarten. Presented at the 56th Annual Convention of the International Reading Association. Orlando, FL.

Bloom, B. S., & Krathwohl, D. R. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: Handbook I. The cognitive domain. New York: Longman.

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. (2001). Tools of the mind: A case study of implementing the Vygotskian approach in American early childhood and primary classrooms. Geneva, Switzerland: International Bureau of Education.

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. (SeptemberOctober, 2005). Self-regulation: A foundation for early learning. Principal Magazine, pp. 3032.

Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. J. (2007). Tools of the mind: The Vygotskian approach to early childhood education (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Boers, D. (2007). History of American education. New York: Peter Lang.

Bovey, T., & Strain, P. (July 10, 2012). Promoting positive peer social relationships: What works research brief. Retrieved from Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning: http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/briefs/wwb8.pdf.

Bowlby, J. (1940). The influence of early environment. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 154178.

Bradley, J., & Kibera, P. (2007). Closing the gap: Culture and promotion of inclusion in child care. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 3843). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Branscombe, N. A., Castle, K., Dorsey, A. G., Surbeck, E., & Taylor, J. B. (2003). Early child­hood curriculum: A constructivist perspective. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Bredekamp, S. (November 1993). Reflections on Reggio Emilia. Young Children, 49(1), 1318.

Bredekamp, S., & Copple, C. (1997). Developmentally appropriate practice in early child­hood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Bredekamp, S., & Rozengrant, T. J. (1992). Reaching potentials: appropriate curriculum and assessment for young children. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Brice-Heath, S. (Ed.). (1991). Children of promise: Literate activity in linguistically and cultur­ally diverse classrooms. Washington, DC: National Education Association.

Brice-Heath, S. (2012). Words at work and play: Three decades in family and community life. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Broek, E. C., et al. (July 10, 1994). The original social stories book. Arlington, TX: Future Education. Retrieved from Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations of Early Learning: http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/scriptedstories/tips.html.

Bronfenbrenner, U. I. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (2004). Making human beings human: Bioecological perspectives on human development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Bronson, P., & Merryman, A. (2009). Nurture shock: New thinking about children. New York: Twelve.

Bruno, H. E. (2011). The neurobiology of emotional intelligence: using our brain to stay safe under pressure. Young Children, 66(1), 2227.

Buchanan, T. B., Burts, D., Bidner, J. & White, B. F. (1998). Predictors of the developmental appropriateness of the beliefs and practices of first, second and third grade teachers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13, 459483.

Buhs, E., Ladd, G. W. (2001). Peer rejection as an antecedent in young childrens school adjustment: An examination of mediating processes. Developmental Psychology, 37, 550560.

Bunge, S., & Crons, E. A. (2009). Neural correlates of the development of cognitive control. M. J. Rumsey (Ed.), Neuroimaging in developmental clinical neuroscience (pp. 2237). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Burts, D. C., Hart, C. H., Charlesworth, R., & Kirk, L. (1990). A comparison of frequencies of stress behaviors observed in kindergarten children in classrooms with developmentally appropriate versus developmentally inapppropriate instructional practices. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 5, 407423.

California Department of Education. (2018, April 12). Social-emotional development domain. Retrieved from https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/itf09socemodev.asp.

Calkins, L. (1994). The art of teaching writing: New edition. New York: Heinemann.

Campbell, F. A. (1994). Effects of early intervention on intellectual and academic achieve­ment: A follow-up study of children from low-income families. Child Development, 65, 684698.

Campbell, F. A. (1995). Cognitive and school outcomes for high-risk African-American stu­dents at middle adolescence: Positive effects of early intervention. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 743772.

Campbell, F. A., Ramey, C. T., Pungello, E., Sparling, J., & Miller-Johnson, S. (2002). Early childhood education: Young adult outcomes from the Abecedarian project. Applied Developmental Science, 6, 4257.

Campbell, P. (1999). Fostering each childs understanding of mathematics. In C. Seefeldt (Ed.), The early childhood curriculum: Current findings in theory and research (3rd ed., pp.106132). New York: Teachers College Press.

Cannella, G. S., Swadener, B. B., & Che, Y. (2007). Reconceptualists. R. S. New & M. Cochran (Eds.), Early childhood education: An international encyclopedia. pp. 693696. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

Carlson, F. (2006). Big body play: Why boisterous, vigorous, and very physical play is essen­tial to childrens development and learning. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Carlson, S. &. Meltzoff, A. N. (2008). Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children. Developmental Science, 11(2), 282298.

Carson, R. (1965). The sense of wonder. New York: Harper & Row.

Carter, D., & Carter, M. (2003). Designs for living and learning: Transforming early childhood environments. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

Catron, C. E., & Allen, J. (2003). Early childhood curriculum: A creative play model (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Cecil, N. L., Baker, S., & Lozano, A. S. (2017). A quest for balance. In Striking a balance: A comprehensive approach to early literacy (pp. 1530). London: Taylor and Francis.

Chaille, C. (2008). Constructivism across the curriculum in early childhood classrooms: Big ideas as inspiration. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Chapman, L. (2007). An update on No Child Left Behind and national trends in education. Arts Education Policy Review, 109(1), 2536.

Chapman, L. H. (2005). No child left behind in art? Art Education, 58(1), 616.

Charlesworth, R. (2008). Understanding child development (7th ed.). Clifton Park, NJ: Thomson Delmar.

Charlesworth, R. (2005). Experiences in math for young children (5th ed.). Albany, NY: Delmar.

Charlesworth, R., Hart, C. H., Burts, D. C., Thomasson, R. H., Mosley, J., & Fleege, P. O. (1993). Measuring the developmental appropriateness of kindergarten teachers beliefs and practices. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 8(3), 255276.

Chen, J. J., & Shire, S. H. (March 2011). Strategic teaching: Fostering communication skills in diverse young learners. Young Children, 66(2), 2027.

Cherry, K. (2018, March 29). What is nature vs. nurture? Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-nature-versus-nurture-2795392

Chick, K. H.-H. (Spring 2002). The impact of child care on gender role development and gender stereotypes. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(3), 149154.

Christian, L. (2007). Understanding families: Applying family systems theory to early chlid­hood practice. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 411). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Clay, M. (1975). What did I write? Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Clay, J. (2007). Creating safe, just places to learn for children of lesbian and gay parents. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 2427). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Clements, D. A., & Sarama, J. (Eds.). (2004). Engaging young children in mathematics: Standards for early childhood mathematics education. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Cohen, A. B. (1996, Summer/Fall). A brief history of funding for child care in the United States. The future of children. Financing Child Care, 6 (1), 2640.

Cohn, D., & Caumont, A. (2016, March 31). 10 demographic trends that are shaping the U.S. and the world. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/03/31/10-demographic-trends-that-are-shaping-the-u-s-and-the-world/

Colorado Department of Education (2009). Social studies standards. Retrieved from: http://www.cde.state.co.us/CoSocialStudies/index.asp.

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Initiative. (2010). Common Core State Standards for mathematics [PDF file]. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/wp-content/uploads/Math_Standards1.pdf

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Initiative. (2010). Mathematics standards. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/Math/

Conant, B. (April 4, 2012). Room arrangement: The basics. Retrieved from http://users.stargate.net/~cokids/roomdesign.html.

Connecticut Office of Early Childhood. (2016). Supporting all children using the Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards: Meeting the needs of diverse learners [PDF file]. Retrieved from http://www.ct.gov/oec/lib/oec/DiverseLearnersApril_26_2016_Finalw.pdf

Cook, J. L., & Cook, G. (2005). Child development: Principles and perspectives. Boston: Pearson.

Cooper, P. E. (2005). Literacy learning and pedagogical purpose in Vivian Paleys story-telling curriculum. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 5(3), 229251.

Cooper, P. M. (2009). The classroom all young children need: Lessons in teaching by Vivian Paley. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Key messages of the position statement. Reprinted from Developmentally appropriate practices for programs serving children birthage eight. Retrieved February 14, 2012, from National Association for the Education of Young Children: http://www.naeyc.org/positionstatements/dap.

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8 (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Cox, P. R., & Dykes, M. K. (2001). Effective classroom adaptations for students with visual impairments. Teaching Exceptional Children, 33(6), 6874.

Croll, J., & Kunze, K. (2010). Youth protection online: Joint efforts are needed. I. B. Berson (Ed.), High tech tots: Childhood in a digital world (pp. 153184). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Cur, C. (February 2011). Physics in preschool. International Journal of the Physical Sciences, 6(4), 939943.

Currenton, S. M., Craig, M. J., & Flanigan, N. (2008). Use of decontextualized talk across story contexts: How oral storytelling and emergent reading can scaffold childrens devel­opment. Early Education and Development, 19(1), 161187.

Curriculum Associates. (2011). Brigance early childhood screens. New Jersey: Curriculum Associates.

Darlington, R. B. (1981). Consortium of Longitudinal Studies. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 3(6), 3745.

Datnow, A., & Castellano, M. (2000). Teachers responses to success for all: How beliefs, experience, and adaptations shape implementation.American Educational Research Journal, 37(3), 775799.

David, J. L. (October 2008). Pacing guides. Educational Leadership, 66(2), 8788.

David, J. L., & Greene, D. (2007).Improving mathematics instruction in Los Angeles high schools: An evaluation of the PRISMA pilot program. Palo Alto, CA: Bay Area Research Group.

Deiner, P. (2009). Infants and toddlers: Development and curriculum planning (2nd ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.

Delpit, L. (2006). Other peoples children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: New Press.

Denver Developmental Materials, Inc. (2012). Denver II [online version]. Denver Developmental Materials, Inc. Retrieved from: http://denverii.com/denverii/.

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and our­selves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Deviney, J., Duncan, S., Harris, S., Rody, M., & Rosenberry, L. (2010). Inspiring spaces for young children. Silver Spring, MD: Gryphon Press.

Deviney, J., Duncan, S., Harris, S., Rody, M. A., & Rosenberry, L. (2010). Rating observation scale for inspiring environments. Silver Spring, MD: Gryphon House.

Devries, R., Zan, B., Hidelbrandt, C., Edmiaston, R., & Sales, C. (2002). Developing construc­tivist early childhood curriculum: Practical principles and activities. New York: Teachers College Press.

Dewey, J. (January, 1897). My pedagogic creed. School Journal, 54, 7780.

Dewey, J. (1903). Democracy in education. The Elementary Teacher, 4(4).

Dewey, J. (1904). The relation of theory to practice in education. Third Yearbook of the National Society for the Scientific Study of Education (pp. 930). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. New York: Macmillan.

DeWitt, P. (2015, June 2). Do we practice what we preach? Education Week. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2015/06/do_we_practice_what_we_preach.html

Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children. (2007). Promoting posi­tive outcomes for children with disabilities: Recommendations for curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation. Missoula, MT: Division for Early Childhood.

Dombrink-Green, M. (September 2011). A conversation with Vivian Gussin-Paley. Young Children, 66(5), 9093.

Dombro, A. L., & Lerner, C. (2007). Sharing the care of infants and toddlers. D. Kovalek. (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 1619). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Donnelly, J. E., Hillman, C. H., Castelli, D., Etnier, J. L., Lee, S., Tomporowski, P., . . . Szabo-Reed, A. N. (2016). Physical activity, fitness, cognitive function, and academic achievement in children: A systematic review. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 48(6), 11971222.

Duckworth, A. L., White, R. E., Matteucci, A. J., Shearer, A., & Gross, J. J. (2016). A stitch in time: Strategic self-control in high school and college students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(3), 329341.

Early Learning, Later Success: The Abecedarian Study. (1999). Highlights of the age 21 follow-up study. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, FPG Child Development Center.

Education Commission of the States. (2018, June). State kindergarten-through-third-grade policies. Retrieved from http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/MBQuest2RTanw?rep=KK3Q1811

Education Week (May 25, 2011). Issues: Charter Schools. Retrieved from Education Week: http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/charter-schools/.

Edwards, L. C. (2009). The creative arts: A process approach for teachers and children (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G.(Eds.) (1998). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach advanced reflections. Westport, CT: Ablex.

Ehlert, L. (1989). Eating the alphabet. New York: Scholastic.

Eliason, C., & Jenkins, L. (2008). A practical guide to early childhood curriculum (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

Elkind, D. (2001). The hurried child. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books.

Elkind, D. (January 2012). Knowing is not understanding: Fallacies and risks of early aca­demic instruction. Young Children, 67(1), 8487.

Elster, C. A. (September 2010). Snow on my eyelashes: Language awareness through age-appropriate poetry experiences. Young Children, 65(5), 4855.

Epstein, J. L. (2001). School, family, and community partnerships: preparing educators and improving schools. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Epstein, A. (2009). Growing readers early literacy preschool curriculum (2nd ed.) Ypsilanti, MI: High Scope Educational Research Foundation.

Epstein, A. (2010). Numbers plus mathematics curriculum for preschool. Ypsilanti, MI: High Scope Educational Research Foundation.

Epstein, A. S., & Hohmann, M. (2012). The high scope preschool curriculum. Ypsilanti, MI: High Scope Educational Research Foundation.

Epstein, A. S., Schweinhart, L. J., & McAdoo, L. (1996). Models of early childhood education. Ypsilanti, MI: High Scope Press.

Erdman, S., & Downing, M. (2015, February/March). The science of superheroes. Teaching Young Children, 8(3). Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/tyc/feb2015/science-superheroes

Erikson, E. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.

Fasold, R. W. (1999). Ebonic need not be English. ERIC issue paper. Eric Document Reproduction Service No. 436984.

Ferrari, A., & Giacopini, E. (Eds.). (2005). Remida day. Reggio Emilia, Italy: Reggio Children.

Fenwick, W. E., & Anderson, G. L. (Eds.). (2005). The Sage handbook of educational leader­ship: Advances in theory, research, and practice (p. 499). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Fiese, B., Eckert, T., & Spagnola, M. (2006). Family context in early childhood: A look at prac­tices and beliefs that promote early learning. B. S. Saracho (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (pp. 393409). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

File, N., &. Gullo, D. F. (November 57, 2000). Preservice teachers beliefs about primary classroom practice: Similarities and differences between early childhood and primary pre­pared students. Issues in early childhood education: Curriculum, teacher education, and dissemination of informationarion. Proceedings of the Lilian Katz Symposium. Champaign, IL: ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 470 684.

Flagler, S. (1996). Multidimensional assessment of young children through play. Lewisville, NC: Kaplan Press.

Flynn, S. (June 21, 2012). Brain boosters! Fun and easy movement activities to enhance cognition in young children. Presentation at 2012 College of Charleston Early Childhood Summit, Charleston, SC., June 2022, 2012.

Fox, L., & Lentini, R. H. (2006). You got it! Teaching social and emotional skills. Beyond the Journal: Young Children on the Web, 17.

Frankenberg, E. (2009). The segregation of American teachers. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 17(1), 145.

Fraser, S. & Gestwicki, C. (2002). Authentic childhood: Exploring Reggio Emilia in the class­room (2nd ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Publishing.

Frede, E., & Ackerman, D. J. (March, 2007). Preschool curriculum decision-making: Dimensions to consider. Preschool Policy Brief, Issue 12. New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, Rutgers University.

Gallagher, K. C., & Mayer, K. (2006). Teacher-child relationships at the forefront of effective practice. Young Children, 61(6), 4449.

Gallagher, K. C., Dadisman, K., Farmer, T. W., Huss, L., & Hutchins, B. C. (2007). Social dynamics of early childhood classrooms. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education (pp. 1748). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Gallahue, D. L., & Ozmun, J.C. (2006). Understanding motor development: Infants, children, adolescents, adults. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Galinsky, E. (2012). Learning communities: an emerging phenomenon. Young Children, 67(1), 2027.

Gambrell, L. B., & Muzzoni, S. A. (1999). Emergent literacy: What research reveals about learning to read. C. Seefeldt (Ed.), Early childhood curriculum: Current findings in theory and practice (pp. 80105). New York: Teachers College Press.

Gandini, L. (1993). Fundamentals of the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood educa­tion. Young Children, 49(1), 48.

Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books.

Gardiner, H., &. Kozmitzki, C. (2005). Lives across cultures: Cross-cultural human develop­ment (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Gartrell, D. (March 2007). Competition: What place in our programs? Beyond the Journal: Young Children on the Web. 14. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200703/BTJGuidanceMatters.pdf.

Gartrell, D. (2011). Children who have serious conflicts: Part 1. Reactive aggression. Young Children, 66(2), 5860.

Gartrell, D. (2012). From rules to guidelines: Moving to the positive. Young Children, 67(1), 5658.

GEMS World Academy Chicago. (n.d.). Six stages of play: How young children develop their social skills. Retrieved from http://gemschicagoearlyyears.com/six-stages-of-play-how-young-children-develop-their-social-skills/

Geist, E. (January 2003). Infants and toddlers exploring mathematics. Young Children, 58(1), 1012.

Genishi, C., & Fassler, R. (1999). Oral language in the early childhood classroom: Building on diverse foundations. C. Seefeldt (Ed.), Early childhood curriculum: Current findings in theory and practice (pp. 5479). New York: Teachers College Press.

Gestwicki, C. (2004). Home, school and community relations (5th ed.). Clifton Park, NJ: Delmar.

Gestwicki, C. (2011). Developmentally appropriate practice: Curriculum and development in early childhood education (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Gill, T. (October 2007). No fear [summary]. London, UK: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Giroux, H., & Purpel, D. (1983). The hidden curriculum and moral education: Deception or discovery? Berkeley, CA: McCutchan.

Glover, J., & Ronning, R. R. (1987). Historical foundations of educational psychology. New York: Plenum Press.

Goffin, S., & Wilson, C. (2001). Curriculum models and early childhood education: Appraising the relationship (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Gonzalez, N. E., Moll, L., & Amanti, C. (Eds.). (2005). Funds of knowledge: Theorizing prac­tices in households, communities, and classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Grant, K. B., & Ray, J. A. (2010). Home, school, and community collaboration: Culturally responsive family involvement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Greenspan, S. I., Wieder, S., & Simons, R. (1998). The child with special needs: Encouraging intellectual and emotional growth. Reading, MA: Perseus Books.

Gropper, N., & Froschl, M. (2000). The role of gendering young childrens teasing and bully­ing behavior. Equity and Excellence in Education, 33(1), 4856.

Guanella, F. M. (1934). Block building activities of young children. Archives of Psychology, 174, 1192.

Guldberg, H. (2009). Reclaiming childhood: Freedom and play in an age of fear. New York: Routledge.

Gullo, D. (2006). Alternative means of assessing childrens learning in early childhood class­rooms. B. S. Saracho (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 443455). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Guo, Y., Justice, L. M., Kaderavek, J. N., & McGinty, A. (August 2012). The literacy environ­ment of preschool classrooms: Contributions to childrens emergent literacy growth. Journal of Research in Reading, 35(3), 308327.

Halacka-Ball, R. A. (2007). Supporting and involving families in meaningful ways. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 23). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Hamlin, M., & Wisneski, D. B. (May 2012). Supporting the scientific thinking and inquiry of toddlers and preschoolers through play. Young Children, 67(3), 8288.

Hammer, C. S., Hoff, E., Uchikoshi, Y., Gillanders, C., Castro, D., & Sandilos, L. E. (2014). The language and literacy development of young dual language learners: A critical review. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(4), 715733.

Han, H. S., West-Olatunj, C., & Thomas, M. N. (Winter 20102011). Use of racial identity development theory to explore cultural competence among early childhood educators. Journal of the Southeastern Regional Association of Teacher Educators, 20(1), 111.

Hansen, J. A. (January 2007). First grade writers revisit their work. Young Children, 62(1), 2833.

Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. (2006). Infant toddler environment rating scale, revised edition, updated (ITERS-R). New York: Teachers College Press.

Harms, T., Clifford, R. M. & Cryer, D. (2005). Early childhood environment rating scale, revised edition, updated (ECERS-R). New York: Teachers College Press.

Harms, T., Cryer, D., & Clifford, R. M. (2007). Family child care environment rating scale, revised edition (FCCERS-R). New York: Teachers College Press.

Harms, T., Jacobs, E. V., & White, D. R. (1995). School-age care environment rating scale (SACERS). New York: Teachers College Press.

Harry, B., &. Klingner, J. (February 2007). Discarding the deficit model. Educational Leadership, 64 (5), 1621.

Helm, J., Beneke, S., & Steinheimer, K. (2007). Windows on learning: documenting young childrens work (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.

Helm, J. (2007). Windows on learning: Documenting young childrens work (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.

Hemmeter, M. L., Maxwell, K. L., Ault, M. J., & Schuster, J. W. (2001). Assessment of prac­tices in early elementary classrooms (APEEC). New York: Teachers College Press.

Henderson, J., & Kesson, K. R. (2004). Curriculum wisdom: Educational decisions in demo­cratic societies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Hendrick, J., & Weissman, P. (2007). Total learning: Developmental curriculum for the young child (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Hernandez, D. J. (2011). Double jeopardy: How third-grade reading skills and poverty influence high school graduation. ERIC: Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED518818

Heroman, C., et al. (2010). The creative curriculum for preschool (5th ed.). Bethesda, MD: Teaching Strategies.

Hertzog, N. (Spring 2001). Reflections and impressions from Reggio Emilia: Its not about art! Early Childhood Research & Practice.

Hestenes, L., DeBord, K., Moore, R., Cosco, N., & McGinnis, J. (2005). Preschool outdoor environment measurement scale (POEMS). Winston Salem, NC: Kaplan Company.

Hewett, V. M. (Winter 2001). Examining the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood edu­cation. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(2), 95100.

Hewitt, K. (January 2001). Blocks as a tool for learning: Historical and contemporary per­spectives. Young Children, 612.

Heywood, C. (2001). A history of childhood: Children and childhood in the West from medi­eval to modern times. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Hill, D. (n.d.). Mindful technology use DOs for parents [Blog post]. Media Cricket. Retrieved from https://keepingtechincheck.com/mindful-technology-use-dos-for-parents/

Hill, L. T., Stremmel, A. J., & Fu, V. R. (2005). Teaching as inquiry: Rethinking curriculum in early childhood education. Boston: Pearson.

Hill, S., & Nichols, S. (2006). Emergent literacy: Symbols at work. O. N. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 153166). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Hirsch, E. (March 12, 2008). Education Week: Teacher PD Sourcebook. Retrieved from Education Week: http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2008/03/01/02hirsch.h01.html.

Howes, C., & Lee, L. (2007). If youre not like me, can we play? O. S. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education (pp. 259277). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Howes, C., Unger, O., & Matheson, C. C. (1992). The collaborative construction of pretend: social pretend play functions. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Hull, K., Goldhaber, J., & Capone, A. (2002). Opening doors: An introduction to inclusive early childhood education. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Hummingbird Educational Resources. (2010). Large and fine motor skills plus playdough reci­pes. Retrieved July 8, 2012, from Hummingbird Educational Resources: http://www.hummingbirded.com/fine-motor.html.

Hyun, E. (Fall 1996). New directions in early childhood teacher preparation: Developmentally and culturally appropriate practice (DCAP). Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 17(3), 719.

Hyun, E. (2002). No Child Left Behind Act. R. S. New & M. Cochran (Eds.) Early childhood education: An international encyclopedia. New York: Greenwood.

Institute of Medicine and National Research Council of the National Academies. (2015). Child development and early learning. In L. Allen & B. B. Kelly (Eds.), Transforming the workforce for children birth through age 8: A unifying foundation (pp. 85204). Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK310550/.

Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. (2013). Physical activity, fitness, and physical education: Effects on academic performance. In H. W. Kohl III & H. D. Cook (Eds.), Educating the student body: Taking physical activity and physical education to school (pp. 161196). Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201501/.

International Play Association (IPA) World. (2009). Retrieved February 5, 2012, from International Play Association: promoting the childs right to play. Retrieved from: http://ipaworld.org/general-comment-on-31/uncrc-article-31/un-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child-1/.

Jablon, J. R., Dombro, A. L., & Dichtelmiller, M. L. (2007). The power of observation for birth through eight (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Jackson, P. W. (1968). Life in classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press.

Jalongo, M. R. (2010). Listening in early childhood: An interdisciplinary literature review. International Journal of Listening, 24, 118.

Jantz, R., & Seefeldt, C. (1999). Early childhood social studies. In C. Seefeldt, The early child­hood curriculum: Current findings in theory and practice (3rd ed., pp. 159178). New York: Teachers College Press.

Jaruszewicz, C. (2005).Responsible eclecticism: Using a structured analysis process to facilitate curriculum discourse with graduate preservice early childhood education stu­dents.Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 26(4), 361375.

Jaruszewicz, C. (2006).Opening windows on teaching and learning: Transformative and emancipatory learning precipitated by experimenting with visual documentation of stu­dent learning.Educational Action Research, 14(3), 357375.

Jaruszewicz, C. (November 11, 2008). The continuing importance of play. Keynote Speech at Charleston County First Steps Annual Meeting. Charleston, SC.

