Bringing the Reggio Approach to Your Early Years Practice. Linda Thornton & Pat Brunton, $39.00

The book describes how educators in Reggio Emilia work with young children, and looks at the connections between the Reggio Approach and the revised Early Years Foundation Stage framework. It provides practical examples involving children of different ages in a wide variety of settings, helping the reader to see the connection between practice and theory.

This new edition has been fully updated to show the increasingly mirroring connections between the Reggio Approach and the principles and commitments of the recently revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. Each chapter focuses on one important aspect of the Reggio Approach and includes:

• Practical examples involving children of different ages in a wide variety of settings, helping the reader to see the connection between practice and theory
• Questions to enable the reader to reflect on and develop his or her own practice in accordance with new statutory requirements
• References to sources of further reading and information

Connecting Emergent Curriculum and Standards in the Early Childhood Classroom: Strengthening Content and Teaching Practice. Sydney Schwartz & Sherry Copeland, $41.95

The most pressing challenge in early childhood education today is to find a way to meet the standards within a developmentally appropriate approach. In this book, two active early childhood educators provide teachers with resources to bring content alive and document it in every-day, action-based pre–K and Kindergarten classrooms. The book includes lists of key content ideas — coordinated with learning standards in science, mathematics, social studies, and the communication arts—to guide teacher observations of, and interactions with, young children. Chapters focus on ways to extend children’s emerging use of content in the block, manipulative, sand and water, drama, expressive arts, and literacy centers, as well as link to the development of themes. Book features include:

• Lists of key ideas in the content areas.
• Examples of conversations that nurture children’s emerging content understandings.
• Vignettes from the field illustrating teachers’ experiences of embedding content into center activities, along with photographs.
• Sample forms for documenting children’s learning as they meet the standards in a variety of contexts

David Hawkins and the Pond Study — Includes Book Two. David & Frances Hawkins & the Mountain View Center for Environmental Education, Elizabeth Kellogg, $28.95

This powerful two-book compilation includes rare photos, excerpts from the original documentation, and Elizabeth’s reflections on two inspirational projects David and Frances led.

Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments. Deb Curtis & Margie Carter, $62.50

You likely have dreams for your early childhood environment that are greater than rating scales, regulations, and room arrangements. Designs for Living and Learning has been a favorite resource among educators and caregivers for more than a decade, and this new edition is packed with even more ideas that can be used as you create captivating environments that nurture children, families, and staff while supporting children's learning. With hundreds of all-new colorful photographs of real early learning settings and a multitude of simple and practical concepts for creative indoor and outdoor spaces and learning materials, this book truly is a source of inspiration as you learn how to shape welcoming spaces where children can learn and grow.

Expanded chapters include new information reflecting current trends and concerns in early childhood, such as the use of repurposed and non-traditional materials, children in the outdoors, alternative ways to think about providing for learning outcomes, facing and overcoming barriers and negotiating change, and the impact of environmental rating scales in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS). Two new chapters are included, one highlighting the transformations of environments with before and after photos and outlines of the process, and the other with examples of soliciting children's ideas about the environment.

Eight Essential Techniques for Teaching with Intention: What Makes Reggio and Other Inspired Approaches Effective. Ann Lewin-Benham, $48.95

In her latest book, bestselling author Ann Lewin-Benham describes eight techniques that foster intentional and reflective classroom practice. She presents over 70 novel exercises to help teachers learn to use body, face, hands, voice, eyes, and word choices to precisely convey meaning. Some exercises are for teachers to practice, while others build intention and reflection in children. Dozens of scenarios from typical classroom situations contrast unintentional and intentional teaching behaviors. A self-assessment enables teachers to measure how intentional and reflective they become as they learn to use the eight techniques. 

Emergent Curriculum in Early Childhood Settings: From Theory to Practice. Susan Stacey, $40.50

Emergent curriculum is a philosophy that unites children's interests with the educational framework teachers construct based on their professional training and experiences. This merger brings forth a vibrant classroom where children are engrossed in learning and discovering by doing the things they enjoy.

