An encyclopedic how-to guide for the universal early childhood program problems. Practical Solutions to Practically Every Problem attempts to provide solutions to every possible problem faced by early childhood teachers—before teachers encounter them. This classic resource has been updated to focus on current issues faced by educators, including teaching twenty-first century life skills, technology, and cultural responsiveness. This easy-to-use guide gives you quick practical help, now! Educators will save time and energy with over eight hundred solutions to two hundred problems, including: Daily dilemmas and classroom issues Partnering with families to raise happy children Dealing with problematic behaviors from co-workers Learning to take care of yourself to prevent burn-out Steffen Saifer, EdD, a former early childhood teacher and Head Start director and trainer, is currently an international consultant and writer based in Spain. He has worked on projects for the Open Society Foundation, The World Bank, and UNICEF, in many countries including Bangladesh, Russia, and Zimbabwe. Dr. Saifer works with programs on culturally responsive curriculum development and implementation and with universities to develop graduate programs for ECD teachers, administrators, and leaders. When in the United States, Saifer resides in Portland, Oregon

Offers a quick and easy way to find solutions for the tricky problems, questions, and concerns that are part of every early childhood professional's day.

Why do children do the things they do? What can teachers do to manage it all? While there is not a simple method for understanding and managing all behaviors or all children, teachers can give young children the social and emotional tools needed to grow and thrive on their own. Developed and tested in the classroom, Beyond Behavior Management, is a strength-based approach to guiding and managing young children's behavior by helping them build and use essential life skills—attachment, collaboration, self-regulation, adaptability, contribution, and belonging—into the daily life of the early childhood classroom. As a result, children will learn to exhibit more pro-social behaviors, work better as a community, and become excited and active learners. This edition includes two new chapters and content reflecting early learning standards, new research, cultural diversity, and strategies to strengthen the home-school connection. Discussion and reflection questions, exercises, journal assignments, child profile templates, a planning worksheet, and sample scripts are also included. Jenna Bilmes is an early childhood consultant and an instructional designer for WestEd Child and Family Services. She is a frequent presenter to teachers, administrators, and counselors nationally and internationally.

Too many teaching and learning activities require students to use only lower-order thinking (LOT), and many of the attempts educators make to promote higher-order thinking (HOT) are misconstrued. Higher-order thinking makes teaching and learning more engaging and intentional, adds intellectual rigor to any curriculum, and aids in the development of some important life skills among young learners Even preschoolers are capable of a great deal of higher-order thinking. Infusing a play-based curriculum with activities and interactions that promote higher-order thinking creates the type of play that fosters cognitive, language, physical, and social development. It is important to start developing students’ higher-order thinking skills when they are young, and this book provides numerous strategies for doing so. Most of the activities are in the form of open-ended interactive games that can be easily modified to be responsive to variety of cultures and to meet a range of learning abilities, styles, and intelligences.

To be truly educated today, students need more than knowledge; they need higher-order thinking skills. Critical and creative thinking is required to recognize and counter disinformation, to overcome thinking errors, and to be successful in school and life. To effectively teach these skills, we must start early, when young minds are still forming. While K–3 students are capable of higher-order thinking, most lessons engage only their lower-order thinking. In this comprehensive book based on sound science, Dr. Saifer offers many practical and engaging ways to develop students’ logical, critical, and creative thinking skills within nearly every lesson, in all subject areas, and throughout the day. Teaching Higher-Order Thinking to Young Learners, K–3: How to Develop Sharp Minds for the Disinformation Age is key reading for any early childhood teacher, leader, or parent.

Early Childhood Education: Becoming a Professional is an inspiring introduction to the world of early childhood education, preparing the teachers of tomorrow to reach their full potential in their schools and communities. Written by a diverse and experienced author team (Kimberly A. Gordon Biddle, Ana Garcia-Nevarez, Wanda J. Roundtree-Henderson, and Alicia Valero-Kerrick), this text engages readers to connect contemporary educational and developmental theory and research to developmentally appropriate practices and applications that are easily implemented in the classroom. In response to today's ever-changing educational environment, the text focuses on both the importance of taking personal and professional responsibility, as well as today's issues in diversity—from supporting children with exceptionalities to supporting children and families in broader cultural contexts.