Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Orchestrating Literacies:Print Literacy Learning Opportunities Within Multimodal Intergenerational Ensembles, Lori Mckee, Rachel Heydon

Education Publications

This exploratory case study considered the opportunities for print literacy learning within multimodal ensembles that featured art, singing, and digital media within the context of an intergenerational program that brought together 13 kindergarten children (4 and 5 years) with 7 elder companions. Study questions concerned how reading and writing were practiced within multimodal ensembles and what learning opportunities were afforded the children while the participants worked through a chain of multimodal projects. Data were collected through ethnographic tools in the Rest Home where the projects were completed and in the children’s classroom where project content and tools were introduced and …

Evaluation Of The Start Making A Reader Today (Smart), Beth L. Green, Amanda Cross-Hemmer, Lorelei Mitchell

Early Childhood

The goal of the Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) program is to support young children to develop early reading and literacy skills, as well as to increase their interest, confidence, and enthusiasm about reading. SMART pairs trained adult volunteers with PreK-3 rd grade children, primarily in schools serving significant proportions of low-income families. Thus, SMART augments the one-on-one reading support available in typical elementary schools. Volunteers read to children for 30 minutes, either once or twice a week, and provide books that children can take home and keep for themselves. Prior evaluation research (Baker, Gersten, & Keating, 2000) found …

The Early Grade Reading Assessment: Assessing Children's Acquisition Of Basic Literacy Skills In Developing Countries (Superseded Version), Australian Council For Educational Research

Assessment GEMS

The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), administered individually in about 15 minutes, measures the most basic foundation skills for literacy acquisition in the early grades. The assessment was developed by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) through funding provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank (Gove & Wetterberg, 2011), in addition to resources provided by RTI. The EGRA was developed to provide a battery of assessments of basic reading skills for developing countries to monitor the status of early reading in primary schools. The assessment tool was first implemented in The Gambia and Senegal …

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival, Karen Rowell, The University Of Southern Mississippi, The University Of Southern Mississippi's School Of Library And Information Science

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival Programs

The program for the fourty-seventh annual Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival held on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 2014.

Using Interactive Reading Techniques With Word World To Enhance Emergent Literacy, James B. Godfrey

Theses and Dissertations in Early Childhood Education

Facets of emergent literacy such as phonological awareness (PA) and alphabet knowledge (AK) are precursors to later conventional literacy (Dockrell, Stuart & King, 2010; Neuman & Dwyer, 2009; NELP, 2008). Interactive reading techniques such as dialogic reading (Whitehurst et al., 1988) and explicit print referencing (Piasta et al., 2012; Justice et al., 2010) have been used effectively with printed text to enhance emergent literacy. This quasi-experimental study was designed to determine the extent to which interactive reading techniques combined with the viewing of educational television may enhance facets of emergent literacy such as PA and AK. A convenience sample of …

Toward An Early Start For Head Start Children : Evidence From An Academic-Enriched Literacy Initiative, Haiyan Zhang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The purpose of this study was to address the question of whether it is developmentally appropriate to expose preschool children to a comprehensive instructional program designed to facilitate the acquisition of early literacy skills. The primary means of addressing this question was to assess the development of emergent literacy skills in four-year-old children enrolled in a literacy-enriched Head Start program for a period of one year, as compared with those of four-year-old children who entered at age three and enrolled in the program for two years. Related questions of special interests are to what extent the three and four-year-old children …

Textbook Aliteracy In Teacher Education: Information Everywhere, But How Much Do They Read?, Rosalind R. Gann, L. Kathryn Sharp, Scott Mcilquham

ETSU Faculty Works

This article explores the problem of textbook aliteracy, i.e. the failure to read assigned texts despite the ability to do so. Constructivism is its theoretical frame. Teacher education students at a medium-sized university in the Southern Appalachian Mountains were surveyed on their textbook reading practices. Ninety percent of the 116 students completing the survey reported studying instructors’ power points in preference to completing assigned readings, at least some of the time. All were readers, though a majority (68%) reported at least some difficulty reading assigned texts. Often, they appeared to be avoiding the challenges posed by demanding text. The authors …

The Effect Of Public Pre-Kindergarten Attendance On First Grade Reading And Social Achievement: A District Level Analysis, Michael James Haslip

Theses and Dissertations in Early Childhood Education

The purpose of this study was to test the relationship between attending a school district Pre-K program and children's later literacy and behavior outcomes in the beginning and middle of first grade. Children's text level, letter-sound identification, sight words, spelling and citizenship skills were measured. The study included 880 children who attended the division Pre-K program and 176 children who attended no formal or institutional preschool of any kind. Selection bias was addressed through propensity score matching, completed using optimal matching. Independent-samples t tests were run on literacy and behavior measures. Subgroup analysis was performed to test the effect of …

Promoting Language Development In Prekindergarten And Kindergarten Classrooms Through Basic Materials : A Tool For Early Childhood Teachers In New Orleans, Jennifer Durkin

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Offers prekindergarten and kindergarten educators in New Orleans a tool for better understanding why it is important and how to offer language rich opportunities in their classrooms.

