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Welcome to childminders |
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"Thank you for such wonderful speedy service - just to
say your site has been more help to us than all the training sessions and
literature we get through our local sure start! thanks again" Anne
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Telephone: 01785 620364
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One of the biggest problems facing early years
staff appears to be paperwork relating to the EYFS. Many
solutions are put forward, but thousands of early years practitioners find
Trackers to be the best. Here is a system that will make your life a
lot easier – and remove those paperwork headaches.
There are two different versions of Trackers to choose from – Trackers
0-5 and Trackers Plus. Both cover the EYFS, the difference is
only in their format.
Trackers 0-5 is a 64 page book with a simple checklist covering the
Areas of Learning. Its simplicity has proved so popular that over 80,000
copies have been sold.
Trackers Plus, developed more recently, is a more detailed
observation and recording system. At 120 pages, the Areas of Learning are
divided into the ages and stages you see in the EYFS guidance . . . there
are lots of examples and prompts to help you, and plenty of space to fill in
your progress notes. There are more details below and sample pages to look
at. |
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Trackers Plus
(available now)
£6
(FREE postage) ... 5 copies @ £5.50 each
See sample pages |
NEW
... NEW ... With prompts and examples of what
to look out for, this will make your job so much easier ... Trackers Plus displays all
the Development Matters within each Area of Learning (very much like the
guidance), but here's the benefit – alongside each of these we have provided
prompts or examples of the skills, understanding or competence to look out
for. Have a look at sample pages
here.
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Trackers 0-5
£5
(FREE postage)
... 5 copies @ £4.50 each
More info and sample pages
Read a review
by a childminder |
Designed to help you
track children’s progress throughout the EYFS. Observe and
record children’s progress in a consistent way throughout
your early years setting. Usable by everyone – staff, and
parents – Trackers make the whole process much easier. They are
widely used (over 80,000 already sold).
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Making the EYFS Work for You (0-36 mths)
£11
(FREE postage) ... normal price £12.50
Sample pages
Read reviews
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144 pages of practical hints,
tips, sample activities and proformas so that you can develop a consistent approach. This
practical, well laid-out manual will also help you:
1) record spontaneous events in a
consistent format;
2) evaluate your planning;
3) identify gaps to be
addressed in your children’s development.
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Making the EYFS work for you
(30-60+ mths)
£11 (FREE
postage) ... normal price £12.50
Sample pages
Read reviews |
Draw up activity planners . . . practical hints, tips, sample activities and
pro-formas so that you can develop a consistent approach. This
will also help you:
record spontaneous events in a
consistent format; evaluate your planning; make relevant
comments each
time an activity is carried out to keep other practitioners
informed; further identify gaps to be
addressed in your children’s development by transferring
observations made to developmental Trackers.
"This pick-up-and-use
book could save hours of planning ..." read reviews
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The EYFS Handbook

£5.88
(an online resource and is emailed to you)
Sample pages |
Linking all your policies, welfare
requirements and how they fit in with the themes within the Framework can be
quite daunting. This book shows how one group of nurseries has managed to do
this successfully – you will be able to take what has been developed and
adapt it to your setting.
There are charts for staff, parents and outside agencies that will help you
ensure that all outcomes in Every Child Matters are covered in your
setting’s curriculum, policies and procedures.
This is an online resource. See the entire book (all 64 pages) before
deciding to buy.
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Stories for Talking
£15
(FREE postage) ... normal price £18.50
Sample pages
Read reviews
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The Government's Every Child a Talker
initiative focuses on speech, language and communication. Stories for Talking
will help you set up a programme to support the early development of
language.
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A-Z of Tricky Behaviours in the Early Years
£4
(FREE postage) ... normal price £5
Read
a review by a childminder |
Imaginative ideas for dealing with
some of the more common difficult behaviours that you might have to deal
with from biting to swearing. The book is divided into two sections - a
short section offering a set of principles for managing children's
behaviour, followed by an A-Z of typical problem behaviours, with real-life
examples and suggested solutions.
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Behaviour Management in the Early Years

