The High Scope Demonstration Preschool

Recently, I was able to go to the High Scope Demonstration Preschool in Ypsilanti for a PD day! I was pretty excited to check it out and to compare/contrast my classroom and experience with theirs. There is only one classroom and they are right next to a large beautiful building, which I know contains the High Scope Store.
When we first came in the morning. we were able to go into the classroom, while the teachers were taking questions and preparing for class. We could take pictures and look at all of the items they had. Next, we watched their entire half-day of class in the room connected to the classroom; the children didn't know we were in the other room and couldn't see us. There were cameras in the classroom and we were able to watch their day on a TV screen. After the children and teachers went outside, we were taken over to the High Scope Foundation building and were able to purchase items from the store. We came back to the room we were in after all of the children were dismissed. The teachers came into the room with us, discussed their day with each other, planned for the following day in front of us, and took any questions we had. I asked one question and that was: "How many items are too many items to have in the classroom?" That was my current struggle with clean up being long and items not being out away. One of the High Scope teachers said that they have items that they switch in and out to accommodate the children's interests, but I was looking for more concrete answers, but it still helped. Another important question that one of my colleagues asked was about their schedule (which you will see in the pictures below); their schedule is not completely accessible to the children and she was asking if their classroom got marked down on the PQA (Preschool Program Quality Assessment) for it. One of the High Scope teachers made a great point: The assessor of the PQA must be aware of their interpretations of what is and is not High Scope and to read the PQA carefully. It doesn't say that the children must have access to the daily schedule, only that it is posted. Lastly, it was really nice to see their swift collaboration with planning. It is important that you work well with your co-teacher, and it seemed that they did. They didn't switch groups, but they discussed the children's interests and what they plan on doing next to further that. They collaborated most with easy to join songs, greeting time, and large group. During the day, they did a lot of songs to get the children motivated. I will discuss their daily schedule more below.

I really enjoyed this experience though and we received a copy of their lesson for the day. This was a free experience that you can schedule to go to and experience. I highly recommend!!

Here are the pictures I attempted to take of the classroom (my phone camera isn't the best):

The sign right outside of the preschool building.

This is a part of the toy area, with marble contraptions, dice, rocks, plastic connector pieces, small manipulatives, and I really enjoyed that they had a live plant available.

Adjacent to the first toy area shelf is the second one. Again, more maipulatives and plant items. The yellow items are "Work in Progress" signs that the children can put by their work (available at the store and online), slinkys, pegs, Magna Tiles, and more connector items.

They also had a Lego table with Legos available across from the second toy area shelf. This is where is starts becoming the block area.

This is in the middle of the block area; a wood house and wooden house items. You can see that a child left these cars from the day prior. 

Here is the daily schedule posted with a movable arrow to indicate where they are at in the day. These cardboard cylinders are also located in the block area, the white basket contains books and next to those are large wooden building blocks.

These steering wheels are located on top of a block area shelf, which is below. The wooden steering wheels are available to purchase at their store and online. 

Here is the block area shelf (the wooden toy house is on the opposite side). There are smaller blocks, trains, people and a real items available.

This is what the first teachers plan for small group and planning that day. The baskets contained toilet paper rolls, tin foil, yarn, scissors, and tape; they made rockets with these items, by taping the yarn from two different ends (wall and table), wrapping the tin foil around the roll and putting the yarn through the roll so that it can slide down the yarns length. The children put their own together and picked where they wanted to launch their rockets in the room. As some children finished up, the teacher planned with those children with the hula hoop. The hula hoop has pictures of each area and some of the children continued the rocket activity throughout work time as their plan. As for recall, the teacher took short videos of each child doing their plan and played them back during recall at the table. Their table is next to the sink on the left, in front of and next to the art area on the right and adjacent to the block area.

Here is the sink area next to the first teacher's table, with smocks next to it accordingly. 

This is their message board, which they covered each message up with each number and did it backwards. The teacher held this up as she sat with them at the carpet during greeting time.