Jewkes, A. M., & Morrison, F. J. (2007). Parenting and schooling influences on early self-regulation development. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspec­tives on social learning in early childhood education (pp. 133148). Charlotte, NC: InformationAge.

Kaczmarek, L. A. (2007). A team approach: Supporting families of children with disabili­ties in inclusive programs. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 2836). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Kagan, S. L. (September 2003). Young children and creativity: Lessons from the National Education Goals Panel. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.

Kagan, S. L., Moore, E., Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (1995). Reconsidering childrens early develop­ment and learning: Toward common views and vocabulary. Washington, DC: National Education Goals Panel, U.S. Government Printing Office.

Kahn, D. (Winter 2010). The 200910 NAMTA Montessori School salary and tuition survey. The NAMTA Journal, 35(1), 345. Retrieved from http://www.montessori-namta.org/PDF/2009survey.pdf.

Kampmann, J. A., & Bowne, M. T. (September 2011). Teacher, theres an elephant in the room! An inquiry approach to preschoolers early language learning. Young Children, 66(5), 8489.

Kantrowicz, B., & Wingert, P. (December 2, 1991). The ten best schools in the world. Newsweek, pp. 5053.

Karson, M. (2014, January 14). Punishment Doesn't Work [Blog post]. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/feeling-our-way/201401/punishment-doesnt-work.

Katch, H., & Katch, J. (Fall 2010). When boys wont be boys: Discussing gender with young children. Harvard Educational Review, 80(3), 379390.

Katz, L. (1999). Curriculum disputes in early childhood education. ERIC Digest Document Number #ED436298.

Katz, L., & Chard, S. (2000). Engaging childrens minds. New York: Praeger.

Kauerz, K. (2006). K2 Standards and assessments: A 50-state review. New York: Pew Charitable Trust.

Kauffman, D., Johnson, S. M., Kardos, S. M., Liu, E., & Peske, H. G. (2002). Lost at sea: New teachers experiences with curriculum and assessment.Teachers College Record, 104(2), 273300.

Kavanaugh, R. D. (2006). Pretend play. In E. B. Spodek & O. N. Saracho (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 269278). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Kids Count. (January 12, 2011). Kids count data book. Retrieved from Kids Count: datacen­ter.kidscount.org/databook/2011.

Kids Matter. (2009). Helping children learn positive friendship skills. Retrieved from Kids Matter: http://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/primary/uploads/2009/09/friends-overview.pdf.

Kilpatrick, T. H. (September 1918). The project method. Teachers College Record, 19, 319334.

Kindermann, T. A., & Gest, S. D. (2009). Assessment of the peer group: Identifying naturally occurring social networks and capturing their effects. K. H. Rubin, W. M. Lukowski, & B. Laursen (Eds.), Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups (pp. 100120). New York: Guilford Press.

Klein, J. (October 1971). Head Start: Intervention for what? Educational Leadership, pp.1619.

Kohlberg, L. (1966). A cognitive-developmental analysis of childrens sex-role concepts and attitudes. E. E. Maccoby (Ed.), The development of sex differences (pp. 82173). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Kohn, A. (1999). Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, As, praise, and other bribes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Kostelnik, M. J., Soderman, A. K., & Whiren, A. P. (2010). Developmentally appropriate cur­riculum: Best practices in early childhood education (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Kowalski, K. (2007). The development of social identity and intergroup attitudes in young children. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on social learn­ing in early childhood education (pp. 4982). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Ladd, G. W., & Burgess, K. B. (2001). Do relational risks and protective factors moderate the linkages between childhood aggression and early psychological and school adjustment? Child Development, 72, 15791601.

Ladd, G. W., Herald, S. L., & Andrews, R. K. (2006). Young childrens peer relations and social competence. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 2354). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Lake, R. (Fall 2010). Reconstructing multicultural education through personal story. Multicultural Education, 4347.

Lambert, R., Abbott-Shim, M., & Sibley, A. (2006). Evaluating the quality of early childhood educational settings. B. S. Saracho (Ed.), Review of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 457475). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Landry, C. E., & Forman, G. E. (1999). Research on early science education. C. Seefeldt (Ed.), The early childhood curriculum: Current findings in theory and practice (3rd ed., pp. 133158). New York: Teachers College Press.

Lazar, I. (1978). Lasting effects after preschool. A report of the Consortium for Longitudinal Studies. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Lazar, I. D. (1982). Lasting effects of early education: A report from the Consortium for Longitudinal Studies. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 47(195), 23.

Lee, S., & Dalmon, M. E. (2008). Engaging in a reflective examination about diversity: Interviews with three preservice teachers. Multicultural Education, 3644.

Levine, L. E., & Munsch, J. (2011). Child development: An active learning approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Lim, S.-Y. (2008). Family Involvement Models. In G. Olsen & M. L. Fuller, Home-school rela­tions: Working successfully with parents and families (3rd ed., pp. 182189). Boston: Pearson.

Linder, S. (2012). Interactive whiteboards in early childhood mathematics. Young Children, 67(3), 2635.

Linder, S. M. (2017, October). Early childhood mathematics: Making it count. Institute for Child Success [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.instituteforchildsuccess.org/themencode-pdf-viewer/?file=https://www.instituteforchildsuccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/EarlyMathBrief.pdf

Linn, M. I. (December 2001). An American educator reflects on the meaning of the Reggio experience. Phi Delta Kappan, pp. 332334.

Lippincott, C. (July 21, 2004). Fine motor activities for preschoolers. Retrieved from Make the grade OT.com: http://make-the-grade-ot.com/Fine%20Motor.html.

Lippincott, C. (2006). Activities to aid in the development of an efficient grasp. Retrieved from Make the grade OT.com: http://make-the-grade-ot.com/Activities%20to%20Aid%20in%20the%20Development%20of%20an%20Efficient%20Grasp.pdf.

Lippincott, C. (2009). Learning to cut with scissors. Retrieved from Make the grade OT.com: http://make-the-grade-ot.com/Learning%20to%20Cut%20with%20Scissors.html.

Lipson, E. R. (2000). The New York Times parents guide to the best books for children (3rd ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press.

Loewus, L. (2017, August 15). The nation's teaching force is still mostly white and female. Education Week. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/08/15/the-nations-teaching-force-is-still-mostly.html

Louis, K. S., Febey, K., & Schroeder, R. (2005). State-mandated accountability in high schools: Teachers interpretations of a new era.Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 27(20), 177204.

Louv, R. (2008). Last child in the woods. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.

Love, A., Burns, M. S., & Buell, M. J. (January 2007). Writing: Empowering literacy. Young Children, 62(1), 1219.

Lynch, M. (2016, November 19). Social constructivism in education. Retrieved from https://www.theedadvocate.org/social-constructivism-in-education/

MacDonald, S. (2001). Block play: A complete guide to learning and playing with blocks. Lewisville, NC: Gryphon House.

MacPherson, I., & Brooker, R. (2000). Positioning stakeholders in curriculum leadership: How can teacher educators work with teachers to discover and create their place? Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 28(1), 6985.

Macrina, M., Hoover, D., & Becker, C. (2009). The challenge of working with dual language learners. Young Children, 64(2), 2734.

Malaguzzi, L. (1993). For an education based on relationships. (Lella Gandini, Trans.). Young Children, 49(1), 912.

Manning, M., & Baruth, L. G. (2000). Multicultural education of children and adolescents. Needhan Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Marigliano, M. L., & Russo, M. J. (September 2011). Moving bodies, building minds: Foster preschoolers critical thinking and problem solving through movement. Young Children, 66(5), 4449.

Marotz, L. R., Cross, M. Z., & Rush, J. M. (2001). Health, safety, and nutrition for the young child (5th ed.). Albany, NY: Delmar.

Maslow, A. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370396.

Massachusetts Department of Education Early Childhood Advisory Council. (2003). Early childhood program standards for three and four year olds. Malden, MA: Massachusetts Department of Education. Retrieved from Massachusetts Department of Education. http://www.eec.state.ma.us/docs1/research_planning/ta_earlychildprogstan.pdf.

Masse, L. N. (2002). A benefit cost analysis of the Abecedarian early childhood intervention. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University, National Institute for Early Education Research.

Masten A. S., & Gewirtz A. H. (2006). Resilience in development: The importance of early childhood. R. E. Tremblay, R. G. Barr, & R. De V. Peters (Eds.), Encyclopedia on early child­hood development (pp. 16). Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development. Retrieved October 1, 2012, from: http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/documents/Masten-GewirtzANGxp.pdf.

Mayer, K. (January 2007). Emerging knowledge about emergent writing. Young Children, 62(1), 3440.

Maynard, T., & Nigel, T. (Eds.) (2004). An introduction to early childhood studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

McAlpine, L., Frew, E., & Lucas, M. (1991). Mechanisms for helping becoming practitioners develop professional ways of knowing. M. Baskett, V. J. Marsick, T. G. Pearson, D. R. Klevans, & J. Delehanty (Eds.), Proceedings of the continuing education preconference of the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education (pp. 6773). University Park, PA: Penn State University Press.

McClelland, M. M., Cameron, C. E., Wanless, S. B., & Murray, A. (2007). Executive function, behavioral self-regulation, and social-emotional competence: Links to school readiness. O.S. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.) Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education. (pp. 83107). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

McManis, L. D., & Gunnewig, S. B. (2012). Finding the education in educational technology with young learners. Young Children, 67(3), 1424.

McMullen, M. B. (1999). Characteristics of teachers who talk the DAP talk and walk the DAP walk. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 13(2), 216230.

McMullen, M., et al. (2006). Using collaborative assessment to examine the relationship between self-reported beliefs and the documentable practices of preschool teachers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33(6), 8191.

Meese, D., & Soderman, A. K. (2010). Postive verbal environments: Setting the stage for young childrens social development. Young Children, 65(5), 8186.

Meisels, S. J., Marsden, D. B., Jablon, J. R., Dorfman, A. B., & Dichtelmiller, M. K. (2012). The work sampling system. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.

Mezirow, J. (1997). Transformative learning: Theory to practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 74, 512.

Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Miller, J. P. (2007). The holistic curriculum (2nd ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Miller, J. P., & Seller, W. (1990). Curriculum: Perspectives and practice. Toronto: Copp, Clark, Pittman Longman Division.

Miller, L. G., & Albrecht, K. (2001). Infant & toddler curriculum: Trainers guide. Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House.

Miller, P. G., & Mehler, R. A. (2005). Working-class childrens experience through the prism of personal storytelling. Human Development, 48, 115135.

Miller, P. J., Cho, G. E., & Bracey, J. R. (2005). Working class childrens experience through the prism of personal storytelling. Human Development, 48(3), 115-135.

Milteer, R., Ginsburg, K. R., & Council on Communications and Media, & Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. (2011). The importance of play in pro­moting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bond: focus on children in poverty. American Academy of Pediatrics. Retrieved from: http://pediatrics.aap­publications.org/content/early/2011/12/21/peds.2011-2953.full.pdf+.

Mindes, G. (September 2005). Social studies in todays early childhood curricula. Beyond the Journal, Young Children on the Web, 18.

Mitchell, A., & David, J. (1992). Explorations with children: A curriculum guide from the Bank Street College of Education. Silver Spring, MD: Gryphon House.

Monahan, E. (November 22, 2011). Adaptations for young children that are visually impaired. Retrieved February 4, 2012, from LiveStrong.com: http://www.livestrong.com/article/130693-adaptations-young-children-visually-impaired/.

Montessori, M. (2007). The absorbent mind. Radford, VA: Wilder Publications, Inc. (Original work published in 1949).

Montessori, M. (2008). The Montessori method. Lexington, KY: BN Publishing. (Original work published in 1909.)

Morrison, G. (2001). Early childhood education today (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merril Prentice Hall.

Montroy, J. J., Bowles, R. P., Skibbe, L. E., McClelland, M. M., & Morrison, F. J. (2016). The development of self-regulation across early childhood. Developmental Psychology, 52(11), 17441762.

Morlet, T. (Ed.). (2014, September). Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). KidsHealth from Nemours. Retrieved from https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/central-auditory.html

Morrison, G. (2011). Early childhood education today (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merril Prentice Hall.

Morrow, L., & Gambrell, L. (2011). Best practices in literacy instruction (4th ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

Moss, P. (Fall 2007). Not true! Gender doesnt limit you. Teaching Tolerance, 5154.

Myles, B. S., Trautman, M. L., & Schelvan, R. (2004). The hidden curriculum: Practical solu­tions for understanding unstated rules in social situations. Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing.

Nabham, G. P., & Trimble, S. (1994). The geography of childhood: Why children need wild places. Boston: Beacon Press.

Narey, M. (Ed.). (2009). Making meaning: Constructing multi-modal perspectives of lan­guage, literacy, and learning through arts-based early childhood education. New York: Springer.

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (2012, March 18). 20112012 National Schools Overview. Retrieved from National Alliance for Public Charter Schools: http://dashboard.publiccharters.org/dashboard/schools/page/overview/year/2012.

National Association for Sport and Physical Education. (2012). Standards and position state­ments. Retrieved from National Association for Sport and Physical Education: http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/standards/nationalStandards/PEstandards.cfm.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (1995). School readiness. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2003). Early childhood curricu­lum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8 (position statement with expanded resources). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2005). Accreditation standard 4. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2005). Standard 2: Curriculum, a guide to the NAEYC early childhood program standard and related accreditation criteria. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2010). QRIS toolkit. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2012). Engaging diverse families. Retrieved from: http://www.naeyc.org/familyengagement.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (2016, May 25). NAEYC Announces a New National Collaboration to Set Professional Guidelines for All Early Childhood Educators [Press release]. Washington, DC: NAEYC. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/initiatives/profession/naeyc-announces-new-national-collaboration.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (2018). NAEYC early learning program accreditation standards and assessment items [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/accreditation/early-learning/standards_and_assessment_web_0.pdf

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (n.d.). More about us. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/about-us/people/more-about-us

National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Childrens Media at Saint Vincent College. (2012). Technology and interactive media as tools in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children and International Reading Association. (July 1998). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate prac­tices for young children. Young Children, 53(4), 3046.

National Association for the Education of Young Children and International Reading Association. (2009). Learning to read and write: Where we stand summary. Retrieved from www.naeyc.org/positionstatements/learning_readwrite.

National Association for the Education of Young Children & National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education. (2002). Early learning standards: Creating the conditions for success. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children, National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education. (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation (a joint position statement). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education. (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

National Association for the Education of Young Children & National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2010). Where we stand summary: Early childhood mathematics. Washington, DC: Authors.

National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center. Curricula/Teaching approaches for preschool education. Retrieved from: http://occ-archive.org/poptopics/curricula-ece.html.

National Coalition of Campus Child Development Centers (March 2012). Posting on Listserve.

National Coalition for Core Arts Standards. (April 6, 2012). Media Arts: frequently asked questions. Press release. NCCAS. Retrieved from: http://nccas.wikispaces.com/file/view/Media+Arts+FAQ-+Final.pdf.

National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education. (2012). NCLB Action Brief: Parental Involvement. Retrieved September 16, 2012 from http://www.ncpie.org/nclbaction/parent_involvement.html.

National Commission on Excellence (1983). A nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2000). Number and operations standard for grades PreK2. Retrieved from: http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=7564.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Retrieved from National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: http://www.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/Math_Standards/12752_exec_pssm.pdf.

National Council for the Social Studies. (2002). National standards for social studies teachers (Vol. 1). Washington, DC: Author.

National Council for the Social Studies. (2010). National curriculum standards for social stud­ies: A framework for teaching, learning, and assessment. Washington, DC: Author.

National Council for the Social Studies Task Force on Early Childhood/Elementary Social Studies. (1988). Social studies for early childhood and elementary school children: Preparing for the 21st century. Washington, DC: Author.

National Home Education Research Institute. (March 18, 2012). National Home Education Research Institute. Retrieved from National Home Education Research Institute: http://www.nheri.org/.

National Institute for Early Education Research (May 31, 2012). 2010 NIEER state preschool yearbook. Retrieved from NIEER: http://nieer.org/sites/nieer/files/yearbook.pdf#page=188.

National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). (2018). The state of preschool 2017. State preschool yearbook [PDF file]. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/State-of-Preschool-2017-Full-7-16-18.pdf.

National Institute for Literacy. (2008). Developing early literacy: report of the national early literacy panel. A scientific synthesis of early literacy development and implications for intervention. Louisville, KY: National Center for Family Literacy.

National Research Council Board of Science Education. (2011). A Framework for K12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Neuman, S. B., Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2000). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Navarez, A., Feldman, J., & Theriot, C. (2007). Virtual Pre-K: Connecting home, school, and community. In Young Children: Spotlight on Children and Families, p. 5354. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Newkirk, T. (2002). Misreading masculinity. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Nilsen, B. (2010). Week by Week: Plans for documenting childrens development (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Noel, A., Stark, P., Redford, J., & Zukerberg, A. (2016, June). Parent and family involvement in education, from the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2012 [PDF file]. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013028rev.pdf

Office of Head Start. (2008). Dual language learning: What does it take? Head Start dual language report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Head Start Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families.

Office of Head Start. (2012). Early childhood learning and knowledge center: Adaptations for children with disabilities. Retrieved February 4, 2012, from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/teaching/eecd/Curriculum/Teaching%20Strategies/edudev_art_00602_121305.html.

Office of Statistics and Programming, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2009). 10 Leading causes of death by age group for 2009. Atlanta: Center for Disease Control. Retrieved from: http://www.cdc.gov/Injury/wisqars/pdf/10LCD-Age-Grp-US-2009-a.pdf.

Olsen, G., & Fuller, M. L. (2008). Home-school relations: Working successfully with parents and families (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Ordonez-Jasis, R., & Ortiz, R. W. (2007). Reading their worlds: Working with diverse families to enhance childrens early literacy development. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young chil­dren and families (pp. 4449). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Orlowski, M. A., & Hart, A. (September 2010). Go! Including movement during routines and transitions. Young Children, 65(5), 8893.

Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2008). Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues (5th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Orr, J. E. (2000). Linguistic perspectives on African American vernacular English and implications for the language arts classroom. Eric Document Reproduction Service No. ED 458811.

Overton, S. (2005). Collaboration with families: A case study approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Paley, V. G. (1992). You cant say you cant play. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Papalia, D. E., & Feldman, R. D. (2011). A childs world: Infancy through adolescence (12th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.

Parnell, W., & Bartlett, J. (2012). iDocument: how smartphones and tablets are changing documentation in preschool and primary classrooms. Young Children, 67(3), 5058.

Partnerships for Americas Economic Success. (December 30, 2011). Long term economic benefits of investing in early childhood programs. Retrieved from Partnerships for Americas Economic Success: http://www.readynation.org/docs/researchproject_dickens_bartik_200802_brief.pdf.

Pat, M. (2009). Language and social development in a multilingual classroom: A dinosaur project enriched with block play. Young Children, 64(4), 1219.

Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company. (2012). Ages and stages questionnaire 3. Brookes Publishing.

Pawlina, S., & Standford, C. (2011). Preschoolers grow their brains: Shifting mindsets for greater resiliency and better problem solving. Young Children, 66(5), 3035.

Pearlman, B. (2006). New skills for a new century: Students thrive on collabora­tion and problem-solving. Retrieved from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/new-skills-new-century.

Pearson Education. (2009). Opening the world of learning. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonlearning.com/microsites/owl/pdfs/FoundationalResearch.pdf.

Persson, G. E. B. (2005). Young childrens prosocial and aggressive behaviors and their expe­riences of being tageted for similar behavior by peers. Social Development, 14, 206228.

Peterson, J. W. (2010). Waldorf and Montessori combined: A new impulse in education. Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 23(3), 2127.

Peterson, S., Jones, L., & McGinley, K. A. (2008). Early learning guidelines for infants and toddlers: Recommendations to states. Washington, DC: Zero to Three.

Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York: Basic Books.

Piaget, J. (1977). The development of thought. New York: Viking Press. (Original work pub­lished in 1975.)

Pianta, R. C., La Paro, K. M., Payne, C., Cox, M. J., & Bradley, R. (2002). The relation of kin­dergarten classroom environment to teacher, family, and school characteristics and child outcomes. Elementary School Journal, 102, 225239.

Pinar, W., Reynolds, W. M., Slattery, P., & Taubman, P. M. (2008). Understanding curriculum. New York: Peter Lang.

Pizzolongo, P. J., & Hunter, A. (2011). I am safe and secure: Promoting resilience in young children. Young Children, 66(2), 6769.

Posner, G. J. (2004) Analyzing the curriculum (3rd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Postman, N. (1994). The disappearance of childhood. New York: Vintage Books.

Prescott, E. (March/April 2004). The physical environment: A powerful regulator of experi­ence. Child Care Information Exchange, 3437.

Pressley, M. (2006). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching (3rd ed.). New York: Guildford Press.

Project Zero. (n.d.). What is PZ? Retrieved from http://www.pz.harvard.edu/who-we-are/about

Prosser, L., & Jiang, X. (2008). Relationship between school physical activity and academic performance of children. The International Journal of Learning, 15 (3), 11-16.

Rankin, B. (1992). Inviting childrens creativity: A story of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Child Care Information Exchange, 3035.

Readick, C. A., & Chapman, P. L. (2000). Young childrens perceptions of time out. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 15(1), 8187.

Reifel, S., & Greenfield, P. M. (1982). Structural development in a symbolic medium: The rep­resentational use of block constructions. G. Forman (Ed.)., Action and thought: From sen­sorimotor schemes to symbolic operations (pp. 203233). New York: Academic Press.

Research and Training Center on Independent Living, University of Kansas. (2008). Guidelines for reporting and writing about people with disabilities (7th ed.). Lawrence, KS: Author.

Rhodes, M., Enz, B., & LaCount, M. (2007). Leaps and bounds: Preparing parents for kindergarten. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 5051). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Ribble, M.A. (1944). Infantile experience in relations to personality development. J. M. Hunt (Ed.), Personality and the behavior disorders (pp. 621651). New York: Ronald Press.

Rice, M. (2014, February 18). What is the teacher's role in supporting play in early childhood classrooms? Virginia Department of Education’s Training and Technical Assistance Center. Retrieved from http://www.ttacnews.vcu.edu/2014/02/what-is-the-teachers-role-in-supporting-play-in-early-childhood-classrooms/

Robinson, A., & Stark, D. R. (2002). Advocates in action. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Rosen, D. (2006). Emerging research agenda for technology and young children. C.Crawford et al. (Eds.). Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2006 (pp. 42874291). Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education.

Rosen, D., & Jaruszewicz, C. (2009). Developmentally appropriate technology use and early childhood teacher education. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 30(2), 162171.

Ruble, D. N., Taylor, L. J., Cyphers, L., Greulich, F. K., Lurye, L. E., & Shrout, P. E. (July/August, 2007). The role of gender constancy in early gender development. Child Development, 78(4), 11211136.

Rueda, R., & Yaden, D. B. (2006). The literacy education of linguistically and culturally diverse young children: An overview of outcomes, assessment, and large-scale interven­tion. O. N. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 167186). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Rushton, S. (2011). Neuroscience, early childhood education and play: We are doing it right! Early Childhood Education Journal, 39, 8994.

Ryan, M. (2018, April 19). Dramatic play and toddlers. VeryWell Family. Retrieved from https://www.verywellfamily.com/dramatic-play-290162.

Saracho, O. S., & Spodek, B. S. (2007). Social learning as the basis for early childhood educa­tion. O. S. Saracho & B. S. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood education (pp. 303310). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Saunders, W., Goldenberg, C., & Marcelletti, D. (2014, October 22). English language development: Guidelines for instruction. American Educator. Retrieved from https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/summer-2013/english-language-development

Sax, L. (2005). Why gender matters: What parents and teachers need to know about the emerging science of sex differences. New York: Random House.

Scarlett, W. G., Ponte, I. C., & Singh, J. P. (2009). Approaches to behavior and classroom management: Integrating discipline and care. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Schickedanz, J. A. (1999). Much more than the ABCs: The early stages of reading and writ­ing. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Schiller, P. (2001). Brain research and its implications for early childhood programs. Child Care Information Exchange, 140, 1418.

Schon, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.

Schon, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass.

Scott-Little, C., Kagan, S. L., Frelows, V. S., 7 Reid, J. (May 31, 2012). Inside the content of infant-toddler early learning guidelines. Retrieved from University of North Carolina at Greensboro: http://www.uncg.edu/hdf/facultystaff/ScottLittle/FINAL%20FULL%20REPORT%20-%202.28.08.pdf.

Schweinhart, L. (2002). How the HighScope Perry Preschool study grew: A researchers tale. Phi Delta Kappa Center for Evaluation, Development, and Research. Retrieved from http://www.highscope.org/Content.asp?ContentId=232.

Schweinhart, L. J. (2005). Lifetime effects: The HighScope Perry Preschool study through age 40. Ypsilanti, MI: HighScope Educational Research Foundation.

