Exploring Nature


Book Description

Describes the many ways in which humans use nature and how animals and plants exist in the wild.




Alike and Different


Book Description

CHAPTER 1: BEGINNING-- "It isn't fair!" Antibias curriculum for young children / Louise Derman-Sparks-- Talking about differences children notice / Elizabeth Crary-- "Where do we begin?" Bringing the world into your classroom / Bonnie Neugebauer-- CHAPTER 2: MEETING THE NEEDS OF ALL CHILDREN-- Obstacle courses are for every body / Carol Stock Kranowitz-- Helping whole children grow: nonsexist childrearing for infants and toddlers / Judith Leipzig-- Lost in a distant land: The foreign child's dilemma in child care / Athol B. Packer, Sharon C. Milner, and Marion H. Hong-- Guidelines for helping non-English-speaking children adjust and communicate / Karen Miller-- Recognizing giftedness in early childhood settings / Donna Garnett Chitwood-- Exploring diversity through the arts / Interviews with Jim Lasansky and Richard Lewis by Susan Epeneter, and an interview with Bob Blue by Candace Chang-- CHAPTER 3: STAFFING WITH DIVERSITY-- Honoring diversity: Problems and possibilities for staff and organization / Margie Carter-- Are you a dad and a teacher? Fathering- A year long curriculum / Cory Gann and Sharon Stine-- CHAPTER 4: LEARNING FROM PARENTS-- Tossed salad is terrific: Values of multicultural programs for children and families / Janet Brown McCracken-- Building positive images: Interracial children and their families / Francis Wardle-- Parenting a child with special needs / An interview with Meg Robinson-- CHAPTER 5: LIVING IN A CHANGING WORLD-- The impact of current changes in social structure on early childhood education programs / Gail Raymond and Dean K. McIntosh-- Children are caught-between home and school, culture and school / Betsy West-- Diversity and conflict: The whole world will never sing perfect harmony / Jim Greenman-- Meeting the needs of all children- An Indian perspectives / Harold Gossman-- All children are special / Jan Cole Krick-- CHAPTER 6: CONSIDERING OUR RESOURCES-- What are we really saying to children? Criteria for the selection of books and materials / Bonnie Neugebauer-- Reflecting diversity- books to read with young children / Bonnie Neugebauer.




Children's Special Places


Book Description

An examination of the secret world of children that shows how important special places are to a child's development.




Spotlight on Young Children


Book Description

"The articles in this collection emphasize the importance of play--from infancy through the primary grades, how to support and scaffold children's play, and how to connect play to learning. Also included is a professional development guide with questions and activities"---Publisher's Web site.




Exploring Children's Literature


Book Description

This book is based on the belief that deep subject knowledge of language and literature provides a foundation for effective teaching and learning. It provides a comprehensive guide to the range of genres and characteristic features of English language fiction written for children. It will help readers to: o develop their understanding of literature within social, cultural and political reading practices o extend their knowledge of language features and conventions of different genres o develop skills in analytical and critical reading. The scope of the first edition has been expanded from solely fiction to cover a range of contemporary literature, including poetry, plays and picture books. The case study material, investigative activities and practical exercises promote an active approach to learning. The second edition focuses on a range of fiction relevant to the National Curriculum for England and the National Literacy Strategy. It provides examples from a range of world literature written in English. Examples from work in translation are also included. It also addresses the requirements of the primary curriculum for ITT English. This book is essential reading for student teachers on PGCE, and undergraduate teacher education courses, and for teachers undertaking CPD in English, literacy or children's literature. It provides useful support material for language coordinators, SCITT coordinators and literacy consultants.




Family Adventures


Book Description

These are real-life tales of moms and dads braving the unavoidable struggles of travel--flight delays, lost luggage, middle-of-nowhere engine breakdowns, and middle-of-everyone emotional meltdowns--to share new experiences with their kids. As all of these parents will tell you, traveling with kids is never easy. But the benefits can be invaluable.What could be more important than introducing our children to cultures where families, not so unlike our own, look and live and speak and eat differently than we do. What could be more useful than giving them the tools to deal with the challenges encountered on the road.Taking risks, overcoming challenges, discovering beauty, and opening our minds and hearts. These are the things we hope for each time we pack our bags, load the car, or board a plane. This is why we leave home and head into the unknown. No matter how old we are, each of us wants to be filled with awe and to feel fully alive. And we want to share these experiences with the people we love the most, so that these moments of wonder might live on for years to come.- Travel tips for the age groups 0-3, 4-6, 7-10, 10-13 as well as thirteen and up are laid out in detailed chapters. Also for older children from the ages of eleven to thirteen for example, travel provides an opportunity to deepen a connection, or to reconnect, with a child that might be spending more and more time away from you.- Reif Larsen, author of the novels The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet and I Am Radar, speaks in his essay about rediscovering nature with his children around their home during the current travel restrictions.Family Adventures provides inspiration and guidance for vacations long and short; creating memories that last a lifetime.




