A Professional Development Program to Improve Math Skills Among Preschool Children in Head Start

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects on four-year-olds’ knowledge of mathematics by introducing professional development and center-based mathematics activities around four mathematical domains to early educators’ teaching in Head Start programs. Because of the need to provide necessary mathematical experiences to young children to improve their early understanding and skills and provide the foundation for future success in mathematics, we provided the treatment group of early educators with professional development and center-based activities to promote four critical areas in mathematics. By randomly selecting Head Start centers to participate as the treatment group or control group, we were able to examine the effects of the professional development and set of activities on preschool children’s knowledge over a six-month period. We found children in the treatment group were more fluent and flexible with number concepts, were better at solving contextual problems, and had better measurement and spatial abilities than children in the control group.     

Reading Attitudes and Literacy Skills in Prekindergarten and Kindergarten Children

The current study addressed the development of reading attitudes and their relationship to reading skills. Forty-one prekindergarten and kindergarten learners in 1 of 3 cohorts were assessed 2 or 4 times during the course of a year. Findings indicated a slight decrease in reading attitudes during the kindergarten year. Expected increases in skills were generally indicated with pronounced increases in sight word recognition during the kindergarten year, after other skills had been mastered. Decreases in some skills were evident after summer recess. Other findings from the study and recommendations for future research and practice are provided.     

精心设计情境,培养幼儿科学素养

现代科学的发展和社会的进步要求我们对幼儿进行科学素质的早期培养。基于新颖性的真实项目、多种感觉的表征、浸润性的物理环境以及基于幼儿共同经验的情境设计符合幼儿的认知特性。科普游戏、田园体验、科学探究、科学故事等具体情境都有助于培养幼儿的科学素养。     

Family Reading Behavior and Early Literacy Skills in Preschool Children From Low-Income Backgrounds

This study investigated the family reading behavior of 233 preschool children from low-income backgrounds who were attending Head Start. Parents completed a survey of their family reading behavior, including Child Reading, Parent Reading Interest, and Parent-Child Reading Interaction, and provided demographic data on their educational level, parent and child age, and family size. Children's receptive vocabulary, story and print concepts, letter knowledge, and general emergent literacy skills were assessed in the fall of their preschool year. Analyses focused on the variation in family reading behavior, the relationship between different dimensions of family reading behavior, and the contribution of family reading behavior to early literacy skills. Results indicated that Parent-Child Reading Interaction and Child Reading Interest were significantly related to children's early literacy skills. In addition, multiple regression analyses indicated that Parent-Child Reading Interaction was a small yet significant predictor of children's receptive vocabulary, story and print concepts, and general emergent literacy skills, above and beyond the influence of demographic variables. Child Reading Interest was a significant, albeit small, predictor of letter knowledge above and beyond these demographic controls. Implications of these results for the early literacy education of children of low-income families are discussed.     

Emergent Environmental Literacy in the Nonnarrative Compositions of Kindergarten Children

This article shows how links between science and literacy offer kindergarten children the opportunity to create and express their individual understandings about environmental change through emergent environmental literacy. This article reports on one of the science experiences in a kindergarten classroom in which the children explored the phenomenon of environmental change. The kindergarten science program can help children learn how scientists look at the world; young children can express these concepts through nonnarrative compositions. The article concludes with suggestions for teaching practice in the kindergarten science program.     

The Effects of Mindful Movement Intervention on Academic and Cognitive Abilities Among Kindergarten Children

Early Childhood Education Journal - Evidence suggests that acting mindfully, that is, by stressing the purpose of the action and monitoring its current state, may benefit health, wellbeing, and...     

