The Hispanic population within the United States has grown to a considerable amount. The state of Florida’s population is 25% Hispanic, with projected estimates of this population continuing to grow in the coming years (Ortman & Shin, 2011). Statistics show that 28.3% of the state’s population, over the age of five, speak a language other than English at home. With this considerable number of Spanish-speakers comes the responsibility to adjust certain educational practices to best meet their needs. Literacy is an essential part of learning, and therefore assessing early literacy is an essential part to any child’s academic development. Phonological awareness is the ability to manipulate and identify the phonological segments of a word (Blachman, Tangel, Ball, Black & Mcgraw, 1999). It is a strong predictor for early literacy abilities (Bradley & Bryant, 1983, Kozminsky & Kozminsky, 1995, Vandervelden & Siegel 1997). This relationship between phonological awareness and early literacy exists within the English language, and also within many other alphabetic languages such as Spanish (Anthony, Williams, McDonald, Corbitt-Shindler, Carlson, & Francis, 2006). Therefore, phonological awareness shares an important relationship to early literacy abilities for both English and Spanish speakers. There are many morphological, phonological, syntactical, and lexical subtleties that exist between varied dialects of the Spanish language. Vocabulary and lexicon use has been shown to positively influence phonological awareness skills in young children. Dialectical classifications of the participants were determined through use of different dialect specific vocabulary word list in the Linguistic and Cultural Background Survey. This study sought to evaluate whether dialectical differences among young Spanish-English bilinguals were associated with performance on measures of phonological awareness and reading. Twelve participants (children ages 3.17 years to 7.5 years and their parents participated in the study. Children completed a short form of the dynamic assessment of phonological awareness in Spanish (Loreti, 2015), the Letter-Word Identification of the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey-Revised (WMLS-R; Woodcock et al., 2005), the Elision, Rapid Automatic Naming, and Letter Name/Letter Sound subtests from the Test of Phonological Sensitivity in Spanish (TOPSS; Brea et al., 2003) and the Preschool Language Scales, Fifth Edition Spanish Screening Test (PLS-5; Zimmerman et al., 2011). Parents completed a Linguistic and Cultural Background Survey designed to identify potential dialectical differences among the children. Results from the Linguistic and Cultural Background Survey indicated that all participants used the dialect consistent with Central America, and six additionally used lexical features of dialects outside of Central America. Consequently, children were categorized into either a Central group or a Central Plus group. The Central group indicated the use of words specific to the Central American dialect of Spanish. The Central Plus group indicated use of Central American dialect specific words, as well as words specific to Standard and Caribbean dialects of Spanish. These two groups were compared on the assessments of phonological awareness and early literacy. The results indicated that there were no statistically significant differences on any of the assessments between the dialect groups. Although the comparisons on the measures of Letter Word Identification Subtest and Letter Name Letter Sound subtest demonstrated medium effect sizes in favor of the Central plus another dialect group, and Rapid Automatic Naming demonstrated a medium effect in favor of the Central only group. Further investigation is needed to demonstrate these medium effects to a greater extent.

<p>Fizička aktivnost u velikoj meri može pozitivno uticati na zdravstveni status i psihosocijalno stanje, pa je glavni cilj istraživanja bio usmeren na analizu fizičke aktivnosti pred&scaron;kolske dece. Teorijski deo rada obuhvata sve &scaron;to je bitno za razumevanje postavljene teme, dok je empirijski deo podeljen na četiri dela. U prvom delu su izloženi rezultati dobijeni anketom i dnevnikom aktivnosti koje su popunjavali roditelji, a analizirana je dečja aktivnost radnim danima i vikendom. Drugi deo se odnosi na obim kretne aktivnosti dece tokom boravka u vrtiću, gde je statističkom obradom podataka utvrđeno kakav je obim kretne aktivnosti dečaka i devojčica i od čega zavisi. U okviru plana i programa koji se sprovodi u pred&scaron;kolskoj ustanovi, predviđeno je da se upražnjavaju usmerene aktivnosti s motoričkim sadržajem, &scaron;to je analizirano u trećem i četvrtom delu (trajanje, struktura i sadržaj aktivnosti, kao i motorička&nbsp; angažovanost dece na aktivnostima).</p> / <p>Physical activity can have a positive impact on the health status and psychosocial condition; therefore the main aim of this research was focused on the analysis of physical activities of preschool children. The theoretical part of the study includes all important matters essential for understanding the subject, while the empirical part is divided into four sections. The first section presents the results obtained from a questionnaire and a diary of activities completed by parents, and it analyzes the children&#39;s activity on weekdays and weekends. The second section relates to the extent of motor activity of children during their stay in the kindergarten. The statistical analysis in this section shows the scope of motor activity of boys and girls and what it depends on. According to the plan implemented in preschool institution, it is expected to have directed activities with motor content. This part is analyzed in the third and fourth section (duration, structure and content of activities as well as motor<br />involvement of children in activities).</p>

