"Rethinking Early Childhood Education" is alive with the conviction that teaching young children involves values and vision. This anthology collects inspiring stories about social justice teaching with young children. Included here is outstanding writing from childcare teachers, early-grade public school teachers, scholars, and parents. This book shows how educators can nurture empathy, an ecological consciousness, curiosity, collaboration, and activism in young children. It invites readers to rethink early childhood education, reminding them that it is inseparable from social justice and ecological education. An outstanding resource for childcare providers, early-grade teachers, as well as teacher education and staff development programs. This book is divided into eight parts. Part One, "Prioritize Anti-Bias, Culturally Sensitive Teaching and Learning," contains the following: (1) What Color Is Beautiful? (Alejandro Segura-Mora); (2) Why an Anti-Bias Curriculum? (Louise Derman-Sparks); (3) Developmental Themes, Tasks, and Goals in Anti-Bias Work (Margie Carter and Deb Curtis); (4) Raising Issues of Race with Young Children (Rita Tenorio); (5) Using Persona Dolls to Help Children Develop Anti-Bias Attitude (Trisha Whitney); (6) Miles of Aisles of Sexism: Helping Students Investigate Toy Stores (Sudie Hofmann); (7) Where Are the Game Girls? (Ann Pelo); (8) Rethinking "The Three Little Pigs" (Ellen Wolpert); (9) What If All the Kids Are White?: Anti-Bias Themes for Teaching Young Children (Louise Derman-Sparks and Patricia Ramsey); and (10) Unwrapping the Holidays: Reflections on a Difficult First Year (Dale Weiss). Part Two, "Make Ample Time for Play and Exploration," contains the following: (11) The Scripted Prescription: A Cure for Childhood (Peter Campbell); (12) What About Play? (Sharna Olfman); (13) Confession: My Students Play in the Classroom--and It's Good for Them (Seth Shteir); (14) Playing with Gender (Ann Pelo); and (15) Cybertots: Technology and the Preschool Child (Jane Healy). Part Three, "Use Curriculum Approaches that Are Responsive to Children's Developmental and Intellectual Pursuits," contains the following: (16) Why We Banned Legos: Exploring Power, Ownership, and Equity in the Classroom (Ann Pelo and Kendra PeloJoaquin); (17) "Lego Fascists" (That's Us) Vs. Fox News; (18) "I Just Want to Read Frog and Toad" (Melanie Quinn); (19) Tuning in to Violence: Students Use Math to Analyze What TV Is Teaching Them (Margot Pepper); (20) Talking with Children About War and Peace (Ann Pelo); (21) Testing Tots: Why We Need a Better Means of Evaluating Our Nation's Children (Richard Rothstein); (22) Testing Lang (Amy Gutowski); (23) Think Less Benchmarks: A Flawed Test Does More Harm than Good (Amy Gutowski); and (24) From Critique to Possibility: New Zealand's Radical Approach to Assessment (Margie Carter). Part Four, "Cultivate a Sense of Place--of Belonging to a Particular Patch of Earth and Sky--and a Connection to the Earth and Its Creatures," contains the following: (25) A Pedagogy for Ecology (Ann Pelo); (26) Bringing the Earth Home: Professional Development on Ecology (Ann Pelo); (27) Don't Know Much About Natural History: Education as a Barrier to Nature (Richard Louv); (28) Food Is Not for Play (Jean Hannon); and (29) Lessons from a Garden Spider: How Charlotte Transformed My Classroom (Kate Lyman). Part Five, "Emphasize Children's Social-Emotional Learning," contains the following: (30) Holding Nyla: Lessons from an Inclusion Classroom (Katie Kissinger); (31) Fairness First: Learning from Martin Luther King Jr. and Ruby Bridges (Stephanie Walters); and (32) Staying Past Wednesday: Helping Kids Deal with Death and Loss (Kate Lyman). Part Six, "Learn from and Stand with Families," contains the following: (33) Welcoming Kalenna: Making Our Students Feel at Home (Laura Linda Negri-Pool); (34) Holiday Lessons Learned in an Early Childhood Classroom (Julie Bisson); (35) Strawberry Fields Forever?: An Early Childhood Teacher Draws on Her Past to Teach Children of Migrant Farmworkers (Cirila Ramirez); (36) Talking the Talk: Integrating Indigenous Languages into a Head Start Classroom (Cathie DeWeese-Parkinson); (37) Heather's Moms Got Married (Mary Cowhey); (38) Bringing the Lives of Lesbian and Gay People into Our Programs (Ann Pelo); and (39) Activism Brings Us Power: An Interview with lda Magana (Jacqueline Lalley). Part Seven, "Advocate for Children, Families, and Early Childhood Workers," contains the following: (40) Who Cares for Our Children?: The Childcare Crisis in the Other America (Valerie Polakow); (41) It's All of Our Business: What Fighting for Family-Friendly Policies Could Mean for Early Childhood Educators (Ellen Bravo); (42) Improving Conditions and Status for Early Childhood Educators (Charles Bruner); and (43) Caught in a Quagmire: The Effort to Improve Wages and Working Conditions for Childcare Teachers (Patty Hnatiuk). Part Eight, "Resources," contains the following: (44) 10 Quick Ways to Analyze Books for Racism and Sexism; and (45) Music for Social Justice (Rita Tenorio). This book also contains "Introduction: "Embracing Social Justice in Early Childhood Education" by Ann Pelo and "Language Matters" by Ann Pelo. An index is included.