Creative Resources for the Early Childhood Classroom, 4E (Paperback)

by Judy Herr (Author), Yvonne R. Libby-Larson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
“The author’s writing style is conducive to student learning and understanding. The theme goals, related activities, songs, poems, integrated activities and directions for each activity are clearly stated and easy to follow." - Leanna Manna, M.A., Villa Maria College, Buffalo, NY

“Creative Resources 5th Edition is wonderful and useful due to its content and the organization of its material. I LOVE the book! The book is great because it is so easy to locate materials.” - Lois Wachtel, B.A., Temple Sinai Pre-School, Delray Beach, FL --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
Whether you are a teacher, parent, or child care provider, Creative Resources for the Early Childhood Classroom, 4E is the one resource you will treasure. Newly updated and expanded, this fourth edition includes over one hundred activities that complement a variety of themes that make learning interesting and challenging for young children. References for children’s books, music and multimedia, sample parent letters, and methods for constructing and evaluating creative, interactive bulletin boards are all included in this new edition. The text focuses on the growth of the whole child and includes theme goals, concepts, vocabulary words, finger plays, music, resources, and experiences in art, math, and cooking. This text is a must-have resource for anyone who works with young children.

Benefits:
• Over one hundred creative activities for young children that make learning interesting and fun
• New and expanded references for children's books, music, and multimedia to complement each theme
• Development norms and assessment tools to assist teachers in tracking a child's growth and development
• Theme planning that helps teachers design a high quality, developmentally appropriate early childhood curriculum
• Techniques for preparing child-involvement bulletin boards that add interest to the classroom

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 736 pages
• Publisher: Delmar Cengage Learning; 4 edition (April 28, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401825540
• ISBN-13: 978-1401825546
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #132,152 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Additional thoughts on Creative Resources, August 17, 1999

By	[e-mail] "Rachel" (Northeast PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Resources for the Early Childhood Classroom (Paperback)

This is the best Early Childhood book I own! In addition to what others have mentioned, some of the aspects I particularly appreciate are:

~Resources
every source is documented, giving unending
possibilities to pursue

~Books!
at the end of each unit is a list of books
relevant to the topic

~Webbing
each unit begins with a flowchart, listing
many aspects or branches of the main theme.
(This is a tremendous help in beginning to
think through how to personalize the units)

~INTERACTIVE Bulletin Boards
while the bulletin boards are a bit repetitive
(similar concepts for all the boards, but the
objects involved change with the themes), kids
tend to pay more attention to these
Interactive boards than to traditional ones.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Absolute Best Out There, September 24, 2005

By	Jacqueline J. Maxfield "Jacqui" (Sandy, UT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I spent months looking through Preschool/Kindergarten curriculum and found this to be the best by far. I bought the 4th edition and this is what is new in this edition - according to the book.

1 - "New themes and activities - Over 100 activities with 3 new themes: feet, frogs, amd worms. Each thematic unit begins with a curriculum web. This webbing is designed to inform teachers of the major subconcepts that can be included under each theme."
An example of this for the unit of ants would be -
Ants:
Colors - black, brown, rust, gray, red
Kinds - carpenter, weaver, leaf cutter, fire, cornfield, thief, army
Homes - underground, earthen mounds, inside trees or hollow plants
Foods - insects, fruits, plants
Growth stages - egg, larvae, pupae, adult
Roles - queen, soldier, worker, male
Importance - eat large number of insects, food source for birds, frogs and other animals
Body Parts - Head, antennas, eyes, mouth parts, trunk, 6 legs, wings (males and queens)

I really liked this breakdown b/c it gave me the ability to teach in a well rounded method to ensure the kids were learning more than just the color and what they ate. We did all of this and bought an ant farm (Ant Hill - Living Ant Habitat) and my 2 and 4 year olds can tell you all about ants and are now so intrigued by them b/c they understand them! This ant hill was great. It is made for preschoolers and it doesn't tip.

2 - Revised and additional bulletin boards.
3 - New and Expanded reference materials - books and multimedia.

Each unit is broken down into different activities. They are as follows -
Arts and Crafts
Cooking
Dramatic Play
Field Trip/Resource People
Fingerplays
Group Time
Large Muscle
Math
Music
Science
Sensory
Social Studies
Books to read
Mulitmedia to listen to or watch

This book is amazing and full of wonderful information that is straight forward to teach and easy for little ones to learn. The price did seem a little high but considering how well rounded it is...I didn't need to purchase anything else.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great activities to cure the winter blues, November 10, 2002

By	Wendy Somerlot Bittel (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creative Resources for the Early Childhood Classroom (Paperback)

This book provides tons of great ideas for activities for your preschooler. I am a stay at home mom using these ideas to keep my kids busy. The book is organized by themes. Each theme has songs, fingerplays, arts/crafts, play ideas, science subjects, etc. to tie into that subject. You can do as little or as much of it as you want. It also provides a list of story books to accompany each theme. It's well thought out and organized.