Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Making Music Together : A Music Handbook For An Early Childhood Classroom, Shana Hope Frankel

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper discusses the importance of music in Early Childhood classrooms. It is meant to be a resource for the classroom intended to be used by teachers, however; it can also be used by families and caregivers who want to add more music in to their homes. The songs are organized to follow a typical daily schedule in a classroom. The readers do not need background knowledge of music and can make up their own tunes to most of the songs provided. I have suggested the music to go along with most of the songs however other melodies could work …

Bringing Together Mind And Heart In The Classroom: An Independent Study, Allison Fisch

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The purpose of this thesis is to address the brain research indicating the importance of teaching social and emotional learning and mindfulness within the classroom. Studies denote the possible emotional and social disorders that can stem from a lack of social and emotional awareness. Educators and administrators are provided with activities and techniques that can be adapted into the curriculum with ease. The· activities and techniques reinforce the child's ability to recognize their emotions and gain resilience as well as aiding in their empathy for others. Research supports the concept of mindfulness and how it can be successful in the …

Catalog 2011-2012, Bank Street College Of Education

Graduate School of Education

This course catalog from a past academic year is a resource for referring to previous course offerings, degree requirements, institutional policies, and more.

Parents' Access To Information And Ability To Advocate For Their Young Children With Disabilities, Ellen W. Fisher

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This study was motivated by the fact that there is an overrepresentation of child­ren from minority backgrounds with disabilities in the United States school system (Ar­tiles & Trent, 1994; Cartledge, 1999; Chinn & Hughes, 1987). In considering factors causing the inequality in the special education system, this study explored (a.) parents' access to information regarding the preschool special education system and (b.) how that access to information affects parents' ability to advocate on behalf of their young child­ren with disabilities. Through twelve anonymous surveys and six interviews with par­ents, information was collected regarding who has and does not have access …

Some Girls Play With Trains: Negotiating Gender In A Preschool Classroom, Laura Zellerbach

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This study examines children's understanding of gender roles within a classroom of three and four-year-olds. Discussions of gender in the classroom were recorded and transcribed over a four month period. In January, children were presented with "The Boys and Girls Book, " a book that discussed gender norms in the language of "Some girls play with trains/ Some boys play with trains." Common themes emerged, including gender-typed play, hair and clothing as signifiers of gender, marketing and material goods as related to gender roles, and the use of conventional and unconventional gender stereotypes. These children's changing understandings and rationales concerning …

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.

Teaching The Infant Toddler Cda, Gwendolyn Brown-Murray

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Discusses some of the highlights of the author's experience teaching the curriculum for the Infant Toddler Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential to a group of women who were culturally, ethnically, religiously, educationally, and socially different from her.

Who Is Telling This Story? : A Study Of An Aesthetic Education Collaboration Between A Classroom Teacher And A Cultural Institution, Katherine Fox

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This study explores the classroom teacher's role in a collaboration between a New York City classroom teacher and Lincoln Center Institute. Aesthetic education, imaginative learning, and collaboration between classroom teachers and teaching artists, the core practices of Lincoln Center Institute's inquiry units, are defined through a review of other established approaches to these concepts. The perspective of a third-grade teacher who participated in an inquiry unit focused on MytholoJazz, a storytelling performance illustrates the purpose, planning, and action that characterize Lincoln Center Institute's programs. Qualitative analysis of the teacher's work, in addition to her own reflection on the process, reveal …

Catalogue 2010-2011, Bank Street College Of Education

Graduate School of Education

This course catalog from a past academic year is a resource for referring to previous course offerings, degree requirements, institutional policies, and more.

Childhood Mental Illness: Schizophrenia And Bipolar Disorder, Vicki Wolffe

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Many children are inflicted with psychosis. The following essay is an investigation of the characteristics of mental illness as it appears in youths. Studies have been conducted as to what mental illness looks like in children. Various treatment options are described. The body of this work has been compiled, predominantly, through the review of literature on the subject matter. Limited observation of a child that has been diagnosed with a severe form of psychotic illness has been noted.

