New Releases by Early Learning

The Illinois Early Leaning Council coordinates existing programs and services for children from birth to five years of age in order to better meet the early learning needs of children and their families.

This stand-alone document incorporates the revisions to the Early Literacy section from the Language Development and Communication Domain. This document was created for those who already have the 2011 Third Edition document and only need the updated section.

Artwork and words by: Alannah, Bach, Camille, Charles, Isla, Jonas, Julia, Lola, Max, Miller, Nicolas, Olivia, Pascal, Samiyar.

When you think of your child and how he or she is growing, you notice things like how soon he or she smiles, sits up, rolls over, or how well he or she walks, talks, holds a spoon, and feeds himself or herself. Children learn naturally during this time: by watching you and/or other children, and by being taught how to do different things. Because you know your child so well, you might notice that he or she is growing or developing differently than a cousin, brother or sister at that age. What you are noticing are changes in development. While all children grow and change at their own rate, some children can experience delays in their development. Sometimes this can be cause for concern. This paper provides a family''s guide to Early Intervention in Pennsylvania. Early Intervention in Pennsylvania consists of services and supports designed to help families with children who have developmental delays. Early Intervention builds upon the natural learning occurring in those first few years. It is a process that promotes collaboration among parents, service providers, and others significantly involved with children. A list of rights and privileges under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) is appended. A glossary is included.

This book resulted from a community project with 20 preschoolers from the University of Melbourne''s Early Learning Centre and four adults with disabilities from Interact Australia exploring biodiversity and relationship building over five weeks. It has rhyming verse and includes photographs and artwork by the participants.

A book celebrating children as designers, mud brick makers and builders by children from The University of Melbourne''s Early Learning Centre.

This paper presents the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning''s annual report for 2009-2010. Providing quality early learning opportunities in the first five years shapes a child''s learning and success for life. The window to make a difference in a child''s future is small, but outcomes show that the agency is having an impact. 2009-2010 child outcomes for preschoolers in Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, Keystone STARS 3 and 4 programs, and Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, for example, show children are progressing throughout the program year and are coming to school ready to learn, with nearly every child ending the program year with age-appropriate or emerging age-appropriate language, numeracy and social skills. In 2009-2010, Pennsylvania served about one-third of young children in state of federally-funded quality early education programs. (Contains 50 endnotes.) [The printing of this report was made possible through private funds from the Pennsylvania Build Initiative.].

This report from the Washington State Department of Early Learning (DEL) describes some of the Department''s work since it''s creation in July 2006. Among other achievements, the Department has laid a strong foundation for raising the quality of child care and the state''s preschool program, strengthened both the safety in and the reach of early learning services, implemented a continuous quality improvement plan, expanded their Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program by 37 percent, and set forth a five-year strategic plan to guide all their efforts. Specifically, this publication reports on: (1) the Department''s quality rating and improvement system; (2) kindergarten assessment processes; (3) a child care consultation pilot program; and (4) preliminary work completed on the proposed alignment of state and federal preschool programs. Three appendices are included: (1) Seeds to Success; (2) Kindergarten Assessment Processes; and (3) Child Care Consultation.

"The Early Learning Program Guide has been organized around foundational elements of a high quality early learning program. The focus is on learning from contemporary literature and practices. Part I describes the vision and principles around which the Guide has been developed. Part II, Children as Competent Learners, explores how beliefs about children and their capabilities impact program design, interactions and, ultimately, children''s learning. Part III, Changing Role for Educators, reviews how seeing children as competent learners has caused educators to examine their practices and expand their roles. Part IV, How Young Children Learn, revisits active, experiential learning and why it is vital to child development. The role of exploration in children''s learning is examined, as is the importance of holistic learning. Part V, Observation and Reflection--Critical Skills, describes how these powerful practices are foundational to the design of high quality programming. Part VI, High Quality Programming--What Does it Look Like?, highlights three key components of program design--the environment, relationships and planning--and how these are impacted by the foundational elements described in Parts I to V. The remaining portions of the document, Resource Sheets, Appendices and References, provide additional information. Readers will also notice Reflection and Decision Making pages. These are provided to assist educators in reflecting and discussing the foundational elements and planning for implementation."--Document.