Best Practices for Training Early Childhood Professionals. Sharon Bergen, $41.95

Your work as a trainer has a lasting impact on your staff and the young children you all care for. Use the information, tools, and examples in Best Practices for Training Early Childhood Professionals to plan and execute training programs that are effective for your environment and your caregivers. You will find guidance on how to establish a framework for organizing your thinking about training using practices that are developmentally appropriate for adults, design and implement successful programs, and help your staff be the best professionals they can be.

Bountiful Earth: 25 Songs and Over 300 Activities for Young Children. Pam Schiller, $27.95 (Book and CD)

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs: 21 Songs and Over 250 Activities for Young Children. Pam Schiller, $27.95 (Book and CD)

Critters & Company: 27 Songs and Over 300 Activities for Young Children. Pam Schiller, $27.95 (Book and CD)

Fabulous Food: 25 Songs and Over 300 Activities for Young Children. Pam Schiller, $27.95 (Book and CD)

Honk, Honk, Rattle, Rattle: 25 Songs and Over 300 Activities for Young Children. Pam Schiller, $27.95 (Book and CD)

Me, My Family and Friends: 26 Songs and Over 300 Activities for Young Children. Pam Schiller, $27.95 (Book and CD)

School Days: 28 Songs and Over 300 Activities for Young Children. Pam Schiller, $27.95 (Book and CD)

Wild, Wild West: 26 Songs and Over 300 Activities for Young Children. Pam Schiller, $27.95 (Book and CD)

• Literacy Links to teach comprehension skills, letter knowledge, and phonemic awareness
• Curriculum Connections to integrate the content of the song with curriculum areas such as math, art, sand and water play, science, outdoor play, field trips, and discovery
• a “Did You Know?” section with fun and interesting facts related to the song
• a vocabulary list to enhance children’s language skills
• theme connections
• home activities to extend the learning
• related children’s books

This series of three CDs is ideal for parents, students in education, social sciences, and medicine, as well as day care center and in-home child care providers, child care associations and referral agencies. The Child Care in Action Series is a practical reference on the care of infants and toddlers, preschoolers and school-age children. Each CD offers narratives, video demonstrations of key child care skills, and interactive tests.

Common Psychological Disorders in Young Children: a Handbook for Child Care Professionals. Jenna Bilmes & Tara Welker, $41.95

“Common Psychological Disorders in Young Children is an easy-to-use guide that will help you recognize and deal with the symptoms and behaviors associated with ADHD, autism, anxiety, and other disorders you may face in your classroom. Learn to notice behaviors that may require referral for diagnostic screening and, for children already diagnosed, understand the reason a child might be exhibiting certain behaviors and how you can best help the child within your setting.”

The Complete Resource Book for Infants: Over 700 Experiences for Children from Birth to 18 Months. Pam Schiller, $32.95

"The Complete Resource Book for Infants is a collection of experiences and activities that maximize learning and development for children from birth to eighteen months … designed to support language, motor, social, emotional and cognitive growth and development … Activities can be used randomly or organized to focus on a specific skill or aspect of development."

The Complete Resource Book for Toddlers and Twos: Over 2000 Experiences and Ideas. Pam Schiller, $41.95

Explore a variety of skills and concepts through stories, music, art, and more. Designed for children aged 12-36 months.

“Synthesizing information from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and child development, author Marilee Sprenger covers the basic structure, vocabulary, and current research on the brain from an early childhood educator's point of view and provides an abundance of illustrations and descriptions. Through an understanding of the phases of language, motor, and social development at each age level, educators can create enriching educational experiences that enhance children's growth and foster an enduring love of learning.”

Developing Quality Care for Young Children: How to Turn Early Care Settings into Magical Places. Nettie Becker & Paul Becker, $39.50

“By examining high-quality early care within a real-life setting, this resource illustrates how to build a successful program, handle the inevitable challenges, and achieve and sustain positive results. Using their experience in child development and child therapy, the authors demonstrate how to:

• Create environments that foster healthy relationships for children and adults
• Build on children's sense of wonder and joy for learning in preparation for later academic experiences
• Use families' ethnic and cultural diversity as a teaching tool
• Maintain professional standards for administration and staff

Developing Quality Care for Young Children is invaluable not only for early childhood educators, administrators, and trainers, but also for anyone striving to make a difference in the lives of our youngest learners.”