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.

Catalogue 2009-2010, Bank Street College Of Education

Graduate School of Education

This course catalog from a past academic year is a resource for referring to previous course offerings, degree requirements, institutional policies, and more.

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.

Ash Cans & Corn Fed Hares: Book One Of The Ny Explorer's Club, Corinne Flax

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Ash Cans & Corn Fed Hares is a work of semi-historical fiction (set in the present, dealing with facts of the past), which can be used in a classroom or in a home to help students/children forge connections with past and present. The book also helps students find and use some of the research resources available in New York. Ash Cans showcases alternative methods of information gathering in the context of adventure and mystery, while focusing on the importance of individual meaning-making.

Don't Yuck My Yum : A Tasty Alphabet Book, Rebekah Friedman

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Don't Yuck My Yum is an alphabet book that moves the reader through the experience children have when they are gathered in a restaurant for a party where each child orders a food that is somehow ruined. The phrase, "Don't Yuck My Yum", used as a refrain, is the children's angry response to receiving the disappointing plate, meaning, "don't ruin my delicious food." Because it is an alphabet book, there are 26 children, one for each letter, and a child's name that begins with each letter and a corresponding food. The story is punctuated every four stanzas with the refrain, …

Torn Loyalties : The Civil War In New York City And Beyond, Alicia Fessenden

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Presents an interdisciplinary curriculum on the Civil War in New York City and beyond for a fifth grade classroom. The goals of this study are to counter ideas that the Civil War is an historical event that took place far away, and to raise awareness of the myriad resources that are available in New York on this topic. Contains a series of experiential lesson plans.

Art Speaks! Connecting Visual Arts And Language Arts A Program For Fourth-Grade Students In The School District Of Philadelphia, James Stein

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) received a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support a partnership among PMA, Pennsylyania Academy of the Fine Arts, The Barnes Foundation, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, and Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania. These five art institutions collaborated with each other, and with the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), to develop a literacy-based museum visit program called Art Speaks! that is open to all 13,500 fourth-grade students in SDP public schools. The program features a museum visit to one of the five collaborating institutions …

Real Work: A Museum Studies Curriculum For Early Adolescent Learners, M. Lucinda B. Furlong

Graduate Student Independent Studies

A museum studies curriculum for seventh and eighth graders. This curriculum is in the form of a case study and was conducted over a three year period at Montclair Cooperative School with Montclair Art Museum. Through regular visits to the museum students explored the roles of artist, docent, and curator. Students did the following tasks: discussed and made art, created exhibits, wrote interpretive wall labels for exhibitions, and became docents for younger students.

Catalogue 2008-2009, Bank Street College Of Education

Graduate School of Education

This course catalog from a past academic year is a resource for referring to previous course offerings, degree requirements, institutional policies, and more.

Finding Our Way Back Home: Reintroducing Mythology Into The Lives Of Children, Faith Klavan

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Mythology is present in almost all aspects of modern life. Though many books, movies, video games and advertisements make reference to ancient myths, the myths themselves are no longer readily accessible to children. This thesis provides a rationale for writing a children's book which retells an ancient Greek myth. An outline for the book, entitled Perseus, as well as two sample chapters, are included. The thesis deals with mythology's relevance to the modern child asserting that it can help him/her deal with issues such as step-parents, separation anxiety and the need for individuation. The thesis also discusses the ways in …

Developing A Support Group For Adolescents With Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus Using An Outdoor Adventure Educational Modality, Tara Lynch

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This independent study details the group process aspects of creating an outdoor adventure based support group for adolescents living with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). A review of previous outdoor adventure programs is included, followed by a rationale for the new material. The developmental assessment of teens living with IDDM identifies a need for greater self-confidence, increased independence, and social support. To meet this need, a program that includes aspects of team building, personal challenge, and problem-solving has been created.