£4
(FREE postage) ... normal price £6
Read
a review by a childminder |
What is ‘typical’ behaviour in
young children? How do you set about changing problem behaviour?
What do we mean when we talk about behaviour management? How do
I draw up a Behaviour Policy for the nursery? What is the best
way of observing and assessing behaviour?
What sort of interventions should I try, and what happens when
those don’t seem to be working? How should we support parents
who have a child with challenging behaviour?
You'll find the answers in this
easy-to-read guide.
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Playladders

£3
(FREE postage) ... normal price £4
Read review |
This book provides a method for
assessing and recording what children can do in the Foundation Stage. Aimed
especially at teachers who have children with special educational needs in
their care, it can be used with all children and fits in well with everyday
activities. It adopts a ‘one step at a time’ approach and suggests ideas on
how to develop a child’s repertoire of play.
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Observation and Assessment
of Children in the Early Years

£5
(FREE postage) ... normal price £6
Read reviews |
This book provides some practical examples of
how you can assess and observe children learning.
The focus is on using assessment to establish
starting points for teaching and learning; identifying and assessing
children who might have special educational needs; different observation
techniques; assessments carried out by other professionals; and involving
children and adults in assessment and planning.
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AD/HD and Attention Difficulties in the
Early Years

£4
(FREE postage) ... normal price £6
Read reviews |
In this book Hannah Mortimer concentrates on
planning and supporting the individual needs of children with attention
difficulties. There are useful pointers to help in
identification; examples of developing, implementing and monitoring
programmes and activities; working with other professionals; and working in
partnership with parents.
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Music Makers: Music circle time to include
everyone

£10
(FREE postage) ... normal price £12
Read a review |
Recommended choice in Nursery World (read
the review). Full of ideas
about how to put music circle time into practice with links to
the Early Years Foundation Stage and with planning
sheets, assessment sheets. A great book for anyone working with
young children and a useful tool when working with children with SEN.
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Bullying: Managing
fear in young children

£5
(FREE postage) ... normal price £6 |
When a child is suffering because
of persistent teasing or where a child has been bullied, the
adults in their lives are often left feeling ‘if only I could do
something to help...’. This book provides one method of giving
such help using techniques taken from cognitive behavioural
therapy and NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming).
Suitable for professionals and parents who are concerned that a
child is vulnerable to bullying and/or teasing, this book
provides a discreet approach for helping the child to cope
better. The ‘talk-through’ approach aims to provide a practical
framework for you to ‘get started’.
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Fireworks:
Managing anger in young children

£4
(FREE postage) ... normal price £5
Read
a childminder's review |
Do you have a
child with a very short fuse? A child that overreacts in most
situations?
Based loosely on cognitive behaviour therapy and using a
‘talk-through’ approach, you will be able to help the child to
think about his/her feelings in a different way and feel more in
control of them.
There are twelve, clearly laid out practical sessions that use
fireworks as a model for understanding and working on strategies
to manage anger – the initial spark that lights the fuse, the
speed at which the fuse burns, and the explosive firework.
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Worry Box:
Managing anxiety in young children

£4
(FREE postage) ... normal price £5
Read reviews |
A practical
framework to help adults provide emotional support to young
children aged 4 to 11. It can be used at home or at school.
There are 12 practical sessions with the emphasis on involving
the child in each. There are useful activities for working on
relaxation techniques, comments from adults who have used the
approach and a list of further resources to help.
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Listening to Children in their Early Years

£5
(FREE postage) ... normal price £6
Read reviews |
Listening to children involves much more
than simply ‘hearing’ what they have to say . . . we know that. But how
do we tune in to children? How do we really see things from their
point of view?
Here are practical ways to help you do just that -
techniques for developing good two-way communication; ideas on how to
use cameras to involve children; child conferencing; child passports;
the Mosaic approach and many, many more. There are also
sections on how to tune in to babies; working with children with
disabilities and some examples of all these activities in practice.
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Managing your 4-8 year-old