本研究旨在探討運用幼兒學習環境評量表-修訂版(ECERS-R)及幼兒園品質改善計畫(Program quality improvement plan)是否可作為一有效工具幫助幼兒園及幼兒教師提升幼兒園品質，並分析幼兒園的品質現況及提升幼兒園品質的歷程，最後綜合研究結果，提出研究結論。 本研究為「準實驗設計」，由研究者親自使用ECERS-R入園觀察與評分，並編製幼兒園品質改善計畫(Program quality improvement plan)作為幼兒園提升品質的執行藍圖。本研究以台北市及新北市共十所私立幼兒園作為研究對象，並將研究對象分為實驗組與對照組，實驗組則在前後與後測之間安排研究介入，用以驗證ECERS-R是否可作為一有效工具幫助幼兒園及幼兒教師提升幼兒園品質，幼兒園品質分數以統計軟體SPSS17.0for Windows進行處理，採用描述性統計及訪談整理等方法進行分析。 本研究之結論如下: 一、實驗組的幼兒園品質提升幅度大於對照組 二、透過ECERS-R及幼兒園品質改善計畫的介入，有效協助園所提升幼兒園品質 三、教師最常採取提升幼兒園品質的方法為提供多樣化的素材及安全衛生的環境 四、受限於空間、課程及其它因素影響，導致園所短期內無法擬定部分題項之改 善計畫 最後，研究者根據結論，對幼兒園實務面及未來研究提出具提建議，以期對未來幼教發展有所貢獻。 關鍵字: ECERS-R、幼兒園品質、提升幼兒園品質 / The purpose of this study are to explore the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales-Revised (ECERS-R) and “Program quality improvement plan” could be an effective tool to help kindergartens and ECE teachers improve Kindergarten Quality ,and to analyze the status of quality and the process of quality improvement. Last, summarize the result of the study. The major method of this study is Quasi-experimental design , researcher used the ECERS-R to Observe and rating, also develops “Program quality improvement plan” as an blue point for kindergarten to improve quality . The subjects are ten kindergartens in Taipei City and New Taipei City and subjects were divided into experimental and control groups, experimental groups using pretest - intervention – posttest mode to demonstrate if ECERS-R could be an effective tool to help kindergartens and ECE teachers improve Kindergarten Quality. The scores of ECERS-R were analyzed by the statistical software SPSS17.0 for Windows using descriptive statistics, interview draft analysis. According to the case, the conclusions are as follows: 1. Enhance the quality of the experimental group was larger than the control group. 2. Kindergarten through the ECERS-R and“Program quality improvement plan”, to effectively assist kindergartens improve the quality of centers. 3. ECE teachers to improve the quality of the most common method to provide a variety of materials and environmental health and safety. 4. Limited space, curriculum, and other factors, led to the short term can not develop improvement plans. Finally, based on the conclusions of study, the researcher proposes some suggestions for practice in kindergarten and future research , hoping to contribute to the development of future early childhood education. Key words: ECERS-R, kindergarten quality, improve the quality of kindergartens

