Play at the Center of the Curriculum

This widely used resource seamlessly combines the features of a text on play and development with the features of an early childhood curriculum text to present a comprehensive, cogent rationale for placing play at the center of a balanced curriculum. The leading text in the field, "Play at the Center

This resource examines the natural connection between play and a young child's development. It advocates that play should be an integrated part of the early childhood curriculum and then demonstrates how to draw both the methods and the content of a successful curriculum from children's spontaneous play. Anecdotes of children's

This volume brings together studies, research syntheses, and critical commentaries that examine play-literacy relationships from cognitive, ecological, and cultural perspectives. The cognitive view focuses on mental processes that appear to link play and literacy activities; the ecological stance examines opportunities to engage in literacy-related play in specific environments; and the

This book presents thirty-one accounts by final-year pre-service teachers, providing guidance and insights for less advanced teacher education students, and illustrating the use of life history and narrative stories as methods for pre-service teachers to explore educational issues in classroom practice. This life-history approach identifies those political, economic, and social

With the expertise of a body of international contributors from Australia, Canada, USA, UK, Finland, The Netherlands, Italy, Greece and Chile, this handbook explores key in-depth issues in quality Early Childhood Development and Education. Unlike previous publications in the discipline, this title combines research and practice to investigate emotional and