Weekly Planning

Hello!

With full control in full swing, it was expected during my placement that I plan for one week and implement for two days. I had seen my AT's weekly plan up every week I was at placement so I knew the expected format and sat down with her to discuss what the expectations for the week were.

As you may have noticed, many of the environments and experiences I have been writing about on here have focused on the letter P, this being because during my full control week, the focus letter was P. The following was my plan for the week...

I accounted for weekly activities, such as sport and yoga, some activities that my AT had in mind and some general planning included every week. The focus on Literacy and Numeracy was part of my AT's original format. It's not how I would probably set out my plan but it was interested to use these as a focus.

The hardest part of constructing this was having all these great ideas for the children and the room but having to find somewhere to link it and aligning these with the children's interests. The research that went into coming up with this plan was so fun and one of my favourite parts of the job. Using other blogs, Pinterest, Tumblr I found heaps of ideas incorporating the letter P and the children's current interests and favourite experiences and then planned these around the routine and timetable of the room.

As the week progressed, I wrote little notes onto the plan, which is displayed above the children's cubbies for parents to view. I wrote the date they were implemented, whether or not it was sucessful and whether I would be doing an observation or learning story for the experience. These annotations helped the parents see what was happening throughout the week and my AT see how I was progressing and following up on my planning and programming.

As a result of this planning, my full control was successful and I learned heaps of new things and really began to see myself as an early childhood educator rather than just a visitor or student.

Keep your eyes peeled for more about my time in full control!

Miss Tracy xx

Placement - Planned Experiences Part 8

Hi there!

Still trying to capitilise on all the rich experiences I had on placement, today's post is about how to make and use puffy paint! Again with the letter P theme, my AT's idea was to create the paint and set them up on our art and craft table.

The recipe for creating the paint is super simple, with things you can readily find in your kitchen or supermarket.

Puffy Paint

1 cup flour

1 cup salt 

3 cups water  

Paint

Mix all the ingredients together until they form a batter-like consistency. Depending on how many colours of paint you would like to make, separate into your chosen containers that the children will use to paint with (see note). Add a small squirt of paint to each mixture and mix until you see the desired colour appear and then you're ready to go!

I used zip lock bags with a smal hole cut out from a corner for the children to paint with. While there was no problems using these, they were very flimsy and some children had difficulty using the bags to 'pipe' the paint. I would suggest using old sauce bottle or buying a new set as they are easier to hold and could have plenty of other uses in the classroom, not just for this activity. 

The other thing I noticed when I tested it at home was that normal paper would get soggy under the batter and would rip, tear or start to break down. For this reason, at the kinder, we used A3 canvas paper that had been halved for the children to paint with. Stiff cardboard or poster paper can substitute if you don't have or can't find this. 

Once I had set up the activity after afternoon tea, the children were very eager to see what was happening. My AT and I had to show a few children how to hold and press the bag, but they were very eager to get painting...

Now the magic happens! After the children had completed their painting, we set them on the drying rack. During their outside play time, I went into the staff room and put the painting in the microwave for 30-60 seconds depending on how much paint was on the paper. The flour and salt cook leaving the paint raised and very bumpy. 

The children loved the change and how different it felt. Some even compared the picture to the paints by feeling one and then the other. This was a really fun and engaging activity and could be used with younger or older children. Give it a try in your classroom and let me know how it goes!

Miss Tracy xx

My Early Childhood Educational Philosophy

Hi!

Last semester, I had to complete on of the most difficult and thought provoking assignments to date: to put into words my early childhood educational philosophy.

It took a lot of thought and reflection, something which I continue to struggle with, but in the end, I managed to get it into words. I took some inspiration from my previous placement centres and looked online to see others and even took to academic literature.

This was my final piece of writing...

I believe that quality child care and education begins with the involvement and input of parents and families. Since you are your child’s first teacher, your experiences together and observations are crucial to structuring a program which caters to your child’s interests and developmental needs as they journey through childhood.

The continued observation, documentation of your child coupled with communication and continuity between the home and educational environment allows us as early childhood educators to build a program which meets individual needs, focuses on natural and authentic play spaces and fosters free choice and quality interactions. 
It is important to understand the level of diversity present in our current community and to past these views on to our future generation. To ensure this, all children are treated equally regardless of gender, race, ability, religion, socio economic status or family structure and it is expected that this is extended to their families. As a result of this, a non-gendered approach is taken by all educators when planning and programming environments and experiences.

Learning experiences are informed by the interests and needs of children in the room, observed through documentation. These aim to nurture curiosity, wonder, inquiry, as well as feeling of success, empowerment and confidence. Careful care and consideration is taken when setting these up to ensure the safety of the environment for the children it is designed for while still providing a setting for potential challenge and growth.

The social context of the environment is important to the experience of childhood and is reflected as such in the organisational structure of the rooms at the centre. Children are primarily placed based on their age, in order to provide age and developmentally appropriate experiences however the difference of ages allows for a range of interactions and a chance for cooperative and collaborative skills to emerge and be practiced.

These considerations applied to the environments and experiences designed are informed by the Early Years Learning Framework to ensure that children have the opportunity to:
·         Build a strong sense of identity
·         Connect with and contribute to their world
·         Develop a strong sense of well-being
·         Become confident and involved learners
·         Transition to effective communicators 

While the mark is important, for me this assignment was really setting me up to think about what I value, what I think was important to my approach and what informs my practice. It has set me up be a more reflective practitioner as I am continually told to change this statement and update when necessary.

I'm interested to see how many other teachers put these philosophies into writing, would you consider yourself on of them?

Miss Tracy xx 

Placement - Creating Environments Part 5

Hello!

Keeping with the children's interest in the home corner, imaginary play and the letter of the week theme, I began to look for some environment ideas during my full control week. After perusing Pinterest, I came up with the idea of creating a felt board pizza!

After a trip to my local Spotlight, a large chain craft store, where I purchased an A4 multi-coloured felt set, an A3 piece of stiff brown felt, I returned home and looked at what exactly goes into a pizza.

I found this pin, which also has some great ideas for other felt board designs, and decided to include the following toppings:

• cheese
• ham
• pepperoni
• mushroom
• capsicum
• chicken 
• olives 

It was painstakingly difficult to cut out some of the shapes on the felt and because I traced the shapes on the felt with permanent marker you can see the outline where my cutting was a little off but the end result was pretty good...

I thought the pizza box would add a nice touch so imagine the face of our local pizza hut guy when I asked if I could have a clean empty box alongside my thin and crispy super supreme! I added picture and word labels to the toppings box and besides the large mirror sign and sectioned container of toppings, I also added a small notepad and pen so the children could 'take orders'. During their play, one child suggested we add in a phone so people could call and tell us while another suggested we get a car so we could deliver!

From the pictures and observations, it looks like they had a lot of fun...

This set up encouraged the children to talk about what they wanted to have on their pizza, to consider others as they completed order and encouraged them to use letters and words to symbolise any orders on the note pad. They became very adept at sectioning and sorting the ingredients during pack up time and were quick to tell each other how to take care of their new toy.

It was so cheap and easy to make, minor my small embarrassment at Pizza Hut, and the quality of play that occurred as a result was amazing!

Felt and felt boards is definitely something I want to further play around with and experiment with in the future so stay tuned for any new developments!

Miss Tracy xx