Redleaf Press

In this book, early childcare professionals will gain an understanding of the theories of attachment as well as the background and research of the prominent minds behind them. This book explains the core elements of each theorist’s work and the ways these elements impact and support interactions with babies, including the topics of bonding, feeding practices, separation anxiety, and stranger anxiety.

Carol Garhart Mooney, also the author of the best-selling Theories of Childhood, has worked as a preschool teacher and college instructor of early childhood education for over thirty years.

Carol Garhart Mooney has been an early childhood educator for more than forty years. She is also the author of Theories of Attachment, Use Your Words, and Swinging Pendulums.

Being a team player is not always easy, but it is necessary as an early childhood professional. This three-pack of Becoming a Team Player workbooks helps educators and caregivers work more effectively with their colleagues to be part of a supportive work environment.

Brain-based learning involves both hemispheres of children's brains working together, resulting in stronger, more meaningful learning experiences. Each fun activity in this book is designed to promote brain-based learning in the areas of language, mathematics, science, art, music, and the environment, and encourages physical, social, and emotional development. Each activity includes a materials list, extension activities, variations for multi-sensory exploration, components for diversity, and an explanation of the brain connections being made. Brain-Based Early Learning Activities also includes a comprehensive overview of early brain development and how to create a brain-based early learning environment.

Creative Block Play covers everything you need to encourage a child's development in a variety of domains through block play. This book is full of photos that illustrate block play in real classrooms and stories from teachers who have successfully used block play to encourage children's development in a variety of domains.

Rosanne Regan Hansel has been both a teacher and administrator for a variety of early childhood programs and currently serves as Education Program Development Specialist for the Department of Education. Ms. Hansel received her MS Ed in Early Childhood Leadership from Bank Street College of Education.

A strong comprehension of early childhood theory is fundamental to early childhood educators' abilities to make informed decisions about the ways they support children's development and learning. In this book, Carol Garhart Mooney writes about the important task early childhood educators have to understand the foundational theories behind their daily practices. When this is accomplished, they are better able to refine their practices, create thoughtful curriculum, and do their best work with children.

To this end, Garhart Mooney advocates that everyone working in early childhood—caregivers, educators, consultants, administrators—should hold degrees in early childhood. With a focus on the value that comes when early childhood educators have strong theoretical knowledge and are able to articulate why they do something for children, Theories of Practice is a call to everyone in the field to raise the standards of early childhood education. Garhart Mooney emphasizes that early childhood educators can work more confidently and effectively with children when they understand the link between best practices and the research behind them.

Carol Garhart Mooney has been an early childhood professional for more than forty years and is currently the executive director at Holy Cross Early Childhood Center in Manchester, New Hampshire. She holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a master's degree in early childhood education. She has completed coursework for a doctorate in sociology of the family.

Create an outdoor learning program

Transform outdoor spaces into learning environments where children can enjoy a full range of activities as they spend quality time in nature. This book is filled with guidance to help you plan, design, and create an outdoor learning program that is a rich, thoughtfully equipped, natural extension of your indoor curriculum. Loaded with practical and creative ideas, it also includes information to help you

Understand how outdoor classrooms benefits children’s learning and development
Collaborate with other teachers, administrators, and families to make your outdoor classroom a reality
Create development and action plans to strategize and implement changes
Evaluate your outdoor environment, program, and practices

Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms promotes the idea that if you can do it indoors, you can probably do it outside as well.

Eric Nelson is the founder and director of Child Care Planning Associates, the consulting and training division of the Child Educational Center, Caltech/JPL Community, which he established with his wife in 1979. Eric's consulting specialties include building and playground design and renovation, child care needs assessment and feasibility studies, development of employer-related child care, and staff training and development. Eric’s understanding of the value of the outdoors is grounded in a lifetime of hiking his beloved Sierra Nevada Mountains in California since he was a young child.

There are many unique tax rules that affect your family child care business. This workbook is a comprehensive tool that will help your tax preparer understand your business and ensure that they are claiming all allowable deductions on your behalf.

