But they are just playing...

At our recent in-service training, our staff completed a training on Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP).  DAP is a term used by child care professionals to describe care that takes into account the level of physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development of a child addressing their age and their abilities.  In our classrooms, teaching is based on where the child is and what they are ready to learn.  We use a hands-on approach to learning which gives them a more complete understanding of the concepts that are being taught.  We also use classroom centers and small group activities to teach and reinforce their learning.

Often parents ask, "Why doesn't my child bring home worksheets?" or "Why doesn't my child have homework?"  In the Pre-K classroom it is not appropriate to use worksheets to teach children concepts...they need to feel and manipulate real objects.  They need to use their imagination to create whether it is in the art center or the block center, the home center or the music center.  Occasionally our Pre-K teachers may use a worksheet to check to see if the children understand a specific concept, sort of like a review or a test.  It helps the teacher see whether the teaching of that concept was clear or if it needs to be re-taught.

The comment that is often heard is, "But they are just playing"...and the answer is "yes, they are!"   Play is important to developmentally appropriate practice because it: 

• Enables children to make sense of their world.
• Develops social and cultural understanding.
• Allows children to express feelings and thoughts.
• Fosters flexible and divergent thinking.
• Provides opportunities to meet and solve real problems.
• Develops language and literacy skills and concepts.

Through the activities in an early childhood classroom like playing in the block center, children begin to understand size, weight and number concepts as well as learn to recreate the world around them and control and coordinate muscles.

When they play in the home center, they use their small muscle skills, pretend to be grownups and understand experiences better, plus they learn to group objects in categories.  They learn to sort and classify and they are given choices for the areas that interest them. 

Some of our goals for your children include the following: 

• to become an avid reader
• to enjoy solving math problems
• to speak and write well
• to be creative
• to make decisions independently
• to develop physical coordination
• to have good study skills
• to get along well with others
• to be self-confident
• to enjoy learning
• to love school

It is stated very well in "A Parent's Guide to Early Childhood Education" by Diane Trister Dodge and Joanna Phinney...Children who are rushed into reading and writing too soon miss important steps in learning and may suffer later on because they lack the foundation they need for using language.  Children who are taught to read before they are ready may be able to sound out and recognize words, but they may have little understanding of what they are reading.  If they aren't allowed to string beads, button, dress up, cut, paste, pour and draw, they won't develop the small muscle skills they need for writing.

Because math involves more than math facts, children need many opportunities to count objects, sort them into piles and add and take them away.  If children are rushed into academic subjects too soon, they may lose their enthusiasm for learning and lose their sense of themselves as learners.  Children who are given plenty of time to play, learn to ask their own questions and figure out their own answers.  They see themselves as explorers, discoverers, problem solvers and inventors.