Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

I need to get more organized! Blogging has gotten pushed down on my never ending to-do list!! I have been having so much fun getting creative with the kids!
July our unit theme was Independence Day, Ocean, Beach, and Pirates! It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. Every week had its own theme basically.

For the Fourth of July, I focused on red, white, and blue, as well as fireworks. We attempted to make a flag with colored ice cubes. I say attempted because Miss Kelly made the ice cubes with water and food coloring, which in fact melted and turned the paper into mush. In retrospect the activity would have ended better with cubes made from frozen paint or something with a little more substance that wouldn't have melted so much. My babies didn't seem to mind though. They had fun seeing how long they could hold the cubes in their hands before it got too cold.

They pushed them around on the paper while the ice melted.

They lined them up and separated them by color. 

Soggy Flag

We made fireworks with a variety of objects. We attempted the blown watercolor with a straw. Some of them understood the concept but many still tried to suck through the straw instead of blowing. We used a weird kitchen utensil that I found at Goodwill for $.50 that my associate told me was for straining the ice out of drinks to stamp cool looking fireworks onto a paper. We dripped glue on black paper and covered it in glitter to simulate fireworks as well. 

In the discovery table I put a bunch of red, white, and blue decorations (Goodwill again in the Christmas section) that manipulated and sorted. It included red garland, pipe cleaners, plastic cups with stars, weird silver pom-pom ornaments, some starred garland, red and blue ribbon, and a wooden plaque for the 4th. One of the most creative things I saw them do with the items was to fill up the cups with the pom-poms, insert a pipe cleaner, and pretend it was a milkshake, using the pipe cleaner as a straw. It amazes me how they can come up with this stuff!

Drinking milkshakes!

The next week we started on our ocean animals and beach themes. I found some puffy stickers in the Target Dollar Section for half off, cut out some fish bowls, and had them each pick 2 stickers. It helped them with following directions as well as counting. 

I found an old net at a garage sale, stapled half of it to the wall and the other half draped from the ceiling to "catch" all of our sea artwork. The one on the wall is covered in "seaweed" and caught some stingrays and 

I dyed pasta green to make a stringing activity for them. We used fishing line and strung together the pasta to make it look like seaweed. 

We painted paper plate turtles.

We made stingrays out of coffee filters and added ribbon for the tail. 

Our net caught some goldfish made from brown lunch sacks, pipe cleaners, and paint. 

Glitter and glue made these sparkly Rainbow Fish. 

Crabs were made with their handprints and added to the sand on the wall. 

Colored craft sand and glue on star cut-outs made some pretty colorful starfish. 

Coosh balls and a little paint stamped on paper made some cool designs. After looking at it I decided to cut around their stamping to make sea sponges. 

Handprint jellyfish made with shimmer paint (we love sparkly things!)

 Coffee filters, watercolors, colored pasta, and fishing line made these 3D jellyfish to hang from the ceiling. The children loved to thread the "beads" onto the fishing line. It kept them occupied for hours.

In the discovery table I put a few pieces of styrofoam and some drink umbrellas that I had laying around. They went to work opening and closing the umbrellas, sticking them in the styrofoam, as well as scooping up the rice I put at the bottom with the umbrellas and spinning it so the rice went flying. (I wasn't too fond of that revelation, especially when I was slipping on the rice on the floor) They quickly learned how to use the broom!

Using our fine-motor skills to open and close little umbrellas.

 I found these printables here for seashell sorting mats, printed them out, laminated them, and bought some shells at the dollar store. They had fun looking at the different types of shells and a few of the kids managed to distinguish between them and put them on the appropriate mat.

 I found a fishing game in our supply closet, whipped it out one afternoon when they were getting restless, and they immediately swarmed. I wish I would have had a plastic pool to put them in, and it would be even better to do outside with a pool filled with water so the fish could float. As it was they had a difficult time picking up the fish with the fishing pole's hook and usually had to use their hands. It was great hand-eye coordination for them though!

