A blog post by Tiffany Tse
On June 23-26rd, 2022, early childhood researchers, scholars, educators, pedagogues, teacher-educators, and activists gathered together for the Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education (RECE) Conference at UBC Vancouver. The theme was “Being Together In/With Place: Reimagining Pedagogies in Transformational Times” to reflect the radical changes, uncertainties, and new connections that our world is experiencing.
Our library is featuring a book display to spotlight early childhood education, place-based learning, Indigenous connections to land, sustainability, outdoor education, and communities. Below is a list of relevant teacher resources, e-resources, board books, and fiction and nonfiction books for young children, some of which are included in the display.
Featured materials
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Hello Humpback! (2017) by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd is a vibrant board book with gentle embossing for babies and toddlers to experience the animals and landscape of the Pacific West Coast through beautiful Indigenous artwork. |
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One Little Lot: The 1-2-3s of an Urban Garden (2020) by Diane C. Mullen and illustrated by Oriol Vidal is a colourful picture book on how an abandoned lot was transformed into a communal urban garden by the hands of a multi-cultural and multi-aged community. |
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Early Years Education and Care in Canada: A Historical and Philosophical Overview (2019) edited by Susan Jagger compiles research from multiple perspectives on the past, present, and potential future direction of early childhood education in Canada. Themes and approaches include Indigenous ways of knowing, holistic education, play, children’s rights, diversity, and inclusion, and more. |
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Decolonizing Place in Early Childhood Education (2019 eBook) by Fikile Nxumalo discusses how early childhood education can critically and pedagogically respond to environmentally damaged places, anti-blackness, and settler colonial legacies while highlighting Indigenous presences and land relations within settler colonialism. |
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Unsettling the Colonial Places and Spaces of Early Childhood Education (2015 eBook) edited by Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw and Affrica Taylor offers decolonizing strategies for early childhood practitioners and scholars. Topics include postcolonial theory, place theory, feminist philosophy, ecological humanities, and Indigenous onto-epistemologies. |
Additional resources
Board books:
- Animals of the Salish Sea: Coast Salish First Nations and Native Art illustrated by multiple Coast Salish artists with text by Melaney Gleeson-Lyall (2016)
- Sweetest Kulu by Celina Kalluk, illustrated by Alexandria Neonakis (2016)
- Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated Peter H. Reynolds (2015)
Picture books:
- Cedar: The Tree of Life by Brenda Boreham (2016)
- Cloudwalker by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd (2014)
- Imagine a Place by Sarah L. Thomson, illustrated by Rob Gonsalves (2008)
- In Lucia’s Neighbourhood by Pat Shewchuk, illustrated by Marek Colek (2013)
- In Your Community by Janet Gurtler (2018)
- Look Where We Live! A First Book of Community Building by Scot Ritchie (2015)
- The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore, collages by Susan L. Roth (2011)
- A Stick is an Excellent Thing: Poems Celebrating Outdoor Play by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by LeUyen Pham (2012)
- Tiny, Perfect Things by M.H. Clark, illustrated Madeline Kloepper (2018)
- A Walk on the Tundra by Rebecca Hainnu and Anna Ziegler, illustrated by Qin Leng (2011)
- What Matters by Alison Hughes, illustrated by Holly Hatam (2016)
Teacher resources:
- Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension by Sara K. Ahmed (2018)
- The Big Book of Nature Activities: A Year-Round Guide to Outdoor Learning by Jacob Rodenburg and Drew Monkman (2016)
- Bridging Cultures: Scientific and Indigenous Ways of Knowing Nature by Glen Aikenhead and Herman Michell (2011)
- Childhood and Postcolonization: Power, Education, and Contemporary Practice by Gaile Sloan Cannella and Radhika Viruru (2004)
- Developing as a Reflective Early Years Professional: A Thematic Approach by Carol Hayes, Jayne Daly, Mandy Duncan, Ruth Gill, and Ann Whitehouse (2014)
- Outdoor Learning Environments: Spaces for Exploration, Discovery, and Risk-taking in the Early Years by Helen Little, Sue Elliott, and Shirley Wyver (2017)
- A Pedagogy of Place: Outdoor Education for a Changing World by Brian Wattchow and Mike Brown (2011)
- The School Garden Curriculum: An Integrated K-8 Guide for Discovering Science, Ecology, and Whole-Systems Thinking by Kaci Rae Christopher (2019)
This display is on the left side of the entrance when you first come into the UBC Education Library.
We hope these resources can help you reimagine the possibilities of early childhood education and reflect on your connection with place. Our librarians would be happy to chat more about relevant books and resources with you. Feel free to contact us at ed.lib@ubc.ca.