Sciarra, D. J., & Dorsey, A. G. (2007). Developing and administering a child care and educa­tion program (6th ed.). Clifton Park, NJ: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Scott-Little, C., Lesko, J., Martella, J., & Milburn, P. (2007). Early learning standards: Results from a National Survey to Document Trends in State-Level Policies and Practices. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 9(1). Retrieved from: http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v9n1/little.html.

Sears, A. (2003). Retooling the mind factory: Education in a lean state. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Seefeldt, C. (2001). Social studies for the preschool/primary child (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Seplocha, H. (2007). Partnership for learning: conferencing with families. D. Kovalek (Ed.), Spotlight on young children and families (pp. 1215). Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Shaklee, H., OHara, P., & Demarset, P. (March 2008). Early math skills: Building blocks for the future [white paper].

Shalaway, L. (2005). Learning to teach. . . . not just for beginners: The essential guide for all teachers (3rd ed.). New York: Scholastic.

Shanahan, T. (2006). The National Reading Panel Report: Practical advice for teachers. Naperville, IL: Learning Point Associates.

Shapiro, E., & Biber, B. (1972). The education of young children: a development-interaction approach. Teachers College Record, 74(1), 5580.

Shifflet, R., Toledo, C., & Mattoon, C. (2012). Touch tablet surprises: A preschool teachers story. Young Children, 67(3), 3641.

Siefert, K. L. (2006). Cognitive development and the education of young children. O. N. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (pp. 922). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Siegler, R. S. (1992). The other Alfred Binet. Developmental Psychology, 28, 179190.

Silcock, P. (May 2008). Towards a biologically informed primary school practice. Education, 36(2), 162169.

Silverstein, S. (1981). A light in the attic. New York: HarperCollins.

Simon, F., & Nemeth, K. (2012). Digital decisions: Choosing the right technology tools for early childhood education. Lewisville, NC: Gryphon House.

Singer, E., & DeHaan, D. (2007). Social life of young children: Co-construction of shared meanings and togetherness, humor, and conflicts in child care centers. O. S. Saracho & B.S. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on social learning in early childhood edu­cation (pp. 279302). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Smith, C. J., & Hood-Hooten, A. (2012). Sun safe activities for preschool children. Retrieved from Sun Safety Alliance: http://www.sunsafetyalliance.org/resources.html.

Smith, M. K. (1996, 2000). Curriculum theory and practice.The encyclopaedia of informal education.Retrieved from: www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm.

Smith, N. J., & Lounsbery, M. (January 2009). Promoting physical education: The link to aca­demic achievement. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 80(1), 3943.

Smith, P. K. (2017). Pretend play and children’s cognitive and literacy development: Sources of evidence and some lessons from the past. In K. A. Roskos & J. F. Christie (Eds.), Play and literacy in early childhood: Research from multiple perspectives (pp. 320). New Jersey: Routledge.

Sornson, B. (2016, September/October). The journey to mastery: How competency-based learning creates personalized pathways to success for young learners [PDF file]. Principal, 96(1), 1619. Retrieved from https://www.naesp.org/sites/default/files/Sornson_SO16.pdf

South Carolina Department of Education. (2012). South Carolina Good Start Grow Smart Task Force. South Carolina good start grow smart early learning standards. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Department of Education and Department of Social Services.

South Carolina Department of Education. (2014). South Carolina academic standards and performance indicators for science [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://ed.sc.gov/scdoe/assets/file/agency/ccr/Standards-Learning/documents/South_Carolina_Academic_Standards_and_Performance_Indicators_for_Science_2014.pdf

South Carolina Good Start Grow Smart Task Force. (2005). South Carolina Good Start Grow Smart early learning standards. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Department of Education and Department of Social Services.

South Carolina Program for Infant and Toddler Care. (2009). South Carolina infant-toddler guidelines. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina.

Southern Poverty Law Center (1997). Starting small: Teaching tolerance in preschool and the early grades. Montgomery, AL: Author.

Southern Poverty Law Center. (2008). Teaching tolerance project. Starting small: teaching tolerance in preschool and the early grades [video]. Montgomery, AL: Author.

Souto-Manning, M. (2009). Acting out and talking back: Negotiating discourses in American early educational settings. Early Child Development and Care, 179(8), 10831094.

Spitz, R. A. (1945). Hospitalizm: An inquiry into the genesis of psychiatric conditions in early childhood. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1, 5374.

Spodek, B., & Brown, P. C. (1993). Curriculum alternatives in early childhood education: A historical perspective. B. Spodek (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (pp. 91104). New York: Macmillan.

State of Pennsylvania (2018, April 28). Pennsylvania code. Retrieved from Chapter 3270: http://www.pacode.com/secure/data/055/chapter3270/s3270.111.html.

Stebbins, L. S. (1977). Education as experimentation: A planned variation model, (Vol. IV-A). Cambridge, MA: ABT Associates.

Stipek, D. J., & Byler, P. (1997). Early childhood education teachers: Do they practice what they preach? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12(3), 305325.

Stoll, J., Hamilton, A., Oxley, E., Eastman, A. M., & Brent, R. (March 2012). Young thinkers in motion: Problem solving and physics in preschool. Young Children, 67(2), 2026.

Sulzby, E. (1985). Childrens emergent reading of favorite storybooks: A developmental study. Reading Research Quarterly, 20, 458481.

Sulzby, E. (1991). The development of the young child and the emergence of literacy. J.Flood, J. M. Jensen, D. Lapp, & J. R. Squire (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the language arts (pp. 273285). New York: Macmillan.

Sulzby, E., & Teale, W. (1991). Emergent literacy. R. Barr, M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, Vol. II (pp. 727757). New York: Longman.

Sutterby, J. A., & Frost, J. (2006). Creating play environments for early childhood indoors and out. O. N. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (2nd ed., pp. 305321). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Swadener, B., & Lubeck, S. (Eds.) (1995). Children and families at promise. Deconstructing the discourse of risk. SUNY Series, the Social Context of Education. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Swim, J. (April 4, 2012). Basic premises of classroom design: The teachers perspec­tive. Retrieved from Early Childhood News: www.earlychildhoodnews.com/default.aspx.

Swim, T. J., & Freeman, R. (2004). Viewpoint. Time to reflect: Using food in early childhood classrooms. Young Children, 59(6): 1822.

Sypek, D. (2017, July). Playful math instruction in the context of standards and accountability. Young Children, 72(3). Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/jul2017/playful-math-instruction-standards

Taylor-Cox, J. (2003). Algebra in the early years? Yes! Young Children, 58(1), 1417.

Teaching Strategies. (2010). Research Foundation: the Creative Curriculum. Retrieved December 4, 2011 from http://www.teachingstrategies.com/national/creative-curriculum-preschool-system-research-foundation.html.

Teaching Strategies. (March 18, 2012). The creative curriculum system for preschool. Retrieved from Teaching Strategies for Early Childhood: http://www.teachingstrategies.com/page/73756-creative-curriculum-system-preschool.cfm#alignments.

Thaler, M. (2008). The teacher from the black lagoon. New York: Scholastic.

Tobin, J. (2005). Quality in early childhood education: An anthropologists perspective. Early Education and Development, 16(5), 421434.

Toffler, A. (1990). Future shock. New York: Random House. (Original work published in 1970.)

Tomporowski, P. D., Davis, C. L., Miller, P. H., & Naglieri, J. A. (2008). Exercise and childrens intelligence, cognition, and academic achievement. Educational Psychology Review, 20, 111131.

Toppo, G. (2008). Nation at risk: The best thing or the worst thing for education? USA Today. Retrieved from: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-04-22-nation-at-risk_N.htm.

Trawick-Smith, J. (1994). Interactions in the classroom: Facilitating play in the early years. New York: Macmillan.

Trawick-Smith, J., Swaminathan, S., Baton, B., Danieluk, C., Marsh, S., & Szarwacki, M. (2016). Block play and mathematics learning in preschool: The effects of building complexity, peer and teacher interactions in the block area, and replica play materials. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 15(4), 433448.

Tremarche, P. V., Robinson, E. M., & Graham, L. B. (Spring 2007). Physical education and its effect on elementary testing results. Physical Educator, 64(2), 5864.

Trister-Dodge, D. (JanuaryFebruary 2004). Early childhood curriculum models: Why, what, and how programs use them. Child Care Information Exchange, pp. 7175.

Trister-Dodge, D. E. (2010). Creative curriculum: (Vol. 5). Mathematics (5th ed.). Teaching Strategies, Inc.

Trostli, R. (1998). Rhythms of learning. Herndon, VA: Anthroposophical Press.

Tubic, C., & Gulubovic, S. (2010). The effects of physical exercise on externalizing and inter­nalizing behaviors in children. HealthMED, 4(4), 750758.

Tyler, R. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ujifusa, A. (2017). Map: Tracking the Common Core State Standards. Education Week, 36(11). Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-states-academic-standards-common-core-or.html

University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning. (August 18, 2012). Big ideas in beginning reading. Retrieved from http://reading.uoregon.edu/big_ideas/pa/pa_what.php.

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (June 29, 2011). Basics for handling food safely. Food Safety and Inspection Service. Retrieved from: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Basics_for_Handling_Food_Safely/.

U.S. Department of Education. (March 2010). A Blueprint for reform: The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Retrieved from U.S. Department of Education: www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint.

U.S. Department of Education. (2012). Americans with Disabilities Act. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/hq9805.html.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. (2017, January). Reimagining the role of technology in education: 2017 National Education Technology Plan update [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://tech.ed.gov/files/2017/01/NETP17.pdf

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (March 3, 2012). Administration for Children and Families. Retrieved from Child Care Partnership Project: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/occ/.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (July 7, 2012). Childhood obesity. Retrieved from Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation: http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/child_obesity/.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2013, February 13). Why obesity is a health problem. Retrieved from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/wecan/healthy-weight-basics/obesity.htm.

U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau. (n.d.). Women in the labor force in 2010. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/wb/factsheets/qf-laborforce-10.htm

Vallotton, C. (September 2008). Infants take self-regulation into their own hands. Zero to Three, 2934.

van Hoorn, J. L., Nourot, P. M., Scales, B. R., & Alward, K. R. (2011). Play at the center of the curriculum (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Vance, E., & Weaver, P. J. (2002). Class meetings: Solving problems together. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Vartuli, S. (1999). How early childhood teacher beliefs vary across grade level. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 14(4), 489519.

Vygotsky, L. (1962). Thought and language (E. Hanfmann & G. Vokar, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (Original work published in 1934).

Wang, X. C., Berson, I. R., Jaruszewicz, C., Hartle, L., & Rosen, D. (2010). Young childrens technology experiences in multiple contexts: Bronfenbrenners ecological theory reconsid­ered. I. B. Berson (Ed.), High tech tots: Childhood in a digital world (pp. 2347). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Weir, K. (2017). Maximizing children's resilience. Monitor on Psychology, 48(8). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/09/cover-resilience.aspx.

Weiss, H. B., Krider, H., Lopez, M. E., & Chatman, C. M. (Eds.). (2005). Preparing educators to involve families: From theory to practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Wentworth, G. (2006). Parent involvement in an international school: Piloting an early child­hood reading group. Young Children, 61(1), 5660.

Westinghouse Learning Corporation. (1969). The impact of Head Start: An evaluation of the effects of Head Start on childrens cognitive and affective development, vols. 1 and 2. Report to the Office of Economic Opportunity. Athens, OH: Office of Economic Opportunity, Westinghouse Learning Corporation and Ohio University.

Wheeler, R., Cartwright, K., & Swords, R. (2012). Factoring AAVE into reading assessment and instruction. Reading Teacher, 65(6), 416425.

Whitfield, P. T. (2009). The heart of the arts: Fostering young childrens ways of knowing. M.Narey (Ed.) Making meaning: Constructing multimodal perspectives of language, liter­acy, and learning through arts-based early childhood education (pp. 153165). New York: Springer.

Whitin, P., & Whitin, D. J. (January 2003). Developing mathematical understanding along the yellow brick road. Young Children, 58(1), 3640.

Whitin, P., & Whitin, D. J. (May 2011). Mathematical pattern hunters. Young Children, 66(3), 8490.

Wien, C. A. (2004). From policing to participation: overturning the rules and creating ami­able classrooms. Young Children, 59(1), 3440.

Wilkerson, C. (June 9, 2011). New coalition will lead the revision of the National Standards for Arts Education. Press Release from the National Coalition for CORE ARTS Standards. Retrieved from: http://nccas.wikispaces.com/file/view/6-9-11+Press+Release.pdf/235736882/6-9-11%20Press%20Release.pdf.

Willis, P., & Schiller, P. (2011). Preschoolers social skills steer life success. Young Children, 66(1), 4249.

Willis, S. (November 1993). Teaching young children: Educators seek developmental appro­priateness. Curriculum Update. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/curriculum-update/nov1993/Teaching-Young-Children.aspx.

Wirth, S., & Rosenow, N. (2012). Supporting whole-child learning in nature-filled outdoor classrooms. Young Children, 67(1), 4248.

Witzel, B. S., Ferguson, C. J., & Mink, D. V. (2012). Number sense: Strategies for helping pre­school through grade 3 children develop math skills. Young Children, 67(3), 8995.

Wood, E., & Attfield, J. (2005). Play, learning and the early childhood curriculum (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Wortham, S. (2011). Assessment in early childhood education (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River NJ: Pearson.

Yelland, N. (2010). New technologies, playful experiences, and multimodal learning. I. B. Berson (Ed.), High tech tots: Childhood in a digital world (pp. 522). Charlotte, NC: Information Age.

Youngquist, J., & Martinez-Griego, B. (2009). Learning in English, learning in Spanish. Young Children, (64)4, 9299.

Cover with title of book and author. Image of child smiling and throwing her arms in the air with children's paintings in the background.

Copyright

Curriculum and Methods for Early Childhood Educators, Updated Edition
Candace Jaruszewicz

Vice President, Learning Resources: Steven Wainwright

Associate Vice President, Editorial and Media: Anna Lustig

Associate Director of Production: Lindsay Serra

Senior Development Editor: Rebecca Paynter

Development Editor: Claire Alexander

Assistant Editors: Teresa Bdzil, Kathleen Crampton

Senior Production Editor: Catherine Morris

Production Editor: Julie Mashburn

Printer: Lightning Source, Inc.

Composition: Hespenheide Design

Illustration: Noel Sirivansanti

Video Production: San Diego County Office of Education

Cover Design: Anna Magulac

Cover Image: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

ISBN-13: 978-1-62178-610-8

Updated 2019. 2013 Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.

GRANT OF PERMISSION TO PRINT: The copyright owner of this material hereby grants the holder of this publication the right to print these materials for personal use. The holder of this material may print the materials herein for personal use only. Any print, reprint, reproduction or distribution of these materials for commercial use without the express written consent of the copyright owner constitutes a violation of the U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101–810, as amended.

About the Author

Candace Jaruszewicz, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, and has taught in the graduate early childhood education program since 2001. She has been the director of the N. E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) since 2005. The ECDC is a laboratory and demonstration program in the School of Education, Health, and Human Performance that is nationally accredited through NAEYC, and the first program in South Carolina to be awarded NatureExplore outdoor classroom certification.

Candace's background prior to moving to Charleston from Pennsylvania includes experience as a child care program director and public school teacher in early childhood, elementary, and art education. Her research, publications, and many regional and national presentations focus primarily on the relationship between teacher reflection and curriculum development. Candace served as a governing board member for the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE) and the South Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children (SCAEYC). She has two grown sons, Jim and Mike and loves exploring the history and culture of her adopted home in the Low Country.

Acknowledgements

Writing a book is certainly not a solo effort and I have many people to thank for their technical assistance, professional wisdom, and moral support. I started working on the proposal for this book while sitting in the hospital with my elderly dad and fifteen months later am not only happy it is finally complete, but that he is also well.

The editorial team at Bridgepoint has been amazing! Cheryl Cechvala provided me with encouragement, guidance, and an entirely efficient and productive process for managing submission, review, and revision of this work. Our development editor, Claire Alexander, and our team of reviewers offered constructive criticism and insights about the emerging manuscript that were invaluable to me in our attempt to achieve a balance of theory and practical information that will be useful and thought-provoking for those who aspire to work with young children. Thanks also to the following Ashford contributors for their helpful advice and suggestions: Patricia Hunter, Donna Marvel, Heather Miller, and Gina Thomason. The review team members were thorough, honest, and extremely helpful:

Irene Cook, California State University, Bakersfield
Kathleen Cummings, Suffolk County Community College
Irene Duncan, Central New Mexico Community College
Jennifer Johnson, Vance Granville Community College
Cathy Mogharreban, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Bridget Murray, Henderson Community College
Eva Thorpe, George Mason University

The technical support team members are the folks who make a printed text come alive as an interactive e-book resource and I certainly have them to thank for the engaging final result. They include:

Amanda Nixon, Assistant Editor
Noel Sirivansanti, Illustrator
John Soares, Test Bank Writer
The San Diego County Office of Education, for their video production services.

The many examples in this book were either inspired by or are exact accounts of the incredible work that I am privileged to be a part of every day with the staff, children, and families at the Miles ECDC. Mary, Jane, Phyllis, Stephanie and Catherinemy very deepest respect and gratitude for the work that you do.

Finally, I have my family and friends to thank for their encouragement to take on this project at a time not particularly convenient, but with the admonition that there is never a perfect time and if I wanted to do it, I just better get busy. To my beloved Mike, Jim, the "Campfire Girls," Sue, Deb, Mom, Dad and of course, Matthew.

Chapter 1: The Concept of Early Childhood Curriculum

Professional Organizations for Early Childhood Educators
Organization Purpose Resources Provided

The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI)

Originally organized in 1892 as the International Kindergarten Union, its current mission is to "promote and support the optimal education and development of children worldwide, and to influence the professional growth of educators and the efforts of others who are committed to the needs of children in a changing society. ACEI resources include publications, conferences and online training.

The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC)

The mission of the NAFCC is to "promote quality child care by strengthening the profession of [in-home] family child care." The NAFCC provides access to an accreditation system, training, conferences and local membership activities. They also advocate nationally for the needs of family child-care providers.

The National Child Care Association (NCCA)

The NCCA is a professional trade organization whose mission is to "promote the growth and safeguard the interest of quality early childhood care and education focusing on licensed, private providers of these services [child care centers]." NCCA includes training and professional development opportunities through state and national conferences and activities, publications, a member buying club, and legislative advocacy.

The National Coalition for Campus Children's Centers (NCCCC)

"NCCCC supports research and activities that affect college and university early childhood education and service settings, family and work issues, and the field of early childhood education in general." NCCCC members represent childcare and laboratory and demonstration programs located on college, university and community college campuses across the country. NCCCC expresses this mission through newsletters, publications, conferences and grants.

The National Head Start Association (NHSA)

The mission of the NHSA is to "coalesce, inspire and support the Head Start field as a leader in early childhood development and education. Provides networking, employment opportunity information, disaster relief, professional development and scholarships, and a radio station devoted to the interests of Head Start professionals.

The Southern Early Childhood Association (SECA)

With a focus area on the fourteen southern states, SECA is committed to "improving the quality of care and education for young children and their families through advocacy and professional development." SECA provides publications and other print resources including position statements and policy briefs. SECA also works actively through national and local avenues to provide leadership and professional development opportunities.

Chapter 2: The Curriculum Landscape: Major Models and Approaches

Comparing Thematic Units and Emergent Projects
Thematic Units Emergent Projects
Adult-generated Adult-anticipated
Teacher choice Child-initiated
Whole class Small groups
Teacher-directed Child-directed
Teacher-planned Child investigates
Time frame Time varies
One theme at a time Several ongoing projects
Document ending Document process
Disseminate, transfer knowledge Child constructs and builds knowledge
Key Indicators for Infants/Toddlers and Preschoolers
Infants/Toddlers Preschoolers
Approaches to learning Initiative
Problem solving
Self-help
Initiative
Planning
Engagement
Problem solving
Use of resources
Reflection
Social and emotional development  Distinguishing self and others
Attachment
Relationships with adults
Relationships with peers
Emotions
Empathy
Playing with others
Group participation
Self-identity
Sense of competence
Emotions
Empathy
Community
Building relationships
Cooperative play
Moral development
Conflict resolution
Physical development and health Moving parts of the body
Moving the whole body
Moving with objects
Steady beat
Gross motor skills
Fine motor skills
Body awareness
Personal care
Healthy behavior
Communication, language, and literacy Listening and responding
Nonverbal communication
Two-way communication
Speaking
Exploring print
Enjoying language
Comprehension
Speaking
Vocabulary
Phonological awareness
Alphabetic knowledge
Reading
Concepts about print
Book knowledge
Writing /dual language learning (DLL)
Cognitive development (infants/toddlers)
Mathematics (preschool)
Exploring objects
Object permanence
Same and different
One-to-one correspondence
Number
Locating objects
Filling and emptying
Taking apart and putting together
Seeing from different viewpoints
Anticipating events
Time intervals
Speed
Cause and effect
Number words and symbols
Counting
Part/whole relationships
Shapes
Spatial awareness
Measuring
Unit
Patterns
Data analysis
Creative arts Imitating and pretending
Exploring media
Identifying visual images
Listening to music
Responding to music
Sounds
Vocal pitch
Art
Music
Movement
Pretend play
Appreciating the arts
Science and technology Observing
Classifying
Experimenting
Predicting
Drawing conclusions
Communicating ideas
Natural and physical world
Tools and technology
Social studies Diversity
Community roles
Decision making
Geography
History
Ecology
Creative Curriculum Learning Areas and Objectives
Area of Learning Learning Objectives
Social/Emotional Regulate own emotions and behavior
Establish and sustain positive relationships
Participate cooperatively and constructively in group situations
Physical Demonstrate:
Traveling skills
Balancing skills
Gross motor/manipulative skills
Fine motor strength and coordination
Language Listen to and understand increasingly complex language
Use language to express thoughts and needs
Use appropriate conversational and other communication skills
Cognitive Demonstrate positive approaches to learning
Remember and connect experiences
Use classification skills
Use symbols and images to represent something not present
Literacy Demonstrate phonological awareness
Demonstrate alphabet knowledge
Demonstrate knowledge of print and its uses
Comprehend and respond to books and other texts
Demonstrate emergent writing skills
Mathematics Use number concepts and operations
Explore and describe spatial relationships and shapes
Compare and measure
Demonstrate knowledge of patterns
Science and technology Use scientific inquiry skills
Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of living things
Demonstrate knowledge of the physical properties of objects and materials
Demonstrate knowledge of the earth's environment
Use tools and other technology to perform tasks
Social studies Demonstrate knowledge of self
Show basic understanding of people and how they live
Explore change related to familiar people or places
Demonstrate simple geographic knowledge
The arts Explore the visual arts
Learn musical concepts and expression
Learn dance and movement concepts
Explore drama through actions and language
English-language acquisition Demonstrate progress in listening to and understanding English
Demonstrate progress in speaking English
Source: Teaching Strategies (2010).
Books Used with the Six Units of the OWL Curriculum
Unit 1
Family
Unit 2
Friends
Unit 3
Wind and Water
Unit 4
The World of Color
Unit 5
Shadows and Reflections
Unit 6
Things That Grow
Core storybooks Oonga Boonga

Peter's Chair

Noisy Nora

Whistle for Willie

Corduroy
The Little Red Hen Makes Pizza

A Letter to Amy

Matthew and Tilly

Dandelion

Hooray a Piata
Gilberto and the Wind

One Dark Night

Rabbits and Raindrops

The Snowy Day

A Hat for Minerva Louise
The Lion and the Little Red Bird

Max's Dragon Shirt

Dog's Colorful Day

Dear Juno
Play With Me

The Puddle Pail

Raccoon on His Own

Dreams

Kitten for a Day
I Heard Said the Bird

Bigger

Make Way for Ducklings

The Ugly Vegetable
Predictable books Over in the Meadow

Time for Bed
Hush!

Golden Bear
The Very Noisy Night Cat's Colors Clap Your Hands

Night Shift Daddy
Just Enough
Expository text Let's Make Music Road Builders Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain

See How They Grow: Kitten
The Tortilla Factory

Chickens Aren't the Only Ones

See How They Grow: Chick
Fun With Shadows See How They Grow: Duck

Play and Learn: Growing Things

Animals Born Alive and Well
A Matrix for Reflection and Decision Making
My Beliefs Curriculum A Curriculum B Curriculum C
What is the purpose of early childhood education?
What are young children like and how do they learn?
Who participates in early childhood education and what are their roles?
What's worth knowing? What should children learn?
How should curriculum be implemented and acted out?

