More Early Years
Early Years Websites/Blogs
The main aim of Zerosei Project is to enhance educator’s understanding, and to support schools in the implementation of Reggio Inspired practices, as well as support their work on projects, developed from the children’s interests.
It starts with sharing reflections with you about your meaning of education and values that will drive our work in supporting you in implementing an approach that is able to reflect your principles in each detail.
The intent is to develop your potential in a way that cultural roots, educational philosophy and values are well intertwined and reflected. The goal is to continue to work on providing children with quality early childhood education that is lifelong, sustainable and adaptable in our fast-evolving world.
Sample Posts
This website/blog created by Miki and Josh Barr is a growing treasure trove of resources for educators, parents and all people interested in learning more about early childhood education.
Their guiding principles are:
Play is the purest and deepest form of learning.
Play and learning are deeply connected.
Children should be supported in following their interests
Children deserve to have a childhood full of play.
Sample Pages
Nature Play® is about creating a space for the children to lead their own play, and a place for the adults to learn how to support that. Child-led play' means each child is free to follow his/her own play urges while, at the same time, respecting others. Successful child-led play depends on observing behavioural boundaries, such as no violent or aggressive behaviour. Both children and adults are asked to help keep Nature Play® a safe and calm place for everyone. Child-led play is where the child takes the lead, so that they can follow their own play urges.
Website Sections
Fairy Dust Teaching is a business that is built on the passion for the wonder and magic of early childhood. The six owners that believe young children have the right to play, to be collaborators in learning, and to dream. Their Blog has many beneficial Early Years posts. Well worth a read.
Blog Sections
Link: LetGrow Website
When Adults Step Back, Kids Step Up: At Let Grow, they believe today’s kids are smarter and stronger than our culture gives them credit for. Treating them as physically and emotionally fragile is bad for their future — and ours. Let Grow is making it easy, normal and legal to give kids the independence they need to grow into capable, confident, and happy adults. Co-founded by Peter Gray.
Let Grow Programs
Give students the freedom to do things on their own and they change forever. Let Grow’s school and community programs give young people a bracing dose of the rocket fuel known as independence. Let Grow’s school programs are designed to unlock young people’s brilliance and resilience. Read about the programs for K-8 students in this free download of the chapter for educators in the brand-new edition of Free-Range Kids!
Website Features
(Focus: Play, self-directed learning)
Link: Peter Gray Website
Peter Gray, Ph.D., research professor at Boston College, is author of Free to Learn (Basic Books) and Psychology (Worth Publishers, a college textbook now in its 8th edition). He has conducted and published research in neuroendocrinology, developmental psychology, anthropology, and education. He did his undergraduate study at Columbia University and earned a Ph.D. in biological sciences at Rockefeller University. His current research and writing focus primarily on children's natural ways of learning and the life-long value of play. He a founding member of the nonprofit Alliance for Self-Directed Education and a founding board member of the nonprofit Let Grow. His own play includes not only his research and writing, but also long-distance bicycling, kayaking, back-woods skiing, and vegetable gardening.
A Few of Peter's Blogs
Books
A Few Play Research Articles
The Center for Playful Inquiry partners with adults who care for children to embolden their practice, improving living and learning conditions that promote voice, agency, and strong community. By prioritizing play, the arts, and meaning-making, we strengthen the relationship between childhood and adulthood to inspire justice, democracy, and beauty through curiosity, compassion, and courage.
A Few Blogs
During a 1997 visit to the Diana School in Reggio Emilia, Pam Oken-Wright encountered a revealing triptych outside a classroom. Hand-written notes and drawings captured children's daily experiences for parents.
Recognizing its potential, she began keeping a daily log of her classroom's group process, essential for teacher research.
The documented moments of brilliance were too valuable to hoard. Thus, she welcomes you to a world of a hundreds of lessons from children's voices.
Website Sections
Nature Play® is about creating a space for the children to lead their own play, and a place for the adults to learn how to support that. Child-led play' means each child is free to follow his/her own play urges while, at the same time, respecting others. Successful child-led play depends on observing behavioural boundaries, such as no violent or aggressive behaviour. Both children and adults are asked to help keep Nature Play® a safe and calm place for everyone. Child-led play is where the child takes the lead, so that they can follow their own play urges.
Website Sections
Opal School began as a seed of an idea inspired by a 1996 study tour of the municipal preprimary schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy attended by a group of 10 educators from Portland, OR. Unfortunately, Opal School and the Center for Learning is now permanently closed, but the website and its resources remain available to educators for now.
Website Sections
The Trust for Learning website, founded in 2011 by a small group of philanthropists who saw the potential to expand developmentally appropriate, play-based, whole-child early learning approaches like Montessori to serve far more children and families, has a wealth of early childhood resources that focus on ideal learning environments for young children.
Website Sections
Anne van Dam & Fiona Zinn co-created Constant Conversations: Unpacking Pedagogy. The website focuses on the Early Years. Anne also has another Blog called: Early Learning at ISZL
Sample Posts
Link: Kath Murdoch
Kath Murdoch is an experienced teacher, author, university lecturer and popular consultant who has worked for many years in schools throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia, America and Europe. She is widely respected for her work in the field of inquiry based learning and integrative curriculum in which she has taught, researched and published for well over 20 years.
