BEGINNING ESSENTIALS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION, CALIFORNIA EDITION, Third Edition, is a streamlined foundations book that introduces early childhood students to the field. This unique book is organized to answer four key questions: What is the field? Who is the child? Who is the teacher? and What is being taught? The four sections address the essentials of early childhood education, emphasizing multiculturalism and developmentally appropriate practice. New to this edition, “Teacher Talk” boxes are first-person accounts from teachers who reflect on their experiences in the classroom and provide valuable, applicable advice for those entering the profession. In addition, “Brain Research” boxes showcase some of the most important aspects of brain research and development today, connecting it to the classroom. Other features include special boxed material that highlights key issues related to standards, diversity, DAP, professionalism, and ethics. This California-specific edition directly connects the California Early Childhood Educator Competencies to the material in the text. The beginning of each chapter highlights which competencies are covered in the chapter, and a detailed chart in the appendix shows the correlation of each chapter to the standards through the competency area/performance area/topic levels.