Chapter 3: Our Image of the Child

Applying Labels to Children
Label as the Whole Child Person-First Language
Susie is autistic. Susie has autism.
Susie is hearing-impaired. Susie has a hearing impairment.
Susie is learning-disabled. Susie has a learning disability.
Sampling of Infant/Toddler and 3- to 5-Year-Old Early Learning Standards for Language Development
Standard Detail (Subcriteria)
Infants: 6 to 18 months Understanding language:
The child will comprehend the message of another's communication
In the beginning of this period, I recognize the names of familiar objects and people. By the end of this period, I show understanding of an adult's simple requests and of statements referring to the present situation.
Toddlers: 16 to 36 months In the beginning of this period, I show understanding of adults' simple requests and of statements referring to the present situation. By the end of this period, I understand my caregiver's more abstract and complex statements and requests that refer to positions in space, ideas, feelings, and the future.
3-Year-Olds The child will begin to read and comprehend a variety of literary texts in print and nonprint formats. I explore realistic books and materials in classroom centers.
I listen to simple stories, songs and rhymes.
4-Year-Olds I show interest in informational texts about familiar objects.
I make relevant comments or appropriate responses to story events or characters.
5-Year-Olds I summarize the main idea and details from literacy texts read aloud.
I use pictures and words to make predictions regarding a story read aloud.
Source: South Carolina Early Learning Standards; Retrieved from http://childcare.sc.gov/main/docs/gsgs_finalbook_022608.pdf; South Carolina Infant-toddler Guidelines. Retrieved from http://childcare.sc.gov/main/docs/SCInfantToddlerGuidelines.pdf.
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Step-by-step instructions for classroom routines are especially meaningful if the photos used picture children from the group.
Poster with instructions for a morning routine. The first photo is step one, post picture. The first photo shows a young boy placing his photo on to a chart. The second photo is step two, put lunch away. The second photo shows a young boy putting his lunch box into a cubbyhole. The bottom left photo is step three, sign-in. The third photo shows a young boy writing his name on a piece of paper. The fourth photo  is step 4, wash hands. The fourth photo shows a young boy at a sink, washing his hands
Problem Solver
A hands-on prop can be very helpful to children who are trying to resolve a conflict because it helps them to manage the steps in the process. Note that this example uses clip art, but a prop that used photos of the children would be even better.
Figure: Illustrated six-step process to solve a problem. Top row, from left to right, two girls frowning with the text "We've got a problem." Two girls thinking, with a question mark above their heads and the text "What is the problem?" Two girls smiling, with light bulbs above their heads and the text "Think of possible solutions." Bottom row, left to right, two girls looking at each other with the text "Give it a try." Two girls high-fiving each other with the text "Make a sign of friendship." Two girls facing each other with speech bubbles and the text "Use your words!"

Chapter 4: Curriculum and Development

Special Needs
Special Need Description
Physical (orthopedic) conditions Physical limitations caused by birth defects or injury that prevent or impair mobility and/or dexterity.
Visual impairment Many potential causes that result in partial to total blindness or limited sight requiring corrective lenses.
Hearing impairment Any condition that results in less than normal hearing; may be permanent or temporary; profoundly hearing-impaired children may also have limited speech.
Speech/language impairment Difficulty in producing speech, or delayed development of language.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Difficulty paying or maintaining attention and organization, possibly accompanied by high activity levels and restlessness.
Conduct (behavior) disorder
Oppositional defiant disorder
Problems with authority, obedience, or anger/impulse control.
Learning disability Normal intelligence but difficulty learning due to a variety of perceptual problems such as reversing or inverting letters and numbers.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) Broad continuum of behaviors that range from mild (Asperger's syndrome) to profound difficulties with sensory processing, social interaction, and communication.
Intellectual disability Lower than normal intelligence that can be due to a number of factors, mostly genetic in origin.
Giftedness Much higher than normal intelligence or aptitude in one or more developmental domains.
Examples of Adaptations for Special Needs
Physical Limitations (Office of Head Start, 2012) Visual Impairments (Cox & Dykes, 2001; Monahan, 2011) Speech and/or Hearing Impairments (Anderson, 2012) Learning Disabilities and Behavioral Issues (Office of Head Start, 2012) Gifted and Talented (Cook & Cook, 2005)
Modify equipment for access (e.g., raising or lowering easel, taping feet to trike pedals). Maintain unobstructed pathways and keep furniture and materials always in the same place. Reduce background noise; make eye contact when speaking. Reduce distractions (e.g., give one material at a time; limit choices). Offer differentiated materials and activities that provide sufficient challenge.
Arrange furniture for safe and easy access. Familiarize with locations of all spaces the child will use. Use hand signals to communicate needs; offer interpreter and/or sign language training. Use picture charts for step-by-step directions or schedules. Provide opportunities to work independently.
Adapt materials so child can work as independently as possible. Arrange special lighting and/or magnification devices. Maintain predictable routines. Work with children in small groups or individually. Work with children in small groups or individually.
Allow extra time for physical tasks that are difficult, such as dressing or eating. Provide seating close to needed resources. Arrange seating close to the teacher. Seat distractible child in lap for large-group activities.
Simplify routines to as few steps as possible. Provide reading matter with large or raised print; large, brightly colored or high-contrast toys; materials with textured surfaces. Provide amplification devices. Ensure that there is ample time and notice of transition times.
Types of Activity Centers
Dedicated Space Play Focus
Dramatic play Pretend play with props (themed materials) that allows children to take on roles and develop play scenarios about familiar themes
Construction Building with blocks and other materials that can be put together and taken apart; woodworking
Language and literacy Reading, listening to tapes and stories, learning about letters and sounds, emergent writing
Art Using a variety of materials to explore line, color, shape, texture, and dimension; exposure to works of art that are pleasing and interesting to children
Music Exposure to many genres of music and opportunities to sing and make music with different kinds of instruments
Science Opportunities to explore physical and natural properties of organisms and the environment
Math Materials, games, and activities that help children develop concepts about number, quantity, measurement, and time
Sensory Materials and activities that engage the senses, such as sand, water, and modeling dough
Fine motor Experiences with objects that develop manual dexterity and eye-hand coordination
Gross motor Room, equipment, and materials that encourage the development of large muscles

Chapter 5: Curriculum as a Collaboration with Families and the Community

How Ecological Theory Plays Out in Family Involvement Programs
Sphere of Influence System Features Family Involvement Program Features
Microsystem Home and immediate surroundings
  • Develop family-focused services
  • Tailor different kinds of support for moms vs. dads
  • Provide teacher professional development focusing on family systems
Mesosystem Relationships among immediate contexts
  • Reduce barriers to family participation
  • Cultivate welcoming settings
  • Communicate effectively
  • Promote decision-making skills
  • Help navigate program activities
Exosystem Links between contexts that do and do not include the child
  • Focus on family strengths
  • Identify the social supports families need
  • Promote civic engagement
  • Celebrate family cultures
Macrosystem Links among other systems
  • Ensure that classroom culture is informed by the community
  • Encourage familiarity with children's lives at home
  • Provide balance of individual/larger group interactions
  • Embed family values and culture in classroom activities, goals and expectations
  • Self-awareness of teacher values/biases
Source: Weiss, Kreider, Lopez, & Chatman, 2005.
Examples of Family Involvement Models
Program Description
Even Start Federally funded Title I home-based program that promotes family literacy; GED programs, and workforce skills development (over 800 sites).
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Among mandated activities are annual informative meetings for parents; involvement in planning, review, and improvement of schools; opportunities for parent input/suggestions.
Head Start (3-to 5-year olds) Includes parents directly in program decision making; provides opportunities to work with child as volunteer with career-ladder support; planned parent activities; ongoing communication; leadership via parent committees and policy council.
Early Head Start (infant/toddlers) Similar to Head Start but with home-based services.
Minnesota Early Childhood Family Education Program (ECFE) Started in the Minneapolis Public Schools in 1974 with classes and activities for parents of children from birth to 5 years of age. Expanded statewide and used as a model for other states to establish parent education programs.
AVANCE Private nonprofit organization started by Gloria Rodriguez and the Zale Foundation in 1973 to serve primarily Hispanic families in San Antonio; programs as of 2012 in Texas, New Mexico, and California with partnerships in several other states around the country; focuses on parent education.
PBS KIDS Lab A partnership with Chicago public schools and PBS KIDS that provides virtual resources for children ages 38. Includes free online resources developed by master teachers in English and Spanish and modeling of high-quality activities parents can do with their children.
Creative Curriculum Alignment (for 3-Year-Olds)
Head Start Domain Element Examples of Objectives and Dimensions from the Creative Curriculum for Preschool Examples from the Creative Curriculum for Preschool
Receptive language: the ability to comprehend or understand language 8. Listens to and understands increasingly complex language

8a. Comprehends language

8b. Follows directions
  • Mighty minute 73 "Are You Ready?"
  • Intentional Teaching "My Turn at the Microphone"
  • Intentional Teaching "Introducing New Vocabulary"
Expressive language: the ability to use language 9. Uses language to express thoughts and needs

9a. Uses an expanding expressive vocabulary

9b. Speaks clearly

9c. Uses conventional grammar

9d. Tells about another time or place

10. Uses appropriate conversational and other communication skills

10a. Engages in conversations

10b. Uses social rules of language
  • Trees Study: Day 4, Investigation 1 (Large-group discussion and Shared Writing, p. 34)
  • Buildings Study: Day 4, Investigation 3 (Large-group discussion and Shared Writing, p. 58)
  • Intentional Teaching "Introducing New Vocabulary"
Source: Teaching Strategies, 2012.
Labeling
Labels A, B, and C represent three increasingly informative levels of description that complement the visual depiction of a classroom activity.
Figure: Image of a large block tower with small animal and people figurines is shown at left and is described in three different ways on the right. Label A reads "Children in the 4/5K class worked in the block center this morning."Label B reads "This 4 story block tower represents a zoo. It was constructed during the work cycle period over two days by three kindergarten children."Label C reads "Three kindergarteners who have been developing their skills in the block center all year demonstrate their knowledge of balance, symmetry and classification in this 4 story construction. There are major math concepts included in the kindergarten math standards. They solved several structural problems as they worked over two days to complete the tower. The decision to add animals and people was made after the 4 levels were complete, but before the enclosing pieces were placed. At one point, they posted a sign that said, 'wrk n prgrs.' After they decided to add animals, they carefully counted out pairs of identical animals, sorting them by size and type, putting animals from like habitats together."
Examples of Interview or Family Survey Questions
Questions about the Child Questions about the Family
  1. What are your child's favorite activities?
  2. What are your child's least favorite activities?
  3. Who does your child like to play with?
  4. What are your child's food preferences?
  5. Does your child have any particular fears?
  6. Does your child enjoy being read to or telling stories?
  7. Describe your child's personality.
  8. What does your child seem to be most interested in learning about?
  1. List the names of the family members who live in your home and their relationship to your child.
  2. What is your family's country of origin?
  3. What language(s) are spoken in your home?
  4. Describe your family's favorite recreational activities or hobbies.
  5. How does your family observe holidays?
  6. How do the members of your family share family history?
  7. What kind of work do members of your family do?

Chapter 6: What Are My Responsibilities as a Planner?

Water Table Activities
Prompts and Facilitation Strategies Materials
Monday Generate and record ideas about why objects sink or float in water; examine a variety of materials for experimentation; chart childrens predictions Paper clips; marbles; recycled styrofoam packing peanuts trays and soda/water bottles; paper plates; bottle caps; wood scraps; aluminum foil; paper cups; play dough; small rocks and sticks; string; rubber bands; tooth picks; plastic straws
Tuesday Discuss ideas about how children could make a boat that will float in water; construct and test in the water table; record observations; photograph or videotape the water table as a work in progress
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday Construct a diagram (sink/float/both) with the children to organize observations made over the week; compare with their original predictions; begin a book with images or drawings of the boats and transcription of childrens tentative answers to the question of why a boat floats; generate new questions about sinking and floating to continue inquiry
Floor Plans
These two spaces represent contrasting approaches to design, one which encourages running (Room A) indoors and the other (Room B) with distinct pathways to direct children's movements.
Figure: Two floor plans. Room A, on the left, is a very open space with tables, shelves and easels lined up against walls to create a large open space in the middle of the room. Room B, on the right, uses shelves to define distinct spaces and limit the amount of open space to confined areas.
Early Learning Standards
Standard Substandards
Approaches to Learning
AL 2. Children show curiosity, eagerness, and satisfaction as learners.
AL 3. Children demonstrate initiative, engagement, and persistence in learning.
AL 5. Children extend their learning through the use of memory, reasoning, and problem-solving skills.

AL-3K-2.2 Demonstrate eagerness and interest as learners by responding to what they observe.
AL-3K-3.3 Show ability to focus attention on favorite activities for brief periods of time (5 to 10 minutes).
AL-3K-5.1 Talk about prior events and personal experiences.
AL-3K-5.2 Use prior knowledge to understand new experiences.
Social and Emotional Development
SE2. Children demonstrate self-control, respect, and responsibility.

SE-3K-2.2 Use classroom materials responsibly with modeling and guidance from adults.
Language and Literacy
LL 1. Understanding and using literary texts
LL2. Understanding and using informational texts
LL3. Learning to read
LL4. Developing written communication
LL5. Producing written communication in a variety of forms
LL6. Applying the skills of inquiry and oral communication

ELA-3K-1.1 Explore realistic books and materials in classroom centers.
ELA-3K-2.1 Explore realistic books and materials in classroom centers.
ELA-3K-3.1 Rehearse vocabulary by identifying familiar objects pictured in books.
ELA-3K-3.19 Begin connecting text read aloud with personal experiences.
ELA-3K-4.3 Tells a brief story (one or two ideas).
ELA-3K-4.8 Participate in small-group reflections on recent event.
ELA-3K-5-3 Identify and briefly describe important people, objects, and events in their world.
ELA-3K-6.1. Ask "why" questions about things in their world.
ELA-3K-6.3 Classify familiar objects by one or two observable attributes.
Mathematics
M1. Mathematics processes
M3. Algebra
M4. Geometry
M5. Measurement
M6. Data analysis and probability

M-3K-1.2 Begin to make predictions based on appearance and experience.
M-3K-1.5 Begin to see how similar items can be grouped together.
M-3K-1.7 Show an awareness of numbers in a personally meaningful context.
M-4K-3.2 Identify and copy a simple pattern.
M-3K-3.4 Recognize similar objects in the environment by color, shape or size.
M-3K-4.1 Recognize simple shapes in the environment.
M-3K-4.2 Match shapes in the environment.
M-3K-4.3 Begin to show an understanding of the common positional words up, down, under, over, and in.
M-3K-5.2 Compare the size of objects.
M-3K-5.6 Begin to show awareness of time concepts.
M-4K-6.1 Organize and represent data with real objects.
Physical Growth and Health
PD 2. Fine motor control: Children use their fingers and hands in ways that develop hand-eye coordination, strength, control, and small-object manipulation.

PD-3K-2.2 Use hand-eye coordination to perform simple tasks.
Insects Concept Map
A concept map is different from a plan for activities. It focuses on the goals or objectives of the unit. Specific activities are derived from the ideas represented.
Figure: Concept Map titled "Insects: Ladybugs, Butterflies, Bees." The top left square reads, "Approaches to Learning: Observing life cycle, predicting (when will they hatch, what will happen next, etc.), curiosity (how do ladybugs fly, what do butterflies do, metamorphosis stages, etc.), memory (recall, steps in life cycle, etc.), engagement (interest in topic, pursuing questions, representations), persistence (catching bugs), problem solving." The top right box reads, "Social/Emotional: responsibility (caring for materials and equipment), self-control (being gentle with specimens, taking turns). Physical: Fine Motor: Drawing/painting, using tweezers, magnifying glasses, puzzles, cutting (shapes)." The bottom right reads, "Language Literacy: vocabulary (life cycle words, names of insects, body parts, environmental words), understanding and using literacy texts (non-fiction, images, photos), connecting text/narrative with real life (sharing stories, describing activities and experiences), inquiry (assisting and charting 'why' questions about bugs, following up over time with observations and tentative answers), reflecting (talking about observations)." The bottom left square reads, "Math: patterns (wings, bodies, honeycombs), symmetry (wings, bodies, antennae), matching (different types of insects, puzzles), shapes (body parts and markings), sorting/classifying (by color, size, shape, etc.), counting (spots, number of bugs, etc.), positional words (up, down, beside, behind, under), graphing data (?), time (observing life cycle), sequencing (life cycle)."
Brainstorming Ideas for Activities and Experiences
This organizer represents ideas for activities that will support the concepts map and indicates where they will take place.
Figure: Ten circles arranges around a center circle, "Insects: Ladybugs and Butterflies." The circles read, "Food/snacks: butterfly crackers; English muffin ladybugs, butterfly pasta. Manipulatives: Various puzzles of insects, butterfly matching game, bug hunt board game, put together bugs, translucent bugs for light table, plastic insects for sorting. Sand/water table: sifters, plastic bugs, bug catchers, large tongs. Movement/music and Dramatic play: Butterfly wings for pretending, scarves. Songs/music: Gentle, Gentle Butterfly, Mr. Caterpillar, I Wish I Were a Ladybug, Five Little Ladybugs. Arts: Easel Painting: sponge symmetrical folded sponge prints (wings), Coffee filter butterflies, pipe cleaner antennae, gluing spots on ladybugs, paper flower garden mural. Discovery Table: magnifying glasses, insect specimens, pictures of insects. Literacy: Felt board lifecycle story, memory game, magnetic ladybug story, daily story reading. Butterfly books: I am a Caterpillar, Very Hungry Caterpillar, Ten Little Caterpillars, Butterfly Alphabet, The Butterfly Kiss, Over in the Garden, the Lamb and the Butterfly, Caterpillar to Butterfly. Ladybug Books: Ladybug on the Move, Lara Ladybug, Bubba and Trixie, Ladybug, Ladybug Where Are You Going?, Five Little Ladybugs, Informational texts.
Week-at-a-Glance Plans for Insect Unit
Sunflower Week-at-a-Glance Planner
Week April 30 to May 4 May 8 to May 11 May 14 to May 18
Study topic Butterflies/Insects Insects: Ladybugs Insects: Butterflies
Special center activities Caterpillars to study

Bugs, bug catchers, and sifters in the sensory table

Butterfly, ladybug, and other insect puzzles

Special snack: butterfly crackers

Make coffee-filter butterflies

Pretend to be butterflies

Felt board butterfly life cycle
Newly hatched ladybugs to study

Bugs, bug catchers, and sifters in the sensory table

Butterfly, ladybug, and other insect puzzles

Special snack: ladybugs made from English muffins with jam and chocolate chips or raisins

Paint ladybugs at easel

Pretend to be ladybugs and/or other insects with wing costumes, etc.

Magnetic ladybug story
Newly hatched butterflies to study

Bugs, bug catchers, and sifters in the sensory table

Butterfly, ladybug, and other insect puzzles

Special snacks: butterfly pasta, drinking "nectar" from flower straws

Make symmetrical butterfly wings

Pretend to be butterflies
Felt board butterfly life cycle
Small Group
Monday Butterfly matching/memory game No school Butterfly shape graphing
Tuesday Continue butterfly matching/memory game How many spots on the ladybug? Craft and math activity Continue butterfly shape graphing
Wednesday Yoga Yoga, garden bug-hunt board game Yoga
Thursday Make symmetrical butterfly wings Make antennae for ladybug matching game Butterfly life-cycle sequencing
Friday Finish butterfly wings Continue to make antennae; ladybug release in playground garden Finish butterfly sequencing; butterfly release party
Large Group
Books of the week Butterflies, I am a Caterpillar, Waiting for Wings, Very Hungry Caterpillar, Ten Little Caterpillars, Butterfly Alphabet, The Butterfly Kiss, Over in the Garden, The Lamb and the Butterfly, Caterpillar to Butterfly Ladybug on the Move; Lara Ladybug; Bubba and Trixie; Ladybug, Ladybug, Where are you Going?; Five Little Ladybugs; and various ladybug information books Monarch Butterfly, Waiting for Wings, Very Hungry Caterpillar, Ten Little Caterpillars, The Butterfly Kiss, Over in the Garden, The Lamb and the Butterfly, Caterpillar to Butterfly, Butterfly Counting Book, Butterflies, the Caterpillar and the Pollywog
Songs of the week "Gentle, Gentle Butterfly," "Mr. Caterpillar" "I Wish I Were a Ladybug," "Five Little Ladybugs" "Gentle, Gentle Butterfly," "Mr. Caterpillar"
Large-group activities Learning/discussing the stages of a butterflys life and pretending to be each stage
Vocabulary: chrysalis, proboscis, symmetry, metamorphosis
Learning/discussing the stages of a ladybugs life; characteristics of an insect
Vocabulary: larva, pupa, aphid, antennae, metamorphosis
Learning/discussing the stages of a butterflys life and pretending to be each stage
Vocabulary: chrysalis, proboscis, symmetry, metamorphosis
Materials List for Insect Unit
Books/Media Manipulatives and Props Food Art Supplies
I am a Caterpillar

Very Hungry Caterpillar

Ten Little Caterpillars Butterfly Alphabet

The Butterfly Kiss

*Over in the Garden

*The Lamb and the Butterfly

Caterpillar to Butterfly

Ladybug on the Move

Lara Ladybug

Bubba and Trixie

Ladybug, Ladybug Where are You Going?

Five Little Ladybugs

National Geographic

Magazines and photos from the Internet
4 Magnifying glasses

Insect specimen set

Caterpillar specimen set

Live insects/caterpillars from playground?

7 Puzzles: (2 ladybug, 3 butterflies, 1 bumblebee, 1 garden with insects)

Felt board set (life cycle)

Magnetic ladybugs and magnet board

4 colanders

4 sifters

4 bug catchers

4 pairs of tongs

Colored netting

Wing costumes

Paper sentence strips

Life cycle cutouts

Glow-in-the-dark insects for light table
Butterfly crackers

English muffins

Jam
Raisins

Butterfly pasta

Straws

Pineapple juice
Coffee filters

Watercolors

Tempera paint (yellow, black, red, orange)

Construction paper

Colored tissue

Pipe cleaners

Wire hangers

Netting

Easel paper

Sponges
Make
Butterfly matching (lotto-style) game w/printed images from the Internet
Number/puzzle cards with foam butterfly and ladybug stickers
Bug-hunt board game
Vocabulary/picture cards: Chrysalis, proboscis, symmetry, metamorphosis, larva, pupa, aphid, antennae, symmetry
Cutouts for graphing (1-inch yellow triangles, circles, squares) and blank four-column graph

Materials and Activities for Butterfly/Insect Unit with Two- and Three-Year-Old Children

A balance of open-ended and teacher-directed activities was carefully planned to engage children across the developmental domains in activities designed to promote learning about insects in this thematic unit.
Figure: Illustrated table showing materials and activities for butterfly/insect study for two and three year old children. The entry in the first row, first column reads, "Age-appropriate fiction and non-fiction related to butterflies and insects," and it shows a bookshelf with ladybug and caterpillar books. First row, second column reads, "Light table play with plastic inset models," and shows plastic insects on top of a light table. Second row, first column reads, "Puzzles with insect or butterfly themes," and shows two puzzles on a shelf. The second row, second column reads, "Tongs and bowl for dine motor practice with small plastic insects," and shows two containers, one with tongs, and one with plastic bugs. The third row, first column reads, "Sorting and classifying with realistic plastic insects," and shows a number of plastic insects in a basket. The third row, second column reads, "Modeling symmetry with folded prints, " and shows paper butterfly wings that were folded in half to transfer the paint from the left side to the right. Fourth row, first column reads, "Graphing shapes observed on butterfly wings and writing numbers (with help)," and shows a chart with a square, circle, star, triangle, and rectangle as column headers each with a number inside of the shape to indicate how many times the children counted the shape on butterfly wings. Each column then has the shape repeated to match the number of appearances noted inside the column header. Row four, column two reads, "Teacher-made number matching puzzle cards with insect cut-outs," and shows two pieces of interlocking paper, the paper on the left has the number 2 written on it, and the paper on the right has two butterflies drawn on it. Row five, column one reads, "Sand table exploration with plastic insects, magnifying glasses, scoops and sifters," and shows an elevated sandbox with plastic insects, magnifying glasses, scoops and sifters. Row five, column two reads, "Movement activities with butterfly wings and scarves," and shows children wearing butterfly wings and holding scarves. Row six, column one reads, "Pretend play with butterfly props," and shows a girl wearing butterfly wings. Row six, column two reads, "Props for pretending to be ladybugs or butterflies," and shows a girl wearing a ladybug hat and mask. Row seven, column one reads, "Construction of a paper garden for ladybugs," and shows paper flowers and ladybugs arranged into a garden. Row seven, column two reads, "using art media to create representations of insects," and shows a girl making a ladybug out of paper.
Week Four: Bees
Activities focusing on honey and bumblebees were added to the unit, some as extensions of activities already in place and others new.
Figure: A three column chart. The first column reads, "Activities: Examine honeycombs, taste honey, make "nectar," add props to dramatic play are, felt board story, construct painted representations of honeycomb, hexagon patterns, put hexagons together to make beehive, drawing to music of "Flight of the Bumblebee," discuss how bees collect pollen to make honey, differentiate between bumblebees and honeybees, discuss different roles (new vocabulary  queen, worker, drone, honeycomb, hive), assign bee colony roles t job charts for the week, printing with hexagons, mixing paint to make the color of honey." The second column reads, "Books/Media: Bumble Bees, Very Greedy Bee, Buzz Bumble to the Rescue (audio CD), Are you a Bee? Busy, Buzzy Bees, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz went Bumblebee, Bumblebee, Bumble Bee, Do you know Me? Bumblebee at Apple Tree Lane, "Flight of the Bumblebee," images of bees, hives, and honeycombs." The third column reads, "Additional Materials: honeycomb, easel paper, sponges cut into hexagon shapes, yellow-brown paint, hexagon pattern blocks, pineapple juice (nectar), straws, felt board bee story, biscuits and honey, pipe cleaners for antennae, black/yellow paper and rubber bands for bee masks."
KWL Chart on Power, Force, and Motion
K: What We Know W: What We Want to Know L: How We Can Learn/Find Out
Water is strong.

