LEP 1
Learning Environment Plan
Brittney A. Fitts
Virginia Commonwealth University
Facility and Classroom
The VCUH systems Child Care Center at Northside is housed on the ground floor of the ecofriendly, 20,600 square foot Northside Family Learning Center. It includes a gym/all purpose room and a full commercial kitchen, among other amenities. The upstairs contains the Partnership for Families Northside (PFFN), a collaborative organization that works to link families with the appropriate services and nonprofit organizations. The Northside Family Learning Center primarily serves families from the Northside of Richmond. This area contains a mixture of neighborhoods with different socioeconomic statuses (PFFN, 2013).
The VCUH systems Child Care Center is a partner with the PFFN. It is a NAEYC Accredited program and has received a 4 out of 5 star rating from Virginia QRIS. The curriculum is child directed and inspired by the Reggio Emilio approach. The majority of the students are from the Northside community, although some do travel from other areas of Richmond. Funding for the Child Care Center comes from private sources and grants. The families of the students pay tuition, however tuition assistance is available, particularly for families from the Northside community (PFFN, 2013).
The program as a whole serves children ages 6 weeks to 5 years old. It is an inclusive program, however according to what Jessica Cherebin, the assistant director, told the class on our tour, current funding does not allow additional support staff to be hired to provide accommodations. In order to provide better support for a child with known special needs, that particular classroom will have a higher ratio of teachers to students than is typical for the program. Sometimes, a student with a delay will spend additional time in a younger classroom before moving up to classroom with peers of the same age, so that he or she is in a more developmentally appropriate environment. During one of our observations, Sarah, Beth, and I were told that the office staff is willing to be part of that support system as well, by providing help if a student (or teacher) needs an alternative location in which to calm down or a take a break from the classroom activities.
This particular preschool classroom is located past two rooms for infants and toddlers, at the end of a brightly lit hallway with a blue tiled design in the floor that reflects the river theme of the building. There are sixteen students between the ages of three and five years old and two teachers. This puts the classroom ratio of teachers to students at one to eight. One of the teachers has a special education background. Currently there are no students identified as having special needs, although three children have received services in the past and been discharged. The classroom population is a mix of socioeconomic status and types of families. About 25% of the students are receiving some form of scholarship. There are two parent and single parent households represented, as well as children living with relatives other than their parents. These statistics regarding the class makeup were gathered via conversation with the teacher, Miss Heather.
Physical Environment
The classroom is divided up into sections by shelves, bookcases, and tables. Each section contains an activity center or serves a meaningful purpose in the flow of the day’s schedule. According to McWilliam and Casey, using “zone-separating furniture” (2008, p. 14) furniture in a preschool classroom to break up the center of the room prevents the middle of the room from becoming an area from becoming a place for the children to run around in and allows for better organization of centers and adult schedules (2008, p. 14). The wall to the right of the entrance is lined with a row of cubbies and coat hooks with an additional section of cubbies jutting out at the end to make an upside down “L” shape. On the other side of that section of cubbies, in that corner of the room is the block center. Following along the wall leading away from the block center is the housekeeping center and an area of shelves with manipulatives and puzzles. The rug where the class gathers to do circle and listen to books is between the manipulatives area and the wall in the corner. It is separated from door to the outside playground by a shelf of art supplies and an easel. On the wall stretching from the outside door to the next wall is the classroom library section.There is a row of windows close to the ground on the wall in the library, the perfect height for students in the classroom. This area is separated from the tables where the class eats or does small group activities by a low bookshelf and a rack of puppets. During one of my observations, one of the tables was set up as a literacy center, another as an art center, and the third with Legos.
To the left of the entrance door is a large storage closet which holds the cots used during nap time. Next to the closet is the bathroom. Rather than being a separate room, completely enclosed by floor to ceiling walls, the bathroom is separated from the rest of the classroom space by half walls. These walls are tall enough to provide appropriate privacy for the students, but low enough that one of the adults in the classroom can stand in the bathroom and still be able to monitor the rest of the classroom activity. Not only are the cubbies, shelves, chairs and tables, but also all of the fixtures in the classroom are to scale for the three to five year olds in the class, including the toilet, sink, and water fountain. Having both fun items such as toys, and necessary items such as coat hooks accessible to the children allows them independence in both enjoyable and self-help activities (McWilliam & Casey, 2008). Past the bathroom is a particularly engaging example of one of these fixtures, a table with a sink in it and access from both sides. This is the “water table”, sometimes incorporated as an activity center during center time.
