Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Developmentally Appropriate Practices

You may hear the words “developmentally appropriate practice” tossed about these days. But have you noticed that two schools can claim to be developmentally appropriate and yet when you visit them they look entirely different? In order to be clear about what is meant by developmentally appropriate, we offer this description to parents who want to know more about our school.

What you will see when you walk into
our classroom

  • You will see children on the move, pretending, discovering, building, climbing, swinging, and jumping; all at the same time. Young children are kinesthetic learners and are in the process of developing active healthy bodies. Much of their play is very physical.
  • You will see children laughing and having fun with peers. These little people are very social and this is their first society of friends. They are learning how to make friends, how to break up with friends, and how to make up again. Conflicts come and go but they get worked out.
  • You will see children thinking for themselves. You will see children making decisions about their own educational pursuits. You will see children making mistakes, and thinking about how to do things differently next time, because very young children learn best from trial and error.
  • You will see, over time, the full range of feelings: joy, anger, fear and sadness. As these little people develop their emotional intelligence, they will learn how to identify and deal with their feelings in an appropriate way.
  • You will see lots of creativity: from imaginative play, art projects, carpentry projects, construction toys and science experiences. Self-expression is essential to these young ones.
  • You will see children helping and caring for others. These little ones will learn to care very much for their friends, the animals we have at school and adults who have become special friends.
  • You will see a very busy, sometimes loud classroom, as these children exuberantly go about the task of learning. It may be very quiet or it may be very loud. Quiet isn’t required for very young children to learn, they learn by doing.

What you won’t see when you walk into our classroom

  • You won’t see a long circle time presentation by the teacher. These are busy and active children and sitting for long periods of time hinders not only their learning, but also the development of their brains. Their brains develop from sensory motor activities and their learning is active. Circle times are short, active and fun.
  • You won’t see children being punished. Punishment may bring compliance but it never brings a desire to cooperate. With these very young children, cooperation takes continual and gentle guidance.
  • You won’t see work books. Very young children learn math skills by sorting, matching and classifying with real objects often in the context of pretend play. At this age, learning to communicate and love books is more important than phonics. Workbooks confine their thinking too much. Free play expands it.
  • You won’t see coloring book pages, or look-alike art projects. These young ones are too imaginative for such limiting activities. Their art will be free and expressive, using paint and other art materials appropriate for little ones.

Ours is a school designed for very young children

A school for young children is very different than a school for children over five. In many ways it is more like a university than an elementary school. We have our schools of art, music, science, humanities, math and physical education. Children choose what to major in. According to learning styles, there are those youngsters who specialize in one or two fields and those who try everything. It would be a disaster to force a child who loves art to major in physics. Once they have chosen their field of endeavor, we support their choice. Exploration and discovery is the way little ones learn. So in a school designed for very young children, there will be almost no lecture. There will be small-group, informational discussions, one on one explanations and lots of hands on laboratory work. We believe that our school is just right for the developmental level of preschool age children. More importantly, they think so too!

Adapted from “An Image of Developmentally Appropriate Practice” by Marilyn Grevstad in the Puget Sound Association for the Education of Young Children’s newsletter. Inglemoor Cooperative Preschool follows the guidelines of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.