Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Evidence-Based Best Practices For Kindergarten Reading, Rachel Dolehanty

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This literature review aims to highlight evidence-based best practices for kindergarten reading instruction. Popular reading curriculums and instructional cueing strategies are discussed in relation to their effectiveness for kindergarten reading success. Meaning-emphasis versus code- emphasis reading curriculum philosophies are explored, and specific curriculums that fall into these categories are discussed. Metacognition strategies and their relation to successful reading instruction are underscored. Interventions are examined in the areas of kindergarten phonological awareness, phonics, comprehension, and writing. Successful interventions in each of these areas of literacy instruction are highlighted through current research.

The Importance Of Physical Activity In Early Childhood Development, Kathleen Stuart

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Programming in early childhood has become increasingly academic, with less consideration for whole-child development. This new emphasis has influenced not only pre-k programs, but also programs serving toddlers and infants. As a result of this focus on academic skills, children from birth to five years old are spending more time in sedentary, academically focused activities and less time in meaningful play and physical activity. Children are no longer afforded the time and opportunity to participate in the robust play activities that are one of the essential elements in whole-child development. This literature review focuses on research that advocates for physical …

Teaching Early Literacy Skills In Preschool And Future Kindergarten Success, Amanda Wehrhan

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This literature review examines the importance and the effect of literacy on Kindergarten readiness and future school success for early childhood education, specifically on preschool students. Early Childhood Educators are feeling the pressure now more than ever to have their young students prepared to enter Kindergarten. In recent years there has been a shift away from a play-based classroom to more of a focus on academics. In this literature review, various research studies are examined to determine whether or not the real focus of the preschool curriculum should be play or literacy or both.

Becoming Inclusive: A Collection And Analysis Of The Perceptions Of Newly Qualified General Elementary Education Teachers On Their Preparedness For Teaching In Inclusive Settings, Brooke M. Armesto

Honors College Theses

Pre-service teachers majoring in elementary education generally have few opportunities to teach students with disabilities. This research addressed the question “How do newly qualified general elementary education teachers perceive their preparedness to teach in inclusive settings?” The goal of this study was to discover what areas new teachers need to become more proficient in order to successfully teach within inclusive classrooms. The topics explored include perceived preparedness for teaching in inclusive settings, ways to measure preparedness, current approaches in teaching within the inclusive settings and strategies for preparing preservice teachers. Using a qualitative narrative design, five newly qualified elementary inclusion …

Stuck With The Blooz, Olivia Buck

Diverse Families Bookshelf Lesson Plans and Activities

No abstract provided.

All Are Welcome, Amanda Van Vliet

Diverse Families Bookshelf Lesson Plans and Activities

No abstract provided.

An Ellis Island Christmas, Alexandra Mcmillin

Diverse Families Bookshelf Lesson Plans and Activities

No abstract provided.

A Curiosity About Links Between Adventure Playgrounds, Loose Parts, Playwork Approach, A State Of "Flow" And Children’S Wellbeing, Angus Ian Gorrie

International Journal of Playwork Practice

Over the past century there has been a documented rise in childhood anxiety and depression (Gray, 2011; Twenge, 2001). This increase largely correlates to the significant decrease in the amount of time children have to play freely (Gray, 2013). The suggested reason for this is a decrease in free time and play creating a strong external locus of control, the result of which has been shown to cause increases in childhood anxiety and depression (April, Dharani, & Peter, 2012; Gray, 2013). This paper records a practitioner’s musings on the links between aspects of playwork practice and children’s wellbeing. It considers …

An Exploration Of Elementary Teacher Perceptions Of Student-Centered And Teacher-Centered Instruction, Adeline Shastid

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Relationships Between Expressive And Receptive Language Ability And Play Initiation In 2-Year-Olds, Jessica Glasshoff

