Research Findings: The current study examined whether collective small-group behavioral engagement and teacher behavior management during small-group instruction predicted print knowledge, phonological awareness, letter writing, and expressive vocabulary gains for preschoolers at-risk for literacy difficulties. This study, part of a larger…

Research Findings: The current study examined whether collective small-group behavioral engagement and teacher behavior management during small-group instruction predicted print knowledge, phonological awareness, letter writing, and expressive vocabulary gains for preschoolers at-risk for literacy difficulties. This study, part of a larger…

Writing often begins during the very early years of childhood; however, some children first learn writing when they begin attending school. Teachers' beliefs about early writing development can influence when and how children learn to write. The purpose of this study was to determine kindergarten teachers' beliefs about the development of…

Teacher research yields a plethora of insights about creating a meaningful curriculum for children. In this article, we describe the experience of preschool children who participated in Kindergarten Club, a space that afforded them opportunities to shift roles from being preschoolers to being kindergarteners. Kindergarten Club became a catalyst…

This study examined the relations among features of the classroom physical literacy environment (book materials, literacy area and writing materials) and psychological literacy environment (instructional support), and preschool children's gains in two areas of emergent literacy over an academic year. Results showed that features of the physical…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether spelling performance in preschool children varied as a function of the method of assessment and letter writing ability. The authors manipulated the motoric element and memory demands of the task by having children spell single words using letter tiles, orally, and by writing. The authors also…

Purpose: The 2 studies reported in this manuscript collectively address 3 aims: (a) to characterize the name-writing abilities of preschool-age children with language impairment (LI), (b) to identify those emergent literacy skills that are concurrently associated with name-writing abilities, and (c) to compare the name-writing abilities of…

Recent and ongoing research has demonstrated the alarming likelihood of children from low-income homes and from ethnic minorities to read at much lower reading levels than their peers. Additionally, reading ability is related to the earliest of emergent literacy skills, which can be measured in young children before they enter formal schooling.…