Volume 40, Number 3, 2012 Traditional, Project, Reggio Â° Family ...

Traditional, Project, Reggio 

° 

Family Engagement 

° 

Mentoring 

° 

Beginning Reading 

Volume 40, Number 3, 2012

Meet The 

speakers 

for SECA 2013 

We’re going to Mobile, Alabama for our SECA 2013 conference and our 

theme is Hand-in-Hand: Children and Nature. Our speakers will be bringing 

you information that you can use to transform your outdoor play space into 

an Exemplary Outdoor Classroom. 

Keynote & Featured Speakers 

Thursday, February 28, 2013 

Opening General Session/ 7:00 pm 

David Kisor 

The Power of Music to Build Social and 

Emotional Skills 

Attendees will learn how songs can be used 

to promote social and emotional development 

in early learners. The songs that we 

will explore are based on important findings 

in the fields of resiliency theory, mastery 

motivation and positive psychology. 

Friday, March 1, 2013 

Friday Morning General Session 

Professor Robin C. Moore 

Outdoors by Design: Why? How? Who Wins? 

Across human history, children have spent 

large chunks of each day outdoors, learning 

about the wondrous world around them, 

including each other. Landscape design can 

be an effective tool in helping to create an 

antidote to contemporary lifestyles: compelling, 

naturalized, outdoor learning environments. 

Friday Afternoon Featured Session 

Susie Wirth of Nature Explore & 

Kevin Carnes of Lakeshore 

Learning, Inc. 

Successful Outdoor Classrooms in 

Both Urban & Rural Environments 

An outdoor classroom spurs outcomes 

in all curriculum areas, and children will 

develop independence and confidence, 

enhancing their own concept of self and the greater world around 

them as they explore the outdoors. 

Susie Wirth is Nature Explore Outreach 

Director for the Arbor Day Foundation 

and Dimensions Educational Research 

Foundation. Kevin Carnes is President 

of the Educational Division at Lakeshore 

Learning Materials. 

Saturday, March 2, 2013 

Saturday Morning Featured Session 

Susie Wirth of Nature Explore The Arts and Nature 

Discover engaging art experiences inspired by nature that help 

children make deeper connections with the world around them. 

Experience the Look-Move-Build-Sketch planning tool that 

encourages multi-faceted arts exploration. 

Sarah Livesay & Angel Rohnke 

“Growing Up WILD: 

Exploring Nature With 

Young Children” 

Featured Session/1:00-4:00 pm/Thursday, February 28, 2013 

(requires separate registration) 

Come play with us as we romp through this nationally award-winning environmental 

education curriculum guide created specifically for early childhood classrooms. Growing Up 

WILD®, brings wildlife and nature into focus using art, math, science, literacy, nutrition 

and physical activities for the early childhood educator. Journey with us as we introduce 

the exciting new research identifying the importance of a child’s connection to the outdoor 

world in relation to their psychological and physical development. Participants each receive 

a copy of the full-color guide, which is correlated to NAEYC, Head Start and My Plate! 

Food pyramid standards. 

For more information about our speakers, go to http://www.southernearlychildhood.org/seca_conference_speakers_and_schedules.php

Southern 

Early Childhood 

Association 

Editor - Janet F. Brown 

Cover photo by Elisabeth Nichols 

Dimensions of 

Early Childhood 

Copyright ©2012, Southern Early Childhood 

Association (SECA). Permission is not required to 

excerpt or make copies of articles in Dimensions 

of Early Childhood if they are distributed at no cost. 

Contact the Copyright Clearance Center at 

(978) 750-8400 or www.copyright.com for permission 

for academic photocopying (coursepackets, 

studyguides, etc.). Indexes for Dimensions of Early 

Childhood are posted on the SECA web site at 

www.SouthernEarlyChildhood.org. Additional 

copies of Dimensions of Early Childhood may be 

purchased from the SECA office by calling (800) 

305-SECA. Dimensions of Early Childhood (ISSN1068- 

6177) is SECA’s journal. Third Class postage is paid at 

Little Rock, Arkansas. SECA does not accept responsibility 

for statements of facts or opinion which appear 

in Dimensions of Early Childhood. 

Authors are encouraged to download a copy of 

SECA’s manuscript guidelines at 

http://www.southernearlychildhood.org/become_ 

member_get_involved.php. Submit manuscripts 

that are typed and double spaced with references 

in APA style. E-mail manuscripts for review to the 

editor at editor@southernearlychildhood.org. 

SECA serves the interests of early childhood 

educators concerned with child development, including 

university researchers and teacher educators; early 

childhood, kindergarten, and primary-grade teachers; 

and early childhood program administrators and proprietors. 

The association has affiliates in 13 Southern 

states. Non-affiliate memberships are available to anyone 

living outside the 13 affiliate states. For information 

about joining SECA, contact the executive offices 

at P.O. Box 55930, Little Rock, AR 72215-5930, (800) 

305-7322. Members receive a one-year subscription to 

Dimensions of Early Childhood and discounts on SECA 

publications and conference registration fees. 

Southern Early Childhood Association 

P.O. Box 55930 

Little Rock, AR 72215-5930 

(800) 305-7322 

editor@southernearlychildhood.org 

www.southernearlychildhood.org 

Volume 40, Number 3, 2012 

Refereed Articles 

3 

“What is a wheel?” The Image of the Child: 

Traditional, Project Approach, and Reggio Emilia Perspectives 

Peggy L. Martalock 

13 

Encourage Family Engagement at Home 

Helene Arbouet Harte and Jaesook L. Gilbert 

20 

Observe, Reflect, and Apply: 

Ways to Successfully Mentor Early Childhood Educators 

Marilyn Chu 

30 

Small-Group Reading Instruction: 

Lessons From the Field 

Tara Wilson, Diana Nabors, Helen Berg, Cindy Simpson, and Kay Timme 

Departments 

2 

President’s Message 

Nancy Cheshire

Alabama 

Arkansas 

Florida 

Georgia 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

Nancy Cheshire 

President 

West Virginia 

ncheshire@ma.rr.com 

Dr. Janie Humphries 

Past President 

Louisiana 

humphries@latech.edu 

AFFILIATE REPRESENTATIVES 

Mississippi 

Oklahoma 

South Carolina 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Virginia 

West Virginia 

2 Vol 40, No 3, 2012 

Richard Hardison 

richard@certraining.org 

Dr. Joanna Grymes 

grymesj@astate.edu 

Sister Roberta Bailey 

roberta.bailey@saintleo.edu 

Anita Dailey 

adailey@centralgatech.edu 

Katie Shaughnessy-Williams 

katie.williams@education.ky.gov 

Cindy Ramagos 

cynthia.ramagos@la.gov 

Beverly Peden 

bpeden@comcast.net 

Marti Nicholson 

mnicholson@oklahomachildcare.org 

Crystal Campbell 

sugarmama77@gmail.com 

Lisa Maddox-Vinson 

gotastorylisa@hotmail.com 

Mary Jamsek 

mjamsek@me.com 

Joyce P. Jones 

jpjones@hopewell.k12.va.us 

Melissa D. Smith 

melissa.d.smith@wv.gov 

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE 

Florida 

Carol Montealegre 

carmonte@bellsouth.net 


Dr. Floyd Creech 

fcreech@fsd1.org 

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE 

Dr. Jaesook Gilbert, Chair 

Kentucky 

Dr. Wilma Robles-Melendez 

Florida 

Dr. Catheryn Weitman 

Texas 

Jeff Leffler 

Mississippi 

Dr. Christine J. Ferguson 


Charlotte Hendricks 

Alabama 

Martha Garner 

Louisiana 

Janet F. Brown 

Editor 

Dr. Joanna Grymes 

SECA Board Liaison 

Dr. Anita McLeod & Dr. Bobbie Warash 

Book Review Editors 

STAFF 

Glenda Bean 

Executive Director 

Maurena Farr 

Administrative Assistant 

Deanna Griffith 

Assistant 

Dear Friends, 

President’s 

Message 

Are you familiar with the children’s book, Old Hat New Hat? It was a favorite of 

one of my sons. Never did I dream while I was reading and rereading this little 

book, that it would one day remind me of SECA Conferences. However, here I am 

reflecting on the story of Mr. Bear’s shopping adventure to purchase a new hat. He 

entered the hat shop wearing his favorite “old” hat. He tried on hats of many different 

styles, sizes, and fabrics, until he discovered the perfect hat. As he happily places 

his old hat on his head and leaves the store he says, “Just right. Just right. Just right.” 

When I talk with SECA members, the statement I hear repeatedly is “I love SECA 

conferences.” I believe it is because we provide outstanding professional development 

in an atmosphere that blends Southern hospitality, networking, and friendliness. 

We meet together with respect for each other and leave the conference with renewed 

dedication to our profession. If you join us for the 2013 SECA Conference in 

Mobile, Alabama, you will enjoy a meaningful and enlightening professional experience. 

And as you return to your home, I believe you will say the conference was “Just 

right!” 

The 2013 Conference theme is Hand in Hand: Children and Nature. Do you remember 

the joy and pleasure you found as a child when digging in the dirt, building 

an outdoor fort, biking, hiking, picnicking, or reading under a shady tree? Come to 

Mobile and learn how to make a positive difference in the lives of Southern children 

by providing good-quality outdoor classroom experiences. Enjoy keynote presentations 

about environmental early childhood education curriculum and outdoor experiences 

that help our children gain independence, confidence, and appreciation for 

the world in which we live. Indeed, children and nature do go hand in hand! 

Institutes and seminars, scheduled prior to the start of conference sessions, provide 

opportunities for networking with other professionals as we focus on this year’s 

outstanding topics. We have one that is “Just right” for you. Conference attendees 

will gain new ideas, make new friends, and leave with a renewed desire to make early 

childhood education “just right” for children. 

As I reflect on my personal SECA Conference experiences, I remember coming 

home with exciting new ideas to use in my preschool classroom. When I was a 

program director, I came home with ideas to enhance my leadership skills and new 

friends with whom I could network. In more recent years, I looked forward to coming 

to conference and leaving with information I could share in my college classroom, 

ideas to enhance our campus student group, and personal feelings of being 

energized and empowered. I found SECA Conferences to be “just right” for me. I 

hope you will join us in Mobile, Alabama and you, too, can tell your friends, “The 

conference was just right!” 

Berenstain, S., & Berenstain, J. (1970). Old hat new hat. New York, NY: Random House. 

Nancy Cheshire 

Dimensions of Early Childhood

“What is a wheel?” 

The Image of the Child: 

Traditional, Project 

Approach, and Reggio 

Emilia Perspectives 

How does a teacher’s image of children influence how children learn, 

the role of the teacher, and the curriculum? Three common perspectives 

are explored in this enlightening article. 

Peggy L. Martalock 

“I can feel smell inside me…going everywhere in my 

body… 

it can’t get out because my skin closes it up in my bones… 

perfumes go up your nose and then into your brain… 

your brain thinks and it helps your nose, you have to 

suck in with your nose!” 

“Everything has its own smell. You smell it and you recognize 

it because it has a different perfume.” 

These preschool children were participating in an 

investigation, along with their teachers, about the complexities 

and nuances of the concept of smell. They also 

conceived the idea of trapping and collecting smells; an 

idea that seems to be fantastical and close to impossible, 

yet it became a “shared project for catching the uncatchable” 

(Balducci, 2009). 

The children drew their ideas for elaborate and spectacular 

smell-catching machines that included pipes for 

good and bad smells, an antenna that beeps when it 

What does image of the child mean? 

Educators influenced by the Reggio Emilia philosophy use this 

phrase. It refers to what people believe, understand, and assume 

about the role of children in education and society. This image includes 

how people think about children’s capabilities, development, 

motivations, purpose, and agency. Social, cultural, and historical 

experiences influence a person’s image of the child. 

detects a smell, and a robot with a cage for keeping the 

smells. The children’s investigation of the intangible, 

mysterious, and illusive sense of smell eventually led to 

a construction with large, clear plastic cylinders. Some 

small holes were drilled to accommodate children’s 

noses. Inside the cylinders, children put items to smell 

such as biscuits and coffee. 

The cylinders, along with drawings and signs written 

by the children, were placed around the city in which 

the children lived as an invitation to the community to 

stop, smell, enjoy, and wonder about how the sense of 

smell speaks to us in all kinds of ways. 

In reflecting on this investigation, what ideas did 

the teachers have about how young children learn and 

work together? What was their image of the child? The 

answers to these questions largely determined how and 

what children learned. 

What Is the Image of the Child? 

Image of the child is a phrase used by educators influenced 

by the Reggio Emilia philosophy of early childhood 

education (Fraser & Gestwicki, 2002; Gandini, 

1997; Scheinfeld, Haigh, & Scheinfeld, 2008). It refers 

to what a person, or group of people, believe, understand, 

and assume about the role of children in education 

and society. This image includes how people think 

Dimensions of Early Childhood Vol 40, No 3, 2012 3

“What is a wheel?” The Image of the Child: Traditional, Project Approach, and Reggio Emilia Perspectives 

about children’s capabilities, development, 

motivations, purpose, and 

agency. Social, cultural, and historical 

experiences influence a person’s 

image of the child. 

Everyone develops an image of the 

child through their experiences as 

part of a community and culture, as 

well as through what they have been 

taught both in school and at home 

(Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 1999; 

Lancy, 2008). People may not be 

consciously aware of the image they 

hold, or even recognize the beliefs 

and assumptions that are part of 

their image of the child. 

Everyone develops 

an image of 

the child. 

It is important for educators to 

reflect on their image of children 

because that perspective affects the 

decisions teachers make every day 

in their classrooms. Consider the 

example in Table 1 of how two 

teachers’ interpretations of a child’s 

motivation and capability can impact 

educational decisions. 

Of course it is important for all 

children to learn letters and sounds. 

However, these two interpretations 

of the child’s behavior show different 

aspects of an image of the child. This 

image of the child is an important 

factor in how teachers implement 

theories of early childhood education 

in the classroom. 

Three Perspectives 

Come Alive! 

Table 1. Contrasting Interpretations of a Child’s Motivation and Capability. 

Two preschool teachers, Chad and Letitia, are playing a sound-letter matching game with 

a child. Evan struggles to make connections between letter sounds and the beginning letters 

of the names of objects on the table. 

One teacher, Chad, interprets this as a lack of Evan’s motivation. Chad believes Evan 

needs more instruction and practice. 

The second teacher, Letitia, notes that Evan was very carefully watching her body 

language. He was trying to read her subtle cues in order to pick the right answer. Evan is 

capable of very close observation. He noticed how Letitia tilted her head and moved forward 

ever so slightly when he moved his finger over the correct object. Letitia believes that Evan 

is very motivated to figure out how to make meaning about his interaction with his teachers. 

Current theories of early childhood 

education are in large part 

based on the work of Piaget (Gallagher 

& Reid, 1981), Vygotsky 

(1978), and Dewey (1925). Educators 

understand that children take 

an active and interested role in 

interacting with their environment 

and the people around them to 

make sense of and construct meaning 

about the way things work. This 

is generally viewed as a constructivist 

approach to education. 

The National Association for 

the Education of Young Children 

(NAEYC) states that a constructivist 

approach to teaching and learning 

is effective and relevant for creating 

meaningful and long-lasting educational 

experiences for children. 

Several prominent theories and 

bodies of research view cognitive 

development from the constructivist, 

interactive perspective. 

That is, young children 

construct their knowledge and 

understanding of the world in 

the course of their own experiences, 

as well as from teachers, 

family members, peers, and older 

children. They also apparently 

are capable of and interested 

in abstract ideas, to a far greater 

degree than was previously believed.” 

(NAEYC, 2010, p. 14) 

Subjects & Predicates 


It is important for educators to reflect on their image of children because that 

perspective affects the decisions teachers make every day. Differing interpretations 

of a child’s motivation and capability impact educational decisions. 



