Abstract This paper discusses the pros and cons of full-day kindergarten in California public schools. The author cites sources in favor of and against full-day kindergarten programs. The author says that these programs may hinder the development of children by not giving them enough time to run and play freely. On the other hand, the author contends, for lower-income families, a full-day program can be very beneficial. The author concludes that full-day kindergarten programs are more of an advantage than a disadvantage to today's children.
From the Paper "By definition, Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) is a class taught by a certified staff member that exceeds four hours in length, and although districts in California do not receive additional funds to lengthen the kindergarten day, there is growing interest in this subject. Previous to June of 2004, the law regarding kindergarten required that pupils must not be kept in school for more than four hours a day, excluding time for recess. After this date, Assembly Bill 2407 was passed which made FDK an option. In this bill, several requirements for districts that chose to provide FDK included 1) the hours of the extended-day program may not exceed the hours for which services are offered for pupils in other grades that receive instructional services at the school site; 2) the extended-day program shall offer opportunities for rest as well as active experiences; 3)
the extended-day program shall be based on curriculum developed to provide opportunities for social, physical, and intellectual growth and development, and 4) the extended-day program shall meet any other criteria developed by the State Board of Education."
Abstract This paper examines the theoretical and practical aspects of the effects of cultural values on standards for kindergarten readiness. The paper covers such issues as multiculturalism, the No Child Left Behind Act and human development stages. The paper includes a explanation of what kindergarten readiness implies.
From the Paper "The increasing tendency of the American education system to flood society with high school graduates possessing questionable academic skills together with increasing demands for such skills by institutions of higher education employers and society, generally cause many parents to push their children into academically challenging endeavors at very earlier ages."
Abstract This paper discusses how parents who have children that are going to enroll in a kindergarten program for the first time are now faced with the decision of whether to enroll their children in a half-day kindergarten program or to enroll them in an all-day one. The paper then provides an overview of both kindergarten programs and gives the advantages and disadvantages of each program. It also examines the advantages of an all-day kindergarten program over the traditional half-day programs in terms of educational, economic and socio-emotional factors.
Outline:
Introduction
Half-Day Kindergarten Program
Advantages of Half-Day Programs
Disadvantages of Half-Day Programs
All-Day Kindergarten Program
Advantages of All-Day Kindergarten Program
Disadvantages of All-Day Kindergarten Program
Comparative Studies
Conclusion
From the Paper "Transitions and interruptions during the day such as transferring from a kindergarten program to a childcare program are lessened because of all-day kindergarten programs. All-day programs also provide more time for one-to-one interaction between the teacher and the child learner as well as provide for a greater potential for academic performance. Lastly, all-day kindergarten programs are convenient for parents since they would not have to look for another institution of program to put their children to for the rest of the day while they are at work. Arranging child care during the workday would become less costly and less complicated for working parents when their child is in school for the whole day rather than half of the day. Another reason that supports all-day kindergarten programs is that children who have spent some of their prekindergarten years in nursery school classes or child care arrangements (often full-day) are ready for the cognitive, social, and physical demands of a full-day kindergarten (Gullo 1990)."
This paper is a research proposal to document any differences that may exist in the reading skill level of children enrolled in full-time vs. children enrolled in part-time kindergarten programs in the City of New York.
Abstract This paper explains that an increasing numbers of affluent parents enroll their children in pre-school programs that include early instruction in basics like reading and math; the question arises as to whether these children are obtaining a competitive edge over their less-fortunate peers. The paper points out that many school districts have responded to the needs of working parents by establishing full-day kindergarten programs, which are expensive for the school system. The paper proposes to use ECLAS scores of the participating children to evaluate whether children enrolled in full-time kindergartens perform better than those enrolled in part-time programs on this test.
From the Paper "As for the participating students themselves, they will be the City of New York in miniature. This will rule out any differences based on race or class. A workable system will be developed that applies to each student individually and without prejudice. Next, the teachers and staff selected for Groups A and B should be chosen based on faculty and parent recommendations, and even, if possible, on the recommendations of older students who were formerly taught by these same individuals. A choice based on multiple recommendations is essential in order to ensure that the experiment reflects "typical" conditions. A well-liked teacher might motivate her students more than an unpopular teacher. An unusually intelligent or able teacher might skew the outcome. By the same token, a biased or narrow-minded educator might thwart an objective outcome."
