Tag: Phebe Anna Thorne School

Praxis Course: Thorne School Practicum

Semester: Spring 2026

Faculty Advisor/Professor: Jodie Baird

Community Partner: The Phebe Anna Thorne School

Praxis Site Supervisor: Jodie Baird

Praxis Poster:

PSYCH 215 Josie_Internicola_Tools to touch on

 

Further Context:

This semester, I had the wonderful opportunity to work in the Phebe Anna Thorne school’s mixed-age afternoon preschool class. Each week, I spent three hours with this group of children, whose ages ranged from four to five years old, assisting them in navigating social interactions and difficult emotions through play. I also supported their teachers in organizational tasks such as managing scheduling transitions and classroom materials. During the seminar portion of the Thorne School Practicum: Bridging Research and Practice course, my classmates and I were exposed to fresh perspectives on child development and early childhood education. As a class, we discussed our views on the material and how we could apply it to our experiences working with young children. At our placements, we were encouraged to observe and process our interactions with the Thorne students through the lens of our newly acquired knowledge.

The Thorne philosophy is centered around fostering independence and prosocial behavior in its students through play. As our poster suggests, teachers at Thorne take an autonomy-supportive approach in guiding the children’s development of such skills. Therefore, Thorne classrooms are child-centered spaces in which the educators take on the role of “model peers,” joining the children in their learning process beside them, instead of above them. We encourage the students to explore the bounds of their environment and experiment through risky play, ask questions about their conduct instead of prohibitive commands, and more.

As a future elementary school teacher, I feel beyond thankful for this experience. Among many things, this course has taught me to find my authentic voice as an educator. Each week, I look forward to seeing my students and the lovely, warm teachers in the mixed-age classroom. I hope to create a classroom environment filled with as much joy and delightful chaos as theirs in the future. It is such a privilege to take a course centered around doing what I love most, connecting with children and supporting them in their development. Thank you to everyone— my classmates, professor, and placement teachers, for contributing to this wonderful, engaging course.

Praxis Course: Thorne School Practicum: Bridging Research and Practice

Semester: Spring 2026

Faculty Advisor/Professor: Jodie Baird

Community Partner: Phebe Anna Thorne School

Praxis Site Supervisor: Jodie Baird

Praxis Poster:

PSYCH 215 Josie_Internicola_Tools to touch on

 

Further Context:

Through my Praxis Course this semester, I had the opportunity to work at the Phebe Anna Thorne School, where I was placed with the mixed-age afternoon class at the preschool on Bryn Mawr’s campus. The Thorne school’s relationship with the Bi-Co was a big draw for me when I was considering attending Haverford, but I hadn’t been able to find time to work at the school up until this semester. When I saw that this Praxis course (Thorne School Practicum: Bridging Research and Practice) offered the chance to combine working at the preschool with learning about early childhood psychology and education, I knew I had to take it. In class every week, we were able to explore various pedagogical approaches to preschool
education, as we discussed research and readings done outside of class, conducted conversations with early education practitioners of several kinds, and shared and reflected upon our own experiences from placement at the Thorne School.

The Thorne School follows a play-based and autonomy-supportive teaching practice, focused on students’ social-emotional development. My placement entailed spending three hours a week in the mixed-age classroom, where I worked with kids aged four- and five-years-old. I built relationships with the students; facilitated play, learning, and inter-personal dynamics; and assisted the teachers with organizational and programmatic tasks. Throughout the semester, I was able to develop my own educational skills, learning from my professor and peers in class, the preschool teachers I worked with, and the students I was assigned to. I learned more about the value of a play-based education, as I got to witness its benefits first-hand, and I found myself growing more intentional as an educator, thinking deeply about everything from my language to my pedagogical approach to learning and teaching. I was especially influenced by my exploration of autonomy-supportive learning and risky play at Thorne, as I was able to witness an environment in which students were encouraged to practice independence, develop confidence and appropriate self-reliance, and make choices for themselves. One example of this comes from the fact that kids could pretty much play with whatever they wanted to for however long they wanted to each day, rather than relying on teachers’ instructions or preferences. Getting to be a part of this setting expanded my understanding of what kids are capable of and provided an example for how I, as an educator, can actively care for children while simultaneously giving them the space they need to grow and flourish.