Going fishing. They had to stand on a letter unless they were holding the fishing pole.

 We like handprints and footprints. It provides fun sensory experiences for them and good artwork for parents who love the tiny handprints. We "took a walk on the beach" in the classroom by stepping into brown and tan paint and walking across the paper. They had to be careful not to slip and fall. It required a lot of balance! Afterwards, they all got to practice their personal hygiene by wiping their feet off and putting their own shoes back on.

Footsteps in the sand

This week was pirate week!! We had a lot of fun with this (and by we I mean the teachers!).
I gathered up all my pirate treasure I had lying around, and yes I had a lot. Mardi Gras beads, pirate coins, rice, and a treasure chest, with a missing key. :( They had a lot of fun with it because, I mean, who doesn't like playing with shiny things and filling up a box with them? They loved it so much that they would cram all the treasure into the chest and guard it with their life from their friends. Then we had a real life lesson on sharing and using words to communicate, as well as being compassionate to others. Who knew there were so many lessons to learn from pirates?!

Filling up the treasure chest.

More hand print art. Adorable pirate handprints, complete with a pirate ship and fishing net. I set out a couple big sheets of butcher paper on the tables, taped them down, splattered on paint, threw some brushes down, and let the kids go at it. In five minutes both papers were completely painted into what would soon be our pirate ship! My wonderfully creative associate designed and cut out the pirate ship and added a little piece of our fish net to it for a creative touch.

Arrrgh. Walk the plank!

All hands on deck!

X Marks the Spot where my little pirates stand in line to wait! It helps them with personal space and reminds me to use themed terminology when giving directions. Arrggh All hands on deck. Peg-legs on the X or you will walk the plank!! 

We made a treasure map around the room with duct tape (our maintenance man wants to strangle us sometimes!) and ended it with an X on the carpet where we have group.

Our big field trip this month was our treasure hunt! We made a map, planted the treasure, and then made up a story about finding the map hidden in the supply closet. The children were so excited and wanted to find the treasure. We went on the hunt, having them read the map and telling us where to go next. We followed all the right directions only to find that another pirate had stolen our treasure before we got there!! We went back to our room empty handed. :( The maintenance people at the nearby neighborhood where we had hidden our treasure had thought that the box had blown in from a recent storm and had removed it from its hiding spot. A nice parent who happened to live in the neighborhood talked to the men who removed it and saved our treasure hunt!! It was quite the adventure. 

After our real treasure hunt we made another treasure map, having each child draw a path from the starting point to the X. 

What would be a pirate theme without pirate flags?? We gave them all the supplies and let them recreate their own, complete with glitter...what else?!? :) 

Busy hands mean a calm classroom! I made these fine motor activities to set out any time I noticed them getting restless and looking for something new to play with. I just set them on the table and whoever wants to play with them will come up and play. When they are finished they return the materials back to the box or bin and walk away. Some of the more popular activities, such as the keys and locks, require adult supervision because of the amount of children that will flock and play together. For the most part they are very self-sufficient and do a great job of occupying little hands and keeping them engaged.

One of my most recent finds was this 4 a day pill box (that's a LOT of pills). I set it out with a container of pom-poms and let their little fingers go to work opening and closing, filling and emptying, stuffing and cramming. It helps them with their fine motor as well as one-to-one correspondence.

28 little compartments ready to be opened!

One little pink pom-pom.

Here it is!

I filled a bin with popsicle sticks and clothespins and let them explore. Some of them did one-to-one correspondence, others pretended to eat popsicles holding onto the clothespin. Still others sorted by color or lined them up.

Looks like junk, but my babies can always find something to do with junk!

Lining them up before she starts to eat them.

I found a couple of chip and dip platters at Goodwill, put some different sized marbles and other balls in them, and set them on the table. Many just rolled the balls around, but some did end up sorting through them. The most obvious way was by size, but others went by texture, and still others by color. 

