The Whole Child: Developmental Education for the Early Years (7th Edition) - Hardcover

Hendrick, Joanne

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9780130226068: The Whole Child: Developmental Education for the Early Years (7th Edition)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0130226068 ISBN 13: 9780130226068

Publisher: Pearson College Div, 2000

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Written in a warm, engaging style, this book embraces a current approach to fostering cognitive skills in children ages two through five. It provides a complete developmental approach to early childhood education, giving teachers the specific skills they need to teach the whole child-emotionally, socially, physically, creatively, and cognitively. The author believes that physical and emotional health are fundamental to the well-being of children, and provides practical methods and materials that address the entire individual, not just curriculum topics. The book focuses on the five developmental “selves” of children—placing them in the context of contemporary family life and the multicultural world of today. It contains groundbreaking information about brain development, asthma, and obesity, and coverage of Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories explaining the early childhood education implications. The Reggio Emilia approach is presented throughout the book wherever its strategies are appropriate and effective, and thought-provoking comparison of the constructive emergent and conventional approaches to early childhood instruction are provided along with charts that compare the two. For teachers specializing in early childhood education.

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From the Publisher:

With an exciting new chapter on the emergent approach to fostering cognitive skills, the new edition of this text continues a tradition of offering future teachers of children ages 2 to 5 a complete, developmental approach to early childhood education...giving them the specific skills they need to function effectively with the children in their care. Rather than stressing such curriculum topics as "art" or "science," this text focuses on the "whole child" and what he/she needs from the learning environment in order to thrive. It pictures the child as being made up of "selves" - emotional, social, physical, creative, and cognitive...examines each of those selves in turn...and recommends methods and materials for enhancing growth in each area. This popular text is unique in that it combines a practical, realistic approach with a firm foundation in pertinent research topics.

From the Inside Flap:

Preface Overview

The Whole Child is a practical methods book that explains how to teach young children in ways that foster healthy development. It shifts the attention of the teacher away from "art" or "science" to what the child is and what he needs from the learning environment in order to thrive. For that reason, it focuses on the child and pictures him as composed of a number of selves: the physical self, the emotional self, the social self, the creative self, and the cognitive self.

The physical self includes not only large and fine muscle development but also the handling of routines because such things as eating, resting, and toileting contribute much to physical comfort and well-being. For the emotional self, the book considers ways to increase and sustain mental health, to cope with crises, to use discipline to foster self-control, to cope with aggression, and to foster self-esteem. Included for the social self are ways to build social concern and kindliness and learning to value the cultures of other people. The creative self covers the areas of self-expression through the use of art materials and creativity as expressed in play and applied in thought. Finally, the cognitive, or intellectual, self is considered in terms of language and literacy development; the development of reasoning and thinking skills via the emergent approach, and the development of specific reasoning abilities.

The Whole Child is based on the premises that physical and emotional health are fundamental to the well-being of children, that education must be developmentally appropriate if that well-being is to prosper, and that children need time to be children—time to be themselves, to do nothing, to stand and watch, to repeat again what they did before—in short, they need time to live in their childhood rather than through it. If we offer the young children we teach rich and appropriate learning opportunities combined with enough time for them to enjoy and experience those opportunities to the fullest, we will enhance childhood, not violate it. Inviting Features of This Textbook

New to This Edition

New information on the development of the brain and the implications of those findings for early childhood education is included in relevant chapters.

Additional new material is as diverse as discussions of asthma, obesity, and universal precautions and revised charts on the development of block play and Reggio-inspired examples of emergent curriculum.

The basic tenets of Vygotsky's and Piaget's theories are explained, as well as their implications for early childhood education.

The chapters on cognition have been reformulated to provide an even greater emphasis on the development of reasoning and thinking skills via the emergent approach.

Annotated references have been completely revised and updated, including a new feature, "Pick of the Litter," that identifies especially interesting and perhaps offbeat references.

The Whole Child is coordinated with the popular television series based on The Whole Child, funded by the Annenberg CPB Project. This series, available in Spanish and English, was produced under the guidance of an Advisory Committee that included Lilian Katz, Joan Costley, Irving Siegel, Carol Phillips, Ruby Burgess, Eli and Rosaline Saltz, Barbara Ferguson-Kamara, Frederick Goodman, and Jane Squires.

Continuing Features

Material is presented in a warm, practical approach based on more than 30 years of experience teaching adult students and young children. Emphasis is on teaching methods that focus on children and their developmental needs rather than on science or art per se. The author, who recently edited First Steps Toward Teaching the Reggio Way, includes explanations of the Reggio Emilia approach and suggestions for integrating aspects of that philosophy. Entire chapters are included on multicultural, nonsexist education (Chapter 13) and welcoming children who may have special educational requirements into the life of the school (Chapter 9). An expanded Instructor's Manual is available at no charge to instructors which includes transparency masters describing "predicaments" for class discussion, suggested assignments, and a variety of test questions. Acknowledgments

I owe so much to so many people that it is a well-nigh impossible task to mention them all. The contributions of students and parents to my knowledge and point of view have been considerable, as have the contributions of the members of my staff. In addition, I am forever in the debt of my mother, Alma Berg Green, who not only began some of the first parent education classes in Los Angeles but also taught me a great deal about young children and their families.

I am also indebted to Sarah Foot and her wonderful Starr King Parent/Child Workshop, which convinced me that my future lay in early childhood education, and to my own children, who bore with me with such goodwill while I was learning the real truth about bringing up young people.

The seventh edition has moved with the times and includes much new material. For their many suggestions in this regard, I would like to thank Susan Gomez, California State University at Sacramento; Peggy O. Jessee, University of Alabama; Janie H. Humphries, Louisiana Tech University; Mary Virginia Peaslee, Florida Southern College; Pauline Davey Zeece, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

As far as the book itself is concerned, I would like to thank Murray Thomas for teaching me, among other things, how to write and John Wilson for convincing me that some things remained to be said and changed in early education. To Chester and Peggy Harris, I am forever indebted for a certain realistic attitude toward research, particularly in the area of cognitive development.

The people at Merrill/Prentice Hall have, as always, been of great assistance. In particular I want to thank Ann Davis and Pat Grogg for their encouragement. The contributions of Linda Poderski, freelance copy editor; and Sheryl Langner, production editor, also deserve grateful notice. Without their careful help, the book would not exist.

Nor would my photographs be nearly as attractive without the advice and services provided by Color Chrome Photographic Laboratories. Along this same line I am indebted to the staff and children from several centers for making their schools and lives available for me to portray. These schools are The Children's Place at Integris Baptist Medical Center, Oklahoma City; The Institute of Child Development, University of Oklahoma; The Oaks Parent/Child Workshop, San Marcos Parent/Child Workshop, Starr/King Parent/Child Workshop and Discoveries (all of Santa Barbara, California); and East Tinker Air Force Base Child Development Center, Midwest City, Oklahoma.

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