I feel incredibly grateful for the experiences and knowledge that I’ve gained as a result of this Praxis Course. The Phebe Anna Thorne School is a wonderful place, with welcoming teachers whom I could look up to as educators and remarkably kind students whom I was excited to see each week. The environment of learning and love fostered at Thorne is one that I hope to emulate in my own journey as an early childhood educator, and I know that I’ll keep this course and placement in mind as I continue to
explore education through a psychological, practical, and community-oriented lens.

Praxis Course: PSYC215 Thorne School Practicum

Semester: Spring 2026

Faculty Advisor/Professor: Jodie Baird

Community Partner: Phebe Anna Thorne School

Praxis Site Supervisor: Jodie Baird

Praxis Poster:

PSYCH 215 Praxis Poster - Camille Hart and Mckayla Reyer

 

Further Context:

Camille Hart:
My time at the Phebe Anna Thorne school will not be something I forget. I have always loved spending time with children but this placement showed me that not only do I want to continue working with children in a professional sense, I can. My future is not in education but in medicine where working with children can be very difficult. However, this placement opened my eyes to ways that I can make things like trips to the doctor less stressful and scary for preschool aged children.

For my Praxis Poster presentation, my partner, Mckayla Reyer, and I took a deeper dive into anti-bias education (ABE). This form of teaching is based around the idea that children will notice differences, whether we want them to or not. For instance, some parents and teachers try to help their students become something known as “color blind” where they believe their child doesn’t see a difference in race. However, this doesn’t promote equity, it promotes suppression. This is a form of teaching that helps children become comfortable with differences, able to identify when something isn’t fair, and feel comfortable in speaking up for themselves and others against inequity. Inequity is highly emphasized here, not inequality. Equality would give everyone the same things but that is not how people are. At lunch, would you give the same amount of food to a toddler and a teenager? Equity is important because it meets each child where they are and teaches a version of “fairness” that is not based on quantity.

Thorne school implements ABE in many different ways, some that are obvious, and some that are a little less visible. While classrooms may not represent every difference a child can have, the books in the classroom do their best. There are books with children from a multitude of different ethnicities, family styles, visible disabilities, food, religions, etc. Teachers use language that promotes the acceptance of difference at every opportunity. At snack time, it is common to hear a teacher identify the differences and similarities that are found in the children’s food. When a child says or does something that lets teachers know that they have been influenced by some sort of bias, teachers will gently step in and help guide the student to a different way of thinking. For example, I watched one day as a child explained to another that their food is weird and gross. With a little guidance from the teacher, these two students engaged in a conversation about how there are some foods they like and some they do not and that is okay.

My time at Thorne was an incredible experience and I hope that others choose to work here in the future.

Mckayla Reyer:
The Phebe Anna Thorne Practicum has been a very insightful and engaging course. It has been so exciting to connect the theories and discussions we have in class to our experiences in the classroom, and I have gained several practical skills that I will carry on to the next steps of my life and my career. My favorite part of this course has been building relationships with the
students at Thorne, and my placement visits have often been the highlights of my week! I am grateful to have gained more experience with this particular age group, as I hope to teach in early education after graduating.

