going to talk about the letter A,” she says.“ Tell me, what do you see in the picture?”
“ Mangoes,” Alika says.
“ They look like mangoes, but they are a little different,” Kanani says.“ They are apples. Apples begin with the / a / sound. What else do you see?”
“ I see a really big gecko!” Pua says.
“ Pua, this is an alligator. Alligator begins with / a /.”
“ What is that big brown bug on the grass?” Kimo asks.
“ That is an armadillo,” Kanani says.“ An armadillo is a mammal that eats bugs. Has anyone seen an armadillo before?”
Young children learn best when the concepts, language, and skills they encounter are related to things they know and care about and when this new knowledge is interconnected in meaningful, coherent ways. As such, early childhood educators are tasked with providing children learning opportunities that are culturally appropriate and accessible( NAEYC 2020). Research has shown that children enjoy academic benefits when educators leverage their cultural assets( e. g., Yosso 2005; Jaeger 2011; Kisida et al. 2014; Harding et al. 2015). This includes foundational skills such as alphabet knowledge: Children benefit when teachers incorporate their background knowledge into alphabetic instruction( Collins & Schickedanz 2024).
However, commercially produced resources such as alphabet posters and other instructional materials that introduce the alphabet to children often feature images that may have little connection to children’ s cultures or home languages( Arreguín-Anderson et al. 2016). The opening vignette illustrates the tensions that exist when curricular materials fail to support the funds of knowledge keiki bring to their early literacy learning.
Authors’ Note: We have chosen to use the words keiki and kumu throughout this article when referencing children and teachers, respectively. Although neither of us is a fluent speaker of‘ Ōlelo Hawai‘ i, we are committed to its prosperity. A language lives on only when spoken, and the intentional inclusion of the words keiki and kumu reflects the language used between us when working on this project. Additionally, the inclusion of‘ Ōlelo Hawai‘ i in this article increases the frequency with which the language is spoken. It is our kuleana( our privilege and our responsibility) to( re) present this language for Young Children’ s readers.
A high-quality, prepackaged curriculum plays an important role in early childhood education. Teachers cannot be expected to create curricula completely on their own. However, educators are always cocreators when a curriculum is implemented, making modifications and adjustments according to children’ s cultures, languages, and abilities, among other factors. The idea that one approach is always better than the other is misleading. Effective curriculum development lies somewhere between the two extremes( NASEM 2024).
In 2021, we( the authors) met while collaborating on a grant-funded project to advance the early literacy and language development of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in Hawai‘ i. Colleen( the first author) is a college professor who served as the literacy consultant on the grant-funded project. Germaine( the second author) is the director of the Early Literacy Institute, which is operated by a Hawai‘ i-based nonprofit organization. We provided monthly professional development for various stakeholders across multiple early childhood education contexts within the scope of the grant and have continued to work together in multiple capacities. Key to the collaboration presented here was answering the question“ What does it take to implement a curriculum that is research-based and integrates and affirms children’ s assets, agency, home languages, and social and cultural contexts?”
Summer 2025 Young Children 17