Dropping marbles and watching them bounce into one of the trays.

If you look closely you can see that he sorted by texture. The golf balls in the middle, smooth on the right, and bumpy immediately in front of him.

I located a few old padlocks that were lying around, put them in a bin with their keys and set them on the table. It took a little explaining the first few times for our friends to figure it out but once they got it they were on a roll! They would sit and watch each other unlock them, cheering each other on or talking them through the process! It is a great team building exercise. It also encourages patience, persistence, and fine motor.

She finally got the key in and unlocked it! She was so excited!!

Happy Learning!

Kelly

Facing Fears

This week has been one of many challenges. I have been having difficulty with one of my boys. He is extremely bright, but can be so frustrating with his behavior. He is our oldest child in our room and his presence in the room should be that of a role model; however, he chooses to push the limits and test the rules. He is three and this is normal behavior, but other students have been picking up on his behavior and have started testing limits as well. When there are fourteen children in a room all disobeying the rules it can be very frustrating! I try to be positive with him and ask him why he is choosing to make those choices and what he should be doing instead. He tells me he should follow the rules but his actions are the complete opposite. I have been worried lately because he has been much more aggressive to his friends and he says that he wants to hurt them. We have been brainstorming possible solutions to help his aggression and frustration; however it is difficult to alleviate a problem when you are not sure what is causing it. We think he may be bored and therefore is choosing to act out to get attention both from us and from other children. This afternoon I went online and found some great file folder games that my kids love to play with. I found some great ones at Early Childhood Printables. I also found some great ones for preschool here.


I have also had my first encounter with a possible child abuse/neglect case. This has been troubling me all week. It is such a difficult and delicate situation. I have been documenting everything I see attempting to build a case. It is so difficult because I feel like the parents care, but the child says and does things that make me think that there are some things going on at home that are not safe. It also makes me wonder how many other times the child has gotten hurt that we just dismissed it as being a kid or being clumsy. On the other hand, what if the child is lying about how they got hurt and they really did just fall down accidentally.  It is such a difficult situation to be in and it is scary to me to think that I might have to report it, but it is more scary to me that the child could be in a dangerous situation and I stood by and did not say anything. I am aware about the good faith clause and that I am legally bound to report any suspected abuse or neglect. At this time I do not feel like I have enough reason to believe that I should call the authorities, however I am now keeping an aware eye on the child, on all my children.

On a lighter note, I successfully had my first parent party in celebration of Father's Day. We had Donuts with Dads, and uncles, papaws, step-dads, and even some moms who were gracious enough to fill in for some working dads. All of my friends were so excited to have their dads and male adults in their lives in our classroom for 30 minutes. They ate donuts (though not all of them...Ms. Kelly just polished off her sixth one of the day), drank juice, and most importantly, spent time with one another! I feel it was extremely successful although somewhat nerve-wracking for me. It was the first time I have addressed a crowd of adults in a while and had to give directions to both age groups. It was a difficult balance and one that I was not expecting. Most of the parents just went with the flow and were pretty flexible. I must say that we have a great group of parents!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers and father-like figures out there! Have a wonderful weekend.

~Miss Kelly

Updates

I'm back! I know I disappeared for a month. It was a busy, event-filled first month and I couldn't find time to update. It was a new and somewhat stressful situation for me but I made it through! I am excitedly starting my second month as a lead teacher to 14 two- to three-year-olds. Last month we studied insects and dinosaurs. It was definitely more of a learning experience for me and my associate than quite possibly any of our students.

We completely overhauled the schedule and routine. We tore paper off the walls, rearranged basically anything that we could move, and probably drove our maintenance man to tears numerous times with the requests that we made of him. We did however, find things that worked well for us. Now in the awkward gap of time between lunch and nap we go outside instead of forcing the children to pick a book, table toy, or puzzle, which was more hassle on the two of us than on any of them.

