Developmentally Appropriate

You probably have noticed that our classroom has a lot of bustle and noise, that children are up doing things, talking, playing, and exploring. Such a classroom environment differs from the old grade-school images of a teacher doing a lot of talking at a black-board while children sit and listen quietly at their desks.

Research and experience tell us that to be effective with young children, teaching practices need to be "developmentally appropriate." What this means is simply that educators need to think first about what young children are like and then create an environment and experiences that are in tune with children's characteristics.

Early childhood, after all, is a time of life quite different from adulthood, and even from the later school years. Children 3 - 6 learn far better through direct interactive experiences than through just listening to someone talk. They learn extraordinary amounts through play and exploration. And the youger children are, the more what they learn needs to be relevant and interesting on the day they learn it, not just in the context of some future learnng.

Designing our teaching and parenting to how the young brain is wired to learn is a lot better that trying to redesign the children.