Full Description
Mealtimes in early learning settings present rich opportunities for connection, learning, and positive food experiences. Make the most of mealtimes—and prevent and address common feeding challenges—with this user-friendly planning guide, the first of its kind for early childhood educators and care providers.Written by a cross-disciplinary team of professionals, this book empowers you to make meaningful changes to mealtime routines that benefit children of all ability levels and cultural backgrounds. Through a tiered approach based on MTSS, you'll deliver mealtime supports that respond to each child's needs and foster safety, autonomy, connection, nourishment, interest, and inclusion for all. How-to guidance, helpful examples, and practical tools make the strategies easy to implement, and the focus on equity and cultural responsiveness will help you consider how to shape mealtimes that welcome children with diverse experiences and backgrounds.
With the flexible, practical, and inclusive approach in this book, you'll use best practices to make mealtimes fulfilling and meaningful experiences for all young children.
Learn How To:
Identify and address feeding challenges in proactive and culturally responsive ways
Develop a vision for mealtimes and set clear goals to improve the mealtime experience
Apply fivecore practices that can enhance your current mealtime routines
Encourage children to explore and build comfort with a variety of foods
Incorporate literacy, math, and other skills into mealtime to make it a powerful learning experience
Use mealtime conversations to increase children's social connections, autonomy, and awareness of food origins and food justice
Use ongoing assessment to make decisions and track progress toward your goals
Strengthen the connection between your program and home by cultivating collaborative relationships with families
Contents
About the DownloadsAbout the Authors
Acknowledgments
Introduction
I Making the Most of Mealtime
1 Introduction to the Tiered Approach
2 Defining Mealtime Challenges
3 The Big Picture
II Gathering Information, Setting Goals, and Assessing Progress
4 Starting with Self-Reflection
5 Gathering Information About Your Setting
6 Gathering Information About Children and Families
7 Goal Setting
8 Assessment and Decision Making
III Strategies for Supporting All Children at Mealtime
9 Building the Foundation for Supported and Fulfilling Mealtimes
10 Supporting Communication and Conversation
11 Encouraging Mealtime Participation and Food Interactions
12 Incorporating Additional Goals and Curriculum Content
13 Bridging Connections Between Home and Early Learning Settings
14 Problem Solving and Next Steps
Appendix A For Further Exploration
Appendix B Additional Resources
References
Index
