Posted by Chip on February 23, 2010
In the preface to my book Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom, Ages 4-14, I ask readers to “pay attention to the linits of developmental characteristics and characterizations.” I note that although general expectations about childrens’ behavior have emerged through detailed and repeated observations and have yielded certain patterns of development, “they are not precise predictions [...]
Categories: Developmental Education, Developmental Needs |
Tags: childhood bipolar disorder, Childhood: A Multicultural View, Developmental Education, Developmental Needs, Managing Behavior, Melvin Konner, TDD, temper dysregulation disorder, Yardsticks | 
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Posted by Chip on July 14, 2009
Nine is not always an easy age, but it is an age of growing social awareness, of intellectual stretching, wondering, and clamoring These are the “ing,” kids, the “dangling participles” easily misunderstood, the kids who are doing, encouraging, questioning, doubting, arguing…sometimes seemingly just for the sake of it, with no clear antecedents for their [...]
Categories: Developmental Needs, Positive Attributes |
Tags: Billy Collins, children's positive attributes, children's strengths, developmental changes, Developmental Needs, fourth grade, nine-year-olds, Positive Attributes, Yardsticks | Post a Comment »
Posted by Chip on September 26, 2008
Many teacher readers of Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14 make particular use of the book at this time of year by referencing Appendix A, beginning on page 195 in the third edition. There they find “The Birthday Cluster Exercise,” a practical way to get a rough idea of the developmental range and “cluster [...]
Categories: Developmental Education, The School Year |
Tags: birthday cluster, Developmental Education, developmental teaching, The School Year, Yardsticks | Post a Comment »
Posted by Chip on September 5, 2008
Since the first edition of Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom, Ages 4-14, was published thirteen years ago, it has captured the interest of educators in other countries and been translated into Mandarin Chinese and Arabic, and pamphlets based on the book have been translated into Spanish (www.responsiveclassroom.org/bookstore). This wonderful around-the-world journey continued this week when [...]
Categories: Books, Developmental Education, Diversity |
Tags: Catherine Lewis, Developmental Education, Educating Hearts and Minds, Responsive Classroom approach, Yardsticks | 2 Comments »
Posted by Chip on August 18, 2008
When Monday, September 1, 2008, rolls around, your child (whether entering kindergarten or fifth grade) will be a certain age, and every other child in the classroom will be a different age. In fact, the chronological age span in the classroom will range over a year or more, and the children’s level of cognitive, social, [...]
Categories: Developmental Education, Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum, The School Year |
Tags: birthday cluster, Developmental Education, developmental teaching, Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum, Yardsticks | Post a Comment »
Posted by Chip on August 4, 2008
Truth of the matter is, we Americans have too much stuff. Look around at home and school—it’s hard to keep it all organized! There’s never enough storage space, and we’re not very good at giving or throwing away things we might just need some day. But summertime offers a great opportunity for tag sales—a terrific [...]
Categories: The School Year |
Tags: classroom organization, Last Lecture, Randy Pausch, start of the school year, Yardsticks | Post a Comment »
Posted by Chip on February 26, 2008
I recently started a series of posts talking about the normal developmental characteristics of children as discussed in my book Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14. In this post I’ll describe some of the characteristics of younger, on-age, and older fourth grade students. As always, please feel free to leave your comments, impressions, and [...]
Categories: Developmental Education, Developmental Needs, Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum, Positive Attributes |
Tags: 9-year-olds, children's positive attributes, Developmental Education, Developmental Needs, developmental teaching, Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum, fourth grade, fourth graders, nine-year-olds, social-emotional development, Yardsticks | Post a Comment »
Posted by Chip on February 7, 2008
Earlier this week I wrote a little about the normal developmental characteristics of children in Kindergarten as discussed in my book Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14. In this post I’ll describe some of the characteristics of younger, on-age, and older first grade students. As before, please feel free to leave your comments, impressions, [...]
Categories: Developmental Education, Developmental Needs, Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum, Parent Questions and Concerns, Positive Attributes |
Tags: 6-year-olds, children’s positive attributes, Developmental Education, Developmental Needs, developmental teaching, Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum, first grade, first graders, Parent Questions and Concerns, Positive Attributes, six-year-olds, social-emotional development, Yardsticks | 7 Comments »
Posted by Chip on January 15, 2008
William Crain, professor of psychology at the City College of New York, graciously contributed the foreword to the 3rd edition of my book Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom, Ages 4-14 (NEFC, 2007).
I have long been an admirer of Dr. Crain’s major textbook in child development, Theories of Development which I certainly recommend.
Here I’d like to [...]
Categories: Books, Developmental Education, Developmental Needs, Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum, Education Reform, Importance of Play |
Tags: Developmental Education, developmental teaching, Reclaiming Childhood: Letting Children Be Children in Our Achievement-Oriented Society., Theories of Development, William Crain, Yardsticks | Post a Comment »
Posted by Chip on November 27, 2007
All of a sudden you notice that your happy and friendly five-year -ld is acting cranky and oppositional and is sometimes downright defiant. You, of course, are the same loving parent or teacher, but your patience is running thin. What to do?
It’s important to remember that children’s approaches to the world between the ages of [...]
Categories: Developmental Education, Developmental Needs |
Tags: developmental changes, developmental teaching, Managing Behavior, observing children, Yardsticks | 1 Comment »
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