Learn as You Grow: Fostering Holistic Child Development

Watching children develop and learn is a captivating process, akin to witnessing a miracle unfold. Educators play a crucial role in nurturing each student's unique abilities. This article explores the principles and practices of the "learn as you grow" philosophy, emphasizing the importance of understanding developmental pathways, assessing readiness, and creating developmentally appropriate learning experiences.

Understanding Developmental Pathways

Children's growth and development encompass several interrelated domains: physical, mental, social, emotional, and moral. James P. Comer, M.D., of Yale University emphasizes the importance of development along all of these lines. Up until recently, the school focused on the linguistic and the intellectual cognitive. It’s development along all of those lines that’s really important. These pathways are not isolated but interact and influence one another, playing a vital role in a student's overall learning experience.

Two key themes are central to understanding children's progress:

Simultaneous Changes: Physical, cognitive, emotional, and social changes occur simultaneously.
Mirrored Changes: Internal changes experienced during transition points are mirrored by profound changes in their peer, school, and family lives.

Teachers need to be aware of these interconnected changes. A teacher must be able to take a developmental perspective to understand and support the development and learning of her students.

Assessing and Supporting Readiness

Good teachers start where their students are and build upon what they are able to do, according to Linda Darling-Hammond. But how do we know what our students are ready for and when? Roland Tharp, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, introduces the concept of the "zone of proximal development," which is vital to teachers. It helps the teacher understand what is the basic act of teaching: to locate that point in the zone of proximal development in which this learner needs the assistance and then to provide it.

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Planning for instructional activity within the zone of proximal development is the basic art of teaching. The instructional activity of teaching and learning “is good only when it proceeds ahead of development. Roland Tharp pointed out that that kind of assistance that will help development in the zone can come from more capable peers. It doesn’t really matter where the assistance comes from. The most competent teachers provide the assistance themselves when they need to, make sure that a good, rich diet of assistance is available from other class members, and outside resources, and the web, and wherever assistance can be provided to make sure that’s available to the student.

Developmentally Appropriate Learning Experiences

Teaching should reflect children’s naturally recurring learning cycle. This cycle begins with awareness and progresses through exploration, inquiry, and the use of constructed knowledge in authentic applications. Teachers convey respect for children’s thinking by probing thinking with questions such as, “What happens if . Developmentally appropriate teaching has many of the same features in later childhood and adolescence.

Examples in Practice

The video segments in The Learning Classroom demonstrate how teachers in elementary, middle, and high school explore the same concepts of velocity, mass, and momentum with their students in a developmentally appropriate way.

Elementary School: Fe MacLean uses a story about sledding on a hill to introduce the concept of momentum to first-graders. She uses concrete materials like balls and ramps to help them visualize the abstract concept of time. For these age of children it is necessary that the material is chosen so that they see not just the, the abstract time but they see it with their own eyes how the ball rolls down the ramp. The teacher also uses graphic organizers to record data, a very abstract way of representing what we were doing, so that’s no longer concrete. She tries to relate it to a to a form of a story, a narrative that hopefully can relate to their own lives, for me to understand or to assess their understanding the concepts. They drew this picture where one of them won the race with a snowboard, and the other one got a bronze metal according to him, because he started from a lower hill so he couldn’t go as fast, and the other child who started on a higher hill went faster.
Middle School: George Mixon presents a similar lesson to his eighth graders at Birmingham Covington School. He engages students with hands-on activities involving cars and tracks. He encourages them to formulate and organize their information. If I gave them the table, they don’t think. They need to be able to figure out ways in which to formulate and organize their information. He allows students to figure it out one way, and there’s nothing wrong with that. George Mixon believes that if you can get kids active, and motivated, and involved, and get their hands in stuff, they’re focused. Kids have unique ways in which to organize information and collect data and control certain variables. He uses a demonstration of crashing into barrels to introduce the concept of momentum absorption.
High School: At the Detroit High School for the Performing Arts, Ken Gillam's physics students study the same concepts, drawing on even higher levels of abstract reasoning. Ken Gillam started with prior knowledge for them. He uses little bitty cars. Since we’re going to do momentum studies and we’re going to look at the momentum of the car, we have to have a mass to go with the velocity we determine. We’re going to run it off the end of our ramp, let it go for a meter and determine its velocity. We’re going to take five readings we’re going to take five stopwatch indications, so we know how fast the automobile is going when it exits the ramp. Their initial thought was, it’s going to be the same lab again, well, it really wasn’t going to be the same lab again, because the minute I put a barrier there and crashed it, they said this is not going to be the same. So the hook was I think it’s going to be, no it’s not. He challenges them to gather data on car crashes with different barriers. He then takes the solid concrete, then you take them into the problem solving area and into the analytical, analyze what you’ve seen. Then, once you begin to analyze it, how are you going to use this information in a real world? How do you build this meta skills of thinking? He asks them to design something to break down the momentum of an object as it is…being hurtled down the road at 70 miles an hour, with a mass of 2,000 pounds. He connects the concepts to real-world applications like highway safety.

Key Elements of Developmentally Appropriate Lessons

Although all three teachers structured their lessons in a similar way, consider the real world examples they used and how they were presented. The first grade story was very detailed - even illustrated in a book. The teacher asked a number of questions to help focus and organize her students’ thinking. The eighth grade teacher condensed the setup by asking the class one or two rhetorical questions about snowboarding, dropping items and tossing an inflatable ball to a student. The high school teacher related the concepts to highway driving - something that is of high interest to many older teenagers.

These examples highlight the importance of:

Real-world Connections: Starting with examples that students can see, touch, and feel.
Inquiry-Based Learning: Encouraging students to ask questions and explore concepts through experimentation.
Differentiation: Tailoring the lesson to the developmental level of the students.
Active Engagement: Getting kids active, and motivated, and involved, and get their hands in stuff, they’re focused.

