Resource Books

Enrich classroom learning centers with lively, fun activities designed to stimulate exciting learning for young children. This critical resource includes over 200 activities for the following centers: Manipulatives, Construction, Woodworking, Blocks, Music, Gross Motor, Library, Science, Dramatic Play, Art, and Sand and Water. Over 200 easy-to-plan learning center activities for language and literacy, science, manipulatives, art and more. 272 pages by Sharon MacDonald.

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.

Most early childhood teachers are using learning centers in the classroom, but do not approach them in ways that fully support a variety of learning opportunities. This book approaches learning centers through the STEM lens, and shares how themes can be integrated into centers to promote creativity and higher-level thinking. "STEM Play" provides varied activities for the most common centers: art, blocks, dramatic play, literacy, math, science, music and movement. Full of beautiful, full-color photos that show the activities in real early childhood classrooms, teachers can easily use the book's ideas immediately in their curriculum. Also includes a "How To" section for teachers who wish to expand on the STEM focus and use themed activities in their learning centers. Paperback. 174 pages.

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.

In a complex and changing landscape of scare funding, high turnover rates, and differing view about priorities, the early childhood profession needs an anchor. The Whole Leadership Framework, developed by the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership, helps early childhood professionals inspire their staffs' collaboration, creativity, and ethical commitment. Learn how to: develop foundational leadership attributes and competencies, use both day-to-day management and long-range leadership skills, encourage family engagement, and advocate for children and families in your community. Paperback. 200 pages.

Professional development is important, but early childhood professionals get just as bored, worn out, and disengaged from learning as their younger counterparts do. But while pre-K and K-12 classroom learning continues to evolve and improve, adult learners are often left by the wayside! There must be a better way. "Lose the Lecture" brings administrators, coaches, and facilitators a new approach to professional development and adult learning that focuses on the learners-how they think, what they need, and what motivates them to grow. Paperback. 224 pages.

The ultimate resource book! Over 600 activities, stories, games, recipes, props, and dances to enhance any preschool curriculum. Plus a materials index, theme connection index, and thematic chart. Paperback. 512 pages.

"Lead the Way" provides short, self-guided overviews that both aspiring and practicing after school professionals need to thrive in their roles. The 24 fundamental insights and strategies can be used as professional development topics with after school program staff, laying the foundation for the program to recruit, retain, and grown effective leaders. Paperback. 120 pages.

Mary Jalongo, PhD, offers 65 strategies to support literacy learning with children from preschool through the third grade. With specific suggestions for ELL students, Jalongo includes recommendations for hundreds of great children's books, websites, and apps to make teaching easier. Each strategy is designed to be simple to use with all of the children in your classroom-from the not-yet-readers to the fluent readers-and each strategy is tied to the Common Core State Standards for kindergarten through third grade. Paperback. 272 pages.

This book has been written for all teachers and directors who work with infants, toddlers, and twos, including special educators and educators working with typically developing children. It specifically addresses the needs of children with developmental delays, as well as those children at risk for developing special needs. Each chapter includes experiences and activities that are common to settings where infants and toddlers learn. The strategies provided are easy to use and apply to all children. Examples are presented for managing the physical environment to enhance the overall development of infants, toddlers, and twos with special needs. Paperback. 160 pages.

When was the last time you got down on your hands and knees to see your classroom from a child's height? Research shows that effective early childhood classroom design begins from the ground up. Classroom design is a crucial component of an effective learning environment. This book brings a new approach to classroom design that begins and ends with the child's viewpoint. Each chapter details how the classroom environment influences children's learning, and the authors provide specific examples of how educators can use the children's perspective to make their classrooms a place of joy and possibility. Paperback. 256 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.

Resource books often provide tips and tricks for managing challenging behaviors, but what happens when those tactics don't work? Most teachers give up. This book brings a raw, real, and at times funny approach to handling challenging behaviors and understanding why most behavior-management strategies don't work. Author Angela Searcy shares real-world examples, proven solutions, and new approaches to overcoming classroom disruptions using her PUSH PAST IT approach. Paperback. 176 pages.

