Advocates the use of literacy routines within the caregiving or learning environment to promote emergent literacy. Presents suggestions for literacy routines for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers to build competencies that serve as the groundwork for reading, writing, speaking, viewing, and listening. Suggests that teachers, parents, and other…

Examines early childhood teachers' knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices related to academic degrees, supervised practical experience, content areas of child development and early childhood education courses taken, and years of employment in child care or education. (BB)

Describes ways in which well-intentioned efforts to protect young children from inappropriate school practices have had the opposite effect. Readiness testing, retention, transition classes, tracking, and increased entrance age are discussed. Alternative strategies are proposed. (BB)

Discusses ways in which preschool teachers can meet the needs of the gifted preschool child in the classroom. (BB)

Maintains that children's museums provide unique opportunities that engage families in intergenerational exploration and learning. Provides criteria for selecting a museum that serves developmental needs of children and adults alike. (BB)

This workshop section includes six articles on the celebration of holidays in day-care centers: (1) "Going One Step Further: No Traditional Holidays"; (2) "A Questionnaire for Families about Celebrations"; (3) "Celebrations, Festivals, Holidays: What Should We Be Doing?"; (4) "Ideas for Celebrations"; (5)…

Discusses cooking as an opportunity for young children to discover and master a variety of skills and concepts in the areas of mathematics, science, language arts, and social studies. Provides early childhood teachers with guidelines for planning cooking experiences for young children in the classroom. (BB)

Presents strategies to make planning-through-play activities a fun and integral part of the preschool developmental curriculum. Strategies are influenced by a Piagetian approach and an information processing approach that focuses on development of decision making. Specific suggestions are based on a model preschool program in Brookline,…

Maintains that many early childhood educators are apt to practice nice thinking rather critical thinking when, in fact, the latter would clear their heads and inform practice. This position is supported by examples of teachers' uses of such terms as "home-school cooperation,""planning," and "curriculum." (BB)

Reviews and critiques past research that investigated the effects of various types of day-care provisions on the development of preschool children. Argues that, in view of the diversity of provisions offered in different countries, simple global generalizations about the effects of out-of-home preschool experiences on later development cannot be…

Describes the nature of children's oral language experiences in Head Start and other preschool programs serving low-income families and relates those experiences to broader features of the classrooms' programs. Finds that small class size, teacher education levels, and developmentally appropriate curricula are positively associated with high…

The implications of developmentally and culturally appropriate practice for early childhood education are explored from the context of selections from classroom journals and personal narratives of 30 early childhood educators. The ability of developmentally appropriate practice to respond to cultural diversity is discussed. (LB)

Describes the literacy approach to learning at Cherry Valley Elementary School in Polson, Montana. Strategies include developmentally appropriate practices, child-centered activities, staff leadership teams, individualized reading enrichment, community partnerships, extensive family involvement, and staff development. Sidebar details the…

Argues that developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood education is a good model for effective practice in teacher education programs preparing early childhood teachers. Discusses ways to design classroom learning centers for adult students, describes strategies for tapping into what is known about how adults learn, and presents the…

In "Failure to Connect" (1998), Jane Healy examined pros and cons of computer use, warning that good teachers, small classes, and challenging curricula trump high-tech products. Computers can impede youngsters' development. Computers enhance learning only if teachers comprehend them, use appropriate applications, and define learning…