“This lively, informative book poses a remarkable challenge to teachers—to grow themselves while growing young children. Being creatively accountable is hard work and the stories told here describe both the work, how it's done, and its joyful rewards for teachers and children.”
—Elizabeth Jones, Pacific Oaks College

“This book provides a set of windows on children’s lives and how teachers can enter into those lives and enrich them through high-quality teaching. The authors have created an inspiring volume, a challenging set of ideas, and an invaluable resource for early childhood educators.”
—Samuel J. Meisels, University of Michigan

“[A] thoughtful, up-to-date guide to assessing and documenting children’s work. . . . The authors give clear, practical advice on how to collect, analyze, and display children’s work in meaningful ways.”
—Scholastic Early Childhood Today (review of first edition)

“Many teachers find it frustrating to hear the rich and exciting learning experiences they provide described as ‘nothing.’ Windows on Learning skillfully addresses the challenge faced by early childhood educators wishing to share classroom experiences with parents, administrators, and peers. The authors offer a timely and fresh approach to documenting children’s learning and work.”
—Childhood Education (review of first edition)

Completely updated, this popular guide provides teachers with a proven method for documenting (collecting, analyzing, and displaying) young children’s work at school. Written by teachers for teachers, this classic resource also shows principals, curriculum coordinators, and directors of Head Start and other early intervention programs how to develop children’s portfolios to share with parents or to use for assessment and other accountability purposes. Applicable to many different curriculum models, the updated Second Edition:

• Combines two books in one by integrating the teacher forms, materials, and planning sheets from the Teacher Materials companion resource into this single volume.
• Features a larger size to accommodate more examples and photographs of children’s and teachers’ work.
• Includes more information on incorporating standards in documentation.
• Discusses how to analyze and talk about documentation in professional learning communities.
• Provides additional information on preparing teacher portfolios.
• Documents the Movie Theater Project, a literacy-rich project from an inner-city pre-kindergarten classroom.

Judy Harris Helm heads her own educational consulting and training company, Best Practices, Inc. and is the author of numerous books, including Teaching Your Child to Love Learning (2004). Sallee Beneke is a Resource Specialist for STARnet Regions I & III and a doctoral student in the Department of Special Education at the University of Illinois. Kathy Steinheimer is a National Board Certified Teacher at the Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Education Center.