Childhood Education articles from June 2003

Childhood Education archives from June 2003

Emergent curriculum and kindergarten readiness.
June 22, 2003... Recently, the focus on "readiness" in early childhood education in the United States has increased dramatically in the face of growing concerns about the number of failing students and failing schools. The National Education Goals Panel (Shore,...

Effective practices and principles to support English language learners in the early childhood classroom.
June 22, 2003... In the United States, early childhood teachers must balance diverse needs in their classrooms, and often must modify instruction for students who are learning English as a new language. Fortunately, many teacher preparation programs have...

Learning about the "other": building a case for intercultural understanding among minority children.
June 22, 2003... "My three-year-old boy imitates his father's verbal rejection (bla-bla-bla) of Spanish language whenever I try to talk to him in Spanish." An African American student (also a fluent Spanish speaker) in one of my graduate level courses once...

Individualization in the inclusive preschool: a planning process.(classroom inclusion strategies for special needs children)
June 22, 2003... Robbie (Director of the Aloha Community Preschool), Angela (preschool teacher), and Melinda (classroom teaching assistant) are already settled at the small table when Judy, the early childhood special education (ECSE) teacher-consultant,...

The child's right to creative thought and expression. (A Position Paper of the Association for Childhood Education International).
June 22, 2003... ACEI's POSITION ON CREATIVE THOUGHT It is the position of the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) that the definition of creativity needs to be enriched and enlarged to be consistent with contemporary theory and...

Literacy play: is it really play anymore? (Issues in Education).
June 22, 2003... An interest in early literacy has grown to a frenzy in the United States. During his presidential campaign, George W. Bush pledged to make Head Start a reading program, and his No Child Left Behind initiative focuses extensively on reading....

Necessary social skills related to peer acceptance. (Review of Research).
June 22, 2003... In early childhood classrooms, approximately 10 to 24 percent of children are classified as popular, while 10 to 22 percent of children are classified as rejected and 12 to 20 percent as neglected. The rest of the children are classified as...

Continuity among early childhood programs: issues and strategies from an international view. (Teaching Strategies).
June 22, 2003... While children's development is continuous, the same cannot always be said about their early childhood programs; young children can experience discontinuity due to gaps, overlaps, or mismatches when they move from one program to another...

Parents and schools: no stopping the involvement! (For Parents Particulary).
June 22, 2003... Let's face it. No matter how much or how little parents show up at school, they are involved and want to be involved in their children's education. The key is how parents are involved. Although participation varies from parent to parent, it is...

Conlan, Kathy Under The Ice: a Canadian Museum of Nature Book.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Photographs by author and others, as noted. ISBN 1-55337-001-5. Toronto, ON & Tonawanda, NY: Kids Can Press, 2002. 55 pp. $16.95. The outdoor life seemed to call Kathy Conlan all her life; by 1989, she was a marine field biologist studying...

Major, John S., & Betty J. Belanus Caravan To America: Living Arts of the Silk Road.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Foreword by Yo-Yo Ma. ISBN 0-8126-2666-4. Chicago: Cricket Books, 2002. 144 pp. $24.95. Like the travelers on the historic trade route known as the Silk Road, the people featured in this book communicate about cultures and traditions with...

Napier, Matt. Z Is For Zamboni: a Hockey Alphabet.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Melanie Rose. ISBN 1-58536-065-1. Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear Press, 2002. Unp. $19.95. Parents and boys and girls who seemingly "live for ice hockey" will find this highly informative and authoritatively written book to be a real...

Simonds, Nina, Leslie Swartz, & The Children's Museum, Boston. Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats: a Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Meilo So. ISBN 0-15-201983-9. New York: Gulliver Books, 2002. 80 pp. $20.00. These sunny stories about sometimes-shady gods will intrigue children, who will also appreciate the accompanying amusing activities and recipes from five...

Yolen, Jane. Wild Wings: Poems for Young People.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Photographs by Jason Stemple. ISBN 1-56397-904-7. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 2002.32 pp. $17.95. A literacy feast for older readers, this book presents beautiful and unusual birds in stunning photographs and poetic impressions....

Banks, Kate. Close Your Eyes.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by George Hallensleben. ISBN 0-374-31382-2. New York: Frances Foster Books, 2002. Unp. $16.00. In this delightful story filled with brilliant, childlike paintings, mother tiger works very hard to convince her adorable little tiger that if...

Brutschy, Jennifer. Just One More Story.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Cat Bowman Smith. ISBN 0-439-31767-3. New York: Orchard Books, 2002. 32pp. $16.95. Young Austin and his parents play in a country and western band called the Swamp Snakes, traveling in their trailer from town to town. Austin loves...