Table 2. Attributes of Three Early Childhood Perspectives 

Image of the Child Role of the Teacher Curriculum 

Reggio 

Emilia 

Philosophy 

• Competent 

• Powerful 

• Knowledgeable 

• Motivated to 

communicate and 

engage in society 

• Actively co-constructs 

knowledge with peers 

and adults 

• Interested in and 

capable of exploring 

complex and abstract 

ideas 

• Listen to and recognize children’s 

interests and ideas 

• Uncover children’s theories 

• Interpret and reflect on possible 

meanings and big ideas 

related to interests 

• Challenge and support children 

to extend and deepen 

their understandings 

• Facilitate shared understandings 

among children and 

teachers 

• Be a learner and a researcher 

• Unlimited possibilities 

• Planned yet flexible, based 

on children’s responses and 

interactions 

• Include on-going explorations 

and projects based on 

children’s interests 

• Materials and activities are 

designed to challenge and 

communicate children’s 

thinking processes and understandings 

• Emphasis on processes of 

thinking and communicating 

Project 

Approach 

• Curious 

• Active hands-on learners 

• Concrete thinkers 

• Motivated to find answers 

to their questions 

• Gain knowledge 

through interactions 

with adults 

• Recognize children’s interests 

and questions 

• Develop concrete, hands-on 

learning activities based on 

children’s interests 

• Guide children in finding 

answers 

• Incorporate project work into 

existing curriculum frameworks 

• Based on children’s interests 

about concrete and tangible 

subjects 

• Follows a 3-phase model of 

project development 

• Activities designed to answer 

children’s questions and 

show what they have learned 

• Emphasis on process to accomplish 

a final product 

Traditional 

Model 

• Passively receive knowledge 

• Interested in simple 

ideas and activities 

• Needy (“meet the needs 

of the child”) 

• Plan themes and units for the 

school year 

• Develop activities and provide 

materials relating to themes 

• Based on pre-determined 

themes 

• Activities are designed to be 

fun and focus on making a 

product 

Note: Derived from Fraser & Gestwicki (2002), Helm & Katz (2011), Scheinfeld, Haigh, & Scheinfeld (2008) 

Translating constructivist theory 

into the early childhood classroom 

and integrating it with instruction 

and curriculum guidelines may 

have as much to do with examining 

and understanding what educators 

believe about children (the 

image of the child) as it does with 

understanding theory or curriculum 

standards. 

The image of the child is embedded 

in three common approaches to early 

childhood education: a traditional 

model, the Project Approach, and the 

Reggio Emilia philosophy. Some of 

the primary attributes of each approach 

are compiled in Table 2. 

Traditional Model 

In the traditional model, early 

childhood teachers typically use 

themes or thematic units to organize 

and plan the curriculum. Themes are 

chosen by the teacher, or provided by 

a set curriculum, and represent what 

some educators believe are important 

for children to learn. Common examples 

include the seasons, transportation, 

and community helpers. 

A teacher may pre-plan an entire 

year, scheduling a new unit every 

other week or so. When it is time for 

the transportation unit, the teacher 

typically takes out the transportation 

box. Books about cars, trucks, and 

airplanes are put on the bookshelf, 



The Project Approach and the 

Reggio Emilia philosophy are two 

specific frameworks for integrating 

projects into the curriculum. They 

have several things in common but 

there appear to be some beliefs and 

assumptions about the image of the 

child that differ slightly between the 

approaches. 

Translating constructivist theory into the classroom and integrating it with instruction 

and curriculum guidelines may have as much to do with understanding what 

educators believe about children, the image of the child, as it does with understanding 

theory or curriculum standards. 

the dramatic play area is transformed 

into a school bus and gas station, 

and pictures of people traveling are 

put on bulletin boards. Activities 

for the week usually include singing 

“The Wheels on the Bus,” painting 

paper fire trucks, learning “B” is for 

bus, and putting together railroad 

tracks and roads in the block area. 

This model represents a mostly 

teacher-driven educational experience 

for children. In this case, the 

child just shows up and participates 

in whatever is made available. 

The traditional model appears to 

represent an image of the child as a 

passive receiver of information. The 

teacher holds the information and 

provides it to the children through 

decisions made solely by the teacher. 

The teacher believes and/or assumes 

that he or she knows what children 

are interested in, what they need to 

learn, and how to teach it to them. 

Children are in a passive and needy 

position. Their thoughts or ideas 



need not be taken seriously when 

planning curriculum or activities. 

The traditional model does not 

support an active and engaged image 

of the child, a child who constructs 

knowledge through the process of 

interacting with people and ideas 

(Brooks & Brooks, 1993). 

Project-Based Approaches 

Project-based approaches are rooted 

in the interests of the children, not 

in what might interest children in 

general, but in the specific interests of 

the particular children in a classroom 

(Helm & Katz, 2011; Katz & Chard, 

1989). The teacher’s goal is to uncover 

or recognize through close observation, 

listening, and talking with the 

children what might be of particular 

interest to them. 

These approaches represent an image 

of the child as motivated, engaged 

in making sense of the world, and full 

of ideas and thoughts that are worth 

exploring and taking seriously. 

The Project Approach 

Young Investigators: The Project 

Approach in the Early Years (Helm & 

Katz, 2001) defines and outlines a 

specific structure for implementing 

a project-based approach in early 

childhood classrooms. The Project 

Approach is “an in-depth investigation 

of a topic worth learning more 

about” (Helm & Katz, 2011, p. 2). 

Guidelines are provided for choosing 

appropriate topics. “The topic 

should be more concrete than abstract” 

(Helm & Katz, 2011, p. 17). 

Children should have some familiarity 

with the topic. The topic should 

allow for direct experience, including 

field trips, site visits, or available experts. 

Typical topics of project work 

include vehicles, plants, bugs, small 

animals, or community jobs such as 

firefighter or mail carrier (Helm & 

Katz, 2011). 

The subject must be worth the time 

spent on the investigation in order to 

“[relate] to the overall goals of children’s 

education” and “[accomplish] 

specific outcomes, such as those listed 

in most standards for early childhood 

education” (Helm & Beneke, 2003). 

Implementing the Project Approach 

follows three distinct phases. 

The first phase is finding out what 

the children already know about a 

topic and what they want to know 

about that topic (Helm & Katz, 

2011). Teachers engage in a series of 

discussions with the children, sometimes 

creating a web to help organize 



the thoughts and ideas and reveal 

areas of the topic to be explored. 

These activities typically result 

in a list of questions the children 

have about the topic. Questions are 

primarily concrete and direct, with 

the goal that children will be able to 

find answers to these questions from 

outside resources. The image of the 

child is of a person full of thoughts and 

ideas as well as motivated to engage in 

learning more about a topic. 

The second phase consists of 

investigating the topic through field 

trips, expert visitors, books, activities, 

and experiments designed to 

guide the children in researching 

answers to their questions. “The key 

feature of a project is that it is a research 

effort deliberately focused on 

finding answers to questions about a 

topic” (Helm & Katz, 2011, p. 7). 

During this phase, children represent 

what they are learning as they 

draw, write, construct, engage in 

dramatic play, and through other 

experiences. If interest in the topic 

continues to be strong and/or if 

more questions arise during the research 

phase, the cycle is repeated. 

In the final and third phase, there 

is a culminating event to mark the 

close of the investigation. Often this 

includes some large-scale group construction 

made by the children, such 

as a cardboard airplane or a book 

they made that integrates and shares 

what they have learned during the 

course of the project. This represents a 

strong and capable image of the child, 

engaged as a researcher, taking initiative, 

and representing knowledge in 

various ways. 

The Reggio Emilia Philosophy 

The Reggio Emilia philosophy of 

early childhood education originated 

in the northern Italian town of Reggio 

Emilia after World War II (Edwards, 

Gandini, & Forman, 1998). 

Since then, ideas and principles from 

the Reggio Emilia philosophy have 

spread worldwide and currently 

influence many early childhood programs 

in the U.S. (North American 

Reggio Emilia Alliance, 2008). 

This philosophy is not a method 

or a defined curriculum, but a set 

of guiding principles that relate to 

every aspect of creating a culture 

of learning and teaching (Gandini, 

1997). The Reggio Emilia philosophy 

explicitly includes the image of 

the child as a basic principle. Teachers 

must actively reflect on and make 

explicit their own image of the child 

in order to productively integrate 

principles of the Reggio Emilia 

philosophy into their teaching and 

learning with children. 

Educators and scholars of Reggio 

Emilia directly confront the role of 

the image of the child in creating 

a culture of education and make 

explicit the image that they promote. 

These two statements clarify the image 

of the child. 

The cornerstone of our experience, 

based on practice, theory 

and research, is the image of the 

children as rich, strong, and powerful. 

The emphasis is placed on 

seeing the children as unique 

subjects with rights rather than 

simple needs. They have potential, 

plasticity, the desire to 

grow, curiosity, the ability to be 

amazed, and the desire to relate 

to other people and to communicate. 

(Rinaldi, 2002, p. 19) 

A rich child is not an empty 

vessel waiting to be filled, but 

is one born equipped to engage 

actively and immediately in 

learning. As such, young children 

must be treated with seriousness, 

recognizing that their 

ideas are worth listening to 

and exploring with them. (Fraser 

& Gestwicki, 2002, p. 20) 

From this perspective, the child is 

part of a process of co-constructing 

knowledge and shared understanding 

with both peers and adults. The 

ability to construct shared understandings 

is an important part of the 

process of knowledge construction 

(Malaguzzi, 1993). 

In other words, children may work 

together to reach a consensus about 

an idea, topic, or goal that may or 

may not be rooted in a real or tangible 

subject. For instance, a group 

of children may be interested in the 

idea of fairies and work together to 

define the characteristics of a fairy by 

drawing, painting, pretending, and 

discussing fairies until they come to 

some agreed-upon definitions. 

Another example from Schafer 

(2002) involves 4- and 5-year-old 

children working out their ideas 

about the concept of gravity. The 

children discuss, with the teacher, 

whether or not gravity is inside or 

outside of the body, and if it is outside 

of the body, how does it make 

the body “stay down” (p. 189). The 

intention is not that the children 

come to an exact or entirely accurate 

understanding of gravity, but 

rather that they engage together, 

along with the teacher, in an ongoing 

process of sharing ideas and 

building common understandings. 

Here, the image of the child is not 

only motivated and engaged in learning 

about concrete, tangible subjects 

but also capable of constructing shared 

understandings about abstract and 

intangible ideas. 

Projects in the Reggio Emilia 

philosophy progress through cycles of 

documentation, reflection, and action 

(Forman & Fyfe, 1998). Teachers 



reflect on documentation they have 

gathered and generate ideas and hypotheses 

about the work and interests 

of the children. 

Children are often directly included 

in planning for the classroom. 

Activities, materials, challenges, and 

problems are developed that engage 

both teachers and children. These 

may serve to focus, or expand, thinking 

and understanding of the topic 

of investigation. 

This general cycle—documentation, 

reflection, and action— 

continues throughout the project. 

A project may end in a culminating 

event or construction that reveals 

and celebrates the work of the 

children and teachers. 

The following transportationrelated 

projects are explored as they 

might unfold from the perspectives of 

the traditional, Project Approach, and 

Reggio Emilia philosophy. Each reveals 

underlying images of the child. 

Illustrations of 

the Three Approaches 

Traditional Model 

Bill and Janessa follow a traditional 

model to organize and plan for their 

preschool classroom. At the beginning 

of the year they decide on the 

major themes that will guide planning 

throughout the year. One of the 

themes is transportation, so they plan 

a unit on community vehicles that 

include busses, ambulances, and fire 

trucks. Before the children arrive, Bill 

and Janessa put up pictures of these 

vehicles on a bulletin board, they stock 

the bookshelf with related picture 

books, and they prepare a dramatic 

play area with fire hats, a play medical 

kit, and arrange chairs to make a bus. 

Typical learning activities: Bill 

and Janessa teach the children the 


Children learn by actively engaging with the world around them. Through 

interactions with adults, peers, and the objects in their environment, children 

are constantly in the process of making meaning about the world. 

song “Wheels on the Bus” and read a 

picture book about a city bus. After 

meeting time children go to tables 

and are given large pieces of paper 

that say “B is for Bus,” with a picture 

of a bus to color. After children color 

their buses, teachers assist them with 

brads, to attach wheels to the bus 

that will turn when pushed. The busses 

are put up on a bulletin board. 

Image of the child: This reflects 

an image of the child that passively 

receives information from the teachers 

and needs to be given an activity 

that ends with a product. 

Further explorations: After a day 

or two of activities about busses, Bill 

and Janessa read a story to the children 

about firefighters and their jobs at the 

fire station. The activity for the morning 

is to make a fire hat out of construction 

paper. The children are helped to 

write their names on a gold star and 

glue it onto the hat. The children can 

wear the hats around the classroom and 

pretend to be firefighters. 

On the last day of the week, 

Bill and Janessa tell the children 


about ambulances and play a circle 

game where the children take turns 

choosing a friend to help by pretending 

to drive them around the 

circle to the hospital. 

Next week the bulletin boards, 

books, and activities will focus on 

trains and airplanes. Bill and Janessa 

provided some fun activities, books, 

and songs and the children were 

expected to participate in whatever 

the teachers had planned. 

Assessment: If most of the children 

remember that bus starts with 

B and can say something about what 

firefighters or paramedics do, these 

teachers consider their unit to have 

been successful. 

Project Approach 

Sheila and Joan teach in a preschool 

that incorporates the Project 

Approach into the curriculum. Sheila, 

her assistant Joan, and their class 

of 4- and 5-year-olds often pass by 

a fire station on their weekly walks. 

The children are always excited to 

see fire trucks. Sheila and Joan think 



that fire trucks would make a good 

topic for a project. At meeting time, 

they talk with the children about fire 

trucks. Children have a lot to say 

about how big they are, their color 

and shininess, the sirens, how fast 

they go, and about going to fires. 

At the next meeting time, they 

discuss fire trucks again and begin to 

make a web together of all the things 

children know about fire trucks: 

fire trucks are red, some have ladders, 

they carry a lot of equipment, 

firefighters wash the trucks and keep 

them clean. Then Sheila and Joan 

talk with the children about what 

questions they have or what they 

wonder about fire trucks. They make 

a list of questions, for example: Is it 

scary to ride on a fire truck? What 

do all of the buttons and controls 

do? Where is the siren? 

Typical learning activities: Sheila 

and Joan ask the children if they 

would like to visit the fire station 

and the children are very excited 

about this idea. They begin to plan 

for the visit by reviewing their list 

of questions. Sheila and Joan want 

children to take an active part in 

asking questions and gathering information. 

In the classroom, children 

practice asking questions before they 

head out to the fire station. Sheila 

and Joan tell the children that they 

are real investigators and will bring 

back real information. At the fire 

station, children ask their questions 

and draw pictures of the fire truck to 

help them remember. 

Image of the child: Sheila and 

Joan support an image of the child as 

active and motivated to seek answers 

and increase their understanding. 

Further explorations: Sheila and 

Joan notice that the children often 

pretend to be fire fighters driving a 

fire truck. They ask the children if 

they would like to make a fire truck 

for the classroom. This is an activity 

that will enable many children to 

participate in various ways, yet create 

a group product together. The children 

are excited about this idea. 

Sheila and Joan brainstorm with 

children about what items they will 

need for this part of the project. 

A parent donates a couple of large 

cardboard boxes and other materials 

are gathered that might be used 

for lights, buttons, hoses, and other 

parts. Over the next few days, the 

children make decisions about how 

to construct the fire truck. They 

paint the outside, choose the right 

size lights, decide how many can ride 

inside at a time, and make sure as 

many details are included as possible. 

Sheila and Joan suggest that children 

share what they have learned 

about fire trucks with their families. 

Each child is asked to tell something 

she or he knows about fire trucks, 

for example: Fire trucks are bright 

yellow so people can easily see them. 

Sheila and Joan write down these 

comments in a book. Some children 

write one or two words that 

they know, such as siren or hose, 

and some children draw pictures of 

a fire truck for the book. The book 

becomes the culminating product of 

the fire truck project. 

Assessment: Sheila and Joan facilitated 

a project that enabled children 

to research information about fire 

trucks. The children actively participated 

and took initiative in making 

decisions throughout the course of 

the project. However, the focus of 

the project remained bounded by 

the concrete and tangible subject of 

the fire truck. The children learned 

new vocabulary and made decisions 

together about building the cardboard 

fire truck. The teachers made 

numerous connections to learning 

guidelines and standards. 

Reggio Approach 

David and Mariah co-teach a class 

of 4- and 5-year-olds in a preschool 

that integrates principles of the 

Reggio Emilia approach. They notice 

that the small cars and trucks in 

the classroom are very popular with 

children. David and Mariah take 

pictures of how children use the cars 

and trucks. They write down some of 

the conversations and arguments between 

the children that arise because 

everyone wants to play with them at 

the same time. 

David and Mariah reflect together 

and wonder what it is about cars and 

trucks that make them so interesting 

to children. They invite children to 

choose a car or truck that they like 

and using inkpads, make tracks on 

large pieces of paper. 

While the children are working, 

the teachers prompt discussion with 

comments such as, “Tell me about 

your car.” or “What do you like 

about that car?” David and Mariah 

write down the children’s responses 

and notice that nearly every child included 

a comment about the wheels 

or about how the car moved. David 

and Mariah hypothesize that it 

might be the wheels and the quality 

of movement that make the cars and 

trucks so interesting. They wonder 

what the children know about 

wheels. This becomes the beginning 

of a project about wheels. 

Typical learning experiences: 

David and Mariah decide to invite 

children to go on a wheel hunt 

around the school. They ask children 

to point out any wheels that they 

see. David and Mariah think this 

will identify some conceptions of 

what children think is a wheel. 

