Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Introducing Literature To Children Through Storytelling, Steven Robert Murphy

All Graduate Projects

Storytelling was presented with the view that it is of educational value. The purposes and values of storytelling were examined, along with literature for children that is appropriate for storytelling. Basic principles of selection, and techniques for learning and telling stories were presented. A listening audience was selected and appropriate stories were chosen, prepared and presented. The project included a videotaping of a storytelling setting with primary-level children.

A Curriculum Guide Based On Developmental Stages Of Kindergarten And First Grade Writing, Heidi E. Borrud

All Graduate Projects

The relationship between the developmental stages of a child and the acquisition of written language was studied. Through research, developmental stages were identified. The stages were used to develop objectives for a kindergarten and first grade writing curriculum guide. Activities that would aid in the achievement of the given objectives are suggested.

[A Curriculum Plan For Teaching Prereading And Beginning Reading Skills To Kindergarten Children Using The Language Experience Approach], Shelby Scott

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop and execute an effective method of teaching prereading and beginning reading skills to kindergarten children using the language experience approach in a center-oriented classroom. The ultimate goal was to have, at the end of the kindergarten year, a roomful of children who felt good about themselves, talked freely and expressively, demonstrated a measure of independence, imagination and creativity, understood and used some basic reading skills, [...]

A Developmental Curriculum For Multiply Handicapped Preschool Children In The Areas Of Visual Motor, Fine Motor, And Sensory Skills, Denise Ghislaine Wentz Page

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to design a developmental curriculum of activities for nonambulatory-multiply handicapped preschoolers, ages birth to 5 years. Visual motor, fine motor, and sensory skills were the areas specifically designed for the curriculum. A review of literature was conducted, investigating current information of curriculum for preschool nonambulatory-multiply handicapped children. Samples of curriclum from a variety of preschool project models were examined. A compilation of data resulted in a preschool curriculum for nonambulatory-multiply handicapped children.

An Instructional Packet Of Teacher Activities Designed To Teach Elementary Students K-3 About Exceptional Children, Lori J. Hanson

All Graduate Projects

The need for and delivery of programs in our public schools to educate elementary students K-3 about Exceptional children was studied. An Instructional packet of ideas, resources, and activities was presented that could be used in an elementary classroom K-3, to help children overcome negative attitudes toward the handicapped and to recognize the rights of the handicapped individual to pursue a normal life.

[Improving Instruction In Reading Comprehension Utilizing Basal Readers], Patsy Carol Cada

All Graduate Projects

The specific purposes of this project were to:

1. Analyze the instructional comprehension questions suggested by the Houghton Mifflin teachers' manual for the basal reading series grades 1, 2, and 3. This included oral questions used to guide silent reading and post-story discussion questions.

2. Develop additional instructional resources to correlate with the Houghton Mifflin basal reading series grades 1, 2, and 3. Specifically created were alternative questioning strategies to aid early readers in the development of a process for comprehending written passages as they are reading.

These resources will be submitted for use in the author's local school district.

Home Interaction Program: Hip, Georgia Sackman

All Graduate Projects

A Home Interaction Program (HIP) was designed and implemented for Title I parents and students. The components of the program included monthly newsletters, libraries, and workshops. It was found that parents of Title I students participated in HIP activities as long as they could be done in the home. The conclusion was reached that if schools want Title I parents to become involved in their child's education learning experiences, programs must be developed to reach into the home.

Games For Self-Directed Practice Of First-Grade Reading Skills, Betty Tester

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was twofold: (1) to develop a set of games which could be . used for self-directed practice of first-grade reading skills, the sequence of which correlated to the Ginn 720, 1979 Rainbow edition, reading series, and (2) to make available to other teachers, through development of a resource manual, the ideas for construction of the games developed. Literature on the use of games in education was reviewed.

The Development Of A Comprehensive Preschool Screening Instrument, Jana Lee Johnson

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this paper was to research criteria for screening for young, handicapped children with the intent of developing a single, comprehensive screening instrument. Analyses of existing screening devices and data from educators in the field were also included in the study.

The resulting screening instrument was designed to assess the developmental acquisition of skills. Major developmental areas included in the screening instrument are language skills, motor development, perceptual skills, cognitive development, social skills, and self-help skills.

Handbook For Parents: How To Improve Your Children's Reading (Ages 9-12), Janice De Cordova Beil Rudeen

All Graduate Projects

From this writer's classroom experience, children's reading achievement improves when there is cooperation between teachers and parents. This author felt that a handbook should be developed to help guide them in improving their children's reading. The purpose of this project is to create a handbook which develops comprehension and vocabulary skills. Increased parental involvement in home reading with children will help the children to read better to enjoy it. Parents have powerful influence on their children in developing reading interests. This paper deals with parental participation in improving children's reading from age pre-kindergarten to twelve. The handbook deals with the …

A Training Program For Use With Aides And Volunteers In A Middle School Remedial Reading And Language Arts Program, Jeanette Johnson

All Graduate Projects

This project consists of three parts. Chapter 1 establishes the need for more concentrated teaching of poor readers among school children and suggests volunteer tutors as a possible source of help. Chapter 2 examines the history of tutoring by non-professionals and concludes that volunteers can indeed be effective tutors, but that appropriate training is a crucial factor. Chapter 3, the main part of the project, presents a set of ten training modules each consisting of taped instructions and accompanying printed material. The script for each tape is included in this paper.

