A lead teacher in a privately-owned preschool designed and implemented a peace education program. Primary goals of the practicum used were to provide developmentally appropriate experiences for: (1) increasing understanding of being a peacemaker; (2) gaining respect for nature and the environment; (3) showing compassion toward the exceptional…

To provide assistance to teachers attempting to implement a thematic, discovery-oriented preschool curriculum under funding conditions preventing a desirable teacher-pupil ratio, a practicum was designed to recruit and train retired senior citizens and involve them as volunteer aides in the preschool program of a church school located in the…

The project was designed to develop, implement, and evaluate an effective management system to modify and reduce inappropriate behaviors exhibited by preschool handicapped children. The writer (1) provided in-service training to school personnel to increase their expertise and skills in changing behavior, (2) encouraged parent education and…

This practicum report describes an intervention to teach preschool children to resist gender bias. The stated intervention objectives were as follows: (1) children will exhibit a 20 percent reduction in gender-stereotyped behaviors as measured by experimenter observation; (2) at least 20 percent of children will demonstrate an understanding of…

A prekindergarten teacher working in a private elementary day school developed and implemented a prosocial behavior program designed to improve the social behavior of prekindergarten students. The program focused on decreasing the incidence of 10 behaviors: (1) pouting; (2) hitting; (3) yelling indoors; (4) interrupting; (5) whining; (6) ignoring…

A school psychologist implemented a practicum designed to increase the prosocial behaviors of children attending a preschool center that integrated handicapped (N=26) and nonhandicapped (N=22) children. Observations had indicated that many of the children at the center were unable to work and play with others without hitting and getting hurt in…

The director of a not-for-profit nursery school adapted the adult stress management techniques of exercise and relaxation for use with 3- to 5-year-old children. Specifically, children were taught visualization techniques and yoga exercises involving deep breathing. The goal of the practicum was to rechannel children's negative stress-related…

This practicum report describes the implementation and evaluation of a substance abuse prevention curriculum in a Florida preschool. It was expected that, as a result of the implementation of the curriculum, children would improve in their ability to identify drugs; would increase their self-esteem; and would improve their peer relations. It was…

A preschool director designed and implemented a classroom safety curriculum plan to increase the safety knowledge of preschool children. Implemented for 10 weeks, the plan consisted of classroom lessons, hands on practice, and activities for music, art, and language development. Parent education articles were sent home to reinforce what the…

This practicum report addresses the need to supply Head Start teachers with: (1) specific preschool music objectives; (2) a sequential preschool developmental program in music to match the child's cognitive level; (3) how to choose instructional material to encourage specific basic school readiness skills; and (4) workshops to accomplish these…

A practicum was developed to assist prekindergarten teachers present a whole language approach in their already developmentally appropriate classes. Six teachers from three classrooms serving 63 four- and five-year-old children participated in on-site training and weekly consultations. The teachers were all experienced paraprofessionals with Child…

A parent-resource teacher working in a public elementary school's Child Parent Center for preschool children in Chicago, Illinois, implemented a series of reading readiness training workshops for parents, preschool children, teachers, and teacher aides. These workshops were designed to increase disadvantaged black preschool children's reading…

A practicum designed to facilitate the transition of Head Start children to kindergarten was implemented by the education coordinator of a Head Start program. The program served 945 poverty-level children in 35 classrooms and 20 home-based sites in 35 school districts in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Practicum goals were to prepare children for…

The effects of two training sequences on the development of young children's logical operations and number concepts, including rational counting strategies, were investigated. Forty-five preschool children, aged 3.11 to 4.10, were randomly assigned to two treatment groups and one control group. Subjects in the treatment groups received training…

Because no program existed in the Pottstown, Pennsylvania area which allowed children and senior citizens to interact in mutually beneficial ways, a practicum was designed to implement an intergenerational program in an elementary school attended by 540 students in grades K through 5. The intervention consisted of monthly meetings with volunteers,…