The most pressing challenge in early childhood education today is to find a way to meet the standards within a developmentally appropriate approach. In this book, two active early childhood educators provide teachers with resources to bring content alive and document it in every-day, action-based pre–K and Kindergarten classrooms. The book includes lists of key content ideas—coordinated with learning standards in science, mathematics, social studies, and the communication arts—to guide teacher observations of, and interactions with, young children. Chapters focus on ways to extend children’s emerging use of content in the block, manipulative, sand and water, drama, expressive arts, and literacy centers, as well as link to the development of themes. Book features include: Lists of key ideas in the content areas. Examples of conversations that nurture children’s emerging content understandings. Vignettes from the field illustrating teachers’ experiences of embedding content into center activities, along with photographs. Sample forms for documenting children’s learning as they meet the standards in a variety of contexts. Sydney L. Schwartzis a Professor Emerita of Queens College of the City University of New York.Sherry M. Copelandis an experienced early childhood teacher, teacher trainer, advocate, and director of early childhood programs.

Helps providers implement proven child-centered curricular practices while meeting early learning standards.

Outdoor and Nature Play in Early Childhood Education is timely because of the new national and international research that reinforces the importance of outdoor play in the lives of children--for their health, wellness, dispositions, and connectedness to their childhood space and place. Outdoor play is so important to children's daily living that we have written this book to present the core concepts about outdoor play that will support teachers in collectively examining outdoor play within their environments and beyond. The text is rooted in the work of well-known theorists who have made invaluable contributions to early childhood education and who advocated for children to have access to play and learning outdoors. The text situates the discussion on the benefits of outdoor play and the breadth and depth of learning that occurs during outdoor play in a Canadian and local context.

Jack the cat gets much more than he bargained for when he decides to build the perfect nest to attract the perfect chicken, who will lay the perfect egg, which will make the perfect omelet.

"Guidance for implementing play-based emergent curriculum in preschool classrooms, gaining teachers' and families' support, and using emergent curriculum to build school readiness"--

Young children live in the here and now. If adults are to make a real difference to their learning they need to seize the moments when children first show curiosity, and support their next steps immediately. This book embraces the concept of planning "in the moment" and emphasises the critical role of the adult in promoting child-led learning, giving early years practitioners the confidence and insight to work and plan in the moment, and enabling the children in their care to live, learn, play and develop in the here and now. Planning in the Moment with Young Children maintains a strong link to practice, providing numerous examples of how practitioners can integrate spontaneous planning and rich adult–child interactions into their everyday practice and early years curricula. From timetabling to setting clear rules, creating enabling environments, keeping records and making use of a variety of materials, the book demonstrates the multitude of ways in which practitioners can encourage child autonomy and respond to the unique needs of each child. Examples from practice are rooted in theory, fully contextualised, and exemplified by original documentation sourced from the author’s own experiences and from a wide variety of settings. Key features include: over 180 full colour photographs to illustrate practice; photocopiable pages including planning sheets, documentation and activity sheets; advice on working with parents, individual children and groups; tailored guidance on working with children at different stages of development from birth to age 6 years; relevance to a range of settings, including childminders, pre-schools, nurseries and schools. When children are allowed to select where, with what, and how to play, they are truly invested in their play, they become deeply involved and make dramatic progress. This book is an outstanding testament to a responsive and child-led way of working in early years environments. Practitioners will be guided, inspired and supported to work spontaneously and reactively – planning as they go and celebrating the results!

Child-centered lesson planning provides a system to strengthen teaching. Great lesson planning helps teachers to choose a range of strategies that match what children are learning and doing-- from directed mini-lessons to facilitated group activities.