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Abstract: We investigated spelling errors in English and Spanish essays by Spanish-English dual language learners in Grades 1, 2, and 3 (N = 278; 51% female) enrolled in either English immersion or English-Spanish dual immersion programs. We examined what types of spelling errors students made, whether they made spelling errors that could be due to crosslinguistic influence, and whether errors were associated with instructional program, English learner status, and grade level. Compositions were transcribed and coded using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) software. Spelling errors were suggestive of crosslinguistic influence that was mostly unidirectional from one language to the other rather than bidirectional. Spelling errors were related to instructional program such that students in Spanish-English dual immersion made more English spelling errors in English compositions due to Spanish influence, and students in English immersion made more spelling errors in Spanish compositions due to English influence. Students in higher grades also made less English spelling errors in English compositions due to Spanish influence than students in lower grades. These findings suggest that dual language learners acquire spelling patterns in one language influenced by instruction and home language, which transfers to spelling in the other language.

As efforts to use learning through play (LtP) expand globally, it is important to explore how children's perspectives impact the efficacy and experience of this pedagogical approach. LtP has been conceptualized as a spectrum from free play to guided play to teacher‐directed play. This spectrum describes different ways in which play happens—with varying levels of adult support—and acknowledges that children's agency is characterized by choice and the ability to direct, participate in, and/or initiate play. Previous research has primarily focused on adult perceptions of LtP for preschool children in high‐resource contexts. We present the perspectives on LtP of children (3–12 years) in Bangladesh, Colombia and Uganda. We photographed learning activities in community centres and schools that incorporated play‐based practices. In group discussions, we used these photographs to elicit children's perspectives on the difference between play and learning in the classroom, the factors that influence their construction of play and learning, and the role that teachers play in these activities. Conceptualizations across the three research sites and ages were similar: Children associated learning with play if the activity was fun and social; distinctions between play and learning were defined by content, modality, materials and location; and teachers were seen as involved in play under limited conditions. We discuss the implications of our findings for the implementation of LtP in majority‐world contexts. By moving teachers from a primarily teacher‐directed approach to more guided‐play approaches, we are not only asking teachers to give up some control but are also asking children to think about adults in fundamentally different ways. This research highlights that we may need to couple professional development for teachers with approaches that support children to change their perceptions of agency and choice in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractMathematics is a core component of cognition. Unfortunately, most young children and teachers cannot access research-based early childhood mathematics resources. Building on a quarter-century of research, we are developing and evaluating an innovative, integrated, intelligent, and interactive system of technologies based on empirically validated learning trajectories that provide the best personal and digital tools for assessing and supporting children’s mathematics learning. This article reviews the research that guided us, then describes the design principles of the new project, justifying their selection using theory and research, and shares how the design principles helped address challenges in development. The goal is to provide teachers, caregivers, and children with high-quality resources to support early mathematics learning in the context of meaningful, motivating, challenging, and achievable experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study looks at the impact of a cost-effective professional devel- opment model in which teaching artists helped early elementary teachers master arts-based strategies for boosting the oral language development of English- language learners (ELLs). Teaching artists visited K–2 classrooms for 50 minutes weekly for 28 weeks. Student scores on the listening and speaking sections of the California English Language Development Test were used to determine the impact on language development. The experimental group consisted of 267 students; the comparison group consisted of 2,981 students. The analysis of the listening and speaking scores, fall 2010 to fall 2011, showed significantly more improvement for students in the experimental group. This research has implications for school leaders who, in times of tight budgets, seek professional development opportunities that can assist teachers in addressing the language development needs of English-language learners.

