This article illustrates the potential of using children's play and interest in constructive materials like LEGO bricks to support early literacy, particularly in improving the use of descriptive language. The article describes an action plan using storytelling and constructive LEGO play to improve the children's use of descriptive language and…

Early literacy is a key predictor of grade-level reading and school success. Too often, however, young children do not have equitable access to literacy-rich environments that foster the skills needed to attain reading proficiency by the end of third grade. While high-quality preschool and early elementary programs are necessary early literacy…

The author reflects on using the language of mathematics to explore the many different cultures represented in their kindergarten class population. A student demonstrating counting in Mandarin became the catalyst for a month-long inquiry into researching how numbers look and sound in dozens of different languages. Throughout this experience,…

The present article takes on the contemporary challenge of equalizing early childhood education (ECE). Research has particularly highlighted this in relation to children having the majority language as an additional language during the early years. The purpose here is to create knowledge regarding how multilingual interaction, teaching, and…

Several federal mandates have eradicated developmentally appropriate early literacy practices in primary grade classrooms across the country. Studies show that patterns of oral language use are developed extensively during the preschool years and lay a foundation for literacy development. In recent years, high quality pre-kindergarten classrooms…

Researchers agree that attention to bilingualism and biliteracy can and should be a goal in all educational settings where young dual language learners are present. The challenge, however, is how to promote biliteracy development while remaining congruent with principles of developmental direction, specifically the idea that children's…

Equity can be described as the elimination of privilege, oppression, disparities, and disadvantage that historically have excluded those belonging to particular groups. This is the first and overarching of several research policy briefs around issues of equity. When taken as a whole, these briefs will create a space and open a dialogue around the…

The author describes her two-year experience of living in China and how this molded her attitudes about English language learners in Texas. Examples drawn from the Nanjing International School show how one school worked to meet the needs of a diverse group of students, with more than 70% learning English as a second language. The practical…

The authors use Noam Chomsky's theories about generative grammar to discuss the notion of linguistic creativity they believe lies at the core of storytelling as Salman Rushdie pictures it in his novel, "Haroun and the Sea of Stories." The production of meaning through the use of narrative helps explain the rules of the literary game,…

Mathematical Mediated Language (MML) is a teaching technique designed to enhance children's learning. Teachers who use MML engage in a dialogue with children about mathematics concepts that apply to the activity in which they are engaged. This dialogue links "conceptually related linguistic and mathematical knowledge." In other words, teachers…

In the first part of this article we will briefly point out the learning areas in the Norwegian Framework plan for contents and tasks in kindergartens from 2006, and argue that the introduction of these areas means a large potential for focusing on different kinds of subject-oriented language in kindergarten. We will present some features of…

This inquiry applied Bakhtin's dialogic process to the pretend play of preschool children using an interpretive approach. It used vignettes from videotaped data and Bakhtin's theories of dialogism and heteroglossia to provide an understanding of how children appropriate social roles and rules in pretend play and use a variety of "voices"…

Maryellen G. Paquette reveals the excitement and learning that can occur when high school students are presented with multiple opportunities to play. Activities that employ playful language and the whole body allow students to embody, name, and identify with complicated emotions and situations in Shakespeare's plays. In addition, play can be…

The element of play is underutilized in the secondary classroom in spite of the fact that play produces unique opportunities for meaningful learning. The ways in which the elements of epic poetry, Beowulf, and the Old English diction differed from the modern usage is discussed.

This article discusses how to work with a child who uses inappropriate language. The words inappropriately used by young children are grouped into five categories: (1) names of body parts considered as private, and their nicknames; (2) bathroom words and body products; (3) religion-related words; (4) sexually charged words overheard when adults…