Customer Reviews

Early Education Curriculum: A Child's Connection to the World

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I am a young veteran teacher with much to learn. "Early Education Curriculum" covers a lot of what I learned in Ed School and much more that I learned in the classroom. This book demonstrates the wisdom and knowledge of the author, Hilda Jackman, and offers the new or veteran educator a fresh perspective on the art and science of early childhood education.

Another book that I read during this holiday break is "Behavior Coaching" by Dr. Scott E. Hall from the University of Dayton and Matt Pasquinilli. "Early Education Curriculum" lays out all the basics of how to prepare for your classroom, what to teach, when to teach what, etc... "Behavior Coaching", while aimed more at the parent than the teacher, offers great insight in how to address disruptive behavior in the classroom. "Behavior Coaching" compliments "Early Education Curriculum" and I highly recommend that you get both.

EARLY EDUCATION CURRICULUM: A CHILD'S CONNECTION TO THE WORLD offers cutting-edge topics ranging from teacher tips for seasonal literacy projects to developing outdoors curriculum for challenged children and using music, movement and puppets for excitement. Packed with specific projects, options and tips, this is an early education classic no education library should be without.

Even though I would recommend Kostelnik, Soderman, and Whiren's DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE CURRICULUM as the best text for early childhood students, Jackson's book shines in its in-depth look at the classic subjects through an early childhood lens.

The first section, which is made up of an intro to the concept of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) and the basics of curriculum creation, is delightfully short. Much of this information should be covered in the intro early childhood class, so it puts much relief on the teacher when he or she can somewhat breeze through these essentials in a class or two. Chapter 2 in particularly does an excellent job of condensing the complicated subject of multiculturalism and anti-bias in the curriculum into just a few pages. Again, Part One's succinctness is welcome when considering the section part.

Part Two is an excellent overview of each individual subject in early childhood. As with most curriculum books, the math and literacy section is quite good, especially the way Jackeson separated litarcy into a "literacy" chapter and "literature" chapter. In the same way, I see it as a plus for her to have a "sensory" chapter to complement the math and science chapters. Much credit is given to the specifics of creative arts with an individual chapter devoted to art, music, and performing arts. I have one glaring complaint: Where's the physical education/health chapter? With child obesity in the 30% area, the absence of a chapter completely deveoted to wellness is puzzling. This is an excellent Part Two that almost covers everything with the exception of the wellness part.

In the end, this book is a supplementary text that thankfully focuses the overwhelming bulk (almost 80% of its pages) of its attention on "curriculum"; however, its incompleteness in Part Two makes it just miss the mark of being a required textbook for an early childhood curriculum course.

This was a wonderful book. My instructor in a methods and materials class used it as the text. I love using it in my lesson planning for my preschoolers.

I enjoyed reading this book as part of my early childhood course work. It was effective and made good reading. Very illustrative with diagrams and examples. Also offers lot of case studies.

This book was on time seller took the time to send my order as soon as possible. The book was in good shape.Thanks a million.

This book was in perfect conditon. When I got a little worried that that the book wasn't coming they tracked it for me and it arrived the next day.