Resource Books

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.

Enjoy five-minute fun from the author who brought you the popular series Games to Play with Babies, Games to Play with Toddlers and Games to Play with Two Year Olds. These games are easy, fun, developmentally appropriate and promote learning in just five spare minutes of the day. Children unwind, get the wiggles out, communicate and build self-esteem as they have fun. Each game indicates the particular skill developed. 272 pages.

Children are natural scientists, drawn to wonder, exploration, discovery, and analysis. This book gives you simple ideas to open up the world of discovery to young children. Through open-ended explorations, you will discover how to cultivate children's natural curiosity by asking simple questions: How? When? Where? And the most famous of all children's questions: Why? The hands-on activities will empower children to question, experiment, and develop abstract reasoning skills. Children will explore patterns, cause and effect, size and scale, change and growth, energy, and how things work. Easy to follow, step-by-step activities lead children and their caregivers through a new world of discovery. Paperback. 96 pages.

Few behavioral problems challenge and frustrate parents, caregivers, and teachers as does verbal rudeness in children of any age. Reinforced by the wise-cracking kids on TV and in the movies, backtalk has become all too common among today's youngsters. But there is nothing cute about this behavior. Remarks like "Yeah, right," "Big deal," and "Make me" -- from children as young as three -- get in the way of real communication between parents and kids, and can also be detrimental to a child's social and intellectual development. Paperback. 176 pages.

Play is learning! But play in the early years is endangered by the emphasis on push-down academics, mounting parental expectations, and pressures on early childhood teachers to prepare young children for the rigors of kindergarten and beyond. With all of that, gains made by play experiences, including readiness skills and social-emotional development, have fallen away. Young children learn best through play. This book helps educators understand the different types of play and the rich opportunities offered through carefully planned time and environments designed for valuable pre-K play experiences. Paperback. 184 pages.

For the littlest learners, everything is an activity--feeling a rock, trying to lick a bubble, smelling a flower, or poking sand. In this book, teachers and caregivers of infants and toddlers will learn how these simple explorations support cognitive and vocabulary development. The book explains heuristic learning--discovery by trial and error--and how to encourage this type of learning to boost development. Through his explorations, the child is answering some fundamental questions: What is this and what can I do with it? Later, he will add to his knowledge: What else can this do and what can this become? This is cognitive development in action! Age focus: 0-3. Paperback. 80 pages.

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.

Through the activities in this book, teachers and caregivers are shown how easy it is to foster children's sense of curiosity through group explorations that promote social connection and positive development. With step-by-step instructions, "Getting to the Heart of Learning' weaves social-emotional learning into activities that support math, science, literacy, and motor skills. Rather than adding in activities throughout the day, these explorations integrate social-emotional learning across the curriculum through group involvement and building community. Learn how to strengthen home-to-school connections, too, with easy strategies that help families develop a shared vision for student's social-emotional and academic success. Paperback. 180 pages.

All infants and toddlers need experiences that nurture, support, and teach their home language and culture. Language is a vital component of early experiences well before a child can say his first word. Infants and toddlers whose families come from diverse backgrounds and speak different languages are appearing in all kinds of early care and learning settings in growing numbers. Even the most experienced caregiver can feel a bit unsure about meeting the unique needs of infants and toddlers from different language backgrounds.Many Languages, Building Connections outlines adaptable strategies that caregivers of children younger than the age of three need to feel confident that they know how language develops, how cultural differences can come into play, and how to assess an individual child's situation to provide appropriate support.

Updated to reflect the latest research about how children learn, the revised edition of 125 Brain Games for Babies is a fun-filled collection of ways to develop the brain capacity of infants. Included are everyday opportunities to nurture brain development in the critical period from birth through twelve months. Each game and sensory experience presented includes an annotation on the latest brain research and how the activity promotes brain power in babies. Paperback. 144 pages.

Calm and in Control provides strategies to help children in a preschool or kindergarten classroom learn to regulate their emotions and behaviors. Some children need help recognizing that something is upsetting or overly exciting. Others may have difficulty knowing how to calm down and take control of their emotions or behaviors on their own. Discover how to create a nurturing and consistent environment that supports children as they navigate learning, social interactions, and impulse control throughout the day. Explore techniques to support: Turn-taking, Lining up as a group and coping with not being first in line, The ability to refrain from blurting out answers, Freedom from separation anxiety, The ability to handle transitions, Regrouping after something funny happens, Impulse control, and Socially appropriate behavior. You will find yourself referring to this book often for ideas on enriching the day with sensory play activities and strategies that prevent disruptive behaviors!

