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

Placement - Planned Experiences Part 7

Hello!

The letter theme is a big help when it comes to structured planning at this centre and during my full control time, the letter of the week was P. Sensory play has so many benefits and purposes  and the children absolutely love it! With this is mind I went with making play dough with them, with some added extras…

I made the play dough with the children during their quiet time, with each having a turn at pouring and mixing the ingredients. I had arranged the invitation to play in the morning, selecting the following items; pom poms, patty pans, pipe cleaners and paddle pops and decided to dye the dough pink. Are you seeing a reoccurring theme yet?

I never made this theme obvious to the children, I never mentioned why it was pink, the link between the additional items, not once. But they were quick to observe. One child mentioned that we should make it purple because purple starts with P. Another suggested earlier in the week that play dough was a p word so we should play with it soon.

The children had a great time making and exploring with the dough with this being the result…

The end result = a fun play dough experience with strong links to the children's interests and learning goals!

Miss Tracy xx

Graphing in Early Childhood

Hi all,

Inspired by this pin, I planned this activity during my full control period. Preparation included cutting out the pieces of paper and writing the children's names, adding a heading to the page and gathering your glue, scissors and permanent marker.

I sat the children down and began by talking about our other graphs and what we measured on them and what we were going to measure on the new graph. I placed the names on the ground and asked the children to come out one by one and see which one belonged to them.

They then stood out the front and counted the letters in their own name. I then cut out the individual letters and the children all called out what letter I should glue up.

After gluing the letters on, there was some discussion about who had the most letters and who had the least. We also compared whose names had the same amount and the same letters.  

At the end, we counted up the letters in everyone's names and I wrote it in marker down the right hand side. After drawing in the grid lines, labeling the axis and underlining the heading, the final product was ready to be tacked onto the door with our other graphs...      

This activity incorporated so many concepts including:

• graphing
• spelling
• counting 
• information representation 
• word recognition 
• number recognition 
• comparison and contrast

Definitely one to try out again, perhaps with a little tweaking for the primary placement... 

Miss Tracy xx

The Letter Theme

My lovely readers!

It's been so hectic lately but with the semester over,  my exam done and block placement coming up, there will only be new posts from here on in! So let's get on with it...

As noted in some other posts, my AT plans her room and set up based on the letter of the week. We create a letter chart, with common words and the words we know at the beginning of the week and group discussions and planned activities often revolve around said letter. At the end of the week, the poster goes up on wall. 

I have discussed this with some other pre-service teachers and it seems to be a common focus at this level of early childhood however each centre does it differently. For some, they only make the letter poster and talk about the words they know but my AT really goes above and beyond. Let's take a look at the letter L week...

The Letter L Poster

At the beginning of the week, the children create this letter poster. The picture are pulled out of a hat and they all take turns to guess what they are as they all start with L. At the end, the children can list all the words they know with the featured letter. The last step is counting and underlining all the Ls in the words that we write onto the poster.

The Lovely Letter L

At the start of the week, my AT played this song. On the first watch, the children simply watched what was happening.When they asked to play it again, they got up and dance, clapped and stomped their feet. For the rest of the week, they asked to dance to the robot song!

Ladybug Land 

Early in the week, the children each collected a stone from outside and painted it with similar patterns to a ladybug. When dried, my AT took these painted rocks and added them to the tray above. This then sat at the project table, where the children are free to engage with it whenever they please.  

Words with L

Every morning during group time, my AT does her morning minutes. This is her way of encouraging group discussion and the social behaviours expected during these discussion. It is also a way that she intends to prepare the children for what is expected of them when they go to school next year. Above is a copy of the morning minutes sheet, where they were asked, 'What words  do you know that start with the letter L?' Their responses are recorded and the transcript is displayed near the sign in sheets for parents to view at the end of the day. This procedure provides some consistency for the children in the morning and ideas for planning, specifically based in the children's current interests.

Lemon Scented Play Dough

Dough Recipe

2 tablespoons cooking oil
4 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 cups of flour
1 cup salt
2 cups boiling water
bottled lemon juice
lemon extract
yellow food dye

Simply mix all the ingredients together until combined and knead until you get a consistent texture. Add extra essence or juice as necessary.

A member of staff and myself made the play dough with the children, giving them the ingredients to take turns to pour into the bowl. Since we used hot water, the other staff member mixed the dough. when ready, the dough was placed on the table with some wooden pegs and beads. The photos above show what play followed. 