This book takes an exploratory look at the components of emergent curriculum and how its practices and principles can improve the learning culture of early childhood programs. Emergent Curriculum will give you a unique and thorough look at this method and also includes information on how to observe, reflect, interpret, document, and plan long-term projects.

Engaging Children’s Minds: the Project Approach, 3rd Edition. Lilian Katz & Sylvia Chard, $65.95

Now in its third edition, this book shows teachers how to incorporate the Project Approach into early childhood and elementary curricula, engaging children intellectually and heightening their capacities for thinking, hypothesizing, reasoning, and expressing their natural curiosity.

Why has the Project Approach proven to be so successful for engaging young children intellectually and supporting their capacities to think, predict, hypothesize, reason, and express their natural curiosity? Simply put, because project work provides meaningful contexts in which children can readily apply and perceive the usefulness of their growing academic skills. This book provides a brief history and overview of the Project Approach and a thorough explanation of how to better use this method proficiently in a wide range of educational contexts.

This book is intended for teachers, early childhood practitioners, caregivers, and student teachers. Readers will learn how to apply this approach to engage children's interest and facilitate their intellectual development. The book's chapters articulate the processes and benefits of the Project Approach, identify and detail the three phases of project work, and provide specific suggestions for implementing each phase. The importance of documenting children's work to record the story of their investigation and findings is also discussed.

From Handprints to Hypotheses: Using the Project Approach with Toddlers and Twos. Todd Wanerman, $40.50

Toddlers and two-year-olds are in a fluid and dynamic state of development. They have a sense of wonder that is easily activated, and they are always ready to learn. In this book, you will learn how to use hands-on creative projects to engage very young children's interests and nurture their unique ways of exploring and learning. You will be inspired to implement your own project-based curriculum, recognize and respond to children's innate ability to create, and support their curiosity and self-discovery. 

From Parents to Partners: Building a Family-Centered Early Childhood Program, 2nd Edition. Janis Keyser, $41.50

Build collaborative partnerships with families to help everyone thrive. This book explores the reasons and methods for developing cooperative partnerships, along with tools and strategies to help build the support network for family-centered care. This new edition includes information on how to:

• Use technology to increase the effectiveness of communication with families
• Create a more inclusive program
• Deepen family partnerships with inspiration from Reggio-Emilia
• Use strategies for successful parent conversations

This book offers a theoretical background on why it is important to talk with families and how to efficiently and effectively communicate observations and reflections. It also includes a new chapter on Reggio-inspired care. Overcome common challenges and create more avenues to include families in your program.

The Goodness of Rain: Developing an Ecological Identity in Young Children. Ann Pelo, $39.95

To nurture ecological identity in young children, we invite them into relationship with the world beyond walls and with the creatures that live there. We invite them into ethical thinking anchored by the compassion that comes from caring and engaged relationships. We invite them to come home to the Earth, and to live honorably in that home. Join author Ann Pelo on her year-long journey as she nurtures the ecological identity of a toddler and discovers for herself what it means to live in relationship with the natural world.

If You Find a Rock. Peggy Christian, photographs by Barbara Hirsch Lember, $11.50

What kind of rock will you find today? There's a world of possibilities right under your feet. Will you find a rock to skip in the water — or a rock to hide things under? It might be a wishing rock or a worry stone, a fossil or a rock you can kick all the way home.

Inspiring Spaces for Young Children. Jessica Deviney, et al, $48.95 Also available: Rating Observation Scale for Inspiring Environments. Jessica Deviney, et al, $27.95

The classroom environment is an essential component for maximizing learning experiences for young children. Inspiring Spaces for Young Children invites teachers to enhance children’s educational environment in a beautiful way by emphasizing aesthetic environmental qualities that are often overlooked in early childhood classrooms, such as nature, color, furnishings, textures, displays, lighting, and focal points.  Step-by-step instructions and lush photographs take educators through the process of transforming ordinary classrooms into creative, beautiful learning spaces, providing children with an environment where they can learn and grow.   With easy-to-implement ideas that incorporate nature, children’s artwork, and everyday classroom materials, the photographs and ideas in this book promote creativity, learning, and simple beauty.

