Play, academics, and standards can work together with the right strategies and support from educators. Take an active role in child-directed play to guide learning. Become a strong advocate for saving play in early childhood education by learning how it addresses the seven domains and Common Core Standards. Restore play to its proper role as both fun and educational.

Play is an important vehicle for learning in the early years. With intentional planning frameworks, this resource provides teachers with tools and strategies to organize and develop curriculum around high-level, purposeful play. Practical application techniques help teachers create a cycle of planning and observation as they use a play-based curriculum to help young children thrive in the classroom.

Enhance the depth and richness of children's play. Developmentally appropriate play is complex, long-lasting, and all-engaging for children. It requires facilitation and guidance, thoughtful planning, and attention to the environment and materials. Developmentally Appropriate Play follows the new Developmentally Appropriate Practice guidelines from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and includes information to help you: • Identify and plan purposeful play • Guide children to make choices • Interact with children to enhance play • Provoke children into more complex play • Add representation to further enrich play • Incorporate standards into play

Newly updated with current best practices in observation and assessment using portfolios. Focused Portfolios offers an innovative method to accurately document children's growth and development by observing them in the midst of their everyday activities. Used for years in programs across the country, this easy-to-use system has recently been updated to reflect current best practices in observation and assessment using portfolios, include information on apps and other digital tools to create portfolios for individual assessment and parent engagement, and incorporates individual state standards to develop portfolios that reflect the child's performance.