Brain Research and Childhood Education provides teacher educators, education students (both in regular and special education programs), school psychologists, practicing teachers, and school leaders with a brief, readable distillation of the most up-to-date research on brain development and how it relates to optimum teaching practice in childhood and adolescence. This accessible reference uses cases to further illustrate how studies on brain development and various learning processes have implications for educators and psychologists as they strive to enhance children's cognitive, social, emotional, and academic learning opportunities.

This book offers an engaging study that analyses contemporary childhood by examining new lines of argument about diversity, disability and difference. The author critiques the key issues that affect both adults' and children's quality of life, including market-driven values, poverty and civic disengagement.In this fascinating study, Dimitra Hartas analyses contemporary childhood. She discusses the plurality inherent in childhood and the cultural, ideological, social and biological forces that shape children's experience of growing up in the 21st century. She engages with new lines of argument about diversity, disability and difference, and critiques the big issues that affect both adults' and children's quality of life such as market-driven values, poverty and civic disengagement.Hartas uncovers evidence of how the right to childhood is being violated in both the developed and developing world and how our consumerist culture is shaping children's lives in ways that are not always understood, and advocates the right to childhoods. She concludes by discussing the implications of her findings for both policy and practice in early childhood education, and examines pedagogies that are responsive to ethics, diversity and difference.

This volume looks at the role of Religious Education in the curriculum for the Early Years child. This book attempts to: *Discuss how to incorporate a wide range of religions in the classroom; *Consider how these can be explored in exciting and imaginative ways; *Help readers clarify their thinking on the subject; *Looks at the development of new approaches to the teaching of RE. Through studying practical examples and discussing what should be aimed at when considering good practice in the classroom, she provides a text that manages to be both inspirational and useful. This is a great addition to the RoutledgeFalmer series of books on Teaching and Learning in the First Three Years of School.

Infants and toddlers-the so?called "touchscreen generation"-are living in a screen mediasaturated world. They are the target market for ever?growing numbers of apps, TV shows, electronic toys, and e?books. Making sense of the complex issues associated with screen media in the lives of children under 3 can be challenging for the adults who care for them. There is a strong need among teachers (and parents) of infants and toddlers for guidance related to the appropriate role of screen media in early care and education. Unlike most other books about technology in early childhood, this book focuses specifically on infants and toddlers. It explores why and how infant and toddler teachers need to be techwise in order to understand the implications of screenmedia for children's learning and development. The book serves as a single, accessible resource to relevant research findings from the fields of pediatric medicine, child development, developmental psychology, social and behavioral sciences, and brain science. It provides infant/toddler teachers with a comprehensive approach and strategies to guide their decisionmaking and promote practices that are evidence?based, family?centered, culturally responsive, and collaborative. It is a call for teachers to think carefully and act wisely when making decisions about screen media-both the technology that they are encountering now and the technology they will encounter in the future-in order to optimize the learning and healthy development of infants and toddlers.

This handbook is the outgrowth of five years of intensive day care study. As a result, it is the story of one public school district's belief in and commitment to establishing a day care center for its children.

While the research on bullying and peer victimization has increased considerably over the past 20 years, a number of studies are emerging that document mixed results of bullying and prevention programs. During the last decades, several special issues devoted to research on bullying and victimization have been published in national and international scholarly journals. Based on the increase of published articles on bullying and victimization in journals, textbooks, government reports, and documents in professional organizations, it is timely for a special volume on research on bullying and victimization to appear in the series on Contemporary Perspectives in Early Childhood Education. The purpose of this volume is to share a collection of research strands on bullying and victimization of young children. It describes the historical roots and suggests anti?bullying programs and strategies to decrease bullying and victimization. The bullying and victimization volume can be a valuable tool to researchers who are conducting studies in that area. It focuses on important historical and contemporary issues on bullying and victimization in early childhood education (ages 0 to 8) to provide the information necessary to make judgments about these issues. It also motivates and guides researchers to explore gaps on research on bullying and victimization.

