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Brigham Young University
The laboratory’s curriculum centers on project work. We integrate our curriculum to address the whole child, thus focusing daily on the academic, social, emotional, and physical needs of each student.
Project Work is an in-depth study of a topic taken from interests and questions from the children. In project work, children learn to develop and practice skills, extend knowledge, and foster positive disposition about learning and academic skills. This approach helps us integrate the curriculum areas so that children have opportunity for experiences in all of the skill areas daily. The children have numerous choices in activities and play materials and will benefit from the facilitation of the many teachers who are available to him/her in the classroom.
Teachers in the Lab: The preschool serves as a hands-on training class for practicum students as well as a student teaching setting for our Early Childhood Education majors. This provides great dividends to both the children and the parents. Depending on course enrollment, we are able to have between 4-5 teachers per classroom, making the teacher-child ratio about 1:4-5. This allows excellent one-on-one time for each child. This also increases our ability to identify and meet specific goals for each child.
Due to the University course schedules, our student teachers are assigned to the lab school for a seven-week period. Thus, new teachers are rotated in every seven weeks with the assigned head teacher remaining in the class throughout the entire year.
Vision in Curriculum Planning: Activities are considered to be developmentally appropriate when they are planned with the children’s interests, needs, and developmental capacities in mind. Topics of study are planned to relate to and scaffold on previously gained skills or concepts. Topics are planned to be age appropriate, specific, and based on ideas relevant to the children’s world. The duration of the study of a topic is flexible. Some projects may last a week, while others will continue through the term.
Daily Schedule: The daily schedule in each laboratory may vary depending on the topic of study, activities planned (field trips, guest speakers, etc.) and preference of the laboratory head teacher. However, each day will generally have the following components: discovery experiences/centers, small and large group work, snack, and outdoor time.
Depending upon the well-prepared objectives of the learning plan, daily schedules are flexible – so that truly the teachers and children run the schedule rather than the schedule running the teachers and children. Sometimes unplanned opportunities present themselves during the teaching day that cannot be passed up (an exhibit at the Wilkinson Center, large excavation machines, or a hail storm, etc.). In these cases, previously-planned schedules will change to accommodate the spontaneous learning opportunity. Daily schedules and learning plans with specific curriculum goals and assessment strategies are posted weekly in each observation booth.
Discovery Experience/Centers: Discovery experiences allow children free choice between multiple centers - science, music, blocks, manipulatives, computers, reading, dramatic play, and art centers. Each center allows for the integration of multiple curriculum areas to assess academic, social, and physical abilities of each child. It is a time for children to learn social skills, make choices, be responsible for the materials they play with, and develop new concepts and skills.
Small and Large Group Work: Typically, large group sessions may introduce the project and stimulate the children’s interest in the topic. Large and small group work provides an opportunity for investigation, discovery, and developing skills. Small group work allows for hands-on experiences that are child-directed and based on the topic of study. Group work increases cooperative and collaborative skills and provides opportunities for language acquisition as the children have an opportunity to express their ideas.
Assessment: Assessment is a vital component of our program and serves as the foundation of our curriculum development. Assessment is the process of observing, recording and documenting what children do to serve as a guide for curriculum development and communicating with parents their child’s progress in the specific curriculum areas. Assessment assists teachers in becoming aware of each individual child and their individual needs. The preschool curriculum serves as the guide to these assessment tools. Daily notes are taken on the children and work samples collected to be compiled into portfolios, documenting progress over the school year. In addition, assessment can be an excellent tool for determining whether or not the program is meeting the needs of the children.
Parent Input: Each year begins with academic, social, and physical goals established by the parents that we can focus on for the academic school year. These curriculum goals are valuable in the development of the curriculum and the individualization of the lesson plans.
Field Trips: The children are involved in several field trips off campus. Parents are notified prior to any field trips. Any field trip off campus requires a permission slip signed by a parent before the child will be allowed to go.
Vans: Vans owned by BYU are used for the field trips taken off campus (or not within walking distance). The vans are insured, cleaned, and cared for by BYU. The student teachers, head teacher, or practicum students drive the vans on the field trip. In order to drive a BYU van, the teachers are required to attend a training session. All of the vans have booster seats used with seat belts, which each child is required to wear. Parents also have the option of driving their own child to the field trip location and meeting the rest of the class there.
Walking Field Trips: Permission is given for any on-campus, walking field trips in the forms filled out prior to the first day of school. Additional permission slips are thus not required for walking field trips.