in looking through the notes to the financial statements of a company, you notice a paragraph containing the depreciation methods used, revenue recognition practices, and how inventory was valued in producing the financial statement. What is the common term for this paragraph?

That's all part of the disclosure notes. There's a section on "accounting policies" and that's where that's located. There would normally be a lot more than the stuff you named. There isn't a name for the "paragraph" cause what you named doesn't have to be together in a paragraph, and in fact, normally is not.