Along the wall were more wooden blocks which extended next to the carpet area. Some of their art work is also posted on the windows.

Another block area shelf across from the other one, adjacent to the wall of large wooden blocks. I thought these were really neat and wouldn't mind having them in my classroom.

Here are more items for the block area; these are blocks with pictures of community buildings and their homes.

Adjacent to the last block area shelf starts the house area shelves and items. On the top right corner of the picture, you can see where they stored their 3 step cleaning bottles (out of reach!). They also have their small group posted on the wall (this would be the second small group). They also have different types of artwork and photos of the class posted around the room. The red tray contains her prepared small group items; they worked with bleeding tissue paper and water. The children were able to pick a place to do this where they wanted for small group (some went on the floor near the table and some stayed at the table; there were tables available in case of a spill).  This shelf contained measuring cups, baby bottles, diapers, and baby clothes.

To the right of that shelf is another house area shelf. This contained sunglasses, ties, cell phones, utensils, necklaces, and purses.

To the right of that kitty-corner house area shelf is the clothes rack, with different community gear and relevant clothing. There is also this folded box because this shelf divides the house area and block area.

To the left of the first house area shelf was their second table and the tissue paper they used. For her planning, she used brown paper bags and each child received one to put an item in that they planned to play with. Behind the table continued the house area items; diverse baby dolls, fake flowers, flashlights, party hats, paper cups and plates. 

To the left of the second table is a large house area shelf. The picture is really blurry, but on the other side of this is the door where the parents and children enter. Below is a better close up picture of the items on this tall shelf.

Here is a much better picture of some of the items on this house area shelf. 

Across from the the second table are wooden house area cabinets with pots and pans. The thing at the top is a trash can.

Add the end of the cabinets are two containers, one with plastic gems and the other has corks. 

Further across from the second table and next to the house area play cabinets is the sensory table area. I love this contraption and want it! They have added different things to it, such as the bins and the gutter pieces. The children can add and take away from it; experimenting at its finest!

Next to the sensory contraption, there is a shelf with scales, tubing, shovels, and magnetic wands.

Adjacent to the sensory table begins the book area and they included the puzzles and musical items in the book area.

Here is the rest of the book area. There is a couch and large stuffed animals, books, puppets, and fine motor/writing items on the other shelf (see below).

Here is the other book area shelf. It has a keyboard, wooden letters and numbers, white boards/markers/erasers, pencils, pencil sharpeners, paper and stamps. 

On the other side of the tall house area shelf and to the right of the book area is where everyone comes in for the day. Here is a shelf with all of their baskets, each one labeled with their name and letter-link.

Across from the baskets is the parent board with a bunch of information, including lesson plans, what's happening in the classroom and health information.

Their schedule is posted and then the daily plan is posted below. 

This is their "crisis bag" in case of emergencies. This is right next to the door.

On the opposite side of the sensory table, to the right of the first table is the art area. Here is where the children can pick different paper items and get paint of their level.

Here is an art area shelf with available tools for them, such as staplers, tape, and glue. There are also different types of stamps here.

More art area items that they can use. A lot of different types of crafts and manipulatives here as well. There are also diverse coloring utensils too.

This is behind the first table; lots of artwork posted around the room, again. There is the first small group's names posted on the wall as well.

Here is my sloppy rendition of the classroom area set-up :).

This is a worksheet they gave us, which details their daily schedule more in depth.

Their daily schedule lessons for the day:
Below are my notes about what they did throughout the day, which the teachers utilized the COR lesson planning tool online to also show a more detailed lesson for the day. These are unique ideas that suit the children in their classroom and where the children are going developmentally.