Family-School Communication in Preschool and Kindergarten in the Context of a Relationship-Enhancing Intervention

The present study is a longitudinal examination of family-school communication in preschool and kindergarten. Preschool and kindergarten teachers and family workers of 75 children from families with low SES logged the frequency and characteristics of family-school communication, resulting in over 22,000 contacts. Data were collected during a period of implementation of an intervention designed to enhance relationships upon the transition to school. Family demographic information and information about family support for academics at home were assessed through parent interviews and children's behavior problems were measured through teacher questionnaires in preschool and kindergarten. Familyteacher communication decreased between preschool and kindergarten and there was a shift from shorter to longer types of communication between the two years. Communication differed as a function of program. Counter to expectation, few family factors and experiences predicted frequency of family-school communication, and more frequent communication in preschool was unrelated to more frequent communication in kindergarten. Findings have several implications for practice. Families experience a great decrease in communication between preschool and kindergarten and interventions designed to ease the transition to kindergarten need to either ameliorate the decrease or acknowledge its existence to prepare families. Otherwise, this contrast may be interpreted negatively. Given that our findings show no relation between a family's communication in preschool and kindergarten, it appears that it is not enough to support communication in preschool to ensure frequent communication in kindergarten.     

Early Literacy Skills in African-American Children: Research Considerations

The poor reading achievement of African-American children in urban schools is well established. African-American children from low-income homes may be at particular risk for reading difficulties, although middle-income children often fare poorly as well. Intervention efforts have focused on children in kindergarten through fifth grade. This article suggests that prevention efforts must begin prior to kindergarten entry. Several key variables that may influence young children's performance, including poverty, general oral language skills, dialectal variations, home literacy practices, standardized testing bias, and teacher expectations, are explored. Future directions for research addressing emergent literacy in African-American children are discussed throughout.     

结构意识教学对识字困难儿童的干预研究

采用结构意识识字教学干预,对小学一、二年级的学生(实验班23人/27人,控制班19人/30人)进行为期一个半月的现场教学干预,研究结构意识识字教学对于不同识字水平儿童的识字成绩以及结构意识的影响。结果表明:(1)实验班的识字成绩明显好于控制班,其中实验班的识字困难儿童的成绩提高更为显著;(2)教学干预对于结构意识中形旁意识的作用尤为明显,对于声旁意识作用不明显。由此推论,在小学低年级的识字教学中,强调汉字构成规则的结构意识识字教学相对于常规的识字教学更有利于提高学生的识字能力。     

构建青少年自杀危机干预体系

近年来,青少年学生自杀事件时有发生.构建青少年自杀危机干预体系已成为当前学校心理健康教育和生命教育的一项迫切任务.青少年自杀危机干预体系的构建思路可归纳为:一个基本理念,两个工作重心,三个实践环节.青少年自杀危机干预的关键是正确认识和理解青少年的自杀行为,积极关注和研究自杀问题,整合社会、学校、家庭等各种资源.     

Daycare Book-a-thon: Preservice Teachers Enhancing the Reading Experience of Preschool Children

Daycare Book-a-thon is a project that targets at-risk preschoolers, providing them with books their parents can share with them at home. Preservice teachers in a children's literature class donate the books and prepare bookmarks, which highlight ways that parents can read and extend the books with their children. Through this activity, preservice teachers come to understand the diverse student population and learn ways they can help young children to prepare for schools.     

The Facilitation of Thinking Skills in Preschool Children using Computer Presented Activities

Summary Thirty six four‐year‐old children were given the Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and were then randomly divided within sexes into two groups. A treatment group worked through sixteen computer presented problem‐solving activities while the second was a controlled group and did not do the activities. All the children were then re‐tested on Raven's Matrices. The results showed a significantly greater improvement between the pre‐ and post‐test for the treatment group than for the control group. The results are discussed in terms of the development of thinking skills.     

