Day Care and Early Education

Now you've done it — agreed to give a workshop or presentation. The self-doubts begin. “I don't know anything more than they do.” “I'm not good in front of a group.” “What if they ask a question I can't answer?” All of the above are common concerns presenters have about themselves and their skills.

In the current article, two kindergarten teachers and two university researchers explain how 45 kindergarten students collaboratively engaged in a specific inquiry approach called Project-Based Inquiry (PBI) Global. PBI Global consists of five-phases: (a) ask a compelling question, (b) gather and analyse sources, (c) creatively synthesize claims and evidences, (d) critically evaluate and revise, and (e) share, publish, and act. The teachers were in a master’s degree program that led to K-12 reading certification. The PBI Global was an assignment in the course, New Literacies and Media. Specifically, the teacher team addressed the question: How can teachers use inquiry and digital tools to teach global awareness with kindergarten students? Applying the PBI Global process, the teachers used the book, Same Same but Different (Kostecki-Shaw and Adam, 2015) as an anchor text to students’ exploration of the five senses through different cultural artifacts. Additionally, the kindergarten students utilized Flipgrids to explain their findings for an authentic audience of parents and community members. The article concludes with lessons learned about implementing the process and implications for other kindergarten teachers who may be interested in inquiry-based learning.

This article aims to explore the conditions for children’s language and literacy learning in 153 Swedish preschools with children one to five years. The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-3) is used to evaluate preschool quality, focusing on the subscale of Language and literacy activities. The study draws on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to highlight the conditions for children’s language and literacy learning in preschool. Significant differences were found in the quality of the 153 preschools as a whole and the five subscales in ECERS-3, giving children unequal conditions for learning and development in the studied areas. Within the Language and literacy subscale, items related to children’s oral language development scored a higher average quality compared with written language-relateditems. Individualized teaching, Staff–child interaction, and Whole-group activities were moderately correlated with activities supporting language development. The results are discussed in terms of an ecological perspective on preschool quality in which intentional teaching needs to be directed at language and literacy learning in both individual, small, and whole-group interactions.

This study examined the effects of nine toys on the play of 60 3- and 4-year-old children in culturally diverse preschool classrooms. The toys, which varied in their features and intended uses, were selected from a list of those that were nominated by teachers and parents as being developmentally beneficial. Each toy was video recorded for 240 h during free play time in four different classrooms. Researchers coded 828 two-minute segments of children’s play with these toys using a play quality with toys (PQT) rating instrument developed in a previous investigation. Toys were found to vary significantly in their impact on play quality. PQT scores were also found to vary for each toy depending on the gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity of the child playing with it, and the length of time it was available in the classroom. Implications for selecting toys for classrooms and observing children’s play with them are presented.

The theory of the multiple intelligences are discussed in relation to working with young children and young children with disabilities. A rationale for the use of the multiple intelligences is discussed as well as practical suggestions on how they can be incorporated into early childhood programs.

This editorial provides discussion of conditions and actions needed to create and sustain a context and environment that is nurturing and conducive to meaningful professional teacher growth. The authors are a program director and master (lead) teacher from a university demonstration/laboratory program that is both state licensed and accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children. They frame the dialogue to address issues of (a) commitment to professional development as a long-term investment in program quality, (b) intellectual safety and challenge, (c) creative use of available resources, (d) respect for all stakeholders in the program, and (e) intentional modeling.

Supporting children’s oral language development during the preschool years is critical for later reading success. Research shows that preschool teachers may be missing opportunities to engage children in the kinds of conversations that foster the development of rich oral language skills. Teachers hoping to support these skills can provide children with purposeful conversations that include sophisticated vocabulary, support children’s interests, use open-ended questions, and employ cognitively challenging topics. In a typical preschool classroom, children spend a large portion of the day working in centers and eating meals. These non-teacher directed activities provide teachers with the opportunity to engage children in high quality, multi-turn conversational interactions. This article provides strategies and examples for preschool teachers to better support the oral language development of preschool children during these non-teacher directed settings.