Greeting Time: As the parents entered into the classroom, the majority (if not all) of the parents stayed and joined their child as the carpet to read books. One of the teachers greets the families/children as they come in and the other teacher is at the carpet with the other families/children. When Greeting Time was going to start, the teachers began to sing: 

"It's time to put the books away, books away, books away" (x2)

"and read the Message Board"

This was to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus." Then the children sat on the carpet (there were X's on the carpet where they were supposed to sit) and some parents stayed still. The teacher said "Everybody put your finger in the air and wave good morning to your neighbor!" The children began to do that. To get their focus back the teachers said/did: 

"Hands go up in the air, hands go down to the ground." (x2)

"Grab a star [reaching to the ceiling], and pull it down [putting hands into their laps]."

If there was a moment where the children became unfocused then they said "Grab your star and put it in your lap." The white sat on the floor with the teachers and the children. The messages had a paper over each of them and had a number on the outside. The teachers explained that they were going to read the messages in reverse. At one point a child screamed and the teacher said "I wonder if there's a problem because you're screaming." I thought this was a good tool to remember.They also began to sing the words "Message number 1" to a Farmer in the Dell tune. The first message was about how many days home they would have and the second message was about who was songbook. 

Transition: Next, they announced their transition to large group and starts a beat by clapping on their knees and sang "Down Came a Little Girl." Then they did their songbook song. 

Large Group: Their large group involved dancing with scarves to fast and slow music. The teachers and children attempted to move fast and slow to the beat of the music playing and then they extended this activity by having the children try the opposite (move fast when the beat is slow). 

Transition: The transition on their lesson plan was different than what they did in class. On the plan, it says that they would transition by the color of the scarf they had. They actually transitioned by rhyming the children's names. 

Small Group: I have described both small group activities above in the pictures. One group did tissue paper bleeding and the other group did rocket ship building; they showed the children what the activity was, gave each child their own set of materials, did the activity with them, and then went to each child during this activity. 

• Small Group 1: During the rocket ship building, the teacher helped with the tape, let the children add materials, and comments on each child's work. He also told the children to "sit" at the start, but later the children were able to put their rockets anywhere in the room. 
• Small Group 2: During the tissue paper bleeding small group, the teacher let the children pick an area where they wanted to do the activity (she didn't announce this, but let it happen). One child chose the floor, and some water spilt; she said "It looks like you have some water on the ground" and she grabbed a towel. She extended this activity with paint bushes and paper. 

Planning: When some of the children finished early, the teacher began to plan with them individually. Small Group 1 used a hula-hoop with area pictures attached to plan and Small Group 2 filled paper bags with an item they planned on playing with.  

Work Time: The teachers participated in play with the children and attempted to extend play while handling conflicts. During a conflict resolution issue, one of the teachers said "we can solve the problem together." There was also a child who did not want to do Conflict Resolution and kept walking away, so the teacher said she would attempt to talk to him again at a different time. The teachers gave a five minute warning before clean up time was going to happen.

Clean Up: The teachers began to sing/do "hands covering your eyes" to get the children's attention (I don't have a tune for this one); one of the teachers asked "Who is five in here?" Of course, some of the children shouted "me!" or said "I'm four!" So the teacher explained that he is going to give everyone a "clean up ticket" with the number of their age on it; they will use this ticket to clean up that many items in the room. "If you're five, clean up five things;" "If you're four, clean up four things." At one point, there was a child not cleaning up; one of the teachers told him "Our job is not to be at the window, it's time to clean up right now." 

Transition: In the tune of Frere Jacques, the Small Group 1 teacher began to sing: "Time for recall at your table." While at the Small Group 2 table, the teacher got their attention by saying movements in the tune of Open-Shut Them; "Let's put our feet under the table [stomping], let's put our hands on the table [tapping fingers]."

Recall: Small Group 1 teacher took videos of the children doing their plan during work time and played them back to the children; the children guessed who it was and what their plan was. The teacher from Small Group 2 gave the children telephone-cups, and the children paired up to share what they did during Work Time with the person on the other line. 

Snack Time: The teachers retrieved the food for snack, participated in eating snack with the children and having conversations; the teachers also read a book to the children while they ate snack at their table. 

