Questions are powerful tools, especially in the classroom. Asking rich, thoughtful questions can spark young children's natural curiosity and illuminate a whole new world of possibility and insight. But what are "big" questions, and how do they encourage children to think deeply? With this intentional approach--rooted in Bloom's Taxonomy--teachers working with children ages 3 through 6 will discover how to meet children at their individual developmental levels and stretch their thinking. Featuring contributions from respected names in the field, this book:

• Offers a foundation for using high-level questions in preschool and kindergarten interest areas

• Provides tips for getting started and examples of questions at each of the six levels of questioning

• Explores the use of high-level questions during daily classroom routines and in a variety of contexts

• Recommends picture books that support the use of high-level questions

• Includes an extensive resource section for teachers and families

With the guidance in this book as a cornerstone in your day-to-day teaching practices, learn how to be more intentional in your teaching, scaffold children's learning, and promote deeper understanding.

Spatial development should be part of every young child's education—it's linked with higher achievement not just in math and science, but across all academic areas. Now early childhood educators have a guidebook to help them seamlessly integrate spatial learning into their everyday curriculum.

Focusing on areas key to academic success—math, science, art and literature, and social studies—it gives teachers research-based insights and ready-to-use activities for promoting children's spatial development. Developed for use with children in preschool through third grade, this training resource

• Helps children progress in specific areas where U.S. students are falling behind—particularly geometry and geography

• Uses easy-to-find materials—shows how to improve spatial skills with everyday items like blocks, play dough, puzzles, globes, and objects found in nature

• Is fully supported by the latest research and highly respected educational theories, clearly explained throughout the book so teachers know the why behind the how

• A great inservice professional development resource and an essential text for preservice teachers, this book is key to creating a curriculum that actively promotes spatial development and sets the stage for strong math, science, and other academic skills.

Cases on Strategic Partnerships for Resilient Communities and Schools is an essential publication that uncovers the problems and pitfalls of creating strategic partnerships between schools and other members of the community in which the schools are situated that include for-profit businesses, not-for-profit entities, and private organizations. The book reveals that schools that are thriving effectively do not do so in isolation but as vibrant members and centers of the communities in which they serve students and families. Moreover, it examines the difficulty in advocating for the schools and the leadership of the schools within these communities so that they can be better served. Highlighting a wide range of topics including leadership, community-based outreach, and school advocacy, this book is ideally designed for teachers, school administrators, principals, school boards and committees, non-profit administrators, educational advocates, leadership faculty, community engagement directors, community outreach personnel, entrepreneurs, researchers, academicians, and students

Connecting with dual language learners (DLLs) is a growing reality among early childhood educators, who need to learn practical, proven strategies to reach these students. Grounded in research and strengthened by the author’s personal experience as a student learning English, Connecting Right from the Start helps teachers understand the culturally and linguistically diverse children in their classroom, as well as those with disabilities.

Some of the skills teachers will learn:

• Ways to make DLLs feel more comfortable in the classroom

• The stages of second-language acquisition

• Ways to challenge DLLs without overwhelming them

• Ways to involve families in school activities

Children’s experiences when they transition from home to school, from classroom to classroom, and from school to school raise issues of continuity that permeate every aspect of early childhood education. This book uses practitioner stories to investigate beliefs about continuity and discontinuity and how these beliefs are enacted in contexts for young children from birth to age 8. The authors examine a range of continuities and discontinuities, including the experiences children, teachers, and families have with programs; the interactions between families and schools; and the ways in which programs and schools relate to one another. They also raise questions about primary caregiving, cultural responsiveness, assessment practices, and congruity between institutions. Discussions of each story include the authors’ interpretations, references to relevant theory, questions for reflection, and implications for intentional and thoughtful practice.

Book Features:

• Represents the first comprehensive volume to unpack the complex topic of continuity.

• Provides a critical analysis of continuity based on real stories from practitioners and parents.

• Illuminates the work of early childhood educators on the individual, group, organizational, and systems levels.

• Encourages readers to carefully consider their roles as educators of young children.

Conversations with Families of Children with Disabilities creates a space for diverse families of children with disabilities to share their stories with pre-service and in-service teachers. Specifically designed for professionals preparing to work with families of children with disabilities, this text invites the reader to listen in as families reflect on their personal journeys in conversation with the authors. This powerful book helps educators develop a deeper understanding of families and enhance their capacity for authentic partnerships.

