SHAPES--an acronym for the South Plains Child Care Management Services (SpCCMS) Helping, Assisting and Preparing Educators and Staff--is also the name of a preschool readiness curriculum that is being developed for use by administrators and teachers. The first phase of the curriculum development consists of the publication of five books to be used…

This text lists crucial activities a teacher can undertake in preparation for the first day of school. The suggestions are especially helpful for beginning, transfer, and student teachers. They may also be used by experienced teachers, administrators, and teacher educators. Suggestions are organized in the format of a 60-day countdown to the first…

Eight vocational and academic classes taught by four different teachers at three comprehensive high schools were studied to identify classroom practices that facilitate teaching and learning generic skills. The teachers studied had a mix of instructional goals for students, including subject matter knowledge and skills, complex reasoning skills…

The development of a visual literacy facility, the Creative Visual Lab, at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University (New York) is described. The facility was designed to provide students with the instruction that would develop their computer proficiency and visual sensitivity without being, in itself, completely…

The classroom environment elicits social comparison behavior in which a student uses peers' performance as a gauge for his own self-assessment. Social comparison as it relates to ability is a four phase sequential process. In phase one, stimulation of social comparison is elicited through developmentally-determined cognitive capacities and motives…

Emphasizing the importance of developing a social classroom climate, this book addresses the organization of the reading/writing classroom. Nine sections: (1) present a statement of principles based on this concept of classroom organization (J. Steinle); (2) discuss scheduling the school day as an important area of teacher planning (P. Sloan and…

An outline is presented of organizational procedures that teachers can use to maximize the use of classroom time. Specific guidelines are given on how to give homework assignments, how to communicate expectations regarding student work, how to distribute instructional materials, and how to allocate time among various classroom activities. Brief…

This guide provides assistance in selecting and designing the day care center's building and grounds and in planning and arranging the center's playroom. In regard to the building and grounds, discussion considers program and support service functions, highly desirable features of buildings and grounds, playroom space, outdoor space, and…

The document describes the Pediatric Language Laboratory, a day care center which provides day care and therapeutic services to 20 mild to moderate communicatively delayed children, 1 to 4 years old. Initial sections address program philosophy; program components (diagnostics, remedial services, typical services, parent education, and community…

This Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP) report presents a comparative study of the work rates of kindergarten and first grade children in two classroom environments: a learning-center and a study-carrel environment. The subjects, seven matched pairs of kindergarten and first grade students, were chosen on the basis of the results of a…

This report contains a nine-page narrative and related materials of an Illinois project to address the problem of preparing vocational education personnel to modify the learning environment for the physically disabled. These Phase I activities are reported: (1) establishment of an advisory committee, (2) selection of project staff, (3) design of…

MATERIALS FOR BOTH ENRICHED AND ACCELERATED MATHEMATICS COURSES ARE GIVEN. THE PRESENTATION OF THE MATERIALS IS INTENDED FOR EASY ADAPTATION OF MODIFICATION TO MEET THE NEEDS OF MOST MATHEMATICS CLASSES. SUGGESTIONS AND SUPPLEMENTARY REFERENCES IN EACH UNIT ARE OFFERED AS AIDS TO THE MATHEMATICS TEACHER IN REGULAR OR ACCELERATED CLASS. UNITS…

This USMES unit challenges students to find ways to improve or set up the Design Lab for the benefit of those who use it. The teacher resource book for the Design Lab Design unit contains five sections. The first section describes the USMES approach to student-initiated investigations of real problems, including a discussion of the nature of the…

This USMES unit challenges students to find ways to make the classroom a better place. The teacher resource book for the Classroom Design unit contains five sections. The first section describes the USMES approach to student-initiated investigations of real problems, including a discussion of the nature of the USMES "challenges" and of classroom…

Teacher achievement expectation effects were investigated for third- and fourth-graders (24 boys and 24 girls, each grade) in open and traditional classrooms. The main and interaction effects of teacher achievement expectation (High/Low), class type (Open/Traditional), sex of child and grade level on students' behavior and teacher-student…