Outside/Dismissal: The teachers helped the teacher put on their outside gear and they lined up to go outside. We did not really see what activities they did or how the teachers interacted with the children outside. The parents picked up from outside as well. The lesson plan lists specific materials that I am sure they used (bikes, balls, blocks, parachute).

Teacher Planning: After all of the children left, the teachers came into our room and planned right in front of us. As I have mentioned above, they did their own plan for their small group and did not switch activities and it seemed to be off of the children's interests in their group. The teachers planned to leave extra materials out in the art area, if the other children in the opposite group were interested in the activities done. 

Lastly, we received a folder of goodies! Here is a list of items inside the folder:

• Play as an Intervention: How to Engage Young Children With Special Needs - 6 Strategies for Using Play Effectively [Special Needs & Play]
• High Scope Preschool Curriculum Overview [Preschool Curriculum]
• High Scope Preschool Curriculum Content (KDI sheet; English & Spanish)
• High Scope Information Sheet
• Tools for Successful Conflict Resolution Quick Sheet
• Pad of Paper and Pen
• The High Scope Demonstration Preschool Daily Routine /FAQs about the Preschool
• The High Scope Demonstration Preschool COR Lesson
• COR Advantage Overview Booklet
• High Scope Membership Information [High Scope Free Membership]
• High Scope Professional Learning List 2015-2016 
• Evaluation and Technical Assistance Services & The Center for Early Education Evaluation (CEEE) Information Sheet
• Resource Guide - High Scope Booklet
• High Scope International Conference [Registration]
• "Lesson Plans for the First 30 Days" 3 Day Preview
• Material Ads

For more information about the High Scope Demonstration Preschool: High Scope Demonstration Preschool Program

Assessment: Anecdotal Notes & Child Observation Record (COR Advantage)

I can't claim that I know everything about COR Advantage (Child Observation Record), but I give you some insight. Based on my education, I was shown various ways to assess young children, which included anecdotal notes. It really paid off that we were forced to practice, practice, and practice how to do these appropriately (shout out to EMU ECE Teachers!). Of course, there are some differences between taking anecdotal notes and taking anecdotal notes for COR [that I have experienced]. Let's break this down a little bit...

What are anecdotal notes?
These are short concise notes taken by you when you are observing young children; it is the record of something a child has done. These are factual (objective and without interpretation), and include listed background information for context.

What is the contextual information included?
If you are doing regular anecdotal notes appropriately, then you should include some things (hopefully I haven't forgotten anything ;)): child's name, child's age (year:months), date, time, location in the room, background description of the activity, the anecdotal note.

What is an example of an anecdotal note?
Child's name: Rose
Child's age: 4:3
Date: 2/16/16
Time: 10:25 a.m. - 10:27 a.m.
Location: The house area
Background Description: Rose and eight other children sat at the table for lunch. The teacher sat at a smaller red table next to them as they all ate lunch. 
Note: Rose looked at the teacher sitting at a small red table and said "Look! The teacher is too big for the table guys!" She began to laugh. The teacher replied, "It's actually the same height as your table." Rose replied back, "This one (pointing to the table she is sitting at) is just longer."

What are Key Developmental Indicators?
The High Scope Curriculum has "Key Developmental Indicators," which is High Scope's way of saying what a developmental milestone or goal is. The KDIs are apart of their curriculum content.
More information: Key Developmental Indicators

What is COR Advantage?
COR stands for Child Observation Record and it is a type of assessment that was made to go along with the High Scope Curriculum, but it is not exclusive to it. The age ranges for this tool goes from infancy to kindergarten. The COR content areas correlate exactly with the content areas for the KDIs, but are not exactly the same within the break down of each area. There are eight areas, plus an additional English Language Learning area added if you have ELL children (not included in the KDIs). The other eight areas are: Approaches to Learning, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development and Health, [Language, Literacy, and Communication], Mathematics, Creative Arts, Science ad Technology, and Social Studies. Within the breakdown of each content area in COR is the scoring system to this assessment; it ranges from 0 to 7, with the increasing number representing the increase of complexity. Each score represents a specific key concept that the child might meet and usually ranges near their age (i.e. a 4 year child might have scores between 3 and 5 in areas), but this is not always true.