Conclusion - Rather than just focus on the letter in isolation, my AT really looks to provide a wholesome literacy experience which is not didactic or overstated. The linking to the letter L is so well distributed throughout the week and all the activities are so subtlety linked. I love the fact that the learning takes place without the children being denied their unstructured play time, something that will become more restricted as they move into primary school.

This form of planning is definitely something I will be coming back if I decide to become a kindergarten educator. 

Miss Tracy xx

Placement - Planned Experiences Part 1

Dinosaur Fossils 

The children in the kindergarten room absolutely love dinosaurs at the moment! We were lucky enough to have an incursion from Dinosaur Diggers (will hear more in a future post!) which has only served to increase their interest and so my associate teacher included the following environment to the room. By adding the sifter and the plastic fossils, the children are now able to dig for their own fossil but I thought we could peak their interest just a little bit further.

I read this post while perusing Pinterest and thought it would be perfect to implement in the afternoon. The children love to bake cakes and cupcakes so experiencing these concepts with the idea of dinosaur fossils worked really well. I followed the recipe for the salt dough featured on RainyDayMum:

Salt Dough

1/2 Cup of Salt

1/2 Cup of water

1 Cup all purpose (plain Flour)

Mix the above ingredients together and knead to a smooth dough and leave in a cool place for around 15 minutes. This will make it easier to roll and create a good imprint in the dough. To cure and harden the dough, bake for one hour at 100 degrees Celsius.

Following us making the dough together, we rolled the dough and pressed our fossils imprints in. After labeling and wrapping the dough, I took it home to bake. It turned out great; the brown colour and grainy texture has them looking like real fossils, straight out of the ground!

I haven't decided yet whether we should paint them due to the unique texture and colour but following the return to their creators, we will see what they want to do. 

This was such a fun experience which had so many different forms of learning and play happening that I hope you choose to share this with the children in your care.

Miss Tracy xx

My Educational App Collection

Good morning all,

I have been posting a few app reviews lately and thought it was about time I showed you my app collection. It's taking a while to come up with this many educational apps and I have had some great sources; the Ipadopedia, a children's literature unit I took in first semester and a music education unit I just completed.

But lately I have found a new source, the Education section of the iTunes store. This section of the store caters for varying levels of education, from early childhood straight up to self education for adults. It is meticulously organised, much like my iPad, and has great sections:

• Reading
• Maths
• Physics 
• Chemistry
• Music
• Writing
• Life Science
• Geography
• Astronomy and Earth Science

And so we begin the journey through my iPad! I have provided a picture of each folder and the apps they contain and what section I find them useful to store under.

LMST BLOG

• Dropbox
• Pic Stitch
• Pinterest
• Tumblr
• Blogger
• Twitter
• Mailbox

COACHING

• Coach My Video
• Ubersense

DEMONSTRATIONS

• Educreations Interactive Whiteboard
• bContext
• Class Act Lite
• Show Me
• Brain Pop

DIAGRAMS

• Mind Meister
• Prezi
• Lovely Charts

DOCUMENTING

• iZip
• Jot Not
• Evernote

LITERACY

• Story Wheel
• Chain Story
• Outline
• Claro
• Rhyme Zone
• Character Prompts
• Writing Prompts
• A Novel Idea
• Poetry Creator

MANAGEMENT

• Teacher Kit
• iStudiez Lite
• Chore Pad HD
• Pocket Picture Planner

MATHS

• Algebra Touch
• CALC
• FluidMath
• Soulver
• Mathletics Student
• Calculator 
• iMathematics
• Triangle Solver

MEASUREMENT

• Multi Measures HD
• Tuner Lite
• Pano Tuner
• MultiMeasure 
• M Tools
• Timer+
• iSetSquare

MUSIC

• Baby Chords
• Sound Prism
• Electric Guitar!
• Magic Zither
• Core Synth HD
• Music Sparkles
• GarageBand

SCIENCE & GEOGRAPHY

• The Human Body
• iCell
• Planets
• Google Earth
• Memory of Colours

SOUND MANAGEMENT 

• Too Noisy
• Decibel 10th

And as usual, all apps I have posted today are available on the App Store however please note some are free and some are paid so please check before you press the little green button!

