A few days I forgot to blog about...

April 8th
Today I was able to go to the computer lab with the students. The children were able to play various games that involved them working with colors, shapes and letters. They seemed to really enjoy the games they played and sharing their experiences with the peers sitting next to them. After computer we went back to the classroom and read a story before getting ready for snack time. Before going to snack the students had sharing time, were a stuffed animal was passed around and students could only talk when they were holding the animal. This was very interesting to watch. Some of the children were really excited to share news with their peers, while other did not seem to know what to say. I like this idea of sharing time, and think that it would be a great way of reinforcing what they learned by having them share their favorite thing they did in class today.

April 15th
The children were in centers when I arrived today. The students had just finished reading The Mitten in class so Chelsea had provided them with facemask and other props that allowed them to play out the book. What amazed me was the way they would follow along with what happened in the book but would tell their own story. It was really interesting to watch different groups of children play with the props from the book. A new student has joined the class, however he seems to be having troubles following directions. Chelsea thinks his behavior is this way because he has never been in a school setting before and all of this is still new to him. Chelsea kept him by her side for most of class time. This seemed to work for the student but it made we wonder how she dealt with the needs of this student while still being able to watch over the other students.

April 19th
When I came to the classroom the class had visitors. Some of the Green Bay Firemen had come in to talk about their jobs and the importance of not being afraid of Firemen as well as the importance of not playing with matches. I was amazed by how engaged the students were with the firemen, even more so by the questions they asked. We were then able to see the Fire Truck, which was pretty cool. Some of the students held their hands over their ears because they were afraid the sirens were going to go off. I assured them that they would not be going off. One of the Firemen had a daughter in the class; this made the experience for the children even better because it was someone they knew. After this we had an early snack time so that the children had a longer time to play outside.

Today at Aldo

Last week Aldo was on Spring Break so I was not able to visit Aldo until this week. When I got to the classroom one of the student's mom was helping in the classroom. She did an activity with the children where they made paper hats. The hat ranged from pirate hats, to fancy hat, to princess hats. The children really liked choosing a hat they wanted to make and being able to decorate them. Chelsea was also teaching the students about sharing. She had a princess crown that she shared with students who asked nicely to wear it.

During play time one of the boys was not following the rules. He had decided to play in the dramatic play area and went over to the dress up closet, took out all the clothes and set in the closet. Chelsea had me go over to get him to get out of the closet. He put up quite a fight as I tried to get him to move, but with a little of encouragement I was able to get him to get out of the closet. Chelsea also gave me tips on the importance of choice. She said that at this age level it is important to give children choice when they play so that they do something and take responsibility for what they need to do.

March 16th Observations

Today when I arrived in the classroom it was set up a little different then the last time I was there. I feel like the new arrangement gives the children more freedom in their play. Once again the children were centers when I got there. This time the dress up area was set up so that the children could pretend that they were animal doctors. So there was a doctor and nurse outfits and stuffed animals. While I was observing I noticed one student that was not interested in doing anything. Chelsea told me that students like this who have no interest in doing anything right when they arrive at school are a challenge because you have to find away of engaging them while trying to meet the needs of the other students. This made me think of things I would have to be ready to address when I start teaching in my own classroom. While in their centers the children had to stop and clean up their areas and choose a new area to play in. I really like the way Chelsea has the student use clothespins to pick the area they want to be in. This way student can see where they can play and understand that they cannot play in an area that is full. The only thing I do not really agree with is that once they make their choice they have to stay in that area until it is time to pick a new area. I can understand why a teacher would have it set up that way but I do not feel that it allows the children to play freely.

March 11th Observations

Since the school was delayed on Tuesday I did my observation on Thursday this week. The students were in centers when I arrived. One girl was playing in the dress-up area and wanted me to play her husband. It was interesting to play with her and how fast she would go from acting out one thing to the next. She had no problem using her imagination to pretend that we were at bay beach; I on the other hand had to try very hard. While observing the students at play I also got to talk to Chelsea about how she gives the children responsibility for their actions and problems they have with their peers. Chelsea feels that it is important to give children this responsibility is important so that they can learn from their actions. The children also have jobs in the classroom, which is something I would not expect to see in a 4k classroom. However I feel that it is valuable for students to have these jobs because it gives them ownership of the classroom.

More time at Aldo

From March 2nd

I visited Chelsea’s classroom for the second time and when I arrived the students were all in the various centers. Today there seemed to be a lot of emotions surrounding the classroom. Children were getting upset when they could not play with what the wanted or when their peers would not play with them. There was one girl playing in the doll house area that was pretending that the doll was in trouble and crying for help. The way she was screaming I had a hard time telling if she was just playing or if she needed help, but in the end it was just play. A boy was very tired and did not want to do anything and as a result was angry with everything. It was interesting to watch how one’s students’ emotions and or mood affect the other students. Then it was time for snack and it seemed that after snack everyone had come down. Chelsea read a story to the class and then we got the children ready to play outside for a little before it was time to leave, I was not able to see them play outside since I had to leave but I’m interested to see how differently they play outside then they do from when the play in the centers.

Observations at Aldo

Last Tuesday I started my observation hours at Aldo. I am doing my hours in Chelsea Kelly's 4K classroom. While I was there the students had center time. Unlike in the Children's Center at St. Norbert College the students picked a center and then stayed at that center for the whole time they had center time.

During the time I came to their classroom they had just came from the computer lab and had printed of pictures of various place that they could use to color on. Since they rarely get to the computer lab this was something Chelsea wanted the students to experience. This did however cut into their free choice playing. After getting back to the classroom students picked centers they wanted to play in during center time. They had a lot of areas to choose from and had to stay in that area for the whole time. There was also a limit of how many kids could be at each center. Some of the students would change centers but then would have to go back to the one that they picked in the first place. It was interesting to watch how some children needed to play with other while a few where fine playing on their own. After a few minutes of play they had reading time, where they looked at books and just made up their own story if they weren’t able to read. I tried to listen to a few of their stories but then other students would come up and ask me to read to them. Once again they only had a short amount of time for reading and then it was snack time.

Pico Crickets

In class we have been playing with Pico Crickets. They are little computers you can program to do different things by touch, sound or sight sensors. In groups we were able to create our own little Pico guys and make them do three things. Ours lights up when it's dark, makes a sound when we touch it and the light changes color.

It was a lot of fun getting to play around with technology like this. I have to admit that I got a little frustrated with it at first when it would not do what we wanted it to do. I think I would benefit more from it if I was given more time to explore with the different things you can do with it.

Plan for observations

For EDUC 274 I am required to observe students in their natural learning environment. At the moment I am doing lab hours in the Children's Center on Mondays and Fridays.

I'm still waiting to here back from the teacher at Aldo that I plan to help out with on Tuesdays.

I am having a lot of fun being in the Children's Center and I am very excited to work with other students.