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

For most young children, social initiations develop during natural play contexts, along with language. However, not all children learn language typically from an early age. At 2 years of age, these children are generally referred to as “late talkers” or as having “late language emergence” (LLE). LLE usually involves between 10-15 percent of 2-year-olds. Delayed language development is associated with delays in play sophistication; however, little is known about the association between LLE and child initiations during play. The purpose of the study was to further determine the relationship between receptive and expressive language proficiency and play initiation for toddlers. …

The Influence Of An Early Childhood Endorsement Program On Early Childhood Leadership Competencies, Kanyon Chism

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The call to improve high-quality educational opportunities for children ages birth – eight has received increased attention and federal and local funding opportunities have expanded to provide additional early childhood classrooms and to implement family engagement practices. Unfortunately, systems of support for principals aimed at increasing knowledge and skills necessary to lead an aligned Preschool – third-grade system within an elementary school remain relatively sparse. The purpose of this study is to examine the alignment between an early childhood endorsement program and early childhood leadership competencies.

This study will examine the perceptions of school leaders participating in an early childhood …

Influences On The Implementation Of Guided Play Practices In Kindergarten: A Grounded Theory Study, Amy Schmidtke

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The professional capacity of a kindergarten teacher is central to the implementation of developmentally appropriate practices that support children’s learning and development. Evidence indicates that a teacher’s professional capacity is influenced through experiences with leadership, professional learning, and collaboration. Although research clearly supports the positive impact of play experiences for young children, the current educational climate does not provide teachers with the confidence or the structural supports needed to actualize play in kindergarten classrooms. The findings demonstrate what influences kindergarten teachers to implement guided play practices in their classrooms. The implications provide insight as to which elements of leadership, professional …

The Work Is Within: My Buddhist Faith As I Reckon With Police Shootings & Racial Unrest, Vicki Mokuria

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Based on the author’s life story in which her husband was shot and killed by police officers in front of her and their two young children, she provides a first-person narrative of her experience, linking the ways her Buddhist faith and practice have sustained her over the years. She recounts snippets of her privileged childhood growing up Jewish in the South before meeting and marrying her Ethiopian husband and beginning a family with him, along with beginning their Buddhist practice. Specific aspects of Buddhist philosophy are incorporated in this piece to provide insights into a Buddhist lens on our current …

Teaching Our Black Children To Know Joy, Victoria Carter Jones

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

As a mother of two young Black children, we were faced with a new challenge, brought on by isolation of the pandemic, and the brutality of White supremacy. My daughter (Olivia) was now asking tough questions. Sickness she understood. Even at her age, she knew the importance of hand washing. But racism is a sickness we were not yet prepared to teach her. The purpose of this story is to share my experiences as a mother of a 4-year-old daughter, and how I taught her to have joy, through 1) memorized scripture, 2) exhibiting joy and 3) through prayer, even …

Foundations For Promoting Lgbt+ Social Justice Through Early Childhood Teacher Education, Adam Kennedy

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

This chapter presents a framework for early childhood (EC) teacher education experiences that align with aims of LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, plus other identities) social justice. The chapter begins with an introduction to the populations addressed: children of LGBT-led families, trans people, children who represent gender diversity, and LGBT+ teachers. Ethical and teaching responsibilities of educators who serve children aged birth to five are shared, including the work of authors in the interrelated fields within EC education. Examples of supportive educator competencies are shared across three critical aims: including and supporting LGBT-led families, supporting children’s explorations of gender (including …

Extending Literacy Work Beyond Our Buildings: The Collaborative Work Of Creating A Community Writing Center, Catherine Calabro Cavin, Cathy Fleischer, Ann Blakesee, Mary Garboden

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

YpsiWrites, a community writing center that supports youth and adults, is a collaborative effort among 826michigan, Eastern Michigan University’s Office of Campus and Community Writing, and the Ypsilanti District Library. The authors share the background for this work, the partnerships that sustain it, and the day-to-day realities of operating it. They conclude with ideas for how others might create similar collaborations to extend literacy beyond the walls of schools.

