History

Finding Joy in School As you make decisions about how to organize your classroom, involve young children in problem solving, display their work products, and report their progress, you demonstrate to the rest of the world how you view your students and what you think they are capable of. Your classroom or care setting can […]

Developing Executive Functioning Young children can be included in making decisions and solving problems that enhance or are consistent with your curriculum objectives in ways that also promote executive functioning. In particular, giving children opportunities to make decisions that involve planning promotes higher-order thinking because it requires processing mental “what-if” scenarios. For example, two teachers,

Problem Solver A hands-on prop can be very helpful to children who are trying to resolve a conflict because it helps them to manage the steps in the process. Note that this example uses clip art, but a prop that used photos of the children would be even better. Once children are at the peace

Developing Self-Regulation and Problem-Solving Skills Learning to make decisions is a developmental process. With young toddlers, you make sure there are several baby dolls, for example, because deciding to share is not something we expect from them yet. You might, however, give the same toddler two equally acceptable choices for snack. The child must choose

Step-by-Step Photo Instructions Step-by-step instructions for classroom routines are especially meaningful if the photos used picture children from the group. Developing Self-Regulation and Problem-Solving Skills Learning to make decisions is a developmental process. With young toddlers, you make sure there are several baby dolls, for example, because deciding to share is not something we expect

Balancing Child-Initiated and Teacher-Directed Choices We want to imagine young children as “problem solvers” because children benefit from being allowed to make choices that they and we consider important in many ways. They can learn about cause and effect in a way that is personally meaningful. When they see that adults not only trust them

Promoting Responsibility, Accountability, and Organization Sometimes we do things unconsciously that reinforce child dependency. There are certainly products and tools that for safety purposes must be stashed safely out of a child’s reach. However, when you store classroom materials in locations that are inaccessible to the children, they always have to ask you to get

Preparing the Classroom to Represent the Children in It Image Source / SuperStock Representing actual rather than generic children is an important strategy for constructing an authentic image. As you prepare your classroom or care setting to receive and welcome new children, one of your primary objectives should be to represent the actual children and

What might parents learn from doing so? A home visit should focus on developing initial rapport with the child, but it also gives a parent or guardian the opportunity to ask questions or have an initial conversation about any particular concerns or goals they have for their child. Some families may not be comfortable with

How Do Teachers Individualize the Curriculum? In later chapters, we discuss teaching strategies for implementing different aspects of the curriculum. In this section, we concentrate on strategies and practices that specifically address getting to know your students and developing the objective eye that enables you to approach curriculum decisions that will best serve the specific