Google says a case study is defined as 'a process or record of research in which detailed consideration is given to the development of a particular person, group, or situation over a period of time.' Our Advanced Early Childhood Education students at Palatine perform such a task each semester on a specified preschooler of their choice. Most of these students will continue to work with that particular preschooler the entire year (unless scheduling conflicts occur) creating the aforementioned Case Study each semester.
While all this jargon seems to sound very official and fancy here's what it means for a preschooler and his/her family: A terrific scrapbook will be created for each preschooler about his/her amazing times in our program; complete with pictures and information about his/her growth and development while in our preschool for the year. In summary, it's a great keepsake of the child's time in Pirate Pete Preschool.
What do the high schoolers do with the children as they work on their case studies?
When a high school student is not helping a child or teaching a lesson, he/she might take some time to observe the preschoolers and write down things they say and do while playing alone, with friends, other teachers or at stations during classroom activities. The goal for the high school student is to look for developmentally appropriate actions of the preschooler. A lot of young three-year-olds are finishing up their solitary play years and we look to see if they are moving in to parallel play.
Solitary play is when a child plays alone. This is something done often by choice as they are still seeing the world only through their eyes and do not like to share because the concept of someone else wanting to play with the same toy baffles them. "I want to play with that train, so you should know I am the only person who can play with the train," might be something they would say in their mind. This is why some three-year-old children still use the phrase, "MINE!"
Parallel play is the first step to leaving that solitary stage of play as they move to enjoy being near others (but still aren't ready to share.) Think of parallel lines; they do not interact with one another yet still stay closeby. This is the type of play many three-year-olds display as they join our program. When a child in this stage asks a friend to build a tower, they might head off to "play together" but are actually each building their own structures and end up arguing when they want the same block. This is NORMAL and the high schoolers look for these signs of parallel play to chart progress as the children move out of this stage and into the cooperative stage of play.
Remember on Sesame Street the 'Cooperation Song'? This concept of 'working together' is one of our goals at Pirate Pete Preschool. By the time a child enters kindergarten, they should be willing to take turns and work well with others. While no one expects perfection, sharing is a HUGE concept to not only learn how to do but WILLINGLY do it! This is where many of our daily activities and stations for games come into play. When we do a science experiment, children take turns putting the ingredients into the mix to get the volcano. Not everyone can add the baking soda or soap or vinegar to help it erupt but if we work as a team to take turns, everyone will get to enjoy the volcano in the end.
We observe the types of play the children engage in all year so we can document their progress as they learn how to interact with their peers and teachers and make sure they are ready for cooperation as they move on to kindergarten.
This is just one element of the case study. We also do various check lists to look at math skills as well as fine and gross motor skills. Math concepts are knowing numbers (kindergarten would like you to count to 10) and shape recognition (squares and rectangles and diamonds are the trickiest for the children to learn.) Fine motor skills are things like putting beads on a string and putting puzzles together while gross motor skills are skipping, balancing on one foot and kicking a ball.
We also collect samples of the child's work and look for progress in cutting, writing, drawing and painting! I could go on for days about all this case study has to offer but hopefully this has given you a taste of all we do with the children in our preschool program at Palatine High School.
What's Coming Up?
Spring Preschool Orientation is Friday, February 7th at 9:30 AM for morning preschool and 1:00 PM for afternoon preschool. An email went out to all preschoolers scheduled to attend with further details.
Our First Official Day of preschool (without parents) is Monday, February 10th with morning preschool running an extended time now of 9:30 - 11:55 and our new group of afternoon preschoolers joining us from 1:00-2:30.
On Valentine's Day: Valentine’s
Day will be celebrated with a sweet treat during snack on Friday, February 14th.
We will do a Valentine Exchange that day before they head home so please bring Valentines and label them “To: My Friend and From: Your Child’s Name.”
You DO NOT need to bring in any treats or anything that day, just the
valentines. Please let me know if you have any questions on this and if
you so choose to not have your child participate, please let me know that too. (Amounts of Valentine's have been emailed to each group of preschoolers.)