Abstract This paper represents research done by a student teacher in an early childhood program on instructional strategies for teaching effective reading skills in kindergarten. The objective of the paper is to demonstrate and note the importance of coaching students at the kindergarten level in the necessary skills needed to read proficiently or to help identify those students that will need additional assistance due to some reading problems. The paper presents a two-month observation interlude, coupled with information acquired through testing and other research methodologies. The paper explores three specific reading factors and the strategies needed to implement them, including phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, and vocabulary.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction
Overview
Personal Perspective and Rational for the Study
Research Questions
Chapter 2 Literature Review
Chapter 3 Methodology
Research Design and Details
Personal Role
Chapter 4 Study Details
Chapter 5 Analysis and Interpretation
Chapter 6 Conclusions
Implications
Recommendations
References
From the Paper "The younger a child is able to read and read well, the earlier that child can take advantage of the life long learning process. In addition, reading skills carry forward into all aspects of the educational system so the child in earnest can excel at all levels of school. The associated research questions that this report aims to answer are related to instructional strategies for teaching effective reading skills at the kindergarten level. By demonstrating that students at the kindergarten level who receive detailed training in phonemic awareness, reading comprehension and word Knowledge, this report will show that students that receive good training in these areas will do better at reading at their current level or they will be easily identified as students that are in need of additional assistance due to some possible problems."
Abstract This paper is a study of children's behaviour in kindergarten. It includes situations they face, a detailed analysis of their behavior and a plan of how to deal with their behavior, all written by whom they were observed. This paper describes the observations that the author made as well as his conclusions regarding the children's behaviour.
From the Paper "Observed Behavior: It is playtime, and two of the girls are at the art center having a conversation, during which they both decide that they want to do the same thing with the materials. Abby decides that if they share the piece they will both be happier. Heaven does not think that this is a good idea, for she had the piece of material first, so she argues with Abby telling her that whoever had it first gets the siding (the piece of material). Then as they are fighting, and I think that intervention will be needed, Abby decides to explain the concept of sharing to Heaven and then asks her if she understands. Heaven slowly but surely, nods her head ?yes.? They cut the piece, the person who did not actually cut, got to choose which piece of the siding she wanted in order to make it fair. Then afterwards when I came back, both girls were playing happily."
Tags: analysis, behavour, children, educations, observation, observations, plan
Abstract This paper claims that current research and evidence does not appear to support the correlation of long-range academic achievement and student success for students who have attended academic versus developmental pre-kindergarten programs. The purpose of this paper is to determine if both programs provide the children with a head start on their educational journey. The paper also determines if one approach over the other effectively addresses the following areas: Personal and social competencies; effectiveness in learning; physical and motor competencies; and safety and health.
Outline
Statement of Thesis
Introduction
Literature Review
Behavioral Elements
Conclusion
From the Paper "There are only a minority number of school kindergarten teachers who express a belief that children who begin academic instruction in the areas of reading and math will perform better in elementary school. In fact, only 30 percent think that preschool instruction of this nature has any type of lasting value with only 15 percent of teachers holding the belief that most children should be taught to read in kindergarten and 44 percent believing that children in kindergarten should not be given instruction on reading unless showing a specific interest. However teachers who are practicing in schools where poverty is predominant are more apt to believe in early formal instruction and the value of that instruction. "
Abstract This paper presents a reflection of a kindergarten classroom, its students and the teaching strategies and techniques that were used and observed by a student teacher. The paper explains the classroom dynamics and uses examples of work in a rubric pattern to explore the strategies used to teach the lessons.
From the Paper "Another teaching strategy that was commonly used was the understanding of different learning styles. To this end the students were given the opportunity to use different styles of learning for the same unit which touched on each student's strength and allowed them to learn more easily. For example the students were learning about the planets. The class studied words about the planets, they colored pictures of the planets and they created a universe on the playground by being strategically placed to model our universe. As they "revolved" around the sun (the teacher) they were taught about gravity and other elements of planet existence. The third commonly used strategy was community learning. The students were often divided into groups to work together on projects. This helped to promote the understanding of teamwork and the ability to use each student's strengths for the group goal."
Tags: observation, teaching, focus, draw, pictures, play
Abstract This paper analyzes and examines the critical aspects of the current educational system in the United States. It provides a review of the literature pertaining to school readiness, delayed entry into kindergarten and parent education programs. It concludes by discussing overarching legal requirements regarding entrance to formal education in the State of California. The paper follows by describing the regulations of a school district and the role of a local preschool in an affluent community in Southern California: Mission Viejo. It presents demographic information regarding this community as well as pertinent information about the actual rates and attitudes in the city regarding delayed entry into formal education.
