Jody Martin

When was the last time you got down on your hands and knees to see your classroom from a child's height? Research shows that effective early childhood classroom design begins from the ground up. Classroom design is a crucial component of an effective learning environment. Through a Child's Eyes: How Classroom Design Inspires Learning and Wonder brings a new approach that begins and ends with the child's viewpoint. Each chapter details how the classroom environment influences children's learning, and the authors provide specific examples of how educators can use the children's perspective to make their classrooms a place of joy and possibility. Identify ways to improve your classroom environment and design that will stimulate learning, reduce challenging behaviors, and inspire children's innate sense of wonder. Transform everyday objects into useful classroom elements that invite curiosity, provide sensory explorations, and fuel creative learning. Explore quick, easy, and affordable DIY projects to develop learning areas.

Bringing the Outside In: Ideas for Creating Nature-Based Classroom Experiences for Young Children offers extraordinary nature-based experiences to encourage educators and young children to bring the natural world into the early childhood classroom. Each hands-on, open-ended, and sensory oriented experience is designed to spark discovery and imagination; encourage conversations and collaborations; allow young children to develop a sense of wonder and get to know the natural world inch-by-inch and bit-by-bit; and preserve the joys of childhood. Bringing the wonders of nature to children is truly a worthwhile journey.