Early intervention is vital in addressing and redirecting play challenges in young children. Each of five common play challenges—children who roam playrooms, play repetitiously, appear anxious, are detached, or are rejected by peers—are highlighted. Also included are sensory integration ideas and activities to promote positive and productive play.

Working with two- and three-year-olds is an important job, one that will influence children’s lifelong learning. With strategies to plan a developmentally appropriate program, build positive relationships with young children, and support young children’s learning in all areas, Teaching Twos and Threes is a classroom essential. What’s more, it’s packed with creative activity ideas! It will help you reflect on your teaching practices as you plan a developmentally appropriate program that is stimulating and authentic for all twos and threes.
Foster children’s independence in an environment that is filled with opportunities for free exploration.
Plan hands-on and engaging art, circle time, dramatic play, science and nature, cooking, and writing exploration activities and experiences.

Deborah Falasco is lead teacher for the two- and three-year-old program at Wimpfheimer Nursery School, the laboratory school at Vassar College. Deborah is a frequent presenter and has received several awards recognizing her outstanding work with toddlers.

Jean Barbre, EdD has thirty years of experience working with children and families as a licensed marriage and family therapist, preschool director, teacher, college instructor, national and international speaker, and a guest presenter on public television. Dr. Barbre holds a master’s degree in child and family studies from California State University, Long Beach, a master’s degree in counseling from California State University, Fullerton, and a doctorate degree in educational leadership from Pepperdine University.

Barbara Oehlberg, MA, is an education and child trauma consultant who has presented for many organizations throughout the country. With a career that has spanned many levels, Barbara has spent more than 30 years making a positive impact on children’s lives.

All adults who are responsible for the care of children should be prepared for disasters. This guide provides caregivers, educators, and program staff with preparation tips and step-by-step responses to disaster situations that are based on national standards and best practices to keep children safe.

Health and safety is of utmost importance when it comes to the care of children. This book includes more than 140 childhood health, safety, and well-being topics for families, educators, and caregivers, in both mini-poster and handout format.

Filled with warmth, humor, and honesty, Keeping Your Smile is a resource for anyone who cares for children and who wants to manage their own stress, tension, or anxiety before burnout becomes an overarching obstacle in their daily interactions with children. Jeff A. Johnson, a child care professional who wrote about his own burnout in Finding Your Smile Again, offers strategies, activities, tips, and tools help caregivers and educators work with children with passion and maintain a satisfying career in the field. Included are profiles of several professionals who have experienced burnout and survived to become stronger, better care providers.

Building Brains expands young children's learning with six hundred brain-based, developmentally appropriate activity ideas. It combines the latest information on brain development with activities that support children's learning and enrich any early childhood curriculum. Rather than step-by-step activities, Building Brains is filled with open-ended ideas that early child professionals can execute in a variety of ways, depending on children's needs and interests. Ideas are organized by age—from age zero to five—and learning domains.

The YWCA Minneapolis Early Childhood Education's anti-biased and play-based curriculum uses practical and real-life experiences to support teacher learning and practice. With thrilling success in 2016, 94% of infants through preschoolers enrolled in this program were on track with age-appropriate development. This curriculum is flexible enough to accommodate state or local standards while remaining open to children's ideas, interests, and questions.

The YWCA Minneapolis Early Childhood Education Department has been providing quality education for forty years, delivering a powerful blend of high-quality, full-time early childhood education, direct service and advocacy for children, from infants through ten-year-olds in partnership with their families.

This rich collection of academic essays comes from a leading and diverse group of early childhood scholars from around the United States and Europe. Perspectives on Gender in Early Childhood addresses important topics such as:

• Gender stereotypes acquired in early childhood
• Effects that stereotyping has on young children
• The history of gender and early childhood education
• Gender portrayal in children's books
• Gender roles and healthy sexuality development
• Gender considerations in setting up interest areas in preschool

You may be the first to notice a child who is struggling with behavior. Learn to assess the behavior, document patterns of behavior, and share concerns with families. Includes tips and tools for getting the support of parents and for determining if your program is the best fit for the child.