The children point out objects 

that include wheels on a picture of 

a truck, circle shapes, and round 



three-dimensional objects. David 

and Mariah ask the children to explain 

their choices. Some disagreements 

emerge among the children. 

Some say that if it is round it is a 

wheel and some say that it needs to 

“go around” to be a wheel. 

David and Mariah take pictures 

of these wheels and write down the 

reasons the children gave about what 

makes something a wheel. Later, 

during a meeting time, they show 

the pictures of the wheels and pose 

this question: Is there a difference 

between a circle shape and a wheel? 

Through on-going debate and 

discussion, moderated by the 

teachers, the children come to the 

following consensus about wheels: 

Wheels are round. Wheels go 

around. Wheels move. Wheels roll. 

Wheels make it go. Wheels might 

have something that goes through 

the middle of them. 

The children have created a working 

definition of a wheel. In this 

case, correct answers may be a part 

of the work but more important is, 

the opportunity to think hard, 

argue, gather data, reconsider, 

graphically represent their 

ideas, and co-construct meaning…[about 

a shared interest]. 

The accuracy of the children’s 

understanding is less important 

than the fact that existing 

schemes [lead] to more complex 

schemes, and eventually to 

a well-defined theory that [can] 

be articulated and defended. 

(Schafer, 2002, p. 191) 

Image of the child: David and 

Mariah’s image of the child supports 

children as active, capable, and motivated 

to articulate and debate ideas 

in a process of co-constructing a shared 

understanding with others. 


Further explorations: David and 

Mariah provide an opportunity for 

the children to experiment with the 

idea that a wheel has a hole in the 

middle that something goes through. 

They gather materials including 

wooden and plastic spools (with 

holes in the middle and also with 

holes that are off-center), metal 

rings, straws, and dowels. They challenge 

children to build something 

with these materials that will roll. 

Children notice that if a straw or 

dowel is placed in a hole that is off 

center, it rolls in a circle instead of a 

straight line. Over the course of a few 

days, the children work and try many 

different ideas. One problem keeps 

surfacing: the wheels keep coming off 

the ends of the dowels as they roll. 

During this time the children also 

keep experimenting with different 

objects to determine if they can be 

called a wheel. For instance, a small 

group of children have a recycled CD 

and are considering if it is a wheel or 

not. One child tries to roll it on its 

thin edge and it falls over. So, because 

it does not go around and roll, they 

declare it not a wheel. 

Then another child picks up the 

CD and deftly sends it rolling across 

the floor on its thin edge. They all 

exclaim, “It is a wheel!” and “It has a 

hole in the middle!” 

In another group, a child is making 

the claim that it can only be 

called a wheel when it is actually 

turning around, otherwise it is not 

a wheel, only a circle. The children 

are running into a real-world problem 

of how to create a definition 

that is concise enough to be understood 

yet not so restrictive that it 

becomes useless. 

Assessment: For David and 

Mariah and the children in their 

classroom, there is no one final 

product to culminate the project. 

David and Mariah send documentation 

of the children’s work home to 

families throughout the project. The 

exploration about wheels continued 

to evolve. After several weeks the 

children’s interests moved into other 

areas that were perhaps related to or 

inspired by the work with wheels, 

including steering wheels, ramps, 

traveling, and maps. 

David and Mariah can also use 

the documentation to assess various 

aspects of children’s learning and 

development, such as the abilities to 

communicate ideas and listen to others, 

engage in contrast and comparison 

activities, and experiment with 

the physical properties of motion. 

* * * 

Research reveals that children learn 

by actively engaging with the world 

around them. Through interactions 

with adults, peers, and the objects 

in their environment, children are 

constantly in the process of making 

meaning about the world. Projects 

and project work are part of the discourse 

of early childhood education 

as a means of incorporating active 

and engaged learning opportunities 

in the classroom. As can be seen 

from the examples, project work can 

encompass a wide range of possibilities 

depending on the approach and 

the underlying image of the child. 

No matter where early childhood 

teachers are on a continuum—from a 

traditional model, to a project-based 

curriculum, or a philosophy such as 

the Reggio Emilia approach—they 

will benefit from reflecting on their 

own image of the child. 

All good teachers want young 

children to be strong, motivated, 

and engaged learners in the classroom. 

A teacher’s image of the 

child may support, or inadvertently 



detract, from this goal. Questions 

to ask oneself include: 

• Are children seen as recipients of 

information and a teacher’s job is to 

give them the right information? 

• Are children viewed as curious 

and interested in important 

things and the teacher’s job is 

to support them as active researchers, 

finding out the right 

answers? 

• Are children considered to be 

capable of engaging in a process 

of thinking and re-thinking 

together about important ideas 

that result in a shared construction 

of knowledge? 

• Or is the view of the child a 

combination of these things? If 

so, how do teachers negotiate 

this in the classroom? 

The culture in the United States 

of standardized learning outcomes 

may seem to place constraints on 

early childhood education that limit 

expanding or shifting concepts of 

knowledge and the image of the 

child. Yet this should not prevent 

teachers from uncovering and reflecting 

on these important ideas. The 

Project Approach maintains a focus 

on inquiry and investigation rooted 

in concrete and tangible subjects. 

The Reggio Emilia philosophy goes 

a step further and includes abstract 

ideas and the process of coconstructing 

theories as an important 

aspect of learning and teaching. 

Each approach provides avenues 

to demonstrate learning outcomes, 

but it is up to early childhood 

teachers to determine how to reach 

those outcomes. Reflecting deeply 

on the meaning of knowledge, the 

value of the process of constructing 

shared understandings, and how the 

image of the child influences these 

ideas will give teachers insight into 

the decisions they make every day 

in their classrooms. 

Early childhood educators are 

urged to seek ways to incorporate, 

integrate, and value a full range of 

possibilities in their classrooms. 

Teachers can create an atmosphere 

where they can recognize the 

strength and depth of children’s 

knowledge, their desire to communicate, 

and their ability to engage in 

learning and thinking together. 

References 

Balducci, E. (2009). Traces of smell: There’s a world 

in my nose. Browsing through ideas. Reggio Emilia, 

Italy: Reggio Children. 

Brooks, J.G., & Brooks, M.G. (1993). In search of 

understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. 

Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and 

Curriculum Development. 

Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., & Pence, A. (1999). Beyond 

quality in early childhood education and care: Postmodern 

perspectives. Philadelphia, PA: Routledge- 

Falmer. 

Dewey, J. (1925). The development of American 

pragmatism. In L.A. Hickman & T.M. Alexander 

(Eds.) (1998). The essential Dewey, Volume 

1, pragmatism, education, democracy (pp. 3-11). 

Bloomington: University Press. 

Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (1998). 

Introduction: Background and starting points. In 

C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.), The 

hundred languages of children (pp. 5-26). Greenwich, 

CT: Ablex. 

Forman, G., & Fyfe, B. (1998). Negotiated learning 

through design, documentation, and discourse. In 

C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman (Eds.), The 

hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia 

approach—Advanced reflections (pp. 239-260). 

Westport, CT: Ablex. 

Fraser, G., & Gestwicki, C. (2002). Authentic 

childhood: Exploring Reggio Emilia in the classroom. 

Albany, NY: Delmar. 

Gallagher, J.M., & Reid, D.K. (1981). The learning 

theory of Piaget and Inhelder. Monterey, CA: 

Brooks/Cole. 

Gandini, L. (1997). Foundations of the Reggio 

Emilia approach. In J. Hendrick (Ed.), First steps 

toward teaching the Reggio way (pp. 14-23). Upper 

Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 

Helm, J.H., & Beneke, S. (Eds.) (2003). The power 

of projects: Meeting contemporary challenges in early 

childhood classrooms—strategies and solutions. NY: 

Teachers College Press. 

Helm, J.H., & Katz, L. (2011). Young investigators: 

The Project Approach in the early years (2nd ed.). 

NY: Teachers College Press. 

Katz, L.G., & Chard, S.C. (1989). Engaging 

children’s minds: The Project Approach. Norwood, 

NJ: Ablex. 

Lancy, D. (2008). The anthropology of childhood: 

Cherubs, chattel, changelings. NY: Cambridge 

University Press. 

Malaguzzi, L. (1993). History, ideas, and basic 

philosophy. In C. Edwards, L. Gandini, & G. Forman, 

(Eds.), The hundred languages of children (pp. 

41-89). Norwood, NJ: Ablex. 

National Association for the Education of Young 

Children. (2010). Position statement: Developmentally 

appropriate practice in early childhood programs 

serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved 

from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSDAP.pdf. 

North American Reggio Emilia Alliance. (2008). 

Schools and organizations map. Retrieved from 

http://www.reggioalliance.org/ 

Rinaldi, C. (2002). Negotiating the curriculum. In 

S. Fraser & C. Gestwicki (Eds.), Authentic childhood 

(p. 163). Albany, NY: Delmar. 

Schafer, A. (2002). Ordinary moments, extraordinary 

possibilities. In V. Fu, A. Stremmel, & L. Hill 

(Eds.), Teaching and learning: Collaborative exploration 

of the Reggio Emilia approach (pp. 183-195). 

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. 

Scheinfeld, D.R., Haigh, K.M., & Scheinfeld, S.J.P. 

(2008). We are all explorers: Learning and teaching 

with Reggio principles in urban settings. NY: Teachers 

College Press. 

Vygotsky, L. (1978) Mind in society: The development 

of higher psychological processes. In M. Cole, V. 

John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman (Eds.). 

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 

About the Author 

Peggy L. Martalock, M.A., is a Doctoral 

Candidate and Instructor; School of 

Education; Department of Teacher Education 

and Curriculum Studies; Children, 

Families, and Schools Program; 

University of Massachusetts, Amherst. 

She has 15 years experience teaching in 

early childhood classrooms with an emphasis 

on project work and long-term 

investigations. Martalock collaborates 

with a wide range of educators, including 

those influenced by the Reggio 

Emilia approach and the use of documentation 

for curriculum development. 

Her current research regards teacher 

development and making children’s 

knowledge visible in the classroom and 

the community. 


These Ideas With a Professional Book 

Connect Three Perspectives on Children With a Professional Book 

By Michelle Cutler-Ervin 

We Are All Explorers: Learning 

and Teaching With Reggio 

Principles in Urban Settings 

By Daniel R. Scheinfeld, Karen M. Haigh, and 

Sandra J.P. Scheinfeld. Foreword by Lella 

Gandini. (2008). 191 pp. $29.95 New York, NY: 

Teachers College Press. 

These authors’ combined knowledge and understanding 

guide the reader through the Chicago Commons Child 

Development Program’s application of Reggio Emilia 

principles. Their book is organized into three sections 

spanning the program’s decade-long journey. Chapters 2 

through 8 focus on the teaching-learning process: emergent 

curriculum, the learning environment, and classroom 

management. Chapters 9 through 11 examine the application 

of Reggio principles in three contexts: parent 

relationships, professional development, and program 

organization. The final chapter is a reflection of the experience, 

concluding with suggestions for educational leaders 

planning to introduce Reggio ideas to teachers. 

This book acts as a translator for educators interested 

in implementing the Reggio Approach in the United 

States. The use of rich conversations between and among 

the teachers and children help the reader gain an understanding 

of children’s interests and meaning. Children’s 

thinking and learning is made visible as well through the 

teacher as “co-constructor.” 

The authors provide a well-articulated plan in the 

classroom management chapter for teachers to introduce a 

new group of children to the processes of the Reggio 

Approach. The plan also details how to facilitate co-learning 

with emergent, collaborative curriculum planning. 

The reader is invited to co-construct knowledge. Each 

chapter ends with thought-provoking questions that focus 

on key issues such as collaboration, relationships, concept 

development, implementation, and documentation. The 

process may be a challenge for readers who struggle with 

self-driven study. 

This book would be an excellent tool for pre-service 

and in-field educators, administrators, and professional 

development leaders. It would be advantageous to use for 

workshops or by groups of educators wanting to learn 

more about the Reggio Approach. 

Michelle Cutler-Ervin, M.A. Ed., Director, Middle Georgia Technical College Child Development Center, 

Warner Robins, Georgia. 



Encourage Family 

Engagement at Home 

How can family members join in activities at home that are both 

enjoyable and that promote children’s long-term development? Find 

out how to encourage families to make the most of their everyday 

moments together! 

Helene Arbouet Harte 

and Jaesook L. Gilbert 

Children develop within the context of their family 

and environment. Family involvement plays a key role in 

enhancing children’s development, as revealed by years of 

research (e.g., Connell & Prinz, 2002; Fantuzzo, Mc- 

Wayne, Perry, & Childs, 2004; Gibbons, 2010; Gonzalez-DeHass, 

Willems, & Holbein, 2005). 

A key component in the whole child’s development 

is consistent engagement in increasingly challenging 

activities over time with people to whom children are 

mutually attached (Bronfenbrenner, 2005). Families are 

wise to provide guidance within the zone of proximal 

development (Vygotsky, 1978)—the area between what 

the child can do on his/her own currently and what the 

child will be able to do with guidance or assistance from 

an adult. 

Zone of proximal development 

the area between what the child can do on his/her own and 

what the child will be able to do with guidance or assistance 

from an adult. 

When adults engage children in just-right challenges, 

children’s development is enhanced and they can accomplish 

tasks successfully and independently. For example, 

children who have involved families may have better 

reading skills and language development (Bennett, Weigel, 

& Martin, 2002; Reese, Sparks, & Leyva, 2010). 

While all participation of families is important, engagement 

at home may have a more significant impact 

than involvement in school (McCoy & Cole, 2011). 

Responsive father-child interactions with preschool 

children may be related to increased reading and math 

scores through middle childhood (Coley, Lewin-Bizan, 

& Carrano, 2011). 

Engaging children in their natural environment (e.g., 

home) is beneficial not only to children but also to the 

parent-child relationship overall (McCoy & Cole, 2011). 

Parents participating in an early intervention program 

using an approach aimed at enhancing parents’ skills and 

knowledge to facilitate child learning reported increased 

feelings of confidence, competence, and awareness of 

children’s strengths and interests (Swanson, Raab, & 

Dunst, 2011). 

According to the NAEYC Developmentally Appropriate 

Practice position statement, “children develop best 

when they have secure, consistent relationships with 

responsive adults” (2009, p. 13). Other important components 

of developmentally appropriate practice include 

valuing the importance of play and engaging in experiences 

that influence positive approaches to learning, so 

children remain eager to learn (NAEYC, 2009). All of 

these recommendations can be addressed at school as 

well as at home. 

However, lack of time may be a barrier to families even 

if they feel committed to working with their children 

and believe in the importance of their involvement. 

Families may also resist doing an activity with their children 

if this activity is viewed as just one more task they 

must accomplish before bedtime. 

Activities that involve children and adults in daily 

tasks, such as cooking or laundry, can become fun learning 

opportunities and enable adults and children to play 

together while accomplishing necessary tasks. Ideas for 

parental engagement that use everyday moments and 

daily tasks at home are provided here, along with suggestions 

for teachers on different ways to present these 

engagement ideas to increase the likelihood that they 

will be implemented. 



Transfer Early Childhood 

Know-How to Home 


When adults engage children in just-right challenges, children’s development is 

enhanced and they can accomplish tasks successfully and independently. For example, 

children who have involved families may have better reading skills and language 

development. 

Early childhood educators intentionally 

teach throughout the day 

as children are actively involved in a 

range of activities. Even daily classroom 

routines and activities such 

as snack time or circle time provide 

occasions for children’s learning and 

mastering new concepts and skills. 

For example, teachers may use 

snack time as an opportunity to 

discuss quantity and comparison of 

more/less when children are asked, 

“Who has more pretzels, me or 

you?” and “I have two pretzels. If I 

eat one, how many will I have left?” 

These interactions—adult questions 

and child responses—create 

a meaningful context for exploring 

number, equations, and properties 

of mathematics. 

As children are encouraged to 

become more aware of the food 

they are eating by responding to 

thought-provoking questions, 

children simultaneously deal with 

abstract representation of numbers 

or equations in an authentic situation. 

Intentionally integrating and 

embedding various subject areas 

into daily routines help children see 

that math, literacy, science, and 

social studies concepts are all 

around them every day. 

One of the outcomes from integration 

of concepts and skills may be 

that children learn to value learning. 

They process information as a whole 

rather than as isolated activities in 

specific content areas. 

Children also are likely to engage 

in experiences that enable them to 

think like scientists and mathematicians 

and see themselves as readers 

and writers. Thus, early childhood 

educators seize upon natural happenings 

and daily tasks to introduce 

and reinforce all subject content. 

Teachers can empower families to 

use the same strategies at home with 

their children. 

Family engagement 

at home may 

have more impact 

than school 

involvement. 

Make Family 

Engagement Appealing 

Some early childhood teachers— 

who are well aware of their vital 

place in supporting families’ abilities 

to support children’s learning 

and development—provide homework 

and other classroom extension 

activities to facilitate children’s 

learning and increase family 

involvement at home. 

