Resource Books

Elevating Equity requires educators to be mindful of how to include children, families, and colleagues in all parts of early childhood programming. Elevating equity is all about creating systems that celebrate everyone! Sounds great - but how do you do it? Elevating Equity: Advice for Navigating Challenging Conversations in Early Childhood Programs takes a positive approach by embracing differences and meeting readers where they are. Get nonjudgmental, practical advice from an experienced trainer… More »

As an early childhood educator, you want every child to thrive, regardless of their abilities or learning style. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides a framework for designing learning experiences that are inclusive and accessible to all children. In this guide, you'll learn how to apply UDL principles to your early childhood environment to create a welcoming, engaging, and effective learning environment for every child. From designing flexible learning spaces to using technology to support… More »

As an early educator, you face many challenges. You may be asking yourself if you're in the right place, doing the right thing. You may be wondering if you're making a difference. You may be feeling symptoms of burnout but see opportunities to be a positive influence on individuals around you. Change your life and transform your leadership by embarking on a joyful journey today. Even if you do not have an official leadership position, you can lead with joy. If you are an individual who uplifts,… More »

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… More »

Nature-based early childhood education is a rapidly growing trend! Although many schools and programs have incorporated nature-based learning, educators can feel at a loss when trying to evaluate quality in this learning approach. But don't worry - Evaluating Natureness: Measuring the Quality of Nature-Based Classrooms in Pre-K through 3rd Grade is here to help! Designed with early education practitioners, researchers, and policy makers in mind, the NAture-Based Education Rating Scales (NABERS)… More »

Turn your school into an environment that supports the gender identities of all children. Written by the parent of a transgender daughter, this book offers illuminating insights and practical strategies that will empower educators to ensure the safety and happiness of gender-expansive children. From facilities to pronouns to policies, this book will enable educators to bring affirmation and support to every area of a school.

The child-care industry--essential to American families and to the American economy--is on the verge of collapse. Before COVID-19 struck, the child-care industry faced funding issues and staffing dilemmas, while families struggled to find--or simply afford--quality child care. The reality is that COVID-19 has only exacerbated the challenges of the already-fragile child-care ecosystem. America's Child-Care Crisis takes a hard look at the current state of the industry and explores how to save this… More »

A helpful, informative companion to the Ages & Stages Questionnaires®: Social-Emotional, Second Edition (ASQ:SE-2) screening system, this DVD gives an overview of emotional and social development and provides a thorough introduction to ASQ:SE-2™. Viewers get an inside look at the screening system in practice as they watch a home visitor using ASQ:SE-2™ with the family of a 4-year-old boy. They'll see how parents complete the questionnaires, with close-ups of sample questions.… More »

Children are spending less time being outside in nature, playing, imagining, and learning about their surroundings. Instead, they're spending more time with tablets, televisions, and overly structured routines. This book shows practical and strategic ways educators can create rich, explorative, and interdisciplinary learning through extensive outdoor experiences. Learn how to develop and implement a nature-based curriculum to support children's optimal learning, from start to finish. Age focus:… More »

This helpful teacher resource will guide you through creating an equitable environment for children ages 3 - 5. This book features a variety of topics that will help support conversations about identity, bias and preschool environment. Paperback. 160 pages.

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The Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care (BAS) is the first valid and reliable tool for measuring and improving the overall quality of business and professional practices in family child care settings. It is applicable for multiple uses, including program self-improvement, technical assistance and monitoring, training, research and evaluation, and public awareness. It is currently embedded in many state quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) across the nation.

Infants and toddlers need caring adults to help them learn emotional competence-how to understand, express, and manage emotions. By supporting their development in the early years, educators can create a strong foundation that will give young children important life skills and resilience. Paperback. 152 pages.

Over 450 rhymes, songs, stories, and fingerplays with Spanish and English on each page to help build vocabulary and language skills. Organized by theme. 384 pages.

When teachers implement the project approach to learning, young children can follow their own real-world interests to gain deeper understanding. Children wonder about a topic, formulate their questions, and then figure out the answers for themselves in their own way. The project approach helps children dig deeply into intellectual and social experiences that can help them see meaningful benefits of the skills they are acquiring. "Picturing the Project Approach" will lead teachers every… More »

Feel confident and competent when it comes to choosing and implementing the most appropriate technology tools for your early childhood classroom!

Child-care environments play an important role in how babies, toddlers, and two-year-olds experience learning. Colors, sounds, smells, and the placement of furniture, lighting, and textures all influence how people act and interact inside a classroom. Chock-full of colorful photographs from real-world infant and toddler settings, Enticing Environments for People under Three offers fresh ideas for making centers and classrooms inspiring for all of the people who inhabit them. Discover numerous, easy-to-implement… More »

Thoughtfully created learning centers are bubbling with opportunities for active learning. Dr. Jean, beloved author of dozens of books and songs, and coauthor Carolyn Kisloski bring you a collection of practical ideas and tips to inspire engagement and spark learning in your classroom centers-and, importantly, keep children coming back for more. Children learn best through play. Discover how you can help them thrive in your learning centers. The Possibilities of Play brings expert tips for selecting… More »

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… More »

Research shows that children do not outgrow challenging behavior, making early intervention essential. But what can early childhood educators do to reduce challenging behaviors when nothing seems to work? From aromatherapy to affirmations,'When Nothing Else Works' is filled with creative strategies and techniques to address and adjust problematic behavior in the classroom while also promoting resilience and active engagement in learning. Written from the perspective of an experienced school development… More »

This resource supplies 25 two-week themes, with a total of over 2,000 activities and ideas. Paperback, 463 pages.

You may know classroom environments are a complex interaction of physical elements, including sensory components, design and organization, aesthetics, nurturing attributes, and pedagogical resources. Did you know these elements are proven to work together to improve early learning, self-efficacy and higher order thinking skills, and ultimately to achieve better child outcomes? "Room to Learn" presents the Assessing the Pillars of the Physical Environment for Academic Learning (APPEAL)… More »

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… More »

Learning environments are an important topic as more and more teachers try to make their classrooms into places that support and inspire learning. This book shows early childhood teachers step-by-step how small changes can transform their classrooms into wondrous environments for children to learn and grow by using "before" and "after" pictures. Written in simple, down-to-earth language, this book introduces and describes the philosophy behind creative learning environments based… More »