We added themed footprints on the floor so the students would know where to stand or sit while waiting or while at group. Last month they were all dinosaur feet, it worked out well until we realized that they would get confused between the feet at group and the feet by the door, so this month we diversified it (geese feet by the door and tuffets on the carpet, can you tell we are doing Mother Goose this month).

It is amazing what a little piece of paper taped to the floor can do!

We try to keep them as engaged as possible, whether it is singing, listening to a story, doing an art project, or watching us rearrange the room. I find that setting out new toys at different tables helps peek their interest and keeps them on task and out of trouble. I discovered that it is easier to have them help you clean and that they see it as a reward; it's a win-win! They love to sweep, water the plants, and feed the fish. We pick jobs every morning and I call them over to help me with whatever job they picked when it is time.


I struggle to find enough time during the day to complete all the things that need to be done throughout the day, lesson plans, newsletters, needed supply forms, accident reports, developmental milestones, and parent communication, not to mention housekeeping, updating the walls, setting up new activities for the next day and communicating with administration and other teachers. Trying to keep the clutter from piling up takes away from the time I have to spend interacting with my students and that is the hardest thing for me to balance at the moment. Even coming in early and staying later doesn't alleviate all of the problem. Inevitably I find myself working at home despite the administration's insistence that I only work while on the clock. I am still working out the kinks, maybe by August I will have the classroom in working order, just in time for me to move to California!

Career Fair

While researching school districts and individual schools for an upcoming career fair, I am once again reminded about my student teaching experiences. During student teaching I learned that it is not the students that you have that make your class but the environment of your room as well as the environment of the entire school. I want to work in a school that I am comfortable in and where I have friends. If the teachers are friendly and enjoy working with one another, even getting together outside of school, the atmosphere is much better and the students respond well to that. They enjoy seeing their teachers having fun together and being positive role models for making and maintaining friendships.
Also while searching Early Childhood centers I find that I am taken aback by the number of centers that boast direct instruction for 3 to 5 year olds. I continue to find myself being drawn more and more to Montessori schools, especially for early childhood because I find these classrooms more developmentally appropriate for that age. The Montessori classes also tend to be smaller and contain varied ages, much like the COC rooms.
The more I search for jobs within schools, the more particular I become. I am drawn to early childhood centers, especially the infant and toddler classes, that are accredited, inquiry-based, focused on the whole child, and that have positive atmospheres in which teachers enjoy being. The most important for me is inquiry-based learning focused on the whole child because I believe that is developmentally appropriate for early childhood. I prefer accredited centers because they typically have higher standards and have gone through the rigors of accreditation.
From this career fair, I hope to find a better understanding of what I want as an educator job-wise. I also hope to develop lasting connections with leaders and school districts in my area that could one day provide me with a job or link me to a job in another area. I have already begun my journey on discovering what I want out of a job, now I just need to find the right match in the right area. If anyone has any suggestions or more information on Montessori schools feel free to send it my way!! :)

Continuity of Care

These last four months I have been in Continuity of Care (COC) rooms and I thought I would share my reflections on a reading about COC rooms.
These rooms keep a group of children and their caregiver together until pre-school. The groups can be all the same age, or mixed ages like the rooms I have been in.  Unlike traditional rooms when children move up when they are a certain age or reach a specific developmental milestone such as walking. This leads to detrimental transitions as much as every six months, requiring the child to rebuild trust and confidence with new caregivers and peers every transition.
The goal of COC rooms is to promote deep and secure attachments to develop between children and their caregivers, and also allows parents and caregivers to develop trusting relationships as well. Infants and toddlers greatly benefit from continuity with their caregivers because strong attachments are required for healthy brain development. The COC rooms resemble family care or nannies and allows bonds to form between caregivers and children, as well as between the children themselves. It is less stressful for the children because they do not have to worry about new transitions, places, or people, and are therefore free to learn and play at ease. COC rooms also provide parents with more comfort knowing that their children are safe with a trusted and known adult with whom they feel comfortable sharing their concerns. In multi-age rooms the children are more relaxed and calmer. They develop at their own pace but are also challenged by older peers and help to teach younger children. They learn caring behaviors and empathy as well as self-care. These behaviors are taught and learned more naturally in COC rooms than in traditional rooms because of the diversity of skills.
COC rooms also benefit the caregivers, giving them comfort knowing the children that will be in their classroom and how they behave and react to specific actions and stimuli.

