Early Learning Environments That Work [Paperback]

Christy Isbell (Author), Betty Exelby (Author), Gary Exelby (Illustrator), Rebecca Isbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001

The classroom environment is a vital part of a child's learning experience. Early Learning Environments that Work! explores how you can manipulate furniture, color, materials, storage, lighting, and more to encourage learning through classroom arrangement. Spaces and activity centers that support children's independence and decision-making allow them to make the environment their own. Each chapter gives you detailed illustrations and photographs to help you set up or arrange what you already have in the classroom.

Dr. Rebecca Isbell is Director of Tennessee's Center of Excellence in Early Childhood Learning and a Professor at East Tennessee State University. Her best-selling books from Gryphon House include Tell It Again!, Tell It Again 2!, and The Complete Learning Center Book.

This is Betty Exelby's first book for Gryphon House. She lives in Canada.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Ideas for making environments beautiful, warm, interesting, and challenging for children." -- Young Children Magazine

"...It is a great resource for programs and libraries." -- Dimensions of Early Childhood

About the Author

Christy Isbell, Ph.D., is the Program Director and Associate Professor for the Occupational Therapy Program at Milligan College in Tennessee. She teaches child development, human development, and pediatric therapy courses for the Masters of Occupational Therapy Program. Additionally, Dr. Isbell is Board Certified in Pediatrics and maintains specialty training in sensory integration and neuro-developmental treatment techniques.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Gryphon House; 1 edition (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876592566
• ISBN-13: 978-0876592564
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rebecca Isbell, Ph.D., is Director of the Center of Excellence in Early Childhood Learning and Development. She is a professor of Early Childhood Education at East Tennessee State University where she was recognized as a distinguished professor for teaching. Dr. Isbell has served as the director of the lab school for young children and currently serves as a consultant for this program. She designed a pilot site for Tennessee Early Childhood Training Alliance, now a state training program for early childhood educators. Rebecca has conducted research on the positive effects of storytelling on young children's language development and is involved in the annual National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. For a number of years, Rebecca has presented at international, national, and regional early childhood professional meetings. She is a sought-after presenter and keynote speaker for early childhood conferences and training meetings. Her interests cover a range of topics in early childhood education including: learning environments, learning centers, literacy development, music/art and drama, creative thinking, and infants/toddlers. Rebecca Isbell lives in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Virtual Blueprint To An Exemplary Learning Environment, December 16, 2005

By 

Reginald Williams (Orangeburg, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Early Learning Environments That Work (Paperback)

I would suggest buying two books (if no others) on designing early childhood environments: Kritchevsky's/Prescott's PLANNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN PHYSICAL SPACE and this one.

Isbell moves you through ever meticulous detail to designing the class, from setting up your mental/education viewpoint to understanding appropriately scaled furniture for the correct child age.

Highly, highly recommended because I used this book as my instruction manuel for constructing my well-reviewed Pre-K classroom.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some good ideas, but utimately lacking, May 28, 2007

By 

a.m. hernandez (New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early Learning Environments That Work (Paperback)

First the good: The book has pleanty of creative ideas, like using see-through jars and storage units so kids could awe the materials they're about to choose. There are also tons of neat ideas for making storage racks out of hangers and plastic bottles.
Now, the not so good. The authors base their work on the Reggio Emilia school system in Italy. However, they never show a picture of these superb Italian schools and the philosphy behind these schools is generalized.
In an an ideal world, all of our preschool centers would look like the ones written about in this book. However, the authors never take into consideration that the majority of teachers are constrained by budget. They can't buy nearly half of the material the authors suggest for each center. The ideal centers in the book, roughly sketched, are huge and if they were paired all together, the preschool would be the size of a grocery store.
The book continues to be very general and never dives into the detail about design. Instead it tells you, for example, in the area of color, to buy a color wheel and learn how to use it. I would think the purpose of buying this book would be that I would learn every thing possible from the book and not have to find extra resources, until the book was exhausted.
The book goes on to say that every child learns differently at certain ages, but I think it's safe to say that boys in general learn differenlty from girls. The book doesn't mention how to design a center if you have 14 boys and three girls in the room or how to accomodate learning preferences.
Finally, the authors never consider culture as one aspect to designing a preschool center. How can a center reflect a child's home culture and language?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good for orgainizing, August 17, 2007

By 

E. Knight (Nevada) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Early Learning Environments That Work (Paperback)

I am opening a childcare center and this book helped me to figure out what I had to buy before my building was finsished. The classrooms in this book are pretty busy and cluttered, but I was able to pick through what I didn't need pretty easily. I do have to say that the book was worth buying.