Academic
Excellence for all ages
Practicum for graduate and undergraduate
Developmentally Appropriate Practice
Our classroom is active and noisy compared to
other classrooms due to our developmentally appropriate practices.
This means simply that we think first about what young children are like
and then create a learning environment and experiences that are in tune
with these characteristics. Research has taught us that children at
this age learn best through direct interactive experiences. For
example, most preschoolers will gain more from stepping or jumping on
(alphabet) letters on the floor than encountering them on a cut and paste
or circle the right answer work sheet. The activities we suggest
need to be relevant and interesting to them now and not just in the
context of future learning.
Mixed age grouping allows slightly older
children to introduce concepts and themes to younger children that they
would not yet come up with on their own. More advanced peers offer
the structure for the tiny steps that facilitate learning in a natural
manner. Adults tend to be too far advanced to provide this in quite
the same way.
Children at this age respond well to having choices, so
a variety of learning activities are available and children are free to
move among them for the majority of the class time. These choices
empower children to take control of their own learning. Children use
materials and equipment in far more creative and innovative ways than we
could ever plan, and they use the materials in ways that meet their own
developmental needs. Research indicates that intrinsic motivation (working
on a task because we find it satisfying) is the most effective and
engaging way to learn.
Developmentally appropriate also means we look at each
child's family, cultural background, past experiences and current
circumstances and integrate this knowledge to make the program fit the
child.
All these put together provide young children
with a learning environment in which they feel comfortable and can
function to their fullest capacity because it speaks specifically to who
they are at this important time in their lives.