The overall decorations of the room are colorful and cheerful. The students have demonstrated their emerging literacy skills by writing and attaching labels on many of the objects in the classroom. The door to the bathroom bears two of these labels, one of which says “BATROM” and the other “DOr”. [KG1]Not only are many of the windows at preschool eye level but also much of the posters and artwork. By taking the child’s perspective into consideration when displaying their work or other classroom decorations can foster important communication skills such as asking questions and prompting conversations (McWilliam & Casey, 2008). The closet door and the wall space around it are decorated at this level with posters bearing photographs of each individual child’s family. The diversity of the classroom population is reflected at the students’ eye level in these posters made with photos of each child’s family. This is not only an important consideration on the "Universal design for learning (UDL) checklist for early childhood environments" regarding materials in the environment (Cunconan-Lahur & Stifel, 2007), but also specifically listed in the DEC recommended “child-focused” practices (Wolery, 2005). [KG2]
Over all, the classroom appears to be very well organized and demonstrates many developmentally appropriate characteristics as described the layout section ofthe UDL checklist. Through my observations and photos I have seen components of all six questions asked on the layout section of this checklist. First of all the environment does “provide easy, safe, and independent access for the students to activities, spaces, equipment, and materials” (Cunconan-Lahur & Stifel, 2007, p. 3). The students are as independent as possible with the cubbies, furniture, and fixtures being an accessible size for their height. Next, except for when the cots are laid out for nap time, the pathways to each activity and space in the classroom area are wide and clear in accordance with the item from UDL checklist that requires “clear, wide paths for safe and easy movement” (Cunconan-Lahur & Stifel, 2007, p. 3). If the paths needed to be made wider to accommodate a student with limited mobility, the dividers and barriers are easily moved with the exception of the permanent fixtures of bathroom wall and water table. Furthermore, the majority of the floor is smooth hard linoleum including the paths used for traveling from space to space in the classroom as well as near the tables used for eating and small group activities. This makes theses pathways "safe and accessible" for students "on the go" (Cunconan-Lahur & Stifel, 2007, p. 3).
Many of the individual activity areas contain rugs which serve a safety, comfort, or sensory-related purpose. Near the sink and water table rugs prevent potential spilled water from making the floor slippery. An example of a rug helping to manage the “sensory related environmental considerations” of the classroom is the rug in the block area which dampens the noise of the wooden blocks on the floor (Cunconan-Lahur & Stifel, 2007, p. 3). And in accordance with another of the ULD items, the rug in the circle time area provides comfort for a “varied seating option” (Cunconan-Lahur & Stifel, 2007, p.3). Other various seating options include chairs; child sized upholstered furniture, and a large cushion. The previously mentioned cushion is located in the classroom “quiet area”, partitioned off by a two-walled wooden screen near the supply closet. This area meets the UDL requirement to provide a quiet location for students to rest or separate themselves from classroom activity (Cunconan-Lahur & Stifel, 2007). My only concern with this quiet area is that it does not seclude the student as easily from the sights and sounds of the main small group area and tables. I would add a large, easy to wash blanket for the child to cover his or her head with in order to further separate the child from the sensory input in that section of the classroom. I feel that this would also better fulfill the “reduced noise levels” of the item requiring a rest area as well as the item that refers to managing “over visual stimulation” as a sensory element in the environment (Cunconan-Lahur & Stifel, 2007, p. 3).
