Supporting Play in Early Childhood: Environment, Curriculum, Assessment,
3rd Edition

Dorothy Justus Sluss, Ph.D.

ISBN-13: 9781337568036 | ISBN-10: 1337568031

| Published 2018

| 368 pages

List Price USD $153.95

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Overview

Establishing a successful classroom requires that you have knowledge of children and early childhood curricula. Essential for every preschool, kindergarten, and primary teacher's personal library, this book serves as a comprehensive guide to creating a play-based curriculum for young children. You'll find specific information about infant and toddler classrooms, preschool classrooms, kindergarten classrooms, and primary and middle childhood. Each chapter presents the benefits of play, suggests materials that children can use, and includes parent letters and checklists as well as practical tips for teachers. Information about how to set up an inclusive classroom appears throughout the book and is addressed in a separate chapter. You'll also save time with the detailed sample lesson plans that appear in the appendix.

Dorothy Louise Justus Sluss is a Professor at James Madison University, where she teaches and studies play, creativity, and inquiry. She discovered the power of play for young children when she started her career in a kindergarten classroom. This experience inspired her to devote the rest of her life trying to understand how children think, learn, and play. To this end, she spent 15 years teaching in public schools and 15 years teaching in higher education. Professor Sluss has had a variety of experiences in inclusion, private and public preschool, and elementary education. Since entering higher education, she has been active in publishing, teaching, and providing professional development. She has also served as a national leader of several professional groups and has received numerous awards for research and scholarship.

Information on outdoor learning communities: Updated information on this topic is included throughout the textbook. In addition, Chapter 10 focuses on outdoor learning and recess activities, reflecting the current focus on outdoor classrooms for kindergarten and preschool children. The author discusses advantages and disadvantages of the model and offers recommendations for those who are interested in the approach.
Sample lesson plans: Available in the appendix, plans for specific activities for each age and grade level serve as a guide for beginning teachers to implement a high quality play experience for young children. These models of lesson plans enable students to focus on delivery instead of creation. The samples also can serve as templates to guide teachers as they develop and deliver their own plans.
Project Based Learning (PBL): This edition discusses how to use a PBL approach to create a play-based classroom for preschoolers and third graders.
Information on STEM activities: Updated information is highlighted in two chapters, enabling teachers to develop play-based activities that meet the STEM/STEAM criteria.
Teacher Tips: Presented throughout the book, practical tips for the classroom extend learning and foster successful implementation of play-based programs by helping teachers translate theory into practice.

An Experts from the Field feature in each chapter extends and expands the content.
Various activities in each chapter -- InClass Lab, Research and Inquiry, Service Learning, Family Connections, and Play Advocacy -- offer teachers a variety of options beyond the text and the classroom.
A PlayScape Case Study at the beginning of each chapter puts students in a situation that they or the families they work with might encounter. PlayScape Reflections at the end of the chapter allow students to reflect on the material covered in the chapter and how it applies to the case study.
This comprehensive guide to establishing a play-based classroom includes specific information about infant and toddler classrooms, preschool classrooms, kindergarten classrooms, and primary and middle childhood. The content is divided into age-appropriate sections for ease and accessibility.
Instruction on assessing a child's learning through play enables teachers to make play a more viable teaching mechanism.
Chapter objectives and a chapter summary provide a preview and review of the information to be covered. Objectives align with professional guidelines; symbols throughout the narrative show the alignment of the material with NAEYC and CEC/DEC standards for teacher preparation for the purpose of professional accreditation.
Information on play for children who have special needs is integrated throughout the book and is also the focus of one chapter.

Part I: THEORIES AND FOUNDATIONS OF PLAY.
1. Valuing Play.
2. Play as Development.
3. Observation and Assessment.
Part II: PLAY IN EARLY EDUCATION.
4. Supporting Play for Infants and Toddlers.
5. Supporting Play for Preschool Children.
6. Supporting Play in Kindergarten Classrooms.
Part III: PLAY IN PRIMARY AND ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS.
7. Supporting Play in Primary School.
8. Supporting Play for Children in Middle Childhood.
9. Supporting Play for Children with Special Needs.
Part IV: BEYOND THE CLASSROOM.
10. Outdoor Play for Young Children.
11. Current Trends and Issues.

Cengage provides a range of supplements that are updated in coordination with the main title selection. For more information about these supplements, contact your Learning Consultant.

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Instructor's Companion Website for Sluss' Supporting Play in Early Childhood: Environment, Curriculum, Assessment, 3rd

ISBN13:9781337692878
ISBN10:1337692875
Everything you need for your course in one place! This collection of product-specific lecture and class tools is available online via the instructor resource center at www.cengage.com/login. You'll be able to access and download materials such as PowerPoint® presentations, images, the instructor's manual, videos, and more.