Chelsea Heights Elementary
 Developmentally Appropriate Practice
  

Image Gallery: Developmentally Appropriate Practice
In my kindergarten classroom I strive to motivate children's learning experiences by offering activities which are child-centered, multi-sensory and HANDS-ON. I hope the images in this photo gallery offer you a glimpse into this wonderful world of exploration and experimentation.
This is a very popular Sensory Table activity: warm water, Dawn detergent, and old fashioned egg beaters. The children love to whip up a frothy mix of lovely bubbles! We use our painting easel for other fun activities too. This time the children are 'shaving' using mirrors, shaving cream and popsicle sticks. It's a WONDERFUL way to build young children's visual / perceptual skills. ALL children (boys and girls) are encouraged to build and create in our Block Corner. Our Reading Corner is filled with all sorts of exciting reading material; including magazines, catalogs, picture books, and big books. Children read every day, using leveled books which are appropriate for their individual reading ability. We use math manipulatives to help anchor children's skills in patterning, counting, geometry, story problems, and numerous other math skills. Block building is an important tool in every kindergarten classroom. Children learn spatial skills, problem solving strategies, and how to work with others --- besides having fun! Our classroom Listening Center has books on tape, listening games, and a Language Master machine for practicing high frequency words. The painting easel is always available at Learning Center Time for children to express their own individual creativity using paint, markers or chalk. We have daily art experiences in my kindergarten classroom, which focus on 'process' not just the 'final product'. Two astronauts are ready to blast off into outerspace. "Yes, please take my order. I'm very hungry!" "May we help you?" ask the clerks at the Costume Shop. Dramatic play experiences give children an opportunity to expand their imaginations, oral language skills, social and emotional development. The children play games on our two classroom computers during Learning Center Time. A future firefighter at work! Take a peek inside our classroom sensory table and you'll find all sorts of new & exciting sensory experiences each and every week. Here are some examples: silly putty, snow, soapy warm water, creepy crawlies, beads, marbleworks, magnets, pom poms. Drawing on surfaces -- like this 'wipe off' easel -- entice children to try new methods of writing. Using an old fashioned typewriter offers children another way to explore writing and the printed word.