Emergent curriculum encourages early childhood educators to use creativity and flexibility as they respond to classroom challenges and children’s interests. Filled with case studies and stories from toddler and preschool teachers about their experiences responding to events in their own classrooms, The Unscripted Classroom provides inspiration for educators to step out of their usual scripts and try something new. A review of the emergent curriculum philosophy and an examination of the many ways creativity in teaching benefits children are included. This resource complements Emergent Curriculum in Early Childhood Settings: From Theory to Practice by the same author.

Play skills are life skills; as children develop them, they also learn important social skills that they will use throughout their lives. Teachers will find successful strategies for implementing changes in the classroom to enhance the environment for play and techniques to help support children’s development. This is the revised edition of the well-respected and relied-upon handbook Pathways to Play. Play contains activity ideas that encourage play skills, checklists to help identify where children are having problems, specific teaching strategies, and assessment options. This new edition also examines how play theory translates into practice.

Every state has developed some form of early learning standards. Find out how you can apply and use them in ways that are most beneficial to children.

Updated to reflect the continuing evolution of early learning standards, this book offers help and hints, support and clarification, and clear explanations of how you can make early learning standards come alive in your early childhood classroom or program. You’ll find tools to communicate exactly how you are addressing children’s learning as you plan for cognitive and foundational skill development, as well as suggestions to assess children’s progress. Easy-to-read charts present information about each major content area or area of development and descriptions of what those standards might look like in classrooms. The charts also suggest activities and interactions to support a child as he or she makes the first attempts toward the standard, progresses toward it, and finally accomplishes the standard.

New to this edition:
A chapter focusing on Approaches to Learning standards
The most recent information on early learning standards from across the country
References to the Common Core State Standards and their relationship to early learning standards

Gaye Gronlund has consulted for national organizations, state agencies, school districts, and early childhood programs for more than twenty years. She helped two states write their early learning standards. Gronlund is well known for her many books and keynote presentations.

Donna C. Hurley has been writing and delivering trainings for providers, parents, and home visitors or more than forty years.

Sharon Woodward has more than twenty years of experience supporting family child care professionals.

From the author of No Biting comes a comprehensive potty-training guide for child care teachers. Good Going! addresses the issues involved when young children are potty trained in a group setting, such as in the classroom, as well as in the home. Eight chapters offer a healthy perspective for developing consistent policies and successful practices for potty training, as well as guidelines for developing productive partnerships with parents—including sample parent communication tools and detailed resource lists.

Gretchen Kinnell is the director of education and training at the Child Care Council in Syracuse, NY. She is also an adjunct instructor at Onondaga Community College and a regular contributor to Syracuse Newspaper’s "Partners in Parenting" column.

Develop a curriculum inspired by children's emerging interests. Create an environment where children learn through play, inquiry, and exploration. This book explores the components of emergent curriculum and how its practices can improve the educational culture of early childhood programs. The updated edition includes new information on exploration of inquiry-based practice; reexamination of circle time and scripts for routines; expansion of invitations, including invitations for children learning a second language; new photos and documentation, and inclusion of Reggio Emilia.

Susan Stacey has worked in the field of early childhood for over thirty-five years, as an early childhood educator, director, and practicum advisor. She obtained her Master's degree at Pacific Oaks College, Pasadena, California. Stacey frequently presents across North America about emergent curriculum, reflective and responsive practices, inquiry, documentation, and the role of the arts in early childhood education. She teaches adult early childhood education students at the Nova Scotia College of Early Childhood Education, and belongs to several professional organizations such as National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Canadian Childcare Federation. Stacey has presented frequently at NAEYC conferences, and has been published in Young Children, Young Exceptional Children, and Exchange. Her books with Redleaf include Emergent Curriculum in Early Childhood Settings, The Unscripted Classroom, and Pedagogical Documentation in Early Childhood.

The intersection of architecture and education is a new and burgeoning area of interest. This book blends architectural design information with theory-based content explaining the foundations of early childhood environments. Colorful photographs of intentionally designed spaces will inspire early childhood professionals and architects alike as they dream, plan, build, and revamp settings. Inspired by the groundbreaking architectural book A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Oxford University Press, 1977), this resource aims to glean architectural information regarding important design patterns in an environment and utilize them to provide insight into early childhood environments that are both developmentally appropriate and aesthetically pleasing.