Miss Tracy xx

Assignment File - Sketchbook and eResource Part 2

Hello there,

As promised, here you will find part 2; the eResource. This part of the assignment asked us to create a live webpage using Web 2.0 technology, focused on a single topic relating to the visual arts. This resource would not only be for assessment but for our fellow pre-service teachers as well as teachers out there already teaching with access to the internet.

I chose the theme 'A Bug's Life' after covering a number of artists who focused on natures and the creatures in it. Since I was already extremely familiar with Blogger, I chose this as my method of presentation.

And so my discovery unit was born! Click the title to take a peek...

A BUG'S LIFE

This unit looks at the topic of bugs and insects as a stepping stone for visual art exploration and how to weave this knowledge into other aspects of curriculum and the learning environment.

One aspect of this assignment that I had a hard time working out was the lesson plans I was expected to create.  While I have done 3 curriculum based units, we have not touched on writing lesson plans yet, primarily since we are still studying early childhood. So I took to the internet and put together a template myself, which you can view  as PDFs in the appropriate sections. 

I also had many internal (and one external) debates on how these activities I had designed should be assessed or documented. In the end, I devised a simple rubric with smiley faces, which can be completed by the teacher, student or together as a reflection exercise.

I was very happy with the outcome of both pieces of work and with my hard work and perseverance, I earned myself a credit (C)!

Miss Tracy xx

Assignment File - Sketchbook & eResource Part 1

Hi all,

Here comes another post on one of my countless assignments, this one for a creative arts subject, EDAR-368.

Rather than one set task, the assignment asked us to document our leaning and changed perspective over the semester in relation to this one subject. Using an A4 sketchbook, each class we would sketch what we 'thought' and then what we 'saw' and complete a pre-planned lesson according to a given preparation sheet.

Another component of this ongoing task was looking at a specific artist. Each week, we would have a new focus, which guided our reading, research and tutorials. Depending on the style and technique of the artist, we would take part in activities, such as sketching live scorpions, sketching ourselves using a single line, drawing our tutor with our eyes closed and tearing paper into a thousand pieces.

By the end of the six week block, I had pages and pages of hard work, which I have decided to share with you!

HOWEVER...this was only part 1 of my assignment for this unit! Comeback next week for the next installment.

Miss Tracy xx

Placement - Planned Experiences Part 3

Me again!

Can you believe I am posting once a week now? The holidays have left me with a lot of spare time, much of which is dedicated to this blog. This will be the last installment for the Planned Experience series so here we go...

Heuristic Play Baskets

The EDCU 101 unit that I took in my first semester of uni was the first in a series of early childhood curriculum units. My tutor had some very firm beliefs on a variety of topics however one that stood out was heuristic play. Heuristic play refers to the type of play which involves discovering the properties of objects, such as the feel of aged leather or the sound of a whisk as it hits the floor.

We learnt about various types of  play but one task set for us was to set up  a heuristic play basket as present our collection to the class. I used the basket I had set up for this class as a planned activity during this placement. Some items I choose to include in my basket:

• small wooden spoon
• silicone baking tray
• leather samples
• wooden bangles 
• pine-cones
• shells
• stainless steel strainer

The children enjoyed the experience however some became very attached to particular items which did test the groups sharing abilities. I had split all the items into two felt basket from IKEA but ideally I would have liked to use round wicker baskets.

Story Time

C loves to read, both by herself and with an educator so to build on this love of books, I planned a one-on-one story time. I picked up these Beatrix Potter style board books from a local school fete and paid $2 for a set of 12. I also managed to find a squirrel/wombat puppet to complement this experience.

The one-on-one aspect of this experience worked extremely well, we were able to make our way through the book at a comfortable pace so that C should take her time appreciating the illustrations and the motions of reading a book. The puppet added to the interactive nature of reading a story and C even had a turn at managing the puppet.

Paint Stamping

If there is one thing that the children at my placement centre love to do, it is PAINTING! But there are only so many times that the educators can put out the paper and a paint brush. So to spice things up on the craft table, I found some Christmas themes paint stampers for the children and C to enjoy.

The end result was... amusing!

The children started using the stampers as you usually would, pressing them into the paint and then onto the paper. But then they ran out of space on the paper and decided to experiment. As you can see in the picture above, C experimented by sweeping the stamper through the paint on her paper, while others choose to paint with their hands as stampers and some even decided to paint on others bodies!

