Gossiping staff in early childhood programs models destructive behavior and harms families' trust in the professionalism of the program. Bruno identifies some of the causes and motives for gossip and examines its occurrence in early care and education settings. She offers step-by-step strategies to help supervisors set and enact policies that…

Guiding children in finding social acceptance is on of the most important parts of the early childhood teacher's job. Opening the column with an anecdote from a pre-K teacher, Gartrell discusses what teachers can do when children cause conflicts on purpose and how teachers might prevent such conflicts.

Conflicts happen all the time in early childhood classrooms--and just about everywhere else in life. Conflict management includes the ability to: (1) prevent conflicts from becoming too serious to resolve easily and (2) resolve conflicts peaceably no matter how serious they get. When a third person assists others in resolving a conflict, this is…

Describes an approach designed to help explain war and the nuclear threat to young children, using a Dr. Seuss book as a springboard for discussion to help children expand their own concepts on the subject. (KS)

Classroom management can have a direct effect on the kinds of behaviors students exhibit and make the difference between chaos and an orderly environment that facilitates learning. Suggestions for teachers involve planning for physical space, arrival and departure times, the scheduling of transitions, children's interactions with equipment and…