The Language of Art: Inquiry-Based Studio Practices in Early Childhood Settings, 2nd Edition. Ann Pelo, $53.50

Incorporate inquiry-based practices into your early childhood classroom or family child care home. Inspired by an approach to teaching and learning born in Reggio Emilia, Italy, The Language of Art emphasizes investigation anchored by drawing, painting, and other art activities. It provides:

• advice on setting up a studio space for art and inquiry
• studio explorations designed to give children a basic fluency in art
• suggestions for documenting children's developing fluency with art media and its use in inquiry
• guidelines for using children's newfound fluency as a tool for investigation.

Even if you use a space not designed specifically for art instruction or even for an early childhood program, The Language of Art shows how you can simply "start where you are." Age Focus: 3–6.

Learning Together With Young Children: a Curriculum Framework for Reflective Teachers, 2nd Edition. Deb Curtis & Margie Carter, $59.95

In this new edition of their classic book, Curtis and Carter offer an alternative framework to approach standardization and data-driven mandates. This book puts young children at the center of planning your curriculum. Rather than following a prescriptive curriculum, teachers can translate educational theories into concrete ideas for working with children and families. Over 100 inspiring and engaging stories help you learn to create a welcoming classroom culture, develop routines for self-regulation, and use observation and reflection to enhance experiences for the children in your care. The authors share engaging and inspiring stories of teachers who are using this approach.

This edition has been updated to examine how to work with mandated curriculum, rating scales, and assessment tools, while practicing reflective, child-centered teaching.

Loose Parts: Inspiring Play in Young Children. Lisa Daly & Miriam Beloglovsky, photographs by Jenna Daly, $41.50

Loose parts are natural or synthetic found, bought, or upcycled materials — acorns, hardware, stones, aluminum foil, fabric scraps, for example — that children can move, manipulate, control, and change within their play. Loose parts are alluring and beautiful. They capture children's curiosity, give free reign to their imagination, and encourage creativity. With more than 550 color photographs of many kinds of loose parts in real early childhood settings, classroom stories, and a dynamic overview, this book provides inspiration and information about the ways loose parts support open-ended learning, enhance play, and empower children. With loose parts, the possibilities are endless. 

Loose Parts 2: Inspiring Play with Infants and Toddlers. Lisa Daly & Miriam Beloglovsky, $45.50

This follow-up to the wildly popular Loose Parts: Inspiring Play in Young Children brings the fun of found objects to infants and toddlers. A variety of new and innovative loose parts ideas are paired with beautiful photography to inspire safe loose parts play in your infant-toddler environment. Learn about the safety considerations of each age group and how to appropriately select materials for your children. Captivating classroom stories and proven science, provide the context for how this style of play supports children's development and learning. Because the possibilities are endless, each child can use the materials appropriate for their developmental level and safely explore their world.

Loris Malaguzzi and the Reggio Emilia Experience. Kathy Hall, et al, $49.95

Loris Malaguzzi and the Reggio Emilia Experience brings together the history and context of the Reggio Emilia experience, and explores the principles espoused by Loris Malaguzzi and the Early Years' Educators of the Reggio Emilia Municipality. It critically evaluates the emergent curriculum and quality provision and offers new insights into the powerful and dominant discourses of the Reggio movement. It will provide students and educators with a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon that is Reggio Emilia.

Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens: the Handbook for Outdoor Learning. David Sobel, $55.95

Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens is the latest from environmental education expert David Sobel. Joined by a variety of colleagues to share their experiences and steps for creating a successful forest kindergarten program, Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens walks you through the European roots of the concept to the recent resurgence of these kinds of programs in North America. 