For further reading about COC read NAEYC's publication Relationships, the Heart of Quality Care. 


Baker, Amy C., and Lynn A. Petitt.Relationships, the heart of quality care: creating community among adults in early care settings. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2004. Print.

Realizations

Today while I was getting my hair cut, (I have a particularly chatty hairdresser) I came to the realization that there are many under-qualified daycares out there. She was telling me about her search for a place to take her 3 year-old daughter and about the experiences she had at church daycares and home daycare. She also informed me that the quality daycares were too expensive for her to afford on her daily tips (yes I give her 20% but that's still not enough). It made me realize that there is a large portion of children who are not receiving quality childcare, and it is not the lower income families, but in fact the working class who do not receive government aid. It breaks my heart that people like my hairdresser want the best for their children but actually make too much money to give them the quality education that they need. I also realized while she was trimming up my layers that I could never work for a child center that was not accredited. I have been in two NAEYC accredited child care facilities and I am familiar and accustomed to the rigorous standards that are held in these centers; it would be extremely difficult and annoying, if not repulsing, to me to be in a center that had not gone through accreditation, nor felt it necessary to keep high standards for the sake of the children that they care for and teach.

Reflective Teacher

It is necessary to reflect on yourself in any profession to assess how you are managing your tasks and to ensure quality work. This is especially true in education. The impact you make on your students, both positive and negative, lasts a lifetime. By reflecting on your actions, thoughts, behaviors, attitudes, and lessons, you can assess yourself, your students, and your teaching style, and make critiques and modifications for the future. It also gives you insights about your dispositions as well as your students'. Below you will find some reflections I have made during my time at Ball State University in both university classes as well as in elementary and early childhood settings. (Sorry some of it is a bit lengthy.)

Fall 2008

Reflection on Service Experience 
Artifact Description: 
I have meditated on my service at Motivate Our Minds as a Girl Scout leader, including my views on handling a group of young girls and attempting to teach them new things in a fun environment. 

Reflection: 
I fulfilled my service hours at Motivate Our Minds (MOMs) where I am a Girl Scout leader for a group of eight girls aged 6 to 10 for one hour a week. Before I began this endeavor, I knew that this would be a very stressful and time-consuming task. I knew that there would be a lot of paperwork and that it would be difficult to maintain the interest of the girls. However, I do not think that I realized quite how difficult this task would be. The girls are usually very well behaved in the beginning but by the end of the hour they are hyper. I usually get frustrated at the end of the meeting and the girls begin to argue. I am learning many things from these girls. They taught me that in order to get them excited about something, I must first be excited about it and show them that I am excited. I plan on continuing my service here for the rest of the year and possibly next year. I have not yet been able to take them on a field trip or take them into the community because only half of them have returned their Girl Scout registration. However, I hope to have them sell cookies later on in the year.

The girls are slowly beginning to develop positive values, social competence, and positive identity. Through the Girl Scout Promise and Law, they learn about caring for each other, honesty, and most importantly respect. As a troop, we have been focusing on respecting each other. The girls often get into fights and mess with each other’s things. I try to stress respect as much as possible in the meeting, because without respect it is hard to have fun or learn anything. I have learned that the strongest way to teach the girls about these important lessons is to model them myself. Also going through the Promise and Law with the girls is very useful. I created an activity in which the girls draw out each part of the law with an example and then they explained it each other. It showed me what the girls understood and allowed me to teach them each individual part to make sure they really knew what it meant.

