I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was excited to share a new book, Playful Learning, by my friend Mariah Bruehl. I had just returned home from a long trip and found it sitting on the top of my mail pile. I immediately opened it and began thumbing through. About half an hour later, I was still leaning against my kitchen counter, reading. This book is fantastic. Mariah has taken her ardent passion and rich experience and packaged them together to create one amazing resource.
Literacy Beginnings — A Book with a Bonus (and a Giveaway!)
This week, I’ve written about the Importance of a Good Foundation and introduced you to Literacy Beginnings — A Prekindergarten Handbook, a resource I truly believe will become a new standard resource for early literacy. After Wednesday’s post outlining the wealth of information in this great book, you might be surprised to know there’s even MORE!
Art Not Craft
“Arts and crafts” is a common label in the early childhood world. And while the label implies that they are two different but similar categories, it is unfortunately used too often as one overarching label. But the two have subtle differences: the difference between process and product, creativity and the created, following inspiration and following directions. Of course there is rarely a black and white separation of these two, rather a spectrum of sliding degrees. While I would never want to completely exclude one in order to elevate the other, one must be cognizant of the differences in order to be intentional in the creative experiences that are planned for the children we love and teach.