Water has invisible powers.

Water cant go up.

Wind is strong.

Wind is invisible, like water, but you can feel it.

Sails make boats go if they dont have a motor.

Things go down by "theirselves," but not up.

Superheroes have special powers that regular kids dont have.

Machines help us do work.
How does water move things?

How do you make water?

How can you make water go up?

Is power the same as magic?

What makes things go fast if they dont have a motor?

How come machines are stronger than people?
Make a waterfall.

Make more boats.

Ask the engineer how the barrels work.

See how fast we can make our cars go.

Make a lot of ramps.

Make cool "constraptions" to get things to go up.

Find some books about ramps.
Brainstorming for Exploring Power, Force, and Motion
This graphic organizer indicates Mary and Jane's initial thinking about open-ended activities that would help direct the project.
Figure: Two column graphic organizer. The left column lists the object involved and the right column lists the activities. The organizer reads, "Pulleys. Challenge children to design pulley system on climber to haul things to the platform. Put wood gears in discovery center. Catapults. Explore factors that influence height and distance. Put balance in the rock pond. Superheroes. Find out if their ideas about powers are grounded in theories about physical forces. Inclined Planes. Add flexible track and cars to the block center. Build a pyramid. Water. Build a water wall. Use playground blocks and channels to move water. PVC pipe to build a sprinkler for the garden. Water colors/eye droppers, beakers and oil. Add sails to boats. Visit Water Authority. Make diagrams, to predict how rain barrels work. Explore ice/water melting, condensation and evaporation."
Week One Water Activities
During the first week, as Mary and Jane began predicting the direction of the long-term study, they focused on moving water.
Figure: Teacher notes that read, "Activity: Channeling Water I. Materials: Large playground blocks, water channel modules, hose, wading pools and large tubs, ping pong balls and small cards, buckets, cups, and watering cans. Initial Setup: Two stacks of blocks, one higher than the other, with one water channel module bridging the two stacks, set up hose at tope so that water is flowing downhill, have other blocks and channeling modules nearby for later. Put wading pool at bottom of water channel to capture water. Introduction: Ask children what will happen when they put balls or cars on the top of the channel with the water running downhill. Advise them when pool at bottom is full, the hose will be turned off and no more water can be added. Exploration and Scaffolding: Facilitate/supervise free play with structure until pool is full. Ask them how they will get water back up to the top so play can continue. Encourage adaptation, addition of additional blocks, channeling modules, and water capture tubs/pools to make more complicated structures with additional water. Prediction: Children will make use of buckets, cups, etc. to take water out of pool(s) and pour back in at top to keep play going. Channeling Water II. Materials: Same as Activity I, small whiteboards and markers. Initial Setup: hook up tubing and pump to existing structure. Intervention: Demonstrate operation of pump to circulate water from bottom pool back to top of structure. Exploration and Scaffolding: Experiment with different ways to add blocks/channels to structure and observe how water moved with assistance of pump. Encourage children to use whiteboards to draw plans for water circulating structures/systems. Use additional blocks/water channeling modules to replicate plans. Prediction: Children will begin to experiment with changing elevations, degree of incline for water channels, etc. Water Table. Materials: Spray bottles, tubing, funnels, ping pong balls. Initial Setup: Set up water table. Intervention: None. See what happens.

Chapter 7: Approaches to Learning: Exploratory Play and Creative Arts

Sensory Table Materials, Tools/Props, and Activities
Water and Additives Sand and Other Natural Materials Other Media Including Recyclables Food-Based Materials
Food coloring Beach or playground sand, plain or colored Packing materials (peanut-shaped, disc-shaped, etc.) Rice
Dish soap Potting media Cotton or fiberfill Flour/cornstarch
Bubble liquid Pebbles or small rocks Buttons Oatmeal or other cereal
Ice cubes Aquarium gravel Rubber bands Dried beans/peas
Snow Cedar chips or shavings Shredded paper Dried pasta
Gelatin Sawdust Ribbons Pumpkin seeds
Cornstarch ("oobleck") Straw (not an allergen like hay) Pompoms or confetti Popcorn kernels
Baking soda and vinegar Dried leaves, seed pods, pine cones Torn or cut colored tissue, or wrapping papers Flax seed
Natural clay Artificial grass filler Bird seed
Small metal objects such as paper clips
Tools/Props
Water/Liquids

Cups, funnels, things that sink/float (aluminum foil, corks, clothespins, etc.), plastic pitchers, rotary egg beater or whisk, straws cut into different lengths, bubble wands, items with pumps (like a hand soap dispenser), washcloths and sponges, droppers/poultry basters, spray bottles, small toys or plastic fish, toothbrushes
Sand/Other Solids

Kitchen utensils such as spoons, funnels, measuring cups and spoons, ice cream scoop, strainers/sieves/sifters, tongs or tweezers, small hand rakes or combs, seashells and/or small toys/plastic animals, buckets, shovels, cookie cutters, rolling pins, pie tins, magnifying glasses, scissors, hole puncher, magnet wands
Examples of Prompts/Activities for Water, Sand, and Other Materials
Digging: bury items in sand to be uncovered (perhaps relating to a current theme) such as plastic dinosaurs, insects, worms, coins, plastic "jewels," small mirrors or laminated photos of the children
Washing: wash baby dolls, small cars, dishes, toys
Molding: provide molds of different kinds for damp/wet sand, dirt, or other modeling materials
Fishing: bamboo poles with magnet attached to end of string, paper clips and small paper or rubber fish with paper clips attached
Road building: sand or dirt-based materials, small vehicles
Challenges: use tongs or giant plastic tweezers to pick up different sized colored pom-poms and put them in plastic tubs or jars
Sensory Material Recipes
Product Ingredients Directions
Cooked Play Dough 2 c flour
2 c water
1 c table salt
4 tsp cream of tartar
2 Tbsp vegetable or baby oil
Food coloring or scents (e.g. vanilla or peppermint extract)
Mix all ingredients and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly till mixture forms into a large ball. Remove from pot, let stand till cool enough to handle and then knead for several minutes.
Oobleck (also known as goop) 1 part cornstarch
1 part water
Food coloring, if desired
When mixed together, the material confounds children because it exhibits properties of both solids and liquids.
Silly putty (also known as gak) 1 part liquid laundry starch
1 part white school glue
Food coloring, if desired
Mix together and knead on a flat surface until it has the texture of silly putty.
Colored rice or pasta 2 c white rice or pasta
1 Tbsp rubbing alcohol
Food coloring, as desired
Dissolve food coloring in alcohol and add to pasta, stirring till evenly colored. Let dry. Because the rubbing alcohol takes the place of water, the rice or pasta does not become gummy and the resulting colors are bright and durable.
Moon sand 4 c play sand
2 c cornstarch
1 c water
OR
9 c sand and 1 ¼ c baby oil
Mix all ingredients together.
Artificial snow Ivory Snow powder or flakes
Water
Mix with rotary or electric beater till light and fluffy.
Artificial mud 1 or 2 toilet paper rolls
2 bars of Ivory Soap
Hot water
Grate soap with a cheese grater. Tear toilet paper roll in pieces and soak everything in a bowl of warm water, mixing with hands till it reaches the consistency of mud.
Slime (also known as flubber) 1 T borax powder
1 c water
¼ c school glue (clear or white)
¼ water
Food coloring or flow in the dark paint, if desired
Dissolve borax in 1 cup of water and pour along with glue into a sealable plastic bag, seal, and knead. Keep refrigerated when not in use.
Source: Recipes courtesy of the N.E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC.
Common Materials Suitable for Light Table Play
Materials Applications
X-ray films; colored or black/white slides; microfiche film; shells; small clear plastic boxes for holding specimens children might collect, such as butterfly wings or leaves Close observation with magnifying glasses to examine images and/or embedded details that are enhanced when lighted from below
Salt, flour, gelatin crystals, colored sugar or rice Using hands and fingers for tactile exploration and making impressions/designs, tracings, or drawings in the material
Colored cellophane, tissue, glow-in-the-dark festival bracelets Layering and observing color transparency, creating shapes and images
Clear plastic tubing cut to different lengths; fill with clear or colored liquids, oils, gels, or glitter, and seal with hot glue Observing movement of liquids, layering and observing how light reveals changes in colors and density
Tightly sealed clear heavy-duty zip-locking-style bags filled with colored hair gel, baby food, shaving cream, or "water beads" (expandable beads used in floral arrangements) Tactile exploration by pressing, squishing, and moving material inside the bags. Observing changes in density and transparency
Colored pasta, plastic buttons, beads, jewelry, and clear plastic ice cube trays, bowls, or small trays Sorting/matching: moving, arranging, or stacking in different ways to create patterns and shapes
Developmental Stages of Block Building
Block-building skills and concepts develop over time in a predictable sequence that requires time, space, and an adequate number and variety of blocks and accessories.
Figure: Six stages of block-building are represented in a table. Stage 1 is exploring blocks, but not building (e.g. holding, carrying). The photo of stage one shows two boys sitting on the floor with blocks scattered at their feet. Stage 2 is stacking or laying out blocks vertically or horizontally, sometimes with multiple or combined stacks or rows. The photo of stage two shows a young boy adding a block to one of the two block towers he has built. Stage three is bridging, by setting up two blocks vertically and laying another across the top to span the empty space. The photo of stage three shows a boy who has created two levels of vertical and horizontal blocks and is adding another lever. Stage 4 is enclosures and problem-solving to figure out how to make blocks meet horizontally before incorporating vertical elements. The photo of stage four shows three girls who created a pen for their toy farm animals. Stage five is elaborate structures incorporating patters, symmetry, and balance. The photo of stage five shows a symmetrical tower of blocks. Stage 6 is cooperative building to plan, name and build  sometimes replicating known structures. The photo of stage six shows two children working together to build a large block structure.
Building Blocks
Children benefit from having an assortment of different types of building blocks that complement their behavior and activities at different stages of block building.
Figure: Chart listing different block types/styles, descriptions/features, and images of the blocks. The first row is stacking blocks. Stacking blocks are blocks of uniform or graduated size for easy handling, primarily used by younger children in earliest stages of block-building. The image of stacking blocks shows ten blocks in two columns. The blocks are numbered and have pictures on the sides and they are of graduated size. Row two discusses soft blocks which are building blocks made of soft materials, appropriate for younger children. The photo of soft blocks shows that they are shaped like regular blocks (rectangles, semi-circles), but they are softer. Row three discusses cardboard bricks which are lightweight blocks usually in cubes or rectangular shape, made of heavy-duty cardboard that resembles bricks. The photo of cardboard bricks shows yellow, red, and blue blocks in a variety of sizes and shapes. Row four shows filled blocks which are blocks with see-through centers that come pre-filled or can be filled by the teacher as desired. Useful for accents with accomplished builders, or to attract and engage children in block play. The photo of filled blocks shows a group of rectangular and semi-circle blocks that have been filled half-way with colored sand. Row five shows unit blocks which are made of maple or other hardwood, but are also available in dense foam and softer materials. The standard block measures 5.5 inches x 2.75 inches by 1.375 inches. Other blocks are multiples of fractions of these dimensions. The photo of unit blocks shows blocks laid flat in a variety of sizes and shapes, including arches, semi-circles, triangles, and rectangles, which are designed to fit together like puzzle pieces. Row six is hollow blocks which are larger wooden blocks, scaled similarly to unit blocks, that enable children to build large structures, but made with a hollow center to facilitate carrying, hoisting, etc. The photo of hollow blocks shows rectangular blocks of various sizes with hollow middles. Row seven is miniature unit blocks which have the same principle as unit blocks, but in much smaller versions to enable use on tabletop or by younger children not able to yet manage traditional sets. Miniature blocks are available in colored version. The photo of miniature unit blocks shows very small versions of unit blocks. Row eight is architectural table blocks which are small blocks with distinctive architectural elements. The photo shows architectural blocks arranged to resemble a mosque. Row nine is cardboard boxes which children can recycle to use for construction activities, particularly appropriate for outdoor construction play. The photo of cardboard boxes shows boxes covered in wrapping paper stacked against a wall. Row ten is playground blocks which are heavy-duty plastic blocks that can be used to build large or extended structures outdoors. The photo of playground blocks shows large, multicolored blocks arranged into a pyramid.
Prop Box Themes and Materials
Theme Materials
Travel/Recreation Themes
Beach or pool Towels, blanket, folding lawn/beach chairs, sunglasses, hats, umbrella, flip-flops, radio, water wings, inflatable raft, small cooler, beach ball, Frisbee, empty sunscreen bottle, buckets/shovels and sand molds, snorkel, lifeguard hat or T-shirt, whistle, first aid kit, bathing suits
Fishing, camping, hiking Tent, camp stools, sleeping bag, cooler, fishing pole, bobbers, wading boots, tackle box, scoop or cast net, fishing license; binoculars; canteen or water bottle, compass, flashlight, backpack, small grill, hooded sweatshirts and hiking pants/shorts; hiking boots, knee high socks, utility belt, weather radio
Road trip Suitcases, maps, wallet, money, credit cards, postcards, cellphone, camera, lap games, snacks, travel pillow, car seat, binoculars, tickets, pet carrier, sunglasses, travel magazines or information leaflets, such as those for national/state parks or an amusement park
Airplane trip Tickets, suit jackets, name badges, security wand, cardboard box for x-ray machine, suitcases, passport, wallet, ID cards, neck pillow, cellphone, magazines, water bottles, travel posters, cart, empty snack and drink containers
Retail Themes
Grocery store or vegetable stand Empty/cleaned boxes, cans, egg cartons, and other food containers, apron, toy vegetables, bins/baskets, cardstock for signs, shopping cart, cash register, counter space, purses/wallets, coupons, newspaper advertising circulars, grocery bags
Frozen yogurt/ice cream store Small table and chairs, scoops, empty/cleaned ice cream and whipped cream containers and play money, bowls, spoons, confetti for toppings, cash register, apron, paper cones, clipboard/order pad and pencils, paper for signs and wipe-off or chalkboard for "specials"
Pizza shop Empty pizza boxes, play money and order pads, phone, aprons, cash register, box or play oven, pizza paddle, cardboard circles and cutouts or play dough for shells, plastic pizza cutter, toppings, paper for signs, wipe-off board
Local restaurant Menus from local establishments, paper for signs and wipe-off board for daily specials, table and tablecloth, table setting items, waiter/waitress tray, order pad, uniform or apron, chef hat, area for cooking, play food
Salon/spa Combs, brushes, wall and hand mirror, rollers and hair pins, spray bottles, appointment book, chair, magazines and pictures of hair models, plastic cape, nonworking dryer and curling iron, empty shampoo and hair product bottles, towels, basin, empty nail polish bottles
Bookstore/library Books, magazines, old keyboard, cozy chairs or beanbags, library cards, wallet, credit cards, play money, boxes for book cases, cash register, "Sh-h-h" sign, reading glasses, paper coffee cups
Medical
Hospital Sheets, pillow, stethoscope, masks, scrubs, white coat, booties, first aid items, flashlight, latex gloves, thermometer, x-ray films, crutches, empty medicine containers, Rx pad
Veterinarian White coat, stuffed animals or puppets, gloves, first aid items, stethoscope, pet carrier, leash, play money, paper and pencils, exam table, magazines about animals, splint and gauze, eye patch, paper ear cone
Miscellaneous
Repair shop Tool box, tools, safety glasses, broken/nonusable items such as CD player, camera, alarm clock, watches, small appliances, name tags, order pad, workbench, plastic bins and miscellaneous hardware parts, PVC, measuring tape, level, work shirt
Office File folders, desk organizers, paper, markers, pens, ruler, old keyboard and/or printer, phone, paper clips, stapler, briefcase or rolling suitcase, box to make copy machine, eyeglasses, desk nameplate, photo frames, table/chairs, books, office catalogs, empty water cooler bottle and paper cups
Art Center Materials
Media Materials Applications
Drawing Pencils, crayons, markers, colored pencils, chalk/pastels, erasers, rulers, different kinds and sizes of papers to draw on (drawing paper, sandpaper, construction paper, mural paper).
(Crayons are available in "chubby" or "block" versions for easy handling by toddlers.)
Exploring line quality, using tools in different ways (such as the side of a chalk as well as its point), and creating forms and shapes, with different effects.
Print making Rollers, water-based ink, tempera, or finger paint; Styrofoam trays, heavy string or yarn, glue, sponges, wooden spoons; papers (see above). Transferring an image from one surface to another (such as pressing a piece of paper onto an image made on another); using a tool or template to make multiple repeated images in different ways (such as using sponges or stamps to make a picture).
Collage A variety of papers for cutting/tearing, such as tissue, construction paper, magazines; scissors (for children old enough to handle them); glue sticks, tape; stickers; fabric scraps; yarn; any small objects or materials that can be glued onto a flat surface, such as buttons, leaves, sequins, glitter, feathers, etc.; papers including cardboard or posterboard; staplers, hole punchers. Layering or using the kinds of materials listed to create an image design, or objects such as paper bag puppets.
Modeling Play dough, modeling clay, air-dry or ceramic clay (requires firing); implements such as rolling pins, scrapers, tongue depressors, small mallets, or textured dough tools. Rolling, cutting, and making impressions in modeling materials to construct three-dimensional forms or objects that might also be decorated with paints or glazes.
Painting Finger and tempera paint, watercolors, paint cups, brushes, sponges, Q-tips, easel/clips and paper of different kinds/sizes, including easel paper, poster paper, construction paper, finger-paint paper. Exploring color and the qualities of different kinds of paints with hands, fingers, or tools to create abstract or realistic figures, lines, and forms.
Sculpture Small boxes, wood scraps, wire, pipe cleaners, straws, toothpicks, thread spools, etc. Taping, gluing, or using other means of attaching materials together to make free-standing or relief creations.
Fabric/fibers Yarn, string, twine, fabric scraps, strips or loops, felt, cotton or batting, tapestry needles (for older children), simple looms, socks. Fabrics can be used for collage and, as children acquire the skill to do so, simple weaving or sewing projects.
Visual Art Standards Themes and Corresponding Strategies
Theme Strategies

Creative involvement and expression
  • Rotate materials in the art center so that children are exposed to a variety of media, techniques, and processes.
  • Involve children in conversation about materialsfor example, talking about how drawing with chalk produces results that are different from drawing with markers, or what happens if the side of a crayon is used rather than the point.
  • Include a florist as one of the classroom jobs; keep a selection of real or artificial flowers and greenery and a variety of interesting items on hand.
  • Create a file box with interesting pictures, photographs, and postcards that children can use for reference and that include images contributed by children and their families.
  • Display interesting items in the art area with a variety of shapes, textures, and colors.
  • Take "drawing walks" with clipboards and encourage children to draw what they see. (Always take clipboards/paper on field trips!)
  • Collect interesting natural items such as leaves, flowers, and seashells for collages.
  • Press flowers and leaves between sheets of waxed paper.

Performing and sharing
  • Ask children to describe what they are working on and transcribe their comments on the back or create a label with their words for three-dimensional work.
  • Ask about art children might see at homeon the wall or collected by their parents.
  • Make blank books with different topics such as animals, flowers, and birds and encourage children to contribute pages.
  • Regularly display childrens artwork in the classroom and hallways with labels that represent how the children describe their work.
  • Be on the lookout for picture frames at garage sales and use them for displays, so that children understand that their work is important.
  • Periodically involve the children in creating a mural or group sculpture that will promote group discussion and decision making.

Responding to the work of others
  • Look at artwork during group times and ask children to describe it, noting differences in the responses they provide.
  • Display original art or reproductions representative of the cultures of the children in the group and artists from the local region.
  • Invite a local artist to visit the classroom.
  • Visit an art museum, local gallery, or community festival where art will be on display.
  • Look at pictures of art from earlier periods in history.
  • Provide books and display examples of art from different cultures.
  • Display a piece of artwork with a poster (or sticky note for each child) that includes each childs comments about it.

Making connections with other areas of the arts and curriculum
  • Periodically, use opportunities to create artwork for a particular purpose, such as a school event, greeting cards, or "get well" cards.
  • Go on a walk and point out different ways art is displayed in the environment, such as murals, signs or advertising posters, artwork in an office, or a sculpture in a park.
  • Include examples of art in other interest areas, such as botanical prints in the science area, framed book jacket covers or posters in the book corner, an art print from the cubist period in the math center, etc.
  • Display examples of artworks that serve different purposes, such as a calendar, framed decorative print, wallpaper, printed fabrics, or CD covers.
  • Play music while children are engaged in the art center or encourage them to respond to music with different kinds of media.
  • Involve children in making props or backdrops for the dramatic play center or child-created skits or plays.
World Music
A music curriculum should include experiences with instruments and music that represent cultural diversity and an appreciation for music from around the world. These examples include (from left to right and top to bottom) Native American rain sticks, marimbas, an African talking drum, a gathering drum, a Latin steel drum, a cabaca rasp, a thumb piano, a monkey drum, and a world music CD.
Illustrations of two Native American rain sticks, marimbas, an African talking drum, a gathering drum, a Latin steel drum, a cabaca rasp, a thumb piano, a monkey drumb, and a cd of world music.
Books with Visual Art Themes
Books with Art Themes
Catalanotto, P. (2006). Emily's art.
dePaola, T. (1997). The art lesson.
Editions Callimard Jeunesse. (1996). What the painter sees.
Ehlert, L. (2002). Market day: A story told with folk art.
Ehlert, L. (1989). Color zoo.
Ehlert, L. (1990). Color farm.
Ehlert, L. (2004). Hands: Growing up to be an artist.
Gibbons, G. (2000). The art box.
Lionni, L. (1959). Little blue and little yellow.
Macaulay, D. (1973). Cathedral: The story of its construction.
McDonnell, P. (2006). Art
Polacco, P. (2012). The art of Miss Chew.
Saltzberg, B. (2010). Beautiful oops!
Stinson, K., & Lewis, R. B. (1995). Red is best.
Vry, S. (2011). Red yellow blue: Colors in art.
Walsh, E. S. (1995). Mouse Paint.
Weill, C., Santiago, M., & Santiago, Q. (2009). Opuestos: Mexican folk art opposites in English and Spanish.
Wiesner, D. (2010). Art & Max.
Books about Artists & Illustrators
Appel, J., & Guglielmo, A. (2006). Touch the art: Make Van Gogh's Bed
Appel, J., & Guglielmo, A. (2010). Touch the art: Count Monet's lilies.
Beneduce, A. K. (1993). A weekend with Winslow Homer
Blizzard, G. S. (1992). Come look with me: Animals in art.
Blizzard, G. S. (1996). Come look with me: Enjoying art with children.
Friedland, K., & Shoemaker, M. K. (2008). A is for Art Museum.
Frith, M., & dePaola, T. (2003). Frida Kahlo: The artist who painted herself.
Geisel, T., & Sendak, M. (1995). The secret art of Dr. Seuss.
Holub, J. (2001). Vincent Van Gogh: Sunflowers and swirly stars.
Kutschbach, D. (2012) The art treasure hunt: I spy with my little eye.
Merberg, J. (2010). How is Mona Lisa feeling?
Micklethwait, L. (1993). A child's book of art: Great pictures, first words.
Micklethwait, L. (2004). I spy shapes in art.
O'Connor, J., & Hartland, J. (2002). Henri Matisse: Drawing with scissors.
Resource Books for Teachers
Dery, K. W. (1994). Preschool art: It's the process, not the product.
Kelly, E. (1999). Art for the very young: Ages 3-6.
Kohl, M. A. & Solga, K. (1997). Discovering great artists: Hands-on art for children.
Kohl, M. A., Ramsay, R. F., Bowman, D., & Davis, R. (2002). First art: Art experiences for toddlers and twos.
Kohl, M. A. F. (1994). Scribble art: Independent creative art experiences for children.
Kohl, M. A. F., & Potter, J. (2003). Storybook art: Hands-on art for children in the styles of 100 great picture book illustrators.
Lipsey, J. (2006). I love to finger paint.
Examples of Children's Book Illustrators with Distinctive Styles
Eric Carle: Collage with painted papers.
Lois Ehlert: Collage
Susan Jeffers: Pen and ink drawings/watercolor wash
Dr. Seuss: Pen and ink colored drawings
Shel Silverstein: Pen and ink drawings
Chris van Allsburg: Detailed drawings often from the eye-level perspective of the reader.
Donald Crews: Cut paper
Ezra Jack Keats: Collage, opaque water colors or gouache.