How do you score a child with COR Advantage?
First, make sure you get your hands onto a COR scoring guide ("desk reference"), which lists the content areas, each areas breakdown of key concepts and the score beside it. This is when you start taking anecdotal notes of each child throughout your daily schedule and becoming familiar with each key concept near the child's age (a good starting point). Once you take notes, you can compare where the child is at developmentally [according the High Scope ;)].
Example:
Note: During work time at the art area, Rose used her tripod grasp to write her first name on the painting she made, and then put it on the drying rack. She said "I painted my mommy." The picture had a circle for a body and head, two eyes, two arms, and two legs.
Score: R. Writing 3 - Child writes discrete letter-like forms.
           J. Fine-Motor Skills 5 - Child uses a tripod grasp to write or draw a letter.
           X. Art 4 - Child makes simple representations with a few details.
You can see that the scores vary for the child and in my head, I made up a note that would be for our four year old make-believe Rose. What is nice is that you can use one note and have multiple scores for it. The goal is to complete one note for each content area for every child; yes that is a lot!!

Where do you score it at?
Well, I have no idea how everyone else's program is or if it is included when you purchase the COR Advantage assessment system, but I do all of my scoring online. I take my notes by writing them down and use the desk reference of the scoring guide to help me see what key concepts I should be looking for throughout the day. I usually put the notes in during nap time and I have done them at home before as well. I have a login for COR Advantage, given to me by my director. At the start of the year, you will need to add in every child to your login page. To add your notes, once you log in, click the child you want to add the notes in for and then click the "Anecdotes" tab. From there you can enter them by clicking on the tab or looking at every note you have entered already by clicking on the "Manage" tab. There are also a lot of other neat tools on this webpage; it can generate different types of reports, progress and score trackers, as well as lesson plans and you are able to invite their families to see the notes you put in (not the scores).

What is the difference between regular anecdotal notes and COR notes?
 Both of my anecdotal note examples above are two examples of the difference between regular anecdotal notes and the way COR notes should be. As you can see, the regular anecdotal notes are more detailed and give a better context to what is going on and who the child is. Two questions above, you can see my example of a COR note; you briefly list the area and general time, but there are no details about a descriptive context, age or time. When you enter the note online, it gives a date, but that is it. COR notes are much more simpler and help to have a faster input, but the regular anecdotal notes are more detailed and defined. While generally, the person who just uses regular anecdotal notes probably uses other ways to document and doesn't have a deadline to input 34-36 notes per child multiple times a year.

Overall, it is important to have assessment in your classroom, whether you are using a planned scoring system or doing your own documentation. It is important that you are able to truly assess your children's development and able to speak to it as well.  I like COR because it helps with showing me where they are higher or lower developmentally and that can help me plan more effectively for each child. On the flip side, some of the key concepts seem out of order or are not connected in a step-fashion. Either way, once you get to know the children in your classroom, then you can see where they do need help. and assessment guides the way.

The Daily Schedule

The daily schedule helps provide predictability for young children and for teachers! It is important to have a daily schedule set in place so you are able to plan effectively. The catch is that it needs to be developmentally appropriate for the age group you teach. During this school year, I have had to make several adjustments to make it appropriate and I am sure there are more unseen or new mandates that I will have to include in the future. Since I am in GSRP and use High Scope, I have to mesh both of these things together to have a schedule that is appropriate and reflects what they desire. In addition, there is common language/words used for High Scope to describe parts of the day and the schedule is not meant to be changed (to prove that predictability and stability for children). In my schedule, the time is listed, the High Scope language is used, and there is a description of what goes on during most of these activities (reflective of the GSRP example). Below I have posted my Outdoor Daily Schedule for full-day:

Outdoor Daily Schedule

(Subject to change based on special activities)

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.               Breakfast (Upon Arrival)

9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.               Greeting Time

Greeting time provides a smooth transition from home to school. Teachers greet children, connect with parents, and read books in a cozy setting. The message board gives children and teachers a chance to share important information for the day. Parents often join us for this part of our day.