Oral language skills are essential to the future literacy of students in kindergarten and first grade, especially emergent bilinguals (EBs). Yet, U.S. teachers receive few professional development opportunities that prepare them to use effective strategies for promoting oral language development. Since teacher education is compartmentalized into curricular silos, methods for literacy instruction are taught in one course, methods for arts instruction in another, and so on. This article argues that well-designed arts integration can meet a key need of young, linguistically diverse students by providing opportunities for oral language practice across content areas. Experimental evidence that arts-based instruction benefits the speaking skills of EBs is presented; the underlying mechanisms are explored. An example of a fieldwork program that provided pre-service teachers with hands-on experience in K-1 classes is included, showing how they learned to enhance the verbal skills of EBs through integration of drama, music, and movement.

Although English oral language proficiency in the primary grades is critical to the literacy development of English learners (ELs), we know little about how to foster these skills. This study examined a yearlong K–2 drama and creative movement intervention. A randomized experimental design (N = 5,240) was used to address two research questions: (1) Did participating ELs perform better on oral language assessments than those who did not receive the inter- vention? (2) Was the impact of the program moderated by students’ baseline English-language skills? Student speaking and listening skills were measured using the California English Language Development Test. The treatment group (N = 902) outperformed controls (N = 4,338) on speaking assessments. ELs with the most limited English speaking abilities at baseline benefited most from the program.

The current study replicated an earlier investigation by Bouwer and van der Veen (2023) where 10 Grade 5 and 6 classrooms in the Netherlands (210 students) were randomly assigned to a treatment or control condition, with treatment students evidencing improvements in the quality of their essays after practice writing argumentative essays, reading and discussing them with a small group of peers, and revising each essay based on the discussion that ensued. In the present study, 12 Grade 2 to 4 classrooms in Türkiye (383 students) were randomly assigned to this write, talk, and rewrite dialogic treatment or to a control condition. Students in the control condition practiced planning and writing the same four argumentative essays as treatment students did during the experiment, and each of these essays was shared with peers (time spent in both conditions was comparable). Control students did not, however, discuss their essay with peers or use such feedback to revise them as was done by students in the write, talk, and rewrite dialogic treatment. When the nested nature of the data and pretest scores were held constant, the quality of the argumentative posttest essays produced by students in the treatment condition evidenced greater improvement than essays written by control students. The same outcome was obtained for the length of essays (number of words) when the nested nature of the data and pretest scores were held constant. This investigation provided evidence that the write, talk, and rewrite dialogic intervention tested by Bouwer and van der Veen (2023) was effective in improving the argumentative writing of even younger students in a different country. Implications for research and practice are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The study aimed to identify the importance of personal traits and professional competencies necessary for primary school teachers from the point of view of supervisors and experts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: I followed the descriptive survey approach by giving a questionnaire to a sample of (91) experts in the fields of curricula, teaching methods and childhood education, and the number of educational supervisors reached (298) educational supervisors. Results & Conclusions: The study came out of: The most prominent personal characteristics necessary for primary school teachers from the point of view of educational supervisors in the following order: (extroversion, neuroticism, alertness, openness to experience, acceptance). The most prominent personality traits necessary for primary school teachers from the point of view of experts (faculty members) were in the following order: (extroversion, vigilance of conscience, neuroticism, openness to experience, and acceptability). The most important dimensions of the professional competencies necessary for primary school teachers from the point of view of educational supervisors are in the following order: (classroom environment, evaluation, ethics and values of the learning profession, communication and social interaction, knowledge, planning, implementation, professional development). The most important dimensions of the professional competencies necessary for primary school teachers from the point of view of experts were as follows: (knowledge, planning, communication and social interaction, evaluation, implementation, classroom environment, ethics, and values of learning the profession, professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Over the years, extensive literature attested to the value of the Self-Regulation Strategy Development model (SRSD) for