Packed with more than 70 ways to invigorate play with sand and water tables while encouraging problem solving skills, fine and gross motor creativity, and imagination. Children will learn creative ways to explore and discover on their own!

Fill your day with wonderful activities using this fun Teachable Transitions - Planned Activities from the Morning to the End of the Day. This book gives 190 activities to transform that span of time between planned activities into moments of stimulating learning. The activities in this book will help to keep your children engaged throughout the day.

1 year & up. With more than 250 songs, rhymes, and chants, this book is a fun way to enrich toddlers' language experiences. By incorporating songs, chants, and rhymes into the classroom, teachers provide opportunities for children to develop every aspect of reading readiness and literacy. While the selections themselves are a great way to enhance the development of literacy skills, the follow-up suggestions for story time, outdoor play, music and movement, and literacy extension activities will be a sure-fire hit with this age group. 256 pages.

Beginning a new business venture can be a daunting task, and setting up an in-home child care program can be especially challenging. After the licenses have been applied for and acquired, what comes next? Now, an expert on the subject provides advice, tips, information, and activities for setting up a child care program and running it smoothly. From creating a healthy, safe environment for children to developing engaging activities that can be used to shape daily plans, Family Child Care Basics shows how to plan and implement a program where children will learn, play, and thrive. Topics include: Setting up Your Environment, Toys and Materials, Setting a Schedule, Developing a Curriculum, Daily Planning, and Child Growth and Development. Spanish version.

Describes practical ways to adjust centers and classroom routines for children with special needs. Suggestions enable all children to learn by keeping them involved in developmentally appropriate routines and center based activities. Each chapter focuses on either a learning center, such as art or science, or a time of the day, such as snack time or dismissal, with particular attention to the needs of children who are developmentally delayed, orthopedically impaired, have autism/Pervasive Development Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, behavioral issues, motor planning problems, or visual impairments. Age focus: 3 - 6 years. Paperback. 208 pages.

Teach children to create using paper, feathers, buttons, and other easy-to-find materials! The 50 activities featured in this book will make art fun and accessible to children of all ages. 64 pages.

An early childhood classroom should reinforce and enhance young children's sense of belonging and connection to their environment, each other, their families, and their community. This book invites educators and administrators to rethink the traditional classroom, with inspirational examples showing how to weave elements that reflect each center's community into the classroom design. Colorful photos show what teachers can do to encourage a sense of community unique to each classroom. Easy-to-implement ideas and strategies are based on five guideposts that help educators create early childhood environments that vividly connect children, adults, and the surrounding community. These community environments include connections to past and present, geography, typography, flora, and fauna. Paperback. 264 pages.

An insightful resource which offers over 400 tips, ideas, and activities to help infants and toddlers move smoothly through the day. Includes book lists on different topics and great ideas to help parents and teachers deal with big transitions in the child's life, such as separation anxiety and more. Age focus: Birth - 24 months. 168 pages.

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.

Encourage young investigators to feel, listen, smell, taste, and see their way to discovery by seamlessly infusing math and science throughout the school day! As you incorporate all five senses into learning experiences, you will give little innovators the opportunity to observe and explore the world around them. The activities in this book will help you plan engaging science, and math (STEM) lessons that will excite children and foster their critical thinking. Children can experience the thrill of scientific inquiry through simple experiments such as: launching recycled rockets, shake and freeze homemade ice cream, volcano eruption, mystery of suspensions, and simple machines and inclined planes. Paperback. 152 pages.

Children decide everyday to pretend to have a tea party, be a firefighter, open a pet store - all of these are opportunities to increase pre-reading skills. Literacy Play is packed with over 185 dramatic play activities that teach important pre-reading skills while bringing children's imaginations to life. Paperback 320 pages.