Dialogue journals are a form of writing in which a student and a teacher carry on a conversation over time. This paper addresses the benefits of using dialogue journals for promoting a positive social-emotional learning (SEL) environment for children in school settings. Educators and researchers have increasingly acknowledged the importance of SEL…

Early intervention is key for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND), and therefore early assessment is crucial. Information from parents about children's current ability and their developmental history can make valid and useful contributions to developmental assessments. Parental input is also important in early education…

This article describes a curriculum developed by the author and the children in her public school kindergarten class. Teaching practices that foster children's intellectual--and overall human--development are documented. The goals and purposes of schooling are discussed as well as issues pertaining to the role of the teacher, structures that…

This article illustrates how observation can help one learn about the importance of observation, the development of relationships, and how a baby becomes part of a family. Author Barbara Wightman observed the evolving relationships in a new family for 1 hour every other week beginning in the last months of pregnancy through the first 4 months of…

A university child development/early childhood education professor renews her relationship with young children and with current public school teaching by spending 5 weeks in kindergarten. This article describes some highlights of her experience: the children's daily journal writing, an in-class and take-home math activity, and teaching the…