The purpose of this study was to assess the Parents as Teachers program and its relationship to literacy and school readiness among kindergarten students enrolled in three elementary schools in southwestern New Mexico, using the Dynamic Indicators of Literacy Skills assessment system. Data were collected by trained teachers and parent volunteers and used by the Parents as Teachers program as part of their program evaluation. Analysis of these data showed that the PAT program is having positive results for participating students in this school district in comparison to non-PAT kindergartners. The overall results from this study support continuing implementation of the PAT program in this area because it appears that PAT children are entering school with sufficient literacy readiness skills based on the Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 outcome of the DIBELS assessment outcome.

This study examined changes in kindergarteners' writing complexity after implementing writing instruction based on story elements (character, setting, problem, and solution). Writing samples from six students of three ability levels (i.e., beginning, intermediate, and advanced) were collected over a six-week period within a guided writing context. These samples included three types of texts (oral language, pictures, and written text)and were analyzed using two analytic rubrics specifically created for this study, one for writing development and the other for the inclusion of story elements. Findings from this study suggest that all students, regardless of ability level wrote in more complex ways when they used story elements as cues to incorporate detail into their writing. Additionally, all of the students included the four story elements in varying degrees, and the acknowledgment and use of different types of text in each writing sample provided a more accurate representation of the student authors' thinking.

The purpose of this action research study was to explore the use of informational text in kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms in one elementary school. The research was based on analyzing responses given by teachers on a self-report survey; which addressed various aspects of their use of informational texts. The survey included questions about the sources teachers used to find informational texts, the criteria used in selection of such texts, and the frequency and purposes for informational text use. These data were then compared according to teachers' years of teaching experience and grade level taught to see the influence of such groupings. Findings indicated that teachers tend to use the sources for informational texts that are most readily available within a school. Further, findings indicated that not all teachers use the same selection criteria for picking informational texts to use in their classrooms and teachers value different criteria for selection of such texts. Next, frequency of use of informational texts varied from teacher to teacher, with some teachers using informational texts often and some using informational texts very little. The use of such texts was almost always tied to specific content, but the purposes for use of informational texts varied from teacher to teacher, with some teachers being very specific in their purpose, to others being very vague about their purpose for the use of such texts. Finally, findings show that there were differences in the ways teachers in two grade-level groups selected and used informational texts.

A single-subject-multiple-baseline-across-behaviors design was used to examine the effects of using Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy (SEEL) instruction to help Tier 3 kindergarten students learn to read CVC words. Four students designated as Tier 3 by their teachers participated in the study. They were grouped into two dyads and received SEEL instruction focusing on specific word reading targets for approximately 20 minutes four days per week over a seven-week time period. The instruction included meaningful, interactive activities and incorporated high levels of play, multiple exposures to the target, explicit instruction, and student-teacher conversational exchanges. Baseline assessment data were collected prior to the application of the intervention for each of the targets and assessment data continued to be collected after each intervention session. All students learned to read the target words and three of the students generalized their learning to other targets. A moderate to large effect size of 0.54 was obtained using Cohen's r value. The need for adequate exposure to targets and time to practice was highlighted, along with the value of revisiting targets and addressing individual student's needs when working in small groups.

I started the project by doing a workshop with aclassmate using a derivative of the german officeBaupiloten’s methods. The goal of the workshop was toextract their actual needs and wishes.Traditionally when asking a client “What do you want?”,they’ll be constricted by their own reality and context.Taking children as an example they would ask for moreslides or a trampoline. By using an seemingly nonconnectedand abstract task the children can expresstheir actuals needs and wishes for their enviroment.We had a group of 8, 5 year old children that we showed 9pictures of natural phenomena while telling the childrenabout the pictures to spark their imagination. Afterwardwe asked each child to pick the pictures they liked. Withthem and other material we then instructed them to“construct worlds” inside A4-boxes. During the wholeprocess speaking to the children to extract their thoughtprocess as thoroughly as possible.On top of this the concept was based on the ongoingdebate regarding the lack of outdoor areas for childrenin Stockholm as well as the pedagogies of Reggio Emiliaand Montessori. From this I derived four key points.Exploration and independence, denuded architecture,free play outside and children’s inherent creativity. / Jag startade projektet genom att göra en workshop med en klasskamrat med hjälp av ett derivat från tyska arkitekturkontoret Baupilotens metoder. Målet med workshoppen var att extrahera deras faktiska behov och önskemål. Traditionellt när man frågar en klient "Vad vill du ha?", kommer de att vara begränsade av sin egen verklighet och kontext. Ta ett barn som exempel. De skulle be om mer rutschkanor eller en studsmatta. Genom att använda en till synes icke-kopplad och abstrakt uppgift barnen kan uttrycka deras faktiska behov och önskemål för deras omgivningar. Vi hade en grupp av åtta stycken, fem år gamla barn som vi visade nio bilder av naturfenomen samtidigt som vi berättade om bilderna för att tända barnens fantasi. Efteråt bad vi varje barn att välja bilderna som de tyckte mest om. Vi instruerade dem sedan till "Konstruera världar" i A4-lådor. Under hela processen talade vi med barnen för att extrahera deras tankeprocess så noggrant som möjligt. Utöver detta var konceptet baserat på den pågående debatten om bristen på utomhusområden för barn i Stockholm samt pedagogiken i Reggio Emilia och Montessori. Från detta härledde jag fyra huvudpunkter. Utforskning och självständighet, redovisande arkitektur, fri lek utomhus och barns inneboende kreativitet.

Fuktskador har drabbat flera förskolor i Nynäshamns kommun. Skadorna är så stora att valet står mellan att göra omfattande reparationer eller att riva och bygga nytt. Vilket val är det mest byggnadstekniskt riktiga? För att försöka ta reda på det så har Midgårds förskola studerats. Den byggnaden är extra intressant på grund av två skäl: • Den är den första av kommunens fuktskadade förskolor där man har valt att reparera. • De övriga fuktskadade förskolorna i kommunen har liknande konstruktion. Slutsatsen är att det är bättre att bygga nytt. Huvudorsaken är den befintliga byggnadens begränsande originalskal som omöjliggör att man uppnår alla de krav som ställs på en förskolebyggnad idag. / Several kindergartens in Nynäshamn are damaged by damp. The damage is so severe that only two options remain; extensive repairs or demolition and build new buildings. Which option is best from a building technology point of view? In search for the answer Midgård’s kindergarten has been studied. That building is especially interesting for two reasons: • It is the first kindergarten damaged by damp in Nynäshamn to go through extensive repairs. • The other kindergartens damaged by damp in Nynäshamn have a similar construction. The conclusion is that it is better to demolish and build a new building. The main reason is the restrictions set by the building’s original shell. It makes it impossible to live up to today’s all building standards for kindergartens.

This research analyzes county-level support for the 2002 Constitutional Amendments for Voluntary Universal Prekindergarten Education (VPK) and Florida’s Amendment to Reduce Class Size (CSA). Three regression models are constructed for each dependent variable (support for VPK and support for CSA): a bivariate model with political party, a full model with all theoretically identified variables, and a best model with just the independent variables that have the most explanatory power. A variety of socioeconomic, demographic and political independent variables are tested. Four independent variables had a statistically significant positive relationship with support for both VPK and CSA: Democratic registration, Hispanic population, higher education, and population density.

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