Miscellaneous

When trust is the foundation, everything changes. Trust First: Turn Behaviors that Challenge Us into Opportunities to Learn shares a powerful approach to classroom management built on relationships, respect, and belonging. In this practical, inspiring guide, Dr. Deborah Bergeron and Rhonda Conn-Parent help early childhood educators move beyond compliance-based systems and cultivate an environment where children feel safe, connected, and ready to learn. With real-world strategies grounded in trust psychology, the book addresses persistent challenges - such as behavior issues and disengagement - through a new lens of compassion, communication, and community. Whether you�re facing burnout or simply seeking a more joyful and connected way to teach, this book will reframe the way you view your students. Rediscover the joy of teaching through the power of trust.

Every leaf, stone, and feather hold the potential to spark imagination and learning. Nature's Palette is a seasonal guide to open-ended art experiences that connect young children to the natural world while nurturing independence, creativity, and cognitive growth. Using Montessori principles and nature-based learning, author Janine Kloiber invites educators to rethink art time as an opportunity for discovery, reflection, and child-led expression. With clear guidance and developmentally rich ideas, each chapter introduces versatile techniques such as felting, marbling, stringing, and weaving using found and sustainable materials. Full of ideas for bringing more purpose and possibility to your art activities, this book.

As today's early learning environments become more linguistically and culturally diverse, educators face the growing need for practical, inclusive strategies to support young multilingual learners (MLLs). This extensively updated edition of Many Languages, One Classroom offers a hands-on, user-friendly roadmap for creating welcoming spaces where every child feels a sense of belonging and is empowered to succeed. Drawing from the latest research, classroom trends, and educator feedback, author Karen Nemeth, MEd, integrates meaningful updates throughout the book-enhancing guidance on family partnerships, equity and inclusion, curriculum fidelity, and support for both bilingual and monolingual teachers. New features also include connections to Connect4Learning® The Pre-K Curriculum and NAEYC's most recent guidance on developmentally appropriate practice, along with updated terminology, coaching insights, and curated resources for digital and professional development.

The shift in reading instruction has left many early childhood educators searching for clarity and support. Ready to Read bridges the gap between research and real-world practice, offering early childhood teachers the tools they need to deliver evidence-based, developmentally appropriate instruction grounded in the science of how young children build literacy skills. Edited by literacy expert Latisha Hayes, PhD, this resource brings together leading voices in the field to demystify key concepts and provide practical, easy-to-implement strategies tailored to pre-K and kindergarten classrooms. Whether you're just beginning your structured literacy journey or looking to align your instruction with new mandates, this guide will help you feel equipped and empowered. Paperback. 240 pages.

Young children need a strong foundation in understanding water's role in our world, especially as climate change impacts ecosystems, weather, and daily life. Gadzikowski provides educators with hands-on, inquiry-based activities that align with the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework and Next Generation Science Standards. This resource builds vocabulary, supports scientific exploration, and fosters children's curiosity about the importance of water in natural and human-made systems. With engaging ideas for play-based engineering investigations, the book helps children develop critical thinking skills while nurturing a lifelong appreciation for water and its impact on our planet.

Every day, 250 children are suspended from school. Many are children of color, deprived of opportunities to experience learning at the same rate and quality as white children. Many families don't feel heard or respected in their child's schools. Don't Look Away: Embracing Anti-Bias Classrooms leads early childhood professionals to explore and address issues of bias, equity, low expectations, and family engagement to ensure culturally responsive experiences. Importantly, this book will challenge you to consider your perceptions and thought processes: identify your own unconscious biases-we all have them, recognize and minimize bias in the classroom, school, and community, connect with children and their families, and help close the opportunity gap for children from marginalized communities. This book offers strategies, tools, and information to help you create a culturally responsive and equitable learning environment. Paperback. 144 pages.

