From Handprints to Hypotheses: Using the Project Approach with Toddlers and Twos (NONE) - Softcover

Wanerman, Todd

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1605541230 ISBN 13: 9781605541235

Publisher: Redleaf Press, 2013

Synopsis

Use the Project Approach to engage toddlers’ interests, guide in-depth explorations, and help them embrace learning

Toddlers and two-year-olds are in a fluid and dynamic state of development. They have a sense of wonder that is easily activated, and they are always ready to learn. In this book, you will learn how to use hands-on creative projects to engage very young children’s interests and nurture their unique ways of exploring and learning. You will be inspired to implement your own project-based curriculum, recognize and respond to children’s innate ability to create, and support their curiosity and self-discovery.

This book
Reviews the major theories of toddler development.
Outlines basic goals and guidelines for applying those theories as you set up your space, select materials, develop your curriculum, and incorporate the Project Approach.
Presents twelve art projects from simple to long-term with narratives describing the processes in action as children participate in each project.

Todd Wanerman has been teaching toddlers and twos for twenty years. He is the coauthor of Including One, Including All.

About this title

About the Author

Todd Wanerman, MA, has been head teacher at The Little School in San Francisco for 19 years and spent ten of them also serving as the school’s development coordinator. In addition to leading frequent workshops and consultations for parents and teachers around the Bay Area, he also lectures in early childhood education at San Francisco State University. He holds a master’s degree in early childhood education from San Francisco State University, a bachelor’s degree in American studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and studied early childhood education at Cabrillo College and City College of San Francisco. Todd has presented regularly at early childhood conferences, including CAEYC and NAEYC, ACEI, and the Government Service Agency Conference, for more than ten years. He has served as a consultant in many capacities related to early childhood education and as a non-profit preschool board chair. Todd helped produce and appeared in The Little School’s 2004 teacher training film, Relationships: The Key to Teaching and Learning in the Early Years. He is the co-author of Including One, Including All: A Guide to Relationship Based Early Childhood Inclusion.

Review

This book is a must for teachers of very young children. Todd Wanerman easily weaves his theoretical understanding through the practical suggestions he offers to enrich young children’s experience of art. These pages are full of insightful ideas for sensory exploration and art-making. Wanerman’s twenty years of working with toddlers shows through his beautifully organized chapters. His approach makes the process of working with children’s journeys from chaos to cohesion feel very doable. Yet he also embraces the complexity of thoughtful interaction between teacher and child. He demonstrates how to amplify the ideas that children bring to their work and play. Wanerman invites teachers to develop young children’s sense of belonging to a community of learners where art is among the most satisfying and worthwhile of life experiences.”
Sylvia C. Chard, PhD

Edition details

• Publisher: Redleaf Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1605541230
• ISBN 13: 9781605541235
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 152