£2.50
(FREE postage) ... normal price £2.95
Read
reviews |
This is a practical book for parents on how to
manage their young children’s behaviour positively and effectively. There
are suggestions for managing bedtimes and mealtimes, ideas for encouraging
independence and approaches for encouraging appropriate behaviour. There are
also helpful suggestions on preparing young children for nursery and school.
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Managing your 8-12 year-old

£2.50
(FREE postage) ... normal price £2.95
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A user-friendly guide covering areas such
as improving a child's self-esteem, communication, making rules and
setting boundaries, rewards, sanctions and dealing with arguments. The
advice given is flexible and practical.
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Managing your 13-16 year-old

£2.50
(FREE postage) ... normal price £2.95 |
This provides a practical guide for the difficult teenage years
on building self-esteem; the value of good communication; on managing
conflict; and negotiating with a teenager. Plenty of good, practical
suggestions.
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Positive Parenting

£2.50
(FREE postage)
Read
reviews |
Raising children has never been more in the
public eye than in recent times. It is just about one of the most difficult
tasks that we face. Children do need guidance. They also need freedom to
develop their personalities and independence and finding the right balance
is important.
Parents are increasingly recognised as the key
to enabling their children to learn socially acceptable behaviour.
Relationships are seen as central to providing children with an
understanding of how to behave. Positive Parenting has some simple,
practical strategies for parents which will enable them to develop and
improve relationships with their children. It will also provide
professionals with ideas they can pass on to parents.
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Stories for Talking

£15
(FREE postage) ... normal price £18.50
Click
here for more information and sample pages
Read reviews
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This is a structured language programme to
teach a range of language skills, through stories, story themes and
storytime at 3 different levels – teaching vocabulary, building
sentences and developing sequencing and narrative skills.
Stories for Talking provides a
highly structured prescriptive set of activities for 5 popular stories
(Goldilocks, Dora's Egss, Washing Line, The Enormous Turnip, and Walking in
the Jungle)
in addition to an in depth explanatory section for those who want to
further develop the ideas into their own planning.
The programme also covers
many of the goals within the EYFS, and addresses the needs of the many
children with Speech, Language and Communication needs highlighted in
the recent Bercow Review.
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Autistic Spectrum Disorders
in the Early Years

£6
(FREE postage) ... normal price £8
Read reviews |
An introduction includes a
'frequently asked questions' type section; chapter two discusses diagnoses
and labelling; there is a chapter on understanding autistic spectrum
disorders, and others covering educational goals and specialist approaches,
working with parents, building communication skills, developing social
understanding and play and, finally, managing behaviour.
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Education in the Early Years Series
Special Offer
Buy the full
set of 13 books and get the entire set for half-price
(total cost
£40.50
... normally £81)
|
A series of thirteen, easy-to-read,
titles covering a wide range of issues in early years education. Topics
include behaviour, inclusion, emotional literacy, autism, AD/HD,
specific learning difficulties, observation and assessment, PSE,
literacy, SEN code of practice, gifted and talented children,
mathematical development.
Titles can be bought separately, but if
you buy the whole series you get all the titles for half-price
... that's the entire set for just £40.50 instead of £81 (see
more details below).
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Baby and Me

£3
(FREE postage) ... normal price £6
Read a review by a
childminder |
Baby music time, sensory games, the use of
baby massage and activities to promote looking, listening, laughing,
playing and sharing together. The book helps you to plan your sessions,
describes the kind of sessions that work best, offers practical
suggestions for activities and provides you with a framework for
evaluating what you’re doing.
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Music and Play

£3
(FREE postage) ... normal price £6 |
This book will help you with ideas about
what you need in terms of equipment and skills; suggestions for the
music session that are accessible at any level of musical ability (you
do not need to be musical yourself); supported play activities;
evaluate your sessions; a list of resources and contacts.
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RUMPUS

£3
(FREE postage) ... normal price £6
Read reviews of this book |
RUMPUS is a user-friendly title for what
is effectively a pre-school behaviour group. Developed by educational
and child psychologist Hannah Mortimer, the aim is to support parents
and their young children where there are particular difficulties in
managing behaviour. What you will find is a combination of approaches to
put parents at their ease, improve the attention skills of the children,
encourage early language and interactive play, build up family
relationships and provide practical advice based on realistic
expectations.
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Step by Step