I now know that it is difficult to keep girls’ attention for an hour. I have discovered that I work better with one-on-one situations with the girls. It is difficult for me to keep the attention of all the girls at once. I need to work on establishing boundaries and expectations and maintaining order during the meetings. This may help me to hold their attention and allow them to have more fun during the meetings. I enjoy creating the meeting plans and choosing activities for the girls, especially crafts. I have also learned that the girls love to make crafts from food because they get to eat it afterwards. 
Rationale: 

After every meeting, I reviewed how the meeting went. I logged what I liked and what I disliked about the meeting and then I contemplated how I could improve myself as a leader. I then put those ideas into practice at the next meeting and then reviewed whether or not those tactics worked. 


 

Spring 2009

After my teaching experience at Burris Laboratory School in Muncie, Indiana, I reflected with other EDEL 200 students and also by myself on how well my lesson went. I then wrote a reflection, weighing my strengths and weaknesses during the lesson. I then contemplated how I could improve the lesson and myself as a teacher in the future. In addition, two current teachers gave me suggestions on how I could improve both the lesson and myself as a teacher. 

In the future, my peers and bosses will periodically review me to ensure that I am teaching my students as best as I can. Reflecting back on my lessons will allow me to improve them for future students. Reviewing back on the day will allow me to identify my strengths and weaknesses and give me an opportunity to grow as an educator. 


Fall 2010


Reflection on Practicum Experience 
Artifact Description: This assignment is a representative plan to simulate an integrated unit for kindergarten children. Requirements of this assignment include a unit graphic, a rationale statement, activity plans and content area standards, supporting resources, and INTASC reflections specifically related to the unit plan. 
Reflection:
I created this Integrated Unit Plan for Kindergarten students. These students were enrolled in a half-day program that primarily focused on mathematics and literacy skills. In order to address the other subject areas, we had to integrate them with math and literacy concepts. I chose a unit plan on weather and seasons because the weather in Indiana changes often and it was relevant to the students. Throughout this unit, the weather outside changed from snow and ice to rain to sunshine. As the weather outside was changing, the focus of the lessons inside changed as well. 


I created a graphic of my unit using an online-based presentation software called Prezi. If you are not familiar with Prezi, I highly recommend it! It is fantastic and much more interactive and engaging than PowerPoint. 

http://prezi.com/i_vtyuj8ruwy/edel-351-integrated-unit-plan/

Spring 2011


As a practicum teacher in the Burris Kindergarten room, I reflected on all of the lessons that I taught, as well as some of the lessons that my colleagues taught. I wrote down my reflections in a journal and made notes on my lesson plans about what went well and what I should change in case I used them in the future. While observing other lessons, I found useful strategies for working with children and I implemented them in my own teaching philosophy, and I made note of strategies that did not work well. We discussed our lessons and what we observed in the classroom as a class as well. 


Spring 2012 - Student Teaching


Artifact 1: Journal Reflections

Description:
Journals can help one keep track of reflections and experiences, as well as future suggestions if lessons are going to be taught again.

Analysis of what I learned: Even though you reflect mentally about your experiences everyday, recording them in a journal where you can look back and read them again and again has immense benefits. It allows you to see your progression over time as well and see what you still need to work on. 

Demonstration of competence of INTASC 9:
I reflected upon my experiences in the classroom weekly. I recorded what I thought went well and what I thought could have gone better. I also took notes on what suggestions I received from other teachers and supervisors and I noted some things that I thought would improve my lessons or classroom management in the future.


Artifact 2: Observations of other teachers

Description: Observing other teachers and classrooms can help you develop more classroom management strategies as well as instructional strategies.

Analysis of what I learned I noted many great strategies that I now implement in my own lessons and classroom management. Observing others helps me to see how certain strategies can be carried out and how the students respond to them.

Demonstration of competence of INTASC 9: I have observed and taken notes on numerous teachers this semester, both in the grade levels I am currently teaching as well as some that I am not. I have taken some strategies that I have observed and use them daily with my current students.