Chapter 8: Physical Development, Wellness, and Creative Movement

NASPE Physical Activity Guidelines for Children up to Age 5
Physical Activity Focus Infants Toddlers Preschoolers
Time for structured physical activity Interact with caregivers in daily physical activities dedicated to exploring movement and the environment. Engage in a total of at least 30 minutes of structured physical activity each day. Accumulate at least 60 minutes of structured physical activity each day.
Time for unstructured physical activity Caregivers place infants in settings that encourage and stimulate movement experiences and active play for short periods of time several times a day. At least 60 minutesand up to several hoursper day of unstructured physical activity; should not be sedentary for more than 60 minutes at a time, except when sleeping.
Skill Development Physical activity should promote skill development in movement. Ample opportunities to develop movement skills that will serve as the building blocks for future motor skillfulness and physical activity. Develop competence in fundamental motor skills that will serve as the building blocks for future motor skillfulness and physical activity.
Safety Environment meets or exceeds recommended safety standards for performing large-muscle activities. Indoor and outdoor areas meet or exceed recommended safety standards for performing large-muscle activities.
Adults in charge of planning for young children Caregivers, teachers, and parents are responsible for understanding the importance of physical activity and should promote movement skills by providing opportunities for structured and unstructured physical activity.
Source: www.aapherd.org
Planning Outdoor Activity Areas
Space or Interest Area Supported Activities Examples of Equipment and Materials to Support Area
Open area Running, games, planned physical activities such as an obstacle course or play with a parachute Paved or cushioned surface (e.g., grass, mulch, rubber) balls, ropes, hula hoops, parachute, cones, bean bags
Water/mud play Filling, pouring, measuring, water channeling Water table, dishwashing basins, pots/pans, measuring cups, funnels, kitchen utensils, hose/running water, plastic PVC-type tubing
Playground structures Climbing, swinging, crawling, sliding, balancing Structures must be rated for age-appropriateness and professionally installed to meet local licensing codes for spacing and safety
Gardening, recycling Planting, transplanting, weeding, watering, harvesting, composting, sorting/recycling Movable containers; designated ground space for ornamental, herb, or vegetable garden; wall frames, features such as an arbor, fences, pergola, or trellis; recycling and composting container; rainwater collection barrel; tools, pots, potting bench; watering can; hose/sprinkler
Dramatic play Pretend play and opportunity to create fantasy structures such as tents, houses, fort or castle, etc. Playhouse and/or designated area; performance platform; structural props such as tent, poles, small tree branches or bamboo poles, sheets/fabric; weatherproof containers to store themed props that support current fantasy interests
Music Playing and listening to music, singing, dancing, movement Weatherproof permanent installation such as chimes or marimba; rhythm instruments; tape/CD player; scarves, bells
Art Painting, drawing, sculpture, weaving Table, access to water, weatherproof storage containers for supplies and tools such as paper, brushes, clay, paints, sidewalk chalk, fabrics
Gathering space Relaxing, conversation, storytelling/reading, performing, providing directions or instructions Defined area with decking, paving stones, grass, or a small sitting wall; weatherproof chairs or stools; tree stumps; picnic table
Sand/digging Sifting, pouring, digging, scooping, measuring, etc. Sandbox or pit, covered to protect from animals when not in use; weatherproof construction toys such as trucks, cars, bulldozers
Science and observation Collecting, sorting, observing and recording Bins for sorting found or provided objects such as stones, leaves, sticks, shells, bark
Construction Building Flat platform or building space; weatherproof blocks or other items that can be used for construction (hammers, wood scraps, nails)
Vehicles Riding, scooting, pushing, pulling Wagons, trikes (must meet safety regulations); scooters; paved or hard-packed surface that provides track or pathways for riding that will not interfere with or provide safety concerns for other children; traffic cones or signs; bridge/tunnel
Hills Rolling, sliding, crawling Small earthen mound or inclined space covered with grass or cushioning material
Source: Nature Explore Sourcebook (Arbor Foundation, 2012).
Gross Motor Equipment and Materials
Skills Equipment Uses
Coordination Playground balls

Sport balls (football, soccer, basketball, tennisavailable in foam)

Large floor balls

Whiffle balls

Basket/hoop

Goal/net

Hula hoops

Bean bags, ring toss

Foam "noodles" or bats

Horseshoes (foam or rubber)

Bowling pins (plastic)

Ball catcher cups

Frisbees

Streamers/scarves
Throwing, catching, rolling,

Kicking, foot/hand dribbling, striking, throwing

Rolling, pushing, stretching

Throwing, catching, striking

Aiming, tossing

Aiming (kicking/throwing)

Twisting, rotating, spinning

Aiming, tossing

Striking, "fencing"

Aiming, tossing

Aiming, rolling

Tossing, catching

Tossing, catching

Twirling, back-forth, up-down
Balance

Ball hopper (large ball with handle)

Beam

Rubber floor spots

Cup stilts

Bouncing

Balancing while moving

Controlled stepping/jumping

Controlled stepping
Agility

Jump ropes

Mesh ladder (laid on ground)

Collapsible crawling tunnel

Cones (like small traffic cones)

Bases

Parachute

Scooter/roller boards

Tumbling mats

Jumping sacks

Twirling, jumping in rhythm

Stepping

Crawling

Navigating obstacles

Landing, stopping

Running under, stopping/starting

Stopping/starting, turning

Rolling, creeping, crawling

Hopping
Power

Rubber activity bands

Tricycles

Wagon

Jump-off board (can be anything)

Stretching, pulling

Pedaling, turning, starting, stopping

Pulling, pushing

Long jumping
Speed Batons/sticks Relays
Simple Action Games for Young Children
Game Gross Motor Skill Description
Crab tag Agility and coordination One child is the crab and chases other children, who must all move with feet and hands on the floor. Crabs who are caught go to a spot designated "the net."
Stop/go (red light/green light) Agility and speed Children stand next to each other with one child in front of the rest; when leader says "go," the others move/run forward until the leader turns around and says "stop"; anyone then caught moving is "out." The first child to tag the leader becomes the next leader.
Red rover Power and speed Children form two lines and link arms; one line calls a child from other line ("red rover, red rover, let [child's name] come over"), who runs as fast as possible to try to break the chain; if the child succeeds, he or she gets to claim a child for his line; if the child fails, he or she joins other line. The game is over when only one child is left.
Duck, duck, goose Agility and coordination The children sit in a circle. The child who is "it" moves around, tapping each child in turn on the head, saying, "duck." When "it" taps a child and says "goose," the sitting child must get up quickly, chase first child around the circle, and try to tap another before first child sits in his or her empty spot. Variation: Catch the lion tailattach a tail to the chaser, and the child tapped must try to grab the tail before going all the way around the circle.
Follow the leader Agility and coordination Children form a line and must mimic how the first child in line moves as the leader moves around the space.
Musical chairs Agility and coordination Make a circle with one chair for each child. As the music plays, tell the children to move in different ways around the circle; when music stops, each child must sit in the closest chair. Variation: place one less chair than the number of children. The child who doesn't get a seat becomes the one to tell when music stops next time.
Dance party Coordination Play music on a CD and tell the children to freeze when the music stops. Variation: birds or airplanesthe children pretend to fly (without crashing into anyone else) until the music stops and they must "land." Variation: Jumping frogsthe children squat; when the music plays, they jump like frogs.
Balloon volleyball Agility and coordination Inflate large balloons and tell the children to try to keep them from touching the ground.
Relay races Speed and agility Using anything appropriate for passing from one runner to the next (i.e., a "baton"), the children are divided into small groups who line up facing each other. They race, one at a time, in any number of waysrunning, hopping, skipping, and so on, passing the baton to the next child.
Bubble wrap stomp Power, agility, coordination Collect bubble wrap; place it on the floor and allow the children to stomp on it until it is completely deflated. (For fine motor skill, do this on a tabletop with the children using small mallets or their fingers.)
Example of Plan for Vegetables Theme
Many activities with a food theme are developmentally appropriate for young children. Food themes are a rich source of hands-on learning opportunities.
Figure: A square segmented into four smaller squares. The top left square reads, "Food Preparation Activities: Mash potatoes or squashes; peel/scrape/shred carrots, potatoes, turnips, cabbage; Make pickles or relishes; baked potatoes, squashes; vegetable soup; pizza or pasta sauce; veggie tacos; veggies and different kinds of dips; salads  tossed, marinated, molded, coleslaw; Zucchini/carrot pancakes, muffins; make vegetable juices." The top right square reads, "Growing Vegetables: Germinate seeds for fast growing vegetables like beans, peas, or spinach and transplant to garden; Plant different varieties of a vegetable such as pole beans, bush beans, yellow wax beans, lima beans; Root an avocado seed, potato, or carrot in water; Plant zucchini, cucumbers, or pumpkins in a mound; Plant a window garden of greens and herbs; Visit a farm, gardening center, grocery store, "farm-to-table" restaurant." The bottom right square reads, "Play with vegetables: Set up a vegetable stand or grocery store in dramatic play area; use cut vegetables such as potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, zucchini for printing; make potato heads; poems/songs; puzzles with vegetable or farm themes; juggling potatoes; games: e.g. Hot Potato, Farmer in the Dell, I Spy...a vegetable that is..." The bottom left square reads, "Characteristics of vegetables: Tasting party  graph results into like/dislike or other attributes such as sweet, sour crunchy, soft; put celery stalks in colored water and observe capillary action; identify while blindfolded; leave vegetable such as a hollowed out pumpkin to decompose and chart observations over time; use magnifying glasses or microscope to view sectioned samples; sorting pictures or samples of vegetables by color, such as green, yellow, and red peppers; sort vegetables by shape/size."
Curricular Topics and Activities about Foods
Food Group/Type Activity Ideas
Fruits Make salads, smoothies, juices, pies, jam/jelly; examine and sort seeds and leaves of fruit trees; trace or print cut fruits; sort and classify types of fruits; dry fruits to make leathers; construct "edible arrangements."
Apples Dry apples and make apple-head dolls; prepare and eat apples in different ways (e.g., raw, baked, stewed, applesauce); use different implements to core and peel; make prints with halves or slices; sort and taste different varieties; mix paint to match colors of different kinds of apples; play name games (e.g., Granny Smith, Cortland, Gala); make puzzles with magazine pictures of apples and cardboard; follow the life cycle of an apple tree.
Citrus fruits Peel and section; grate rind; introduce rudimentary ideas about fractions; squeeze to make juice; sort by color/type; taste comparisons; explore growing needs of citrus (i.e., such as temperaturefreeze and observe outcomes).
Dairy products Separate cream from whey; make butter and/or basket cheese; identify and learn about animals that produce milk humans consume; taste/compare cow/goat milk or cheese and different grades of milk (skim, 2%, whole) with nondairy imitations or alternate versions (almond milk, soy milk); make ice cream; collect different kinds of dairy product containers; let milk, cream, or sour cream spoil and observe it over time; learn how dairy products strengthen bones and observe bones on x-rays.
Eggs Collect and display pictures of birds and eggs; make and paint papier-mch eggs; color eggs; prepare in different waysscrambled, in omelets, poached, etc.; hard-boil eggs and make egg salad or deviled eggs; separate eggs from yolks; incubate and hatch eggs (consult your state Cooperative Extension Service for help with this); use egg cartons for sorting and construction activities; count out and group items in "dozens"; make and use egg tempera paint; crush dyed eggshells and use them in making collages.
Grains/breads Grow wheat or rice; collect and compare/contrast different types of grains such as wheat, oats, rye; crush/grind oats or wheat germ; paint with wheat; collect, sort, and examine the different kinds of seeds obtained from grains; plant native grasses as part of the landscaping on your playground; go on a scavenger hunt to look for grasses that have gone to seed; compare different types of flours.
Breads and pastas Taste different kinds of bread; invite a baker to class to demonstrate bread making; visit a bakery; make bread; use frozen bread dough to make pretzels; make pasta (with or without a pasta machine); use cookie cutters to make tea sandwiches or cutouts for toast; dissolve yeast in warm water and put it into a clear jar to watch what happens; make unleavened breads such as pita, flatbread, or matzo; dye different kinds of pastas and use for sorting or bead stringing; use dyed pasta or beads made from rolled, dried, and painted bread to make necklaces or collages; make pizza (with homemade dough or shells).
Meats Learn about the animal sources and names for different kinds of meats; visit the grocery store meat section and talk with the butcher; "map" pictures of a cow, chicken, turkey, pig; use a grinder or food processor to grind meat and make chili, tacos, or meatballs; make a barn from a cardboard box and set up a "farm" with toy animals, a tractor, etc.; sort/classify pictures of different kinds of cows; make stew; make or taste beef jerky; taste other dried/smoked/cured meats such as pepperoni, salami, or sausages. Make (or use available) animal stick or sock puppets and set up an "animal theater."
Fish and shellfish Set up a fish pond with laminated cutouts of different kinds of fish and waders/boots; make newspaper fishing hats/licenses; set up an aquarium with shrimp, crawfish, or a hermit crab. Visit a fishery, seafood outlet, or boat fleet (if available in your geographic area). Visit a seafood restaurant specializing in sushi, seafood, and/or fish; make fish "prints" on T-shirts or rice paper (this is messy and smelly but the results are quite spectacular and worth it) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InpLfs4rasw; Invite a sushi chef to demonstrate; paint or use collage materials to make rainbow fish; sort/classify photos of different kinds of fish; look at salmon eggs with a magnifying glass (can be obtained at fishing tackle or bait shop).
Handwashing Instructions Poster
Children can easily learn the recommended procedure for thorough handwashing with some physical help and a poster or series of photographs that remind them of the steps. Many teachers encourage children to use a simple song like the "ABC" song or "Happy Birthday" while scrubbing to approximate the recommended time for washing.
Figure: Six-step chart shows children how to wash their hands. First step says, "get hands wet," and shows a running faucet with two hands under the water. Step 2 says, "Squirt soap on," and shows a soap dispenser and two hands with soap on them. Step three says, "Scrub. Sing," and shows two hands with soap foam, as well as music notes and the text, "Happy Birthday." Step four says, "Rinse," and shows a faucet with two hands under the running water. Step five says, "Dry," and shows to hands being dried on a towel. Step six says, "Turn off water," and shows a faucet being turned off by a hand holding a towel.
Concepts and Activities about the Body
Anatomy
Concepts Activities
Naming and identifying body parts Songs: "Head, shoulders, knees and toes," "Hokey Pokey," "Them Bones, Them Bones."

Games: Pin the tail on the . . . [body part].

Silhouettes.

Body tracing paper cutouts.

Drawing on mirror image with wax crayon.

Puzzles

Make mobiles with cutout pictures of parts of the body.

Make finger prints and footprints with tempera paint or washable ink and rollers.

Hygiene and Body Care
Concepts Activities
Daily care of teeth and mouth Songs: This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth ( to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat").

Bring in a dentist to visit and talk about dental care.

Examine molds of teeth/mouth with magnifying glasses.

Online games (National Museum of Dentistry).

Brush baby doll or puppet teeth in dramatic play area.

Decorate toothbrushes.

Skin protects the inside of our bodies; clothing helps protect our skin; sun safety

Go on a shade walk; construct temporary shady spots on the playground with blankets or sheets; make wide-brimmed sun hats from newspaper, decorate them and wear them outside; shine a flashlight through clothing to show children how the sun's rays penetrate; put sun hats and sunglasses in the dramatic play area; find pictures in magazines of people wearing sunglasses and sun hats; practice applying sunscreen on baby dolls (Sun Safety Alliance).

Put construction paper outside with objects on it to show how the sun causes paper to fade over time; make "sunprints" with photosensitive paper (same principle).

Germs cause illness To demonstrate how germs are released when you cough or sneeze, fill a balloon with confetti, blow it up, and then release the pressure so that all the confetti escapes; repeat this with a hand over the balloon opening to prevent most of the confetti from escaping (Marotz, Cross, & Rush, 2001).

Practice handwashing.

Bathe baby dolls.

Show picture of sneeze.

Books with Food Themes
Board Books
Intrater, R. G. (2002). Eat.
Siminovich, L. (2011). I Like Vegetables: Petit Collage.
Studio, D. (2010) Eat.
Zobel-Nolan, I., & Terry, M. (2003). Eat Your Dinner, Please.
ABC Books
Ehlert, L. (1994). Eating the Alphabet.
Doering, A., & Saunders-Smith, G. (2004). Food ABC: An Alphabet Book.
Charney, D. G., & Larson, M. B. (2007). The ABCs of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond.
Counting Books
Adams, M. M., & Meyers, M. (2010) Counting Cows.
Dobson, C., & Holmes, M. (2003). The Pizza Counting Book.
Ehlert, L. (1992). Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On.
Giganti, P., & Crews, D. (1999). Each Orange Had Eight Slices.
Thomson, B., & Stewart, E. (1992). The Victory Garden Alphabet Book.
Vega, D., & Diaz, D. (2008). Build a Burrito: A Counting Book in English and Spanish.
Story/Picture Books
Barrett, J., & Barrett, R. (1978). Cloudy, with a Chance of Meatballs.
Benge, A. (2011). Junior Chef.
Berenstain, S., & Berenstain, J. (1985). Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food.
Bloch, S. (2010). You are What You Eat: And Other Mealtime Hazards.
Child, L. (2003) I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato.
dePaola, T. (1978). Pancakes for Breakfast.
dePaola, T. (1984). The Popcorn Book.
dePaola, T. (1996). Tony's Bread.
dePaola, T. (2009). Strega Nona's Harvest Book.
Elffers, J., & Freymann, E. (2006). Fast Food.
Elffers, J., & Freymann, S. (2006). Food Play.
Hicks, B. J., & Hendra, S. (2009). Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli.
Hoban, R., & Hoban, L. (2008). Bread and Jam for Frances.
Jocelyn, M., & Slaughter, T. (2007). Eats.
Kleven, E. (2004). Sun Bread.
London, J., & Remkiewizc, F. (2003). Froggy Eats Out.
Mcgovern, A., & Pels, W. P. (1986). Stone Soup.
Paye, W., Lippert, M. H. & Paschkis, J. (2006). The Talking Vegetables.
Pienkowski, J. (2008). Dinnertime!
Ponnay, B. (2012). Time to Eat, Bunny.
Relf, P., & Bracken, C. (1996). The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten.
Riley, L. A. (1997). Mouse Mess.
Robertson, M. P. (2004). The Egg.
Rubel, N. (2002). No More Vegetables!
Sharmat, M., Aruego, J., & Dewey, A. (2009). Gregory, the Terrible Eater.
Seuss, Dr. (1960). Green Eggs and Ham.
Sendak, M. (1970). In The Night Kitchen.
Shields, C. D., & Gay-Kassell, D. (2002). Food Fight!
Syre, A. P. (2011). Rah, Rah, Radishes! A Vegetable Chant.
Warner, C. (2012). A World of Food: Discover Magical Lands Made of Things You Can Eat!
Wilson, K., & Chapman, J. (2003). Bear Wants More.
Non-Fiction/Informational
Anderson, S. (2008). Vegetables.
Anderson, S. (2008). Fruit.
Aston, D. H., & Long, S. (2006). An Egg Is Quiet.
Bastyra, J., Lim, M. & Shott, S. (2003). Fun Food.
Bloom, V., & Axtell, D. (1997). Fruits.
Butterworth, C., & Gaggiotti, L. (2011). How Did That Get in My Lunchbox? The Story of Food.
Carle, E. (2007). My First Book of Food.
Carrick, D. (1985). Milk.
De Bourgoing, P., & Valet, P. M. (1991). Fruit.
Dickmann, N. (2012). Vegetables.
Dickmann, N. (2010). Food from Farms.
Dooley, N., & Thornton, P. J. (2005). Everybody Brings Noodles.
Ehlert, L. (1991). Growing Vegetable Soup.
French, V., & Bartlett, A. (1998). Oliver's Fruit Salad.
Gibbons, G. (1987). The Milk Makers.
Gooseberry Patch. (2012). Pumpkin Cookbook.
Gourley, R. (2011). First Garden: The White House Garden and How It Grew.
Harbison, E. M., & Harbison, J. (1999). Loaves of Fun: A History of Bread with Activities and Recipes from Around the World.
Hollyer, B. (2004). Let's Eat: What Children Eat Around the World.
Levenson, G., & Thaler, S. (2002). Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden.
Lauber, P., & Keller, H. (1994). Who Eats What: Food Chains and Food Webs.
Lin, G. (2009). The Ugly Vegetables.
Lin, G. (2003). Dim Sum for Everyone.
Morris, A., & Heyman, K. (1993). Bread, Bread, Bread.
Recob, A. (2009). The Bugabees: Friends with Food Allergies.
Robbins, K. (2006). Pumpkins.
Rockwell, L. (2009). Good Enough to Eat: A Kid's Guide to Food and Nutrition.
Roth, R. (2009). That's Why We Don't Eat Animals: A Book about Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things.
Sanger, A. W. (2004). A Little Bit of Soul Food (World Snacks).
Sanger, A. W. (2002). Hola! Jalapeno (World Snacks).
Sanger, A. W. (2001). The First Book of Sushi.
Schuh, M. C. (2011). Carrots Grow Underground.
Schuh, M. C. (2011). Tomatoes Grow on a Vine.
Skinner, J. (2010). Food Allergies and Me.
Solheim, J., & Brace, E. (2001). It's Disgusting and We Ate It! True Food Facts from Around the World and Throughout History.
Titherington, J. (1990). Pumpkin Pumpkin.
Zoehfeld, K. W., & Lamont, P. (2012). Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard.
Books about the Body and Hygiene
Children's Books about the Body
Aliki. (1992). My Hands.
Aliki. (1992). My Feet.
Arnold, T. (2001). Parts.
Arnold, T. (2003). More Parts.
Fairchild, M. (2011). Feet.
Hindley, J., & Granstrom, B. (2002). Eyes, Nose, Fingers, and Toes.
Seuss, Dr. (1968). The Foot Book.
DK Publishing. (2004). My First Body Board Book.
Schoenberg, J., Schoenberg, S., & Fisher, C. (2005). My Bodyworks: Songs about Your Bones, Muscles, Heart, and More [includes CD].
Sirett, D. (2008). Eyes, Nose, Toes [board book].
Sweeney, J., & Cable, A. (2000). Me and My Amazing Body.
Children's Books about Hygiene and Body Care
Berger, M., & Hafner, M. (1995). Germs Make Me Sick!
Cole, J., & Chambliss, M. (2005). My Friend the Doctor,
Cole, J., & Miller, M. (1989). Your New Potty.
Collins, R. (2004). Germs.
Cousins, L. (2001). Doctor Maisy.
Cousins, L. (2009). Maisy, Charley, and the Wobbly Tooth.
Keller, L. (2003). Open Wide, Tooth School Inside!
Kornberg, A. & Alaniz, A. (2007). Germ Stories.
Love, M. C., & van Lieshout, M. (2009). Sleep, Baby, Sleep [ board book].
Mansbach, A., & Cortes, R. (2012). Seriously, Just Go to Sleep.
Metaxas, E., & Tillman, N. (2011). It's Time to Sleep, My Love.
Murphy, L. (2011). ABC Doctor.
Na, I. S. (2009). A Book of Sleep.
Ricci, C., & Roper, R. (2005). Show Me Your Smile!: A Visit to the Dentist.
Shaw, P. J., & Brannon, T. (2010). Elmo Visits the Dentist.
Tyler, M., & Csicsko, D. L. (2005). The Skin You Live In.
Verdick, E., & Heinlen, M. (2006). Germs Are Not for Sharing.

