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This text is a remixed and edited version of an Open Educational Resource Text, Principles and Practices of Teaching Young Children by Cindy Stephens, Gina Peterson, Sharon Eyrich, & Jennifer Paris of College of the Canyons.

It has been revised to align with the Chabot College Early Childhood Development Program, and for use by Alice Hale, ECD Faculty, in her section of ECD 50 Early Childhood Principles and Practices. On pages where the text has been edited or revised, it carries this note: This page has been edited by Alice Hale of Chabot College using the Libretexts remixing tool.

There are also pages in Chapters 10, 11 and 14 that are remixed from Introduction to Curriculum for Early Childhood Education by Jennifer Paris, Kristin Beeve, & Clint Springer of College of the Canyons.

The ECD faculty of Chabot are very grateful to the original authors of these texts for creating such well-written, thoughtfully arranged and comprehensive texts for use by early childhood community college faculty and for allowing them to be remixed and revised to suit the needs of particular college programs.

The structure of this text

The flow of the text is designed with chapters that build upon each other, so starting at the beginning and moving through in order may make the most sense. In addition to content, we include images, quotes, links (which we will update frequently but may change without our knowledge, so we apologize in advance if that is the case for you), and places to pause and reflect about what you have just read.

The chapters following this Introduction are as follows:

Chapter 2 The Early Childhood Teacher answers many initial questions students may ask about roles, responsibilities, and opportunities in the field of early childhood education.
Chapter 3 The Field of Early Childhood Education discusses the different kinds of sites and programs in which you might work, and the way they are structured and regulated.
Chapter 4 History of Early Childhood Education presents a little about the history of our field and encourages you to dig deeper as your interest dictates.
Chapter 5 Theories introduces you to some of the major ideas and frameworks used to guide our practices with young children.
Chapter 6 Early Childhood Philosophies discusses some of the important program philosophies that contribute to how we work today.
Chapter 7 Developmental Ages and Stages describes the unique characteristics of children at various ages and stages of development.
Chapter 8 Relationships and Guidance talks about the importance of relationships and the importance of understanding children's behavior.
Chapter 9 Environments brings an awareness of the many aspects of planning physical spaces and routines that meet the needs of young children
Chapter 10 Understanding Play defines and explains what play is and why it is so important.
Chapter 11 Supporting Play discusses how teachers guide and support children in their play.
Chapter 12 Observation and Assessment introduces you to the skills of gathering information about young children
Chapter 13 Early Childhood Curriculum builds even further on observational skills and an understanding of developmental ages and stages to provide appropriate interactions and learning experiences for young children
Chapter 14 Curriculum Planning discusses the process that teachers go through to play rich, intentional experiences and activities for children.
Chapter 15 Partnering with Families: introduces the concept of valuing families as a child’s first teacher and the importance of partnering to provide positive collaboration between a child’s most important worlds, home and school.

Information moving forward to other ECD courses:

The content in Chapter 4 (History), Chapter 5 (Developmental Theories), and Chapter 7 (Developmental Ages and Stages) will be touched upon in many of your other ECD courses.
The content in Chapter 7 (Developmental Ages and Stages) will be covered in greater depth in ECD 56 Child Growth and Development; the content in Chapters 13 and 14 (Curriculum and Curriculum planning) has it's own course (ECD 63 Early Childhood Curriculum) which will cover this topic in detail. Additional, Chapter 12 (Observation and Assessment) will be expanded upon in ECD 69 Child Study: Observation and Assessment.

This class will prepare you to work in the field of early care and education as required by CA licensing (Title 22 and Title 5) and Accreditation.

The State of California, Department of Social Services houses a Community Care Licensing Division. A portion of Title 22 of these regulations stipulates requirements for early childhood programs, which includes educational requirements, to which this course applies.

The State of California Department of Education further regulates early childhood programs receiving any form of state funding through Title V (5). This course meets a portion of that academic requirement.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children offers Accreditation to those programs that apply and meet all qualifications of a quality program as defined by this organization. This course is included in the academic requirements.

The regulations above are covered in Chapter 3 (The Field of Early Childhood Education) with the links included for you to investigate further. Knowledge of the regulations that govern our work with children and families is important as it provides the basis for our profession.

You will also find useful information about the ECD Program at Chabot College as well as state and national content in Chapter 3. Our program website has many links in place to assist you in your endeavors. We encourage you to visit it often and take full advantage of the content that is there for you.

This page was revised and edited by Alice Hale (Chabot College) using the Libretexts remixing tool.