"Why are you researching us?" ... "Are you a spy?"..."Are you taping right now?" asked children at the ‘Community School,' in those first moments of this qualitative study. This thesis contributes to the growing body of social research in the field of early childhood education, viewing children as capable and competent meaning makers, engaging their input as ‘agentive researchers,’ and reconceptualizing research methodology, play theory, and early childhood teaching practice. Changing contexts of 21st century childhoods, as well as new theories regarding literacy and meaning making, prompted this research involving a reconceptualization of play and its value, within the context of multiliteracies theories and holistic education. This process of reconceptualization was informed by observation (playscapes, places, props, plots, partners and practices) of boys at play considering their meaning-making processes. Through participant observation in a full-day Kindergarten, play episodes were documented (i.e., digital videography, photography, audio recording, field notes, collection of artifacts) and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Three broad themes emerged. First, physical and social aspects of the Classroom Play Environment were found to be influential in creating conditions for play, influencing the quality of engagement and learning. Ample time, space, freedom of movement, and access to plentiful creative materials were important in children’s active play and meaning making processes. Common behavourist classroom management techniques were avoided in favour of social constructivist approaches, which promoted children’s self-regulation with an aim to recognize and foster their sense of agency, and support emergent play-literacy practices (Hill & Nichols, 2006). Second, children’s explanations regarding the source and inspiration of play themes and interests prompted a reconsideration of ‘spontaneity’ as foundational to a Definition of Play. Defining play processes as “multiliteracies”, and play episodes as “text”, play ideas were found to be intertextually linked to multiple texts including picture books, multimedia, and iconic texts. Third, Boys' Play was observed to involve much movement combined with rough and tumble, pretend, construction, and word play, prompting a re-consideration of ‘narrative’ within the context of play and literacy research literature. As well, boys inquired about gendered play objects and identities in complex and personal ways. This digital thesis document utilized a multimodal design, embedding visual and audio text, creating a new multimodal thesis form with an aim toward considering all modes of meaning making as equal, rather than emphasizing or privileging print text (Jewitt & Kress, 2003).

"Why are you researching us?" ... "Are you a spy?"..."Are you taping right now?" asked children at the ‘Community School,' in those first moments of this qualitative study. This thesis contributes to the growing body of social research in the field of early childhood education, viewing children as capable and competent meaning makers, engaging their input as ‘agentive researchers,’ and reconceptualizing research methodology, play theory, and early childhood teaching practice. Changing contexts of 21st century childhoods, as well as new theories regarding literacy and meaning making, prompted this research involving a reconceptualization of play and its value, within the context of multiliteracies theories and holistic education. This process of reconceptualization was informed by observation (playscapes, places, props, plots, partners and practices) of boys at play considering their meaning-making processes. Through participant observation in a full-day Kindergarten, play episodes were documented (i.e., digital videography, photography, audio recording, field notes, collection of artifacts) and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Three broad themes emerged. First, physical and social aspects of the Classroom Play Environment were found to be influential in creating conditions for play, influencing the quality of engagement and learning. Ample time, space, freedom of movement, and access to plentiful creative materials were important in children’s active play and meaning making processes. Common behavourist classroom management techniques were avoided in favour of social constructivist approaches, which promoted children’s self-regulation with an aim to recognize and foster their sense of agency, and support emergent play-literacy practices (Hill & Nichols, 2006). Second, children’s explanations regarding the source and inspiration of play themes and interests prompted a reconsideration of ‘spontaneity’ as foundational to a Definition of Play. Defining play processes as “multiliteracies”, and play episodes as “text”, play ideas were found to be intertextually linked to multiple texts including picture books, multimedia, and iconic texts. Third, Boys' Play was observed to involve much movement combined with rough and tumble, pretend, construction, and word play, prompting a re-consideration of ‘narrative’ within the context of play and literacy research literature. As well, boys inquired about gendered play objects and identities in complex and personal ways. This digital thesis document utilized a multimodal design, embedding visual and audio text, creating a new multimodal thesis form with an aim toward considering all modes of meaning making as equal, rather than emphasizing or privileging print text (Jewitt & Kress, 2003).