Infants and toddlers-the so?called "touchscreen generation"-are living in a screen mediasaturated world. They are the target market for ever?growing numbers of apps, TV shows, electronic toys, and e?books. Making sense of the complex issues associated with screen media in the lives of children under 3 can be challenging for the adults who care for them. There is a strong need among teachers (and parents) of infants and toddlers for guidance related to the appropriate role of screen media in early care and education. Unlike most other books about technology in early childhood, this book focuses specifically on infants and toddlers. It explores why and how infant and toddler teachers need to be techwise in order to understand the implications of screenmedia for children's learning and development. The book serves as a single, accessible resource to relevant research findings from the fields of pediatric medicine, child development, developmental psychology, social and behavioral sciences, and brain science. It provides infant/toddler teachers with a comprehensive approach and strategies to guide their decisionmaking and promote practices that are evidence?based, family?centered, culturally responsive, and collaborative. It is a call for teachers to think carefully and act wisely when making decisions about screen media-both the technology that they are encountering now and the technology they will encounter in the future-in order to optimize the learning and healthy development of infants and toddlers.

While the research on bullying and peer victimization has increased considerably over the past 20 years, a number of studies are emerging that document mixed results of bullying and prevention programs. During the last decades, several special issues devoted to research on bullying and victimization have been published in national and international scholarly journals. Based on the increase of published articles on bullying and victimization in journals, textbooks, government reports, and documents in professional organizations, it is timely for a special volume on research on bullying and victimization to appear in the series on Contemporary Perspectives in Early Childhood Education. The purpose of this volume is to share a collection of research strands on bullying and victimization of young children. It describes the historical roots and suggests anti?bullying programs and strategies to decrease bullying and victimization. The bullying and victimization volume can be a valuable tool to researchers who are conducting studies in that area. It focuses on important historical and contemporary issues on bullying and victimization in early childhood education (ages 0 to 8) to provide the information necessary to make judgments about these issues. It also motivates and guides researchers to explore gaps on research on bullying and victimization.

* New edition includes updates for cultural relevancy (non-white characters and names, less emphasis on gender roles). * Features full color illustrations. * Filled with critical thinking activities that teachers or parents can use with gifted pre-readers.

Teachers have often felt unnecessarily apprehensive about teaching without music without being gifted musicians themselves.Music 7-11 dispels the myth that to teach music effectively a teacher has to "be musical" and provides teachers with the opportunity of developing both the basic subject knowledge and the confidence needed to deliver enjoyable and valuable music lessons. It does this by encouraging practical engagement with the subject through making and listening to music, reflecting on experiences and sharing views.

Storytelling in Early Childhood is a captivating book which explores the multiple dimensions of storytelling and story acting and shows how they enrich language and literacy learning in the early years. Foregrounding the power of children's own stories in the early and primary years, it provides evidence that storytelling and story acting, a pedagogic approach first developed by Vivian Gussin Paley, affords rich opportunities to foster learning within a play-based and language-rich curriculum. The book explores a number of themes and topics, including: the role of imaginary play and its dynamic relationship to narrative; how socially situated symbolic actions enrich the emotional, cognitive and social development of children; how the interrelated practices of storytelling and dramatisation enhance language and literacy learning, and contribute to an inclusive classroom culture; the challenges practitioners face in aligning their understanding of child literacy and learning with a narrow, mandated curriculum which focuses on measurable outcomes. Driven by an international approach and based on new empirical studies, this volume further advances the field, offering new theoretical and practical analyses of storytelling and story acting from complementary disciplinary perspectives. This book is a potent and engaging read for anyone intrigued by Paley's storytelling and story acting curriculum, as well as those practitioners and students with a vested interest in early years literacy and language learning. With contributions from Vivian Gussin Paley, Patricia 'Patsy' Cooper, Dorothy Faulkner, Natalia Kucirkova, Gillian Dowley McNamee and Ageliki Nicolopoulou.

How can teachers improve what they do in the primary classroom? Which teaching methods will help you and your pupils to perform effectively? These are the questions that every teacher will be asking him or herself in today's climate of targets and tables. Much research over recent years has focused on the role of the teacher and how effective classroom practice is achieved. The book discusses many areas of topical importance including: teaching methods motivating learners and matching work to children how to structure children's learning classroom control and organisation teaching literacy teaching children with special education needs working with parents. It also looks at the increasing role of the teacher as a researcher and how colloborative practices are providing a way for teaches to appraise both their own progress and that of their colleagues. This book should be of particular interest to the classroom teacher who is looking for ways to develop his or her teaching but has limited time to explore the research. It sets out to translate the findings of research into practical terms which teachers can easily use.