writing. Additionally, feedback has been recognized as essential to the teaching and learning of writing, and as supporting evidence-based instructional models for writing. However, little is known of the effects of combining evidence-based practice models, such as SRSD, with instructional feedback, as well as with a component of meditation. The present study aimed to study the effects of an SRSD intervention and to study the importance of instructional feedback within an SRSD intervention. Method: A total of 69 primary students (4th graders) participated in this study. The study was divided into two phases: in Phase 1, two classes participated in a SRSD intervention program (SRSD-1 group; N = 33), whereas two others received regular writing instruction (control group; N = 36); in Phase 2, the previous control group received the SRSD intervention with or without instructional feedback (SRSD-2 with feedback, N = 19, vs. SRSD-2 without feedback, N = 17, groups), while the SRSD received regular writing instruction (SRSD-1 group). Results: The effectiveness of the intervention was confirmed in both phases for the writing outcomes variables, but not for motivation. Overall, our study showed that the SRSD intervention with an additional meditation component was effective in improving students' writing planning for all intervention participants. Additionally, writing quality and writing structure improved among those with lower scores at the pretest. Concerning motivation, we only found an effect on self-efficacy for ideation. Discussion: We expect the current research to stimulate future examinations of the value of providing students with instructional feedback in writing interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This participatory action research project conducted through the USAID-funded Transforming Teacher Education activity examined how two pre-service teacher education programs in Zambia prepared teachers for primary reading instruction. College and university lecturers and in-service primary grade teachers participated in focus groups and interviews. We identified gaps between training and practice within the framework of Zambia's language of instruction policy. We find that pre-service teacher preparation was generally theoretical and not practical. Opportunities for practice were limited, leading to teachers lacking required competencies and using outdated approaches in schools. We suggest strategies to improve the alignment of pre-service teacher education and classroom instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenged with the peculiarities of school learning in Lebanon and the orthographic complexities specific to French and Arabic, children face conditions requiring additional cognitive effort. Our objective is to study the link between executive functions (EF) (inhibition, working memory (WM), flexibility and planning) and spelling, in 180 bilingual children with typical development (TD) and with specific learning disorders (SLD), in Grades 2, 3, and 4. EF were assessed through the following tests: Image matching, Corsi, Numbers Backward, Opposite worlds, Categorization (Animal sorting), and LABY 5-12 tests. Spelling was assessed in both languages through sentence dictation. Our results show that all EF are more involved in Arabic than in French, being correlated with accuracy and speed of spelling in the entire population. This study clarifies the cognitive components underlying French and Arabic spelling, which are languages with many unique features, for better management of written language disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Psychological Sciences is the property of Association of Arab Universities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study aimed to identify the social support provided by educational supervisors in terms of the dimensions of support (professional, technical, material, and psychological), as an approach to improving the quality of The Teaching performance from the perspective of primary science teachers in the first, second, and third grades. To achieve this goal, the quantitative approach (descriptive survey) was used. The questionnaire was used to collect data, which was distributed to a random sample of 205 science teachers from the public and private sectors. The results were extracted at a rate of 52.2% from government schoolteachers and 47.8% from private school teachers. The results indicated the high level of the nature of support from the educational supervisor in the dimensions (professional, technical, material, and psychological) as an approach to improving the quality of The Teaching performance. There are statistically significant differences at a significance level of (a≤0.05) from the perspective of teachers about the dimensions of support (professional, technical, material, and psychological); based on the type of school (government/private) in favor of government schools. There are also no statistically significant differences at a significance level of (a ≤0.05) from the perspective of teachers about the different dimensions of support (professional, technical, material, and psychological) based on years of experience and the number of training hours in the field of professional development. The study concluded with several recommendations, the most prominent of which is: Increasing the focus on the role of female educational supervisors in the various dimensions of social support (professional, technical, financial, and psychological). