Joanne S. Lehrer

Grade 1 Students’ Out-of-School Play and Its Relationship to School-Based Academic, Behavior, and Creativity Outcomes

Research Findings: This study explored the relationship between play and child development at the Grade 1 level. As previous research has noted a sudden curtailment of classroom play during this period, the relationship between play at home and childrens school grades, behavior, and creativity scores was examined using correlational and regression analyses. In particular, this study sought to assess whether particular types of play (pretend play, active physical play, construction play, etc.) and social arrangements during play (play with siblings, with parents, alone, with friends) predicted any of the outcome measures. A total of 56 children ages 6 and 7 from suburban areas outside of Montreal, as well as their parents and teachers, participated in the study. Practice or Policy: Findings indicated that children spent between 1 and 2 hr playing after school each day and that the most common form of play was active physical play. The most common social arrangement during play was play with siblings. Childrens free time in the morning and freedom to choose their play activities in the afternoon were predictive of childrens academic progress. Watching others play and the ability to choose their own activities in the afternoon predicted positive adaptive behaviors at school. Play with commercial toys and playing alone were predictive of creativity scores.

Accompanying early childhood professional reflection in Quebec: a case study

This article explores the views of professionals from the Centre for Assistance and Support to Initiatives, Organisations, and Professionals in Early Childhood (CASIOPE) and its member organizations on how reflective practice in early childhood professional learning is understood, put into practice, and evaluated. Findings from this case study reveal that CASIOPE used principles of constructivist learning theories to develop their own reflective process, but that this process is understood incompletely and variably by the majority of its members. Findings are presented in the context of a current struggle to define early childhood professional learning between, on the one hand, a means of improving programme quality, and, on the other hand, a right to which all early childhood professionals are entitled. This study suggests that, in practice, both goals are important to childcare administrators in Montreal, while CASIOPE’s staff members prioritize building relationships, helping people, adapting their services to the needs of all those involved, and professional empowerment.

Preparing to Start School: Parent and Early Childhood Educator Narratives

This chapter presents a narrative multi-case study that draws on a postocolonial and postmodern narrative theoretical framework and methodology. The narratives recounted by three mothers, four educators, and home-childcare communication documents concerning the childrens upcoming transition to school and educator-parent relationships are presented. For example, Marie-Eve’s narrative is centred around her own sense of comfort at the childcare centre; focuses on the difficulties of transitioning between educators for her son, Mateo; and explains why she believes that he will do well in school. She also identifies home routines to modify once her son starts school. Anne, Mateo’s educator, describes Marie-Eve’s involvement in centre activities, and blames Marie-Eve’s difficulty with Mateo’s transition from group to group on the fact that she is a single mother of an only child. Nicholas has two different educators, Suzanne and Nadia. His mother Audrey is thrilled with her experience at the childcare centre, and relies on additional personnel at the centre, such as the pedagogical advisor, for support and assistance. She claims to not be ready for her son to start school. His two educators have very different understandings of the family, and very different concerns about the child starting school. Finally, Emma’s mom Christine was shocked to find out that her daughter had a language delay when she began childcare at age four, and recounts the routines she instituted at home in order to prepare her two daughters for childcare. Hannah, Emma’s educator, describes the process of building a trusting relationship with Christine. She is worried about Emma starting school, but hopes that she will be fine, because of Christine’s active involvement in the childcare centre. The analysis/interpretation of the narratives focuses on the ways in which mothers and educators draw on and resist metanarratives of deficiency, school readiness, and pedagogicalization of parents when they narrate their transition experiences. For example, three of the educators’ narratives draw on a metanarrative of deficiency to judge divorced or single parent families, implying that these families can be detrimental to children’s well-being, while the other educator was able to craft a counternarrative by focusing on the father’s well-being as a member of the childcare centre community.

Written Communication with Families during the Transition from Childcare to School: How Documents Construct and Position Children, Professionals, and Parents.

ABSTRACT This article explores how documents play a role in shaping perceptions of children, professionals, and parents during the transition from childcare to kindergarten in Québec. Positioning analysis was used to explore governmentality, documentality, and interobjectivity in the communication agendas and child assessment documents of seven children. Results revealed that communication agendas constructed different images of the ideal child, professional, and parent in childcare and in school. Assessment documents in both settings categorise children as either ‘doing well’ or ‘at-risk’, position professionals as experts, and parents as playing a supportive and often passive role with regard to their children’s education.

Relationship between screen-time and motor proficiency in children: a longitudinal study

ABSTRACT The objective of this longitudinal study was to examine the relationship between screen time (ST) and children’s motor proficiency. The amount of time 113 children spent watching television, using a computer, and playing video games as reported by parents at ages 4, 5, and 7 was measured and children’s motor skills were evaluated at age 7 with the short version of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency Second Edition. The results revealed that children who spent more time in front of a screen at age 4 also do so at ages 5 and 7. A negative relationship was observed between ST at ages 4, 5, and 7 and motor proficiency at age 7. Mediation analysis suggested that the negative effect of ST at age 4 on motor competence was mediated by ST at age 7. This result emphasizes the adverse influence of ST stability on motor proficiency.