Young children convey their emotions in many ways. Don’t Get So Upset is an insightful look at why some expressions of children’s emotions are so much more challenging than others — it’s not about the child as much as it is about you and your emotions.

Author Tamar Jacobson asks the reader to reflect on how they learned to express their feelings as a child, how adults responded to them and how our emotional history is very much a part of our interactions with children. This book is practical and personal — a call for self-reflective practice in early childhood education.

This highly adaptable program provides a year’s worth of fun and flexible lessons, complete with themes, art and dramatic play activities, story and song selections and group lesson plans laid out in both a monthly and a week-by-week format.

Early Sprouts: Cultivating Healthy Food Choices in Young Children. Carrie Kalich, Dottie Bauer & Deirdre McPartlin, $34.95

Plant lifelong healthy eating concepts in young children with Early Sprouts. This “seed-to-table” approach gets children interested in and enjoying nutritious fruits and vegetables. The Early Sprouts model engages preschoolers in all aspects of planting, preparing, and eating organically grown produce. Find directions for designing and caring for gardens, recipes children can help prepare, and ways to involve the whole family in making healthy food choices. The activities can be tailored to fit any early childhood program, climate, or geographical region. No space for a garden? Many of the benefits of the Early Sprouts program can be achieved in other ways, including visits to a farmer’s market and small-container gardens.

“Empowering Children covers developmentally appropriate curriculum in all developmental domains — physical, cognitive, affective — for children from ages two to six years. Designed to help students and practitioners formulate an approach to developmental curriculum planning and implementation, this text uses play-based methods as the medium for learning.”

“This extremely practical, accessible book offers a strong, evidence-based approach to promoting engagement in preschoolers. Readers will find detailed, concrete strategies to help them make the most of natural learning opportunities and encourage developmental goals. This much-needed book has a highly structured format that teachers can easily follow to create an optimal learning environment and foster goal-oriented behavior in any preschool classroom—with or without children with special needs. Engagement of Every Child in the Preschool Classroom gives early childhood educators the tools and know-how for successfully launching lifelong learners.”

“This user-friendly guide presents a comprehensive introduction to the High/Scope Preschool Curriculum, covering theory, teaching practices, curriculum content, assessment, and training. This practical guide to implementing High/Scope's active learning approach has an appealing format that includes examples, checklists, and hands-on exercises.”

“Finding Your Smile Again provides dozens of proven techniques for coping with stressful situations and diagnosing and preventing burnout. A family childcare provider and former child care center director, Jeff Johnson specifically addresses the stressors and challenges common among child care professionals. You'll find guidance in discovering your true purpose—whether it's in the child care field or beyond.”

Inclusive Lesson Plans Throughout the Year: Early Childhood. Laverne Warner, Sharon Lynch, Cynthia Simpson & Diana Nabors , $41.95

“Inclusive Lesson Plans Throughout the Year has over 150 lesson plans for teachers who have children with special needs in their early childhood classrooms. Perfect for both beginning teachers and veteran teachers, Inclusive Lesson Plans Throughout the Year helps new teachers develop plans for each day and provides veteran teachers with new ideas and approaches to add spark to their classroom teaching.”

KIDEX for Threes: Practicing Competent Child Care. Adrienne Boyd, $23.95

KIDEX for Threes: Practicing Competent Child Care promotes excellent communication and consistency for three-year-old children and aids in keeping detailed descriptions of each child’s personal profile as well as a schedule for each individual room in a group child care setting. Suggestions for best practice care are integrated throughout the resource coupled with information to acquaint you with typical and atypical three-year-old behavior.

Also available: KIDEX for Infants, Ones, Twos, and Fours. $23.95 each. CD-Rom included with each volume.

Learning Language and Loving It™ DVD: Promoting Children's Social, Language, and Literacy Development in Early Childhood Settings. The Hanen Centre, $64.00 DVD format

“This easy to use DVD demonstrates the vital role of preschool teachers in facilitating children’s social, language and literacy development. As a companion to the Learning Language and Loving It guidebook and program, this DVD provides real life examples of teachers using strategies in play and daily activities to create enriched, interactive language-learning environments that include children who have special needs and language delays, who are second language learners, as well as those who are typically developing. User friendly menus provide quick access to everyday examples.”