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the researcher aimed to reveal parents' Islamic educational methods in developing the readiness of their children in the primary grades to perform prayer worship. The study used the descriptive analytical methodology. Data for this study was collected using some of the tools prepared by the researcher, namely (General data form - Scale of parents' Islamic educational methods in developing the readiness of their children in the primary grades to perform prayer worship). The study sample comprised a non-random (purposive) sample comprising (200) families consisting of a mother and father, provided that they have a child in the primary grades at their various stages (first primary - second primary - third primary), with their different social and economic levels. Based on the study results, the researcher presented a score of recommendations and mechanisms for their implementation, the most important of which are as follows: - Preparing a printed and illustrated instructional guide (using various technological means and methods) for parents in particular and for the educational institutions in general regarding the use of parents of the Islamic educational methods in developing the readiness of their children in the primary grades to perform prayer worship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homework has been a part of a traditional lesson plan for a long time. It has been a means to reinforce knowledge transferred in the classroom. This study, using the quantitative method, analyzed school teachers’ perceptions of homework in primary grades. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 88 primary school teachers, teaching different subjects and having different teaching experiences, to participate in the survey. Results derived from data showed that the majority of teachers, teaching different subjects favored giving homework to primary students. Teachers with most teachers in this group had a neutral opinion of homework. Though parents in this study supported homework, they were not in favor of utilizing most of their time in assisting their children to complete their homework. The findings of this study are important to teachers, school administrators, and education policymakers, who need to instill not only the importance of homework but also ensure that homework works as a bridge to foster the parent-child relationship and develop skills to adjust in society. This study recommends that future researchers interview teachers and parents to collect rich data that can be triangulated with the survey to draw more effective conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although English oral language proficiency in the primary grades is critical to the literacy development of English learners (ELs), we know little about how to foster these skills. This study examined a yearlong K–2 drama and creative movement intervention. A randomized experimental design (N = 5,240) was used to address two research questions: (1) Did participating ELs perform better on oral language assessments than those who did not receive the inter- vention? (2) Was the impact of the program moderated by students’ baseline English-language skills? Student speaking and listening skills were measured using the California English Language Development Test. The treatment group (N = 902) outperformed controls (N = 4,338) on speaking assessments. ELs with the most limited English speaking abilities at baseline benefited most from the program.

This study looks at the impact of a cost-effective professional devel- opment model in which teaching artists helped early elementary teachers master arts-based strategies for boosting the oral language development of English- language learners (ELLs). Teaching artists visited K–2 classrooms for 50 minutes weekly for 28 weeks. Student scores on the listening and speaking sections of the California English Language Development Test were used to determine the impact on language development. The experimental group consisted of 267 students; the comparison group consisted of 2,981 students. The analysis of the listening and speaking scores, fall 2010 to fall 2011, showed significantly more improvement for students in the experimental group. This research has implications for school leaders who, in times of tight budgets, seek professional development opportunities that can assist teachers in addressing the language development needs of English-language learners.

Oral language skills are essential to the future literacy of students in kindergarten and first grade, especially emergent bilinguals (EBs). Yet, U.S. teachers receive few professional development opportunities that prepare them to use effective strategies for promoting oral language development. Since teacher education is compartmentalized into curricular silos, methods for literacy instruction are taught in one course, methods for arts instruction in another, and so on. This article argues that well-designed arts integration can meet a key need of young, linguistically diverse students by providing opportunities for oral language practice across content areas. Experimental evidence that arts-based instruction benefits the speaking skills of EBs is presented; the underlying mechanisms are explored. An example of a fieldwork program that provided pre-service teachers with hands-on experience in K-1 classes is included, showing how they learned to enhance the verbal skills of EBs through integration of drama, music, and movement.