The scope of these chapters reflects the strong influence that Sandra Wood Scarr's scholarship-her empirical research and theoretical contributions-has had on what we know about experience and development via the lens of the psychological sciences, especially the fields of developmental psychology, behavior genetics, early education and child care.

Often referred to as a laboratory from which the general early childhood education community can learn, Head Start has benefited from more than 45 years of experience. Its unique blend of early childhood practices, assessments, and monitoring, along with a social service style approach, contribute to Head Start standing out as a premiere early childhood program. This book is designed to be a teaching tool for workshops and courses as well as an on-site resource for current and future Head Start teaching staff and others in early childhood education. By presenting background information, vignettes, research, and classroom activities, this book on school readiness combines best practices in early childhood education with relevant applications. Topics, written by experts in their fields, include: .Approaches to learning and teaching strategies .Assessments .Behavior management .Classroom set up .Curriculum and lesson plans .Early language, literacy, math, science, social studies, and creative arts .Physical health and development (gross and fine motor skills) .Social and emotional development .Teaching young children with disabilities and dual language learners .Tips for involving parents in their children s education

The provision of early childhood educational and psychological services has been an area of considerable growth over the past 25 years. As a result of far-reaching trends in both public policy and clinical practices, there is a growing need for professionals appropriately trained to address the assessment and intervention issues involved in early childhood programming. To take advantage of current opportunities for extending their role and to meet the challenge of early childhood service delivery, school psychologists must expand their professional skills and broaden their knowledge base. With the publication of this volume, the Advances in School Psychology Series changes to adopt a specific thematic focus and include reviews directly related to a common theme. This volume studies the subject of early childhood education and treatment directions. The chapters address a range of specific topics and research representing advances in the field of early childhood services for school psychology -- allowing school psychologists to examine and integrate current information from multiple perspectives -- educational and sociological as well as psychological. Topics that collectively represent important developments for school psychology include current early childhood education program models, preschool handicapped children, parental involvement, peers and socialization, stress and coping, and computers and young children. To date, more efforts have been directed toward devising and validating instruments that predict failure or success among preschoolers than on designing and evaluating approaches for treating them. Although assessment is critical for meeting individual needs, the primary emphasis of this volume is on fostering cognitive, academic, social, and emotional growth of young children.

Ella O'Connor desperately wants to tell a story, but every time she opens her mouth, her words disappear. Will she ever discover the joy of becoming a storyteller and unlock the secret that ideas and stories can be found everywhere? This beautifully illustrated story book explores a common situation that arises for children and teachers taking part in Helicopter Stories, and allows the children to explore their feelings in a sensitive and supportive environment. The story is accompanied by teacher's notes on how to use the book with young children, along with questions and discussion prompts that can be incorporated into the curriculum. In a class where Helicopter Stories take place on a regular basis, I Can't Remember offers an empowering solution for those moments when a child can't think of anything to say. It is part of the Helicopter Stories Tale series, a valuable and visually captivating resource for all Early Years educators using storytelling and story acting with their children.

History in the Early Years is an innovative and accessible guide to helping young children explore the past through their environment, family history and story. This fully revised edition includes guidance on introducing children to the past at the Foundation Stage in school and pre-school settings. Throughout it shows how the requirements of the early years curriculum can be met in innovative ways, and is fully illustrated by case study examples of children's learning and also supported by recent research. The book will support both new and experienced early years practitioners in developing young children's sense of identity through history. It encourages practitioners to ensure that history is a significant dimension of early years education and will be essential reading for all teachers in the early and primary years.

Over the past few years bilingualism has come to be seen not as a hinderance to assimiliation but as an asset which, properly nurtured, will benefit children's linguistic awareness, cultural sensitivity and cognitive functioning. Bilingualism in the Primary Classroom gives primary teachers a window on the experience of the bilingual children in their care and by doing so helps them to make the most of what the children and their parents have to offer as well as giving them a good start in the National Curriculum. Many of the contributors to the book are themselves bilingual and are thus able to understand the children's experience from within, but they are also particularly careful to show monolingual teachers how they too can make use of children's mother tongue experience. The book is based throughout on rich case study material of individual children at various stages on the bilingual spectrum.