Characteristics Related To Parent-Child Literacy And Numeracy Practices In Preschool, Amy R. Napoli, Irem Korucu, Joyce Lin, Sara A. Schmitt, David J. Purpura

Purdue Center for Early Learning Faculty and Staff Publications

Despite evidence suggesting that home literacy and numeracy environments are related to children’s school readiness skills, little research has examined the child and family characteristics that relate to the home literacy and numeracy environments within the same sample. These factors are important to investigate in order to determine what may foster or prevent parent-child engagement. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the shared and unique parent-reported child and parent variables that are related to the frequency of parent-child literacy and numeracy practices. The 199 preschoolers included in the study ranged in age from 3.00 to 5.17°years ( …

Making The Child Care Tax Credit Permanently Refundable Could Benefit Low-Income Families, Gabrielle Pepin

Upjohn Institute Policy and Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

How Would A Permanently Refundable Child And Dependent Care Credit Affect Eligibility, Benefits, And Incentives?, Gabrielle Pepin

Upjohn Institute Working Papers

The federal Child and Dependent Care Credit (CDCC) subsidizes child care costs for working families. Before 2021, the CDCC was nonrefundable, so only families with positive tax liability after other deductions benefited. I estimate how CDCC eligibility, benefits, and marginal tax rates would change if the credit were made permanently refundable, relative to 2020 CDCC parameters set to be restored in 2022. Under refundability, some 5 percent of single parents gain eligibility and receive on average over $1,000 annually. Eligibility increases are largest among Black and Hispanic households. Increases in marginal tax rates among moderate-income taxpayers are small.

Using Mindfulness Practices To Increase Self-Regulation In Pre-Kindergarten And Kindergarten-Aged Children, Ellyn E. Culotta

LSU Master's Theses

BACKGROUND: Self-regulation is identified in the literature as an early predictor of later life success and an important skill that develops over the course of a lifetime beginning in early childhood (Flook et al., 2015; Montroy et al., 2016; Murray et al., 2017). OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research study was to assess whether direct instruction of Mindfulness Practices, such as guided meditation and yoga poses (Lee et al., 2020; Poehlmann-Tynan et al., 2016; Zelazo et al., 2012) would increase self-regulatory behaviors, such as impulse control, emotion regulation, and problem-solving in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten aged children. METHOD: Target children were …

Unit #6: Animals - Remote Learning Activities, Lindsey Herlehy, Cassandra Armstrong

Little STEAMers: Early Learning Program

No abstract provided.

Eating Smart And Moving More For Head Start: A Pilot Study, Virginia C. Stage, L Suzanne Goodell, Susan Chase, Stephanie Mcdonald, Archana V. Hegde, Jocelyn Bayles, Lorelei Jones

Journal of Extension

Our study examined the relationship between improved personal health behaviors of Head Start teachers’ and the promotion of positive health behaviors in their classroom. Thirty-three Head Start teachers across 7 centers received six 30-minute nutrition education lessons. Dietary intake, physical activity, and self-efficacy for promoting positive health behaviors in the classroom were measured at baseline and post-intervention. Significant improvements were observed for dietary intake and physical activity. Self-efficacy for promoting health behaviors in the classroom did not significantly improve. Additional education is needed to improve health promotion practices. Lessons learned contributed to program refinement. Implications for Extension are discussed.