Photo courtesy of the authors 

However, these traditional parent 

involvement activities may be perceived 

by families as extra items to be 

added to an already long to-do list, 

no matter how well-meaning teachers 

intend them to be. Even if parents 

understand the importance of their 

involvement, these tasks are not likely 

to be completed with relish at home. 

When teachers are willing to share 

with parents their teaching strategies 

that reinforce concepts and knowledge 

by maximizing opportunities 

throughout the day, families’ involvement 

with their children can increase 

at home. Families will be pleased to 

have ideas and learning strategies to 

help them interact with children during 

their daily chores or routines. 

Seize Everyday Moments! 

When recommending developmentally 

appropriate teaching 

strategies to families, suggest interactions 

that rely on everyday household 

items and situations. One 

possibility is to encourage families 

to enhance children’s language and 

communication skills. 



• With infants, this may simply 

involve talking about what is 

going on around them. 

• This talk turns into naming 

ordinary objects with toddlers. 

• At the preschool level, this 

simple talking about what is going 

on advances—introduce new 

vocabulary and extend the scope 

of word meaning within the 

context of natural conversations 

(NAEYC, 2009). 

By maximizing communication 

opportunities that early childhood 

teachers have with families—such as 

home visits, family activity nights, 

daily notes, and conferences—early 

childhood educators can talk with 

families about their routines and 

suggest learning strategies. 

Use these interactions to make a 

connection to classroom content. 

For example, a simple family activity 

might suggest: “Today we read the 

book Freight Train by Donald Crews 

and talked about the different colors. 

When you are in the living room 

or kitchen at home, you and your 

children might play I-Spy with different 

colors all around.” Share the 

idea verbally, in a newsletter, or on a 

daily note. 

Some teachers use a “Message of 

the Day” on a dry-erase board or 

Internet site, which families read 

at the end of the day. One message 

might be: “Find a letter in your 

child’s name on signs on your way 

home.” Families can do this when 

they walk, drive, or ride a bus. 

When coming up with activities 

for families to engage in with their 

children, consider family routines 

and other opportunities. Ask families 

about their routines, what they enjoy 

doing together, and what learning 

activities they may already be doing. 

Activities that involve children and adults in daily tasks, such as cooking or laundry, 

can become fun learning opportunities and enable adults and children to play 

together while accomplishing necessary tasks. 


Become more aware of what is doable 

for families’ contexts. As a result, the 

home activities will make better sense 

for families and may actually be carried 

out at home. 

Capitalize on 

everyday moments 

and daily tasks. 

Learn Through Daily Routines 

Any daily routine provides great 

opportunities for learning through 

play. These suggestions of family 

engagement are very easy to do. 

Getting Dressed 

• With infants, describe attributes 

of clothing as it is put on. Talk 

about what the adult is doing 

and what is coming next. “Off 

goes the wet diaper. Here comes 

a dry diaper. Hooray! I bet that 

feels better. Now I’m putting on 

your blue pants.” 

• With toddlers, adults can label 

or count items on clothing. “I 

see three butterflies. Where are 

those butterflies?” Make some 

activities into a song: “I looked 

at your shirt and what did I see? 

I saw four buttons, count them 

with me.” (Use any familiar 

tune, such as “Twinkle, Twinkle 

Little Star.”) 

• With preschoolers, provide 

choices about clothing. “You can 

wear your red sweater or your 

blue sweater. Which one do you 

choose?” After a choice is made, 

sing about the colors. “Lily 

wore a purple shirt, purple shirt, 

purple shirt. Lily wore a purple 

shirt, all day long.” 


Food Preparation 

• With toddlers, point out simple 

letters, numerals, shapes, or colors 

on food packages. Talk about 

the sounds made when children 

mix or stir. 

• With preschoolers, prepare 

simple recipes that children can 

help with such as fruit smoothies, 

trail mix, or vegetable soup. 

Encourage children to count 

items as they go into the mixtures. 

Ask children if they can 

think of anything that rhymes 

with an ingredient. Introduce 

texture words such as stiff or wet. 

Eating 

• With infants, caregivers count and 

name items as they feed the baby. 

“You have 1-2-3 Cheerios®.” 

• With toddlers, serve food in a 

creative way. Put food in a pattern 

or shape and talk about it. 

“Let’s make a pattern. Apple, 

cheese, apple, cheese, apple. 

What comes next? Yum!” 

Doing Laundry 

• Toddlers can help put clothes 

into the washer or dryer. Sing or 

chant with children: “The washing 

machine, the washing machine, 

the clothes go in dirty, the 

clothes come out clean!” Children 

can label items with adults as 

they chant and put them in the 

machine, such as shirts, socks, 

and pants. 

• Preschoolers can truly help. 

Teach them to sort their socks 

and talk about making a match 

or a pair. “I found two white 

socks. Where is a pair of black 

socks?” (At first, narrow choices 

to make pairs easier to find so 

children can be successful.) 



Shopping 

• With preschoolers, make a list 

together. Use simple, specific 

pictures and words of the things 

children are expected to find: 3 

bananas, 1 box of granola. 

Gardening 

• Toddlers and preschoolers can 

help in the garden, in a yard, or 

in pots on a windowsill. While 

they plant flowers, water plants, 

pull weeds, and pick fruits and 

vegetables, children learn how 

things grow and how to care for 

living things. Count and name 

the number of weeds pulled or 

strawberries picked. Notice their 

colors, shapes, and textures. 

Compare their tastes. 

All of these activities can be 

supplemented with connections to 

children’s literature. Read children’s 

books related to daily routines before 

or after the activity, and discuss the 

book during the activity. Growing 

Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert has 

pictures of vegetables and includes a 

recipe. Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her 

Wash by Sarah Weeks is a silly book 

about hanging laundry and other 

items to dry. Children can have fun 

retelling the story while helping with 

laundry sorting. The Flower Garden 

by Eve Bunting illustrates taking 

flowers from the store to a home 

and one way to plant a garden. The 

Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss shows a 

boy caring for his seed and believing 

a carrot will grow even if others are 

not so convinced. 

Refer to and talk about specific 

books while engaging in everyday activities. 

Here are some ideas of how 

to have fun with books. 

Enjoy Books 

• The Doorbell Rang by Pat 

Hutchins is about how to divide 

cookies the family made as more 

and more guests arrive. Have fun 

with activities related to the book. 

1. Bake cookies. Read out loud 

each step of the recipe together. 

Children help measure, 

count, stir, and watch how 

cookies change when they are 

baked. (Note: Some concepts 

children learn include literacy, 

math, science, following directions, 

and safety.) 

2. Figure out how many cookies 

to give to each family member. 

Count all of the cookies, 

count how many family 

members are present, and 

then help children determine 

how to divide the cookies 

equally. (Note: Children are 

exploring beginning math 

concepts.) 

• To Market, To Market by Ann 

Miranda is a fun rhyming book. 

Families can go to the grocery 

store and help their children 

think up words that rhyme with 

items on the shelf or in the 

cart. Model a rhyme and then 

have the child come up with 

a word—real or made up. As 

children play with words and 

rhymes, they build early literacy 

skills. Other books related to 

grocery shopping include What’s 

in Grandma’s Grocery Bag? by 

Hui-Mei Pan and Feast for 10 

by Cathryn Falwell. 

• The Jacket I Wear in the Snow 

by Shirley Neitzel is a rhyming 

book about all of the items a 

child puts on to bundle up to 

play in the snow. 

1. While getting dressed to go 

outside, repeat phrases from 

the book together. The phrase 

does not have to be exactly 

what it is in the book. Have 



Children will enjoy being with their 

parents AND feel like they are contributing 

to their family’s well-being. 

References 

Sharing literature with groups of children about what they do at home sends the 

message that these daily routines are not only fun but also a learning 

experience as well. Children can see how much they have in common. 

fun coming up with phrases. 

(Note: The goal is to encourage 

children to play with 

words as well as connect 

books to real life.) 

2. Play “What’s Missing?”. Line 

up items related to the book 

such as a hat, mittens, and 

scarf. Name each item. Count 

the items. Feel their texture. 

Cover them with a blanket or 

have children close their eyes. 

Take one item away. Ask, 

“What’s missing?” 

3. After reading the book, talk 

about the story and then 

name items of clothing appropriate 

for different weather. 

Make a game by asking silly 

questions such as, “What 

would happen if I wore a 

swimsuit in the snow?” and 

positively respond to children’s 

reactions. (Note: The 

goal is to help children think 

about the effect of temperature 

on clothing selection. If 


needed, suggest more appropriate 

items with a short 

explanation.) 

When families read books about 

daily routines with their children, 

they re-visit what they did together 

during the day. Parents and children 

can talk to each other about their 

favorite parts of activities. Sharing 

literature with groups of children 

about what they do at home sends 

the message that these daily routines 

are not only fun but also a learning 

experience as well. Children can see 

how much they have in common. 

* * * 

Teachers of young children can 

readily facilitate family engagement 

with their children at home. Suggest 

opportunities for families to 

embed learning within what they are 

already doing or need to do. Activities 

related to their daily routines or 

tasks with content connected with 

what children are learning at school 

are more likely to be completed. 

Bennett, K.K., Weigel, D.J., & Martin, S.S. (2002). 

Children’s acquisition of early literacy skills: 

Examining family contributions. Early Childhood 

Research Quarterly, 17, 295–317. 

Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005). Ecological systems 

theory. In U. Bronfenbrenner (Ed.), Making 

human beings human: Bioecological perspectives on 

human development, (pp. 106-173). Thousand 

Oaks, CA: Sage. 

Coley, R.L., Lewin-Bizan, S., & Carrano, J. 

(2011). Does early paternal parenting promote 

low-income children’s long-term cognitive skills? 

Journal of Family Issues, 32(11): 1522–1542. doi: 

10.1177/0192513X11402175 

Connell, C.M., & Prinz, R.J. (2002). The impact 

of childcare and parent-child interactions on 

school readiness and social skills development for 

low-income African American children. Journal of 

School Psychology, 40(2), 177-193. 

Fantuzzo, J., McWayne, C., Perry, M.A., & Childs, 

S. (2004). Multiple dimensions of family involvement 

and their relations to behavioral and learning 

competencies for urban, low-income children. 

School Psychology Review, 33(4), 467-480. 

Gibbons, M. (2010). Promoting effective homeschool 

connections for the English language 

learner. Academic Leadership, 8(4), 46-49. 

Gonzalez-DeHass, A.R., Willems, P.P., & Holbein, 

M.F.D. (2005). Examining the relationship 

between parental involvement and student motivation. 

Educational Psychology Review, 17(2), 99-123. 

McCoy, E., & Cole, J. (2011). A snapshot of local 

support for literacy: 2010 survey. London, England: 

National Literacy Trust. 


Children (NAEYC). (2009). Developmentally appropriate 

practice in early childhood programs serving 

children from birth through age 8: A position statement 

of the National Association for the Education of 

Young Children. Retrieved from: http://www.naeyc. 

org/positionstatements/dap 

Reese, E., Sparks, A., & Leyva, D. (2010). A review 

of parent interventions for preschool children’s 

language and emergent literacy. Journal of Early 

Childhood Literacy, 10(1), 97–117. 

Swanson, J., Raab, M., & Dunst, C.J. (2011). 

Strengthening family capacity to provide young 

children everyday natural learning opportunities. 

Journal of Early Childhood Research, 9(1), 66–80. 

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development 

of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, 

MA: Harvard University Press. 



About the Authors 

Helene Arbouet Harte, Ed.D., is Assistant 

Professor of Education at University 

of Cincinnati, Blue Ash College, 

Cincinnati, Ohio. Harte has worked 

with young children and families as a 

preschool teacher, director, behavior 

therapist, and trainer for 17 years. She is 

co-author of Born Learning TM Academy, 

a school-based workshop series based 

on the Born Learning TM Public Engagement 

Campaign to teach parents how to 

engage children and facilitate learning 

within daily moments. 

Jaesook L. Gilbert, Ph.D., is Associate 

Professor of Early Childhood Education, 

Northern Kentucky University, 

Highland Heights, Kentucky. Gilbert 

has held numerous teaching and administrative 

positions within early care and 

education. She currently provides training 

and consultation in addition to her 

university teaching. Gilbert is co-author 

of Born Learning TM Academy. 

Your Fall Issue of 

the SECA Reporter 

Be sure that you check out the latest 

issue of the SECA Reporter. In this 

issue you’ll find the following articles: 

• First Lady Hosts First Ever Kids’ 

“State Dinner” 

• Did You Forget? Making Sure 

Children are Transported Safely 

• Letter to the Editor: 

The Importance of Child Care 

• Learning Science, Reading, Writing & Arithmetic Outdoors 

• SECA Resources to Extend These Articles 

The SECA Reporter is posted at 

http://www.southernearlychildhood.org/publications_reporter.php 

Meet the SECA Editorial Committee 

We have a wonderful group of volunteers who serve as the “editorial advisors” for the Southern Early Childhood 

Association. They meet once a year to help SECA develop a publishing agenda for the next year and also serve as 

reviewers for manuscripts that are considered for Dimensions of Early Childhood. For more information about the 

Committee, go to http://www.southernearlychildhood.org/seca_editorial_committee.php. 

During the next year, we’ll announce many new opportunities to contribute to SECA’s publication efforts. The 

Editorial Committee is just one of those opportunities….we hope you’ll consider working with us to strengthen and 

enhance SECA publishing to meet the needs of our members. 

Jaesook Gilbert, Ph.D., Chair 

Kentucky 

Dr. Charlotte Hendricks 

Alabama 

Martha Garner 

Louisiana 

Wilma Robles de Melendez, Ph.D. 

Florida 

Catheryn Weitman, Ph.D. 

Texas 

Joanna Grymes, Ph.D., 

SECA Board Liaison 

Arkansas 

Jeff Leffler 

Mississippi 

Dr. Christine J. Ferguson 


Bobbie Warash, Ed.D., 

Professional Book 

Review Editor 

West Virginia 



These Ideas 

With Books 

Connect Parental Engagement With a Children’s Book 

Carol D. Hughes 

Time To Get Dressed 

Written and Illustrated by Elivia Savadier. (2006). 

New Milford, CT: Roaring Brook Press. 

Solomon is a toddler who is certain that he can get himself 

ready in the morning. This delightful book is perfect for 

ages one and up and will bring a smile to all adults as they 

relate to what Daddy goes through to get Solomon ready in 

the morning. The illustrations are beautifully done and the 

expressions on Daddy’s face reveal his love, patience, and at 

times, his exasperation. 

Classroom Ideas! 

LITERACY: Repeated sentence beginnings 

in this story encourage children to read along 

with an adult. Read other books, such as Brown 

Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, to encourage 

similar early literacy experiences. Teachers 

are urged to loan books with repeated text to families so they 

can read them with their children as a part of their nighttime 

routine. 

A bc 1+2=3 

ART: At home or school, toddlers can tear out 

pictures of clothing, shoes, jackets, or mittens, 

and paste them on construction paper to make 

collages. Preschoolers can trace around each 

other’s bodies while lying on large sheets of 

paper on the floor and then draw themselves 

wearing their favorite outfits. Older children can make paper 

dolls with their families and create paper doll clothes in 

which to dress their dolls. 

MATH: Help older children notice clocks 

throughout the book as they learn how to tell 

time. How much time does Daddy spend getting 

Solomon ready to leave for the day? With 

children, look for clocks in the classroom. Ask 

families to look for clocks at home and in the neighborhood. 

They could take photos of the clocks or make journal notes 

about them. Instead of writing times on schedules, use pictures 

of clocks depicting the time. Take into account both digital 

clocks and clocks with hands. 

Social/Emotional Skills: Solomon tried to 

dress and feed himself, but realized that he still 

needed Daddy’s help. Make a T-chart with children 

to list and compare tasks they can do alone, 

and others with which they still need an adult’s 

help. Ask families to encourage younger children to put on their 

own clothes, including jackets, sweaters, and boots. 

PRETEND PLAY: Offer dress-up and doll clothing so children can refine skills 

such as zipping and buttoning and tying while they play, at home or school. 

Role model how to talk with children about the process: “First, let’s match the 

two parts of the zipper. This small, straight part fits in the piece with the handle. 

Down it goes, inside. Now you’re ready to pull up on the zipper. Upppp it goes!” 

Carol D. Hughes, Teaching AA, Training Coach for the Early Learning Coalition of Escambia County, Florida. 


Observe, Reflect, and Apply: 

Ways to Successfully Mentor 

Early Childhood Educators 

What strategies lead to effective mentoring and long-term improvement 

in classroom teaching practices? These practical recommendations—for 

program directors, supervisors, adult educators, and other mentors— 

are based on coaching and inquiry research. 

