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.