Go to Books | Facebook/Twitter | Instagram
Sample Categories
Early Years Books
The Art of Awareness: How Observation Can Transform Your Teaching, Third Edition
By: Deb Curtis, Margie Carter How do we see children? How do we observe what they are doing? The art of observing children is more than merely the act of watching them—it is also using what you see and hear to craft new opportunities in your classroom. The book provides a wealth of inspiration and practice and will help early childhood educators learn to observe in new ways, witness children's remarkable competencies as they experience childhood, and find new joy in their work with children
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Amazon.com: ISBN-13 :978-1605547305 / Redleaf Press; 3rd edition (June 14, 2022) / 304 pages
"When we neglect to see who children really are, we deprive ourselves of deeper sources of delight. We miss the opportunity to witness the profound process of human development that is unfolding before our eyes. Becoming a careful observer of young children reminds us that what might seem ordinary at a superficial glance is actually quite extraordinary" Deb Curtis and Maggie Carter
The third edition updates include:
New information on schema theory including a list of the definitions of schemas
Updated stories that reflect schema explorations and focus on observing children’s ability to get along
Added information on identity development and the anti-bias goals
New chapter on observing children using their bodies
New QR codes to videos to continue learning
Updates on technology and approaches to keeping observations at the center of required assessments
I'm the Kind of Kid Who . . .: Invitations That Support Learner Identity and Agency
By: Debbie Miller and Emily Callahan"I'm the Kind of Kid Who . . .: Invitations That Support Learner Identity and Agency" is a professional development book for educators written by Debbie Miller and Emily Callahan. The book provides guidance and strategies for helping students develop their identities and agency as learners.
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Amazon.com: ISBN-13 :978-0325132389 / Heinemann (April 25, 2022) / 168 pages
As a professional development resource, "I'm the Kind of Kid Who . . .: Invitations That Support Learner Identity and Agency" could be used in an inquiry-based instructional setting to support the professional growth of educators and help them develop strategies for promoting student agency and identity in their classrooms.
Here are a few ways that the book could be used in an inquiry-based lesson:
As a starting point for a discussion about student identity and agency: After reading the book, you could ask educators to reflect on their own practices and consider how they can create an environment that supports student identity and agency.
As a source of ideas and strategies: Educators could use the book as a resource for finding new ideas and strategies for promoting student identity and agency in their classrooms.
As a basis for an inquiry-based project: Educators could use the book as a starting point for an inquiry-based project focused on student identity and agency. This could involve researching best practices and developing a plan for implementing these strategies in their classrooms.
Debbie Miller and Emily Callahan believe that it all begins with choice. In "I'm the Kind of Kid Who . . .: Invitations That Support Learner Identity and Agency" they provide a framework for introducing choice making in small, medium, and large ways through "invitations" that ask children to consider:
What if you could choose where you want to work?
What if you could choose your own materials?
What if you could choose to learn more about yourself as a reader?
What if you could choose to do what readers do in the world?
What if you could choose what you want to explore, investigate and study?
What if you could choose how to share your thinking and learning?
Debbie and Emily use a predictable structure to describe each invitation from beginning to end, offering practical suggestions for how to fit invitations within the day and across the year.
"There are no magical programs to call upon to develop learner identity and agency" write Debbie and Emily, "because the truth is, children and their teachers don't need them! What kids really need are invitations from their teachers to discover themselves for themselves, invitations that encourage them to find out even more about who they are, how they learn and what they need to thrive."
Overall, "I'm the Kind of Kid Who . . .: Invitations That Support Learner Identity and Agency" is a valuable resource for educators looking to support the development of student identity and agency in their classrooms.
Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life
by Peter GrayA leading expert in childhood development makes the case for why self-directed learning -- "unschooling" -- is the best way to get kids to learn. In Free to Learn, developmental psychologist Peter Gray argues that in order to foster children who will thrive in today's constantly changing world, we must entrust them to steer their own learning and development.
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Amazon.com: ISBN-13: 978-0465084999 / Basic Books; 1st edition (February 10, 2015) / 289pp
Drawing on evidence from anthropology, psychology, and history, he demonstrates that free play is the primary means by which children learn to control their lives, solve problems, get along with peers, and become emotionally resilient. A brave, counterintuitive proposal for freeing our children from the shackles of the curiosity-killing institution we call school, Free to Learn suggests that it's time to stop asking what's wrong with our children, and start asking what's wrong with the system. It shows how we can act—both as parents and as members of society—to improve children's lives and to promote their happiness and learning.
Recommended
Early Years Videos
Inside Montessori
Are you curious to learn about Montessori education? Inside Montessori is an engaging documentary that offers an informative look at Montessori education over the years and how it sets itself apart from traditional teaching methods.
With a library of additional short videos, Inside Montessori emphasizes the importance of creating learning environments that enable children to reach their full potential.
Every Child Can Thrive By Five
Want to be blown away...then watch this TED Talk by Molly Wright, a Grade 2 student from Queensland, Australia, who is a passionate advocate for early childhood development. At just seven years old, she's one of the youngest people ever to give a TED Talk. Here's a young girl who demonstrates agency, self-efficacy, wonderful oracy and bundles of confidence. One has to wonder how this came to be
Insight on Inquiry: Starting the Year in Kindergarten
Kindergarten teacher Carol Stephenson brings us inside her classroom to share how she fosters inquiry-based learning at the very beginning of the school year. Carol teaches at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, the lab school at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto).
To see how Carol concluded this inquiry, please watch this video
Learning is a Team Sport: Kindergartners Study the Boston Marathon
Ben Mardell's documentary about teachers' and students' learning while engaging in an MLV-inspired study of the Boston Marathon. This video shares the strategies the teachers employed and what the children learned along the way.
The Best Kindergarten You've Ever Seen
At this school in Tokyo, five-year-olds cause traffic jams and windows are for Santa to climb into. Meet: the world's cutest kindergarten, designed by architect Takaharu Tezuka. In this charming talk, he walks us through a design process that really lets kids be kids.