The Final thesis deals with the evaluation of worksheets based on pre-mathematics literacy. The analysis of 190 worksheets is supported with five chosen key criteria. This analysis is compared with the analysis of solutions of both, the selected worksheets of 50 students and 21 children of the pre-school age. This comparison of results shows the need of professional evaluation and correction of the worksheets from the mathematics, language and didactic angle of view just before their release. KEYWORDS: worksheet, pre-mathematics literacy, school maturity, pre-school child, kindergarten

This final dissertation deals with a newly-established pre-school institution, called the children's group. The aim of this work is to present the children's group as one of the forms of preschool education and to describe its function and a view as an alternative to other types of preschool educational care, mostly kindergarten. The work is divided into two parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical part is aimed at the targets of preschool education, motives to an establishment of children's groups, its neediness and functioning. Moreover, it compares the children's group with other forms of educational system, mostly kindergarten, and finds its boldest differences. The practical part deals with reasons that bring parents to place the child in children's group. Moreover, it is aimed at the reasons what parents anticipate from the children's group from the viewpoint of the future progress of their children. The work deals with the same topic also with parents of children attending kindergarten. According to qualitative researches that have been realized through studies of five parents and their children from children's groups and five parents and their children from kindergarten, it has been shown that the most frequent reason for placing a child into preschool institution is a need of...

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / The inner city space is a living and working locale for diverse population groups. The central business district provides job opportunities for a multitude of skilled and unskilled workers who either live in the city or who commute from outlying areas and suburbs. In other words, it serves many purposes for many people. Yet it is rarely acknowledged as an appropriate space for young children. Reality, however, shows that children should and are accommodated within the inner city. They are part of the families that engage with the city on a daily basis. The research question addressed by this study mainly concerns how the architecture should respond to a situation which acknowledges the presence of children in the inner city in a way that is not only safe and secure but also draws on the unique learning experiences that the city offers. In this respect there are endless possibilities for discovery and sensory exploration. The city is a sensory cornucopia, of sorts. The challenge is therefore to create a relationship between the pre-school and the city that is symbiotic. Because life is the generator of the city, children add another layer to its intriguing complexities. In return, the city provides exciting educational experiences which "have the potential to ensure that memories are made and remembered. An urban preschool is not typified by the way it mirrors the urban context or incorporates it thematically, but by the way it engages and becomes part of its pattern language. Existing boundaries which are often restrictive and prescriptive are deconstructed and reconstructed, and, in doing so, the identity and the conventional stereotype of the urban preschool is redefined. The challenge that this study purports to address is to create a balance between two realms: the preschool as a place of ultimate safety and the public realm as a place of ultimate freedom. It takes into consideration how these issues have been addressed locally and overseas from the point of educational principles and, specifically, how the architecture supports and incorporates these principals within the urban context. Such an exploration of factors that typify an urban preschool (as opposed to the more familiar suburban model) will culminate in the development of a preschool that is completely context specific, especially with regard to the sensory references in the city.

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The diploma thesis deals with the development and current situation in the market of preschool care and basic education in the district Praha-západ. The thesis solves whether this is a national or regional problem. For further investigation is elected the district Praha-západ, in which it is decided whether there is a problem with insufficient capacity in educational establishments. By analysing the development and the current situation together with structured interviews with staff of municipal and municipal authorities and questionnaire surveys of the inhabitants living in this region, it proves this problem. At the end of the thesis several proposals of solutions are provided, which are inspired by specific municipalities or towns of this district.

Given the importance of emotional self-regulation to a child’s ability to develop social competence and prosocial behavior, and the significant role early childhood teachers play in supporting young children’s emotional self-regulation, it is important to explore the concept from the perspective of teachers, or from the socio-cultural context through which they (i.e., teachers) make sense of the world. This study used an exploratory case study methodology to explore the understandings of emotional self-regulation among three Head Start teachers working with varying socio-cultural contexts and to identify the socio-cultural perspectives that influenced their ability to effectively apply their understandings. Findings indicate that while the participants’ definitions of emotional self- regulation were aligned with those that are commonly used in the field, it was their implementation of strategies that diverged, reflecting the influence of learning goals and varying socio-cultural contexts.

