Preschooler Cordelia Berndt beams after receiving her diploma. (Photo submitted)
WESTFIELD – Thursday was graduation day for some of Westfield’s littlest graduates at the Children’s Corner Laboratory Preschool at Westfield High School. Eleven students ages 4 and 5 and wearing caps and gowns received their diplomas, are well-prepared for starting kindergarten in the fall.
“The preschool graduation is one of my favorite events each year. Mrs. Auclair and our student leaders make such incredible connections with the preschoolers. It’s really heart-warming and a special event for everyone involved,” said WHS Principal Charles Jendrysik after the event.
Deborah Auclair, pre-school director and high school child development I and II teacher has been with the pre-school since 2005, but her roots go back further. The pre-school started in the high school in 1973, and Auclair did her student teaching there in 1975 to 1976. “It’s a fun and unique program,” she said, offering engaging and developmentally appropriate activities to children for kindergarten, and allowing high school students who have an interest in child development to interact with the preschool children to support children’s learning.
Four years ago, the district asked Auclair what her vision was for the pre-school, which at that time ran three days a week for two and a half hours a day. She said she thought the children needed more preparation for kindergarten. Now, the laboratory preschool begins in October and goes through the end of May, and runs Mondays through Thursdays, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., with an early arrival option of 7 a.m., allowing teachers at the high school to enroll their own children there.
Auclair supervises the student teachers and leaders who come in every period of the school day to work with the children. Before participating, the students must have completed Child Development I and II, and shown competency in their knowledge of child development, theories and learning.
The focus of the laboratory school is on child readiness. Student teachers write lesson plans that are developmentally appropriate. Auclair said they have so many student teachers, 25 this year, that there is a lot of individual work done with the children with letter recognition and on phonetics.
“By the end of the year, some kids are ready to learn to read. There is a lot of individual attention and engagement, one on one,” Auclair said, adding, “Last year, one student wanted to learn cursive, which she worked on during free play.”
Auclair said the student teachers “love” engaging with the kids. Each one is assigned to one child, although they prepare lesson plans for the whole group. They document development, and write a case study by observing the skills development of that particular child throughout the year. WHS has entered into an articulation agreement with Holyoke Community College for 6 credits, because they recognize the case study work as a college-level course.
Auclair said there is a real team effort among the student teachers who share of lot of information with each other. “It’s wonderful to watch the high school students learn to appreciate the particular skills each has to offer the children,” she said, adding that one might be a great artist, another a singer, another great with motivating students for a task, or giving the group guidance.
The preschool stresses speaking only in positives in the classroom. “What you want them to do, as opposed to what you don’t want them to do,” she said.
Assistant Teacher Torrie Hodovanec receives a gift from the preschoolers and student teachers at the graduation ceremony. (Photo submitted)
Auclair also has a lead preschool teacher in her assistant Torrie Hodovanec, who looks out for the well-being of the preschoolers throughout the year, and helps guide the student teachers as to which skills a child may need to work on.
At the end of this year, the laboratory preschool had a visit from the Gateway Regional district, which is interested in modeling the program. Auclair said they were impressed by the accomplishments they saw.
For graduation, each preschooler made a painting about their favorite activities in class, and showed it to the group. “They practiced it the day before and loved it,” Auclair said.
The student teachers also get up and talk about each child. Auclair then gets to talk about each student teacher.
Auclair told the children they could keep the tassels from their graduation gowns, along with their diplomas. She said she explained to them that they will grow out of them, but the next class will need them.
Enrollment for the Children’s Corner Laboratory Preschool opens in November to the school community, and then in December to the Westfield community-at-large. If there are openings in February, Auclair said she allows children from other towns to come in. This year, one student was from Granville, she said. The yearly tuition for the program is $1,600 . ($1,800 for flexible arrival time).
More information may be found on WHS website at whs.schoolsofwestfield.org, by typing in preschool.