[KG3]
Schedule and Daily Routine
Both the written schedules and my observation of this classroom routines reflected DEC recommended practices. The daily schedule is posted in two different areas of the classroom. The first is a typed page pinned to the bulletin board at adult eye level to the right of the entrance to the classroom. It lists each activity of the day next to the time frame in which is it to take place. An example of DEC recommended practices is the specific block of 45 minutes set aside in the schedule labeled as planning time. This demonstrates that planning is occurring before implementing activities in the classroom (Wolery, 2005). [KG4]The other schedule isneatly posted on the bathroom door at the eye level of the students. It lists from top to bottom, “Planning, Breakfast, Research Time, Group Time, Snack, Outside, Lunch, Nap, Snack, and Small Group”. Next to the clearly printed sentence strips are photos showing the location or activities listed for each section of the schedule. Having these pictures along with the written words of the schedule are another example of a DEC recommended practice as it incorporates using a “visual cue system” during routines and transitions (Wolery, 2005, p. 78). Despite the presence of this picture schedule, I have not seen the teachers using it with the children. [KG5]
At this point in time, my observations have occurred on Thursdays which have a slightly different schedule as they are show and tell day. My observations have included several of the elements reflected in this schedule. The first of which is the end of breakfast and its clean up during which the students are responsible for putting their dishes in a dishpan on the cart and the trash in the trashcan providing one example of how “naturally occurring activities are used to facilitate children’s learning and development (Wolery, 2005,p. 81). Once all the students were seated on the rug, they had circle time during which the class discussed the weather and the letters of the week. To transition from circle to centers, the teacher played a game with them which was a clear example of the DEC recommended practice of transition-based teaching (Wolery, 2005). Each child was asked a question which focused either on vocabulary or oral language skills, after which he or she was permitted to pick a center.
During center time, many of the students were called over to have a turn at the literacy center where the teacher was guiding activities. The other classroom teacher sat at the art table to monitor and provide some guidance for the students doing activities there and with the Legos. Between the two teachers, all activity areas in the classroom were within their sight and earshot thus demonstrating the necessary supervision to “ensure the physical and emotional safety and security of the children” as recommended by the DEC (Wolery, 2005, p. 81). The other centers that were open, including the blocks, housekeeping, and puzzles were child directed and demonstrated how the environment of the classroom is designed ‘to encourage child-initiated learning that is not dependent on the adult’s presence (Wolery, 2005, p. 82). The students asked for help in putting on costumes from housekeeping and took “orders” for food they were pretending to prepare from the adults in the classroom, but otherwise interacted quietly and appropriately with the materials in the centers and each other.
The class was brought back together again to play a nursery rhyme game at the rug. At the conclusion of the game, the students were sent to their cubbies to retrieve their show and tell. If a student did not bring something from home, they were allowed to show off a drawing they had made or something else special from the classroom. The students were obviously used to this routine and all were excited about their turn to share. During each student’s turn, the teacher allowed them a little time to share before she started asking them questions. Her questions were tailored to each student’s needs providing an example of the DEC recommended practice of classroom practices being individualized “based on the child’s current behavior and abilities” (Wolery, 2005, p. 83). Some were questions to get the student talking in general about their show and tell, for other students, the questions focused on specific ideas. Once such idea was where the student kept the show and tell object at home, while another was what made the show and tell object special. By changing the focus of the questions asked, it allowed the teacher to meet the diverse needs of her class during the show and tell activity.
The strength in the schedule and the classroom routines lay in how the teacher managed the students. While Ms. Heather was out of the room and the other teacher was initially trying to read the book to the class, there was a lot of wiggling and chatting on the rug. One student became upset and started crying. During the time that Ms. Heather directed the nursery rhyme game or show and tell, the students were quiet and only needed a few reminders to keep their hands to themselves. Ms. Heather used the nursery rhymes to keep the students focused when going to their cubbies as well. She would give them a specific rhyme to repeat until they had returned to their spot on the rug. When the other teacher sent them to their cubbies, the students were loud and pushed, resulting in the students being called back to the rug and having to be called individually. [KG6]I feel that a more set routine for transitions that includes using a picture schedule[KG7]outlining the daily schedule that is closure to and more accessible from the circle time area as well as a reviewing of expected behavior during transition would help with transitions between activities no matter which teacher is directing it. This review could be designed as a checklist with pictures or a short rhyme or song. These two strategies would further improve how the DEC recommended practices regarding the physical and emotional safety and security of the children, and the use of visual cue systems in the structure of routines and transitions are demonstrated in the classroom (Wolery, 2005).