Children and Animals


Book Description

Animal abuse has been an acknowledged problem for centuries, but only within the past few decades has scientific research provided evidence that the maltreatment of animals often overlaps with violence toward people. The variants of violence, including bullying or assaults in a schoolyard, child abuse in homes, violence between adult intimate partners, community hostility in our streets and neighborhoods, and even the context of war, are now the subject of concerted research efforts. Very often, the association of these forms of violence with cruelty to animals has been found. The perpetrators of such inhumane treatment are often children and adolescents. How common are these incidents? What motivates human maltreatment of animals? Are there cultural, societal, neighborhood, and family contexts that contribute to cruelty to animals? How early in a child's life does cruelty to animals emerge and are these incidents always a sign of future interpersonal violence? Are there ways of preventing such cruelty? Can we intervene effectively with children who already have a history of abuse and violence? Children and Animals: Exploring the Roots of Kindness and Cruelty presents the current scientific and professional wisdom about the relation between the maltreatment of animals and interpersonal violence directed toward other human beings. However, the author, Frank R. Ascione, a noted expert in these areas, writes in a style and presents the findings in a language that will be understandable to parents, teachers, counselors, clergy, animal welfare professionals, foster parents, mental health professionals, youth workers, law enforcement professionals, and anyone else whose work or interest crosses into the lives of children and adolescents.




Exploring Children's Creative Narratives


Book Description

How should we understand children’s creativity? This fascinating collection of international research offers fresh perspectives on children’s creative processes and the expression of their creative imagination through dramatic play, stories, artwork, dance, music and conversation. Drawing on a range of research evidence from innovative educational initiatives in a wide variety of countries, Exploring Children’s Creative Narratives develops new theoretical and practical insights that challenge traditional thinking about children’s creativity. The chapters, written by well-respected international contributors: offer new conceptual and interpretive frameworks for understanding children’s creativity contest conventional discourses about the origins and nature of creativity challenge the view that young children’s creativity can only be judged in terms of their creative output explore the significance children themselves attribute to their creative activity argue the need for a radical reappraisal of the influence of the sociocultural context on children’s creative expression discuss the implications of this research in relation to teacher education and curriculum design. This broad yet coherent compilation of research on creativity in childhood is essential reading for students, researchers and policy makers in early childhood as well as for Early Years professionals with a particular interest in creativity.




From Seed to Plant


Book Description

"Gail Gibbons is known for her ability to bring the nonfiction world into focus for young students. Through pictures, captions, and text, this book provides a window into the world of growing things...Erin Mallon complements Gibbons’s text with a clear, clipped, and purposeful narration." -AudioFile Magazine




Exploring Children's Learning


Book Description

Exploring Children’s Learning: 3–11 years is essential reading for those passionate about supporting children’s learning environments from Early Years to Key Stage 2. By combining learning with important aspects of a broad curriculum content it will inspire and enhance an interest in supporting children’s learning. Individual chapters focus on key areas of the curriculum such as literacy and history, numeracy and science, as well as more general topics such as creativity, assessment and the emotional and behavioural aspects of learning. The book takes an objective view on control over curriculum and offers practical insights into how supportive learning opportunities can create enjoyable and satisfying lifelong learning habits, preparing children for the challenges they may face in their adult working life. Whether you dip into chapters, or read through the book as a whole, you will develop your understanding of the complexity of learning and the lifelong effects implicit in this, not only from the individual basis that each child faces in terms of learning how to learn, but also concerning the differences in learning strategies required to successfully negotiate subject knowledge across a range of disciplines. This book is a must-read for students of Childhood and Education Studies programmes, those undertaking Initial Teacher Training as well as general readers with an interest in supporting children’s learning.