Equity means individuals get what they need to succeed. As early childhood classrooms and programs become increasingly more culturally and linguistically diverse, educators need ideas for connecting with families to learn what children need. The more families are engaged, the better the outcomes for children. Early childhood administrators and teachers can collaborate to create equitable and inclusive learning environments where children and families feel welcome. Building Equitable Early Learning Programs: A Social-Justice Approach gives educators the facts, examples, strategies, and approaches needed to create and sustain programs and practices that can best serve our communities.

Caregiver-child interactions are critically important in promoting cognitive, language, and social-emotional learning in young children. With examples and detailed explanations, "The Best for Babies" illuminates the behaviors and interactions that teachers or care providers should provide for the children in their care. The book offers an easy-to-use checklist to assess each teacher-child interpersonal relationship and the ways caregivers offer learning and living experiences for young children. Teachers and caregivers can use the checklist to grow in their professional expertise and careers as they continue to guide children's learning and well-being. Directors and mentors can use the information gained by using the checklist to help teachers and caregivers optimize the outcomes for each child. Paperback. 168 pages.

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.

What can you add to your early childhood classroom that will immerse children in rich learning, reduce challenging behaviors, and develop confidence as well as critical thinking and problem-solving skills? A makerspace! Filled with colorful photographs taken in real early childhood settings, this book will guide you step-by-step in making a makerspace that invites young children to boldly explore materials and create something only they can imagine. Discover how to: draft a plan and gather materials, set up your makerspace, garner administrator and parent buy-in, focus on goals and support specific skill development, and facilitate children's learning to deepen understanding. Paperback. 152 pages.

Step by step instruction on how to design a quality day care environment. Should be used side by side with ECERS-R™, the scale used to develop and quantify quality standards in the USA, Canada and abroad. Includes The How, What and Why for each indicator, seven sub-scale items, step-by-step instructions, and over 700 color photos. 441 pages.

This manual provides caregivers of infants and toddlers knowledge about the creating and implementation of loving, playful, developmentally appropriate experiences for infants and toddlers. ISBN 978-088076-794-1.

Learning to read is one of the major milestones in a child's life, and it's one that parents worry about. This guide gives parents information on how to support their child on his or her reading journey. Now parents of children, aged three to five years old, have the power to ensure their child becomes a successful reader. Available in English and Spanish. Set of 20 guides.

Uncover simple strategies that will help you bounce back from life's ups and downs! The book contains a 23-item reflective checklist designed to help you gain valuable insights about your personal strengths. As you reflect on your strengths, the journal will help you establish goals and uncover strategies that will strengthen your relationships, increase initiative, support internal beliefs, and maintain self-control. In today's world, we all face risk. Spend time offsetting that risk by reflecting on all of your strengths, identifying strategies to implement, and celebrating the progress you have made. Copyright 2013.

"Promoting Resilience For Now and Forever: This resource gives family-friendly information on promoting a child's social and emotional health at home. A Family Guide for Supporting the Social and Emotional Development of Infants and Toddlers", Second Edition supports families in understanding what social and emotional health of infants and toddlers is, how to recognize key behaviors, and how to support children's social/emotional health in the home setting in simple ways every day. Set of 20. Available in English and Spanish.

This full-color illustrated poster addresses parents' and teachers' concerns about children's reading readiness and progress. Includes milestones and warning signs indicating that children might be at risk for reading challenges from birth through age six. By tracking children with this simple map, parents can be sure their children are keeping up with their peers, and intercede if they begin to notice warning signs. Available in English and Spanish. Set of 20 maps.

This informative book by Rachel Wagner, MSW, in partnership with the Devereux Center for Resilient Children, is designed to support all adults who interact with young children. It explains FLIP IT's four simple steps for transforming challenging behavior in young children: F - Feelings, L - Limits, I - Inquiries, P - Prompts. Teachers and parents can help children learn about their feelings and gain self-control by using that mnemonic. This strategy was created for use with children 3-8 years old. Learn to FLIP IT with the book's practice pictures, reflection activities and real-life stories. Paperback. 88 pages. © 2011

PreK - Grade 1. Recycle, reuse, and create with this innovative activity book! Use bags to make masks, kites, buildings, art projects, and more. Meet state standards while helping children learn about the environment. 100 pages.

Lilian Katz has spent many years conducting workshops for teachers, parents, and students all over the world, and during those workshops she has often referred to her son Stephen, and what she has termed the "intellectual emergencies" she experienced during the years he was growing up. Her responses to these "emergencies," the moments when he analyzed her actions and challenged her decisions as a parent and a teacher, are pulled together in this book. With music and words from Stephen incorporated into the book, Katz presents an inspirational work for parents and teachers, or anyone who has ever looked into the face of a child and wondered if she was making the right choices.