£3
(FREE postage) ... normal price £6
Read reviews |
Some young children need extra support to
encourage their development — they might have special needs or they
might need extra stimulation and structure to make progress. This book
will help you set up and run such a group — how to plan, the type of
sessions that work, suggestions for step by step teaching and finally,
evaluating the sessions.
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Making Connections

£3
(FREE postage) ... normal price £6
Read review |
How to set up a therapeutic group for
parents or carers who have attachment difficulties with their young
children. This will help you understand more about patterns of
attachment and provides practical ways of designing interventions that
will help build self-esteem in parents and carers and their children and
help form attachments.
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Why
a separate page for childminders?
Because I've had more visits to the QEd website and phone calls from
childminders than any other group. Many have made suggestions ... many said it
would be great to have a page dedicated to childminders. So this is it.
I've selected the most-purchased items by childminders ... and hope this will be
useful for you. At the moment, there's a lot of attention surrounding the Early
Years Foundation Stage - issues about the observation and recording of
children's progress and EYFS planning. Many thousands of childminders across the
country used the earlier Trackers 0-3 and Trackers 3-5. Now
Trackers 0-5 is available. This is the EYFS
Tracker and most childminders are using this version now. Individual copies are
£5 each (inclusive of postage and packing). However, many childminders groups
get together and order these to get the benefit of the discounted price (if you
order 10 or more copies, they are only £3.50 each). If you want to see more
information about Trackers 0-5, this link will provide
more information.
From
what I've been hearing, the childminders out there are doing a fantastic job,
but don't always get the recognition and support they're due ... so let's hear
some of your views.
This
area is a 'discount zone' for childminders.
I have included in this area titles that I think you will find useful. You may
have a situation where you or a parent may have a particular concern about a
child's development - and it may be that a book in our
Education in the Early Years series may be the
ideal starting point to help. They are specifically written for parents and
staff, using language that isn't going to confuse and bemuse ... just easy to
read, helpful books dealing with issues like attention difficulties, autism,
specific learning difficulties, mathematical development, observation and
assessment, spotting gifted and talented children and so on. So if you think
these may be of use let me know through the
feedback form and I'll make them available at a discounted price ... and you
can sell them on at the retail price ... and make a bit for yourself!
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Home Page
Top of page
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Trackers 0-5
Tracking children's progress through
the Early Years Foundation Stage |
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Trackers are designed to help you
track children’s progress throughout the new Early Years
Foundation Stage. This is the solution to observing and
recording children’s progress in a consistent way throughout
your early years setting. Usable by everyone – staff, and
parents – Trackers make the whole process much easier.
So what’s in Trackers 0–5?
• In an A4 format (with 64 pages) – you will need
one book per child.
• There is space to enable you to include
evidence of your observations and planning.
• There are also comments boxes at the bottom of each page.
• There are general observation and planning forms at the end of
each Area of Learning to enable you to keep a much more
comprehensive record.
Prices (POST FREE)
More info and sample pages
Single copies £5 each
10+ copies (up to 100 copies)
£3.50 each
100+ copies only £3 each
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Home Page
Top of page
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Education in the Early Years Series
Special Offer
Buy the full
set of 13 books and get the entire set for half-price
(total cost £40.50 ... normally £81)
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|
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Special Offer
Buy the full set and get every title
for only half-price
(total cost £40.50 ... normally £81)
Full details of all 13 books
below
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An A-Z of Tricky Behaviours
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How often have you wished for an
instruction manual when trying to deal with tricky behaviour? Of course
every child is unique and there are no ‘recipes’ when it comes to
dealing with difficult behaviour. However, here are some imaginative
ideas for managing some of the more common tricky behaviours you are