Going well beyond a history lesson, these experts provide the framework to understand the concepts and build a learning community that stimulates curiosity and inquisitiveness in a natural environment. This helpful guide provides the curriculum ideas and guidance needed to foster special gifts in children. It also gives you the nuts and bolts of running a successful nature preschool business: 

• Potential obstacles and concerns
• Staff and curriculum design
• Best practices for success
• Site and facility assessment
• Business planning and how to successfully market your program

Pedagogical Documentation in Early Childhood: Sharing Children's Learning and Teachers' Thinking. Susan Stacey, $48.50

North American educators were first introduced to the idea of pedagogical documentation through work of the preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Canadian and U.S. educators have responded with an eager desire to try the process within their own practices. Nevertheless, producing documentation that is thoughtful, meaningful, and aesthetically pleasing is a challenge. Pedagogical Documentation — filled with examples from the author as well as new and seasoned educators from across North America — will guide you through the process. Pedagogical documentation is an examination of the learning taking place in children and supports reflective practice and decision-making in teachers. Pedagogical documentation is a powerful tool for communicating a child's learning to families.

Picturing the Project Approach: Creative Explorations in Early Learning. Sylvia Chard, Yvonne Kogan & Carmen Castillo, $38.95

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 step of the way toward incorporating this teaching method in any toddler, preschool or elementary classroom. Teachers will learn how to:

• Identify a topic
• Decide on a project
• Develop the project
• Share the learning
• Bring the project to a close

Possible Schools: the Reggio Approach to Urban Education. Ann Lewin-Benham, Foreword by Howard Gardner. $37.95

POSSIBLE SCHOOLS tells the compelling story of the Model Early Learning Center (MELC) in Washington, D.C. — the only school in a U.S. urban area to successfully implement the principles of the Municipal Preschools of Reggio Emilia. The author describes the origin of this school, which served impoverished urban families, and traces its evolution from a chaotic inception to its ability to apply Reggio practices.

Powerful Children: Understanding How to Teach and Learn Using the Reggio Approach. Ann Lewin-Benham, $43.50

In Powerful Children, Ann Lewin-Benham describes projects in a school that successfully adapted the Reggio Approach with Head Start-eligible children.  She explains how to use the Reggio Approach to address current major concerns in early education, including helping children become self-disciplined, making sure children are ready for 1st grade, assessing children’s progress, and laying a foundation for literacy.  Presenting a multitude of examples of excellent preschool practice, this dynamic book:

• Introduces the concept of “significant work” that draws deeply on young children’s innate intelligences.
• Provides teachers with an opportunity to reflect on what they know and understand about young children.
• Illustrates how teachers can make changes in their classrooms to expand and improve learning.
• Describes robust activities from an urban preschool, including how each project relates to a particular teaching principle.
• Suggests more clearly defined standards and lays out policy implications for each.

Promoting Young Children's Emotional Health and Wellbeing: a Practical Guide for Professionals and Parents. Sonia Mainstone-Cotton, $29.95

Positive emotional health in a child's earliest years can be a critical factor in their future development. Offering practical suggestions for games, activities and exercises designed to promote emotional wellbeing in young children, this essential guide showcases a wide range of approaches such as mindfulness and meditation, Forest School and Reggio Emilia to provide a hands-on reference for teachers and parents.

Drawing on over 25 years' experience as an early years professional, the author explores topics including playfulness, stillness, sensory play, creativity and staff wellbeing. Each topic references current best practices and international examples, and also includes a comprehensive list of further resources and activities. Providing an informative introduction to both theory and practice, this book demonstrates easy-to-implement ideas for any professional or parent engaging with young children.

Reggio-Inspired Mathematics. Janice Novakowski & the Richmond School District, $21.50

This booklet documents one school district's collaborative inquiry project, looking at how Reggio-inspired practices can inform and enhance primary mathematics teaching and learning. Full-colour photographs beautifully represent the documentation of children's explorations.

Teaching and Learning with Infants and Toddlers: Where Meaning-Making Begins. Mary Jane Maguire-Fong, $45.95

This groundbreaking book explores infants’ amazing capacity to learn and presents a reflective approach to teaching inspired by the early childhood schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Each chapter draws from research and real-life infant care settings to illustrate how infants are robust investigators, intent on making sense of the world around them. Pre- and in-service professionals working with infants and their families will find in this book valuable insights into how to design an infant care program, plan curriculum, assess learning, and work with families.