This project used data from the School Readiness Survey (SR) of the 2007 National Household Education Surveys Program collected by the National Center for Education Statistics Institute of Education Science. A subsample of 1,712 to 2,622 subjects who participated in the survey was used for this project. The purpose of the study was to examine parent perceptions, behaviors, and reported child ability related to school readiness and the effect ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) had on each comparison. Variables from the existing data were matched to one of the five domains of School Readiness: Health and Physical Development, Social and Emotional Development, Approaches to Learning, Communication, and General Knowledge. Data were analyzed by means of Pearson correlations and Moderate Multiple Regression analyses. Findings revealed weak, but significant, correlations among parent perceptions, parent behaviors, and parent reported child ability in specific domains. SES and ethnicity were found to be a moderator of parent perceptions and parent behaviors. SES was also shown to affect the relationship between parent behaviors and parent reported child ability in the domains of communication and general knowledge. Several limitations are presented, including possible reasons for the significant but weak results. Findings from this study suggest much more can be learned regarding parent perceptions across ethnicity and SES and the influence it has on school readiness.

This study examined Early Childhood Special Educators' perceptions of play as a developmentally appropriate practice in special education prekindergarten classrooms in one southeastern school district. Through purposeful sampling, eight prekindergarten special educators were identified because they held multiple teaching certifications and some held National Board certification. The participants had many years of experience in pre-kindergarten special education, and were professional development trainers, teacher mentors and or leaders in the prekindergarten special education community. These eight accomplished pre-kindergarten special education teachers were interviewed using an informal, semi-structured format about their beliefs concerning play, how they implement it in their classrooms as well as their perspectives on barriers to play. The participants identify the supports needed to implement play as a developmentally appropriate practice in special education prekindergarten classrooms. The findings reveal that Early Childhood Special Educators' believe in play as a developmentally appropriate practice and state that play is foundational to their practice in prekindergarten classrooms for children with special needs. Implications for future research and practice are included.

Young parents and their children are considered a high-risk population as they are more likely to lack social support networks, have limited access to opportunities to enhance parenting skills, and are often financially dependent. Young children whose mothers have poor parenting skills are more likely to have persistent problem behavior. Three young mothers living in a transitional housing facility participated in this study. The purpose of this study was to determine if these mothers could implement parenting strategies that are a part of a commercially available parenting book and DVD. This study found that: (1) mothers were able to correctly implement the parenting strategies; (2) child problem behavior decreased from baseline to follow-up; and (3) the mother's perception of child problem behavior shifted positively from baseline to follow-up phases.

This study examined the effects of a parent-led intervention focused on developing children's early literacy skills within the home setting. The lesson plans contain scripted steps for completing activities to teach letter names and phonological awareness skills. Archival data were analyzed from a study conducted with 26 families from three Head Start centers. Thirteen families completed the intervention and thirteen families were enrolled in a control condition which provided information on shared reading strategies. Children in the intervention group performed at statistically significant higher levels on measures of letter naming, phonological awareness, vocabulary/oral language, and comprehension. Parents rated both the intervention and control conditions as highly acceptable. Most parents (n= 10) within the intervention group completed the vast majority of the lesson plans. Changes within the home revealed that parents in both groups engaged in the same types of early learning activities, but that parents in the intervention group reported engaging in these activities more frequently than the control group. This study contributes to the literature by creating a method of parental involvement in preschool targeting phonological awareness and letter naming abilities.

The life of a child has completely transitioned from analogue to digital in the past 20 years. The use of digital devices and media has tripled among children between the ages of 0-8 years old since 2011. With the increasing amount of internet access in places that children and families frequent, it is almost impossible to go anywhere without the Wi-Fi access information being made available to consumers to enjoy while they patronize the business. Educators are in a unique position to find creative ways to incorporate technology into their instruction; however, this nuance is not without its challenges. Many early learning programs have not incorporated technology into their programs for a variety of reasons such as, but not limited to: lack of funding, fear, and the belief that it is not developmentally appropriate. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and The Fred Rogers Center drafted a joint statement that provided a framework for early childhood educators to use as they introduced technology and digital media into their learning environments. The researcher of this study conducted a mixed methods study with three diverse early learning programs in the southeastern part of the United States. After examining the aforementioned variables, the researcher found there to be no difference in the technology usage rate among the three schools. The findings also indicated that two out of the three schools were better equipped than the other with technology and access to digital media. Despite several of the survey participants having said that they had not received training on how to use digital devices for instructional purposes, an overwhelming 92% of them admitted to using technology for daily task completion. The researcher was not able to collect sufficient data to answer the question about parental influence. However, the researcher has identified this variable as an area for future research and believes that further examination will yield thought-provoking results regarding parental influence.