Relations Among Maternal Literacy Beliefs, Home Literacy Practices, and the Emergent Literacy Skills of Preschoolers With Specific Language Impairment

Self-reported maternal literacy beliefs and home literacy practices were compared for families of children with typicially developing language skills (TL, n = 52) and specific language impairment (SLI, n = 56). Additionally, the present work examined whether maternal beliefs and practices predicted children's print-related knowledge. Mothers filled out 2 questionnaires asking about their literacy beliefs and practices while children's print-related knowledge was assessed directly. Results indicated that mothers of children with SLI held somewhat less positive beliefs about literacy and reported engaging in fewer literacy practices compared to mothers of children with TL. For the entire sample, maternal literacy practices and beliefs predicted children's print-related knowledge, although much of this association was accounted for by maternal education. Subgroup analyses focused specifically on children with SLI showed there to be no relation between maternal literacy beliefs and practices and children's print-related knowledge. The present findings suggest that the home literacy experiences of children with SLI, and the way that these experiences impact print-related knowledge, may differ in important ways from typical peers.     

值得注意的德国学前教育

本文简要介绍了德国学前教育的概况,包括其幼儿园、学前班、学校幼儿园的属性、数量及其教育经费的来源等,指出了德国学前教育中值得我们注意和学习的地方。     

Enhancing Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge in Preschool Children with Down Syndrome

This study investigated the effectiveness of a phonological awareness intervention for 4‐year‐old children with Down syndrome. Seven children with Down syndrome who attended an early intervention centre participated in the intervention. Their performance on measures of phonological awareness (initial phoneme identity), letter name and sound knowledge, and print concepts pre‐intervention and post‐intervention, was compared with that of a randomly selected group of age‐matched peers with typical development. The intervention involved print referencing techniques whereby the children’s parents were instructed to bring the children’s attention to targeted letters and sounds within words and to draw their attention to the initial phonemes in words during daily shared book reading activities. The intervention was presented for a 6‐week period. The results indicated a significant treatment effect on phonological awareness and letter knowledge for the children with Down syndrome. Additionally, above‐chance performance on the initial phoneme identity task was contingent on letter knowledge of the particular phoneme. Individual profiles of the children with Down syndrome pre‐intervention and post‐intervention are presented, and implications for the management of preschool children approaching the age of integration into mainstream primary schools are discussed.     

学前残疾儿童家长育儿自我效能感干预研究——基于北京市学前残疾儿童家长数据

以揭示学前残疾儿童家长育儿效能、亲职需求现状与特点为起点,依据分析结果开发个性化小组干预方案,对学前残疾儿童家长实施30个小时小组干预活动,检验小组团体辅导对提升学前残疾儿童家长育儿效能感的影响。结果表明:(1)实验组和对照组团体辅导后育儿效能水平存在显著差异,实验组总分显著高于对照组,且小组干预效果稳定;(2)学前残疾儿童家长在专业支持、服务信息方面的高需求水平呈现稳定、持久状态;(3)小组团体干预有效提升学前残疾儿童家长育儿效能感。     

学前残疾儿童家长亲职压力干预研究

通过为期两个月共八次的小组辅导活动对12名学前残疾儿童母亲进行干预,以考察小组干预对降低学前残疾儿童母亲亲职压力水平的有效性和适用性。结果表明:(1)实验组和对照组小组干预后亲职压力反应水平存在显著差异,实验组亲职压力反应总分及情绪症状、行为症状和精神症状得分显著低于对照组;小组干预效果稳定;(2)小组干预对学前残疾儿童母亲的身体症状和心智症状影响不显著。     

Effects of Junior Kindergarten on Emerging Literacy in Children from Low-Income and Linguistic-Minority Families

We study the benefits of junior kindergarten for linguistic-minority 4-year-olds compared to their linguistic-majority classmates from the same low-income neighborhoods. At the end of the school year, linguistic-minority children made significantly greater improvements in language skills than their host society classmates. At the mid-year point, junior kindergarten teachers made efforts to help linguistic-minority children overcome the challenges of the school environment of their new host society by adapting their pedagogical strategies to those showing difficulty in their receptive vocabulary skills. They also offered greater means of contact to parents of linguistic-minority children having difficulty attaining language proficiency than to parents of children showing better improvements. Parents of linguistic-minority students showing smaller gains were more likely to use a larger proportion of the communication methods offered by teachers and participate in the parent–school relationship for the well-being of their children. Long-term results suggest that linguistic-minority children continued to make significant improvements.