Daly, Niki. Old Bob's Brown Bear.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by author. ISBN 0-374-35612-2. London: Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2002. Unp. $16.00. Emma's grandfather, Old Bob, receives a teddy bear for his birthday. Emma can tell, however, that Old Bob doesn't LOVE the bear. Thus, Old Bob allows his...

Finchler, Judy, & Kevin O'Malley. You're A Good Sport, Miss Malarkey.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Kevin O'Malley. ISBN 0-8027-8815-7. New York: Walker, 2002. Unp. $15.95. When Miss Malarkey becomes the soccer coach of a team in the YELS League, the players and parents alike learn a valuable rule. Noisy sidelines full of arguments and...

French, Simon. Guess The Baby.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Donna Rawlins. ISBN 0-618-25989-9. New York: Clarion Books, 2002. Unp. $14.00. When Sam takes his baby brother to school for "Show and Share," his teacher, Mr. Judd, gets an idea for a class activity. He asks each student to bring in a...

Geras, Adele Troy.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Erich Lessing & Giraudon. ISBN 0-15-204570-8. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Books, 2000. 358 pp. $6.95. In this age-old story from a different point of view, Geras takes the reader into the city of Troy during the last days of the war of Helen....

Hamilton, Virginia Time Pieces. The Book of Times.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... ISBN 0-590-28881-4. New York: The Blue Sky Press, Scholastic, 2002. 199pp. $16.95. This semi-autobiographical novel, finished shortly before Hamilton's death, shares vignettes of the author's family as seen from the perspective of the fictional...

Jarvis, Robin Thorn Ogres of Hagwood.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Robin Jarvis. ISBN 0-15-216752-8. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Books, 2000. 244 pp. $16.00. What is a Werling? It is a small magical creature that is sure only of its own existence and, for the most part, is blind to the outside world....

Jaspersohn, William. Scrimshaw Ring.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Vernon Thornblad. ISBN 0-916718-19-0. Middlebury, VT: Vermont Folklife Center, 2002. Unp. $15.95. This story describes events that actually took place on the New England coast around 1710. The author tells the very intriguing story of a...

Jonell, Lynne Jemma's Journey.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Petra Mathers. ISBN 0-399-23433-0. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2002. Unp. $13.99. Robbie and Christopher are worried because they do not know what they did to make Mommy mad. Perhaps she is mad because Robbie fastened his buttons...

Lawson, Julie. The Klondike Cat.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Paul Mombourquette. ISBN 1-55337-013-9. Tonawanda, NY: Kids Can Press, 2002. 32 pp. $15.95. The author weaves a delightful story about the bond between a little boy, Noah, and his cat. Although Noah's father insists that the cat stay...

McMullan, Kate I Stink!(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Jim McMullan. ISBN 0-06-029849-9. New York: Harper-Collins, 2002. Unp. $15.95. Loud! Stinky! Necessary! So roars the huge garbage truck throughout brilliant pages of this monstrously informative book that gives special recognition to the...

Romain, Trevor Jemma's Journey.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Pat Lopez. ISBN 1-56397-937-3. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 2002. 32 pp. $15.95. Jemma's grandmother recounts the tragedy that occurred in Florida on November 2, 1920, when two African American men who attempted to vote became the...

Sampson, Michael, & Bill Martin, Jr. Caddie The Golf Dog.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by Floyd Cooper. ISBN 0-8027-8817-3. New York: Walker, 2002. Unp. $16.95. When Jennifer's father says there is no room at home for a stray dog, "Diamond" is sent away. In her travels for shelter, Diamond reaches a golf course and finds two...

Schwartz, Virginia. Messenger.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... ISBN 0-8234-1716-6. New York: Holiday House, 2002. 277 pp. $17.95. Life in a mining town is hard, but it became more difficult for one family in the early 1920s when the father dies in a mining accident. Amazingly, this event turns the family...

Spinelli, Jerry. Loser.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... ISBN 0-439-45793-9. New York: Scholastic, 2002. 218 pp. $15.89. Every grade in school has the one kid who develops a reputation early in life as a "loser." Donald Zinkoff finds his world to be happy and complete. He loves school and admires his...

Stojic, Manya. Hello World!(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by author. ISBN 0-439-36202-4. New York: Scholastic, 2002. 38pp. $14.95. This adorable multicultural book teaches children how to say "hello" in 42 different languages, offering phonetic spellings beneath each translation. The illustrations...

