Expressing Creativity In Preschool

"Much of the content in this book is adapted from Teaching young children (TYC), NAEYC's award-winning magazine ..."--Page [120].

In Creative Thinking and Arts-Based Learning: Preschool Through Fourth Grade, 6/e Joan Packer Isenberg and Mary Renck Jalongo show future and current early childhood educators how to integrate children's creativity, play, and the arts into their curriculum in a way that fosters learning and growth and meets accountability measures, by emphasizing the use of technology to enhance creativity and the arts, with myriad suggestions to differentiate instruction and make adaptations for diverse learners across the art forms. Organized into four main parts, the text covers the foundations of creative thought; examines children's play, games, and inventions; addresses the subject areas that are traditionally associated with the creative arts; delves into the teacher's role&—supporting creative expression and play, assessing creative processes and products, and working with diverse families and communities; and discusses effective design and use of environments, materials, and resources. Unique boxed pedagogical features make the text more practical, readable, and helpful to the early childhood educator.

"Creative Thinking and Arts-Based Learning "prepares preservice and inservice teachers to "know why "children's creative thinking and play are so important, "know about "children's play and creative thinking, and also "know how "to provide these experiences within the curriculum. It contains extensive coverage of the roles, responsibilities, and strategies that lead to a more child-centered, play-based curriculum. An Applied Approach Many instructional guidelines and classroom strategies are presented throughout the text for integrating creative thinking and play into learning. Cases about preschoolers, K-2nd graders, and 3rd-4th graders open each chapter and show readers how teachers infuse the arts into learning. Meeting Standards. This new feature discusses how to provide for creativity in classrooms while also meeting state and national standards. Frequently Asked Questions. Another new feature poses common questions about issues, such as what materials and resources to use, how to adapt environments for diverse learners, and how to foster and assess creative thought. Misconceptions are dispelled with research-based answers. A Theoretical Approach Solid theory underlies all of the content. The authors' experience as university professors and practitioners is evident in their clear presentation of relevant theory. A Reflective Approach Teacher's Reflections in each chapter tell readers what other preservice and inservice teachers are thinking and doing in their classrooms relative to their experiences with the arts. Resources: Instructor's Manual and test Bank, PowerPoint Slides

Introduction to Early Childhood Education provides current and future educators with a highly readable, comprehensive overview of the field. The underlying philosophy of the book is that early childhood educators’ most important task is to provide a program that is sensitive to and supports the development of young children. Author Eva L. Essa and new co-author Melissa Burnham provide valuable insight by strategically dividing the book into six sections that answer the “What, Who, Why, Where, and How” of early childhood education. Utilizing both NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) and DAP (Developmentally Appropriate Practice) standards, this supportive text provides readers with the skills, theories, and best practices needed to succeed and thrive as early childhood educators.

This text shows how the natural creative expression and play of children can be channelled to foster the learning and growth of each individual child. The book explores the nature, development and importance of children's play, suggesting many ways in which it may be fostered and encouraged by adults who work with young children. The aim of the book is to help readers design and implement self-expressive activities focusing on the process of creative expression, showing how to nurture that process, rather than providing a ready-made repertoire of activities and materials.

For the young child, art is a way of solving problems, conceptualizing the world, and creating new possibilities. In Everyday Artists, the author addresses the disconnect that exists between the teaching of art and the way young children actually experience art. In doing so, this book questions commonly held notions and opens up exciting new possibilities for art education in the early childhood classroom. A practicing teacher herself, Bentley uses vignettes of children’s everyday activities—from block building to clean-up to outdoor play—to help teachers identify and scaffold the genuine artistic practice of young children. Book Features: Tangible examples of everyday arts experiences told through lively classroom stories.An examination of the teacher’s role with suggestions of appropriate ways to support children’s artistic expression.Clear explanations of how inquiry and creativity contribute to the overall thinking and learning of the young child.A “Voice of the Teacher” section that offers teaching strategies for extending children’s thinking and learning.A wide-range of ideas for teachers who feel they do not know how to “do” art. Dana Frantz Bentley is a teacher researcher and preschool teacher at Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She received a Doctorate of Education, Art, and Art Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. “Much has been written about the role of the arts in education, especially about the importance of the arts to early childhood learning. Dana Frantz Bentley endows the arts with an additional and central kind of significance rooted in a broad conception of cognition.” —From the Foreword by Judith M. Burton, Teachers College, Columbia University “Like the young children she describes, Dana Frantz Bentley is an ‘everyday artist,’ making something ‘beautiful’ of her informed and thoughtful pedagogy. There is much to learn from the artful reflection and generative inquiry of this inspired early childhood educator.” —Jessica Hoffmann Davis, author of Why Our Schools Need the Arts