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival, Karen Rowell, The University Of Southern Mississippi, The University Of Southern Mississippi's School Of Library And Information Science

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival Programs

The program for the forty-sixth annual Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival held on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 2013.

Technology, Toddlers And Vocabulary Development, Gwendolyn Dayton

Graduate Research Papers

Emergent literacy with toddler age children has a strong foundation in vocabulary development. There are many methods currently being employed to foster vocabulary development. Dialogic reading, sign language, finger plays and songs are just a few of those methods. It is important to look for a curriculum that provides a format to combine these strategies into a cohesive presentation. Understanding the increasing importance that technology plays in the lives of our children is also crucial. Selecting the right technology may provide the solution for infusing vocabulary development into the early learning environment. This project will design a curriculum to implement …

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival, Karen Rowell, The University Of Southern Mississippi, The University Of Southern Mississippi's School Of Library And Information Science

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival Programs

The program for the forty-fifth annual Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival held on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 2012.

Beatrice The Butterfly Visits The New York Public Library, Gail Goldspiel

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This original work of children's literature tells the story of Beatrice, a young butterfly who explores the 42nd Street New York Public Library with a class. Intended for children in grades K-3, this book serves as a first introduction to the library and can be read by parents, teachers, and librarians.

Infant Literacy, Tera Weber

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this project is to share the importance of reading to infants with their caregivers and teachers. This project will highlight what the research says regarding reading, what the infants gain from reading, and ideas on how to incorporate reading into group settings with infants through a professional development project. Participants in this professional development opportunity will be able to see recorded examples of teachers reading to infants, infants interacting with text, and materials that teachers may take back to their classrooms.

Invented Spelling And Its Value In Kindergarten, Michelle J. Mcdonald

Graduate Research Papers

This review examined the purpose of invented spelling in kindergarten, and what invented spelling can tell us about a child's development of letter/sound knowledge, phonemic awareness skills, concepts of print, and language skills. Additional examination of literature on invented spelling in a comprehensive literacy program focused on the connection between reading and writing. Several studies included comparisons of writing instructional methods. Invented spelling has value as an assessment tool for various literacy skills. Criticisms and controversies were reviewed, as well as recommendations for the use of invented spelling to optimize its value in the kindergarten curriculum. Findings of the review …

Where The Wild Things Are And Why They Will Endure: An Analysis Of The Longevity Of Maurice Sendak's Work, Ana Appel

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This study looks to explain why Maurice Sendak's works have achieved a place in the classic cannon of children's literature. It starts by discussing children's literary theory and looks at the era of children's literature within which Sendak wrote, his illustrations, and his writing. The study then looks at psychoanalytic themes in his work. It analyzes the use of the conscious, unconscious, id, and ego. It further describes the use of archetypes of the collective unconscious in Sendak's work and why this connects to many readers. Then, the study describes bibliotherapy, books as therapeutic aids, and discusses how Sendak's books …

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival, Karen Rowell, The University Of Southern Mississippi, The University Of Southern Mississippi's School Of Library And Information Science

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival Programs

The program for the forty-fourth annual Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival held on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 2011.

Preschool Participation And Linguistically Diverse Learners' English Language And Literacy Acquisition, Tara Szabo Maxson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Linguistically diverse learners are a rapidly growing subpopulation of the students currently served by schools and future forecasts indicate that population growth is expected to continue. Students who enter school speaking a language other than English need adequate time and opportunity to English. Furthermore, children who attain grade-level literacy by the third grade demonstrate greater achievement in school and life. Because language and literacy acquisition in the early elementary years leads to later success and English language learners (ELLs) need time and opportunity to master both, it is imperative that school systems focus on interventions to ensure both early and …

Children Teaching Children: A Study Of A Multilingual Head Start Setting, Sandra Martinez-Siranaula

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This study presents transcriptions of a multilingual Head Start setting (filmed for The Office of Head Start in spring 2010) - including sections on research in second-language acquisition as well as curriculum examples and recommendations, bibliography and online resources.