Sylvester And The Magic Pebble: A Song-Story Adapted From A Story By William Steig, Myrtle Whipple

All Graduate Projects

This project was to develop a song-story for second grade from William Steig's story, Sylvester And The Magic Pebble. A song-story is a narrative in which part of the plot is told in song. The songs enhance and interpret the feeling or emotion of the story. The purpose of this project was to create a medium for learning in language arts, music, and art; to elevate the self-image of the children who need it; and to provide a rewarding experience that would bring enjoyment and satisfaction to the children.

Comparison Of Health Characteristics Found Among Six Selected Migrant Groups In Primary Grades, Jill D. Land

All Master's Theses

Two hundred twelve migrant students in Chelan and Douglas County schools were screened in reference to fifty-two characteristics within seven health categories. A chi square analysis by contingency coefficient was made for each characteristic to compare differences between six selected groups in kindergarten and first grade and second and third grades. Significant differences between groups were found for two health characteristics in kindergarten and first grade and five health characteristics in second and third grades.

Conservation Concepts Of Migrant And Resident Mexican-American And Resident Anglo Six- And Seven-Year-Old Children, Tom E. Morris

All Master's Theses

This study presents the comparison of conservation levels of six- and seven-year-old children from three different ethno-cultural backgrounds- migrant Mexican-American, resident Mexican-American, and resident Anglo. Scores on conservation tasks were analyzed by age and culture using a two-way Analysis of Variance. Mexican-Americans in the sample school were found to be at a significantly lower level of conservation.

A discussion of possible cultural effects, and educational and research recommendations were given.

An Experiment With Third Grade Pupils To Determine The Observable Relationship Between Decoding Instruction And Comprehension Growth, D. Pope

All Master's Theses

It was the purpose of this study to determine if there is a relationship between concentrated decoding instruction and comprehension growth of third grade pupils. The program was designed as follows: 1) a comprehension pretest was administered to twenty-four third grade pupils; 2) an experimental and a control group of equal comprehension ability was established; 3) each day for twenty minutes, isolated from the control group, the experimental group, underwent intense decoding skills instruction; 4) upon completion of 90 days of instruction a comprehension posttest was administered and the mean raw scores of the two groups analyzed by the t …

Comparison Of Achievement And Cost Of Achievement Of Remedial Reading Students Using Two Different Programs, David Marlin Pocock

All Master's Theses

This paper presents a study of two different remedial reading programs on the eighth and ninth grade levels. The control group (eight grade) used various types of reading machines for classroom instruction. The experimental group (ninth grade) used a basic phonetic approach to the teaching of reading without the use of reading machines. Evaluation of the groups showed a significant difference in student grade level gain and cost of each program per student.

Recommendations included the careful spending of money on remedial programs which do not produce better results than less expensive programs, and suggestions for additional research.

Comparison Of Effectiveness Of Basal Readers And Sullivan Programmed Materials, Joan E. Lorenz

All Master's Theses

The aim of this study is not to tear down or ridicule any method, Sullivan Programmed or Traditional Basal, but to evaluate as objectively as possible, the merits and limitations which exist in both and to show, through testing a group of 99 first graders and 64 second graders, the possible effectiveness of these methods.

A Study Of Reading In The Kindergartens Of Washington State, Valara Caroline Minear

All Master's Theses

A study was made to discover the attitudes of kindergarten teachers in the state of Washington toward teaching reading in kindergarten, and the actual practices used to teach reading.

Relationship Between School Success And Physical And Familial Factors Of Kindergarteners, Linda Marie Baker

All Master's Theses

Teachers in elementary schools often assert that they could teach more successfully if no child under six years of age was admitted to first grade. While teaching kindergarten this writer also found many parents of kindergarten age children quite concerned about the "best" age for their child to enter kindergarten. Besides age there seemed to be concern in other areas such as physical size, coordination, and emotional maturity. However, most school districts in Washington set chronological age as the major requirement for school admission. The problem to be investigated in this study was to determine the relationship, if any, between …

A Descriptive Study Of Lateral Dominance And Directionality In Kindergarten Children, Sharon Gray

All Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to (1) explore the relationship between lateral dominance and directionality, (2) determine the relationship lateral dominance and directionality have with age and intelligence quotient, and (3) gather evidence on the differences between boys and girls in the development of lateral dominance and directionality.