Providing adequate writing instruction and practice in schools is an essential cornerstone of writing development and it affords a diagnostic approach for teachers. But what writing instruction is being practiced in Australian primary schools? The aim of this study was to survey a sample of teachers (n = 310) about their instructional practices for writing and their preparation and self-efficacy to teach writing. The majority of the teachers surveyed indicated they allocated on average less than three hours per week for writing practice in their classrooms, with findings further showing a large variability in the frequency of writing practice ranging from 15 min to 7.5 h per week. Findings suggested an emphasis placed on teaching foundational skills, such as spelling, over the teaching of process skills, such as planning and revising. Results further indicated that less emphasis is placed on teaching handwriting and typing. The majority of participating teachers reported implementing only six of the 20 different instructional practices included in the survey on a weekly basis, with school-home strategies being the least frequently reported strategies to foster students' writing development. Most teachers expressed positive beliefs about their preparation and self-efficacy for teaching writing. Results from multiple regression analysis showed that preparation and self-efficacy for teaching writing significantly and statistically accounted for variability in using evidence-based practices, teaching foundational skills, and teaching process skills. However, only self-efficacy made a statically significant contribution to predicting strategies to extend writing to the home environment. Implications for teaching and recommendations for research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of executive functions (EF) in bilingual children with a specific learning disorder (SLD) is a growing area of research interest. Our objective is to study the development of EF in Lebanese children with typical development (TD) and presenting SLD, in the primary grades (Grades 2, 3, and 4). Ninety TD and ninety SLD children, in Grade 2, 3, and 4, were recruited in Lebanese public and private schools. Inhibition, working memory (WM), flexibility and planning were evaluated through the following tests: Image matching test, Numbers retention test in backward order, Corsi block tapping test, Opposite Worlds test, Categorization test (Animal Sorting), and LABY 5–12 test. When comparing the two groups of children in terms of inhibition and WM, the statistical tests show significantly that SLD children are more impulsive than TD children and have a lower visuospatial and verbal WM. SLD children are also slower than TD children in the Opposite Worlds test that assesses flexibility. Similarly, the planning capacity is lower in SLD children compared to TD children. All results improved across grades. This work can explain the cognitive components related to learning, for a better management of specific learning disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Dirasat: Educational Sciences is the property of University of Jordan and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background/Context: Throughout schooling, English learners (ELs) perform well below their monolingual English-speaking peers on literacy assessments, and Hispanics make up the ma- jority of EL students in the United States. There is a strong consensus about the importance of early English oral language skills for ELs’ literacy development, yet teachers are not adequate- ly prepared to meet the needs of these young learners. Historically, policy has not provided incentives for educators to focus on oral language development in the classroom. However, the recently adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS) emphasize oral language skills.Purpose/Objective: This study examines a professional development program that equipped early elementary teachers in five urban schools with arts-based strategies to promote the oral English development of ELs. A second line of inquiry looked at the extent to which the creative drama and dance activities were aligned with CCSS.Participants: There were 3,792 K–2 Hispanic ELs (treatment: N = 497; control: N = 3,295) from Title I schools in a large school district in California.Intervention: The Teaching Artist Project (TAP) was a two-year K–2 arts and literacy profes- sional development program consisting of 28 weekly 50-minute lessons (14 theater and 14 dance). The project provided classroom teachers with in-service training on utilizing move- ment, gesture, and expression to promote stimulating English verbal interactions. TAP was specifically intended to engage non-native English speakers in classroom dialogues, facilitat- ing their oral English development.Research Design: This study utilized a mixed methods design. To address the first research question, schools were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Multiple regres- sions were run on data from the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) to investigate the impact of the program on the English speaking abilities of K–2 Hispanic English learners. To address the second research question, document review was used to com- pare the K–2 CCSS speaking and listening standards and the TAP lesson plans.Findings: The treatment group was found to significantly outperform the control group (β = 0.13; p < 0.05) on CELDT speaking scores. Additional review suggested that the per- forming arts activities corresponded well to the CCSS speaking and listening standards.Conclusions/Recommendations: Creative drama and dance activities provide rich ver- bal classroom interactions, boost English oral language skills of ELs, and align with the CCSS. Yet concerns are raised about the lack of speaking assessments on tests created by the Smarter Balanced and PARCC consortiums and the potential subsequent distortion of K–2 instruction.