In response to changes in the workforce, scholars are calling for mentoring that is more fluid, flexible, and responsive to the needs of diverse groups of individuals, whether culturally (Kochan & Pascarelli, 2012; Kochan, Searby, George, & Mitchell Edge, 2015) or intergenerationally (Thorpe, 2012) diverse. With these changes, there are greater demands for intergenerational and intercultural collaboration and mentoring. One response to these changes is to take a more collaborative, interactive, and transformational approach to mentoring. In response, this book provides a model for collaborative mentoring, based on best-practice, grounded in theory and research, and framed by the Dynamic Model of Collaborative Mentorship. Each chapter provides a description of one of the five components of the mentoring model which are grounded in theory and include: agency, values, engagement, patterns, and roles. Individual chapters provide resources, prompts and questions to guide reflection, and suggested readings. This book is authored by four individuals who work, research, and write as a team. The book itself is the product of their mentoring research as well as their mentoring practice in action. It is current and timely, focusing on team processes which are collaborative, dynamic, reflective, and continuously developing and evolving.

Designed to provide a theoretical and philosophical foundation for examining teaching and learning in the early years, this fully updated and timely second edition provokes discussion and analysis among all readers. What influences operate (both historically and currently) to impact what happens in young children's classrooms? Whose perspectives are dominant and whose are ignored? What values are explicit and implicit? Each chapter gives readers a starting point for re-examining key topics, encourages a rich exchange of ideas in the university classroom, and provides a valuable resource for professionals. This second edition has been fully revised to reflect the current complexities and tensions inherent in curricular decision-making and features attention to policy, standardization, play, and diversity, providing readers with historical context, current theories, and new perspectives for the field.

Curriculum in Early Childhood Education is essential reading for those seeking to examine curriculum in early childhood and develop a stronger understanding of how theories and philosophies intersect with the issues that accompany the creation and implementation of learning experiences.

Early Childhood Teacher Research, Second Edition, 2021, by Kathryn Castle, is available as an ebook, in paper or hardback in October from Routledge, Taylor & Francis or from Amazon. In this fully revised and updated second edition, Early Childhood Teacher Research addresses the questions and concerns that pre- and in-service teachers of young children frequently have when engaging in teacher research. Accessible and interactive, this book explores the important issues every early childhood teacher should know, guiding readers from conceptualization, generating research questions, identifying data sources, gathering and analyzing data, interpreting and sharing results, to taking action. This second edition features thoroughly updated references, standards, and resources, as well as all-new sections on teacher advocacy, social media and devices, data collection, and planned versus unplanned research. Each chapter features:

• Teacher Researcher Notebook prompts for the reader to record ideas for research questions and to develop a plan for doing research.

• “From the Field” vignettes providing rich examples of real-world early childhood teacher researchers and their perspectives on doing teacher research.

• Reflection prompts inviting readers to pause and think deeply about relating content to their own situations. Reflections can be recorded in the Teacher Researcher Notebook.

• Explorations of additional content, websites, resources,

interviews, and activities.

The book begins with a reading that focuses on seven conditions that are critical for learning in early childhood. Additional readings address the history of child care and instruction in the United States, Vygotskian and post-Vygotskian views on children's play, zones of proximal development in Head Start classrooms, and Montessori philosophy, education, and bilingual education. Students read about pedagogy, various approaches to curriculum development and teaching, and early childhood intervention programs. The final reading addresses emergent curriculum and the tension between relationship and assessment. Throughout the text, post-reading questions inspire critical thought, meaningful discussion, and further exploration of each type of presented curricula.

Developed as a supplemental resource, Educational Programs for Young Children is ideal for courses and programs in childhood education that explore curriculum in greater depth.

Home–school relationships have always been a cornerstone of children’s success and well-being. But cultivating positive, supportive partnerships between educators and families is an ongoing process, one that requires reciprocal respect and communication to grow. Use the practical information and ideas in this book to develop and embed a culture of family engagement in all aspects of your early childhood program, from curriculum planning to addressing children’s individual needs, by:

• Creating a welcoming environment for families

• Providing many ways for families to engage in the program and their children’s learning

• Ensuring two-way communication and addressing communication challenges

• Building on learning opportunities families already provide at home

• Supporting diverse home languages and cultures

• Collaborating on community-wide efforts

Packed with strategies, resources, and examples from early childhood programs, this book illustrates numerous ways to engage families in your early childhood community so that together, families + educators = thriving children.