Marilyn Chu 

Inspiring an early childhood teacher to explore new 

ideas that promote young children’s development and 

learning is one of the great rewards of being a teacher 

educator, coach, or mentor. Yet the goal of the mentoring 

process—to connect effective strategies to a teacher’s 

actual interactions with young children—requires more 

than just providing inspiration and sharing knowledge. 

The broadest and oldest term for ongoing guidance to 

support professional development is mentor. Mentoring is: 

“a relationship-based process between colleagues 

in similar professional roles, with a more experienced 

individual with adult learning knowledge 

and skills, the mentor, providing guidance and 

example to the less-experienced protégé or mentee. 

Mentoring is intended to increase an individual’s 

personal or professional capacity, resulting 

in greater professional effectiveness.” (Lutton, 

2012, p. 84; NAEYC & NACCRRA, 2011, p. 10) 

The inquiry or teacher-researcher strategies described 

in this article are methods supported in part by research 

on coaching effectiveness (Rush & Shelden, 2005) 

and teacher study, action research, and inquiry groups 

(Somekh, 2010; Stremmel, 2007; Wilson, 2008). Mentors—teacher 

educators, supervisors, and others—are 

encouraged to adapt these research-based practices as 

they work with early childhood teachers. 

Why Mentor? 

A national dialogue is underway about how to implement 

effective early childhood professional development 


strategies. Many states are seeking to improve the quality 

of programs for young children. Teachers are urged to 

engage in professional development opportunities that 

promote research-based teaching practices that result in 

positive outcomes for children (Buyssee, Wesley, Snyder, 

& Winton, 2006). 

Quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) are 

being developed and strengthened with incentives for 

early childhood teachers to engage in evidence-based 

practices. QRIS systems with required professional 

development components are also included in the federal 

Race to the Top, Early Learning Challenge Grant priorities 

(Mardell, Fiore, Boni, & Tonachel, 2010). 

What does effective professional development look 

like? A growing body of study indicates that effective 

professional development should 

• be ongoing, 

• include self-assessment, and 

• be associated with specific criteria or expert feedback 

that is aligned with instructional goals, learning 

standards, and curriculum materials (Darling- 

Hammond, Wei, Andree, Richardson, & Orphanos, 

2009; Trivette, Dunst, Hamby, & O’Herin, 2009). 

High-quality mentoring lowers staff turnover, decreases 

the isolation of caregiving (Kagan, Kauerz 

& Tarrant, 2008), and increases teachers’ emotional 

responsiveness when interacting with children (Howes, 

James, & Ritchie, 2003). These types of individualized, 

practice-focused approaches to professional development 

have positive effects on teachers’ practices and/or on 

child outcomes (Zaslow, Tout, Halle, Whittacker, & 

Lavelle, 2010). 

Note: This article is based on M. Chu (in press). Developing mentoring and coaching relationships in early care and education: A 

reflective approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. 


Observe, Reflect, and Apply: Ways to Successfully Mentor Early Childhood Educators 

High-quality mentoring 

• lowers staff turnover 

• decreases the isolation 

of caregiving 

• increases teachers’ emotional 

responsiveness when interacting 

with children 

Mentors who focus on specific 

teacher interests and work dilemmas, 

and who are knowledgeable, make a 

difference with teachers who ultimately 

positively influence children 

(Stichter, Lewis, Richter, Johnson, & 

Bradley, 2006). Mentors who listen 

to the experiences, dilemmas, and 

interests of teachers are especially 

effective when they offer ongoing 

encouragement and feedback to 

strive for high standards in ways that 

respect the cultural and program 

context (Chu, Martinez-Griego, & 

Cronin, 2010). 

One-shot workshops, which may 

be full of valuable information, rarely 

lead to long-term change in teaching 

practices (Guskey, 2000; Joyce & 

Showers, 2002). In contrast, embedded 

professional development—a 

mentor who observes teaching 

practices (Knight, 2007; 2009) 

and encourages reflection on them 

(Shidler, 2009)—more effectively 

supports application of new practices. 

Of course, health and safety concerns 

must be addressed at once. 

First, Build Trust 

A supportive and responsive professional 

relationship is needed for 

the mentoring process to begin (Fox 

& Hemmeter, 2011). Trust is more 

likely to be built when mentors start 

the relationship by listening and 

asking open-ended questions to learn 

what the teacher wants to know and 

be able to do. 

After teachers have been involved 

in a professional development workshop 

or heard about a relevant teaching 

concept, they often seek support 

for implementing new practices in 

their classrooms. Using a mentoring 

framework—a cycle of inquiry 

to investigate teacher questions— 

guides both the mentor and teacher. 

This framework includes: 

• Observe to gather information, 

• Reflect to make meaning of 

documentation, and 

• Apply an action plan. 

When the teacher and mentor 

agree on a timeline, materials, and 

resources needed, as well as identifying 

desired outcomes, the teacher 

is likely to be more engaged and 

feel reassured. Mentors are most 

effective when they ask open-ended 

questions, listen, and employ a cycle 

of inquiry. 

Agree on a 

timeline, materials, 

resources, and 

outcomes. 

Mentoring Is 

Relationship-Based 

People who feel frustrated or anxious 

about making changes become 

more comfortable when their concerns 

are first met with acceptance 

and empathy (Miller & Rollnick, 

2002). Then a mentor’s offer to 

collaborate to investigate a problem 

is usually met with greater interest 

(Goleman, 1994). A mentor who 

says, “This is a challenging situation. 

Both of us can observe and think 

about this to find a solution”, is 

more likely to engage the teacher. 

A lecture or offer of specific 

information on how to do something 

will probably be less effective. 

Consultants who offer technical 

assistance—before they listen to 

concerns, offer empathy, identify 

questions to investigate, and reflect 

on possibilities—usually do not 

prompt long-term change in teacher 

behaviors (Buyssee & Wesley, 2005). 

Teachers who are overwhelmed by 

daily responsibilities or lofty program 

outcome expectations may feel 

paralyzed and afraid to take a risk. 

Jumping in with information tends 

not to work, even though this may 

be exactly what is being requested 

from a mentor (Quick, Holtzman, 

& Chaney, 2009). 

Most issues need time to be considered 

and investigated. Initially, 

adult educators are urged to collect 

and share more questions than 

answers with mentees. Supervisors 

and program directors might also 

encourage teachers to first wonder 

and reflect out loud or in a journal. 

Mentors can encourage teachers to 

ask themselves: 

• What are my questions? 

• What problems frustrate me? 

• What is most interesting in my 

recent observations? 

• What do I hope to happen? 

From the start, the most effective 

mentors are those who are colearners, 

who wonder along with the 

teacher. This strategy reignites motivation 

and reduces the anxiety or 

burnout that prevents thinking and 

imagining new actions. Skilled mentors 

resist solving problems at first 

and focus on identifying issues and 

questions of interest. This is harder 

to do than immediately giving advice 

and often feels counter-intuitive. 

Wondering and reflecting might 

seem like wasting time, but the new 



High-quality mentoring lowers staff turnover, decreases the isolation of caregiving, 

and increases teachers’ emotional responsiveness when interacting with children. 

skills developed as a result will live 

with the teacher long after a mentor 

moves on. 

As the relationship develops, refine 

questions teachers ask themselves to 

more specific ones, such as: 

• What do my wonderings tell me 

about what I want to learn about 

a child’s strengths, interests, development, 

culture, personality, 

and learning strategies? 

• What resources will further my 

understanding related to my 

concerns and observations? 

• What might I do next? 

• Why should I consider new ideas/ 

change my teaching strategies? 

• What do I need to do to change 

my interactions with children? 

Mentors can facilitate teachers to 

engage in the process of thinking 

about changes before taking action. 

Supervisors and college instructors 

can also encourage teacher stories 

and narrative observations. Then 

discuss the multiple meanings and 


interpretations of these narratives. 

Choose a specific focus such as 

emotional development or program 

practices to raise teacher awareness 

and motivation. Initially identifying 

teaching dilemmas is key to figuring 

out what to do about the dilemmas. 

Listening is an 

important 

mentoring tool. 

Spark Teacher Awareness 

Mentors who begin by asking 

open-ended questions about a 

teacher’s work and who then listen 

with interest, respect, and empathy 

to teaching stories create a safe 

climate for adult learning. By 

examining how close the teacher’s 

actual practices are to his or her 

teaching vision, goals, and ideas, 

mentors can re-ignite curiosity 

about teaching effectiveness. 


Listening is an important mentoring 

tool to support understanding 

of a teacher’s perspective. A teacher 

might share a dilemma such as, “I 

just don’t know how to explain to 

Thea’s parents that she is learning 

when she plays!” 

A mentor who is listening can 

take that cue to invite the teacher to 

reframe the concern into a question. 

An investigation of “How does Thea 

learn through play?” could begin the 

mentoring process of creating a plan to 

• document Thea’s play 

interactions, 

• identify research-based resources 

to interpret the documentation, 

and, finally, 

• apply this new understanding in 

effective teaching practices. 

Mentoring communication skills 

include asking questions and giving 

feedback about teachers’ stories and 

documentation to increase awareness 

about the situation. A few examples 

are cited in Table 1 (following page). 

When Mariyanna, a working 

teacher and early childhood college 

student, was asked these sorts 

of questions and given feedback, 

she became more willing to engage 

in further investigation. Mariyanna 

reflected in her journal about her 

long conversation with 4-year-old 

Amanda who was making a book 

about a cat. 

I feel I am not doing as good 

a job of using language to promote 

thinking as I could do. 

I find myself being aware of 

trying to find a balance between 

asking too many and not 

enough questions. I don’t want 

to distract her and end her interest 

in what she is discussing 

and drawing. 



Table 1. Questions and Feedback to Spark Awareness. 

• Encourage and acknowledge feelings about teaching: ”How do you 

feel about it? How does the child feel? What do you need? What do 

you think the child needs in this situation?” 

• Empathize: ”I struggled with that issue when I was a toddler teacher, too.” 

• Promote problem solving: ”Let’s brainstorm a list of options to alter 

the block area. We’ll examine the pros and cons of each possible solution. 

After you make changes, you can observe and document what 

you see happening. Then we’ll come back together to reevaluate.” 

• Summarize and organize: ”There seem to be two key issues here.” 

• Clarify: ”You are noticing….” 

• Encourage some more: ”Yes…please tell me more…that’s interesting…” 

• Paraphrase: ”You showed him pictures of his expression to help him 

understand his feelings.” 

• Find common ground: ”Is focusing on early literacy strategies the 

place you want to start?” 

• End with an affirmation: ”I enjoyed discussing this with you. I am 

confident we will figure this out. It was really interesting to look at this 

issue today.” 

A conversation followed with 

Mariyanna’s mentor, who first empathized 

with the challenges of talking 

to a preschooler. Next their conversation 

led to a focus on how to use 

more effective questions to promote 

the child’s higher-level thinking 

skills. Mariyanna documented her 

next conversation with Amanda, 

as well as her thoughts and feelings 

about the experience. 

Amanda: “I wish I was a bird.” 

Me: “You wish you were a bird. 

Why?” 

Amanda: “I wouldn’t have to go 

to school.” 

Me: “Where would you go, 

Amanda?” 

Amanda: “South Dakota.” 

Me: “How would you know 

you would like South Dakota?” 

Amanda: “I want to see what it 

looks like.” 

Mariyanna then reflected in her 

journal: 

I was delighted by Amanda’s 

and my conversation about her 

imagining to be a bird and flying 

to South Dakota. I wondered: 

Why does Anna express 

longing to escape school? Did 

she see a passing bird overhead 

that caught her fancy? Does 

she have a longing for freedom, 

but not the language skills to 

express that concept yet? Do I 

read too much into the remarks 

of a 4-year-old? 

This teacher’s reflective notes 

opened the door for many conversations 

with her mentor (also her 

college instructor) about engaging 

in meaningful conversations and 

promoting cognitive growth with 

children. Mariyanna was now motivated 

to better understand how to 

encourage, expand on, and respond 

to children’s comments. She identified 

research questions of interest to her 

and now realized how important it is 

to facilitate children’s conversations. 

A teacher-child interaction assessment 

tool, Classroom Assessment and 

Scoring System (C.L.A.S.S.) (Pianta, 

La Paro, & Hamre, 2008) was discussed 

before Mariyanna engaged 

in this process. She seemed overwhelmed 

with the prospect of having 

to learn one more thing. Later, she 

realized this tool could support her 

thinking about how to interact with 

children. Her insights came at the 

right time and the tool was offered 

again by her trusted mentor. She 

was now ready to explore this new 

resource. Trust and timing were key 

in this situation. 

Mariyanna also became eager to 

hear more about classroom interactions 

as well as to find other resources 

to inform her practices from 

another teacher-mentor. 

Facilitate a Cycle of Inquiry 

Scaffolding teachers’ development 

with stimulating questions, careful 

observation, and emphasizing thinking 

deeply requires “promot(ing) 

experiences and types of development 

in the teachers that enable and 

motivate them to promote similar 

experiences and types of development 

in the children” (Schienfeld, 

Haigh, & Schienfeld, 2008, p. 151). 

If teachers are going to foster children’s 

dispositions as scientists, then 

mentors must also engage teachers to 

construct questions to research. 

If teachers do not have their own 

questions, one way to stimulate 

their thinking is to invite them into 

the process after first observing a 

child in their program. A simple 

and effective beginning question to 


consider is, “How does _______ 

learn through play?” 

Then share Cycle One of the 

inquiry process—observe, reflect, 

and apply—as outlined in Table 2. 

In some situations, the mentor may 

find it helpful to model the documentation 

process for a teacher. 

More experienced teachers might 

have questions about how to improve 

a child’s group experience. 

The mentor could ask them to take 

observational notes about what they 

notice children and teachers doing 

and saying during a specific time of 

day or during specific play experiences. 

Encourage documentation in 

the classroom over a period of time. 

While examining observational 

notes together, invite a teacher to 

begin the inquiry process as described 

in Table 3. 

Revisiting the same documentation 

evidence enables both teacher 

and mentor to become more skilled 

in working together. Detailed questions 

and collaborative dialogue 

facilitate even greater investigation 

and learning. Mentors working with 

teachers experienced in methods of 

assessment and teacher research may 

want to begin facilitating with more 

detailed questioning as outlined in 

Cycle Two in Table 4. 

Mentors are urged to reflect on the 

process of facilitating the observereflect-apply 

cycle. Consider the 

timing when juggling the learning 

needs of a teacher. Engagement in 

a process that enables teachers to 

construct, examine, analyze, and 

communicate their ideas also requires 

content knowledge. However, 

mentors usually find that content 

is often meaningless if the teacher 

does not know how to apply it, or 

if a positive learning relationship is 

not maintained. A skilled mentor, 

who establishes the inquiry process 


Table 2. Cycle of Inquiry With an Inexperienced Teacher. 

Cycle One: Mentor demonstrates inquiry process for teacher. What am I wondering 

about? What questions do I have? Mentor observes a child and frames a 

simple inquiry question such as “How does Sam learn through play?” 

OBSERVE 

What is this child doing 

and saying? 

Sam (20 months) wears a 

firefighter hat to go outside 

to play. He picks up 

a stick on the playground. 

He points the stick at a 

plant and says “Brrrrrrr. 

Out, fire!” 

Mentor uses descriptive 

narrative or anecdotal 

notes as evidence. 

Highlight with the 

teacher areas to better 

understand. 

REFLECT 

What does it mean? 

Sam substitutes one object 

for another in pretend 

play. 

Sam is beginning to express 

himself in two-word 

phrases. (See Teaching 

Strategies, 2010) 

Mentor uses program 

resources to interpret 

observation with teacher. 

Help the teacher choose 

one area of an observation 

to interpret. 

APPLY 

What do I do to keep 

the learning going? 

Mason, the teacher, 

expands on what Sam 

says and asks questions 

to encourage him to 

express his ideas. “I 

see you have a hose to 

squirt the fire. How 

much water do you 

need?” Sam replies, 

“Fire all wet. Gone!” 

Mentor describes 

observed, effective 

teacher-child 

interactions. 

Ask and listen for the 

teacher’s new or different 

insights. Model 

openness to multiple 

perspectives and build 

on teacher’s ideas. 

Table 3. Cycle of Inquiry With a More Experienced Teacher. 

OBSERVE 

What is interesting in 

this observation? 

After taking notes, highlight 

areas of interest with 

the teacher. 

REFLECT 

What does the observation 

tell about the child’s 

strengths, interests, development, 

temperament, or 

learning strategies? 

Help the teacher choose 

one area to question and 

research. 

Based on questions in Forman & Hall (2005). 

APPLY 

What questions does 

this observation generate? 

Turn interests, 

dilemmas, or problems 

into researchable 

questions. 

Help the teacher identify 

concerns and frame 

questions. “Why is the 

block area a location 

where conflict between 

children occurs frequently?” 



