High Scope lesson planning

lauriloulou · #1 08-06-2008, 01:52 PM

I just went to a week long High Scope training last week and want to make major changes in my room since I realize I'm not using it correctly. I want to focus more on planning and reviewing, have all materials available for the "do," and listen more to children's interests for small groups. Is there a forum specifically for High Scope that any of you know about?

Any other High Scope users? I didn't think I would change my mind about High Scope but I completely did! I love how developmental it is. And the lab preschool was nothing fancy (of course school is not in session), just TONS of real items and a great area to explore.

WaProvider · #2 08-06-2008, 04:00 PM

sounds cool-tell me more

lauriloulou · #3 08-06-2008, 05:42 PM

Well, it was the week long intro to High Scope and the instructor was excellent! She has been in education for 34 years and teaches many children with special needs.

She talked a lot about praising vs. encouragement and conflict resolution. I so believe in everything she said but putting it into practice will require a lot of practice. I want to read the book Conscious Discipline by Becky Bailey to help in that area.

How much do you know about High Scope? HS basically focuses on 5 key developmental indicators which focus on active learning. The heart of their curriculum is the plan-do-review process. It really is getting children to think independently and make plans, follow through with them, and then reflect on what they did during work time.

WaProvider · #4 08-06-2008, 10:48 PM

I really don't know about High Scope-but I hear about it. I like the idea of plan-do-review. Sounds like the children are very involved in all 3 sections? I liked the way that you said you were going to work on "listen (ing) more to the children in small group"-sounds a bit like the project plan we work on here.

lauriloulou · #5 08-07-2008, 09:23 AM

So, do you do themes? We did them last year, but the other lead teacher and myself want to move away from them. I mean, we still want to teach about dinos and space, etc. b/c ultimately, some kids are interested in those things, but we want a different approach with more kid directed activities instead of teacher directed.

What is your project plan?

EDUK8_ME · #6 08-07-2008, 02:43 PM

I also teach preschool in MI and we use High Scope. I still do themes but would like to get away from the weekly ones and do more extended ones. Here are some websites to check out.

http://www.prekinders.com/plan_do_review.htm

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/hi...cope_plan.html

I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Blue · #7 08-08-2008, 05:15 PM

Yeah!!!!!!!! A preschool need not be theme based to be DAP. If you see that, and are ready to move away from themes, you have reached a higher level in educating young children. Your approach to learning should be your educational goals.

If you use themes, they are the vehicle that you use to impart your concepts. I makes it easier and more fun to Count bears, read bear stories, and learn a new bear song.

When you can leave the themes behind you will use the learning areas as your lesson plan concentration:

Language and Literacy
Cognitive
Physical Health and Development
Social Emotional
Creative Arts

Almost everything you will want to teach will fall into these catagories. These are the Creative Curriculum catagories, and I think they are similar to HighScope.

WaProvider · #8 08-08-2008, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lauriloulou

So, do you do themes? We did them last year, but the other lead teacher and myself want to move away from them. I mean, we still want to teach about dinos and space, etc. b/c ultimately, some kids are interested in those things, but we want a different approach with more kid directed activities instead of teacher directed.

What is your project plan?

no i don't really do themes. I mean i have a goal - like October has the pumpkin patch trip-not for the holdiay for the produce and weights and measures. I start the idea, (This is a pumpkin), link it to other things (remember the farmers we met at market-how would you like to go to a farm), and then after the topic gets some speed I back way down and watch what the children do. Sometimes we cook, sometimes we plant and so on.

Blue · #9 08-08-2008, 05:24 PM

Allowing the children to direct the themes is called emergent curriculum, and you can find lots about that in books and on-line.

WaProvider · #10 08-08-2008, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue

Yeah!!!!!!!! A preschool need not be theme based to be DAP. If you see that, and are ready to move away from themes, you have reached a higher level in educating young children. Your approach to learning should be your educational goals.

Language and Literacy
Cognitive
Physical Health and Development
Social Emotional
Creative Arts

This is what we do----yeah!!! I present the topic-a big, round, generic topic and then the children give us the material to move forward. We place items in the room that can be used to facilitate the math part of cognitive and so on - and then the children move through it. They loose the attention and "brain gear grinding noise" when they are done and the "theme" closes and moves on.

In our program the "projects" tend to be related to the season part of the holiday theme. So for sept/oct/nov we tend to be in the woods/forest talking about animals, leaves changing, things going dormant, hibernation and so on. For Dec/jan/ we tend to talk about winter, polar bears (we live near canada) and so on. So we are teacher "bait-ed" and child lead I say.