Educators have long known that family involvement is vital to children's success in school. Yet many teachers struggle to find effective ways to involve families in their classrooms. Often, the dilemma is due not to families' lack of interest but rather to time constraints and differing cultural expectations about the roles of teachers and…

Gardens are complex and require a variety of skills. Gross- and fine-motor activities, science concepts, language and literacy development, math, and community involvement are all part of the preschool gardening project the authors describe. They list gardening books for children and suggest container gardens for urban school settings. The authors…