Table 4. Revisit Documentation to Explore Questions in Greater Depth. 

Cycle Two: Mentor and teacher revisit/reexamine observations. 

OBSERVE 

Observation revisited: 

What do you want to 

know? What are you 

curious about? 

What do you find most 

interesting in this 

observation? 

What other evidence 

should you collect 

(observation notes, 

work samples, photos, 

audio or video recordings, 

input from 

families)? 

Mentor supports teacher 

to develop a research 

question and purpose for 

continued observation 

and evidence gathering. 

Example of more specific 

teacher-generated 

research question: How 

do teacher-child conversations 

support Sam’s 

language development? 

before linking the teacher to specific 

information or technical assistance, 

reinforces practices that prepare the 

teacher to solve dilemmas independently 

in the future. 


REFLECT 

Reflective conversation: 

Make more meaning 

What does it tell you about 

the child’s strengths, 

interests, development, 

temperament or learning 

strategies (or other areas for 

interpretation)? 

To which child goals and 

objectives does it relate? 

What additional resources 

do you need to help you 

interpret what you document 

and the evidence you 

collect? 

Mentor asks questions 

to prompt the teacher to 

examine the observation 

and evidence gathered to 

answer the new teacher 

research question. 

Example of teacher comment: 

After reviewing my 

observations, I see that 

Sam’s engagement in conversation 

is greatest when 

he is involved in back-andforth 

conversations during 

dramatic play. He seems 

to have a strong interest 

in learning about water’s 

properties. 

APPLY 

Engage more deeply 

with content or curriculum 

changes 

What might you do 

next? 

What do you want to plan 

for this child to support 

his or her development? 

What changes might you 

make to the environment, 

materials, 

schedule, routines 

or to your interactions? 

What content do you 

want to know more 

about before planning 

for this child? 

Mentor poses questions 

to help teacher evaluate 

how what was planned 

and what happened supported 

the child’s goals. 

Mentor asks teacher what 

to do the same or differently 

next time. 

Example of teacher 

comment: Looking at 

the videotape made me 

aware that I often ask a 

lot of fact-based questions. 

I might want to 

try more open-ended 

questions to encourage 

Sam’s language. 

Communicate Children’s 

Learning to Families 

A vignette (brief anecdotal notes 

about a single learning experience) 

is a simple, yet effective way to use 

documentation to communicate 

about a child’s development. The 

teacher selects significant notes from 

a longer documentation. Together, 

wonder about the possible meanings 

of the vignette. Then decide on a 

purpose for the documentation, such 

as sharing developmental milestones 

with a family member. 

The vignette in Table 5 (pg. 26) 

was created by a new toddler teacher. 

Her goal was to show families 

the tremendous social growth she 

was observing in two toddlers who 

had been confrontational. 

Refine questions 

that teachers ask 

themselves. 

Identify Areas for Teacher 

and Program Development 

After engaging a teacher in the 

cycle of inquiry (observe, reflect, 

apply) for some time, the next step is 

for the mentor to assess the knowledge, 

skills, and program conditions 

needed to continue teacher engagement 

in inquiry (see Table 6, pg 26). 

To sustain a teacher’s learning 

through on-site peer mentoring, a 

mentor might ask the questions: 

• Who in the program is a 

problem-solver and collaborator? 

• Who understands how to 

connect knowledge of child, 

program, and family development? 

(Schienfeld, Haigh, & 

Schienfeld, 2008). 

Also review specific gaps in skills or 

knowledge that may prevent a teacher 

from making necessary changes in 

practice. Now it is time to emphasize 


content knowledge that a teacher 

needs to sustain interests. It may also 

be the time to link a teacher or program 

to other resources and forms 

of professional development such as 

college courses, teacher study groups, 

or mentors with specific content 

knowledge (referred to as “coaches” 

by Lutton, 2012, p. 85). 

Mentor Self-Evaluation 

and Outcomes 

Finally, mentors to early childhood 

teachers reflect on their own progress, 

as outlined in Table 7. 

The mentoring process can help 

teachers reflect on their daily practices 

and interactions for the purpose 

of improving children’s development 

and learning. Skilled mentors 

facilitate teacher inquiry into routine 

teacher questions, dilemmas, and 

problems. They strengthen a process 

grounded in relationship-building, 

communication, and teacherresearcher 

facilitation skills. When 

mentors scaffold a cycle of inquiry, 

even an experienced mentor can 

move from intuitive to more 

intentional practices. 

No matter how skilled a mentor 

may be in early childhood content 

knowledge, there is room for new or 

expanded skills that facilitate a process 

of inquiry. Mentors urge teachers 

to wonder, identify questions, 

gather information, analyze observations, 

and communicate ideas. A 

mentoring process that focuses on 

investigating teacher questions has 

the potential to ignite a teacher’s 

curiosity, persistence, and wonder. 

References 

Buyssee, V., & Wesley, P. (2005). Consultation in 

early childhood settings. Baltimore, MD: Brookes. 

Buyssee, V., Wesley, P., Snyder, P., & Winton, P. 

(2006). Evidence-based practice: What does it 

mean for the early childhood field? Young Exceptional 

Children, 9(4): 2-10. 


Table 5. Toddler Friendships Vignette 

Forming Toddler Friendships: Lori and Jamie’s Picnic 

Selected observation notes 

Lori: I would like to have a picnic. You too? 

Jamie: Yeah, I wanna come. I need to make tea for my baby! 

Lori: Okay. I will help, okay? 

Jamie: Yes please! Thanks! 

Lori: Okay, I will get my Care Bear® and the puppy to sit with your baby. 

Interpretation 

Lori is working together with Jamie to accomplish her goal to have a picnic 

with her stuffed friends and babies. They cooperate and communicate with 

each other through multiple tasks, such as cooking, cleaning, and setting the 

table. Based on their laughs, smiles, and conversation, I believe they really 

enjoyed each other’s company and are learning what it means to be a friend. 

Trust is more likely to be built when mentors start the relationship by listening and 

asking open-ended questions to learn what the teacher wants to know and be able 

to do. 




Chu, M. (in press). Developing mentoring and coaching 

relationships in early care and education: A reflective 

approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. 

Chu, M., Martínez-Griego, B., & Cronin, S. 

(2010). A Head Start/college partnership: Using 

a culturally and linguistically responsive approach 

to help working teachers earn degrees. Young 

Children, 65(4), 24-27. 

Darling-Hammond, L., Wei, R C., Andree, A., 

Richardson, N., & Orphanos, S. (2009). Professional 

learning in the learning profession: A status 

report on teacher development in the United States 

and abroad. Dallas, TX: National Staff Development 

Council. 

Forman, G., & Hall, E. (2005). Wondering with 

children: The importance of observation in early 

education. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 

7(2), 1-15. 

Fox, L., & Hemmeter, M.L. (2011). Coaching early 

educators to implement effective practices. Zero to 

Three, 32(2), 18-24. 

Goleman, D. (1994). Emotional intelligence. NY: 

Bantam. 

Guskey, T. (2000). Evaluating professional development. 

Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. 

Howes, C., James, J., & Ritchie, S. (2003). Pathways 

to effective teaching. Early Childhood Research 

Quarterly, 18(1), 104-120. 

Joyce, B., & Showers, B. (2002). Student achievement 

through staff development (3rd ed.). Alexandria, 

VA: Association for Supervision and 

Curriculum Development. 

Kagan, S.L., Kauerz, K., & Tarrant, K. (2008). The 

early care and education teaching workforce at the 

fulcrum: An agenda for reform. NY: Teachers College 

Press. 

Knight, J. (2007). Instructional coaching: A partnership 

approach to improving instruction. Thousand 

Oaks, CA: Corwin. 

Knight, J. (Ed.). (2009). Coaching: Approaches and 

perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. 

Lutton, A. (Ed.). (2012). Advancing the profession: 

NAEYC standards and guidelines for professional development. 

Washington, DC: National Association 

for the Education of Young Children. 

Mardell, B., Fiore, L., Boni, M., & Tonachel, M. 

(2010). The rights of children: Policies to best 

serve 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds in public schools. 

scholarlypartnershipsedu: (5)1, Article 5. Retrieved 

from: http://opus.ipfw.edu/spe/vol5/iss1/5. 

Miller, W.R., & Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational 

interviewing: Preparing people for change (2nd ed.). 

NY: Guilford. 


Children (NAEYC) & National Association of 

Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NAC- 

CRRA). (2011). Early childhood education professional 

development: Training and technical assistance 

glossary. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from 

www.naeyc.org/GlossaryTraining_TA.pdf 

Pianta, R., La Paro, K., & Hamre, B. (2008). Classroom 

assessment scoring system. Baltimore, MD: Brookes. 

Quick, H., Holtzman, D., & Chaney, K. (2009). 

Professional development and instructional practice: 

Conceptions and evidence of effectiveness. 

Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 

14(1), 45-71. 

Rush, D.D., & Shelden, M.L. (2005). Evidencebased 

definitions of coaching practices. CASEin- 

Point, 1(6). Retrieved from: 


Table 6. Mentor Assessment to Support Continuing Teacher Inquiry. 

OBSERVE 

• Are teachers able to objectively record what they see, hear, and observe? 

• What supports and barriers exist for documentation? 

• Describe what documentation or assessment skills can be strengthened. 

REFLECT 

• Are teachers able to make logical, informed meaning from the data they gather? 

• Do teachers need more knowledge regarding child development, cultural competency, 

language acquisition, or other areas, to interpret their observations? 

• What resources would be most helpful? 

• How well does the program support the disposition of teacher as researcher? 

• What skills, dispositions, or knowledge could be strengthened? 

APPLY 

• How competently does the teacher build upon children’s interests and ideas? 

• How well does the teacher make reasonable choices, share perspectives, and 

collaborate with other teachers, families, and supervisors? 

• Is the program a comfortable place to share multiple points of view? 

• Who in the program will connect teacher and family perspectives to child 

development and program plans? 

Table 7. Mentor Self-Reflection on the Cycle of Inquiry Process. 

In what ways did I… 

• Get to know and build a respectful relationship with the teacher? 

• Learn about the teacher and the early childhood program by listening, 

observing, and exploring together? 

• Explore what the teacher was wondering about? 

• Encourage information gathering and documentation of a teacheridentified 

problem or focus of inquiry before giving advice? 

• Problem-solve through dialogue and reflective feedback? 

• Encourage and challenge the teacher’s professional development through 

use of open-ended and reflective questions? 

• Evaluate your work together and leave with ideas for next steps? 

http://www.fippcase.org/caseinpoint/caseinpoint_vol1_no6.pdf 

Schienfeld, D.R., Haigh, K.M., & Schienfeld, K. 

(2008). We are all explorers; Learning and teaching 

with Reggio principles in urban settings. NY: Teachers 

College Press. 

Shidler, L. (2009). The impact of time spent on 

coaching for teacher efficacy on student achievement. 

Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(5), 

453-460. 

Somekh, B. (2010). The collaborative action 

research network: 30 years of agency in developing 

educational action research. Educational Action 

Research, 18(1), 103-121. 

Stichter, J., Lewis, T., Richter, M., Johnson, N., & 

Bradley, L. (2006). Assessing antecedent variables: 

The effect of instructional variables on student 

outcomes through in-service and peer coaching 

professional development models. Education & 

Treatment of Children, 29(4), 665-692. 

Stremmel, A. (2007). Teacher research: Nurturing 

professional and personal growth through inquiry. 

Voices of practitioners. Washington DC: National 

Association for the Education of Young Children. 

Retrieved from: http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/ 

file/vop/Voices-Stremmel.pdf 

Teaching Strategies. (2010). Teaching Strategies 

GOLD. Washington DC: Author. 

Trivette, C., Dunst, C., Hamby, D., & O’Herin, 

C. (2009). Characteristics and consequences of 

adult learning methods and strategies. Winterberry 

Research Synthesis, (2)2. Asheville, NC: Winterberry 

Press. 

Wilson, N. (2008). Teachers expanding pedagogical 

content knowledge: Learning about formative 

assessment together. Journal of In-Service Education, 

34(3), 283-298. 

Zaslow, M., Tout, K., Halle, T., Whittaker, J., & 


Lavelle, B. (2010). Towards the identification of 

features of effective professional development for early 

childhood educators. Prepared for Policy and Program 

Studies Service, Office of Planning, Evaluation 

and Policy Development, U.S. Department of 

Education, Washington, DC. 


About the Author 

Marilyn Chu, Ed.D., is an Associate 

Professor of Early Childhood Education 

at Woodring College of Education, 

Western Washington University, 

Bellingham, Washington. Her more 

than 20 years of teaching, writing, and 

community work focuses on infant/ 

toddler development, partnering with 

families, and mentoring/leadership 

in early childhood education. She has 

worked with family literacy programs, 

campus child care, Head Start, and P-3 

paraeducators to develop culturally and 

linguistically relevant education programs 

for adults and children. Her book 

on mentoring is expected in January 

2013 from Pearson. 

Engagement in a process that enables teachers to construct, examine, analyze, 

and communicate their ideas also requires content knowledge. A skilled 

mentor—who establishes the inquiry process before linking the teacher to 

specific information or technical assistance—reinforces practices that prepare 

the teacher to solve dilemmas independently in the future. 


In Memory of 

Hugh B. Brous (brother of Dr. Margaret Puckett) 

by Dr. Janie Humphries 

Lillian Birge Pennington 

(mother of Nancy Alexander) 


George Carroll Creech (father of Dr. Floyd Creech) 


Dorothy Patterson, mother of Sharon Burnett 

By Dr. Pam Schiller 

Adrienne Hammond, mother of Kathy Charner 


Robert Ray Sullivan, father of Glenda Kubosh 


Thank You, Reviewers 

The Southern Early Childhood Association expresses its gratitude to these content experts who reviewed the 

manuscripts published in this issue of Dimensions of Early Childhood. 

Michelle Cutler-Ervin 

Christine Ferguson 

Janet Foster 

Heejeong Sophia Han 

Jill Hatch 

Anita McLeod 

Sonia Michael 

Lisa Miller 

Stephanie Pepper 

Margaret B. Puckett 

Tamara Sewell 

Cynthia Simpson 

Syretha Storey 

Lewis H. Walker 

Catheryn J. Weitman 

Rasheeda West 




Connect Mentoring With a Professional Book 

Emily Schmidt 

Mentoring Early Childhood 

Educators: A Handbook for 

Supervisors, Administrators, 

and Teachers 

By Carol B. Hillman. (2006). 120 pp. 

$25. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 

Carol Hillman taught young children for more than 

20 years. She has been an educational consultant, an 

adjunct professor at Westchester Community College of 

Education, and a member of the Board of Trustees for 

the Bank Street College of Education. 

Her handbook contains six chapters, a list of suggested 

readings, as well as three appendices. In the first chapter, 

“The Role of the Supervisor,” Hillman describes the position 

of the supervisor who mentors student teachers in 

early childhood education. She emphasizes the importance 

of effective communication, the art of observation 

and listening, and “bringing forth an improved climate 

of learning.” 

Hillman’s book is written for a variety of educational 

roles. She points to the common bonds among them, 

which create a community of learners who together 

can make a difference in the lives of children. The 

subsequent chapters continue to define the supervision 

process, including strategies for getting to know student 

teachers, the importance of various elements in the 

classroom learning environment, the benefits of written 

journals, and handling challenging issues. 

Hillman offers a variety of real-life examples from her 

own experiences and clear, well-organized objectives, as 

well as reflective questions at the end of each chapter. 

The sample observations, journal responses, and field 

placement documents are a guideline for the supervision 

process, and subtly weave an understanding of the value 

of mutual respect in the relationships of all involved. 

The strategies provided include appropriate classroom 

observations, communication techniques, handling difficulties 

between the mentor and learner, and supervision 

that expands the experience for the new teacher. 

This is a ready reference for those who supervise student 

teachers, are administrators of early childhood programs, 

or work as classroom teachers. Mentoring Early 

Childhood Educators offers mentors the skills to support 

new teachers and administrators and reciprocates by 

providing a learning experience for the mentor. 

Emily Schmidt, M.Ed., (retired) Lecturer, Kennesaw State University, Alpharetta, Georgia. 


Small-Group 

Reading Instruction: 

Lessons From the Field 

Why are small groups more effective when children learn to read? Find 

out why, and how to implement best strategies for teaching beginning 

readers in this practical article that is based on current research. 

Tara Wilson, Diana 

Nabors, Helen Berg, 

Cindy Simpson, and 

Kay Timme 

A week before the school year began, Ms. Baffle, a kindergarten 

teacher, learned that all teachers in her school 

were to use small-group instruction when teaching reading. 

She began to wonder: “Why is small-group instruction 

so important? Why is whole-group instruction less 

effective? What will the other students do when I work 

with a small group? How many students should be in 

each group? How do I choose which children to place 

in each group? Should the groups stay the same all year 

long, or change?” 