In this unique and original book, Jamel Carly Campbell and Sonia Mainstone-Cotton come together to have an open and honest conversation about developing positive and responsive relationships in the early years. The book is divided into three main chapters - building positive relationships with children; with other professionals; and with families and the wider community - and each conversation explores a range of key themes, from building trust and listening to the voice of the child, to diversifying practice and creating a setting that represents the wider community. These discussions encourage the reader to consider the connections we make every day, to rethink and empower their practice, and to place a much higher value on their position as an early years advocate. With reflective questions included to allow the reader to think about their own practice, as well as suggested further reading to explore the themes in more depth, this engaging and accessible book is a must-read for all early years professionals - and, importantly, encourages every practitioner to begin new conversations of their own.

As top-down educational reform policies at local and national levels increasingly isolate teachers from their own professional and instructional agency, and stultify children's passion for learning, new techniques are needed for understanding and transforming educational practices. Narrative Inquiry in Early Childhood and Elementary School: Learning to Teach, Teaching Well facilitates meaningful change in early years education by providing early childhood and elementary school teachers with methods to incorporate narrative into their instruction and inquiry. This book offers practical strategies for incorporating narrative tools and structures into the classroom, and encouraging effective conceptual, pedagogical, and personal avenues for engaged teaching and learning across languages and cultures. The book's chapters promote a lively discussion of central tenets of narrative inquiry and illustrative examples of teachers at work with narrative and inquiry for improving their practice and children's learning.

This book is packed with fun and exciting activities that enable the child to make sense of the world that they live in and relate it to their own experiences in order to enhance their personal and social development.

Spirituality is frequently avoided in the public school classroom in an attempt to prevent controversy. However, by ignoring, preventing, or discounting spirituality, educators can also inhibit children's spiritual development. Based on qualitative research and interactions with both children and adults, Jennifer Mata argues that educators should be responsible for addressing children's spirituality in the classroom and for re-introducing these topics into early childhood education. By surveying the existing literature on spirituality, Mata offers a working definition of spirituality as an essential characteristic of humanness, which helps connect individuals to themselves, others, and to the transcendent. The book portrays stories and descriptions of four kindergarten children in their classroom setting, exploring their different modes of expressing and experiencing spirituality. Finally, Spiritual Experiences in Early Childhood Education offers a review of pedagogical strategies to nurture spirituality, for both teachers to implement in the classroom and teacher educators to facilitate in teacher preparation programs.

The Early Childhood Education sector around the world is constantly changing, whether because of the unprecedented demand for ECE services globally, accelerated social change, or the introduction of pedagogical and regulatory practices. Based upon empirical inquiry, Early Childhood Education Management examines the somewhat controversial concept of operating an early childhood service as a business. It challenges the assumption that an early childhood manager does not require specialist knowledge or skill and discusses which attributes an effective manager should possess. In this book, which brings together management theory and practice, Moloney and Pettersen address core issues at the heart of the management role, including the relationship between early childhood policy and broader legislative enactments, as well as issues related to the challenges and development of management skills. The book also draws upon real-life examples from practice in order to offer insight into some of the most common topics and challenges related to management practice in Early Childhood Education, such as business acumen and entrepreneurship, recruitment and selection, financial management and budgeting, supervision, mentoring, staff development, curriculum management, collaborative working, and change management. Written by leading academics with practice experience, the book should be of great interest to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the field of education, specifically those working in early years and education policy and management. It should also be essential reading for managers working in Early Childhood settings.

Family Engagement in the Digital Age: Early Childhood Educators as Media Mentors explores how technology can empower and engage parents, caregivers and families, and the emerging role of media mentors who guide young children and their families in the 21st century. This thought-provoking guide to innovative approaches to family engagement includes Spotlight on Engagement case studies, success stories, best practices, helpful hints for media mentors, and "learn more" resources woven into each chapter to connect the dots between child development, early learning, developmentally appropriate practice, family engagement, media mentorship and digital age technology. In addition, the book is driven by a set of best practices for teaching with technology in early childhood education that are based on the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and Fred Rogers Center joint position statement on Technology and Interactive Media. Please visit the Companion Website at http://teccenter.erikson.edu/family-engagement-in-the-digital-age