Creative Literacy in Action: Birth through Age Nine

Featuring a holistic approach that integrates literacy, educational psychology, and the arts, this early literacy textbook provides creative strategies and activities to help you meet the needs of diverse learners, birth through age nine. Comprehensive, yet written in a conversational style, it presents ideas to use as a springboard for developing your own unique style and method of literacy instruction. Sample activities by age groups facilitate a flexible foundation of curriculum design. Chapter features -- including Lesson Ideas, Vignettes, Diverse Learners, Brain Briefs, Literacy Assessment, and Teacher Toolbox -- reinforce concepts, illustrate theories, and offer practical teaching examples. With this text, you'll learn how to support and inspire children on their journeys to becoming lifelong readers and writers.

Janet Leigh Towell, Ed.D is Professor of Reading/Language Arts & Children's Literature in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Florida Atlantic University, and Professor, Emerita at the California State University, Stanislaus. Her teaching and research interests include family literacy, bilingual education, multicultural education, global literacy, and integrated reading & arts curriculum development. Dr. Towell was winner of the Constance McCullough Award from the International Reading Association for her project, Promoting Literacy in Jamaican Schools, and the Outstanding Article Award from the Journal of Reading Education. She has published widely on topics ranging from vocabulary development to children's literature to preschool literacy to ethnicity in literature. She is former Editor-in-Chief of The California Reader. She has published articles in The Reading Teacher, Kappa Delta Pi Record, Reading Today, The Journal of Reading Education, and others.

Katherine C. Powell, Ed.D. teaches courses in applied learning theory, child and adolescent development, program evaluation, social group dynamics, among others, in the Teacher Preparation Program at Florida Atlantic University. Previously, she taught middle and high school Spanish and English, in addition to being a guidance counselor. Before entering the education field, Dr. Powell had a successful career in project management and instructional technology design in firms such as J.P. Morgan, John Hancock/Sun Life, and Sheraton/ITT Corporation. Her research and teaching interests include the development of constructivist teaching strategies in effective learning environments; non-verbal communication and self-regulation skills to overcome obstacles; and, development of self and confidence. She has published articles in Adult Education, The Journal of Education, Essential Teacher, Forum on Public Policy, and others.

Susannah Brown, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and Art Education Program Coordinator in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Florida Atlantic University. Previously she taught at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and was also an elementary art teacher. She has been Principal Investigator for several elementary arts integration studies, and published research articles in Art Education: The Journal of the National Art Education Association; School Arts; Childhood Education, Infancy through Early Adolescence-The Journal of the Association for Childhood Education International; and others. Dr. Brown has won several teaching awards, including the Florida Atlantic University Innovative Undergraduate Teaching Award and the Florida Higher Education Art Educator of the Year Award, awarded by the Florida Art Education Association. Her research and teaching interests include environmental issues and arts integration and global citizenship and the arts. Dr. Brown is also a studio artist, and has exhibited visual art works in galleries and museums.