To increase parent involvement and meet the need for adult help in classrooms, a preschool director implemented a practicum in a church-owned, nondenominational preschool serving 250 children from an upper-middle-class community in the Northeast. The intervention offered a wide range of parent involvement activities, including the formation of a…

Based on the idea that laughter and humor are basic components of a healthy childhood, this practicum paper emphasizes the concern that preschool programs have become too academic and are creating stress for children. Similarly, adults in preschool settings, pressured by parents and public school academic expectations, have become too serious in…

A practicum project addressed the problem of separation of generations. An intergenerational program was designed to provide elders at a long-term care facility and children at the on-site daycare center with opportunities to interact with one another for the social and emotional betterment of both groups. Participants in the program included 17…

This practicum sought to combat the problem of decreasing readiness skills and overall general knowledge of entering kindergarten students, by developing and implementing an integrated parent involvement program for regular and special education classes in preschool and kindergarten. The first phase involved parents and children in a home-based…

This practicum addresses the problem of limited interaction between physical therapists and families of developmentally delayed/physically impaired preschool-age children. A program was developed in which the physical therapist was videotaped handling and exercising a child, while explaining the purpose of the movements and instructing the parent…

This paper describes the development and implementation of a sequential musical program, designed to be taught by non-musical classroom teachers in kindergarten through grade six. Chapter I provides a general background of the political influences which brought about the low status of music at Melaleuca Elementary School and other elementary…

Due to changes in society, young children and senior citizens have little opportunity for interaction. This practicum report formulated a plan for intergenerational interaction opportunities between 3- and 4-year-olds and senior citizens at a Jewish community center where separate programs for preschool children and senior citizens typified the…

This practicum addresses the creation of an economically viable school in the private sector to meet the educational and social needs of cognitively developmentally accelerated preschool-age children. Anticipated outcomes of the practicum included development of a well-documented philosophical approach to preschool gifted education, curriculum…

In response to parent complaints about the curriculum at an urban child care center, a procedure was developed to provide parents and teachers with an understanding of developmentally appropriate practices for young children. A curriculum that was developmentally and culturally relevant to the children at the school was also developed. The entire…

This practicum was designed to strengthen preschool and elementary school teachers' abilities and commitment to working with parents and including them as active participants in the education of their children. It sought to help teachers identify beliefs about involving parents in the classroom and school, and to develop materials and activities…

The practicum report describes a program which established an Early Childhood Special Education Resource Center to serve the parents and teachers of deaf and hearing-impaired preschool children attending an integrated laboratory school associated with the University of Puerto Rico. Program goals included promoting parent-teacher interaction to…

The aim of this practicum was to increase parent, child, and caregiver satisfaction with the university lab elementary school site's extended day care program through training of caregivers and development of appropriate activities. Two groups participated, one for preschoolers through first graders, the other for second through fifth graders.…