Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum: Best Practices in Early Childhood Education

This best-selling text addresses all aspects of classroom life, including the roles of children and adults, the physical and social environments, and teaching and learning within multiple domains for children age three to eight. It provides a comprehensive, cohesive approach to curriculum development, which results in greater continuity for children and practitioners in group settings in childcare, preschool, and the early elementary grades.

Concentrating as much on the “how” of curriculum development as on the “what and why,” the authors provide practical, research-based guidelines for translating theory into best practice that accommodates age-appropriateness, individual differences, and social and cultural diversity. Students learn how to conceptualize, plan, implement, and evaluate curriculum through detailed application opportunities in each chapter.

New Features to this Edition include:

• Assignable activities online at MyEducationLab are meaningfully integrated into each chapter, with margin notes referring to videos, classroom artifacts, and strategies in “Assignments and Activities” and more applied exercises in “Building Teaching Skills and Dispositions”
• New Developmentally Appropriate Practice definitions are incorporated throughout
• Stronger focus on national curriculum standards
• More emphasis on key topics such as circle time, structuring the environment, classroom arrangements, scheduling, and cultural variations in teaching
• Thorough integration of children with special needs in every chapter, offering examples, case studies, and specific adaptations to activities
• Stronger emphasis on intentional teaching, helping students prepare for the reality of classroom expectations

Marjorie J. Kostelnik is Dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. A former child care, Head Start, and preschool teacher, as well as elementary school specialist, Dr. Kostelnik has been actively involved in helping educators in early childhood programs explore the implications of developmentally appropriate practices. Her work has taken her to many settings throughout the United States and abroad. Marjorie teaches classes in early childhood inclusive education and is currently on the Coordinating Commission for High Quality Early Childhood Education for the state of Nebraska.

Anne K. Soderman had 14 years of classroom experience working with children in both public and nonpublic educational settings prior to joining Michigan State University in 1979, where she is now Professor Emeritus. In addition to continuing to consult with schools in international settings, she is currently carrying out an administrative assignment and conducting research on second-language acquisition in Beijing, China. Soderman is also co-author of Guiding Children’s Social Development and Learning, 6^th Ed. (2009), Creating Literacy-Rich Preschools and Kindergartens (2008) and Scaffolding Emergent Literacy (2005).

Alice Phipps Whiren is a professor emeritus of the Department of Family and Child Ecology, Michigan State University. She taught curriculum in early childhood and child development to undergraduate and graduate students and was supervisor of the Child Development Laboratories. Early in her career, she taught young children in an inner-city public school in Michigan. She also served as a Head Start assistant director and has provided a variety of training sessions for preprimary teachers nationally and internationally.