likely to have to deal with on a day-to-day basis in a nursery group,
crèche, playgroup or childminding setting.
These include biting, bossing,
climbing, crying, ditching the dummy, kicking
and smacking, lack of confidence, not doing as asked,
pulling and tugging, running off, scratching and
gouging, soiling, spitting, swearing and
temper tantrums.
Each has a brief pen picture of a child
displaying that kind of difficulty, how staff worked out what to do,
what they did and why it worked.
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Gifted and Talented Children
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What do we mean by 'gifted' and
'talented'? What are the characteristics of gifted learners? How do we
identify and support children in the early years who show early signs of
giftedness? Hannah Mortimer deals with these and other issues, providing
practical suggestions about how to identify and meet the needs of gifted
and talented pupils.
Exploring some of the myths and dilemmas
surrounding giftedness, the author focuses on strategies in which carers
are encouraged to match different learning styles with different
teaching approaches. There is also helpful guidance on managing
behaviour and working with families.
The issues are addressed in a clear and
readable style, always with short examples and a practical focus. |
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Behaviour Management
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What is ‘typical’ behaviour in young
children?
How do you set about changing problem behaviour?
What do we mean when we talk about behaviour management?
How do I draw up a Behaviour Policy for the nursery?
What is the best way of observing and assessing behaviour?
What sort of interventions should I try, and what happens when those
don’t seem to be working?
How should we support parents who have a child with challenging
behaviour?
Hannah Mortimer deals with these important questions in her usual
easy-to-read style, providing a helpful and practical framework for
dealing with young children’s behaviour.
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Inclusion
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Writing an inclusion policy, putting it
into practice and then providing evidence that you are following it
presents a challenge for early years settings. We so want to ‘get it
right’ that it can be quite daunting. Here is a book that will help you
to get it right. It covers important issues such as special educational needs; anti-discrimination; behaviour; bullying; disability; equal opportunities.
The book will help you develop an inclusion policy for your setting and
provide you with practical ideas with its day-to-day implementation.
Provided also, is a sample inclusion policy for you to adapt to your own
setting. |
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Emotional Literacy
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The term 'emotional literacy' encompasses a range of
important issues including self-awareness, self-control, dealing with
relationships, communicating with others, and self-esteem. It is a term
that is increasingly being used to describe the work we do with children
to foster their mental health. In this book, Hannah Mortimer looks at
children’s early learning and behaviour, what happens when things go
wrong and what we need to do to encourage emotional well-being. There
are also sections on early intervention projects; working with other
professionals; listening to children; and supporting children through
major life changes such as family breakdown or bereavement. |
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Autistic Spectrum Disorders
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Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are complex. The numbers of children with these conditions seem to be increasing and staff in early
years settings are being faced with the difficulties of helping
these children learn and develop. This book will provide you with a
practical understanding to help you achieve this. Although aimed at all
those working in early years settings, this will also be helpful to parents
of young children with an ASD. Sections include:
The
main areas of concern are addressed in a clear and readable style, always
with a practical focus, and short examples, on what needs to be done and the
principles to guide your practice.
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Observation & Assessment
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This book provides some practical examples of
how you can assess and observe children learning.
The focus is on using assessment to establish
starting points for teaching and learning; identifying and assessing
children who might have special educational needs; different observation
techniques; assessments carried out by other professionals; and involving
children and adults in assessment and planning.
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Specific Learning Difficulties