This handbook synthesizes both contemporary research and best practices in early childhood teacher education, a unique segment of teacher education defined by its focus on child development, the role of the family, and support for all learners. The first volume of its kind, the Handbook of Early Childhood Teacher Education provides comprehensive coverage on key topics in the field, including the history of early childhood teacher education programs, models for preparing early childhood educators, pedagogical approaches to supporting diverse learners, and contemporary influences on this quickly expanding area of study.

Appropriate for early childhood teacher educators as well as both pre- and in-service teachers working with children from birth through 8, this handbook articulates the unique features of early childhood teacher education, highlighting the strengths and limitations of current practice as based in empirical research. It concludes by charting future directions for research with an aim to improve the preparation of early childhood educators.

As a licensed clinical social worker and narrative therapy practitioner, I am taken aback by the way CrabbieMasters integrates narrative principles and values in such a reachable way for children, parents and educators. It is my privilege to express why I see this series as so unique and pivotal for everyone concerned with the healthy emotional growth of children.

CrabbieMasters is an innovative behavior and emotion management process for children. It uses a fundamental shift in language to lead to a shift in mindset for both children and adults. The concept of “having the Crabbies” versus “being crabby” defines problems as something outside the person. At first glance, this mindset may not appear to be of great significance. However, there are theoretical reasons this is actually a substantial strength. The Crabbies are made into something external. In other words, the Crabbies are the problem, the child is not the problem. This “externalization” parallels the notion that “the problem is the problem, the person is not the problem,” a phrase coined by Michael White and David Epston, founders of Narrative Therapy which has this same shift in language at its roots.

How do we begin to understand diversity in early childhood in order to combat biases? There are many layers of diversity within families that are important to examine. We must consider ethnic diversity first and foremost as we engage in a conversation regarding diversity, as we know (or should know) the history of people of color in the US and the challenges and adversities that we have experienced. In the context of this book, understanding diversity begins with positioning a definition that encompasses the realities of many families particularly across the US such as immigration status, gender, family structure, sexual identity, class, and spiritual beliefs. We also see the importance to talking about race within the context of early childhood.

The intersection of architecture and education is a new and burgeoning area of interest. This book blends architectural design information with theory-based content explaining the foundations of early childhood environments. Colorful photographs of intentionally designed spaces will inspire early childhood professionals and architects alike as they dream, plan, build, and revamp settings. Inspired by the groundbreaking architectural book A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Oxford University Press, 1977), this resource aims to glean architectural information regarding important design patterns in an environment and utilize them to provide insight into early childhood environments that are both developmentally appropriate and aesthetically pleasing.

A 2015 report of 153 classrooms in 27 schools, totaling 3,766 elementary pupils, found classroom design can impact children’s learning rates by 16 percent. An earlier study, within the same report, with a smaller sample size found a 25 percent variance in learning rates.

“Classroom design and environments are often an afterthought, though the complex interaction of physical elements, ranging from sensory components to design and organization, are proven to work together to improve early learning, self-efficacy and higher-order thinking skills,” said Pamela Evanshen, EdD. “Dr. Janet Faulk and I developed APPEAL to help early learning professionals understand how learning environments can improve child outcomes.”

Filled with strategies and recommendations to evaluate and improve the design and use of elementary learning environments using the APPEAL rating scale, Room to Learn brings early childhood professionals a practical guide to:

• Create student-centered, welcoming and developmentally appropriate learning opportunities

• Encourage positive learning interactions through room arrangement

• Facilitate discovery and active engagement through learning centers

• Help children take ownership of their learning and collaborate in project-based learning and problem solving

Early childhood can be a time of rich discovery, a period when educators have an opportunity to harness their students’ fascination to create unique learning opportunities. Some teachers engage with their students’ ideas in ways that make learning collaborative--but not all students have access to these kinds of learning environments.

In Segregation by Experience, the authors filmed and studied a a first-grade classroom led by a Black immigrant teacher who encouraged her diverse group of students to exercise their agency. When the researchers showed the film to other schools, everyone struggled. Educators admired the teacher but didn’t think her practices would work with their own Black and brown students. Parents of color—many of them immigrants—liked many of the practices, but worried that they would compromise their children. And the young children who viewed the film thought that the kids in the film were terrible, loud, and badly behaved; they told the authors that learning was supposed to be quiet, still, and obedient. In Segregation by Experience Jennifer Keys Adair and Kiyomi Sánchez-Suzuki Colegrove show us just how much our expectations of children of color affect what and how they learn at school, and they ask us to consider which children get to have sophisticated, dynamic learning experiences at school and which children are denied such experiences because of our continued racist assumptions about them.