Nature has monumental power on children’s growth and development. Recent studies show that as children spend less time in nature, they miss out on the profound benefits that outdoor play and learning experiences provide.

Nature Sparks is filled with inspiration and instruction to help educators and caregivers of children ages three to eight reclaim and strengthen connections to the outdoors. This resource supplies ideas to create a nature-oriented classroom and curriculum, incorporates Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences to encourage children’s individual talents as they experience the natural world, and includes more than fifty sensory-integrated activities, crafts, and instructional strategies.

Give children the social and emotional tools they need to grow and thrive on their own

All children—not just those with challenging behaviors—require guidance as they develop the social and emotional skills they will use the rest of their lives. This resource provides everything you need to help children build and use six essential life skills: attachment, belonging, self-regulation, collaboration, contribution, and adaptability. Developed and tested in the classroom, this strength-based approach includes strategies, examples of supportive interactions, and special activities to help you manage challenging behaviors and strengthen social and emotional development in all children. Reflecting significant changes in early childhood education, this second edition of Beyond Behavior Management aligns each life skill with early learning standards and addresses cultural awareness and its impact on child development. With these essential life skills, children will exhibit more prosocial behaviors, work better as a classroom community, and become excited and active learners.

Jenna Bilmes is an early childhood consultant and an instructional designer for WestEd Child and Family Services. She is a frequent presenter to teachers, administrators, and counselors nationally and internationally.

Use this step-by-step guide to becoming an effective and successful child care director or administrator in today’s early childhood education environment. With interviews gathered from program thirty-two directors across the country, this book is a comprehensive guide to becoming the best director you can be. Combined with current research and best practices you will find realistic real-time solutions to address the most common struggles faced by program administrators today.

Christine A. Schmidt is the owner of 2 CR Solutions, Ltd., a consulting, training, and technical assistance company for organizations that serve children birth through age 18.

Offering an alternative approach to standardization and data-driven mandates, this book puts children at the center of planning your curriculum. Rather than a prescriptive curriculum, by using The Thinking Lens® protocol, teachers can translate educational theories into concrete ideas for working with children and families. Learn to create a welcoming classroom culture, develop routines for self-regulation, and use Learning Stories to enhance experiences for the children in your care.

This book has been updated to examine how to work with mandated curriculum, rating scales, and assessment tools, while practicing reflective teaching.

Margie Carter holds a MA from Pacific Oaks College and has worked as a preschool, kindergarten, and primary school teacher, curriculum developer, High/Scope trainer, child care director, and college instructor.

Deb Curtis holds a MA in human development from Pacific Oaks College and has worked as an infant/toddler caregiver, preschool and school age child care teacher, CDA trainer, Head Start education coordinator, college instructor, and assistant director of a child care program.

Carter and Curtis have published six books together, including Designs for Living and Learning and The Art of Awareness.

There are many ways parents and caregivers can help children thrive in their earliest years of life. Babies in the Rain explains the theories behind the best practices for infant and toddler care as well as preferred methods for doing so. In a personable, humorous voice, Jeff A. Johnson shares his own stories about the amazing ways infants and toddlers learn. He offers valuable information on how to spend quality time with young children by building strong emotional environments, nurturing meaningful relationships, and promoting child-centered, age-appropriate learning.

As infants become toddlers, their expanding sense of self, growing motor, language, and cognitive skills provide opportunities for learning more about the physical and social world around them. This book is a valuable resource for advancing a child's sense of self, cultural identity, social relationships, and connectedness to community through developmentally appropriate activities.

Carla B. Goble has a MS and PhD in child development from Oklahoma State University and a BS in education from the University of Central Oklahoma. She is an award-winning early childhood educator, founding member of the Oklahoma Early Childhood Education Organization.

Learn to use inquiry-based practice to inspire young minds through science. This book provides educators a concrete guide for using research-based principles of inquiry to help children explore their world. Using real-life examples and discussions on facilitating and guiding children, you will be able to engage and maximize STEM learning.

