"What Are Preschoolers Thinking?" dispels common misconceptions about the cognitive abilities of preschoolers and demonstrates how effective early instruction can help eradicate achievement gaps. More Judith A. Schickedanz, Molly F. Collins, and Catherine Marchant, educators and researchers with combined decades of experience in early…

Play-based classroom learning environments have an immediate and long-term impact on children's optimal growth and development. With the continuing efforts of state and federal government agencies to fund early childhood programs with the intention of assuring that all children enter school ready to learn, enrollment into these programs continues…

Reading and writing are essential components of literacy. Children's initial preschool experiences with literacy set important foundations for later school success. Instruction that can create a bridge between reading and writing to support children's developing understandings in both these areas of literacy has powerful implications for their…

The authors propose decentering the child as a critical motion in the education of pedagogists who work to refuse developmental pedagogies in early childhood education. Tracing how child-centered developmental practices are obstacles for deeper ethical and intellectual work and reiterate anthropocentric relationalities, they offer two propositions…

As teachers worldwide struggle to serve an ever-increasing number of children and their families who do not speak the dominant language, the authors present a research-based scenario illustrating practices in Hungarian preschools.

This article introduces a sequence of movement tasks to teach one-handed sidearm striking with a short implement to preK- to second-grade children. Although one-handed sidearm striking is a complex skill, learning this skill during early childhood would expand future opportunities for children to engage in various lifetime physical activities.

The recently revised NAEYC position papers and the fourth edition of NAEYC's Developmentally Appropriate Guidelines (NAEYC. 2022. "Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs: Serving Children from Birth through Age 8," edited by S. Friedman, 4th ed. Washington: National Association for the Education of Young…

Children's development of foundational mathematics concepts begins long before they enter the kindergarten classroom. Early experiences with color, shape, and pattern recognition as well as the ability to seriate sizes all contribute to a strong beginning to young children's mathematical conceptual development. This article presents how a…

As early childhood educators employ technology in their classrooms, it is important to have a process to ensure that learning needs are being met.

In order to ensure high quality outcomes for all children in the early childhood classroom, teachers are expected to utilize both the Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) provided by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC, 2009), as well as the Division of Early Childhood (DEC) Recommended Practices (DEC, 2014).…

Early childhood education represents a pivotal opportunity to improve the developmental trajectories of young children, and evidence-based practices (EBPs) are scientifically proven to improve these outcomes. Furthermore, federal law mandates that early childhood practitioners implement EBPs. However, because EBP has not been clearly defined in…

Children face increased demands for interpersonal as well as learning-related social skills, especially by the vulnerable stage of school entry, due to the more structured setting, new academic requirements, and the fact that children are supposed to interact successfully within a larger and heterogeneous peer group. Although a plethora of…

Many teachers want to provide meaningful science activities and instruction in their classroom that benefit all young children. This is consistent with the increasing focus on enhancing science experiences and instruction in preschool classrooms. Recommendations for how to engage in early childhood science activities are available, as are science…

In November 2017, Ofsted published Bold Beginnings, a report on its findings about teaching in the Reception year. Like very many practitioners in the early years, the author of this article believes this report to be of concern, as the recommendations it proposes would be so damaging for the early education of young children. She believes its…

At the preschool level in Malaysia, all preschools, including those from public and private sectors are required to follow the guidelines stated in the National Preschool Standard-based Curriculum (NPSC) issued by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in 2017. However, the NPSC is very general and schools are not provided with any further guidance on…