Offers kindergarten teachers easy-to-use assessment tools and advice on how to use the results to create a literacy curriculum that matches their students' strengths.

Let's take a ride and explore ways to travel with this captivating kit that centers around the theme and has been translated into Spanish. These kits are designed specifically for early childhood students' unique needs, abilities, and interests. Each kit provides a complete curriculum around a theme, crossing all early childhood content areas, including math, phonemic awareness, music, and more. Original nonfiction and fiction readers, both wordless and with text, are provided in both standard sizes and one copy each at "lap book size." Corresponding concept vocabulary cards are provided in full color and the accompanying CDs provide music and interactive whiteboard activities. This kit includes: Books - 3 titles, 6 copies each, 16 pages per book (7" x 9") in print and digital forms; Lap Books - 3 titles, 1 copy each (9.5" x 12"); Teacher's Guide; Vocabulary Concept Cards; and digital resources including songs, recorded text, videos, interactive whiteboard activities, and reproducibles.

Discover new, practical methods for teaching literacy skills in your early childhood classroom. Has teaching early literacy skills become a stumbling block to getting your preschool students kindergarten ready? Break out of the tired “letter of the week” routine and learn how to transform your lessons with fun and effective techniques. Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers will equip teachers to infuse every aspect of their teaching with exciting hands-on literacy teaching methods that engage students and help them build authentic connections with books, so that 100% of their students will have a strong literacy foundation and will be fully prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond. Respected author Vanessa Levin, veteran early childhood educator and author of the “Pre-K Pages” blog, breaks down the research and translates it into realistic, actionable steps you can take to improve your teaching. Features specific examples of teaching techniques and activities that engage students in hands-on, experiential learning during circle time, centers, and small groups. Offers a simple, four-step system for teaching literacy skills, based on the foundational principles of early literacy teaching Demonstrates how to build your confidence in your ability to get 100% of your students ready for kindergarten, long before the end of the school year Understand the problems with traditional literacy teaching and identify gaps in your current teaching practice with this valuable resource.

Only a child so quick-witted as Clemency Pogue, upon finding herself attacked by a wicked, invincible fairy, would remember a lesson learned from the story of Peter Pan. She shouts "I don't believe in fairies," and when it doesn't work, keeps shouting it until the horrible little creature drops as dead as a gossamer-winged doorknob. But then a mischievous hobgoblin arrives to tell Clem that she's killed six other fairies around the globe, some bad, but mostly good. Even if it was a mistake, it's now Clem's duty to set the world aright. In his hilarious, action-packed debut novel, JT Petty does for burlap pants what holes have done for Swiss cheese.

The long-anticipated new version of the internationally recognized Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale®, ECERS-3, focuses on the full range of needs of preschool- and kindergarten-aged children. This widely used, comprehensive assessment tool measures both environmental provisions and teacher-child interactions that affect the broad developmental needs of young children, including: Cognitive Social-emotional Physical Health and safety ECERS-3 also includes additional Items assessing developmentally appropriate literacy and math activities. Designed for preschool, kindergarten, and child care classrooms serving children 3 through 5 years of age, ECERS-3: Provides a smooth transition for those already using ECERS-R. Emphasizes the role of the teacher in creating an environment conducive to developmental gains. Is designed to predict child outcomes more accurately and with greater precision. Provides a stronger method of distinguishing between good and truly excellent programs. Offers a complete training program with ongoing support available at the Environment Rating Scales Institute (ERSI) website (www.ersi.info). ECERS-3 is appropriate for state and district-wide QRIS and continuous improvement; program evaluation by directors and supervisors; teacher self-evaluation; monitoring by agency staff; and teacher education. The established reliability and long term evidence of validity of the ERS family of instruments make this new version of ECERS particularly useful for RTTT-ELC accountability and research. Suitable for use in inclusive and culturally diverse programs, ECERS-3 subscales evaluate: Space and Furnishings Personal Care Routines Language and Literacy Learning Activities Interaction Program Structure