Placement - Creating Environments Part 1

Me again!

As you have already seen some of my planned experiences, I thought I would show you the environment changes. The requirements were to change or create a new environment during my second week, one indoors and one outdoors. This post focuses on my indoor environment.

The children in the room spend a lot of time playing in the home corner and I noticed that C was starting to engage in more and more imaginary play so I thought about replicating a familiar environment that the children would love. After some online idea searching, I laid eyes on this, featured on the Estefi Machado blog, and could not get it out of my head. After more looking, I decided that this idea was the one and started to work on building my own...

The hardest part was finding a box large enough. I have a good friend who works at the Good Guys who was kind enough to direct me to their packaging warehouse, where I got my  hands on an actual washoing machine box. The box is designed to just cover the washer so there was no bottom. I made the box shorter and used the left over cardboard to form a floor. I then taped everything up so it resembled a cube.

The next step was cutting out the hole, and  moving very slowly, I managed to use a Stanley knife to cut the round shape. Leaving one quarter of the circle uncut, I was able to create a fold, which means that the door can be open and shut and objects placed inside. Then a circle with a smaller circumference was cut to create the window. I recently bought some new bed sheets and used the plastic pouches they came in to create the glass of the window. You can use plastic sheeting or a clear table cloth to create the same effect.

The last step was adding the details and using the picture from Estefi Machado and a new Sharpie, I copied the marking onto the cardboard. I was so impressed with the final product and looked forward to adding it to the centre environment.

A cardboard box in the shape of a washing didn't seem enough for the children so I purchased some coloured dolly pegs from the $2 shop, found and recycled an iron board stand and borrowed some dolly clothes, a peg bucket and a small basket from the centre. And then I created a laundry room!

The children were so excited to play with the box, hiding in it, emptying the pegs and clothes and putting them back, opening and shutting the door; they could not get enough of it! The staff were also impressed with the change and were taken aback by the washing machine. As of when I left, the box was still intact but the staff had taken the top flaps off so they could see inside but other than that, the laundry room was in still in action.

If I was to replicate this, there are some changes to consider:

• creating a bigger door
• using a larger clothesline with better 'lines'
• adding scoops, wash powder boxes, Napisan cylinders etc.
• changing the style to a top loader to prevent crawling in

Overall, I am so happy with how everything turned out and cannot wait to create more environment which initiate and sustain play based learning!

Miss Tracy xx

Placement - Planned Experiences Part 1

Hello everyone!

As I am sure you all know by know, I have finished my first placement in the 0-2 setting at a local childcare centre. Part of my responsibilities during this included developing an introductory poster, keeping a reflective journal, dated entries on how I have meet the learning outcomes expected, observations on my focus child, planning experiences based in these observations, collecting resources and completing daily tasks.

For the first ten weeks I only came in on a Wednesday and my tasks were limited to observations, of staff and children, and making myself a presence in the centre. It wasn't until week eight that I had the opportunity to implement some planned experiences for C, my focus child.

Week Eight

This week, I collected natural items from my local park, such as pine cone buds and prickly things, and placed them in a large trough filled with dry sand. I placed some sifters in there and waited for C to show some interest. While the other children loved it, C didn't spend a lot of time at the experience. Unfortuntely, I did not capture a picture of this activity.

Week Nine

Using the same natural resources from the previous week, I designed an individual experience for C; a variation of marble painting. C could not get enough of it and spent almost half an hour rolling her tray around, asking for more and more paper. C also was excited about taking the buds out of the paint and plopping them in the paper, with her mouth making a little 'o' when the colours mixed and changed.

Week Ten 

This week, I moved away from the gross motor skill development and focused on the fine. I set up a threading activity for C, using wooden blocks from another activity. As there was no string attached to the activity, I had to use a wool. This ended up being a bad idea, since the wool began to fray, but C and I worked together to thread the beads on. Again, her and the other children enjoyed themselves and weren't to fazed by the little hiccough. During my time in the toddler room, I was able to locate another threading activity using cotton reels, so if i decide to replicate this one, I will definitely be using this set!

And at this time, I had a three week break until I began my block placement. Stay tuned for the experiences implemented during my block placement, to be featured later on LMST!

Miss Tracy xx

Semester 2 Grades

Hello readers,

It's that time again! My results have been emailed to me and here they are for semester 2...

I could not be happier; all my grades have improved since last semester, I passed my placement and my Grade Point Average (GPA) has moved up to a 6.25!

Seeing that this was my second semester, I had a better understanding of how assessment was undertaken and the tutor's expectations. This was also the semester with my first exam and I ended up getting a HD!

Keep your eyes peeled as I will be doing an additional unit this summer. More to come on that later...

Miss Tracy xx

In Review - PicStitch

Hello again,

As you may have already noticed, I like to use photo collages in my blog posts and they would not be possible without the wonderful app of PicStitch!

I'm a big user of Instagram, stalking and and posting alike, so when I saw a few posts with the hashtag #picstitch, I couldn't help but check it out. This led my down the rabbit hole.

My favourite feature of PicStitch is its simplicity. The interface is dark, with very little advertising space, and uses very little text. There are something like 280 collage templates to choose from but this wasn't enough and I ended up paying $0.99 to unlock all templates.  You can chose your photos from various sources, including your photo album, camera, Facebook, Dropbox and other social media sources.

