Designs for Living and Learning

📖 The Scoop

While the early childhood field has formed standards to help in recognizing quality programs for children, practitioners seldom use values to guide in selection of materials or to help plan early childhood environments. This book draws on a variety of educational approaches, including Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia, to outline hundreds of ways to create healthy and inviting physical, social, and emotional environments for children in child care. Following an introduction, the book's first chapter offers an overview of the elements important to include in early care and learning environments. The remaining chapters each focus on an element introduced in chapter 1. Each opens with a "look inside" section, a short activity for self-reflection on the topic at hand. The"inviting learning" section considers the "micro" environment of the program, with examples of interesting materials and how their presentation invites discovery and learning. The chapters are: (1) "Laying a Foundation for Living and Learning"; (2) "Creating Connections and a Sense of Belonging"; (3) "Keeping Space Flexible and Materials Open Ended"; (4) "Designing Natural Environments that Engage Our Senses"; (5) "Provoking Wonder, Curiosity, and Intellectual Engagement"; (6) "Engaging Children in Symbolic Representation, Literacy, and the Visual Arts; (7) "Enhancing Children's Use of the Environment"; and (8) "Facing Barriers and Negotiating Change." Two appendices include a list of print, Web, and media-based resources, and some additional assessment tools for re-examining the early childhood environment. (HTH).

Genre: Design / Interior Decorating (fancy, right?)