Presents scenarios illustrating how early childhood educators can educate principals, parents, and others about developmentally appropriate practices, including sharing current early childhood research, position papers, and training opportunities. Argues that educators should be prepared to support their practices and teaching strategies,…

Describes ways early childhood caregivers can facilitate children's spiritual development by observing the "canto hondo," the deep song. Discusses characteristics of the canto hondo as a metaphor for caring for the souls of children and their uniqueness, including safety, celebration, respect, acceptance, dreaming, and laughter. (KB)

Describes literacies for young children in language and the visual and musical arts and possible connections between them. Provides examples to show how children's arts literacies are laden with social, emotional, and cultural meanings. Considers the potential of using arts literacies in early childhood education, focusing on the Reggio Emilia…

The New Zealand early childhood curriculum, "Te Whariki", views learning as occurring through reciprocal and responsive relationships with people, places and things. Relationships and communication are central to young children's learning. Communication, or dialogue, is in fact likely to be young children's principal learning mechanism…

This article considers practitioners' beliefs and practice in relation to play in the literacy curriculum in two early years settings and the impact on the experiences of the children in these settings. Both settings were working with the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA/DfEE, 2000). One week was spent in each setting and…

Early childhood educators believe that schooling for young children should focus on developing the "whole child," socially, emotionally, physically, and academically. Teaching pre-reading skills and encouraging children to read are essential steps on the path of literacy development. A narrow and persistent attention to academics is…

The discourse and concepts associated with sociocultural theory have become increasingly important in discussion associated with early childhood education and curriculum at a theoretical level since the early 1990s. However, the extent to which such ideas have been adopted and understood by early childhood educators at the level of practice…

The author argues that the curriculum in early childhood classrooms that serve American Indian and Alaska Native children must be grounded in community values, set in their societal context, and rooted in the rhythms of community life. The Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Head Start developed a curriculum framework…

This paper presents a comprehensive, curriculum-based assessment (CBA) system for preschool education programs. Central to this system, entitled Continuous Assessment and Monitoring of Preschool Progress (CAMPP), is a series of short duration probes of critical preschool skills. These probes are designed to be used in a frequent and repeated…

This resource guide for teachers of preschool children offers information about substance abuse and its prevention. Included are facts and figures, and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of three resource organizations, groups and programs that focus on preschool children. Annotated bibliographic references to prevention materials include…

Recommendations for the administration of preschool education in Kenya are suggested in this issue paper by the Director of Basic Education, Ministry of Education, Kenya. After a brief introduction depicting the general development of preschool education in this country and a statement of the objectives of and rationale for preschools, discussion…

The purpose of this study was to examine the way in which early childhood educators introduce reading and writing to 4- and 5-year-olds. A random sampling of the 903 public and private preschools registered with the Human Services Department in a midwestern state was conducted. Questionnaires were mailed to 687 randomly selected early childhood…

Intended to support and guide teachers and administrators in providing appropriate experiences for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children in significant areas of living and learning, this curriculum guide reflects the early childhood education (ECE) philosophy of the South Carolina State Department of Education. The guide first provides an overview of…

This presentation reports outcomes of the Perry Preschool Project (PPP) and the High/Scope Preschool Curriculum Study (H/SPCS). The PPP is an ongoing study that in 1962 began to follow 123 black youths who were at risk of failing in school. The study explored the long-term effects on the youth of participation versus nonparticipation in a program…