A Study To Investigate The Relationships Among Three Tests Which Purport To Measure Perceptual Skills In Kindergarten Children, Carl Rawe Jr.

All Master's Theses

The study was divided into two parts. Part one was concerned with establishing the relationships among the Rutgers Drawing Test, the Metropolitan Readiness Test and the Frostig Test of Visual Perception. Answers were sought to the following questions: 1) How do the tests correlate with one another? 2) What are the shared variances among the tests?

Part two of the study related first grade reading achievement as measured by the Primary Reading Profiles (level one) with the Rutgers and Metropolitan scores. Specifically: 1) Does the study support the work of Williams, who found a correlation of .80 between the Rutgers …

A Developmental Study Of An Extradimensional Shift In Concept Learning, Ingrid I. Simonson

All Master's Theses

The present study was similar to that of Guy et al. (1966), since it was designed to evaluate the hypothesis and cue-conditioning models of concept learning. However, there were three major differences. First, three age groups were tested in an effort to determine whether there were age-related differences in learning strategies. Second, the added cue was placed directly on the stimulus figure rather than in the background surrounding the figure. Third, the stimulus objects were less complex since they represented pictures of animals and articles of clothing instead of geometric designs.

A Comparison Of Reading Readiness Between Kindergarten And Non-Kindergarten Children In The Wenatchee School District, Kenneth Dean Yancey

All Master's Theses

It was the purpose of this study to compare the percentile scores of the Metropolitan Readiness Test of first grade children in Wenatchee School District No. 246 who have had kindergarten with those first grade children in Wenatchee School District No. 246 who have not had kindergarten. The following factors were considered in this study: Chronological age, sex, and total percentile score. This data was taken from the Metropolitan Readiness Tests over a two-year period, 1966-67 and 1967-68.

An Evaluation Of The Kindergarten Program In Chelan, Lois M. Detering

Graduate Student Research Papers

Many significant studies of reading readiness were under way at the direction of private, public, or federal funds, thus focusing attention on kindergarten and pre-kindergarten readiness. Because of this, many parents, teachers, and administrators showed keen interest in the possibilities of educating youngsters at the kindergarten and pre-kindergarten age. It was therefore felt that a study of this kind would be pertinent. Specifically, many persons wanted their five-year-olds to attend kindergarten in Chelan, Washington. This attitude was reflected elsewhere and it was decided to make a study of kindergarten programs and their relationships to the program in Chelan. It was …

Self-Help Activity Exercises For Developing Independence In Reading, Ole Mcdowell

Graduate Student Research Papers

These activity exercises are based upon the premise that many elementary teachers are plagued with considerable confusion and insecurity in the area of teaching phonics. They persistently state that one of their greatest instructional needs is to understand phonics, and to know how to use phonics.

A Study Of The Values Of Kindergarten Expriences, Marilyn M. Meyer

Graduate Student Research Papers

Is it worthwhile to send children to kindergarten? Interest seems to indicate a growing faith in the kindergarten. This paper will attempt to see if this faith is justified by benefits kindergarten children derive.

A Procedure For Teaching Spelling Rules Inductively, Eula Irene Hickam

Graduate Student Research Papers

There is some indication that the inductive or discovery method might be an effective way of helping children learn in many if not all areas of the curriculum. This paper will attempt to show that the method might successfully be applied to the teaching of at least some aspects of spelling.

A Study Of The Value Of Gestural Activities And Linguistic Devices Peculiar To Finger Plays With Suggested Procedures For Extended Uses, Elaine Rice Gibb

All Master's Theses

The purposes of this study were (1) to disclose the predisposing inclinations of the child for finger play activity, (2) to consider the characteristics of finger play with relation to the child's growth and development and to determine their value as a technique for furthering the education of the child, and (3) to provide the interested teacher or parent with finger play material readily accessible and extensive enough for selective purposes.

Speech Development Aids Elementary Pupils, Amanda Katherine Hebeler

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Education and Professional Studies

Speech is one of the most obvious indicators of the child's development when he enters school. The five-year-old child should be able to do the following when he enters Kindergarten: a. Express his needs and thoughts in short sentences. b. Use a vocabulary of meaningful words when speaking of common every-day experience. c. Enunciate and pronounce words clearly enough to be understood, not using baby talk. About this same level of achievement should be expected of the six-year-old who has not had Kindergarten.

Six Books On Child Development, Robert E. Mcconnell

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Education and Professional Studies

In the education of teachers for the elementary schools, it is important that they be tutored in the field of child-development as well as in subjects that give them a knowledge of life such as art, science, social science, mathematics, language and literature. The first deals with the learner and the second with those phases of life to be learned. Many young teachers report that in their early endeavors at teaching they have greater concern over the dealing with the child than in the branches of knowledge. The understanding of the child is the important consideration in many of their …