A specific topic I got to look deeper into was Anti-Bias Education (ABE), with my classmate Camille Hart. ABE is an approach to teaching that addresses equity, diversity, and justice in developmentally appropriate and engaging ways. This helps students strengthen the social and
emotional skills to confront stereotypes, bias, and discrimination. Exploring how Thorne implements an ABE approach has been particularly helpful in understanding how these often complicated topics can be taught in PreK. I see this through the books and stories that reflect different identities, intentional and open conversations, and by offering a safe space to play and build empathy. It has been fun to be a part of a space that supports self-identity, empathy, and social action, all integrated into learning and play

Praxis Course: PSYCB215: Thorne School Practicum: Bridging Theory and Practice  

Semester: Spring 2026     

Faculty Advisor/Professor: Jodie Baird      

Community Partner: Phebe Anna Thorne School: Kindergarten   

Praxis Site Supervisor: Rachel Stern   

Praxis Poster:   

PSYCH 215 Julia_Azulay_Thorne Praxis Poster (1)

 

Further Context: 

This semester, we had the opportunity to work at the Phebe Anna Thorne School Kindergarten as part of our “Thorne School Practicum: Bridging Research and Practice” seminar class. The Thorne School Kindergarten serves families from the broader Main Line and is housed near the center of Haverford College campus. The kindergarten offers a full-day program (~8:45 AM-2:30 PM). The classes are capped at 16 children and staffed at a high teacher-to-student ratio, allowing more closeness and teacher-child relationship-building. The small class is led by a lead teacher, assistant teacher, and learning specialist, who works together as a team to coordinate learning plans and daily classroom activities. The Thorne kindergarten’s mission is to provide play-based, developmentally appropriate, and child-centered learning experiences with a specific focus on social-emotional development, play, and academic preparation for first grade.   

As part of our praxis course, we worked at the kindergarten as classroom aides for 3 hours a week, providing support to teachers and engaging with the children during routine academic blocks and recess. In our seminar class, we learned about various topics in developmental psychology and early childhood education. For our poster, we decided to focus on social-emotional learning (SEL) and executive functioning (EF)/self-regulation. We found that these topics were vital at the kindergarten level because they prepare children to effectively manage emotions and impulses, resolve conflicts, build positive relationships, and form the foundations for academic success and mental health. In class, we were able to directly apply the literature we read to our observations, which explored the benefits of incorporating SEL and self-regulation strategies in early childhood education settings. Our experiences at Thorne provided real-time examples of socially and emotionally based curricula and structured support of self-regulation skills. More broadly, working at the kindergarten gave us hands-on learning moments and avenues for personal reflection as individuals seeking child-centered careers in social work/child clinical psychology/education. 

Julia Azulay: 

Working in and contributing to this warm, nurturing educational setting that emphasizes social-emotional and personal growth has been meaningful for me, especially because I’ve never worked in a classroom like this before. I came into the kindergarten classroom worrying that I would not exactly “fit” into the role of a teacher and wouldn’t integrate well into the already-established community. However, as the weeks passed and as I got feedback from the teachers, I realized I have an instinct for working with children and that my presence was known and cherished by the teachers and the kids, even if I only saw them once a week. Seeing how effective coping and emotion regulation strategies are so central to the kindergarten’s pedagogy, I now recognize that therapeutic approaches can be readily integrated into classrooms (psychoeducation) to equip children with social-emotional tools. In my future as a licensed child psychologist, I want to bring the SEL curriculum and psychoeducational consulting to K-5 classrooms in schools serving low-income communities of color, due to systemic challenges producing a “care gap” and inequitable access to psychological resources for children at under-resourced schools. It has truly been a pleasure to work closely with the kindergarten, and I hope to continue supporting their mission soon!  

Julia Jung: 

Aside from babysitting, all of my experiences working with young children were in the context of after-school tutoring and homework help programs for predominantly low-income students of color attending public schools. My praxis at the Thorne kindergarten was my first time working within a predominantly White and affluent classroom at a private school. It was an amazing experience observing the classroom and getting to know the students. The Thorne classroom was peaceful, supported, and structured in contrast to the chaotic classrooms I had grown up in. This realization forced me to struggle with the reality of this large gap in academic opportunity, but it also inspired me to bring this type of education to my community at home.  