Chapter 9: Social and Emotional Development and the Social Studies

Strategies for Promoting the Development of Personal Identity
Activity Focus Sample Activities
Mirrors
  • Place mirrors strategically around the classroomvertically, horizontally, or diagonallyperhaps even on the ceiling.
  • Provide hand mirrors and/or a magnifying mirror in the dramatic play area.
  • Consider making or purchasing a pyramid-shaped structure that children can crawl inside with mirrors on the inside surface.
  • Use small reflective materials like foil and mirror tiles for collages.
Photographs
  • Give each child a small photo album and periodically insert pictures taken at school.
  • Frame family photos and display them in the room.
  • Print out a sheet of adhesive labels with each child's photo and use them in ways that allow the children to find their pictures unexpectedly; for example, tape some pictures on small plastic cubes and hide them in the sand table, in a basket of cars, or freeze them inside ice cubes to put in the water table.
  • Print out a 4- by 6-inch image, laminate it to poster board, and cut it up into a puzzle.
  • Print out 8- by 10-inch photos, put each one on a cutout paper birthday cake, and make a birthday wall.
  • Project a child's picture on a piece of poster paper and let him or her trace the image.
  • Photograph the front and back images of each child and make a guessing game chart.
Names
  • As with photos, print out sheets of labels with each child's name on them and use them whenever and wherever possible.
  • Play name games at circle/group time or while waiting for transitions; for example, "I'm thinking of a child whose name starts with S. . ." or " I am . . . and I like to . . . ," etc.
  • Incorporate finger plays or songs that include the opportunity to insert a child's name.
  • Print names on sentence strips, laminate them, and use them for tracing.
  • Write names in glue on cardboard and sprinkle with glitter or colored sand.
Accomplishments
  • Start an "underwear club" for toddlers with a pocket folder holding each child's picture, with a Velcro tab on the back and a matching tab for each child at the top. When a child is toilet trained, he or she posts his or her picture to the club.
  • Create a display board with the words, "___________ can . . . ," and fill in the blanks with the child's name and what he says he can do.
  • Make a class book, "I (or we) can. . . ." For each page, use a photo and sentence dictation from a child or the group about things they can do.
  • When children learn their home addresses, mail a note addressed to the child at home; make a special call when they know their phone numbers.
Preferences
  • "I like/I don't like . . ." class book.
  • Make a chart that graphs foods children like and don't like, with each child's name or picture and smiley or frowny face stickers.
Strategies and Examples for Developing Confidence and Self-Esteem
Strategy Example
Encourage trial and error, so children learn that mistakes are a normal part of progress and the way we learn what does work. Trying several different combinations of paint to make green.
Share your own experiences with success, failure, and problem solving. "Last weekend I was making cookies and I burned them all in the oven; I had to start over, but the second time, I set a timer, and that batch turned out great!"
Identify challenges. "Wow, our plan for the garden is going to include a lot of digging and hard work, but I know if we take our time and work together, we can do it!"
Model talking through options or pros and cons for solving a problem so that children see that decision making is a process. "Well, if you want to put a tower on top of this airport, there are a couple places it could go. Let's think about what might happen if we put it here or there before we move the blocks."
Read stories to children that provide good examples of how one finds success and deals with failures. See the appendix for a list of children's books geared to social-emotional development.
Emphasize the value of trying something new as an important part of learning. "This puzzle doesn't have the little knobs you are used to, but look at the great dinosaur picture on the cover of the boxit shows what it will look like when the puzzle has been put together."
Acknowledge accomplishments. Documenting with photos, displaying work, sharing a construction or art product during group time with other children, etc.
Praise effort over ability. "I know you tried three times to cut that paper circle to get it just right."
Sources: Gartrell, 2012; Pawlina & Stanford, 2011; Willis & Schiller, 2011.
Friendship Activities
Activity Examples
Friendship-themed literature See reading list in appendix.
Friendship songs Online resources such as: http://www.songsforteaching.com/friendshipsongs.htm
Friendship finger plays The Friendship Song ("London Bridge")
A friend is someone who is kind, who is kind, who is kind.
A friend is someone who is kind, just like (child's name).
A friend is someone who can help, who can help, who can help.
A friend is someone who can help, just like (child's name).
A friend is someone who can share, who can share, who can share.
A friend is someone who can share, just like (child's name).
A friend is someone you can trust, you can trust, you can trust.
A friend is someone you can trust, just like (child's name).
http://educationalcreativity.blogspot.com/2011/08/fingerplay-friday-friends -and-family.html
Friendship games Roll a ball to a child sitting in the meeting circle, greeting her by name and naming a positive quality about her as a friend; the child then repeats this with another until every child has been included.
Social stories: first developed for use with children with special needs but also effectively used in everyday classroom situations to provide examples of appropriate interactions or behavior (Gray, C.; Broek et al., 1994). A social story is written in three parts, describing an action, a perspective, and directions for an appropriate response or behavior.

SHARING

Sharing is when I let a friend use something I have.

Sharing is also when I give something to someone else.

Sharing is something friends do.

Sometimes I feel like sharing, sometimes I would rather not.

Sometimes it is hard to share, but I feel better when I do.

It can make me sad or angry when my friends don't share with me.

I will remember that when I share, I am being friendly.

I will try to remember that when I don't want to share,

I will use my words to tell why.

"Friendship recipe" Each child writes (or dictates to the teacher) one thing that a good friend does on an individual item, such as a paper-chain link or a cutout star, that you subsequently combine to write a recipe for friendship.
Friendship snacks Each child identifies one favorite ingredient to create a snack mix that all share.
Tell/share personal stories that help children learn about each other (Lake, 2010) Telling a story about a pet or favorite grownup (including the teachers).
"Me" books to keep in the classroom library for sharing periodically or as a way of introducing children to one another. Book pages include things like "my family," "my pet," "things I like to do."
"Happy photo" gallery Each child uses the digital camera to take a photograph of one of the other children doing something he or she likes to do.
Classroom mailbox Provide or make a mailbox in the classroom that children can use to write/draw/send notes to one another.
Window garden Plant a window garden together that includes children's favorite flowers.
"Friendship book" corner Designate a special place that includes a selection of the children's favorite stories about friends, and put a sticker on the cover of each book with the name of the child who chose it.
"Yuck" board Make a display or poster that lists children's least favorite things to eat or do; there's camaraderie in shared misery!
Special "smile" days Designate days periodically with special focus on smilesgive children a "high five" each time you notice them smiling at someone else, saying "Caught you smiling!"
Puppets Act out specific skills such as inviting a friend to play or asking to join play.
Flannel board stories Use cutouts on a flannel board to act out appropriate interactions with familiar characters (such as the Rainbow Fish).
Role playing Act out prosocial behaviors, such as how to give a compliment to another child.
Coaching Invite a child to demonstrate desired friendship skills to another, for example, "Peter, can you thank Sam for helping you put the cars away?"
Friendship journal Help children dictate, write, or draw pictures in a book they keep to document successful friendship skills: for example, drawing a picture about how the child welcomed a new child to the class.
"Kind words" poster Keep track of and display on a poster that you can use for reference actual words children use to give each other compliments or express kindness.
Sarah and Maria Solve a Problem
Step/Stage Narrative
The problem, part 1

Sarah found a small black volcanic-looking rock on the playground; it looked very interesting. She loves science and loves to collect interesting natural things, and she thought that the rock was exceptionally "cool."

She showed it to her good friend Maria who also liked it a lot, so Sarah (impulsively) gave it to Maria.

But then Sarah had second thoughts.

When Sarah asked for it back, however, Maria said no, she wanted to keep it.

Maria said when you give something away, it isn't fair to ask for it back.

The problem, part 2

The teacher intervened, and after the girls described the problem, she initially proposed a simple solution: find another rock together and keep searching until they found one that Maria liked. Maria did not like that idea, and the teacher realized this was a problem that would take time to resolve.

The teacher asked the girls to think of problem-solving ideas, and more ideas were floated:

Find a new rock for one of the girls.

Because neither of them wanted to give up the original rock, split that rock in half.

But since that might be too difficult, the teacher suggested keeping the rock in the classroom for everyone to share.

Once again, however, neither girl wanted to give up ownership of the original rock.

Reaching an impasse

The girls argued back and forth and realized that they would not be able to come to an agreement quickly and they needed more time to think. (The closest they came was to take turns taking the rock home at night.)

Tears were flowing!!!

The teacher asked them to summarize what had happened so far.

Sarah said they had discussed several alternate solutions but none were acceptable to both of them.

The teacher said that a "satisfying" solution did not mean that everyone had to be 100 percent happy, and suggested that some problems need more time to be solved and that this might be a good problem to "sleep on."

The girls decided on a secure spot on the teacher's desk where the rock could be kept until the next day. They agreed that they would think hard overnight on a solution to the problem.

Tomorrow is a new day

Sarah and Maria tried several times in the morning to get together with a teacher to discuss their problem, but it is not a good morning at the school! The teachers have some other immediate problems that need attention. They talk with the girls about "priorities."

Sarah and Maria were very patient, and continued to talk during the morning activities. Finally, just before lunchtime, they were able to sit down together and Sarah announced a possible solution to their problem.

Tomorrow is a new day

Sarah presented three things she had made at home that she thought Maria might like to trade for the rock, and just to be sure, made something extra specially new that she thought Maria would like.

Sarah made up some math problems on a piece of paper because she knows Maria likes math.

She drew a glow-in-the dark butterfly and a picture of a young girl.

Sarah also made a colorful flower out of popsicle sticks.

Maria really liked all of them and said she would accept any one of them in exchange for the rock. Sarah said she could have them all.

Final agreements

Maria then asked if she could hold the rock one last time.

The teacher commented on the obvious value of the rock to Sarah, given what she was willing to trade for it to get it back.

Maria said she was very happy that Sarah still wanted to be friends.

Sarah asked to keep the big see-through envelope she had brought the trade items in.

Another (blue) see-through envelope was found so that each child had a secure place for their items.

Teacher reflections

It is important to.

Identify exactly what the problem is, as often there is an underlying issue that is being masked by the incident.

Give the children as much ownership over the process as they can developmentally handle.

Give enough time to the process.

Restate the children's words as needed so everyone understands.

Determine ahead of time that the grownups will accept the children's solution, as it is often something the adults might not predict.

Big-Idea Themes for Social Studies
Theme and NCSS links Questions Key Concepts Activities and Strategies
Families
1,2,3,4,5,9

What is a family?

Who is in my family?

Where do families live?

What do families do?

How do families communicate?

Relationships

Continuity of human life

The past

Methods of the historian

Humans are alike and different

Families share language, culture, and traditions

Concept mapsrelationships

Interviews with family members

Photographs of family members

Share stories about families

Journal things family does together for a week

Family tree

Family portraits

Dramatic play

Pictures of parents as children

Graph number of siblings in class

Grandparents' tea

Send email/make cards/write letters
Earth
2,3,5,8,9,10

What is the earth?

What is the earth made of?

How big is the earth?

Who lives on the earth?

How do we take care of the earth?

Earth is where we live

Direction and location

Distance and measurement

Maps and globes

Perspective

Relationships within places

Regions

Climate, weather, and seasons

Land forms

Caring for the earth

Life forms

Sky, earth, land, water

Interdependency

Ecological responsibility

Dig/observe: "What's in a square foot of earth?"

Earth collections: rocks, shells, etc.

Field tripsobservatory, virtual tours

Examine/make a globe

Draw the sidewalk from the second story

Cloud pictures

Weather station

Recycling

Making maps

Map puzzle

Photo spot in garden at different times over the year
Neighborhood
1,2,3,4,5,
9,10

What is a neighborhood?

How big is a neighborhood?

Where are neighborhoods?

Who lives in neighborhoods?

What is my neighborhood like?

How do people in neighborhoods interact?

How do neighborhoods change over time?

Direction and location

Earth is where we live

Distance/measurement

Relationships within places

The past

Culture/traditions

Continuity/change
Field trips

Photo map of neighborhood

Survey people in neighborhood

Graph types of structures

Old pictures of neighborhood

Neighborhood events

Make street signs with names of streets in neighborhood

Measure distances (steps) to different places in school and neighborhood
The Past
1,2,3,5,8

People in the past

Objects in the past

Places in the past

Patterns of continuity and change

Measuring time

Passage of time

Personal/family time line

Daily class journal

Party for 100th day of school

Museum visit

"What is it?" (old objects)

Old photo gallery

Stories about famous people

Take pictures of classroom over the year to observe changes

Sort pictures of self by age
Stores
3,7,8,9,10

What is a store?

Who works at a store?

How does a store work?

How do people get/buy things?

Needs and wants

Location

Relationships

Distribution

Production

Services

Consumption

Supply and demand

Visit different kinds of stores

Graph/web different stores children know about/visit

Set up store

Make shopping lists/clip coupons

Raise money to buy something

Set up trading post

Make lists: I need/want . . . because . . .

Sort pictures by want/need
Holiday Celebrations
1,2,3,4,5,
9,10

What is a holiday?

How do people celebrate holidays?

What are the holidays we celebrate?

What holidays do people far away celebrate?

Cultures share traditions

Continuity of life

Time

Graph/track birthdays

Collect/display different kinds of flags

Plan a party

Read stories about celebrations in different places

Invite families to share holiday traditions

Make up and name a class holiday

Celebrate holidays: make decorations/food, etc.

Learn holiday and patriotic songs

Plan/have a parade
Homes
1,3,4,5,7,9

What is a home?

Where are homes?

Who lives in a home?

How are homes built/made?

What is in a home?

Earth is where we live

People work together to build things

Homes vary by location/culture

Measurement

Old homes/new homes

Photo document a house or building under construction

Block playbuildings

Photo album of children's homes

Collage of different kinds of homes

Blueprintsvisit with an architect

Take pictures of "For Sale" signs

Furniture arranging

Dramatic play
Work
2,3,4,5,6,
7,8,9

What is work?

What is a vacation?

Where do people work?

How do people get to work?

When do people work? (shifts, weekends, vacation, lunch)

What do people do at work?

How do people get paid?

People work to support themselves and their families

There are many different kinds of jobs

People get paid to work and spend their money on many different kinds of things

Needs vs. wants

Visitors

Trip logs

Classroom jobs chart

Time cards

Planning chart for centers

Work clothes for dramatic play

Visitsoffice, hospital

Visitorsprofessionals, trades, public services
Transportation
2,3,5,6,
7,8,9

How do people move?

How do "things" move?

Where do people go?

What is a vehicle?

How have vehicles changed?

What is public transportation?

Distribution

Distance and location

People build/make things

The past

People work together to get things done

Collect pictures of buses, cars, trains, trucks, planes, boats, spaceships

City bus systemmap a route and take a ride

Watch local traffic cam at different times during the day and count cars/trucks

Carriage tour

Make roads, bridges, tunnels, rivers in sand table

Airports, bus/train stations

Dramatic play

Block play

Take pictures of different kinds of traffic signs in neighborhood

Collect literature about vehicles and transportation
Examples of Emergent Social Studies Projects
Theme/Big Idea Origin and Description of Inquiry
The city bus system As teachers began a series of field trips as part of a study of the city parks with 4- and 5-year-olds, the children became very interested in the city's public transport system (buses and trolleys). The study expanded to include a study of bus routes, previews of destinations via GoogleEarth, interviews with bus drivers, mechanics, and tour guides, and a visit to the central garage.
The City Market and the basket ladies In the historic district of Charleston, South Carolina, is the City Market, with many shops, restaurants, and open-air vendors, including the "basket ladies," who make and sell traditional Gullah seagrass baskets. On a walk through the market, children spoke to some of the ladies and became very interested in their stories and work. This led to a study of basket making and Gullah culture.
Graduation Kindergarten children at a university demonstration program observed the annual construction of the platform for May graduation ceremonies. Their questions about the structure led to an interest in graduation ceremonies, robes, and parties, which included interviewing all the senior student teaching assistants about their graduation parties and planning the kindergarten graduation outdoors in one of the campus gardens.
Fancy-dress project An effort to make patterns for paper dresses led to a long-term study of "fancy clothes." The children visited a museum exhibit of vintage wedding clothes, learned about garment design and construction, and planned a museum exhibit and fashion show.
Playground snack shop After setting up an indoor classroom "mall" with different kinds of stores, one group of children decided to establish a snack shop in the playground playhouse. They secured a "loan" to buy crackers and juice and for several weeks, made and sold (at 1 cent each) snacks to the other children and teachers. They collected and counted money, made advertising items, and hired other children to do some of their work.
Hurricane Katrina The day after the hurricane, one child whose cousin lost her home asked if there was something they could do to help. Children decided to make/sell pizza and collect school supplies, which turned into a community-drive which culminated in the donation of a rental truck to take supplies to the Gulf Coast.
Jambo Watoto (Hello, children!) A teacher from Kenya visited a class of 4-year-olds to tell them about a well-drilling project in the village she was from. Children asked how they could learn about the children in her village. For several weeks, they drew pictures, took photographs, and wrote/dictated letters for the teacher to take back to her school, sending back replies and connecting the children via Skype and videocam with the children in her class.
Bricks When a bricklayer came to fix a portion of the old brick wall on the playground, children watched and talked with him and had many questions about how bricks are made and used. Many of the city streets and sidewalks are paved with brick or cobblestone and the neighborhood includes many brick-walled gardens and homes. The study included photographing many different kinds of bricks and documenting different kinds of paving patterns around the neighborhood, visiting a brickyard, and learning how bricks are made and used.
The tea ceremony When a child's mother came to help them celebrate Chinese New Year, children were particularly interested in the tea ceremony she described. It led to a study of tea, teacups and teapots, associated rituals, and a visit to a tea plantation.
Fishing, crabbing, shrimping During a visit to one of the city riverside parks with a crabbing/fishing dock, children observed several people with shrimp nets, crab pots, and fishing gear. They asked many questions, leading to a study of the fishing/seafood industry, salt marshes, cuisine, and fishing boat fleet.
Books with Social and Emotional Themes
Books about Friendship
Anglund, J. W. (1983). A Friend is Someone who Likes You.
Banks, J. W. (2008). Liam Says, "Hi": Learning to Greet a Friend.
Carle, E., & Iwamura, K. (2003). Where are You Going? To see my Friend!
Carlson, N. (1997). How to Lose all Your Friends.
Choi, Yansook. (2003). The Name Jar.
Clements, A., & Yoshi. (1997). Big Al.
Crowley, J., & Bishop, G. (2008). Snake and Lizard.
Degan, B. (1995). Jamberry.
Eastman, P.D. (2006). Big Dog...Little Dog. (Board book version)
Hartt-Sussman, H., & Cote, G. (2011). Noni Says No.
Henkes, K. (2007). Chrysanthemum.
Lewis, R. (2001). Friends.
Pfister, M. (1995). The Rainbow Fish.
Rogers, F. (1996). Making Friends.
Scott, E., & Miller, M. (2000). Friends.
Snow, T., Espeland, P., & Strong, M. (2007). You are Friendly. (board book version)
Stewart, S. & Small, D. (2006). The Friend.
Tourville, A. D., & Sorra, K. (2010). My Friend has Autism.
Books about Self-Esteem & Identity
De Seve, R., & Long, L. (2007). Toy Boat.
Ewald, W. (2002). The Best Part of Me: Children Talk about Their Bodies in Pictures and Words.
French, J., & Whatley, B. (2007). Josephine Wants to Dance.
Harper, C. M. (2010). Cupcake.
Harper, C. M. (2002). There was a Bold Lady who Wanted a Star.
Hooks, B. (1999). Happy to be Nappy!
Hooks, B. (2002). Be Boy Buzz.
Hooks, B. (2004). Skin Again.
Maier, I. M., & Candon, J. (2005). When Lizzie was Afraid of Trying New Things.
Parr, T. (1999). This is My Hair.
Parr, T. (2009). It's Okay to be Different.
Parr, T. (2005). The Feelings Book.
Pitcher, C., & Macnaughton, T. (2008). The Littlest Owl.
Piper, W., & Long, L. (2005). The Little Engine that Could.
Ray, M. L., & Cooney, B. (1999). The Basket Moon.
Silverstein, S. (1981). The Missing Piece Meets the Big O.
Snow, T., Espeland, P., & Strong, M. (2007). You are Brave.
Tarpley, N. A., & Lewis, E. B. (2001). I Love my Hair.
Tillman, N. (2006). On the Night you were Born.
Waechter, P. (2005). Me.
Yates, L. (2009). A Small Surprise.
Books about Conflict Resolution & Self-regulation
Agassi, M. & Heinlen, M., (2002). Hands are Not for Hitting. (board book version).
Bang, M. (2004). When Sophie gets Angry Really, Really Angry...
Beasely, G. (2011). Zeke, Ky and the Lightning Rod.
Binknow, H., & Cornelison, S. F. (2006). Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen.
Binkenow, H., & Cornelison, S. F. (2010). Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns it's OK to Back Away.
Cook, J., & Hartman, C. (2006). My Mouth is a Volcano!
Cook, J., & De Weerd, K. (2011). I Just Don't Like the Sound of No!
De la Garza, D. (2007). The Great, Great, Great Chicken War.
Meiners, C. J. (2005). Talk and Work it Out.
Polland, B. K. (2004). We Can Work it Out: Conflict Resolution for Children.
Ransom, J. F., & Urbanovic, J. (2005). Don't Squeal Unless it's a Big Deal: A Tale of Tattletales.
Spinelli, E., & Kennedy, A. (2009). Peace Week in Miss Fox's Class.
Books about Diversity
Anderson, S. (1997). Some of My Best Friends are Polka Dot Pigs.
Carle, E. (2001). Little Cloud.
Clark, P. W. (2008). Babies of the World.
Derolf, S., & Letzig, M. (1997). The Crayon Box that Talked.
Fox, M. (2006). Whoever you are.
Katz, K. (2002). The Colors of Us.
Parr, T. (2003). The Family Book.
Rotner, S., & Kelly, S. M. (2010). Shades of People.
Simon, N., & Paterson (1999). All Kinds of Children.
Simon, N., & Flavin, T. (2003). All Families are Special.
Tyler, M., & Lee, D. (2005). The Skin you Live In.

