Week of February 14th to 15th- 2024
This week, I did an activity that I had planned and spoken to about with the educators.
I noticed how the children in my room love to make art. I wanted to do an activity with the children in the rest time that would help them stay calm and do something they would like. I decided to use sticks that I found lying around and dry pines to make paint brushes and to use washi tapes to let the children decorate the handle of the brush. This would help them in many areas: fine motor skills, concentration, creativity, etc.
When the activity took place, I was so nervous that children might not like it or stay around long enough for it, some children did make one and leave, but I had quite a few that stayed and ended up making 3 to 4 of them. We had a conversation about how we were making paintbrushes, I showed them the one I had made and then told them how they would have to leave it at daycare so that we could paint with it. They were a bit disappointed that they could not take it home, but they were so happy when they were told that they could paint with them and then take them home.
At first, I wanted to do the whole brush, but soon I noticed that the children were enjoying just the handle bit and some were getting frustrated so I told them that I would do the brush bit and bring it back for them to paint.
Week of March 6th to 8th 2024
We have a new educator and my mentor decided to take the new educator and I on a hike with the children. It was good walk. I was asked to do the snacks at the hills, which I haven’t done before, but if felt as though my mentor was trusting me more and I felt so good. We kept moving throughout and did not stay at one spot for too long, we explored the lands and the children had lots of fun climbing the trees and painting in the snow.
Week of March 13th to 15th 2024
This week was amazing! It started with a parent coming to me for help to settle the child into class. He was thrown off of his normal routine and was not happy about it. He did not want to let go of his mother and kept crying. His mum tried hard to help him settle in for the day. She finally came to me and asked me if there was anything I could do. I said sure and went over to the child, I spoke to him and he didn’t want to talk. Having done our practicum at the same center has helped us build connections with the children and so, I knew which his favorite book was. We made mum come and sit with us while we read the book and slowly made him feel comfortable and then mum was able to leave.
We later went on a campus walk to see if we could find Wolfie during the idays. Unfortunately, we could not find him, instead, we ran on the basketball ground, we saw the Therapy dogs, and even rode the glass elevator. We also went to the lil spot near the clock tower and found lots of deer poop. The children found that more interesting than anything else. They stood around it and started chanting deer poop, deer poop! I think it was the highlight of the week for me.
Week of February 27th to 29th 2024
We decided to go on a walk today and I suggested that we take a walk by the horticulture gardens as it would be nice to see if there were any blooms and a different space for the children to see. We found a few blooms and we also saw a duck and a Mallard duck, the birds stayed for a while and then went off. We walked through the gardens and then went down to campus, they all slide down the railings and saw strawberries sprouting.
I played the gingerbread man game with the children again, by popular demand. At first they asked to play hide and seek, but my mentor told me that, it was not a game that she encourages with the children on a walk, and for good reason. I was so glad that she told me that, as I was not thinking about how it could have been too risky.
We walked back to the daycare and on the way, a child kept telling me that she could not walk and just wanted to sit down for a bit, I communicated that to my mentor and she did a small circle time outside on the grass and told the children the story of Goldilocks and we saw the busses, cars and trucks go by. When she was done with the story, we went back and the children were so hungry, they gobbled up all their food.
Last day of this Practicum, February 4th 2024
Today was my last day of practicum. It was a good day, but also a sad day. I told the children that I was leaving, I sat with them in different groups and did activites with them and told them and some of them asked me many questions and some of them just ignored it. A child looked at me and jumped on my and hugged me really tight and said, “I will miss you, Shithin”. My heart almost broke. Another child made me a farewell card and then proceeded to make one for my whole family.
Madi had also planned a spring time activity with them, where they all chose a seed and planted it and it would stay in the classroom and once it was big enough, they could take it with them back home and grow it. The children were all so excited and happy. One of the children, saw a red kidney bean and said, “it looks like the ones Dina(the cook) uses in the soup”.
The farewell card from a child