A child's ability to fingerpoint accurately to words while reading aloud a memorized text showcases his/her development of concept of word in text. This ability demonstrates the extent to which key early literacy skills are integrated (e.g., alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness). Research indicates that attaining a concept of word in text is…

In this column, we encourage early childhood music teachers to include music listening lessons in their teaching. We suggest five guiding principles for music listening lessons: selecting varied repertoire, using high-quality recordings and playback, communicating with families and teachers, incorporating movement, and considering the broader…

The National Quality Framework (NQF) was established in 2012 to create a more efficient and cohesive approach to regulating early childhood education and care, and outside school hours care in Australia. The NQF provides a shared vision for governments and the children's education and care sector, and an agreed tool for measuring and monitoring…

Developing and scaffolding academic language is an important job of preschool teachers. This Teaching Tip provides five strategies that extend the topic of academic language by integrating previous research and field-based data into classroom practice.

Social competence is the ability to achieve interpersonal goals by engaging in social behaviors that are appropriate and context-specific. It develops early in childhood as children interact with others and it is a significant contributor to children's social development. The purpose of this article is to describe a practical method for how early…

Early childhood teachers often wonder if they are doing everything they can to make sure that their students are prospering in their classrooms. Because children and families bring their culture with them to school, teachers must recognize the importance of including these cultural aspects of their students and must have clear strategies that…

During the State of Utah's legislative session 2020, HB114 was passed proving Grants for Professional Learning, however due to COVID-19 disruptions, the bill did not receive funding until the 2021 session. The Grant for Professional Learning is meant to provide preschool through grade three teachers with professional learning opportunities in…

Research on educational activities generally focuses on the importance of positive emotions in the interaction between teachers and children. This article will focus on the challenging emotions that can arise when kindergarten staff interact with the children. The empirical material has been collected from a qualitative study of conflicts between…

COVID-19 pandemic has affected the health of people all over the world. Hong Kong closed schools for face-to-face instruction to minimize spread in February 2020. Schools started teaching via Zoom, a service that offers video conferencing, online meetings, chat, and mobile collaboration. That same month, The Chinese University of Hong Kong…

Way to Play is an approach that supports adults to promote the engagement of young children with autism spectrum disorder through play. The Ministry of Education in New Zealand has collaborated with Autism New Zealand to ensure the sustainable delivery of Way to Play within Auckland's early learning services by training early intervention staff to…

Early childhood care and education provide the underpinning of high-quality basic education. While it is indisputable that the family and home environment are critical to children's development, education programs outside the home provide children with the basic cognitive and language skills they need to succeed in school. Early childhood…

Play involves activities promoting children's development in physical, social, emotional, and cognitive domains (Dewar, Servos, Bosacki, & Coplan, 2013). The existing literature describes ways in which teachers' perceptions may influence children's emerging gender roles during physical play. This paper describes teachers' perceptions of…

How can we use Friedrich Froebel's play theory in order to analyze ECEC, Early Childhood Education and Care? Wolfgang Klafki builds his theory of categorical "Bildung" on Froebel's play theory, which presupposes the interaction between child, adult and content, as in the didactic triangle. Froebel's play theory was lost in the hands of…

This response to COVID-19 introduces a Hong Kong drama education project that aims to support teachers' and children's return to school after the easing of COVID-19 pandemic. A pilot workshop has been conducted to explore and evaluate the approach of the project and to identify the needs of the teachers under the pandemic. Preliminary observations…

The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical discussion on teacher leadership in early childhood education (ECE) in Chinese contexts. Since 2010, the Chinese government has initiated a comprehensive education reform in ECE, with strategies for developing teacher leadership and promoting education quality. However, at the school level there…