Develop the fine motor skills your child needs for school success! Fine motor skills are a stepping-stone for school readiness, and Everyday Play gives you the tools you need to make developing those skills easy and fun! Organized by age, the dozens of activities in Everyday Play are inexpensive, require few or no materials, and are easy to do with your child. They give you and your child great ways to have fun while laying the foundation for important skills that they need for school. Activities include: No-Mess Finger Painting, Marble Painting, Racing Tracks, Squeezy Water Play, Graph Paper Art, and Water Droppers. Holding a pencil, drawing a line, zipping a coat - Everyday Play helps your child accomplish all these milestones and more. With a chapter of frequently asked questions from real parents, developmental guidelines, and easy strategies for teaching your child important skills, Everyday Play is the book you need to ensure your child is ready for school.

With new activities and explorations, tips and information to help you understand how to support the littlest learners, and research nuggets to enhance your own professional knowledge, the Encyclopedia of Infant and Toddler Activities, revised, will be your go-to resource! Activities will help you support curiosity, play, exploration, persistence, emerging foundations in literacy and math, problem solving, and so much more! Paperback. 288 pages.

Child care supports every industry in our nation, but it has an unstable infrastructure. Child-care businesses are failing, early childhood professionals are not paid living wages, and expenses are rising. The primary funding source is families, but families cannot afford the true cost of child care. Does this mean that all early childhood programs must fold into the public school system? Will private child care soon be extinct? In Bridging Gaps: Implementing Public-Private Partnerships to Strengthen Early Education, author Sarah Taylor Vanover dispels the myths and explains the opportunities of a mixed-delivery system. Discover the benefits and challenges of child-care partnerships such as Early Head Start with private and family child-care settings and private child-care programs with state-funded preschools. Explore how to address credentialing, professional development, and implementing IDEA, and learn the differences between mixed delivery and universal pre-K. 160 pages.

New technologies and digital communications channels are changing the way parents and caregivers discover child-care centers and decide where to enroll. In response, center administrators have to rethink the traditional paths to enrollment. The Basics of Growing a Child-Care Business offers information to help you stand out from the competition. This book offers clear strategies for growth. Charm: Grab the customer's attention. Create a solid foundation for your marketing strategy. Advise: Establish yourself as an expert and set your sales goals. Delight: Design your customer experience, and create an ongoing sales pipeline. Tracks: Gather Data, measure your results, and adjust your approach.

Whether your child has received a diagnosis or they are exhibiting behaviors that worry you, Empowering Your Child to Fly: A Family's Guide to Early Childhood Inclusion can help. Discover advice for navigating the early intervention and special education system from an educator who has experienced these systems as a child, as a parent, and as a professional. Understand screening, evaluation, and assessment. Discover helpful resources. Explore your role as an advocate for your child. Learn how to work with your team of specialists and educators. Discover strategies to identify your child's strengths and consider a future vision for your child. Explore ideas for creating learning spaces at home and embedding learning into everyday routines. Discover how to do all of this while staying healthy and strong, with a sense of balance in your life.

Do some children in your classroom have difficulty remembering the rules, gathering their materials independently, or completing activities? Do some find it hard to follow and remember instructions? These Children may be struggling with executive function. With stronger executive-function skills, children are better able to: Follow and remember a sequence of directions, Work on projects from start to finish, Develop problem-solving and organizational skills, and Self-monitor and regulate their emotions and behaviors. Organized and Engaged: Simple and Effective Strategies to Support Executive Function explains what executive function is, why it matters, and how it differs from self-regulation. Discover strategies, activities, and play-based ideas to support children's classroom success.

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, and ways to involve families in school activities.

Preschoolers tend to be social beings. Whether they are playing with dolls side by side, building block castles together, or rolling down hills with friends, most young children enjoy the company of others. Playing together comes naturally, but you can help them negotiate turn taking, learning how to mend hurt feelings, and practice communicating positively while they play. This book highlights the milestones children tend to reach during the preschool years as they develop socially. As a guide and facilitator, you can share strategies that will help preschoolers learn to be cooperative team members and kind friends while having fun together. Paperback. 96 pages.

Witness the magic of open-ended exploration and the wonder of learning through play. As a nurturing caregiver, you have precious opportunities to ignite curiosity in the infants, toddlers, and twos you care for. Let Curated Moments be your guide to unlocking the possibilities of the Reggio Emilia approach for your littlest learners. Transform your space into a sensory wonderland overflowing with joyful inquiry.