This book uses case studies to focus on the teacher’s interaction with children and includes how to use inquiry-based practice, in addition to why you should use this method. Web content and reproducible lesson plans make it easy to begin using proven inquiry-based instruction. Detailed accounts of conversations with children about science will help you understand different methods and tools. Enrich and inspire young minds with inquiry-based instruction.

Julie Smart holds a PhD in curriculum and instruction and is currently a professor of math and science education at Clemson University. She is also a consultant in research methodology and program accreditation with a focus on inquiry-based instruction, teacher effectiveness, and classroom management. Smart resides in Greenville, SC, with her husband and two children.

Prepare children for kindergarten with this easy-to-implement preschool curriculum. Each chapter includes ideas for dramatic play, activities/songs/poems, books to read aloud, plans for Circle Time, Table Work, and Free Choice Play. Weekly topics are linked to early childhood standards, and include ideas for classroom setup, a daily schedule, and reproducible material.

Susan Ehrhardt has thirty years of experience as a pre-K teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has a BS in Education from University of Cincinnati, completed graduate studies in ECE at the University of Cincinnati and in Early Childhood and Special Education from College of Mt. St. Joseph.

The bad-breath germ and the plaque-painting germ join others to help children remember to brush their teeth. Lively, colorful illustrations show the germs that cause cavities and how important tooth brushing is to good dental health. Includes health information.

Discover how to support high-functioning and collaborative teacher teams in early childhood programs by developing healthy and confident team leaders. This manual covers topics of dynamic team teaching including: how to create unified teams, how to become teacher leaders, how to give and receive feedback, and how to build and assess differentiated curriculum.

Uniit Carruyo has been an early childhood educator for more than twenty years and is currently the Director of Education at Ithaca Montessori School in Ithaca, New York. Carruyo received her MS Ed in Leadership from Bank Street College of Education.

Relationships play an important role in human development, especially in the first years of life. Bridging the Relationship Gap provides caregivers tools and encouragement to be the strong, positive, and nurturing adult these children need in order to thrive.

Learn more about the factors that contribute to the achievement and relationship gap, including ecological, biological, and cultural differences. Most importantly, find many tools and resources to help you more effectively deal with the tough situations and become each child's strongest ally.

Approximately one in every thirty children born today is a twin or supertwin—a child of a higher-order multiple birth, such as a triplet or quadruplet. With twins and supertwins an increasingly growing population in preschool classrooms, early childhood professionals have more questions and concerns regarding the best ways to care for and educate preschool-age children of multiple births. Twins and Supertwins addresses these issues and highlights the best program practices supported by recent research and study findings; includes information on physical, social, emotional, and language development; identifies unique needs of twins and supertwins; and offers guidance to create partnerships with families.

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 empowering teachers to join play and standards, and learn how child-led, open-ended play addresses the seven domains and Common Core Standards.

This book is full of research and resources that link academic learning and play experiences. Engage in provocative questions for teachers and administrators to help you effectively share the importance of play in early learning with others, and help restore play to its proper role as both fun and educational.

Gaye Gronlund, MA, is a nationally recognized consultant and author who works with early childhood programs across the country, specializing in developmentally appropriate practice, authentic assessment, play-based curriculum, and early learning standards. Her other publications include: Individualized Child-Focused Curriculum, Focused Observations, Second Edition, and Making Early Learning Standards Come Alive, Second Edition.

Thomas Rendon is the coordinator of the Iowa Head Start State Collaboration Office and an active supporter of policy to promote play at a state level. He has an MBA from the University of Iowa and is currently working on a PhD in early childhood special education from Kent State University.

To counteract the prevalence of childhood obesity and to establish lifelong healthy eating habits, this research-based early childhood curriculum is designed to increase children’s preferences for nutritious fruits and vegetables. The tested “seed-to-table” approach will engage preschoolers in all aspects of planting, growing, and eating organically grown foods. Also included are recipes children can help prepare and ways to involve the whole family in making healthy food choices. These activities can be tailored to fit any early childhood program, climate, or geographical region.

People who visit home-based child care settings are extensively knowledgeable about regulations and policies. They do not, however, receive the same training on equally important “soft skills” such as communication, modeling, motivation, and assertiveness. This resource provides tools and strategies to develop skills needed to be successful in the profession.