Exploring The Strategies Students Use When Reading, Evelyn Gilles

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Research in the field of reading has shown that oral reading fluency is important because it is correlated to successful reading comprehension. Although some students acquire fluency skills, others struggle to use strategies to develop fluency. My concerns about reading fluency came about because my students were not reading texts smoothly and accurately. This action research project was designed to discover what strategies first grade students use to read unfamiliar words. Specifically, I focused on whether or not blending would be a good strategy to improve reading fluency. In order to address the issue of reading fluency, I gathered information …

Discovering The Connections Students Make During Reading, Suzanne Nepomuceno

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Research shows that reading comprehension is enhanced if the reader constructs meaning by making connections to the text. Connections may be made between readers and their background knowledge and/or between readers and other texts they have read. The purpose of this action research project was to determine if teaching students how to make these two kinds of connections would enhance their comprehension. To this end, a metacognitive strategy called Making Connections was implemented and taught to the students during their normal reading lessons. Data were collected through interviews with the students about this strategy, observation charts that recorded their connections, …

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival, Karen Rowell, The University Of Southern Mississippi, The University Of Southern Mississippi's School Of Library And Information Science

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival Programs

The program for the forty-third annual Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival held on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 2010.

An Examination Of The Reading First Program At A Southeastern Virginia Elementary School And The Impact On K–2 Student Reading Achievement, Leslie Ford Lippard

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Reading First was a federal initiative aimed at improving reading instruction and implementing programs and strategies grounded in scientifically-based reading research. The legislation was predicated on research findings that high-quality reading instruction and intervention in the primary grades significantly reduces the numbers of students who experience difficulties in later grades. This study examined the Reading First program at an elementary school in southeastern Virginia from 2006-2008. Specifically, the researcher investigated the impact of the independent variable, the tier three model of intervention on K-2 student reading achievement. Quantitative data was garnered from 792 K-2 student participants attending the research site. …

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival, Karen Rowell, University Of Southern Mississippi, The University Of Southern Mississippi's School Of Library And Information Science

Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival Programs

The program for the forty-second annual Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival held on the campus of The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 2009.

Fueling Small Explosions Of Conversation: A Reading Curriculum For Fourth Grade, Rebecca Blake Eisenberg

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The purpose of this fourth-grade reading curriculum is to teach students to become active readers who can articulate and communicate their thoughts about reading. By communicating about text, readers construct meaning and develop a rich understanding and appreciation of their reading. The curriculum uses the reading workshop framework (Atwell, 1998; Calkins, 2001; Rief, 1992) and the literature circle structure (Daniels, 2002). Process- and content-based mini-lessons provide explicit instruction for literature circle discussions. Comprehension strategy mini-lessons are provided to complement the literature circle instruction and provide support for students as needed.

A Study Of The Relationship Between Visual Art And Verbal Communication, Erica Whisney

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This thesis studied the qualitative and quantitative types of communication children had while engaged in clay and collage art making activities. Thirty-five kindergarteners were used in the study, which was videotaped and analysed. Researchers concluded that during the art making process children communicated frequently and more freely with their peers than during other activities.

What Every Kindergarten Teacher Should Know About Spelling, Gjoa King

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this article was to determine what research stated about writing and spelling instruction at the kindergarten level. I looked specifically at research concerning spelling and writing development in kindergarten children, the role of invented spelling, and the effects of instruction on spelling outcomes. This was done for the purpose of synthesizing the research in order to help teachers implement a developmentally appropriate spelling curriculum for kindergartners.

Is Reading Recovery A Beneficial Reading Program To Have Implemented In A School District?, Carrie Langan

Graduate Research Papers

Reading Recovery is an instructional program that offers individualized reading and writing instruction to struggling first graders. This program is costly and with the limited number of first graders that can be served, it raises the question : Is Reading Recovery really beneficial in the long run?

The purpose of this paper is to explain the importance that Reading Recovery has to offer. While this program may be costly, Reading Recovery children usually complete their series of lessons within 12 - 20 weeks. After that time, other children take their place. With good classroom instruction , many children who discontinue …

The Impact Of Oral Language Activities In Preschool On Reading Competence In Kindergarten And Beyond, Melissa Sifert

Graduate Research Papers

The following literature review examined the impact of oral language activities in preschool concerning literacy competence in kindergarten and beyond. Four questions were addressed: (1) What is the role of oral language on reading achievement? (2) What instructional activities are important in promoting oral language skills crucial for later reading development? (3) What challenges do educators face when incorporating oral language activities in the preschool classroom? and (4) What are guidelines for integrating oral language activities in preschool? Recommendations for the advancement of oral language instruction in the education system were presented.

Not Enough Non-Fiction Literacy Material In Early Childhood, Melani L. Piscitelli

Graduate Research Papers

In the body of this paper, educators will find answers to some questions that they have concerning non-fiction literature. These questions include: What does research say about incorporating non-fiction material into the classroom: how much non-fiction material should I have in my classroom; and how do I pick out quality non-fiction material?

Educators will also be able to look at three different non-fiction lesson plans. Each lesson plan will use a different type of non-fiction literature to give educators a well rounded view of non-fiction literature. There will also be a section about locating nonfiction books, to give educators a …