In the United States, the number of children who come from homes where they

speak languages other than English is rising. Despite the common misperception

that dual language learners are slower learners or have special needs, research

shows that they have better executive function and cognitive skills. Their brains

are doing double duty!

Strength in Diversity: A Positive Approach to Teaching Dual Language

Learners in Early Childhood offers teachers context, practical advice, and

strategies to help young dual language learners thrive. Teaching dual language

learners isn't just about classroom methods. It's about empathy, perspective,

patience, and high expectations. Learn:

• Who young dual language learners are

• The basics of second-language acquisition

• Effective teaching strategies and principles of instruction

• How to honor a home language as you support English learning

• Ways to engage the families of dual language learners

This book is designed to build educators’ confidence and competence so they can bring STEM to life with young children. The authors encourage pre-K teachers to discover the value of engaging preschoolers in scientific inquiry, technological explorations, engineering challenges, and math experiences based on learning trajectories. They explain the big ideas in STEM, emphasizing teaching strategies that support these activities (such as language-rich STEM interactions), and describe ways to integrate concepts across disciplines. The text features research-based resources, examples of field-tested activities, and highlights from the classroom.

Drawing from a professional development model that was developed with funding from the National Science Foundation, this book is an essential resource for anyone who wants to support preschool children to be STEM thinkers and doers.

Book Features:

• An introduction to current thinking in early STEM teaching and learning.

• Best practice strategies for including STEM in the pre-K classroom.

• An in-depth look at the key concepts in each STEM area, including short activity descriptions, illustrations, and explanations.

• Resources and models co-developed with educators and used in successful professional development.

• Testimonials from educators explaining how the model connects with their curriculum.

Vapor is a book written to serve as a guide for parents to know how and why they should try to get their children to develop reading skills early. The author, Teresa White, uses her experience as an early interventionist, special education teacher, and early childhood professor to teach parents the necessary skills they need to instill in children to become an adequate reader. The author believes the time parents have to instill these qualities in children is a mere five years in terms of brain growth and development. This book for parents of young children contains short stories, research, and suggested activities to help build reading skills.

This is the first in-depth look at the important connections between the arts and science specifically for early childhood education (pre-K–3rd grade). Highlighting their many commonalities, such as the processes involved in creative problem solving, the author draws on what we can learn from Leonardo da Vinci as the supreme artist-scientist. Every chapter begins with a vignette of Leonardo and relates his thinking to the development of children’s ideas in the arts and STEM (STEAM). This fresh look at the interdisciplinary connections of the arts and science offers early childhood teachers and administrators a spectrum of tools for connecting the creative arts (art, movement, drama, and music) to the STEM movement, 21st-century skills, and developmentally appropriate practice. Book Features:

• Promotes a more vigorous, inclusive, and diverse early childhood curriculum needed for the 21st century.

• Helps teachers, parents, and administrators make connections between art and science.

• Examines the connection of the arts to the Next Generation Science Standards (2013) through the Crosscutting Interdisciplinary Concepts.

• Incorporates Reggio Emilia practices and includes examples from a Reggio preschool classroom

Universal Design for Learning in the Early Childhood Classroom focuses on proactively designing PreK through Grade 3 classroom environments, instruction, and assessments that are flexible enough to ensure that teachers can accommodate the needs of all the students in their classrooms. Typically developing students, gifted students, students who are impacted by poverty, children who speak multiple languages or have a home language that is different than the classroom language, and students with identified or potential developmental or learning disabilities are all covered within this highly practical, easy-to-use guide to UDL in the early years.

Children begin their literacy journeys from the moment of their birth as they begin to read the world around them. They embark on their journeys as they observe and react to the gestures and voices of their family members, and hear and use the language in which they are immersed to communicate with others. Through their interactions with the sign systems surrounding them, they become socialized into the cultural practices of their communities and construct meaning in their lives. Children's entrance into formal education, where they begin to read the "word", further connect them with literacies of other communities, both nationally and globally. Thus, the early years become a critical time to build and support current and future learning where children develop into creative problem solvers, thoughtful communicators and productive leaders and citizens of the next generation.