Learning Together With Young Children: a Curriculum Framework for Reflective Teachers. Deb Curtis & Margie Carter, $53.95

“Deb Curtis and Margie Carter, best selling authors in the early learning field, believe teaching is a collaborative process in which you reexamine your own philosophy and practices while facilitating children's learning. Learning Together With Young Children encourages you to create materials and a classroom culture reflecting your values: teach through observation, reflection, inquiry and action; and encourage children to represent their learning in multiple ways, including songs, stories, and drama.”

Music from the Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poem, Fingerplays and Chants, 2-CD Set. Jackie Silberg & Pam Schiller, $27.95

The companion to the best-selling book, these two CDs feature 50 songs to keep children singing and learning all year long.

Also available: The Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poem, Fingerplays and Chants. Jackie Silberg & Pam Schiller, $44.95

"Are you sick of struggling with the parents of children you work with? Are you dreading upcoming conferences, or wishing you knew how to approach a difficult topic? Parent-Friendly Early Learning will help you turn parent problems into warm, confident relationships … Detailed real-life scenarios in each chapter will help you create a climate of partnership, understand the background for each issue, avoid problems, and handle any conflict that does occur. The practical, user-friendly format allows teachers to start at any point in the book with the issues that are most pressing for them. Written for beginning teachers and directors as well as seasoned professionals, this is the perfect resource for anyone genuinely interested in working with — not just for — parents."

Pathways to Competence for Young Children: a Parenting Program (Book and CD-ROM). Sarah Landy & Elizabeth Thompson, $76.95

“With Pathways to Competence for Young Children: a Parenting Program, professionals can help parents understand and manage their child’s behavior and take an active role in guiding social-emotional development. Developed from Sarah Landy’s highly regarded child development book, Pathways to Competence, this manual-and-CD set shows how to set up, lead, and evaluate a parenting program for parents of children from birth to age 7. This one-of-a-kind program is:

• Proven effective. Field tested for 10 years with hundreds of parents, this program has proved highly successful in improving child behavior and enhancing parenting skills.
• Hands-on and practical. Professionals will learn how to lead group discussions, activities and exercises, and role-plays on key parenting challenges.
• Versatile. Materials can be used for a 10-, 15-, or 20-week parenting group, and professionals can tailor the program to suit their needs. The program is appropriate for a wide range of audiences, including parents with depression, teen mothers, and parents of children with behavior problems.

Everything professionals need to conduct a Pathways to Competence Parenting Group is included: more than 140 parent handouts (easy to print from the CD-ROM inside this book), instructions on structuring and leading sessions, problem-solving tips, and evaluation guidelines. With this engaging and effective program, parents will discover how to strengthen their relationships with their children and foster the healthy social-emotional development children need to manage life’s challenges.”

Play: The Pathway from Theory to Practice. Sandra Heidemann & Deborah Hewitt, $41.95

Play: The Pathway from Theory to Practice contains practical suggestions and theoretical information for helping children thrive with play-based learning. Chapters include an explanation of the functional "Play Checklist" to help you observe children's emerging skills and pinpoint areas for improvement, instructions for writing specific and attainable goals for children, and case studies from real classrooms.

Play, Learning and Brain Development: You Can Make a Difference. Beatrice Ashem & Michelle Ashem, $29.95

Play, Learning and Brain Development is a ready-to-use, culturally-adaptable curriculum and guide to helping parents lean about their child’s development from birth to age three. Designed for a broad range of use, it can be employed as a complete set of workshops or adapted to existing programs. By relating current research data to traditional parenting practices, the curriculum teaches the effects of parenting practices on brain development in young children.

Play, Learning and Brain Development is currently being used in cities, small towns and isolated communities around the world by educators, nurses, early intervention staff, parents and other community workers. Sections include information, research and workshops on:

• Brain development in the early years
• Parenting as a key to brain development
• Early learning
• Barriers to healthy development and prevention strategies
• Maternal depression and other factors affecting development
• Child abuse and neglect
• Resources

Read! Move! Learn! Carol Totsky Hammett & Nicki Collins Geigert, $27.95

“Enhance literacy skills, bring the magic of a good book to the classroom, and encourage active, healthy lifestyles in young children with Read! Move! Learn! This book has more than 150 active learning experiences based on popular children’s books. In addition to the activities for each featured children’s book, you will find theme connections, lesson objectives, a vocabulary list, a concept list, and related children’s books and music for hours of fun in the classroom.”