When it comes to putting the collage together, even simpler! Just choose the the photos your using and then what edits you would like to make. There are various options for editing including enhance, effects, frames, stickers, focus, orientation, crop, sharpness, splash, draw, ext, red eye, whiten, blemish and meme.

When your done editing, you have the option to change your layout, the aspect ratio of the frame or to re-size your photos. Adjust the product in the frame and then move onto the next photo. Repeat then fiddle until you're happy!

The last step is to save your photo. Again, many options to choose from. I usually go for the option to save to my photo album but here is where you pay for the free app, usually you are exposed to 30 seconds of a movie trailer or an app advertisement. Not much to bear but enough for me to feel impatient!

PicStitch is available from the iTunes App Store, free to download but any add ons are paid. I highly recommend this app if you feel the need for a collage!

DOWNLOAD PICSTITCH FROM HERE!

Happy blogging, and let me know how PicStitch works for you!

Miss Tracy xx

Highschool Reunion!

Hey there!

So from what the movies have told me, when people hear 'high-school reunion', they usually scream and run for the hills! Being only a year out from the institution, I was looking forward to my first year reunion so when I received an invitation to help organise the event, I jumped at the opportunity.

While at school, I didn't have much contact with our Alumnae department; there never seems to be the perfect time to meet the people you won't see until after high-school! When I got the email from the wonderful S, a member of our Alumnae department, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into.

Plenty emails back and forth later, we had settled on a date and sent out a mass text message save the date to my year level. Educated in the age of technology, we used a Facebook poll to decide which date could have the most people attend and planned accordingly.

Next step was the invitation; to be simple, aesthetically pleasing and audience appropriate. I originally designed three proofs and had a personal favourite, featuring the official Pantone colours of my school's logo. This mock-up ended up being everyone's favourite and was the invitation sent out. I removed the details, but here's a good look at the final product...

Next was the decorations. With a budget of $50, I managed to score balloons, streamers, napkins, two table runners, balloon clips and pipes and hot glue sticks. The table runners were glued together and I fashioned hot balloon centre-pieces from various recyclable materials. The Alumnae department has a perpetual banner, featured below, and a banner is printed for the associated year level. The food was catered, from a nearby cafe and including hot food, sandwiches, fruit platter, dessert platters, drinks and a gluten free and vegetarian alternative, it came to around $10.50 a head. Have a look at the end result... 

The night went really well! Something around 35 people turned up, not including staff from the school. The girls all loved it and could not stop talking to each other. Some girls who left before year 12 were even in attendance. We all laughed over slideshows and photo videos and highly out of the ordinary for our year level...there was no drama!

This experience has been one in a million. It reminded me how much I enjoy event planning and budgeting and how much the little details matter.I even had a chance to let my creative juices flow. I managed to do all this during the peak of the semester so my time planning skills were out of this world!

Working collaboratively with S has been such a learning opportunity and I cannot thank here enough for allowing me this opportunity; I can't wait for the next big event I am part of. The following is a copy of the reunion report written (by me)  for the Class of 2012's first year reunion to be featured in the school newsletter and /or yearbook...

Looking ahead, I can't wait for the next reunion and hopefully, I will be able to assist again!

Have you helped organise an old school event? 

What's your experience with reunions?

What did you think of our handiwork?

Fill me in!

Miss Tracy xx

SNEAK PEEK: Planned Experiences and Creating Environments

Just a little taste of what's to come, prepare for some great ideas, recipes and tutorials!

                    

Miss Tracy xx

Resource Find - Free Education Books

Hi everyone,

Well recently I have really discovered how expensive uni books are. Each semester, I spend around $450 on textbooks alone, ones that are readily available at my library. BUT... they are on limited loans. Limited loans range from 2 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days and 7 days. For someone studying for the whole semester, I cannot make do with these loans if my assignments focus on the set texts.

So you can understand my surprise when I saw a sign saying free books near a trolley out the front of the library! The first few times there were some good books but for other faculty's. But I persisted and recently found the best education haul yet!

Teacher Education in the English Speaking World; Past, Present and Future

Edited by Tom O'Donoghue and Clive Whitehead

500 Tips for Open and Online Learning

Phil Race

Critical Readings in Teacher Education; Provoking Absences

Anne Phelan and Jennifer Sumsion

Becoming a Teacher; Knowledge, Skills and Issues

Colin Marsh

Advances in Web Based Education; Personalized Learning Environments

George D. Magoulas and Sherry Y. Chen

The toal values of the books is something around $400 and I managed to snag them for absolutely nothing! From a quick look through, the books look great and my hope is that I can use them for assignments, further resourcing and during my actual time in the classroom.

Most are the second latest edition, so my guess for their removal from the library is that they have bought the latest edition. My only complaint so far is that I had to lug all of them home in my handbag!

Stay tuned to see reviews when I get a chance to really scour them, perhaps I'll even use my new bookmarks from Knock Knock stationery!

Does your university give out free books?

What have you been lucky enough to find?

Wish your university gave out free books?

Send me a line at any of the LMST sites!

Miss Tracy xx