Holistic Child Development Programs

Many child care and early learning programs embrace the "learn as you grow" philosophy by focusing on holistic child development. These programs recognize the importance of nurturing growth in all areas - social, emotional, physical, and cognitive.

Y Academy

Y-Academy focuses on holistic child development, ensuring a safe and nurturing environment where children learn through play! Fostering growth in all areas-social, emotional, physical, and cognitive. The approach encourages curiosity and creativity, allowing children to explore the world around them and develop a lifelong love for learning. We believe in empowering each child to reach their fullest potential by providing individualized attention and meaningful experiences that support their unique developmental journey. The philosophy is also rooted in the core YMCA values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. We aim to instill these values in every child, helping them grow into compassionate, trustworthy, respectful, and responsible individuals. We are committed to putting Christian principles into practice through programs that build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.

The foundation of our early learning program is Creative Curriculum. A nationally-recognized, award-winning program that supports your child in developing critical skills that lead to kindergarten readiness and lifelong success. The Explorers classroom offers structured activities that provide frequent opportunities for language development and meaning- making. The Preschool program emphasizes learning through play and introduces more advanced classroom structures and routines. Students in this program build a social foundation of knowledge and depart with the confidence and capabilities necessary for a successful transition to kindergarten.

Y-Ready focuses on preparing 3- to 5-year-olds for kindergarten in an academically focused enrichment program. As part of the Y Academy, this part-day option allows early learners to develop key academic, social and emotional milestones needed for kindergarten. Children learn through hands-on activities that are teacher led using the Creative Curriculum academic model.

In our Observers class, each child follows their own eating and sleeping schedule. We cater to each child’s needs while providing stimulating interactions that foster emotional and physical growth.

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Watch Me Grow Child Care

"Parents need a place that they can trust, with well trained, dedicated, caring staff, age appropriate activities and a safe environment for their children to grow and develop. Watch Me Grow Child Care is that place. Children are given the opportunity to explore and learn about themselves and the world around them with guidance and support from our exceptional staff. "Finding quality child care is one of the most important things parents can do for their children. I know first hand how difficult it can be to leave your child to go to work. Our teachers are compassionate, caring, patient and loving. in every classroom. Also, the live feed video cameras are an added bonus. I love being able to check in throughout the day to see how my little one is doing. By the end of week 2, he was all smiles pulling into school and it is 100% due to the love and attention he received. They very much treat our son like their own and it means the world to us. The other plus is how quickly our son has been developing….he counts to 10 forward and backward, reads us books and says countless new words every single day. Our daughter learns something new every day. We love the structure of the rooms and the social skills she picks up. They are willing to help potty train as well. All of the teachers are great and take a personal interest in our daughter.

It is clean and bright, the teachers are loving and friendly and always willing to lend an ear. My daughter loves all of her teachers and has met some great friends along the way. Everybody is caring and accommodating, and no matter what is going on with my kiddo, I know she is well taken care of. The facility is great too! They have 3 outdoor play spaces, a SPLASH PAD, an indoor play room, a remote-accessible video surveillance system.

WMG has a mobile app and we are able to receive updates during the day, photos and videos. I can call or text the staff at anytime and receive a fast, open response. My husband and I are so thankful to the owner Julie Costello and the entire WMG staff for the time, energy, effort and love they show our three children.

Are you worried about what happens while you're away? No problem! Watch your little one on a live video feed! There is also no weird rule about picking up kids at a specific time every day (as long as it's before closing time). I can't say enough about the quality of management. Julie, the owner, has tremendous experience and credentials in this field. Andrea also manages and is incredibly bright, welcoming and helpful. There are even "water days," when the kids arrive in swimsuits for a fun morning of playing on the private splash pad. If you are looking for a safe and high quality experience that your child will love, this is it.

Elite Preschool & Learning Center

At Elite Preschool & Learning Center, the curriculum is designed to provide a loving, safe, and fun environment for children to learn and grow at their own pace. Learn how toddler care can help early childhood development. At Elite Preschool, teachers provide opportunities for independent discovery, cooperative learning, and generous outdoor playtime for the two-year-olds. Elite Preschool uses the most current, academically endorsed methods to ensure that children have fun while learning the skills they need for long-term success in school and in life. Our talented teachers also collaborate with parents to nurture children into respectful, confident, and joyful learners.

Bright Horizons

With our enhanced health and safety protocols in response to COVID, we remain dedicated to providing a high quality educational setting. Our World at Their Fingertips curriculum features an arts program that sparks creativity, a language program that fosters an interest in reading, a science program that stimulates curiosity, and more. There’s always something new to explore. And our convenient location, schedules that accommodate your busy workday. Your child’s safety and wellness is our top priority. We continue to monitor state and local public health guidelines, look to our medical expert, and use our considerable experience to guide our health and safety practices. Our families come from nearby communities, creating a close-knit environment and strong parent partnerships.

USAA Child Development Center - AZ

Take a virtual tour of USAA Child Development Center - AZ from the comfort of your own home! Take a look inside our center from the comfort of your own home! You’ll see our warm, welcoming environments, enriching classrooms, and inspiring spaces that spark independence, curiosity, and learning.

Common Features

These programs share several common features such as:

Play-Based Learning: Recognizing the importance of play in children's development.
Individualized Attention: Providing individualized attention and meaningful experiences that support their unique developmental journey.
Nurturing Environments: Creating a safe and nurturing environment where children can thrive.
Parent Partnerships: Fostering strong partnerships between teachers and parents.
Focus on Social-Emotional Development: Instilling values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility.

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