Teaching Kindergarten: Learner-Centered Classrooms for the 21st Century (Early Childhood Education Series)

Today’s kindergarten teachers face enormous challenges to reach district-mandated academic standards. This book presents a model for 21st-century kindergartens that is rooted in child-centered learning and also shaped by the needs and goals of the present day. Classroom teachers working with diverse populations of students and focusing on issues of social justice provide vivid descriptions of classroom life across urban and rural communities. Teacher reflections and commentary from the editors link teacher decisions to principles of good practice. Teaching Kindergarten illustrates how a progressive, learner-centered approach can not only meet the equity and accountability goals of the Common Core State Standards but go well beyond that to educate the whole child. Book Features: Rich examples of learner-centered teaching in diverse public school settings. Depictions of integrated curricula in science, social studies, math, arts, and language arts that address Common Core and other standards. Connections to recent developmental research and pedagogy. Programs promoting social and cultural awareness. Photographs of children’s projects and a list of children’s books.