A Museum-Based Curriculum For Middle School Students In New York City, Nayantara Mhatre

Graduate Student Independent Studies

India Inquiry is a museum-based curriculum designed for middle school students in New York City. The curriculum is organized by the following themes: Geography, Wildlife, Culture and Crafts, and Religion. Within each theme there is one out-of-classroom trip, including three visits to the American Museum of Natural History, and one to the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, Queens. In addition there are seven lessons that compliment and support the organized field trips.

The curriculum was developed to appeal to the social, emotional, and intellectual needs of students emerging from the latency period of late childhood and approaching early adolescence.

India Inquiry …

Making Sense: Reflections On Developing A Social Studies Curriculum For Five- And Six-Year-Olds, Anne Tobias

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This paper is a reflection on the writing of a social studies curriculum for five and six-year-olds-a study of a neighborhood construction site. It examines the way in which one teacher's commitment to offering children meaningful content evolved into the formulation of her educational philosophy, as influenced by such progressive educators as John Dewey, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, and Caroline Pratt.

Part One of the thesis is divided into three major sections. The first consists of a developmental overview of five- and six-year-olds. The second describes the connections between understandings of basic child development, understandings of a particular group of children, …

A Reflective Look At The Writing Process For Both Children And Adults: A Memoir Study, Jessica Block

Graduate Student Independent Studies

In order to teach the writing process, one must be a writer. This independent study explores the writing process from the inside out. It investigates the writing process from an adult perspective while also examines the writing process that developed for individual student writers within a second grade classroom. Over the course of three months, the students in my second grade classroom and I developed personal memoirs about a "small moment" from our lives. This study includes a comprehensive breakdown of lessons which scaffolded the memoir writing process.

It also includes a strong reflective component which reveals how we all …

Catalogue 2007-2008, Bank Street College Of Education

Graduate School of Education

This course catalog from a past academic year is a resource for referring to previous course offerings, degree requirements, institutional policies, and more.

Domestic Life In Dutch New Amsterdam A Social Studies Curriculum For Third And Fourth Grade Children, Michael W. Parrish

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This thesis presents a social studies curriculum for third and fourth grade students on the domestic life of New Amsterdam. Beginning with the geography of the region, the study focuses on the role that the environment has on meeting basic human needs of shelter, food and clothing. Based on a framework of objectives and ideas, the study is divided into three major units: shelter, food and clothing. Meeting each basic need required of New Amsterdam residents a vast amount of time and dedication. As children experience this curriculum, they can begin to understand the effort and many layered processes the …

A Family-School Literacy Program For Kindergarten Through Second Grade, Kathleen Wright

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Proposes a kindergarten to grade two family-school literacy program based on a balanced literacy curriculum. This program is designed to be carried out over one academic year. The focus of this study is on the family's role in school and in the home on children's literacy development. Includes descriptions of school and after school literacy events with accompanying materials.

A Social Studies Curriculum For Three And Four Year Olds : A Family Study That Bridges The Gap Between School And Home, Judith M. Gentry

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This independent study outlines a social studies curriculum for three and four year olds, focusing on family. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a framework for teachers when considering how to promote diversity in their classroom and at the same time recognizing cultural identity.

Squeezing In Constructivist Mathematics: A Second Grade Curriculum, Deborah Potvin

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This curriculum consists of a collection of mathematics activities intended to complement a standard second-grade curriculum. The activities within this collection focus on the topics and concepts addressed by a traditional curriculum; however, they allow the students to approach the subject from a slightly different angle. The problems, projects, and games create situations in which students can create their own understanding of numbers.

By providing ready-to-use, well-organized activities designed to promote constructivist learning, this collection aims to make constructivist mathematics accessible to teachers working within a more traditional curriculum. The inspiration for the activities within this curriculum comes from a …

Catalogue 2006-2007, Bank Street College Of Education

Graduate School of Education

This course catalog from a past academic year is a resource for referring to previous course offerings, degree requirements, institutional policies, and more.