CURRICULUM GUIDE FOR S.C. TEACHER CADET COURSE | EXPERIENCING EDUCATION, TENTH EDITION
Theme I: Experiencing Learning
Unit 3: Growth and Development
Culminating Activity: Cadet Preschool Model or Cadet Preschool
Booklet
*Optional activity: (Students will complete one of the three additional culminating activities
in this unit.)
Objective: Students will be able to analyze, synthesize, and apply developmental
information relating to preschool-aged children.
Essential Question: What must preschools include? How might the physical structure of a
preschool accommodate preschool-aged children and their
development?
Activities:
1. Cadet Preschool Model: Explain to the Cadets that they will design a model preschool.
The class may be divided into small groups, with each group creating a preschool, or the
entire class can create one model preschool made of parts contributed by individuals and
pairs of students. Distribute the handout titled, “Cadet Preschool Assignment.”
2. Cadet Preschool Booklet: Or, if instructors do not want Cadets to make the preschool
models, instructors might want to give one-page assignments so that each Cadet has one
aspect about preschools to research, which could include the following: safety features of
a preschool facility, importance of play, discipline, toys, teacher/child ratio, laws. Then
everyone’s research can be assembled into a booklet, copied, and each Cadet will get
everyone else’s information from oral and/or written mini-reports.
3. Distribute copies of the handout, “What to Look for in a Preschool.” Allow the students to
have some time to begin the project and then several homework days to complete the
project outside of class.
4. When the preschool(s) is/are presented (or if mini-reports are given), invite other school
personnel and students from other classes to hear the presentations.
5. Review the handout titled, “Stages of Development—From Birth to Age Six.”
6. Instructors may want to show the 12-minute video titled, The Discipline Wheel.
Materials:
• Handout: “Cadet Preschool Assignment”
• Handout: “What to Look for in a Preschool”
• Handout: “Stages of Development—From Birth to Age Six”
• Optional: The Discipline Wheel video
• Rubric: Teacher Cadet Preschool Centers
Assessment:
You may use the rubric for the preschool model. If the booklet is assigned, assess each minireport based on criteria you establish beforehand.
Time: 1 hour to introduce assignment and allow students to select individual or small group
duties; one week outside of class to compl WFRF