Army Child And Youth Services Early Childhood Educators: A Mixed-Methods Assessment Of The Association Between Workplace Wellbeing And Turnover, Tamara Nuttall

Doctorate in Education

The Department of Defense operates the largest employer-sponsored childcare system in the United States. Army Child and Youth Services is the largest component of the military childcare system, employing over 5,400 early childhood educators who care for and teach soldier and Department of Defense Civilian children aged six weeks to five years old in child development center settings. Early childhood educators’ workplace wellbeing and turnover has long been the focus of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers alike. Despite extensive research examining these issues in the civilian childcare context, military-provided early education has heretofore been absent from the research literature. This globally …

Connecting Families And Continued Learning Through Covid-19, Michael C. O'Neal, Tameka Tribble, Michelle Rice

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

For 20+ years in Savannah, Georgia, Parent University has successfully enhanced the ability of families to create an environment in which learning thrives for both children and parents. When the pandemic closed schools and disrupted normal programming, Parent University immediately pivoted to online programming to continue connecting families with relevant education, resources and support throughout this time of need. The pandemic also exposed a huge gap in technology and education. Therefore, Parent University is working to close that gap with our new Tech College at Parent University.

Care For Some Lunch? It’S More Than Just Food! Care, Commensality And Pedagogic Meals In Irish Primary Schools, Caroline Mcgowan

Level 3

This expository article addresses a lacuna in policy and practice literature around using primary school lunches as both a pedagogical opportunity and a space to expose children to social and cultural ‘rituals’ that model both care and food sharing as commensality. The article argues that policy literature in this space broadly tends to be concerned with a medicalised paradigm of nutrition, physical and cognitive development, and disease prevention, with scant regard for the impact that natural ‘everyday’ practices of eating and caring can have on enhancing encultured commensality, care and learning.

Unit #5: Buildings - Remote Learning Activities, Lindsey Herlehy, Cassandra Armstrong

Little STEAMers: Early Learning Program

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Creative Video Games On Creativity, Haiqal Sazalli, Sharil Sungkono, Mohammed Rashaun, Khalis Muzakir

Introduction to Research Methods RSCH 202

The purpose of this research is to find the effects of creative games on the Creativity Quotient of human beings. Assessing creativity is based on divergent thinking consisting of fluency, originality and uniqueness in thinking methods. The theoretical framework assesses the creative thinking of candidates through a 4-week gaming programme consists of a pre-and post-assessment of the Creativity Quotient Test which consists of 10 critical thinking questions. These questions will test the fluency, originality and uniqueness of the candidates. To provide a fair result, the same questions will be used for the pre-and post-assessment. Results will prove that games are …

Assessing Young Children’S Language And Nonverbal Communication In Oral Personal Narratives, Shelley Stagg Peterson, Nazila Eisazadeh, Andrea Liendo

Michigan Reading Journal

In this article, we describe tasks and an assessment framework, collaboratively designed with kindergarten teachers in a northern rural Canadian school district, to assess young children’s language and nonverbal communication. Our analysis of 44 five-year old children’s language samples showed that children usually provided information about the name or role of at least one character in their narrative, although a few children referred to characters only using pronouns and a few provided information about multiple features of characters. The events and ideas in most children’s narratives were loosely connected, although some children used conjunctions to connect them and even explained …

Centering Values: Building An Equitable Future Through The American Rescue Plan Act, Emily Sharrock, Brandy Jones Lawrence, Karen Demoss, Brigid Brennan

Bank Street Education Center

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) constitutes a significant change in our nation's approach to social policy and offers a new opportunity to imagine positive change in how we value and support human development and learning with a clear focus on equity. This memo outlines Bank Street's recommendations for spending to inspire communities and policymakers as they think broadly about the potential this funding offers to invest in our future.

Determining The Feasibility Of Creating A New York State Early Childhood Integrated Database, Center For Human Services Research, University At Albany

Education & Early Childhood Development Reports and Research Briefs

New York State’s commitment to building a stronger and more effective early childhood care and education (ECCE) system is evidenced by its diverse and robust mixed delivery system of programs, services, and supports available to young children and families. However, addressing questions related to service availability, utilization, and effectiveness can be challenging given the lack of an integrated early childhood integrated data system (ECIDS) in the state. An ECIDS collects, integrates, maintains, stores, and reports on information from the many programs comprising the ECCE system, including data about individual children and their families; early childhood programs, providers, and services; and …