After she calmed down (a little) she discussed her concerns 

with the reading specialist, who explained to Ms. 

Baffle the whys, whats, and hows of small-group reading 

instruction. She paired Ms. Baffle with Mrs. Certainty, 

an experienced teacher. 

Ms. Baffle soon realized that her questions were shared 

by many other teachers. During the year, her kindergarten 

classroom evolved from traditional, whole-group 

teaching into a focused, skill-embedded, multi-group 

format. She decided to pass on her new knowledge and 

enthusiasm to other teachers! 

Why Small Groups? 

Research shows that beginning readers benefit most 

from being taught explicit skills during intensive smallgroup 

instruction. The small-group, differentiated 

reading model enables teachers to focus on specific skills 

needed by varied groups of children (Tyner, 2003). (See 

Table 1 (pg 32) for definitions of terms in bold italics 

that are used throughout this article.) 

Teachers can plan using research-based strategies 

in beginning reading instruction and developmental 

models that recognize the stages through which 


beginning readers progress. Differentiated small-group 

instruction is done by matching instruction to meet 

the needs of learners (Kosanovich, Ladinsky, Nelson, & 

Torgesen, 2007). 

Teach explicit 

skills in intensive 

small groups. 

In order to accommodate these needs, teachers plan 

reading centers for small groups that offer ample practice 

opportunities for children. Through small-group 

literacy lessons, teachers explicitly teach students 

what they need to know about reading, and keep them 

engaged and motivated through hands-on word-work 

activities that promote inquiry and critical thinking 

(Williams, Phillips-Birdsong, Hufnagel, Hungler, & 

Lundstrom, 2009). 

By integrating strategy instruction into word-study 

lessons and engaging students in guided practice to 

use what they have learned, educators support students’ 

early literacy learning. Active responses during smallgroup 

reading instruction increase student engagement 

and motivation to participate (Amendum, Li, & 

Creamer, 2009). 

Active engagement of children during a small group 

word-study lesson might include providing each child 

with 10 magnetic letters (a, c, g, f, m, n, p, r, t, and 

v). As the teacher discusses rhyming words, each child 

could create the word “m-a-n”. The teacher can then 

incorporate each child’s knowledge of letter sounds to 


Small-Group Reading Instruction: Lessons From the Field 

Social interactions play a key role in helping students develop the wide array of complex 

cognitive abilities required for reading. A teacher having a conversation with five or 

fewer children can hear more questions, provide more direct feedback, hear more accurately, 

and attend to children’s reactions in a more effective manner. 

take-away the “m” and see what 

other words children can create using 

the “-an” word ending. Children 

actively create multiple words 

to demonstrate their understanding 

of rhyming words. Any child 

who attempts to create “g-a-n,” for 

example, will show rhyming by 

creating nonsense words, thus demonstrating 

the rhyming rule is not 

based on word comprehension. 

With five or fewer children in a 

group, teachers can focus needed 

attention on individual children 

and make sure that each child has 

opportunities to participate. Additionally, 

small-group time enables 

children to have access to highquality 

interaction with their 

teachers (Wasik, 2008). 

Teachers are able to observe 

students as they are learning and 

modify instruction, clarify misconceptions, 

and discuss material to 

meet the specific learning needs of 

each child in a small group. Each 

group receives high-quality reading 

instruction and children can be 

engaged in meaningful tasks that are 

related to their specific instructional 

levels (Kiley, 2007). 

Learning is social. 


Learning Is Social 

Small-group reading instruction is 

in alignment with the beliefs of Vygotsky, 

a sociocultural theorist, who 

believed that learning is inherently 

social and that children make sense 

of various school activities through 

observation, participation, and social 

interaction (Williams, et al., 2009). 

Well-prepared teachers provide 

opportunities for children to participate 

in literacy activities, model 

literate behaviors, and offer instructional 

support. Through social 

interaction and small-group learning 

activities, children begin to integrate 

and control specific knowledge and 

skills gradually, as they participate 

in meaningful, hands-on practice 

of those skills. Small-group reading 

instruction allows for this to happen 

with ease. 

Reading and literacy lessons provide 

a social context in which teachers 

and students meet and closely 

interact (Amendum, et al., 2009). 

Social interactions play a key role in 

helping students develop the wide 

array of complex cognitive abilities 

required for reading (Rogoff, 1991). 

Without a doubt, a teacher having 

a conversation with five or fewer 

children can hear more questions, 

provide more direct feedback, hear 

more accurately, and attend to children’s 

reactions in a more effective 

manner. There are several cognitive 

and social/emotional benefits of 

small-group instruction. 

Benefits of Small-Group 

Instruction 

Whole-group lessons can often be 

too challenging for students with 

the least literacy knowledge—and 

too easy for students with the most 

literacy knowledge (Williams, et al., 

2009). Therefore, the whole-group 

approach does not always meet students’ 

needs, even in kindergarten. 

The small-group approach, on the 

other hand, better enables teachers 

to meet the needs of each student. 

Small-group instruction is more effective 

than whole-group instruction 

because teachers can 

• differentiate instruction to 

meet each student’s needs, 

• better match instruction to 

each student’s level, and 

• respond to children’s reading 

more effectively (Amendum, et 

al., 2009). 

Teachers who provide much of 

their reading instruction in a smallgroup 

format often cite that it is 



Table 1. Glossary of Terms 

Listed in the order in which they appear in the article 

Differentiated reading 

Research-based 

strategies 

Developmental models 

Matching instruction 

Reading centers 

Practice 

opportunities 

Small-group literacy 

lessons 

Hands-on word-work 

activities 

Word-study lessons 

Guided practice 

Active responses 

High-quality 

interaction 

Modify instruction 

Literate behaviors 

Word knowledge 

Decode 

Multiple data sources 

Literacy work stations/ 

Literacy centers 

An approach to reading instruction that matches individual students to the teaching/learning approach, 

strategy, or level of learning content that best meets their needs. Children with similar needs 

in reading are taught specific skills in short lessons designed specifically for them. 

Teaching techniques that have consistently led to the desired effect when used. Research and documentation 

support the conclusion that change in student outcomes or learning is a direct result of the 

identified teaching/learning strategy. 

Guides to understanding how children develop and learn proposed by various learning theorists. 

Strategy in which the teacher combines knowledge—of each child, his/her level of understanding of 

the material, and the child’s preferred learning style—to plan specific lessons to meet a child’s needs. 

Planned activities that provide hands-on experiences for children that target a specific reading skill. 

Reading centers may be designed for children to learn with or without teacher direction. Teacher–led 

reading centers enable teachers to scaffold children’s learning while they are engaged in the activity. 

For example, the teacher might present a stack of picture cards and two buckets. One bucket is 

labeled with the letter “T” and one bucket is labeled with the symbol or words “Not T”. The teacher 

may question and scaffold the children’s learning as they sort the cards. Or children may play the 

game while the teacher works with other students. 

Students learn best when they have multiple opportunities to practice the skills they are learning. 

Practice opportunities should vary to enable children to generalize learning information with different 

materials and in varied contexts. 

Learning experiences for small groups of children that are designed to focus on reading, writing, 

listening, or speaking skills. 

Learning experiences that are designed for children to manipulate letters and words to create understanding 

of literacy skills. Many word-work activities use letter tiles or letter stamps with which 

children create words. 

Learning opportunities that focus on systematic instruction of phonics and spelling at the level of 

the children’s understanding. Lessons are organized to help children understand word patterns and 

engage in purposeful word analysis. 

A technique of scaffolding the children’s learning from easy or familiar to new understandings. Teachers 

provide opportunities for children to practice a skill that they are learning while guiding and 

assisting children through the learning process. 

Times when children respond to learning in an active, involved manner. 

When teachers are “in tune” to each child’s needs. Teachers spend time listening and talking with 

children, as well as providing support and nurturance that enables children to develop at an optimal 

level. 

Teachers are decision makers who change instruction to meet children’s immediate needs. Teachers 

observe and assess children’s levels of understanding. They may review or change the delivery of content 

to help children make connections and understand the information. 

Literacy skills that children demonstrate as they work with letters, words, and sounds while they are 

engaged in speaking, listening, reading, and writing activities. 

Understandings that children have about words, such as knowledge of the process of decoding and 

encoding symbols into words, rhyming, word families, chunking parts of words, vocabulary, recognizing 

high-frequency words, and recognizing familiar and unfamiliar words. 

Children figure out what letters (symbols) represent as they attempt to read a word. 

Teachers use many pieces of information about child development and early literacy skills as they 

design individually appropriate lessons. 

Planned activities that provide hands-on experiences for children that target development of specific 

literacy skills. Literacy centers may be designed for children to engage in the learning with or without 

teacher direction. 




easier and more efficient for them 

and their students than a wholegroup 

format (Wasik, 2008). Having 

a small group enabled teachers 

to recognize struggling readers and 

attend to their needs. In addition, 

in this study, children learned more 

vocabulary words and comprehended 

the story better when the reading 

was done in small groups. 

Ways to Implement 

Small-Group Instruction 

Teachers can use several strategies 

to improve the outcome of small 

group instruction including 

• manage development of the 

group, 

• rely on assessment to guide 

instruction, 

• plan to rotate literacy centers, 

and 

• select appropriate content for 

each method. 

Form Small Groups 

How a teacher sets up small groups 

is critical to insure that all children 

succeed. In developing the small 

group, teachers should keep in mind 

group size and children’s abilities. 

When a group is limited to a maximum 

of five children, each child has 

opportunities to talk and be engaged 

in the learning process. Young children 

need the opportunity to discuss 

their thinking (Wasik, 2008) because 

discussion helps to build vocabularies 

and enables children to more 

fully participate. 

When groups are formed, membership 

should be based on ability 

(Ediger, 2002), a strategy called 

homogenous grouping. Choose 

neutral names to identify groups 

to help assure that each student is 

respected and accepted. Groups can 

be named A, B, C, and D or identified 

by shapes, colors, or animals, 

for example. 

Another important factor in smallgroup 

instruction is selecting the 

appropriate content to be taught. 

An example of what to teach during 

small-group instruction can include 

guided reading activities using a 

book or other selected text. Integrating 

word study using high-frequency 

words into a guided reading lesson 

is often done in small groups. In a 

guided reading lesson, teachers… 

• Discuss the illustrations in the 

text to assist students to further 

develop background information 

for reading. 

• Choose texts that match the developmental 

level of each group. 

Both students and teachers ask 

story-related questions to be answered 

by anyone participating. 

• Discuss unfamiliar vocabulary 

in the book reading to increase 

the children’s oral vocabulary 

knowledge. 

• Build children’s literacy knowledge, 

depending on the needs 

of the group, with letter work, 

alphabet knowledge, word work, 

story comprehension, sequencing, 

focusing on the story details, 

and story extension activities. 

These lessons are fast paced, 

interactive, and targeted appropriately 

on critical skills for each 

reading group. 

Small-group work can also integrate 

word study. This enables 

children to practice how to use their 

word knowledge in order to decode 

unfamiliar words while reading. 

Guided reading activities can also 

support each student’s development 

of effective strategies for processing 

texts at increasingly challenging 

levels of difficulty. 

Teachers may follow a pattern 

when implementing guided reading. 

For example, 

• the teacher begins by selecting 

and introducing an appropriate 

text 

Guided reading provides a context in which the teacher can monitor and guide the 

student’s application of specific skills in decoding and comprehension to construct 

meaning while reading. 



• children read and discuss the text 

• the teacher introduces strategic 

activities to extend meaning and 

word work 

The teacher’s role is to provide 

support to the students (Kosanovich, 

et al., 2007). Teachers use an appropriate 

variety of strategies to identify 

words and construct meaning from 

the passage. Guided reading provides 

a context in which the teacher can 

monitor and guide each student’s application 

of specific skills in decoding 

and comprehension to construct 

meaning while reading. 

Assess students’ 

strengths and 

needs. 


Table 2. Helpful Hints for Effective Literacy Stations 

• Maximize students’ independent participation while they practice 

different literacy skills. 

• Place materials within the children’s reach to increase the likelihood 

of independent success (Taylor, Pearson, Clark, & Walpole, 1999). 

• Structure the tasks to be challenging and yet enable children to be 

successful (Cooper, MacGregor, Smith, & Robinson, 2000). 

• Clearly state directions and define physical space to aid student 

independence. 

• Feature tasks that students can complete independently and with 

increasing proficiency (King, 2005). 

• Consider the flow of students in and out of literacy stations. 

• Make it clear if a final product is to be stored, collected, or if children 

keep the products with them. 

• Monitor the completion of tasks at each station. This is important for 

accountability of student success and for the teacher’s awareness of 

when tasks need to change. 

• Teach students how to use and rotate through literacy stations for 

about a week. Practice the routine of engaging in literacy stations 

(King, 2005). 

Rely on Assessment 

Assessment informs teachers about 

what students already know and 

what they need to learn (Williams, 

et al., 2009). Look at students’ 

strengths and needs by using multiple 

data sources to help identify an 

instructional starting point (Haager, 

n.d.). Both district-wide assessments 

and teacher-made checklists can 

be valuable in gaining information 

about each child. 

As the school year progresses, keep 

in mind that groups are meant to be 

flexible and their participants will 

vary. Alter the composition of small 

groups based on assessment of children’s 

changing instructional needs 

(Kosanovich, et al., 2007). 

Rotate Literacy Centers 

Literacy work stations or literacy 

centers can be set up with various 

activities to engage children who 


are not in the one small group the 

teacher works with at a time. Literacy 

stations assist with classroom 

management. Plan for small-group 

time AND prepare meaningful 

activities for different stations. Table 

2 includes some helpful hints for effective 

use of literacy stations. 

Teachers are urged to develop a 

system to manage centers and small 

groups. An example of a well-managed 

system at the beginning of the 

year might be: 

Group A Teacher-directed 

small-group lesson 

Group B Station 1 

Group C Station 2 

Group D Station 3 

After about 10 to 15 minutes, the 

groups rotate. Group D moves into 

the small-group lesson and all other 

groups move to new stations. With 

an hour each day for small groups 

and literacy stations, four groups can 

rotate through each station, including 

transition time. Later in the year, 

extend times as children attend to 

activities for longer times. 

A sample literacy center planning 

form for children and teachers is 

found in Table 3. 

Select Appropriate Content 

Selecting the appropriate content 

for literacy stations and small groups 

is essential for them to be effective 

means of instruction. Strong literacy 

stations can ensure that children 

participate in self-directed learning. 

The main components of reading— 

phonological awareness, alphabetic 

principle decoding, word study, fluency, 

comprehension, and vocabulary—should 

be developed in each of 

the literacy stations. 

Several types of activities can be 

integrated into literacy stations. 



Table 3. Literacy Center Planning Form 

This is a visual representation of the child’s chosen centers (and not-visited centers) during the week. 

Directions: Children receive the form at the beginning of each week. Represent each day of the week by a color (Monday = red, 

Tuesday = yellow, Wednesday = green, etc.). Children select the center they will work in and color a square next to the center with 

the day’s color. The teacher can add comments to any space. Children color in the space for each center visited that day. Children 

may visit a center up to 3 times within a week. Time with the teacher is also recorded. The child has 6 opportunities during the 

week to work in small group with a teacher. (For a downloadable PDF of this chart, go to Dimensions Extra, Vol 40 #3 at 

www.southernearlychildhood.org “members-only”.) 

Small-Group Time With 

Teacher 

Writing 

Read the Walls 

(Environmental Print) 

ABC Center 

Library 

Computer 

Magnetic 

Letters 

Private Space 

Individual Work 

Post Office 

Listening/Story 

Stamping Words 

Book Making 



For example, kindergarteners could 

examine relationships between letters 

and sounds through hands-on activities 

like these. 

• Literacy Station A—children 

match lower-case letters with 

upper-case letters. 

• Literacy Station B—children 

match picture cards with letter 

cards for initial sounds of the 

words on the picture cards. 

• Literacy Station C—children use 

magnetic letters to create different 

consonant, vowel, consonant 

(CVC) words. 

Other stations might feature 

explorations like these: 

• write in journals 

• engage in an art activity related 

to the book being read that day 

• listen to stories on tape 

• form letters using modeling 

compound or other media 


The key to successfully selecting 

content for literacy stations is to rely 

on assessment and ongoing monitoring 

to drive content selections. 

Through observation of children 

as they work in literacy stations, 

teachers can gauge when it is time to 

make content changes. 

Daily progress monitoring is an 

essential ingredient of any reading 

program and serves as a key to accelerating 

student learning (Haager, 

n.d.). Progress monitoring includes 

frequently updating checklists of 

essential beginning literacy skills. 

Note when activities need to 

change, and more complex content 

is needed, or when more explicit 

instruction should occur (Opitz & 

Ford, 2004). When students make 

multiple errors or regularly disrupt 

learning, it may be time to change 

activities in the stations. 