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This book will be useful to all who work with
young children as an aid to observe their strengths and weaknesses and
provide appropriate programmes and activities where necessary. This is not intended to be a definitive guide
for identifying and labelling early years children as having specific
learning difficulties. As is stressed throughout the book, many observable
features within children's learning in the early years may be the result of
developmental delay or maturation and need not be signs of specific learning
difficulties. Many of the activities or programmes suggested can be used
with all children and not just for those causing concern.
Dorothy Smith provides a succinct summary
covering background information about the nature of specific learning
difficulties and then focuses on three key areas: developing and
implementing procedures for the regular observation and assessment of
children; developing programmes and activities to meet the needs of children
with specific learning difficulties; and working with parents.
In a clearly written and
readable style, Dorothy Smith provides a well-balanced and constructive aid,
full of practical ideas.
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Personal, Social and Emotional Development
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Learning to get on with others, learning
about what is 'right' and 'wrong', beginning to speak about and understand
feelings, and developing personal independence are very important areas in
our personal and social skills. Early years carers are well placed to
nurture the development of these skills in the first five years. In a simple and readable style, Hannah
Mortimer focuses on:
-
assessing the social and emotional needs of
all children;
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developing programmes and activities to
meet the social and emotional needs of each child;
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strategies for helping self-confidence and
esteem;
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developing and implementing programmes and
activities to support children with difficult and challenging behaviour;
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monitoring, evaluating and reporting on the
assessment of children.
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AD/HD and Attention Difficulties
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The term Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder (AD/HD) has become more widely used in the UK in recent years.
Nevertheless, it remains a controversial topic for many people particularly,
perhaps, because of the medication sometimes prescribed in its treatment.
In this book Hannah Mortimer concentrates on
planning and supporting the individual needs of children with attention
difficulties rather than being preoccupied with the dilemmas surrounding
diagnosis and treatment. There are useful pointers to help in
identification; examples of developing, implementing and monitoring
programmes and activities; working with other professionals; and working in
partnership with parents.
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Literacy in the Early Years
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Literacy links the four skills of reading,
writing, speaking and listening. It crosses curriculum boundaries and is at
the heart of education. The process of becoming literate begins at home and
continues beyond school and further education establishments. The importance
of developing these skills at an early age is underlined by respective
governments’ focus on a literacy strategy and literacy targets.
In this book, Dorothy Smith provides a
comprehensive analysis of the acquisition of these important skills.
Assessment techniques are also examined and a wide variety of activities
suggested. Written in an easy and accessible style, this book will enhance
effective language and literacy teaching and learning in early years
settings.
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SEN Code of Practice in EY
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The SEN Code of Practice provides guidance on the identification,
assessment and provision for children’s special educational needs. This book
focuses on the duties within early years settings, providing practical
advice on:
- designing an inclusive SEN policy for your setting;
- the role
of the SENCO;
- how to set up SEN procedures and plan differentiated
provision;
- designing and implementing IEPs;
- how you can monitor SEN
provision;
- working in partnership with parents;
- involving children in
the way you plan and meet their needs.
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Problem Solving, Reasoning & Numeracy
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At a very early age, children are beginning to grasp
mathematical ‘concepts’ as they endeavour to make sense of the world. In
this book, Hannah Mortimer explains these early stages of development
and provides practical examples of how early years workers can support
and encourage early number work. From the child’s first year, through
toddlerhood, the under threes and the Foundation Stage, examples are
given that will help you both understand and support children’s
mathematical development. Finally, there is a section on supporting
children with special educational needs. |
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Buy the whole set of 13 books at half
price (£40.50) and you'll have all the information you need at your
fingertips. |
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Trackers 3-5
by Dr Hannah Mortimer |
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Although the new
EYFS Trackers 0-5
are now available, we will continue to supply this version to those
early years settings wishing to use them.
Please note - these are no longer
suitable for use in England as they don't follow the new EYFS.
In early years settings there is a
requirement that staff observe and record what children do. These
observations should then be used to help plan the next steps of
children's play, learning and development. With this in mind Trackers
3-5 were developed to provide a
simple method of meeting this requirement.
The Trackers are divided into various types of play activity
and the six areas of learning. Within each area of learning, there are Early Learning Goals which most children will
be expected to have achieved by the end of their Reception year. Each of
these goals is divided into smaller sections called Stepping Stones.
Each page of the Trackers carries the title of one type of play activity
within a particular Area of Learning, yet weaves in some of the
developmental and skills-based stages which users will already be
familiar with and also builds in approximations to the Stepping Stones
and Early Learning Goals.
See sample pages |
ISBN
1 898873 35 6 Published 2004
A5 44 pages Read
reviews of this book
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Price £2.50 (for single copies ... 10 or more copies only
£2 each)
(delivery FREE in the
UK; add £1 if outside the UK) |
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Home Page
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