The study aimed to examine the possibility of teaching primary school students a learner-generated drawing strategy, among other constructivist learning strategies. The teacher-guided program “Learning with Understanding” began by discussing the broader topics of the learning process, followed by teaching specific strategies, and ended with an overview of all strategies and reflective discussions. During 18 program lessons, primary school teachers taught, practiced, and raised metacognitive awareness of three learning strategies—elaboration of new information with familiar material and daily practice, organization of material into categories and elaboration, and organization of information through drawing. This study examined composing drawings for math word problems before and after the program. The sample consisted of second- and fourth-grade students from eight Estonian schools. The intervention group included 110 students from second grade and 80 students from fourth grade. The control group consisted of 121 second-grade students, and 82 fourth-grade students. Before and after the intervention, students had to solve two math word problems and compose a drawing, if needed. The results showed that before the intervention, neither the control group nor the intervention group students drew almost any drawings. However, after the intervention, both the control group and the intervention group students started to draw more drawings. Also, the intervention group students composed both more drawings and more schematic drawings. The effect of the intervention was visible at both grade levels. Comparing the correctness of answers with the drawing type showed that the fourth grade obtained significantly more correct answers when no drawings were made, while in the second grade, students had fewer correct answers when they had not compiled a drawing. Thus, we showed that even very young students could learn to compose schematic drawings; however, drawings alone may not be of help to solve the problem.

This manuscript describes the current debate about the use of leveled readers during literacy instruction. Some experts claim that leveled readers are overused in classrooms, at the expense of more complex texts. As a result, students may lack exposure to sophisticated vocabulary and varied text structures. In contrast, other experts assert that leveled readers are needed to ensure that students are taught in developmentally appropriate ways, and that optimal learning occurs when these texts are used during reading instruction. The purpose of this manuscript is to shed light on both sides of the debate, and to ultimately help teachers integrate diverse instructional materials into their teaching repertoire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher educators and educational leaders have emphasized the importance of teachers who can effectively elicit and interpret their students' thinking. This study included the development of elementary education candidates' capacity to elicit and interpret student thinking while serving as tutors to primary grades students who had not yet met grade level expectations from the previous year. This multi-methods study included data from written reflections and surveys. In reflections, candidates reported growth in their questioning techniques, seeing their primary students' grow in their understanding of mathematics concepts. A one-way ANOVA with survey data indicated statistically significant differences on pre- and post-surveys on candidates' eagerness to work with individual students in mathematics, their preparation to work with students in math, and their willingness to teach mathematics to students experiencing poverty. The article closes with implications for teacher education programs to promote candidates' enactment of practices related to eliciting and interpreting students' thinking in early childhood and elementary education settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By encouraging elementary students to work collaboratively, they can gain essential skills such as perspective taking, conflict negotiation, and asking for and receiving assistance. Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) is an analytic technique that provides an alternative to more typical approaches to analyzing and synthesizing coded dialogue. This study used an easy-to-implement prompting intervention in the context of collaborative (pair) programming with upper elementary students to demonstrate the potential of ENA to understand the impact of the intervention. We found that intervention students—those given empirically-derived prompts in support of collaborative and exploratory talk—asked questions, justified their thinking, and offered alternative ideas in ways that were both qualitatively and quantitatively different from control students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, I sought to understand how kindergarten through second grade teachers critically analyzed familiar picturebooks in terms of the identities, perspectives, and experiences represented in them. Drawing on culturally situated reader response theory, I conducted iterative thematic analysis of video transcripts from ten teachers as they used text analysis questions to guide their consideration of these issues. Findings suggest that teachers frequently conflated race and culture, drew on discourses of innocence among young children, infrequently addressed intersectionality, and were rarely explicit about how their own identities informed their reading. • Teachers showed strengths and weaknesses in their critical analysis of familiar picturebooks • They often conflated race and culture in their analyses • They rarely acknowledged how their own identities influenced their interpretations • They drew on developmental discourses to explain whether primary grade children should read particular books [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with a constative study, i.e. the manifestation of coordinative ability in small schoolchildren. The applied tests and events constitute means of detecting several types of coordination. The subjects of the study are children in primary school (second grade), aged 7-9 from two schools, one in the countryside, the other in the city. Nine tests were administered in order to test the coordinative ability, in the halls of the two school, with the following results: • Coordinative ability displays different manifestation indices in children from the rural environment as compared to children in the urban environment. • The environment and lifestyle of most children has led to the reduction of their motor activity, as they live in small spaces and lack the proper playing conditions. • The environment prompts the child to steadily adapt to new motor situations, thus stimulating new processes of motor acquisition. The children become aware of their progress and can measure function of their environment. They are animated by a number of motivational factors which arouse their curiosity and prepare them for play and study, stimulating performance.