Patience Bivins:  

Working at Thorne has given me the chance to understand how imaginative and cooperative play influences EF and SEL. I am deeply inspired by the daily dedication of the teachers and students at Thorne. As I look toward my future career as a school social worker, this experience has taught me that the curriculum must be built on child development. I am committed to helping students develop the necessary tools for self-regulation and healthy relationship-building. Being able to apply what I have learned from Thorne and my seminar to work beyond the classroom as an educator has been exceptionally fulfilling!  

Praxis Course: Thorne Practicum     

Semester: Spring ‘26    

Faculty Advisor/Professor:  Jodie Baird  

Community Partner: Phebe Anna Thorne School     

Praxis Site Supervisor:  Jodie Baird 

Praxis Poster:

Psyc215_EarlyIntervention Clara_Udelson

 

Further Context:  

In the Thorne Practicum course, we were placed within various classes at the Phebe Anna Thorne Preschool while, simultaneously, researching early childhood educational practices. Katya and Isabella worked in the Language Enrichment Preschool Program (LEPP) which provides early speech interventions for children ages 3-5. Clara worked in the younger classroom where several students receive individualized early intervention supports. These experiences inspired us to reflect on the common theme of early intervention. The creation of this poster prompted us to further research the topic of early intervention and synthesize the underlying developmental concepts with our personal experiences. Through the process, we gained a deeper understanding of the importance of early intervention and the many forms it can take. In the poster, we outlined the importance of early intervention as well as the ways it appears within our praxis site.   

Clara: I worked in the younger classroom at the Thorne school where I witnessed several county provided services. In the poster, I described the Pennsylvania Early Intervention Program to highlight how these services are accessible across the state of Pennsylvania. The Thorne school specifically uses services provided by the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit. It is amazing to me how many different types of services that children can receive at no cost from the state. I have personally witnessed one-on-one aides, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and hearing specialists in just one classroom at Thorne. It can feel a bit hectic with so many adults moving in and out of the room, but the impact these services have is incredible. I have seen the development of children’s social and communication skills which allows them to fully connect with their peers and blossom in the school environment. I’m grateful to have been able to study and witness early intervention services.
 

Isabella: I worked in the LEPP classroom where I got to see targeted language interventions happening throughout the day in a really intentional way. On the poster, I focused more broadly on the importance of early intervention and how access to support at a young age can shape later development. Being in LEPP made that idea feel much more real, because I could actually see how those supports were helping the kids grow over time. I watched their confidence build as they became more comfortable using language, and it was especially meaningful to see how that translated into their play with peers. As their language developed, their play became more interactive and collaborative, and I really enjoyed being able to join in and watch those moments unfold. I also saw how being in a smaller, specifically targeted classroom setting gave them the support they needed to learn and practice these skills in a manageable environment. It made it clear to me that this kind of early intervention is helping prepare them to enter kindergarten more ready to participate, communicate, and handle the expectations of a larger and more complex school setting.  

Katya: I also worked in the LEPP classroom, where I had the chance to observe play-based speech, language, and social interventions in a group of 3-5 year old students. Working on the LEPP specific section of the poster, I synthesized some of the most impactful aspects of early intervention I experience daily in my placement. The structured nature of class time, with play stations targeted towards specific language, procedural, social, creative, or motor skills, and similar targeted group activities, helped streamline transitions and create a predictable environment that promoted focus, skill development, and self-regulation. I saw newer students build up their confidence and understanding of classroom routines, taking proactive steps to follow routines and help others do the same. Simultaneously, the very small classroom, teacher to student ratio, usually 1:2 on my placement day, and individual speech-language pathologist sessions, allowed for consistent individualized support with targeted learning relating to play, social communication, and language production. In just one semester, I saw not only growing vocabulary, grammatical awareness, and pronunciation skills, but also development in how they were put into practice, through collaborative social and play skills. A testament to the importance of early intervention, it was valuable to witness many of these moments of growth, and I am so glad I got to be involved in their learning.