Emotional intelligence plays a crucial role in children's development. It has been shown in previous studies that emotional intelligence not only influences academic performance but also benefits children's social and interpersonal lives. This study proposes a new strategy that integrates dialogical reading with visible thinking routines to…

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the mental health of young children, and schools are being tasked with providing greater support for their emotional well-being. While gratitude practices have proven beneficial for the mental health of adults, less is known about the efficacy of their use in promoting positive character…

Play, of varied type and form, provides opportunities for children to acquire a sense of competence and belonging when engaging in classroom life. The purpose of this study was to investigate ways that the inclusion of play as a curricular component eased academic stressors and supported motivation during the transition to kindergarten. In this…

The present study investigated the effects of two emotion trainings on young children's knowledge about jealousy. Participants were 53 kindergarten and first-grade children who were assigned to one of two experimental conditions or a control condition. Children in the first experimental condition (video condition) received discussions about the…

Attitudes and biases toward body size perceived as fat and body size perceived as thin are present in young children (Cramer and Steinwert in "J Appl Dev Psychol" 19(3):429-451, 1998; Worobey and Worobey in "Body Image" 11:171-174, 2014). However, the information children have regarding body size and ways to modify body size…

The benefits of drama have been reported extensively in educational research literature; however, few studies provide an in-depth analysis of how drama is used in early childhood classroom instruction for readers who struggle with comprehension. The focus of this study is: How do young children build literary understanding through drama? This…

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.

"Strong Start K-2" is a social-emotional learning curriculum, designed for use with children in kindergarten through grade 2. The objectives of this study were twofold. First, authors aimed to evaluate the feasibility and quality of "Strong Start" implementation. Additionally authors examined the effect of "Strong Start" on first grade students'…

This study investigated the effect of a social and emotional learning skills curriculum, the "You Can Do It! Early Childhood Education Program" (YCDI), on the social-emotional development, well-being, and academic achievement of 99 preparatory and grade 1 students attending a Catholic school in Melbourne, Australia. One preparatory and one grade 1…

In this piece, we share a story about the power of historical investigation as a means of developing critical literacy in young children. Drawing on the work of VanSledright (Social Educ 68:230, 2004), we outline four aspects of historical thinking as they relate to the development of critically minded citizens. We then turn to a discussion of a…

The purpose of this study was to replicate previous research about teachers' perceived benefits of home visits to determine if they remained stable. Furthermore, the investigation sought to find out whether home visits impacted variables often associated with improved school success (i.e., school attendance, academic performance, parent…

The purpose of this critical analysis was to investigate the young children's sense of numerical magnitudes and the important attributes of classrooms where children in kindergarten and first grade are exposed to mathematics. This study aimed to offer guidelines that will assist teachers as they teach mathematics to children between the ages of…