Telander, Rick. String Music.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... ISBN 0-8126-2657-5. Chicago: Cricket Books, 2002. 138 pp. $15.95. Robbie Denwood, age 11, feels like a nobody. His dad is gone, his mother and sister fight all the time, and he is the last man on his basketball team. He wants to be Jasper...

Woodson, Jacqueline. Visiting Day.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Il. by James Ransome. ISBN 0-590-4005-3. New York: Scholastic Press, 2002. 32 pp. $15.95. This provocative, emotionally stirring story will grip readers from beginning to end. It is a realistic, sensitive, and powerful picture book that...

Zelinsky, Paul O. Knick-knackpaddywhack! A Moving Parts Book.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Adapted from the counting song and illustrated by author. ISBN 0-525-46908-7. New York: Dutton Children's Books, 2002. Unp. $18.99. The counting song will surely be familiar to readers, and each double-page spread of this innovative and...

Bridging The Gap: Raising a Child With Nonverbal Learning Disorder.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Rondalyn Varney Whitney. New York: Perigee, 2002. 304 pp. $13.95 By the time Zac was six he was reading at a twelfth-grade level. I was convinced he was a little genius. However, there were aspects of Zac's development that weren't up to...

Choosing Excellence.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... John Merrow. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2001. 207 pp. $15.95. "`Good enough' schools are not good enough" says John Merrow in his book Choosing Excellence. His critique of public education in the United States, unlike many, does not see a...

Schools That Heal: Real Life Solutions.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Lesley Koplow. New York: Teachers College Press, 2002. 231 pp. $17.95 paper. "If we value the children who attend our elementary schools and want to be realistically hopeful about the people they will become as they move through middle school...

Using Literature Activities To Teach Content Areas To Emergent Readers.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Mildred R. Donoghue. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2001. 150 pp. If curriculum and assessment mandates addressing literacy skill development are interfering with the amount of time left to teach the content areas of math, science, and...

Is That Right? Critical Thinking and the Social World of the Young Learner.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Ian Wright. Toronto, Ontario: Pippin, 2002. Wright, a university professor who once taught social studies in public schools, makes his case for teaching critical thinking, especially in social studies. The book, aimed at teachers and teacher...

Looking back and looking ahead. (Technology in the Classroom).(impact of technology on human behavior)(Column)
June 22, 2003... While cleaning out some old file cabinets in my basement (a task I had been avoiding for quite a few years), I found a copy of a speech by Dorothy Cohen, a prominent early childhood educator, given about 25 years ago when she visited the...

Ensuring Teacher Quality: a Report From MetLife Fellows in the Teachers Network Policy Institute.(Advertisement)
June 22, 2003... Teachers Network Policy Institute. Document funded by MetLife Foundation, 2002.32 pp. The Teachers Network Policy Institute, an initiative of over 100 teachers from 10 nationwide affiliates, was established in 1996 by Teachers Network to...

School Violence: Prevalence, Fears, and Prevention.(RAND Education Issue Paper)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... A RAND Education Issue Paper written by Jaana Juvonen. RAND, 2001. 7 pp. The goal of this paper is to analyze key components of programs aimed at preventing school violence and describe the options that are available to schools. The report is a...

What can Universal Prekindergartens Learn from Special Education?(Advertisement)
June 22, 2003... Don Bailey, Ph.D., The Foundation for Child Development, Working Paper Series, 2002. 19 pp. The goal of universal prekindergar ten (UPK) is to make high-quality educational programs available to families of all 3- and 4-year-olds, thereby...

Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers.(Advertisement)
June 22, 2003... Edited by Barbara Bowman, M. Suzanne Donovan, and M. Susan Burns, Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy, National Research Council. National Academy Press, 2000. 468 pp. This study, carried out at the request of the U.S. Department of...

Connecting Families and Work: Family Literacy Bridges the Gap.(Advertisement)
June 22, 2003... National Center for Family Literacy, 2000. 21 pp. Family literacy services have four major components: 1) interactive literacy activities for parents and their children, 2) training for parents regarding how to be the primary teacher and full...

Trying to Stay Ahead of The Game: Superintendents and Principals Talk About School Leadership.
June 22, 2003... Steve Farkas, Jean Johnson, Ann Duffett, & Tony Foleo, with Patrick Foley. Public Agenda, 2001. 50 pp. This study, conducted by Public Agenda and financed by the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds, is based on surveys conducted in the summer of...

