Developing Quality Care for Young Children
How to Turn Early Care Settings Into Magical Places

Foreword by Rebecca Shahmoon Shanok

Other Titles in:
Classroom Management & Student Behaviour | Leadership & Management | Learning Styles

November 2008 | 200 pages | Corwin

A guide to creating and sustaining a high-quality, successful early child care program! This resource illustrates how to build a successful child care program, handle the inevitable challenges, and achieve and sustain positive results. The book examines the basic principles of high-quality early child care within a real setting and with real people. Using their experience in education, child development and child therapy, the authors demonstrate how to: Create an environment that fosters healthy relationships for children and adults; Build children's academic and social-emotional skills in preparation for later learning; Use families' ethnic and cultural diversity as a teaching tool; Maintain professional standards for administration and staff.

Foreword by Rebecca Shahmoon Shanok

About the Authors

Authors' Note

Acknowledgments

Prologue to a Dream that Came to Be

Introduction

The Critical Need for Quality Early Child Care

1. The Little House on Village Avenue: What Makes a Good Child Care Center

Quality Care Is Not Just Day Care: How a Good Early Child Care Program Prepares Children for Life

The Toddler Classroom: Where a Skilled Child Care Professional Can Open Up the World to Children

Translating Principles Into Practice in a Good Child Care Program

High-Quality Child Care: Some Other Basics

2. The First Task of Early Child Care: Building a Trusting Relationship Between Caregiver, Child, and Family

Attachment, the First Basic Need of All Children

Creating a Stimulating and Nurturing Atmosphere in the Classroom

How Can a Teacher Handle Aggression in Children?

Flexibility and the Adult-Child Relationship: Why Rules and Schedules Need to Be Adapted

Building Human Relationships in Every Classroom

The Underlying Class Theme: We Are All People and I Am Somebody

Making Parents Welcome: An Essential Component of the Relationship Between Caregiver and Child

How Does Your Child Care Center Build Relationships Between Caregiver, Child, and Family?

3. The Second Task: Developing Wholesome Peer Relationships Among Children

Why Building Peer Relationships Is a Necessity Among Children

The Stages of Play

Teaching Children to Resolve Conflicts: An Essential Task of Early Childhood Educators

4. The Role of Curriculum and Staff Development in Early Child Care

The Importance of a Well-Planned, Appropriate Curriculum

Building the Important S-A-Ts in Children: Separation, Autonomy, Trust

Learning by Hands-On Experience

Staff Development Is an Ongoing Process

5. The School as a Reflection of Our Diverse Heritage

Diversity as a Natural Part of the Curriculum

Handling Ethnic Stereotypes Among Children

Cultural Diversity and Differing Expectations

Working With Children of Different Cultural Backgrounds: Some Helpful Hints

How Does Your Child Care Program Take Advantage of America?s Richly Diverse Cultural Heritage?

6. High-Quality Child Care as a Learning Experience

Learning as a Natural Process

Play Is the Work of the Child

The Learning Centers

The Daily Schedule

All the Things They Were Learning

Epilogue

Appendix A: Rosa Lee Young Curriculum Outline

Prekindergarten and Kindergarten

Activities and Learning Experiences Throughout the Day

Toddler Activities and Learning Experiences Throughout the Day

Appendix B: Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children From Birth Through Age 8 (National Association for the Education of Young Children)

Appendix C: Reggio Emilia

Reggio Emilia and the Hundred Languages of Children

The Nine Baisc Principles of Reggio Emilia

Notes

Index

“Ask yourself the questions posed in this book, whether you are searching for child care or wondering why our smallest and most important citizens don’t have more quality early education programs available in a more equitable manner. This is a great teacher’s guide for those entering the field and a great staff development idea for ECE centers.”

Denise Humphries, Preschool Principal

John F. Kennedy American School, Queretaro, Mexico

“The book is well connected to literature, the author’s own research and perspective, and an eye toward the future with tools for creating places for child care that are good for kids. If only we could bottle up Rosa Lee Young and give it to all children.”

Kerry Williams, Learning Community Facilitator

Wayne State College

"I cannot think of anything pertaining to high-quality child care programs that isn't covered in this book. The organization is clear, consistent, and easy to follow."

Diane Salverson, Inclusion Specialist

Early Childhood Direction Center, Buffalo, NY

"The book’s power is in its details which utilize nuance from the ‘small places,’ here a child care center. With detail of everyday moments in everyday lives, they breathe life into principles gathered from the study of many fields over decades. The Beckers provide the light of substance for child care workers, directors, teachers, graduate and undergraduate educators, policy makers, and children alike."

From the Foreword by Rebecca Shahmoon Shanok

Students in this course are developing their own programming, the text doesn't provide quite enough information for that project.

Dr Katy Gregg

Child and Family Development, Georgia Southern University

January 20, 2012

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