Table of Contents:
Executive Summary
Statement of the Problem
Literature Review
Methodology of the Proposed Intervention
Mission Viejo, California
Local Preschools and Parents
Aims of the Intervention
Method
Recruitment
Description of the Intervention & Procedures
Training Sessions
Pacific Preschool Skills Assessment Development Scale
The Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory
Parenting Stress Index Short Form
Parenting Efficacy for Helping Children Succeed in School
Parental Beliefs Regarding Delayed Entry Questionnaire
Analysis
Pilot Study
Appendix
From the Paper "Parents are choosing to K-Shirt their age appropriate, academically prepared children due to social immaturity (B. Bruce, E. Fineberg, L. Way, personal communication, 2005; Emond, 2005; Holloman, 1990; Meisels, 1992;). The risk is that at the age of 18, the State of California will allow any child to drop out of high school. The K-shirted child could attain the age of 18 by the summer prior to their junior year in high school. As most states allow dropping out of school by the age of 16, this issue of immaturity can arise anywhere. However, in this proposal we are examining a specific population of parents who are only looking at a small amount of data around the first few years of schooling. The drop out age is raised only to inform readers that there are other aspects of immaturity to be considered."
Abstract This paper includes ten lesson plans for a group of struggling readers in kindergarten. The students were determined to have inadequate high frequency word recognition and undeveloped reading strategies which led to low rates of fluency. Each lesson uses research based techniques and focuses on high frequency word recognition, teaching reading strategies, repetitive reading and motivation. The reading strategies incorporated into the ten lessons are the following: look at the picture, get your mouth ready, look for chunks you know and does it look like a word you know.
Outline (For Each Lesson):
Objectives and Goals
Materials
Anticipatory Set
Direct Instruction
Guided Practice
Direct Instruction
Guided Practice
Independent Practice
Assessment
From the Paper "Introduce the "look for chunks you know" reading strategy. Tell them that some words are tricky to read but that there are many reading strategies that can help them read the tricky words. One of the strategies is to look for chunks you know. Display the chart. Tell the students that these words are tricky but they can read them if they look for chunks they know. Point to the word chin. Highlight the letters "in." Ask if anyone knows this chunk. Point to the letters "ch." Ask if anyone knows the sound "ch" makes. Blend the chunks and read the whole word. Repeat this process to read the other words on the chart. Tell the students that you are going to read them a story with some tricky words and that you are going to look for chunks you know to read the tricky words. Model the strategy by reading a big book with the children. When you come to a "tricky" word, mark it with highlighter tape. Model how to look for chunks you know to figure the word out."
Abstract This paper explains that phonemic awareness, which is one of the best predictors of a child's reading success, involves manipulating the sounds of spoken words. The paper also introduces the six skills of phonemic isolation, identity, categorization, blending, segmentation and deletion. In addition, the paper presents a detailed lesson to teach each of these six phonemic awareness skills to a class of pre-kindergarten aged children.
Table of Contents:
Abstract
Introduction
Objectives and Goals
Materials
Anticipatory Set
Direct Instruction
Guided Practice
Independent Practice
Assessment
Phoneme Identity
Objectives and Goals
Materials
Anticipatory Set
Direct Instruction
Guided Practice
Independent Practice
Assessment
Phoneme Categorization
Objectives and Goals
Materials
Anticipatory Set
Direct Instruction
Guided Practice
Independent Practice
Assessment
Phoneme Blending
Objectives and Goals
Materials
Anticipatory Set
Direct Instruction
Guided Practice
Assessment
Phoneme Segmentation
Objectives and Goals
Materials
Anticipatory Set
Direct Instruction
Guided Practice
Independent Practice
Assessment
Phoneme Deletion
Objectives and Goals
Materials
Anticipatory Set
Direct Instruction
Guided Practice
Independent Practice
Assessment
Phoneme Identity with Phonics
Objectives and Goals
Materials
Anticipatory Set
Direct Instruction
Guided Practice
Assessment
Phoneme Segmentation with Phonics
Objectives and Goals
Materials
Anticipatory Set
Direct Instruction
Guided Practice
Independent Practice
Assessment
From the Paper "Read "My Name is Alice". Let the children know that there is a special reason why the characters in this book are specific places and sell specific things. Tell them that you want them to listen closely as you read the book and see if they can discover what the special reason is.
"Ask the children why they think the Alice was from Alaska and sold ants? The answer is because Alice, Alaska and ant all start with the /a/ sound. Go through several of the pages and call out three of the alliteration words on each page."