A President's farewell. (President's Message).(Association for Childhood Education International)
June 22, 2003... As my term as President of the Association for Childhood Education International draws to a close, I want to thank you, the membership, for giving me the opportunity to serve and represent you as President of this outstanding organization....

"If we give up hope, then we are all lost". (From The Executive Director).(Kofi Annan's words on role of the United Nations in fighting world poverty and the ravages of war)(Column)
June 22, 2003... On December 19, 2001, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan held a conference with members of the international press to reflect on the events of the past year. September 11, 2001, and the worsening crisis in Afghanistan were at the top...

2003 Week of she Classroom Teacher Continues To Gain Momentum. (From The Public Relations Manager).
June 22, 2003... WEEK OF THE CLASSROOM TEACHER May 4-10, 2003 Celebrating Best Practices in the Classroom If you have any doubt about our communities' commitment to schools and teachers, take heart in the great interest that has been expressed for...

In memoriam.(Dorothea Willis)(Obituary)
June 22, 2003... ACEI is saddened to report the death of long-time member Dorothea Willis, of Winter Park, Florida. Willis began teaching in 1938 at Fairvilla Elementary School, Florida. Her 45-year career included working as a teacher in grades 1 through...

The Consultative Group on early childhood care and development. (International/Intercultural Committee).(based in Ontario, Canada)(Column)
June 22, 2003... While reading the 2002-2003 Strategic Plan for ACEI, I was reminded of our mission to promote and support in the global community the optimal education and development of children from birth through early adolescence, and to influence the...

ACEI elects new executive board members. (ACEI Executive Board News).
June 22, 2003... Susan A. Miller Member-at-Large (2) (2003-2006) Susan A. Miller, Professor (retired), Elementary Education, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, is the new Member-at-Large (2). Miller says she decided to join ACEI 15 years ago because...

Parents' denial: most don't recognize child's obesity.(Pediatric Nursing Journal)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... According to a report in Pediatric Nursing Journal, parents' perceptions of their children's weight problems may not be dependable or accurate. In an article on childhood obesity, author Eric A. Hodges, MSN, RN, RNP, found that among 99 mothers...

Weight-loss program for children gets parents involved.(The Activity Calendar Program)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... Children's decreasing levels of physical activity at home and school, along with sedentary time in front of a computer or television, are all contributing factors to unhealthy weight gain. According to a study in Pediatric Nursing Journal by...

New health care transition model for youths with special needs.(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... It is very difficult for adolescents with special needs to make the transition from childhood to adulthood. In a report in Pediatric Nursing Journal, authors Cecily L. Betz and Gay Redcay present a nurse-managed service model to facilitate the...

Classroom idea-sparkers.(reading instruction)(Bibliography)
June 22, 2003... Storybook Characters Who Read and Write: A Bridge To Promote Literacy Interests Reading and writing are reciprocal processes that create a bridge from the past to the present, from decade to decade, and from generation to generation....

Goodbye neighbor. (In The News ...).(Brief Article)(Obituary)
June 22, 2003... Educators around the world were saddened to the hear the news of the death at age 74 of Fred Rogers, known to generations of children as television's "Mr. Rogers." His television show, "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," ran on public broadcasting...

TV-turnoff week. (In The News ...).(April 2003)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... TV-Turnoff Week 2003 will take place April 2127. During this ninth annual Turnoff, millions of children and adults across the nation and around the world will take a seven-day break from the television and rediscover that life can be more fun,...

Literacy: the keys of success. (From The United Nations).(United Nations conference 'Literacy Now: Building an Educated World')
June 22, 2003... The United Nations Committee on Teaching About the UN (CTAUN) recently held an international conference titled, "Literacy Now: Building an Educated World." One of your UN representatives attended the conference, as both CTAUN and ACEI share a...

Contributing to the accreditation review process. (Professional Standards/Teacher Education).(Association for Childhood Education International)
June 22, 2003... One of the most important jobs for the Professional Standards/Teacher Education Committee is our support of the program review process for the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). ACEI is the Specialized Professional...

Using resources for teaching success. (Student Slant).(Column)
June 22, 2003... Summer is finally almost here and your semester is about to end. As you look toward a new year, you might consider what resources would be valuable to you as a teacher. Luckily, information is abundant; beginning teachers can find and utilize...

Your membership makes the difference. (Branch Business).(plans and objectives of Association for Childhood Education International)
June 22, 2003... In his column "A Voice for Children Worldwide" (Winter 2002/03 ACEI Exchange, p. 96-B), Executive Director Jerry Odland observed, "Given the state of world affairs and the plight of countless children, many of whom face insurmountable odds, it...