9:15 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.               Large Group

Children and teachers gather together to play games, tell and re-enact stories, sing songs, do finger plays, dance, play musical instruments or re-enact special events. This time is an opportunity for each child to participate in a large group, sharing ideas and learning from the ideas of others.

9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.               Small Group Time

Each teacher meets with their consistent small group of children to work with materials planned and introduced by the teacher. Although the teacher chooses and introduces the materials, each child has control over what he/she will do with them.

9:45 a.m. - 9:55 a.m.               Planning Time

In their small-groups, children indicate what they choose to do during work time (typically what they will do first). Their teacher will try to understand children’s plans and often try to help children extend their plans.

9:55 a.m. – 10:55 a.m.              Work Time

Children carry out their initial and subsequent plans. Children can work with any of the materials in any of the interest areas. Teachers observe children and look for opportunities to enter into children’s activities to encourage their thinking, extend their play, and help them wrestle with problem-solving situations.

10:55 a.m. – 11:05 a.m.             Clean Up Time

Children and teachers together return materials and equipment to their storage spaces and, when appropriate, put away or find display space for their personal creations.  

11:05 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.             Recall Time

Recall brings closure to the planning–work time–recall sequence. In their small-group, children reflect on, talk about, and/or show what they have done at work time.

11:15 p.m. – 11:25 p.m.             Get Cots Ready/ Prepare for Lunch

11:25 a.m. – 11:35 a.m.             Get Ready for Outside

11:35 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.             Outside Time

Children engage in vigorous, noisy outdoor play. Teachers participate in, and support, children’s play outdoors.

12:05 p.m - 12:10 p.m.             Transition from outside

12:10 p.m. – 12:40 p.m.             Lunch

Children and teachers share nutritious food and interesting conversation together in a relaxed, family-style manner.

12:40 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.              Nap   

2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.               Quiet Play on Cots

2:30 p.m. – 2.40 p.m.               Put Cots Away/Get Ready for Outside

2:40 p.m. – 3:10 p.m.               Outside Time

Children engage in vigorous, noisy outdoor play. Teachers participate in, and support, children’s play outdoors.

3:10 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.               Transition from outside

3:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.               Snack/Dismissal

Children and teachers share nutritious food and interesting conversation together in a relaxed, family-style manner.

Of course, like I said, my schedule is not perfect and I have had to adjust it. Now, I did not make HUGE adjustments, but these are things that you should let the children know about before you do it, (especially if they are very different); preferably, your schedule should be set at the beginning of the year but sometimes it just needs to be adjusted anyway. I have had to move my afternoon outside time to make for an easier transition and dismissal, and I have also had to move my outside time in the morning to later because of a GSRP mandate (must not be more than 3 hours apart from afternoon gross-motor/outside). In addition, Work Time must be at least 60 minutes for GSRP, but only at least 45 minutes for High Scope. Overall, I think the schedule works well for my children and it only becomes difficult when it has to be adjusted when the weather is bad or it's too cold. For that, I have two additional schedules because our classroom has to share a gym with a elementary and middle school. It also really stinks that we have to rely on others to deliver our lunch carts because they are generally late, which can make our schedule funky (but only slightly). Luckily we have our daily schedule posted on the board, as it should be [posted]. I personsonally made our schedule cards and attached magnets, so I can easily adjust their spots. You can find a photo of them on the board in the other post I have written: About My Classroom.

For more information about the High Scope Daily Schedule, see: High Scope Daily Routine
For more information about the GSRP Daily Schedule, see: GSRP Sample Schedule