Congratulations!

Project Learning Tree's Environmental Experiences

for Early Childhood has been selected a

Learning ® Magazine 2011 Teachers’ Choice Award winner!

For 17 years, the Learning® magazine Teachers' Choice Awards have heralded the very best in classroom-tested, teacher-recommended products. Each year a nationwide panel of teacher-judges names the standouts in books, classroom supplies, educational games, software, Web sites, and supplemental materials that teachers need for their classroom. After receiving top ratings in rounds of rigorous judging, PLT’s Early Childhood Guide and CD won a 17th annual Teachers’ Choice Award for supplemental materials.

In 1994, Learning magazine introduced the first Teachers’ Choice Awards program. Over the years, the program has grown to become one of the most recognized and prestigious awards in the educational market. For the 17th annual program, 60 winners were chosen based on their scores from the evaluations done by a panel of teachers across the country.

A team of teachers evaluates each product in the classroom. The products are evaluated on quality, instructional value, ease of use, and innovation.

Each product is evaluated on its own merit. Only those products that meet Learning Magazine’s teachers’ stringent standards are chosen to receive a Teachers’ Choice Award.

A New Branch on Project Learning Tree

Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood integrates nature-based exploration, art, literature, math, music and movement, and outdoor play into early childhood education programs. It allows children to explore, discover, and communicate in expressive ways. The PLT Early Childhood program has three major components:

1) Professional environmental education development for Early Childhood Professionals
2) The PLT Early Childhood Activity Guide for Early Childhood providers
3) A PLT Music and Movement CD that supplements the Early Childhood Activity Guide.













Project Learning Tree's Early Childhood
Experiences Helps Children:

• Go Outside Often

• Involve the Use of all Senses

• Begin with Simple Experiences

• Let Children Use their Imagination

• Provide Choices Whenever Possible

• Emphasize the Experience – Not the facts

• Integrate Music and Movement, Art, and Literature

• Keep Children Actively Involved – They learn from play

• Engage Parents to Continue Learning Activities at Home

Because exploring nature is a complete sensory experience, early experiences with the natural world excite children’s imaginations and foster their inborn sense of wonder and curiosity, and are important motivators for lifelong learning. The introduction of environmental education at the early childhood level reaches children at a key developmental period in their lives and has the potential for influencing lifelong attitudes, values, and patterns of behavior toward the natural world.

National PLT just translated all of the Early Childhood Family and Friends pages into Spanish. The “Familia y Amigos” pages are all available via the PLT Website. To navigate, please visit http://www.plt.org/, select “Curriculum,” select “Early Childhood Experiences,” and then select the appropriate activity. You will find the Familia y Amigos page for each Early Childhood activity under the “Additional Resources” section. To view a sample Familia y Amigos page, have a look at Activity 11: Three Cheers for Trees. Please remember to highlight this new resource in your Early Childhood Workshops!

Additionally, there are 5 places in the PLT Early Childhood activity guide that reference resources that are “available online at www.plt.org.” These resources are now posted to the PLT Website and can be found under the corresponding Early Childhood activity webpage>. Please find the following Early Childhood PLT resources online:

Leaf Shapes for use with the “Dance with leaves” experience in Activity 1, page 22.

Chinese Tangram puzzle for use with the “Play with tangrams” experience in Activity 1, page 24.

Sign Language Cards for use with the “Take a listening walk” experience in Activity 2, page 26.

Tree Silhouettes for use with the “Make tree silhouettes” experience in Activity 6, page 58.

Tree Silhouettes for use with the “Paint interesting tree pictures” experience in Activity 11, page 96.

Enjoy!