Chapter 10: Cognitive Development, Mathematics, and Science

Mathematics Materials
Most mathematics materials for young children foster the development of multiple concepts. But since concepts are typically developed in a predictable sequence, certain materials such as matching activities and counters are more appropriate for younger children than number tracing boards or base-ten cubes.
This table has three columns and forty-two rows. Each entry in the first column gives a description of the material. The second column shows a sample illustration of the material, and the third column lists the applications of the material. From top to bottom and left to right, the table reads and shows picture lotto boards and games, an illustrated lotto board showing pictures of the sun, a flower, a tennis ball, a bird, a butterfly, a seashell, a shovel, a panda bear, a smelling jar, a fish, a cloud, and a rock; the application is matching and one-to-one correspondence. Memory matching games are matched with an illustration of six cards with question marks on them; the application is matching, one-to-one correspondence and developing recall. Counters: small objects of different colors and shapes (animals, boats, planes, etc.) are matched with an illustration of two seahorses, a plane, and a boat; the application is counting, sorting, grouping, making patterns, and non-standard measuring. Plastic links, paper clips, etc., are matched with an illustration of interlocking paper clips; the applications are counting, sorting, grouping, making patterns, and nonstandard measuring. Interlocking cubes are matched with an illustration of two cubes that have a raised portion on top to fit into the recessed portion of another cube; the applications are counting, sorting, grouping, making patterns, modeling operations, and 3D data display. Cuisenaire rods showing colored rods in varying lengths and colors; the applications are sorting, grouping, sets, and base-ten operations. An abacus with an illustration of an abacus with four rows of colored beads; the applications are counting, sets, grouping, and modeling base-ten operations. Base-ten blocks (Montessori golden beads) are matched with an illustration of small cubes stacked neatly in two rows; the applications are counting, sets, grouping, and modeling base ten operations. Dominoes with an illustration of two dominos placed end to end; the applications are matching, counting, sorting, grouping, and measuring. An illustration of two dice; the applications are matching, counting, modeling problems, and shape. Tactile numbers (rubber, Montessori sandpaper, magnetic) are matched with an illustration of a child's hand tracing the number 1 on a sandpaper letter card; the applications are numeral recognition, and writing numbers. Number puzzles are matched with an illustration of a puzzle piece with a removable number 5 in the center; the applications are numeral recognition, matching, and shape. Pegboards and an illustration of a pegboard with the number 3 on it and three pegs placed in the three available holes; the applications are numeral recognition, quantity, matching, and counting. Numeral and quantity cards are matched with an illustration of two sets of interlocking cards; the cards on the left show the numbers 1 and 6 (both the words and the numerals) and the cards on the right show one dragonfly and six stars. The applications are numeral recognition and counting. Number stamps are matched with an illustration of a wooden stamp, with the number 2 being used on lined paper; the application is writing numerals. Magnetic numerals are matched with an illustration of plastic numbers with magnets on the back; the applications are numeral recognition and counting. Pegboards are matched with an illustration of a square with a square, triangle, and rectangle made from string wrapped around the pegs; the applications are shape and spatial sense. Beads are matched with an illustration of four beads on a string; the applications are sorting, patterns, and shape. Nesting toys are matched with an illustration of three interlocking containers; the applications are shape and spatial relations. Shape sorters are matched with an illustration of a wooden board with circular, rectangular, and triangular cutouts in which corresponding shapes are to be placed; applications are shape, sorting, spatial relations, and patterns. Attribute blocks are matched with an illustration of triangle and hexagon blocks placed over a piece of paper with the same shapes; the applications are shape, classification, and patterns. 3D shapes are matched with an illustration of a 3D ball, cylinder, and cube; the applications are shape, spatial relations, and sorting. Shape puzzles are matched with an illustration of a wooden puzzle with a shape cutout (heart and diamond) with the name of the shape below the cutout and corresponding shapes to be placed in the cutout; the applications are sorting, matching, and shape. Pattern blocks are matched with an illustration of various shapes of blocks; the applications are sorting, shape, patterns, and spatial relations. Tangrams are matched with an illustration of plastic shapes of various sizes and colors; the applications are shape, spatial relations, patterns, and sorting. Plastic coins are matched with an illustration of plastic pennies and a quarter; applications are currency, sorting, and classification. Sand timers are matched with an illustration of an hourglass; the application is measuring time. Digital timer is matched with an illustration of a timer showing the hour, minutes, and seconds; the the applications are numeral recognition and measuring clock time. An analog clock is matched with an illustration of a clock for timing minutes; the applications are measuring clock time and numeral recognition. A teaching clock (with movable hands) is matched with an illustration of a clock with hands for the hour, minute, and second; the applications are analog time measurement and numeral recognition. A bucket balance with an illustration of a scale holding a bucket on either side; the applications are measurement (weighing) and comparing. A graphing chart is matched with an illustration of a handwritten chart with blocks colored in to represent units; the application is displaying data. Measurement containers are matched with an illustration of two containers with measurements lines on them; the applications are measuring volume, comparing, and conservation. A calculator matched with an image of a simple calculator; applications are numeral recognition, operations, and technology.
Basic Science Equipment for Early Childhood
Basic science/discovery materials promote observation of the natural world, data collection, and the conduction of experiments.
This figure is a table with five rows and five columns. The first row has the text "Observing: Prisms, magnifying glasses, magnifier stand, butterfly cage," and has illustrations of a prism, a magnifying glass, a magnifying stand with two magnifying glasses embedded in a small table, and a butterfly cage with two butterflies and a tree branch. The second row has the text, "Classification: Sea animals, rocks, insects, shells," and has illustrations of plastic sea animal figures: a seal, a shark, a fish, and a lobster; a collection of rocks and plastic insect figures; a grasshopper, a butterfly, and a caterpillar; and a collection of seashells. The third row has the text, "Sensory Exploration and Discrimination: Montessori color tiles, Montessori baric (weight) tablets, feely box, Montessori smelling jars," with illustrations of six similarly colored tiles, five wooden squares, a wooden box with an opening on one end for a child to place their hand through to feel the object inside the box, and three jars filled with scented salts. The fourth row has the text, "Ecology: Planting equipment, composting box, rain gauge, thermometer," with illustrations of two packets of seeds with a shovel and terra cotta pot filled with soil, a wooden box filled with compost, a plastic cylinder filled with rain, and a thermometer. Row five has the text, "Physical Science: Gears/pulleys, balance scale, ramps, balls, magnetic wands," with illustrations of three interconnected gears, a balance scale, two towers with ramps connecting them and marbles to roll down the ramps, a magnetic wand with paper clips.
Facilitating Logicomathematical Knowledge with Infants and Toddlers
Behavior/Activity Concept(s) Teacher Strategies
Sorting objects Discerning similarities and differences among objects Offer a wide variety of toys in different shapes, colors, etc., such as large colored beads with containers or compartmentalized trays for sorting.
Shaking, striking, beating instruments Counting beats and rhythm Provide objects that make sounds and help children to use in different ways; count out rhythms during use.
Nesting objects Comparing relative size Use "comparing" words that describe what they are doing (such as big, bigger, biggest).
Putting toys away Matching Provide picture or shape labels on containers so children can match an item they are holding with the corresponding picture on a storage container.
Crawling, finding places to sit/hide Spatial relationships Set up a collapsible tunnel, large cardboard boxes, or stack of mats or pillows to climb on.
Filling/pouring Conservation Set up a sand/water table with containers, funnels, etc., of various sizes.
Stringing beads Patterns, shapes Point out and name patterns.
Documentation of Boat-Building Observations
Ideas for Materials Things We Tried That Work Problems We Had So Far
Paper Crumpling up paper in a ball keeps it from sinking. If paper stays in the water too long, it gets wet and collapses.
Plastic lids We can use a lump of clay on the lid to hold up the sail mast, so it doesn't make a hole in the boat. If water gets on top of a lid, it sinks.
Sponges The sponge will float with the green side up but not with the sponge side up.
Marshmallows Marshmallows float at first, then they melt.
Wood Wood definitely floats. We can't figure out how to attach a sail.
Other Ideas for Materials Other Things We Tried That Work Other Problems We've Had So Far
Foil
Bottle caps
Sticks
Clay
Cork
Trying the materials in the water first to see if they float before we make the rest of the boat.

Making the bottom of the boat bigger than the sail keeps it from sinking.

If we put a toothpick and paper sail in a cork, it falls over.
Mathematics Process Skills and Science/Engineering Practices
Mathematics Process Skills Science/Engineering Practices

Inquiry and problem solving

Reasoning and proof

Communication

Connections

Representations

Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)

Developing and using models

Planning and carrying out investigations

Analyzing and interpreting data

Using mathematics and computational thinking

Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)

Engaging in argument from evidence

Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
Three-Dimensional Graph
Three-dimensional graphs are a good way to begin using graphs with young children, since they involve the use of concrete objects that children can manipulate to represent data. This graph represents animals on land, on sea, and in the air.
Four column graph with four rows. The first column from top to bottom lists the numbers 3, 2, 1, with the last row in this column blank. The second column from top to bottom shows a panda bear, an elephant, a lion, and a child's drawing of a grassy hill and the sun. The third column from top to bottom has two blank rows, a shark, and a child's drawing of ocean waves and the sun. The final column from top to bottom shows a blank row, a butterfly, a bird, and a child's drawing of clouds and the sun.

Chapter 11: Language, Literacy, and Language Arts

Example of a Back-Mapped Kindergarten Writing Standard
Age Level Standard 1 Standard 2
Kindergarten standard Use symbols (drawings, letters, and words) to create written communications (for example, notes, messages, and lists) to inform a specific audience. Use symbols (drawings, letters, and words) to create narratives (for example, stories and journal entries) about people, places, or things.
5-year-olds Use symbols (drawings, letters, or words) to create written communications (for example, notes, messages, and lists) to inform a specific audience. Use symbols (drawings, letters, or words) to create narratives (for example, stories and journal entries) about people, places, or things.
4-year-olds Combine some letters with pretend writing. Use drawings, letters, or words to create narratives about people and things in their environment.
3-year-olds Pretend writing. Not expected at this level.
Stages of Writing
Each stage of writing has specific, identifiable characteristics.
Table with three columns, from left to right, Writing Stage, Image, Characteristics. First row, from left to right, random scribbling is the writing stage, the image shows a child's overlapping, multicolored scribbles, and the characteristics column reads, "Older infants and toddlers enjoy the sensory experience of making marks with tools. Scribbling is mainly a motor activity." Second row, from left to right, controlled scribbling is the writing stage, the image shows a child's scribbles of dots, lines, and boxes, and the characteristics column reads, "Toddlers and very young preschoolers begin to use fine motor control with the marks made on a page to include closed forms, lines with directionality, and other marks that begin to represent differentiation between drawing and writing." Third row, from left to right, pretend writing is the writing stage, the image shows a child's marks that resemble letter forms, and the characteristics column reads, "Pretend writing demonstrates some understanding of how print is represented on a page, from left-to-right- and top-to-bottom, without representing actual letter forms." Fourth row, from left to right, separating writing and drawing is the writing stage, the image shows a line of properly formed letters (EMSPLV) over a stick figure wearing a dress, and the characteristics column reads, "Children in the later stage of emergent writing clearly indicate they know the difference between drawing and writing." Fifth row, from left to right, letter strings is the writing stage, the image shows the name Phoebe written in a child's handwriting with long strings of letters but no real words underneath the name, and the characteristics column reads, "The first word children learn to write is typically their name; they begin to make long strings of letters and approximations of letters indicating they are making the transition from emergent to beginning writing." Sixth row, from left to right, writing with invented spelling is the writing stage, the image shows a child's writing that says "I wil be hapy wn skool iz ot I like t play wth my grenz in the summer,", and the characteristics column reads, "I will be happy when school is out. I like to play with my friends in the summer."
Materials for Promoting Literacy across the Curriculum
Center/ Activity Area Materials Uses
Blocks Blueprint and graph paper, pencils, variety of papers, notebook with pictures/labels of buildings, road signs, books about architecture, maps Sketching plans, drawing representations of structures, using reference materials, making labels and signs, recognizing environmental print
Post office Mailbox, stamps, envelopes, a variety of papers, pencils, pens, stickers, postcards, junk mail, sticky notes, greeting cards Writing and sending letters and messages, "reading" mail, making cards
Writing center Pencils, markers, crayons, colored pencils, pencil sharpener, lined and unlined paper, journals, stapler, hole puncher, yarn or metal rings, letter stencils and tracing templates, erasers, rulers, tape recorder, picture dictionary, word cards, index cards, tape, wipe-off easel or whiteboard, slates and chalk, sentence strips (lined tagboard paper strips), tracing paper Making books, writing words and stories, practicing handwriting, dictating and recording stories, making signs
Science center Paper of different kinds for recording data such as graph paper, tracing paper, and index cards, file box, observation journals, pencils, markers, sticky notes, chart paper, science books appropriate to age, magazines, chart for feeding fish Drawing and recording observations, drawing pictures of animals, plants, etc., constructing graphs, labeling
Social studies Globe, maps, picture books about people and places, magazines (e.g., National Geographic for Kids), tracing paper Making and labeling maps, time lines, and pictures
Dramatic play Clipboards, menus, receipt books, recipe cards, prescription pads, sticky notes, paper and writing tools; advertisements, newspapers, puppets, other props as appropriate to themes Using writing materials to take on roles for themes such as waiter, doctor, grocery store clerk, builder; using puppets to act out stories; making and labeling props
Art Newspapers, collage materials, pens, pencils, markers, colored pencils, paints, brushes, easel and drawing papers, finger paints and paper, clay/play dough, scissors, books about art Cutting out letters and making collages, drawing, painting, practice writing with finger paints, making letters from modeling dough
Outdoors Popsicle sticks, markers, paper, cardboard, tape, brushes and water, sidewalk chalk, traffic signs Marking garden plants and rows, making signs for fantasy play, marking rocks and labeling collections, water writing, writing names on the sidewalk, reading signs for trike paths
Commercial Literacy Resources
Many commercial materials are used to promote phonological awareness. This selection focuses on alphabetical knowledge, phonemic awareness, and early writing.
Three column chart. First column shows commercial materials that relate to alphabetic knowledge such as magnetic letters, alphabet flashcards that show the capital and lowercase versions of each letter, a letter bingo board and letter stamps. The second column shows commercial materials used to promote phonemic awareness such as a picture lottery board, puzzles pieces that connect when the words pictured (bat and hat) match, a sound sort board where pictures of words are arranged according to their sounds  boat and butterfly go in the bat column when properly arranged, and plastic telephones for children to speak to one another through. The third column shows commercial materials that promote early writing such as oversized crayons, letter boards that allow the child to trace the letter with a pen, paper to practice writing the same letter repeatedly, and paper, pencils and scissors.
Children's Literature
Format Description Examples
Baby (board) book Hard covers and thick, laminated pages that are easy for infants and young toddlers to turn. Some books written in paper format are also available in board book format.

Where's Spot? (Hill, 2003)

Rainbow Fish (Pfister, 1996)

Moo, Baa, La La La (Boynton, 1982)
Interactive books Features that children can handle and manipulate, such as pop-ups, holes, sliding tabs, etc.

Dinnertime (Pienkowski, 2008)

Wizard of Oz (Baum & Sabuda, 2000)

The Dwindling Party (Gorey, 1982)
Wordless picture books Books with no words encourage conversation, predicting, and multiple interpretations.

The Snowy Day, 50th Anniversary Edition (Keats, 2012)

The Red Book (Lehman, 2004)

Chalk (Thomson, 2010)
Picture books Text with accompanying illustrations that focus on storytelling.

Madeline (Bemelmans, 2000)

Curious George (Rey, 1969)

The Story of Babar (de Brunhoff, 1937)
Early reading Books intended for beginning readers with limited vocabulary, simpler sentence structure, etc. They are predictable, with text that is easy to decode, thus promoting independent reading.

Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers (Maslen & Maslen, 2006)

Big Egg: (Step-into-Reading, Step One) (Coxe, 1997)

Dr. Seuss's Beginner Book Collection (Seuss, 2009)

Fancy Nancy and the Too-Loose Tooth (I Can Read Fancy Nancy, Level 1) (O'Connor, 2012)
Alphabet Present the letters of the alphabet, usually with corresponding pictures.

On Market Street (Lobel & Lobel, 1989)

Eric Carle's ABC (Carle, 2007)
Counting Numbers with corresponding pictures.

Anno's Counting House (Anno, 1982)

Counting Kisses (Katz, 2001)
Concept Books that teach concepts such as color, size, shape.

Little Blue and Little Yellow (Lionni, 1985)

Freight Train (Crews, 1978)
Biography Books that portray real-life people.

Martin's Big Words: The Story of Dr. Martin Luther King (Rappaport & Collier, 2007)

A Picture Book of Cesar Chavez (Adler, Adler, & Olofsdotter, 2011)
Nursery rhymes Classic poetry often familiar as songs, teaching rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration.

Favorite Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose (Gustafson, 2007)

Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Favorite Nursery Rhymes (Mavor, 2010)
Poetry Single poems presented as a story or narrative or collections of poetry.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (Frost & Jeffers, 2001)

Birches (Frost & Young, 2002)

A Light in the Attic (Silverstein, 1981)

My Hippo Has the Hiccups (Nesbitt, 2009)
Informational Nonfiction books that provide topical reference information and photographs or illustrations for curricular areas such as science or social studies.

Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction (MacCauley, 1981)

National Geographic Readers: Bats (Carney, 2010)

Meet the Howlers (Sayre & Miller, 2010)
Class Books Made with Toddlers and Preschoolers
Many different kinds of books and experiences can be used as models and opportunities for children to use emergent writing or dictation of text.
This figure is a 6x6 table. The columns are grouped in pairs, with the first showing book covers and the second providing a description. The first pair of columns are labeled "Concept Books" and "Description." First row in the first two columns: a book cover with scribbles and paper cutouts of the letters A, P, M and C, pasted over the scribbles along with the title of the book, Our Name Book. The description for this book reads: "Only includes letters that start children's names in the class. For example, 'E is for Ellyse and.....' (child finishes)." Second row of the first two columns: Child's illustration of a flower with the book title Book of Colors written by The Daisies. The description says: "Each page has a photo of things children found of each color and their description of items." Third row of first two columns: The book is called Squares from Home and shows four different colored construction paper squares pasted onto the book cover. The description for this book says: "Children brought in objects from home in the shape of a square. Each page has a photo of a child who completes, 'I found.....'" Fourth row of the first two columns: The book is titled My Handprint Feels Rough and has a sandpaper cutout of a child's hand. The description of this book reads: "Each child made a handprint from textured material of their choice and described what it feels like on their page." Fifth row of the first two columns: Book is called Caterpillar that has a yellow caterpillar surrounded by scribbles. The description reads: "First child completes, 'first little caterpillar.....' Second child finishes, 'second little caterpillar.....' and so on." Sixth row of the first two columns: Image shows a child's illustration of a house with two children looking out of the house through a window. The description reads: "Each page has a photo the child chose from a carriage ride through the city and the child's description of what shapes they can see in the picture. For example, 'It's a house. Squares and people in squares. And the roof. And this sky. And this triangle. Look, there's some circles  the bushes!'" The second pair of columns are labeled "Expository" and "Description." First row in the second pair of columns: book cover with the title Making Paper typed in black. Written by Ms. Stephanie's Class. The description reads: "Children retell the experience of making paper. Each child dictated text for one of the photographs that document the process." Second row in the second pair of columns: book cover with a Panda bear and the title The baby is taking a nap. The description for this book reads: "Each child chose a photograph of a jungle animal and dictated what they knew about the animal and what they saw in the picture. For example, 'Panda bear! The baby is taking a nap. The mama is sleeping with the baby. They are black and white. They eat leaf. It is cold.'" Third row in the second pair of columns: complex image of an owl done as a collage of other images. The description reads: "'What We Know About Birds of Prey.' An encyclopedia with emergent writing and dictated by older preschool children with photographs and text." Fourth row in the second pair of columns: Book titled Our Recipes with a child's drawing of spaghetti and meatballs. The description reads: Each family sent in a recipe and children illustrated and dictated preparation directions." Fifth row in the second pair of columns: the text "I don't like Spinach" appears above a child's drawing of a plate of spinach and a fork. The description reads: "Each page contains a list of items dictated by children that they don't like." Sixth row in the second pair of columns: Book page with the text "I have ten toes," above a child's drawing of their feet. The text below the feet says, "My second toe is longer than my big toe." The description reads: "Each child described a picture of their feet and toes." The third pair of columns are labeled "Narratives" and "Description." First row in the third pair of columns: child's illustration of a simple treasure map showing a dashed black line leading to a red "X" with the text "You find the X" typed at the top of the page. The description reads: "Each child contributed one illustrated page with dictated text. For example, 'You find the X. You get a shovel and dig and dig and dig. Then you go home to bring it to Mom and Dad and show all the stuff. Inside the treasure chest you find swords, jewelry, patches and gold.'" Second row in the third pair of columns: Michael Says Goodnight is the title at the top of the book above a child's drawing of the night sky with a moon and stars. The description reads: "Using Goodnight Moon as the inspiration, each child dictates a narrative about their bedtime routine. For example, 'Mommy kiss me and I say I want my bear.'" Third row in the third pair of columns: Child's drawing of a magic carpet flying through the sky with the title, Magic Carpet Ride, at the top of the cover. The description reads: With a favorite song as the premise of the story, each page starts with 'I have a magic carpet. It can take me anywhere.' Each child imagines and then described where they would go on a magic carpet ride." Fourth row in the third pair of columns: Childs illustration of a boy holding a roll of orange duct tape. The description reads: "Anthology of poems written by four-year-olds and kindergarteners. For example, 'Orange Duct Tape. It's orange, and it's duct tape, and very sticky; It puts two things together like a piece of paper to the other side of a piece of paper. It matches my shirt.'" Fifth row in the third pair of columns: Child's writing at the tops says, "I saw a school of fish," and shows five fish below the water. The description reads: "Narrative with photos and text composed by a group of children about a walk to the nearby fish pond." Sixth row in the third pair of columns: The book, titled Wednesday, has multicolored scribbles with a paper cutout of the word Wednesday pasted on top. The description reads: "Book was written by kindergarten children as a response to the book, Tuesday, by David Weisner. Children imagined what happened next after the book ends with illustrations of flying pigs."
Source: N.E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center/College of Charleston
Journal Samples
Journaling reinforces concepts about books, makes children feel like writers, and provides an authentic record of progress over time.
Two rows showing a child's drawings above text explaining what the images is about. First column shows a journal cover with an illustration of a ladybug, the child's name  Lily, and the Mandarin symbols for Lily. The text beneath this image reads: "Cover with child's name in English and home language (Mandarin) and symbol representing first sound in name. Second column, first picture is a very basic sketch with some boxes and lines with the names Lily and Mark written by the child for practice. The second picture has the text: "It is Daddy birthday," above a drawing of four stick figures and a birthday cake. The text beneath these two images reads: "Entries at two-months apart, the first showing a child practicing letters and writing her name and a friend's name into a drawing of them building a road together in the block center. The second contains a complete sentence, 'It is Daddy birthday,' with a separate illustration of his family and a cake." The third column has an adults writing sample above the child's version. The text beneath the image reads: "Using a play plan with a diagram as an opportunity to practice writing, 'I am going to blocks.'" The final column has two images. The first is a list of items in a child's handwriting, "bolz o porige, bears, chairs." The second image is a drawing of a house with three bear heads above three chairs. The text beneath these images reads: "These two adjacent pages represent a brainstorming session for organizing a retelling of 'Goldilocks.'"
Source: N.E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center/College of Charleston

Chapter 12: Evaluation and Assessment of Learning and Programs

Sample Assessment System
Time Line Activity Instruments Product Follow-up
At enrollment Developmental screening Ages/Stages
Questionnaire (ASQ) for appropriate age and Social Emotional Questionnaire (ASQ/SE) if indicated
Formal report for child file Referral to BabyNet or Child Find and process via school district if warranted or follow up with additional questionnaires for more data
August Teacherteacher conference Child file Draft Goals Form (GF) for home visit Confer with prior teacher if more information needed
August Home visits Home Information Form (HIF), goals form photo Family/child profile
Initiate or revise existing goals
Regular informal communications; referrals if needed
September New family orientation (evening session about assessment system) All assessment system documents Present/discuss assessment system Q&A as indicated; ongoing informal communications
Ongoing Home/school communication Celebrations and Concerns form (CCF) Completed form Conversation, conferences if requested; information used to inform curricular decisions

Fall term, monthly:

August,
September,
October
Observation,
recording anecdotal evidence
Anecdotal record Updated goals Individualizing instruction and adjusting curriculum

Fall term, monthly:

August,
September,
October
Work sample collection Portfolio Photo, video/audio recording, artifact Used to inform curricular decisions and evidence of growth; shared during parent/teacher conference
Fall Conference Day Parent/teacher conference;
compile information from various sources used throughout the term

Goals Form (GF)

(CCF)

Celebrations and Concerns Forms

Work samples

Early Learning Standards (ELS) checklist

Performance assessments
Early Learning Standards Report (SCELS) and work samples

Revised goals

Referrals to BabyNet or Child Find if warranted; entry signed by both parent and teacher on goals form; recommendations for future curricular decisions and individualization
Spring Term monthly: January, February, March Work sample collection Portfolio Updated portfolios with photos and artifacts Individualizing instruction and adjusting curriculum
By February 15 Quarterly communication: Verbal or written updates as indicated/needed per fall conferences Conference and/or written narrative progress report Celebrations and Concerns Forms (CCF) Update goals Conversation or formal conference if parent/teacher requests
April Conference Day Parent/teacher conference;
compile information from various sources used throughout the term

Goals Form

Celebration and Concerns Forms

Work samples

Early Learning Standards checklist

Performance assessments

Early Learning Standards Report (ELS) and work samples

Revised Goals
Referrals to BabyNet or Child Find if warranted;
April Conference Day "Paper Day"Update family information Home Information Form (HIF)

Health and Emergency Forms

Completed form Compile list of students with allergies, inform teacher for involving parents and children in family and culturally sensitive ways, planning curriculum
Observation-Based Assessments
Type of Observation Description and Uses Formats/Tools
Anecdotal record Descriptive narratives that record details of events, behaviors, or notes about children's activities, accomplishments, or needs. Index cards, notebook paper, bound journal, adhesive mailing labels, sticky notes, calendar.
Running record Real-time recording of activity, conversation, or behavior, often time-stamped as observation proceeds (akin to a video recording, but with words rather than a camera). Index cards, notebook paper, journal.
Daily log Records observations over the course of a day, in sync with different time or activity blocks. Clipboard with preprinted daily schedule and blanks for recording what child does at different times.
Checklists While observing, the teacher checks for presence or absence of targeted outcomes, behaviors, or language on a preprinted list; this may be used to track whether child completed sequence of activities; teacher checks off or records date target is achieved. Used to track growth of skills or development over time. Clipboard and pre-printed forms or online lists of skills or behaviors used with laptop, tablet, or other portable device for use in the classroom.
Time/event sampling Often used together to discern the frequency or cause of problem behaviors; the teacher may use a tally sheet to record the number of times a particular behavior (such as hitting or crying) is observed over a predetermined time period such as an hour or day; event sampling records what activity or behavior directly preceded or followed a behavior being tracked to look for patterns or cause/effect. Can also be used to track how many times a child visits a particular center, the rest room, etc., or how much time is spent there. Clipboard with tally sheet; notebook paper or index cards.
Diagrams/sketches Track movement of children around the room; can be helpful for identifying interaction patterns, and children's interests. Preprinted floor plan.
Interest inventories Can be used to gain information from children and families about what children like and dislike; helps in planning and selecting activities and materials. Checklist or questionnaires; sign-up sheets for activities.
Child interviews Conducted any time first-hand information about children's needs, problems, interests, or reasoning would be helpful for assessment, conflict resolution, behavior management, or planning. Audio- or videotape; written transcriptions.
Rating scales Records a qualitative assessment using predetermined indicators of achievement (e.g., emergent, developing, mastered) or frequency (e.g., never, sometimes, always). Preprinted forms that list activity or skills being observed with blank space for recording assessment.
Matrices/grids Preprinted chart that records activity of a group of children or for observing multifaceted activity, such as both social interactions and language during play. Usually represented on a chart with both vertical and horizontal axes. With a group of children, names are listed on one axis and targeted behavior or skills on the other. With an individual child, one type of behavior is noted on each axis. Clipboard and preprinted sheets.