The authors advocate that every primary grade program needs a carefully planned social-emotional component. All children--those who enter first or second grade with an ability to control their emotions and make friends and those for whom these skills are more difficult--benefit from intentional teaching in this area. Some school systems adopt a…

Children's thinking follows natural developmental paths in learning math. When teachers understand those paths and offer activities based on children's progress along them, they build developmentally appropriate math environments. The authors explain math learning trajectories and why teaching math using the trajectories approach is effective. A…

Families and teachers spend countless hours supporting preschoolers and primary age children in the development of mental tools like focus, memory, and other problem-solving skills that help children think better, pay attention, and remember what they have experienced. Children use these tools to succeed in reading, writing, math, science, and…

FirstSchool is a school reform approach to early schooling for children 3 to 8 years old. It was developed over the past five years through a collaborative partnership among families, schools, communities, and institutions of higher education. The approach responds to the needs of all young children--especially in African American or Latino…