Describes the challenge for teachers in effectively and sensitively balancing the physical nurturance of children with the public's concern with the sexual abuse of young children. Public perceptions of child care, parent and professional concerns, and the implications for child development. (AS)

Asserts that early childhood professionals have a special obligation to remind parents and themselves about the impact of violence on children and about parent and adult responsibilities regarding television viewing. Challenges early childhood professionals to become personally involved in disparaging television and movie violence and act to…

Recounts a teacher's initiation into the process of documentation over several weeks as she joined toddlers on a "fishing trip." Draws on Piagetian and Vygotskian theories to understand and enhance children's play. Discusses how documentation is used to communicate and converse with children and offers teachers opportunities to…

Challenges early childhood teachers to sing to and with young children, with parents, and with other adults. Discusses singing as an often neglected physical and emotional experience in American culture. Makes suggestions for singing and effectively involving children in music activities throughout the school day, including selecting songs…

Provides a humorous 1920 description of the characteristics and development of the ideal nursery school teacher. (BB)

Stresses the need to understand respective children's personalities, learning styles, preferences, special abilities, and family heritage--including culture, language, values, members, and history. With increasing numbers of diverse families served by early-care and education programs, encourages those involved in the care and education of young…

Presents preschool and kindergarten teachers with ideas and guidelines for teaching mathematics, focusing on the processes of classifying, comparing, matching, adding, and subtracting in relation to number sets, especially as children encounter sets in play settings. (BB)

Considers the various names applied to the early childhood education field. Discusses the confusion of parents in deciding on a program, and of legislators responding to advocates and considering legislation; maintains that the name confusion may be detrimental for the field. Suggests that a change in nomenclature could alert the public to the…

The authors present a checklist designed to help preschool and kindergarten administrators and teachers build confidence in their ability to be inclusive and to increase their awareness of the needs of children with disabilities. Teachers can use the checklist to prepare for the inclusion of a child with a disability. "Identifying potential…

This article focuses on student and teacher relationship in helping children with behavioral problems particularly those children with "a lot of angry outbursts." The author describes the case of Jeremiah, being one of the experts of the system called "peer problem solving," a program designed to help children to cope up with anger outburst. A…

Outlines and discusses some of the major sources of tension between employed parents and teacher-caregivers. Also provides ways in which teacher-caregivers can work effectively with parents and turn these sources of tension into sources of support. (BB)

Maintains that early childhood educators should encourage cooperative behavior among young children. Teachers can encourage such behaviors by organizing space and activities that facilitate cooperative social interactions; by supporting and reinforcing children's cooperative ventures; by planning for cooperative classroom activities; and by…

Traces the changing views on the role and status of male early childhood education teachers in the forties and fifties (male prohibition), the sixties and early seventies (the macho image), and the late seventies and early eighties (the age of androgyny).

Describes approaches to inservice evaluation of early childhood teachers, and provides a rationale and guides for conducting teacher evaluations. A sample form for inservice evaluation is included. (RH)

Describes the procedures and effort a group of early childhood students and their professors used to obtain funding to attend the National Association for the Education of Young Children annual conference. Discusses the reasons for attending the conference, problems encountered, fund-raising efforts, and the benefits of conference attendance from…