There is a limited understanding of the practices provided by interventionists under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part C, and there is no knowledge of how providers deliver services for children who have challenging behaviors. In particular, few studies have examined the extent to which Part C interventionists use evidence-based practices. Decreasing occurrences of challenging behaviors in early childhood is particularly important, as there are many negative ramifications associated with untreated challenging behaviors, including troubled peer and adult relationships, academic failure, and increased antisocial behaviors in adulthood. Research has shown that Positive Behavior Supports and the Pyramid Model are empirically supported frameworks for treatment of challenging behaviors among young children. Thus, interventionists should be utilizing PBS when serving young children with challenging behaviors. The purpose of this study was to gain a preliminary understanding of Part C interventionists’ knowledge and understanding of evidence-based practices for young children with challenging behaviors and to identify interventionists’ process of intervention identification and implementation. Also examined were the challenges associated with service-delivery and the role of Part C in alleviating such challenges. This understanding was gained through semi-structured interviews with a sample of 10 interventionists who served young children with challenging behaviors. A thematic analysis resulted in 15 themes and two subthemes. In addition, interventionists were evaluated using a 4-point rating scale, which provided additional insight regarding the level of evidence-based practice utilized by interventionists. Themes and ratings revealed interventionists have a limited understanding of best practice associated with identifying appropriate evidence-based interventions for young children with challenging behavior. Moreover, a number of barriers hindered consistent implementation of behavioral interventions. Results indicated a need for a wider scale study of Part C interventionists’ practices. In addition, results demonstrated a critical need for ongoing professional development for Florida Part C interventionists.

The problem of this study was to describe, analyze, and compare the effects of learning centers and curricular themes upon the writing production of four children within a kindergarten classroom which followed the whole language approach. This study was conducted in a public school. Four subjects were identified from the administration of the Book Handling Knowledge Task. Using the qualitative research method of case studies, the teacher-researcher kept observational notes concerning the writing behavior of the subjects. The written compositions of the subjects were collected daily throughout the school year and were assigned a context, learning center and curricular theme. The compositions were then coded as to writing frequency, function, and form. The following findings resulted from the study: writing occurred most frequently in the art center followed by dramatic play, language, sand, science, social studies, "other," eyes and hands, mathematics, and library-listening; writing occurred most frequently during the curricular theme of Christmas followed by self-concept, shapes and colors, farm animals, Thanksgiving, Winter, transportation, nursery rhymes, patriotic, Valentine, food and nutrition, Halloween, Spring, wild animals, community helpers, gingerbread man, Summer, Easter, and pets; all five functions of language were used in the art center, four in the language, dramatic play, social studies, and "other" centers, and three in all other centers; all five functions were used during the Valentine curricular theme, four during self-concept, transportation, Spring, and farm animals, three during food and nutrition, and nursery rhymes, two during eleven other curricular themes, and only one during Easter and pets; and gains were made in form by the end of the study. Writing was often in the last stage of spelling development and more print concepts were in evidence. The conclusions made were that some learning centers and curricular themes prompt more frequent writing and the use of more language functions.

This diploma thesis deals with communication in kindergarten in selected communicative situations. The first part defines basic theoretical terms and, based on previous research, summarizes findings about pre-school education and mental and language development in pre- school children. The thesis also explains factors that influence language acquisition, child directed speech and pedagogical communication. The second part's main focus lies in describing communicative situations and in qualitative analysis of the acquired data - video recordings of selected communicative situation. The pocess of recording took place after previous agreement with two kindergartens. The recordings were transcribed according to the modified manual for the DIALOG database. The analysis is focused on the nature of the pedagogical communication in kindergarten. Our findings were compared to previous research results. Keywords communication, pedagogical communication, language acquisition, child directed speech, kindergarten

This study examined a Pseudoword Phonics Curriculum to determine if this form of instruction would increase students’ decoding skills compared to typical real-word phonics instruction. In typical phonics instruction, children learn to decode familiar words which allow them to draw on their prior knowledge of how to pronounce the word and may detract from learning decoding skills. By using pseudowords during phonics instruction, students may learn more decoding skills because they are unfamiliar with the “words” and therefore cannot draw on memory for how to pronounce the word. It was hypothesized that students who learn phonics with pseudowords will learn more decoding skills and perform higher on a real-word assessment compared to students who learn phonics with real words. Students from two kindergarten classes participated in this study. An author-created word decoding assessment was used to determine the students’ ability to decode words. The study was broken into three phases, each lasting one month. During Phase 1, both groups received phonics instruction using real words, which allowed for the exploration of baseline student growth trajectories and potential teacher effects. During Phase 2, the experimental group received pseudoword phonics instruction while the control group continued real-word phonics instruction. During Phase 3, both groups were taught with real-word phonics instruction. Students were assessed on their decoding skills before and after each phase. Results from multiple regression and multi-level model analyses revealed a greater increase in decoding skills during the second and third phases of the study for students who received the pseudoword phonics instruction compared to students who received the real-word phonics instruction. This suggests that pseudoword phonics instruction improves decoding skills quicker than real-word phonics instruction. This also suggests that teaching decoding with pseudowords for one month can continue to improve decoding skills when children return to real-word phonics instruction. Teacher feedback suggests that confidence with reading increased for students who learned with pseudowords because they were less intimidated by the approach and viewed pseudoword phonics as a game that involved reading “silly” words. Implications of these results, limitations of this study, and areas for future research are discussed.