Rethinking Early Childhood Education. Ann Pelo, Editor, $25.95

This anthology explores the possibilities in bringing social-justice and ecological awareness to teaching in the early education environment. Curiosity, collaboration, activism and conflict resolution skills help create equitable communities and childhood is the logical place to begin.

Routines & Transitions: a Guide for Early Childhood Professionals. Nicole Malenfant, $48.95

“Routines and Transitions is a complete guide to help you turn the most common daily activities, such as hand washing, snack time, and naps, into nurturing learning experiences for children ages birth to five. By using transitions wisely, you not only contribute to children's developing skills but also run a more efficient program and create a calmer early childhood setting. In addition to discussions on developmental issues, environments, educational values, and hygiene, there are examples of the kinds of games and rhymes that help children move through their daily transitions with ease.”

Sensory Integration: a Guide for Preschool Teachers. Christy Isbell & Rebecca Isbell, $25.95

”Sensory Integration: a Guide for Preschool Teachers helps you identify children who have difficulties with sensory processing, and it offers simple, easy-to-use solutions to support the sensory needs of young children in the preschool classroom. Easy-to-implement solutions include adaptations and activities for children with different types of Sensory Processing Disorder. This book has a bonus chapter with instructions for creating low-cost items to help children with sensory issues.

Social & Emotional Development: Connecting Science and Practice an Early Childhood Settings. Dave Riley, et al, $29.95

“Find out what the research says about common early childhood program practices, such as playing "Simon Says" or holding children while feeding them—time-tested activities you intuitively know help young children. Social and Emotional Development explores the effectiveness of these early learning tools and helps answer the question, "Why do we do what we do?"

Social and Emotional Health in Early Childhood: Building Bridges Between Services and Systems. Deborah Perry, Roxane Kaufmann, & Jane Knitzer, $50.95

“Social-emotional health is one of the most critical factors in a child's development and school readiness—a factor that depends on weaving effective mental health services into other systems and programs that support young children. With this comprehensive, research-based book, practitioners and policy makers will learn how to make mental health services and supports an integral part of every early childhood setting—and ensure better social-emotional and academic outcomes for all young children.”

Teaching Numeracy, Language, and Literacy with Blocks. Abigail Newburger & Elizabeth Vaughan, $36.95

“Effectively develop the emerging skills—numbers, vocabulary, and reading—children need for kindergarten readiness by enhancing how you use block play in your classroom. Newburger and Vaughan provide a theoretical foundation on why and how blocks are used, as well as information on selecting blocks and block safety … With chapters on the seven developmental stages of block building in young children, Teaching Numeracy, Language, and Literacy with Blocks illuminates the learning potential in the common uses of block play.”

Tools for Transition in Early Childhood: a Step-by-Step Guide for Agencies, Teachers, and Families. Beth Rous & Rena Hallam, $39.95

For young children with and without disabilities, positive outcomes depend on smooth, effective transitions between and within early intervention programs, preschool programs, and public school programs. Tools for Transition in Early Childhood is a how-to guide that guides professionals across programs in working together to make these transitions happen. Tools for Transition in Early Childhood is an essential guidebook for program directors, administrators, and all their staff members, helping programs coordinate their services and plan transitions that ensure young children's school readiness.

Understanding Infant Development. Margaret Puckett, Janet Black & Joseph Moriarity, $25.95

Understanding Toddler Development. Margaret Puckett, Janet Black & Joseph Moriarity, $25.95

Understanding Preschooler Development. Margaret Puckett, Janet Black & Joseph Moriarity, $25.95

Learn how to support children's physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development with this series of three practical handbooks, adapted from The Young Child, a textbook used in academic programs nationwide. The Understanding Child Development Series provides a comprehensive overview of the most relevant theories and research on child development. Each book focuses on a specific age group and explains:

• the impact and long-term effects of biology and environment on early brain development
• how children learn
• important theories of child development
• how early life experiences lay the ground work for evolving language and thinking
• the effects of nurturing care on emotional development and stability in later life
• milestones and windows of opportunity for children's development

The Visionary Director: a Handbook for Dreaming, Organizing & Improvising in Your Centre. Margie Carter & Deb Curtis, $48.95

An inspiring and creative guide which offers a practical and concrete framework for shaping a visionary early child care centre. The Visionary Director is an innovative resource that will help inspire child care directors with its wealth of creative and timely ideas.