Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Orchestrating A Kindergarten Block Program : The Teacher's Role, Abbey Butcosk

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Analyzes the role of the teacher in kindergarten block building

Waldorf Kindergarten And Reggio-Inspired Kindergarten: Documenting Value And Effectiveness Of Two Arts-Based Approaches, Daria Stowell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Waldorf kindergarten and Reggio-inspired kindergarten are two arts-based approaches to early childhood education that are viewed as strong educational alternatives to traditional education and serve as sources of inspiration for progressive educational reform. This study describes, interprets, and appraises the intentions and operations of two Waldorf kindergartens and two Reggio-inspired kindergartens in the United States in order to uncover the aims, practices, and values of both.

Five questions guide this study: (1) What are the intentions of Waldorf kindergarten and Reggio-inspired kindergarten? (2) What do Waldorf kindergarten and Reggio-inspired kindergarten look like in practice? (3) What do the children have …

Storytelling And Play As A Way To Help Children And Adults Internalize The Values Of Environmental Awareness, Sana (Janet) Ehehosi

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This thesis is an empirical study to find out if storytelling can be used as a tool to develop environmental and ecological awareness in an early childhood program. It also discusses the importance oral storytelling has on the language and neurocognitive development of children and why it is important to the development of literacy skills.

(De)Composing A Garden For Children's Play, Debra Jean Deverell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kindergarten has been a part of the educational landscape of the United States since 1856, when the first kindergarten opened in Watertown, Wisconsin. If we fast-forward more than a century and a half to the present, it is clear that the landscape composition of the garden-ideologically, culturally, socially, and politically for children's play has drastically changed.

The purpose of this study, (De)Composing a Garden for Children's Play, is to examine kindergartners' play set against changing school polices and practices of recent years in one Colorado school district. Four research questions guided this inquiry:

1. What does kindergarten look like …

The Critical Relationship Of Dramtic Play And Literacy Development: Primary Plays Handbook, Activity Packets And Dramatic Play Kits For The Primary Classrooms, Connie Lewellyn

All Graduate Projects

Dramatic play is a critical element of programs for young children as a means of acquiring literacy. Literacy-enriched play encourages children's exploration of reading and writing in the world around them. Although child-structured dramatic play is widely recognized as being important, few opportunities are provided for primary educators to incorporate this type of drama into their reading curriculums. This project provides a foundation to implement dramatic play activities in the preschool through third grade reading curriculums.

Patterns And Influences Of Peer Interaction In An Integrated Cultural Center For Primary Students, Mary Wood

Graduate Theses

A series of observations was made on students attending a cultural center during the third of three visits scheduled throughout the school year. A single observer made 444 one minute observations on kindergarten/ first, second, and third grade students participating in two learning areas. The group activity area emphasized group participation where small groups were formed consisting of students from each school and ethnic group represented. The individual activity area offered the students a choice of center activities as well as the freedom to choose with whom they wanted to work. The results indicate that interethnic interaction in the group …