The book provides easy-to-understand answers to questions that include: What do I need to know about how the brain develops during infancy? What does teaching look like with children under age 3? How do babies figure out the complex code of language, including the acquisition of multiple languages? Does a baby’s experience have anything to do with later success in school and in life? What kinds of play materials support infants’ learning? What kinds of policies and practices lead to successful group-care programs for infants? User-friendly features of this book include vignettes, photographs of infant classrooms, diagrams and instructive charts, research highlights, and questions for reflection.

Treasure Baskets and Heuristic Play: Ideas for Children from Six Months to Seven Years. Sally Featherstone, $30.00

Heuristic Play is a tightly described, but freely accessed activity, using a specific range of 'found' or everyday objects, and, in its pure sense, is only really applicable to a specific age range (from 12 months to about two and a half).  However, there is now plenty of evidence that heuristic play has continuing value for children throughout the Foundation Stage and well into the primary years. Collections of objects, carefully selected and offered in both adult-led and child-initiated sessions, indoors and outside, can build on the experience of treasure baskets.

In this informative and helpful book you will find further information on the process of using both treasure baskets and heuristic play with babies and young children. You will also find chapters which explore the benefits of heuristic play with objects for children throughout the early years from six months to seven years. Of course, the materials, the provision and the adult role will develop and change as children mature, so this book also gives guidance on how heuristic play itself should change to meet the needs of children at different stages of development.

Twelve Best Practices for Early Childhood Education: Integrating Reggio and Other Inspired Resources. Ann Lewin-Benham, $408.95

Author Ann Lewin-Benham draws on her intimate knowledge and experience with the Reggio Approach to present 12 "best practices" inspired not only by Reggio, but also by play-based and Montessori approaches to early childhood education. These practices are demonstrated, one per chapter, with scenarios from classrooms, dialogues of children and teachers, and work samples showing the outcome of using each practice. Used together, the 12 best practices offer a new framework for early education.

Written in an accessible style, this book offers the foundations teachers need to practice the Reggio Approach in their own settings.

The Unscripted Classroom: Emergent Curriculum in Action. Susan Stacey, $41.50

Emergent curriculum encourages you to use creativity and flexibility as you respond to classroom challenges and children's interests. Filled with case studies and stories from toddler and preschool teachers about their experiences responding to events in their own classrooms, THE UNSCRIPTED CLASSROOM provides inspiration to step out of your usual scripts and try something new. A review of the emergent curriculum philosophy and an examination of the many ways creativity in teaching benefits children are included.

Working in the Reggio Way: a Beginner’s Guide for American Teachers. Julianne Wurm, $29.50

Are you curious about the Reggio Emilia approach but not quite sure where to begin? Working in the Reggio Way helps early childhood teachers bring the reflective, high-quality practices of Reggio Emilia to American programs. Based on an American teacher's experience observing and working in the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, this book informs you about the practical, day-to-day elements of Reggio-inspired ways. You will learn about the:

• Physical environment and space in which children learn
• Organization of both the children's and teacher's time
• Reggio approach to curriculum through progettazione, or projects
• Observation, documentation, and questioning that give life to the curriculum
• Participation of family and community in the learning process

Working in the Reggio Way asks you to re-examine your view of the child, and to align your program with your values, the hallmark of Reggio practice. It also includes interactive activities for individual or group reflection to help transform your work with Reggio tools.

Young Investigators: The Project Approach in the Early Years. Judy Harris Helm & Lilian Katz, $41.50

This bestselling book has been completely updated and expanded to help teachers use the project approach in child care centers, in preschools, and in kindergarten, 1st grade, and early childhood special education classrooms. For those new to using projects, the book introduces the approach and provides step-by-step guidance for conducting meaningful projects. Experienced teachers will find the teacher interviews, children’s work, photographs (including full color), and teacher journal entries used to document the project process in actual classrooms very useful. This popular, easy-to-use resource has been expanded to include these new features:

• Explicit instructions and examples for incorporating standards into the topic selection and planning process.
• A variety of nature experiences, with examples that show how project work is an excellent way to connect children to the natural world.
• An update of the use of technology for both documentation and investigations, including use of the Web as well as and video and digital cameras.
• More toddler projects that reflect our increased knowledge from recent mind/brain research about toddler understanding and learning.
• A study guide for pre- and in-service teachers