The paper deals with a constative study, i.e. the manifestation of coordinative ability in small schoolchildren. The applied tests and events constitute means of detecting several types of coordination. The subjects of the study are children in primary school (second grade), aged 7-9 from two schools, one in the countryside, the other in the city. Nine tests were administered in order to test the coordinative ability, in the halls of the two school, with the following results: • Coordinative ability displays different manifestation indices in children from the rural environment as compared to children in the urban environment. • The environment and lifestyle of most children has led to the reduction of their motor activity, as they live in small spaces and lack the proper playing conditions. • The environment prompts the child to steadily adapt to new motor situations, thus stimulating new processes of motor acquisition. The children become aware of their progress and can measure function of their environment. They are animated by a number of motivational factors which arouse their curiosity and prepare them for play and study, stimulating performance. • Learning is in turn affected by this difficulty, especially as far as writing is concerned. His relationship with the adults and other children is also impaired. • Restricting the vital space, by urbanisation and the invasion of concrete results in disturbances in the motive development of children in the urban environment.

Disciplinary literacy instruction during kindergarten through second grade enables students to begin developing facility with consuming, producing, and learning from texts in academic disciplines across their school careers and for full civic participation. Extant intervention studies and descriptions of practice in the primary grades offer understanding of disciplinary literacy instruction when it is enacted with researchers' help and/or by teachers with expertise in disciplinary literacy. To address disciplinary literacy in the primary grades, insight into what primary teachers focus on and how they support students' disciplinary literacy learning during their naturallyoccurring instruction is needed. This exploratory collective case study examined the disciplinary literacy learning opportunities available in first-grade teachers' instruction. Participants included four teachers in four elementary schools situated in a large city in the Midwest. Audio records and field notes were collected over a period of five months during teachers' literacy instruction. Open coding, progressive refinement of codes, and categorical analyses revealed limited instructional emphasis on disciplinary literacy. When learning opportunities were observed, teachers' foci and support centered on the social foundations of disciplinary literacy and included sharing of information and student practice. Also, problematic disciplinary literacy learning opportunities were noted. This study underscores the urgent need for additional attention to disciplinary literacy as it is situated within the primary grades, with particular import for how first-grade teachers enact disciplinary literacy instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animation films were used frequently during online didactic activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have not identified research that focuses on the problems that teachers face when using animated films to enable students' learning of Natural Sciences and on the training models that can be organized based on this resource. Therefore, we analysed the problems faced by teachers and, to solve them, we identified, analysed, and described several instruction models based on animation films: illustrative, expositive, interactive, flipped classroom, learning through discovery, and learning through simulation. We analysed the way to integrate them into the didactic activity and, finally, we realized some recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 has had consequences for children's education globally, as schools closed and parents found themselves playing the role of teacher, alongside their economic and other community roles. This study aims to explore the experiences of parents in northern Nigeria as they attempted to support their primary school children's reading development while schools were closed. We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 15 middle- and low-socioeconomic status parents in Kano State, Nigeria. Using thematic analysis, we identified challenges faced by parents as well as unexpected positive effects of the pandemic. Challenges included the lack of textbooks and other appropriate learning materials, time pressures, and lack of knowledge of strategies to teach reading. However, parents noted that the extra time they had spent together during lockdowns had led to improved relationships in the household, and that they had been able to spend more time discussing moral development and discipline with their children. In summary, this sample of parents believed that the pandemic would not have severe impacts on their own children, as they