Hebrew words are known to be composed of roots, entities of three or four consonants that are combined in different patterns. Roots form an integral part of Hebrew morphology and the knowledge of extracting them is essential for high-school matriculation exams. Even though these skills are formally taught starting from second-grade, students still…

Two hypotheses related to the emergence of multiword speech were explored: (1) that multiword speech follows developments in children's ability to map communicative intents to single-word expressions; and (2) that the acquisition of these mapping principles paves the way for the emergence of syntax. The developments consist of an increase in the…

The two-year Early Childhood Training Course for Bedouin Educators is designed to provide Bedouin teachers for Bedouin kindergarten children. The course was developed to alleviate problems arising from a situation in which Bedouin kindergarten children were taught by non-Bedouins who did not understand Bedouin dialect, who were unfamiliar with…

This paper discusses how kindergarten children and their teachers "perform" in kindergartens and how they "account" for their actions. Reported are conclusions from a series of three studies carried out in 15 Israeli kindergartens. Data for the first two studies were collected in non-participant observations, audio-recordings,…

In recent years there has been an increasing emphasis on the parent-school partnership, especially in early childhood settings, but the effects on parents are less clear than the beneficial outcomes for children. This study considers two prominent conceptions of the influence processes in family-school partnerships in Israel: an educational…

Students of early childhood education studying at teachers' colleges in Israel are usually required to spend 1 to 2 work days weekly in a preschool, supervised by a faculty member who visits the student on site. This study examined the faculty member's perception of self in the role of fieldwork supervisor. Participating in this descriptive…

Four papers originating from the Kesher project, a project in Israel involving the construction, implementation, and scientific evaluation of an original Hebrew language intervention program for preschool (ages 0 to 6) children with hearing impairments, are presented. The four papers included are: (1) "Language Intervention in Prelinguistic…

This document describes a home-based enrichment program for preschool children in Israel. The Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) provides weekly packets of educational activities to mothers and their educationally disadvantaged children of 4 to 6 years of age. Families selected for the program are of Afro-Asian origin, have…

A comparative analysis evaluated three studies that dealt with the differences among five-year-olds that should be considered before reading instruction is initiated in kindergarten. The premise of the comparison was that children from different countries (especially Israel, where these studies were conducted), have different abilities, react…

Although the Israeli kibbutz system of communally organized childcare has been the focus of considerable research with respect to developmental outcomes, relatively few studies have examined the kibbutz from a parenting perspective. This study compared perceived supports for parenting reported by 19 kibbutz mothers with those reported by 18 urban…