Tags: assessment, anticipatory set, direct instruction, guided practice, independent practice
Abstract This paper presents a reflective observation from a writer who observed a general education kindergarten and a pre-K classroom for a period of eight weeks. In addition the writer observed an inclusion pre-K and an inclusion kindergarten classroom for a period of eight weeks. The writer then explains how the preconceived notions about the students and teaching in general changed during these observations.
Outline:
General Education Kindergarten Prior to Observing Kindergarten Preschool
From the Paper "As I began my eight week observations however, I found that many of the ideas that I had prior to the observation period simply would not work or hold up in the reality of an everyday classroom. In addition I didn't understand how important inclusion is not only to the special needs students but to the students who are not special needs. The eight week observation period in each classroom style with each age level encouraged me to develop new ideas and beliefs about the importance of inclusion at this age level and encouraged me to be open to new ideas in regular general education as well. "
Abstract As young children are increasingly enrolled in various forms of non-parental education outside of the home, there has been a growing interest since the 1960s in determining the degree to which preschool programs influence children's learning, development and later educational outcomes. A particular concern raised by those interested in the influences of preschool participation focuses on the degree to which inequalities in early care and education may be responsible for much of the inequality in later educational outcomes within the U.S. On the basis of the ongoing questions that have emerged regarding the benefits of preschool, this research report addresses and clarifies the influence of preschool on educational success in kindergarten. In addition, the research identifies factors that have been found to influence the degree to which preschool participation impacts successful educational outcomes in kindergarten. Factors under consideration are child characteristics, program characteristics and social/environmental characteristics. The study is conducted via the use of the heuristic research method in which six studies were examined for the purposes of determining the association between preschool and educational outcomes in kindergarten.
From the Paper "Similar findings were reported by Campbell, Pungello, Miller-Johnson, Burchinal & Ramey (2001) in their study of the Abecedarian Project. The study was initiated more than twenty years ago and has followed over one hundred low-income children from infancy to young adulthood. As reported by the researchers, of the 111 infants originally involved in the study, 57 were assigned to an early intervention child care program and 54 received care in some other setting. Each child in the early intervention program had an individualized program of educational activities which was designed to enhance social, emotional, and cognitive development. Children in the program received at least five years of this specialized care until they left the program for kindergarten. On the basis of ongoing measurement, the researchers reported that children who participated in the intervention program had higher cognitive test scores from the toddler years through the age of 21, as well as higher academic achievement in reading and math from the primary grades through young adulthood".
Abstract The face of education in Georgia and the nation is rapidly changing. One of the most recent contributing factors was Governor Zell Miller's decision to put an emphasis on quality education for the children of the state of Georgia. This paper shows that in 1992, after reviewing research indicating that students with strong preschool experiences are more successful in school, have higher self-esteem, and are less likely to drop out of school, Miller decided to begin the Georgia Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten Program as a part of the solution. Now that a decade has passed, this paper examines whether there exists any evidence that pre-kindergarten children are more prepared to enter the educational system.
From the Paper "While there was a time when programs did not have to follow a curriculum, that is no longer the case. Without a comprehensive curriculum there would be no direction or goal for the day-to-day learning experience. And just as importantly, the curriculum must meet the needs of the children using it. One way to know whether it is meeting their needs or not, is to observe and document. ?As teachers observe children during classroom activities, they document what they observe so they can review this information at a later time. In addition, teachers collect children's work samples and maintain a portfolio for each child.? (Dodge, Bickart, 2003,p.194)"
Abstract The paper explores whether the use of power writing improves the literacy development of kindergartners. The paper explains that power writing describes a three-step process that can be applied to all forms of expository, persuasive or personal narrative writing. The paper examines the elements of writing and the essentials for a strong writing program. The paper stresses that literacy goals must begin in the kindergarten classroom and not wait until the children can read and spell correctly.
Outline:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Problem to be Investigated
Purpose of the Study
Importance of the Study
Research Question
Definition of Terms
Chapter 2: Literature Review
What is Writing?
Essentials for a Strong Writing Program
Power Writing
Writing in Kindergarten Conclusion
From the Paper "In Ontario, student achievement in writing is assessed by the writing portion of the Grade 3 Assessment of Writing by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO). The results of these standardized tests are broken down into categories. Students consistently score lowest in the category of "organization of ideas" for the reading and writing segment. Realizing the need for improvement, the school boards, the schools, and the administrators are able to establish and implement a set of strategies and interventions to achieve progress. It is their responsibility to ensure that primary students have the best possible opportunity to become effective writers. Educators know that children's reading and writing achievement at the end of Grade 3 will depend in large part on the reading and writing instruction they receive in Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2 and so they work collaboratively to ensure seamless progression (Ministry of Education, 2003)."
