BEGINNING ESSENTIALS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION, Third Edition, is a streamlined foundations textbook that introduces early childhood students to the field. This unique text is organized to answer four key questions: What is the field? Who is the child? Who is the teacher? and What is being taught? The four sections address the essentials of early childhood education, emphasizing multiculturalism and developmentally appropriate practice. New to this edition, “Teacher Talk” boxes are first-person accounts from teachers who reflect on their experiences in the classroom and provide valuable, applicable advice for those entering the profession. In addition, “Brain Research” boxes showcase some of the most important aspects of brain research and development today, connecting it to the classroom. Other features include special boxed material that highlights key issues related to standards, diversity, DAP, professionalism, and ethics. Video features introduce videos of actual early childhood settings that are available on the accompanying website, an invaluable resource that provides instructors and students with opportunities for reflection as well as for personal and professional development.

1. History and Current Issues of Early Childhood Education.
2. Types of Programs.
3. Defining the Young Child.
4. Developmental and Learning Theories.
5. Teaching: A Professional Commitment.
6. Observation and Assessment: Learning to Read the Child.
7. Guidance Essentials.
8. Families and Teachers: An Essential Partnership.
9. Creating Environments.
10. Curriculum Essentials.

BEGINNING ESSENTIALS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION, Third Edition, is a streamlined foundations textbook that introduces early childhood students to the field. This unique text is organized to answer four key questions: What is the field? Who is the child? Who is the teacher? and What is being taught? The four sections address the essentials of early childhood education, emphasizing multiculturalism and developmentally appropriate practice. New to this edition, “Teacher Talk” boxes are first-person accounts from teachers who reflect on their experiences in the classroom and provide valuable, applicable advice for those entering the profession. In addition, “Brain Research” boxes showcase some of the most important aspects of brain research and development today, connecting it to the classroom. Other features include special boxed material that highlights key issues related to standards, diversity, DAP, professionalism, and ethics. Video features introduce videos of actual early childhood settings that are available on the accompanying website, an invaluable resource that provides instructors and students with opportunities for reflection as well as for personal and professional development. New “Teacher Talks” vignettes, written experiences from classroom teachers, appear in every chapter to bring the reality of the classroom to students. These vignettes enhance students' understanding of the variety of teacher roles and responsibilities as well as provide a window to the personal and professional growth of a teacher. New A new “Brain Research Says. . .” feature in each chapter highlights some of the most important aspects of brain research and development today. The research is linked to classroom use and teacher application through questions that invite students to reflect on how this information relates to their teaching. New TeachSource Digital Downloads are practical and professional resources, often customizable, that allow students to immediately implement and apply the textbook's content in the field. The student downloads these tools to keep, enabling preservice teachers to begin to build their library of resources. A TeachSource Digital Downloads label identifies these items throughout the text. New topics such as technology in the classroom, media culture, challenging behavior, and intentional and reflective teaching assure the book's currency and broaden students' knowledge of early education. A new chart on Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum Models clarifies and defines the differences and similarities of early childhood programs. TeachSource Videos, many of which are new to this edition, feature footage from the classroom to help students relate key chapter content to real-life scenarios. Introduced in the text, the videos are accompanied by critical-thinking questions that provide opportunities for in-class or online discussion and reflection. The book takes a developmental approach, rather than a subject-oriented approach, to help readers understand developmentally appropriate practice. Special topics related to ethics, diversity, standards, and professionalism highlight the practical applications of the material in the main text. In addition, “Teacher Talks” in every chapter provide first-person accounts of classroom challenges that early childhood educators are likely to encounter. Learning Outcomes are correlated to the main sections in each chapter as well as to chapter summaries, focusing students' reading and showing them what they need to know, understand, and be able to apply after completing the chapter. Standards integration shows how the text chapters correlate to the key NAEYC Standards, including chapter-opening listings of NAEYC Standards, integrated coverage of standards throughout the book, and a convenient Correlation Chart on the inside book covers that indicates where standards coverage appears.