When young children are engaged in imaginative play, they are not just having fun; they are developing skills and concepts that are foundational to their learning. Teachers can get the most out of this critical development time with thoughtful preparations that allow the children to freely explore their creativity and learn from each other. Using simple props and donated items, the book shows how centers can be transformed into rich and rewarding learning spaces for children. Play Today offers dozens of easy-to-do scenarios that will spark open-ended play explorations. Play strategies discussed boost brain development in many ways, including: Memory and flexible thinking, Communication, Social-emotional skills, Mathematics, Science, and Literacy.

3 years & up. This book has over 200 developmentally appropriate games that are great for learning to read, including games of alliteration, oral blending, writing, alphabet recognition, letter sounds, word play, and rhyming. 144 pages. By Jackie Silberg.

The prevalence of ASD is growing tremendously in early childhood classrooms. This book showcases the diverse capabilities of students with ASD and prepares early childhood educators to work effectively with students ages 3-5 with pervasive developmental disorders. Descriptive examples and interactive activities guide teachers to understand how these disorders affect student progress and how educators can tap into student potential. Each chapter offers several strategies to address specific academic, social, and behavioral needs common to many young children with ASD. The strategies are easy to follow and accompanied by teacher tips, sample resources, and relevant student goals. Paperback. 200 pages.

In this updated version of the classic original, teachers and caregivers will enjoy the warm and witty pages of wise words passed down from a veteran early childhood educator. The beautiful, full-color interior of "Never, Ever Serve Sugary Snacks on Rainy Days" is a delight to read and the perfect gift, both for new teachers and for those who have been in education for years. Paperback. 184 pages.

Preschoolers are constantly using their bodies to play and learn, whether you encourage activity or not. You can help them stay active as they grow by providing instruction in physical skills, motivating them to develop strength and fluid movements, and challenging them to improve their skill levels. Not every child will become an athlete, but all children use motor skills to move around their environment, interact with others, play games, and learn. Paperback. 192 pages.

Recent research has drawn the link between children's brain development and time spent in the natural environment. Every child deserves a safe play to play, supportive adults to watch him grow, and an environment that offers them endless possibilities. In "Seasons of Play," Rusty Keeler takes readers on a photographic journey through real child care centers that have embraced his philosophy that natural play environments create new opportunities for children to explore and grow. This book illustrates how to design natural play environments that encourage exploration and creativity in all seasons of the year. Keeler's own drawings complement the photos with renderings of how the play spaces were designed. Interviews with center directors add a personal touch to how the spaces improve learning at the centers. Paperback. 216 pages.

You are not alone! Regardless of the type of early childhood center you lead, you have a diverse set of responsibilities, and managing them all can often feel like a delicate balance. Have you ever wondered if you are the only director facing a specific situation? "The Early Childhood Director's Guide to Solving Everyday Challenges" examines real-world issues experienced at actual child-care centers. Drawing on her years as a child-care licensing consultant and her extensive personal experience as a director, Dr. Thomasa Bond describes scenarios and shares positive resolutions to these situations. Whenever possible, she offers the perspectives of the director, teacher, and parents. Discover how to avoid mistakes, oversights, and incidents as much as possible by developing policies and procedures and by implementing staff training to reduce risk. Follow the practical steps provided to create a plan so you are prepared to address issues if they do occur. Paperback. 288 pages.

Storms, flooding, earthquakes, epidemics, tornadoes, fire. You hope it never happens, but you know you need to be ready. "Preschool Preparedness for an Emergency," the second book in the Preparing for the Unexpected Series, will train you for a worst-case scenario. While this may seem like a daunting task, it's easier when you break it down. Emergency-preparedness expert Andrew Roszak will teach you how to: reduce potential harm or damage; develop and test emergency action plans; empower staff to respond effectively; satisfy licensing and other regulatory requirements; act quickly to protect lives and property; make families more prepared; develop relationships with local emergency-response organizations; limit the amount of time your business is closed; and pick up the pieces and return to normal. Paperback. 108 pages.

Over 40 activities that focus on controlling teasing and bullying with friendship, community, and expressing feelings. Use these activities, the classroom environment, and family involvement to create a climate of mutual respect in the classroom. 128 pages.