were making efforts to support learning at home. However, they had concerns for children in Nigeria more broadly, particularly those whose parents were not literate, as they would have little access to learning outside school. Recommendations for the Nigerian government and other stakeholders include making learning materials available for home use, increasing the use of educational radio and television programming, and developing simple literacy assessments for parents to monitor children's progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Known for its sunny beaches and mild Mediterranean climate, its tourist attractions and international conventions, San Diego is a popular travel destination. Yet this cultured and cosmopolitan city has another face, as a destination for new immigrants. Aninnovative program has begun to energize schools in neighborhoods in The Southeast, a diverse area with nearly 90% of the population distributed among Latino, Filipino/Southeast Asian, and African-American communities. This article describes a partnership between UC Irvine and the San Diego Unified School District that has utilized arts integration to enhance the English language development of immigrant children in kindergarten through second grade.

This article looks at how arts integration can boost the language development of limited English proficient students in kindergarten through second grade. I first review existing research on how young children learn and describe the special challenges faced by children who must learn in an unfamiliar language. I then identify arts-based mechanisms that boost the language development of limited English proficient students and examine strategies used by a successful urban arts-and-literacy program to enhance the language development of English language learners in the primary grades.

This study used content analysis to explore the way in which primary grade school textbooks in Georgia cover multicultural content. Seventeen primary grade textbooks for all subjects were assessed with Relational Qualitative Content Analysis, which included five subcomponents: (1) ethnocentric approaches; (2) promoting intolerance; (3) stereotyping; (4) classification of different groups (invalid, enemies, others, etc.), and (5) accuracy and scope of information. The research revealed important shortcomings in each of the components mentioned above and makes important suggestions for National Curriculum and school textbook reforms in Georgia [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous motivation has long been linked to reading achievement in older students and recently has received attention for the role it plays in the achievement of younger children. Given America's nearly nationwide adoption of the Common Core State Standards (which emphasize skill acquisition), concern over whether and how reading motivation is fostered is warranted. Research indicates that child-centred methods support early reading interest. Furthermore, studies show and self-determination theory maintains that similar constructs (e.g. intrinsic motivation) are enhanced when instruction addresses students' basic psychological needs. This case study investigated the literacy practices of three primary teachers within a thematic summer camp for struggling readers. Goals included understanding (1) if teachers valued the cultivation of reading motivation, (2) whether they perceived differences in summer and school-year instruction and (3) how dominant practices supported motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent census data indicate that student populations in U.S. classrooms continue to become increasingly racially diverse. Despite these changes, many early childhood teachers remain reluctant to teach children about race and racial justice. In this article, I argue that multicultural picture books can and should be used to promote racial awareness and racial justice among young children. I discuss reasons why early childhood teachers should abandon colorblind approaches to race and racism in their classrooms. Then, I provide a framework of multiple approaches to teaching children about race through multicultural picture books. Practical considerations are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to design and evaluate an instructional approach that combined strategy instruction with principles of dialogic pedagogy to improve the story writing of students in grades K-2 (n = 219). Specifically, drama, dialogic interactions, and oral retellings assisted learners with ideation, while strategies guided their planning and revising. Additionally, the study developed procedures for teachers' professional development (PD). The study followed the methodological principles of design based research (DRB) and employed a pretest-posttest design for one cycle of implementation that lasted for 30 days. The results showed statistically significant differences on students' writing quality. Teachers comments were positive for the lessons and the PD. Revisions and implications for practice and future research are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]