Bringing together an inspirational group of educators, this book provides key insights into what it means to implement social justice ideals with young children. Each chapter highlights a teacher's experience with a specific aspect of social justice and ethnic studies, including related research, projects and lesson plans, and implications for…

During the author's everyday math discussions with her class, young children talk about mathematical ideas, theories, and concepts within a predictable structure. These discussions include many concepts from--and beyond--the first-grade math curriculum, and their depth and complexity build throughout the school year. Concepts and skills include…

For young children, a found acorn, stone, or lichen-covered branch can be a touchstone of an experience in nature. Children, however, should also be taught to "leave no trace." As the National Park Service advocates, visitors to natural areas should "Preserve the sense of discovery for others by leaving all natural and cultural…

Most young children love a good song and dance, an enticing story, and gorgeous illustrations. How could this staple of the early childhood classroom--music and literature--access children's ideas about physical science? How can young children communicate their knowledge of unseen science concepts that are not easily represented in pictures? These…

The best Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) design challenges are student centered, with students themselves making the key decisions. But with young children who are still learning basic academic and social skills, implementing projects where they truly take the lead can be quite challenging. To give students at one…

Assistive technology enables young children with disabilities to more effectively access their environment, facilitating the development of social-emotional, communicative, and cognitive skills. Research indicates that when service providers make decisions about assistive technology, they are more likely to choose low-tech options over high-tech…

Bullying prevention starts with helping young children understand and accept diversity--the earlier the better. That's why your school team needs this ready-to-use resource, a simple, fun, and effective way to promote social acceptance in the critical early years of attitude development. Perfect for K-2 classrooms, this book presents the…

In this article, written primarily for early childhood educators of young children who are learning English as another language, the authors discuss the use and educational benefits of Interactive Writing, an approach to beginning writing instruction appropriate for kindergarten and first grade children.

In the earliest days of American education, leaders in educational theory and practice believed that the curriculum should revolve around the child's lived experiences. Geography, therefore, should hold a prominent place in the curriculum since it is through geographic concepts that children first experience the world around them. Reading and…

Much research on early measurement learning is small-scale and dependent on the items used. While such research is helpful for indicating the key aspects of learning length, it does not give teachers a clear indication of the expectations for student learning of them. This paper presents substantial data from a large project that used individual…

"Ready, Set, Respect!" provides a set of tools to help elementary school educators ensure that all students feel safe and respected and develop respectful attitudes and behaviors. It is not a program to be followed but instead is designed to help educators prepare themselves for teaching about and modeling respect. The toolkit responds to…

This practice guide presents five recommendations intended to help educators improve students' understanding of, and problem-solving success with, fractions. Recommendations progress from proposals for how to build rudimentary understanding of fractions in young children; to ideas for helping older children understand the meaning of fractions and…

This article describes a scenario that highlights an important challenge facing educators in primary grade classrooms. The discussion in this article addresses this challenge by showcasing scholarly literature that examines the importance of infusing culturally relevant material into K-2 classrooms. Following the discussion, methods of using…

Capitalising on areas in which teachers feel most comfortable, the teaching of Biology, environmental education or nature to young children can be an alternative way of introducing and understanding Science. A "Citizen Science" program currently being run by the University of South Australia (UniSA) may be an appropriate starting point.…

It is important to help young children make connections between events in their lives and science concepts in preschool classrooms, so introducing basic meteorology ideas offer a great opportunity to make weather connections and awaken scientific curiosity (Spiropoulou, Kostopoulos, and Jacovides 1999). Therefore, this article presents a science…