Welcome to our web site and our school!
The School for Young Children is a laboratory school for Saint Joseph College and a Model Lab School for the Sate Department of Education. We provide two years of high quality preschool programming for young children prior to their age of eligibility for Kindergarten as defined by the State of Connecticut.
We have three primary goals as we approach each new day at the School.
- The first is to give each child who attends a warm, home-like
environment that supports their physical,
emotional,
cognitive and social development. - The second is to support the development of college students at Saint Joseph College and surrounding two and four year colleges. We offer classes on site and provide opportunities for classroom observation and supervised student teaching internships. We also support this through the modeling of the exemplary teachers at SYC.
- The third goal is to support improved teaching practice in the field of early education in Connecticut and beyond. We offer tours of the school, a resource room, many workshops, an annual symposium and advocacy on early childhood issues. We also pilot assessment tools, and distribute a bi-annual newsletter.
As a Sister of Mercy institution, the School is focused on making sure that the program is accessible to students from a range of economic circumstances and students with a range of abilities. We support low income families with scholarships and we support the integration of students with special needs.
Web Site
Our web site is updated with classroom happenings, teachers' favorite activities, calendar happenings and other information for parents and professionals. If you are reading this, you found your way here!
Connecticut Preschool Benchmarks and Assessment Tool
Our teachers identify benchmarks in their weekly plans and they post their goals for parents and visitors. In addition they keep notes, pictures and other documentation to support their observations of children. We use the Benchmarks in many ways here at the School.
How do we use them? Here are ways you will see the benchmarks used:
- On weekly planning sheets
- In parent-teacher conferences
- Posted on documentation panels about activities at The School for Young Children
- On our web site
- In our presentations to parents about curriculum
These goals have improved planning and assessment here at the School.
Keefe-Bruyette Symposium on Early Learning - Teaching Math
Annually The School for Young Children hosts a symposium for practicing teachers. Each year the focus is on teaching science and math skills for young children. A national speaker is invited to deliver a keynote address and facilitate morning and afternoon workshops. Multiple teacher workshops are facilitated throughout the day's event.
A Model of Integration for Children with Special Needs
Saint Joseph College's School for Young Children has always worked to integrate children with special needs into the program. Beginning in 2001, SYC gave special consideration for enrollment to children with special needs. Our special education students make up about 15% of our population. The School works closely with towns and other service delivery agents to provide a comprehensive program for children with special needs.
Piloting educational and research initiatives
Receptive Language Growth Project
The School for Young Children has been collecting data about growth in children's receptive vocabulary both here and at a number of other School Readiness sites. A sample of children are given the Peabody Picture Vocabulary test at the beginning of the school year and then six months later. We have found significantly higher language growth in low-income children in economically heterogeneous sites, than low-income children in homogeneous sites (Schechter, 2002, see "What's New" for a copy of the study).
~Diane Morton
