An inspiring step-by-step guide to documenting children's ideas, questions, and learning in a way that enhances teacher's thinking and understanding

Play is serious business. Whether it's reenacting a favorite book (comprehension and close reading), negotiating the rules for a game (speaking and listening), or collaborating over building blocks (college and career readiness and STEM), Kristi Mraz, Alison Porcelli, and Cheryl Tyler see every day how play helps students reach standards and goals in ways that in-their-seat instruction alone can't do. And not just during playtimes. "We believe there is play in work and work in play," they write. "It helps to have practical ways to carry that mindset into all aspects of the curriculum." In Purposeful Play, they share ways to: optimize and balance different types of play to deepen regular classroom learning teach into play to foster social-emotional skills and a growth mindset bring the impact of play into all your lessons across the day. "We believe that play is one type of environment where children can be rigorous in their learning," Kristi, Alison, and Cheryl write. So they provide a host of lessons, suggestions for classroom setups, helpful tools and charts, curriculum connections, teaching points, and teaching language to help you foster mature play that makes every moment in your classroom instructional. Play doesn't only happen when work is over. Children show us time and time again that play is the way they work. In Purposeful Play, you'll find research-driven methods for making play an engine for rigorous learning in your classroom.

The Guide to Play Therapy Documentation and Parent Consultation guides play therapists through the case-documentation process, from the initial inquiry for services through intake session, diagnosis, treatment planning, session notes, and termination summary. There’s a special focus on writing session notes, one of the areas in which play therapists most often request additional training. Chapters also identify play themes, explore clinical theories and case conceptualization, and guide play therapists from the playroom to the paperwork. The authors include several examples of case notes and treatment plans completed from a variety of theoretical perspectives, and vignettes and case studies illustrate ways to connect with caregivers, strategies for working with challenging caregivers, addressing difficult topics at different ages and stages of parenting (how to talk about sex, screen time, co-parenting, etc.), and much more. The book also includes a thorough discussion of ways to structure parent consultations to facilitate the therapeutic process. Expansive appendices provide many case examples and tips to explain and demonstrate documentation, and the authors provide form templates in the text and on the book’s website.

"This English translation of an educational diary follows a child's first weeks in a Reggio Emilia infant-toddler program. Professionals have contributed essays on using these diaries as models for observation and family-oriented programming. Laura, the child in the diary, is now fully grown and has also written an essay reflecting on her Reggio Emilia experience." --Publisher's description.

Today's early childhood educators are faced with a great deal of responsibility and are called upon to make numerous decisions every day. They interact with children, families, colleagues, administrators, and policy makers. To be effective, their actions have to be based not on their own personal opinions, but by an understanding of the complexities related to each new, potentially controversial issue and current research on child development and the best practices in early childhood education programs. This unique book aims to address this need for advanced students and veteran educators to have a bipartisan reference of the most important issues of the day as addressed by the most advanced scholars in the field. To do this, the authors have called on eighteen of the most influential educators of the day to contribute a chapter on each topic covered in the book. These multiple perspectives provide an unbiased overview of each issue. The issues covered include families, advocacy, children with disabilities, and diversity. Chapters on developmentally appropriate practices stimulate discussion of the influence of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC.)