Early Childhood Where Learning Begins

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

This resource book is intended to aid parents of children aged 2 to 5 years in teaching geography. The book offers ideas about how to encourage and give direction to enable young children to develop the vocabulary, awareness, and curiosity necessary to lay the foundation for the study of geography. Suggested activities are included and are organized around five specific themes. The themes are: (1) "Where are things located?" (2)"What characteristics make a place special?" (3) "What are the relationships among people and places?" (4) "What are the patterns of movement of people, products, and information?" and (5) "How can the Earth be divided into regions for study?" Each chapter begins with background, examples of questions geographers ask, and explanations of the early developmental skills that are involved. A 16-item reference list and glossary conclude the book, along with maps, a resource list with suggestions of where to get free maps, and a list of easy reading or picture books related to geography. (LB)

Mathematical activities for parents and their 2- to 5-year-old children.

Learning Begins, written by a teacher for teachers, translates current brain research into practical classroom strategies. Because students learn with their brains, it simply makes sense for teachers to explore educational psychology and neuroscience. And yet, information in these fields can be daunting and contradictory. Worse still, few researchers can clearly explain the specific classroom uses of their remarkable discoveries. Learning Begins both explains this research and makes it useful for teachers and administrators. Part I investigates the science of working memory: a cognitive capacity essential to all school work. When teachers recognize the many classroom perils that can overwhelm working memory, they can use research-aligned strategies to protect it, and thereby promote student learning. Part II reveals the complexities of student attention. By understanding the three neural sub-processes that create attention, teachers can structure their classrooms and their lessons to help students focus on and understand new material. Written in a lively and approachable voice, based on years of classroom experience and a decade of scientific study, Learning Begins makes educational psychology and neuroscience clear and useful in schools and classrooms.

Every day as children play they are using math without even realizing it: pouring water in and out of cups, sorting things, counting their toys and other things. This book was written to help parents of very young children -- ages 2-5 -- use home activities to challenge their children's minds. You use math when you shop for groceries, cook dinner, ride a bus, or watch a basketball game. Even if you don't think you are very good at math, you are already using it successfully! Children learn by doing, so this book first explains the different types of math and then explains many activities by which you can share math with your children throughout the day. Appendix: books, other resources, and org. Ill.

"Maguire-Fong has updated her groundbreaking book designed to assist pre- and inservice professionals working with infants and their families. Each chapter draws from research and real-life infant care settings to provide valuable insights into how to design an infant care program, plan curriculum, assess learning, and work with families"--

Clearly babies come into the world remarkably receptive to its wonders. Their alertness to sights, sounds, and even abstract concepts makes them inquisitive explorersâ€"and learnersâ€"every waking minute. Well before formal schooling begins, children's early experiences lay the foundations for their later social behavior, emotional regulation, and literacy. Yet, for a variety of reasons, far too little attention is given to the quality of these crucial years. Outmoded theories, outdated facts, and undersized budgets all play a part in the uneven quality of early childhood programs throughout our country. What will it take to provide better early education and care for our children between the ages of two and five? Eager to Learn explores this crucial question, synthesizing the newest research findings on how young children learn and the impact of early learning. Key discoveries in how young children learn are reviewed in language accessible to parents as well as educators: findings about the interplay of biology and environment, variations in learning among individuals and children from different social and economic groups, and the importance of health, safety, nutrition and interpersonal warmth to early learning. Perhaps most significant, the book documents how very early in life learning really begins. Valuable conclusions and recommendations are presented in the areas of the teacher-child relationship, the organization and content of curriculum, meeting the needs of those children most at risk of school failure, teacher preparation, assessment of teaching and learning, and more. The book discusses: Evidence for competing theories, models, and approaches in the field and a hard look at some day-to-day practices and activities generally used in preschool. The role of the teacher, the importance of peer interactions, and other relationships in the child's life. Learning needs of minority children, children with disabilities, and other special groups. Approaches to assessing young children's learning for the purposes of policy decisions, diagnosis of educational difficulties, and instructional planning. Preparation and continuing development of teachers. Eager to Learn presents a comprehensive, coherent picture of early childhood learning, along with a clear path toward improving this important stage of life for all children.