Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood EnvironmentsWhile the early childhood field has formed standards to help in recognizing quality programs for children, practitioners seldom use values to guide in selection of materials or to help plan early childhood environments. This book draws on a variety of educational approaches, including Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia, to outline hundreds of ways to create healthy and inviting physical, social, and emotional environments for children in child care. Following an introduction, the book's first chapter offers an overview of the elements important to include in early care and learning environments. The remaining chapters each focus on an element introduced in chapter 1. Each opens with a "look inside" section, a short activity for self-reflection on the topic at hand. The"inviting learning" section considers the "micro" environment of the program, with examples of interesting materials and how their presentation invites discovery and learning. The chapters are: (1) "Laying a Foundation for Living and Learning"; (2) "Creating Connections and a Sense of Belonging"; (3) "Keeping Space Flexible and Materials Open Ended"; (4) "Designing Natural Environments that Engage Our Senses"; (5) "Provoking Wonder, Curiosity, and Intellectual Engagement"; (6) "Engaging Children in Symbolic Representation, Literacy, and the Visual Arts; (7) "Enhancing Children's Use of the Environment"; and (8) "Facing Barriers and Negotiating Change." Two appendices include a list of print, Web, and media-based resources, and some additional assessment tools for re-examining the early childhood environment. (HTH). |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Laying a Foundation for Living and Learning | 11 |
Creating Connections and a Sense of Belonging | 21 |
Copyright | |
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activities adults Aramark babies baskets beautiful building Burlington Little School caregiver Chicago Commons Child chil Child Development Program City Family Center classroom color Commons Child Development cozy create creative Day Home Center Deb Curtis Designs for Living Development Program Head display drama dramatic play dren e-mail early childhood programs emotional intelligence experience fabric Family Child feel Hampshire Technical Institute help children Hilltop Children's Center ideas Illinois Infants and Toddlers interesting Inviting Learning licenser light literacy Living and Learning look Luther King Jr Margie Carter Martin Luther King NAEYC natural materials natural world objects offer open-ended materials outdoor overhead projector P. O. Box Pistoia places plastic playdough playground Plexiglas preschool props Recycle Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia approach Seattle sensory shapes social-emotional environment staff symbolic representation teacher textures things thinking transform visual Washington Burlington Little young children