Located on the southeast corner of the Taylorsville Redwood Campus, The Lab School is dedicated to providing optimal educational growth for enrolled children, their parents and the Salt Lake Community College students assisting as part of their education with the Family and Human Studies Department.
“The teachers teach the children how to discover and explore, so that they can navigate their own learning experience,” says Sharlie Barber, manager of the Lab School for the past three years.
Once a week, SLCC students get an opportunity to observe those teachers in action, providing them with an extra learning experience.
The teachers follow the Portage Guide Program which incorporates research and the best practices from current fields of early childhood development.
The Portage Guide Program is broken down into five developmental areas including communication/language/literacy, exploration and approaches to learning, social emotional development, purposeful motor activity and sensory organization.
SLCC students fulfill early childhood development lab hours by participating in the Lab School program once a week for one hour and fifty minutes.
The students get hands on experience working directly with the students and teachers.
The State Office of Childcare just awarded the Lab School a $17,000 grant which the school will use for new playground equipment and classroom materials.
“One of our playgrounds will be an all-nature based playground for the children,” said Barber. The grant will also fund the installation of two new drinking fountains, a water pump and a mashing station where the children can explore nature in different ways.
The Lab School’s current playground includes a variety of musical equipment, a two-story playhouse, which SLCC interior design students decorated, and a commercial playground.
The Lab School makes tuition affordable for the students and the public alike. Tuition is on a three-tier sliding fee scale based on household income. There is a childcare assistance voucher program for students who are Pell Grant eligible.
The Lab School accepts children from ages two to five years old. Hours of operation are: Monday thru Friday from 6:45 a.m. until 5 p.m.