When some children are ready for 

more challenging work, while other 

students have not mastered the skills, 

Talk with other teachers about activities to enhance reading skills to build 

each other’s repertoires of activities. Check with the resource staff, reading specialists, 

special education support staff, curriculum coaches, children’s families, 

and community volunteers. 


modify tasks in some of the literacy 

stations to gear them to various 

levels. Some children may choose to 

attempt a more difficult activity with 

peer assistance or some may choose 

a less challenging activity and add 

their own challenge, such as timing 

themselves to see if they can complete 

the activity quickly. 

Rotate literacy 

work stations. 

In addition to changing the content 

of literacy stations, skilled teachers 

regularly reevaluate the membership 

of small groups and re-form 

them when it is appropriate. Rearranging 

students after each guided 

reading lesson to form word-study 

groups is cumbersome and time consuming 

(Williams, et al., 2009) and 

is not recommended. 

Various assessments help teachers 

determine an individual student’s 

strengths and needs for improvement. 

Using an investigative approach 

will provide an in-depth look 

at specific skills and behaviors. Try to 

understand underlying causes, and 

make good instructional decisions 

based on data. 

By differentiating instruction in 

literacy stations and small groups, 

children’s individual needs can be 

met. Some students will advance, 

while a few others will become less 

engaged with the literacy stations. 

Always offer a variety of instructional 

challenges to keep interest high. For 

example, 

• set up a research station (children 

pick a topic and search 

for at least three facts) 


• encourage poetry writing 

• ask children to write letters to 

future kindergartners 

• make a word family book 

• ask children to write sentences 

that have at least two sight 

words in them 

Key Attributes of 

Small-Group Instruction 

These are some of the most important 

points to remember when 

implementing small-group reading 

instruction. 

Use Assessment to 

Guide Instruction 

Observation of children’s literacy 

knowledge helps teachers focus on 

which skills children use as they participate 

in classroom literacy activities. 

Checklists and other literacy assessments 

can be used to document 

specific skills that the child is proficient 

in using, is working on, and is 

not using at the time of assessment. 

Using this knowledge is the key to 

making decisions based on the skills 

Effectively Implementing Small-Group Instruction 


that enhance reading. Short, targeted 

instructional activities enable children 

to develop their reading skills. With 

each small group, teachers use their 

knowledge to adjust instruction. 

Be sure to celebrate student success. 

Focus on specific skills so the 

new learning becomes evident, and 

then celebrate it. Success encourages 

children to continue practicing skills 

and try new learnings. 

Work Collaboratively 

Grade-level teams and support 

personnel are encouraged to work 

together to plan and implement 

instruction (Haager, n.d.). Talk 

with other teachers about activities 

to enhance reading skills and that 

build each other’s repertoires of 

activities. Check with the resource 

staff, reading specialists, special education 

support staff, and curriculum 

coaches, too. Children’s families 

and community volunteers may 

have even more ideas and be able to 

locate needed information. 

Instead of re-creating each lesson, 

use what is working to develop 

activities for different groups. Each 

Individual Literacy 

Centers 

Managing Groups 

Assessment of Children’s 

Abilities 

Teacher-Led Small-Group 

Literacy Activity 

group needs different skill enhancements 

and different activities. Build 

a variety of activities that use the 

same skill so that children have multiple 

opportunities to practice the 

skill and incorporate it as they create 

their own knowledge. 

Share successes, strategies, and 

concerns with other professionals. 

Together everyone can celebrate and 

brainstorm to problem solve, opening 

up new opportunities. 

Vary Instructional Strategies 

When a new skill/objective is 

introduced, perhaps whole-group 

instruction is still a wise choice 

(Ediger, 2002). Although small 

groups are highly focused on specific 

skills, in some schools all students 

may still receive daily whole-class 

instruction in phonics, vocabulary, 

and comprehension, as well as some 

phonemic awareness activities from 

the comprehensive reading program 

(Kosanovich, et al., 2007). 

Large-group instruction allows for 

interaction of children with various 

knowledge levels. Children who have 

• Independent learning activites 

• Practice different literacy skills 

• Materials and planning that increase likelihood of 

child success 

• Structured, inviting, and challenging 

• Arranging for movement of children in and out of 

literacy centers 

• Monitoring of on-task behaviors and completion of tasks 

• Take time to teach children how to work indpendently 

in centers 

• Document students’ strengths and needs 

• Use multiple pieces of information to understand 

children’s development 

• Use knowldge to plan for small group and individual 

literacy centers 

• Small group of 5 or fewer children 

• Grouped by ability 

• Lesson diversified for needs of group 

• Targeted learning of specific needed skills 


some knowledge of the concept can 

enhance and validate their understandings, 

while children with little 

knowledge may improve some skills. 

Modeling a reading skill can be a 

part of the discussion of the skill development. 

Exposure to a new skill 

sets a foundation for later learning. 

Engage All Children 

Providing high-quality, engaging 

activities for children who are not in 

small-group time is a must. As they 

create and problem solve on their 

own, they grow toward independence. 

During the 10- to 15-minute 

small-group teaching time, visually 

scan the room from time to time to 

monitor the other children. 

Suggest that children ask a friend 

or classroom volunteer a question 

before asking the teacher, so they 

learn to solve their own problems. 

Children can rely on each other or 

sometimes even wait for assistance 

until the teacher completes work 

with the small group. 

Teach children that small-group 

time is important so that they value 

Online Resources 

Instructional Strategies 

Saskatoon Public Schools 

http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/strats/guided/guided. 

html 

Step-by-step instructions on how to establish small 

groups, definitions of key terms, and a vast array of 

information. 

Teacher Resources 

Tucson Unified School District 

http://www.tusd1.org/resources/literacy/links.asp 

Several links to helpful resources to aid teachers with 

small-group reading instruction, including a book list, 

comprehension strategies, fluency probes, and phonics 

lessons. 


their interactions when they are in 

small group. Set limits about when it 

is appropriate for children to interrupt 

a small group, such as when a 

material is broken or a child is hurt 

physically or emotionally. 

After completing time with small 

groups, teachers check with children 

in other activities before beginning 

the next small group. How teachers 

plan for and use small-group time determines 

the impact the group experience 

has on both students’ learning 

and assessment of it (Wasik, 2008). 

* * * 

Ms. Baffle was very excited by 

everything she learned from other 

teachers, the reading specialist, and 

all the research she studied. She wrote 

pages of notes and used her school’s 

diagnostic tools to determine how to 

set up her kindergarten groups and 

form her literacy stations. 

As a result, her students were 

able to move forward in their 

learning journey. The students 

grew as they encountered new and 

exciting literacy-rich activities in 

every literacy center they visited. 

References 

Amendum, S.J., Li, Y., & Creamer, K.H. (2009). 

Reading lesson instruction characteristics. Reading 

Psychology, 30(1), 119-143. 

Cooper, J.L., MacGregor, J., Smith, K.A., & 

Robinson, P. (2000). Implementing small group 

instruction: Insight from successful practitioners. 

New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 81(1), 

63-73. 

Ediger, M. (2002). Grouping and organizing for instruction 

in reading. (ERIC Document Reproduction 

Services No. ED 471-842) Retrieved from 

EBSCOhost ERIC database. 

Haager, D. (n.d.). Using assessment to organize and 

implement effective reading instruction. Retrieved 

from http://pattan.net/files/Reading/H-Reading- 

Conf.ppt / 

Kiley, T.J. (2007). Research in reading. Illinois Reading 

Council Journal, 35(2), 72-75. 

King, M.E. (2005). Scheduling for reading and 

writing small-group instruction using learning center 

designs. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 21(4), 

401-405. 

Kosanovich, M., Ladinsky, K., Nelson, L., & Torgesen, 

J. (2007). Differentiated reading instruction: Smallgroup 

alternative lesson structures for students. Tallahassee, 

FL: Florida Center for Reading Research. 

Opitz, M.F., & Ford, M.P. (2004). What do I do 

with the rest of the kids? The ReadingTeacher, 

58(4), 394-396. 

Rogoff, B. (1991). Apprenticeship in thinking: 

Cognitive development in social context. NY: Oxford 

University Press. 

Taylor, B.M., Pearson, D., Clark, K.F., & Walpole, 

S. (1999). Effective schools/accomplished teachers. 

The Reading Teacher, 53(2), 156-159. 

Tyner, B. (2003). Small-group reading instruction: 

A differentiated reading model for beginning and 

struggling readers. Newark, DE: The International 

Reading Association. 

Reading Lady 

http://www.readinglady.com/ 

Helpful teacher resources and research articles on 

reading instruction. Includes a blog for teachers about 

reading instruction. 

Guided Reading in the Primary Classroom 

Scholastic 

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4343 

Many articles on small-group reading instruction. Lists 

grade-level-appropriate books to purchase. 

Assessment Tools 

Los Angeles County Office of Education 

http://teams.lacoe.edu/reading/assessments/assessments. 

html 

Information on assessing readers. Also has a few video 

clips showing teachers in action. 




Wasik, B. (2008). When fewer is more: Small 

groups in early childhood classrooms. Early Childhood 

Educational Journal, 35(1), 515-521. 

Williams, C., Phillips-Birdsong, C., Hufnagel, K., 

Hungler, D., & Lundstrom, R.P. (2009). Word 

study instruction in the K–2 classroom. The Reading 

Teacher, 62(7), 570-578. 

About the Authors 

Tara Wilson, M.Ed., is a Kindergarten 

teacher at Eiland Elementary School 

in Klein Independent School District, 

Houston, Texas, and Adjunct Instructor 

at Sam Houston State University, 

Huntsville, Texas. Wilson has taught 

kindergarten for 6 years using smallgroup 

reading instruction. 

Diana Nabors, Ed.D., is Associate Professor 

of Early Childhood Education at 

Sam Houston State University. Nabors 

has more than 20 years of experience 

in teaching kindergarten and first grade 

literacy using small groups and center 

instruction. She has conducted research 

and had multiple presentations in early 

literacy and oral language development. 

Helen Berg, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor 

of Bilingual Education at Sam 

Houston State University. Berg has 

experience in working and implementing 

literacy centers in various bilingual 

kindergarten classes in the United 

States and Mexico. One of her research 

interests is studying the development of 

bi-literacy in young children. 

Cindy Simpson, Ph.D., is Dean of 

Education at Sam Houston Baptist 

University. Simpson has done extensive 

research in literacy development in 

children with special needs. In addition, 

she teaches courses involving the 

application of specific strategies to 

address literacy instruction in young 

children struggling with reading comprehension 

and oral reading. 

Kay Timme, M.Ed., is Adjunct Instructor 

at Sam Houston State University. 

Timme has served as a school district 

administrator and university instructor 

in early literacy, where she provided 

professional development for pre-service 

and in-service early childhood educators 

on planning and delivering small group 

instruction, and creating and using 

literacy centers/work stations. 

Farewell 

Dear Colleagues and Friends, 

This issue of Dimensions of Early Childhood 

is the last one for which I serve as Editor of 

SECA’s journal. Since 1996, I have had the 

pleasure of working with—and continuing to 

learn from—hundreds of you as SECA staff, 

Board members, Editorial Committee volunteers, 

conference presenters, authors, and 

expert reviewers. 

Thank you all for your gracious Southern 

hospitality and appreciation for our efforts 

to ensure that SECA’s refereed journal maintained 

the highest standards in early childhood 

educational publishing. I will always treasure 

our many years of working together, and look 

forward to devoting my time as a volunteer 

teacher educator serving schools, families, and 

young children in Rwanda. 

Janet F. Brown, M.Ed., Early Childhood 

Education 



Connect Small-Group Reading Instruction With a Professional Book 

Keri Law 

The Read-Aloud Handbook 

By Jim Trelease. (2006). 342 pp. 

$16. New York: Penguin. 

Trelease is well known for his advocacy of reading aloud 

to children throughout their school years. His popular 

book, now in its sixth edition, explains why it is important 

for children to grow up as readers, and how families and 

educators can aid in accomplishing that goal. 

The first part of the book provides specific information 

on the effects of reading aloud and sustained and silent 

reading (SSR). Trelease indicates that one of the most 

important reasons to read to children is to help them associate 

reading with pleasure. He notes, “If a child is old 

enough to talk to, she’s old enough to read to” (p. 23). 

As children grow older, families and teachers can still 

read aloud with them. Trelease provides information on 

the developmental stages of children’s reading. His useful 

tips for reading aloud include read as often as you and 

the child have time for, allow children to insert their own 

commentary on the book, don’t overwhelm the listener, 

and choose stories you enjoy. 

Trelease believes that there should be many high-interest 

books at home and in school. At home, he suggests placing 

books in multiple rooms so that reading material 

surrounds children. He recommends that children visit a 

library periodically, have their own library card, and join 

group read-alouds. Trelease notes that Oprah Winfrey’s 

book club motivated people to read and made TV into a 

“pro-reading” experience. One lesson from Oprah that he 

mentions is, “More talk, less writing; more open discussion 

without right or wrong answers” (p. 139). 

The Internet is a great resource for reading, but it cannot 

replace books. Book recordings are beneficial. “The 

recorded book is a perfect example of how technology can 

be used to make this a more literate nation” (p. 171). 

The final portion of the book is a Treasury of Read- 

Alouds that includes details on how to use the resource. 

These are books for adults to read-aloud to children, so 

Trelease provides the “listening level” for each book rather 

than the reading level. 

Trelease’s book is highly recommended because it has 

many strengths. It is easy to read, with well-organized 

chapters and headings. Each heading is posed in the form 

of a question that is answered within the text. Trelease features 

inspiring anecdotes that reflect on the value of being 

read to as a child. He incorporates his own life experiences 

as well as the read-aloud experiences of others. 

Although Jim Trelease may have never been a classroom 

teacher, his reading experiences and creative writing have 

led to an informative manual for families and educators 

who are interested in children’s literature and cognitive 

development. 

Keri Law, M.A., Early Childhood Teacher, WVU Nursery School, West Virginia University, Morgantown. 

40 Vol 40, No 3, 2012 


SECA 2013 Features Special Sessions for Trainers and Program Directors 

2013 Trainer Institute 

with Susan Terdan 


8:00 am-5:00 pm 

Our 2nd annual Trainer Institute welcomes both beginning 

and experienced trainers. 

Morning Session 

Practice Without Implementation---You Can’t Have One Without the Other 

“Practice” during a workshop and “implementation” back in the workplace are intricately connected. Effective 

practice must be imbedded in your workshop and given a significant chunk of time. You’ll receive an implementation 

plan for to adapt to your training topics and distribute in your workshops. 

Networking Lunch 

Afternoon Session 

Follow-up and Level 3 & 4 Evaluation 

For smooth sailing, your workshop process must include a discussion with the “crew” regarding plans for Follow-up 

and Level 3 & 4 Evaluation. We’ll be stimulating the trainer’s confidence and abilities to help keep everyone on course. 

2013 Directors’ Seminar 

with Holly Elissa Bruno 


8:00 am-5:00 pm 

We’re welcoming directors back to SECA 2013 with our annual Directors 

Seminar. This Seminar is designed to provide Directors with the specialized 

knowledge that they need to effectively manage their programs and to provide 

networking opportunities for Directors with their colleagues from throughout 

the South. 

Morning Session 

Managing Legal Risks in Child Care with Holly Elissa Bruno 

Learn the 7 guiding principles to use in making decision with potential legal ramifications and learn how to practice 

preventative approaches and new policies through case study discussion of realistic everyday situations. 

Networking Lunch with Holly-Continue the Discussion 

Afternoon Session 

Learn from Your Colleagues Around the South 

We’ll have a panel of directors that work in faith-based programs and directors from other sectors of the early childhood 

community who’ll share their challenges, successes and unique perspectives with you. This will be your opportunity 

to learn from your colleagues and to share your knowledge and expertise with others who manage a program. 

For more complete program and registration information about the Institute and Seminar, 

go to http://www.southernearlychildhood.org/seca_conference_speakers_and_schedules.php

NON-PROFIT 

ORGANIZATION 

U.S. POSTAGE PAID 

Little Rock, AR 72201 

Permit No. 2470 

P.O. Box 55930 • Little Rock, AR 72215-5930 

Toll Free: 800-305-7322 

www.SouthernEarlyChildhood.org 

Don’t Forget!! 

Look for the newest 

issue of Dimensions 

Extra online! 

Plenty of ideas to 

pair up with the articles 

from this issue of Dimensions, so 

swing by our website and get them now! 

64th Annual 

Conference 

of the 

Southern Early 

Childhood Association 

Join Us!! 

Hand in Hand: 

Children and Nature 

February 28 - March 2, 2013 

Mobile Renaissance 

Riverview Plaza Hotel 

Mobile, Alabama 

For more information, go to 

www.southernearlychildhood.org/seca_conference.php 

or scan the QR code with your mobile device.

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