But all in all, all the children involved loved it! And thank god the paint is washable!

This ends the Planned Experiences series for this placement but never fear, I will be back sometime i March as I kick off my 3-5 year old placement in a sessional kindergarten.

Miss Tracy xx 

Placement - Planned Experiences Part 2

Hello there,

Here comes part 2 of the planned experiences I implemented whilst on placement. The experiences in this series focused on sensory play, primarily implemented for C.

Moon Sand

I had this idea locked up for some time and when staff told me how interested C was in play dough plus my observations on their play with sand, I knew I could use this resource. Moon Sand is this crazy dough that is basically sand which sticks to its self and has the properties of a liquid and a solid. The recipe is as follows:

4 parts sand

2 parts cornflour

1 part water

Mix all the ingredients together, adding cornflour and/or water until the desired consistency is reached.

The final product was amazing! When you held it gently, it flowed through your fingers but roll it like dough and suddenly, it becomes solid and resists! I added some cookie cutters for the children to experiment with and placed the mixture in a tray to minimise the mess. 

When the mixture dried out a little too much, a squirt of water on the hands of the children playing restores a more liquid consistency to the mixture.  The clean up was surprisingly easy; even though I lay down a mat the mixture still spread everywhere but since we were outside, the heat of the sun dried the water up and I just used a broom to sweep the excess back into the sandpit.

Ice Ice Baby

I implemented this activity for one simple reason; the expected temperature was 38 degrees Celsius and I knew the children were going to have a very hot, inside day. Materials are as follows:

Food colouring

Clean water

Ice cube trays

Freezer 

Large trough
Cups, scoops, water play equipment 

It's as simple as mixing the food colouring with the water, pouring it into the trays and freezing it, Transfer the final product to the trough you plan to use and add lukewarm water plus the play equipment.

I would recommend boiling the water before freezing and adding the colour. If you don't, the colour tends to pool in the usually cloudy spots of the ice cube however if boiled, the whole cube becomes a brilliantly coloured shape.

Due to the weather, this activity was very well received by the participants! Staff members were concerned about the water staying in the trough, which is understandable since we still have some unsteady walkers in the room, but other than that...no complaints what so ever.

Bubble Dough

On the third day, I implemented my last activity for the week; bubble dough. Again, this activity was found online during a study/procrastination session and it's contents took me by surprise:

2 parts cornflour/plain flour

1 part dishwashing liquid

2 table spoons baby/cooking oil

Combine all the ingredients, kneading until well combined. If too sticky, add more flour; if too dry, add more dish washing liquid and for more malleability, add more oil.

I set this experience up during a nappy change time, when children are moving in and out of the room. They were free to engage in it when it suited them. Some stayed for 5-10 mins but C and another child lingering for the entirety of the dough's life's span. 

It was a good alternative to play dough, offering different properties than usually with the dish washing liquid giving the material a pleasantly fresh smell that lingering around the room. I made the dough ahead of time and only needed to add oil and liquid on the day. At the time of writing this post, the dough was still usable after some oil, dish washing liquid and plenty of kneading. 

I had plenty of fun discovering and creating these experiences and am so glad that the children enjoyed themselves. I cannot wait to share part three with you all! 

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

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

SNEAK PEEK: My First Planned Experience!

Hi everyone!

More info to come but a couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to implement my planned experience for my focus child!

Here's a snapshot, with more to come soon!

My associate teacher on placement was incredibly supportive and C (my focus child) absolutely loved the activity I set up for her.

Miss Tracy xx

Resource Find - 365 Activities

Hi everyone,

So you remember a while ago how I posted about 501 TV Free Activities for Kids by Diana Hodges?

While op-shopping a couple weeks ago, look what I found...

Only $5 for both! That's a total of 1,231 DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES (I checked). I could not believe my luck!

I am really excited, I have just started implementing planning for my focus child so these books will really come in handy and provide me with some inspiration.

Where do you find inspiration for planning experiences?
Any op-shop finds to share?

Comment, leave me a note, send me a PM!

Miss Tracy xx

Resource Find - 501 Activity Book

Growing up, our house was filled with books. Living in family of avid readers meant that a love of reading was instilled in me from a young age. It also meant that you could find a variety of books in our house; many of these being ‘activity books’ saved mainly for rainy days and school holidays. 

From the selection above, courtesy of my crowded bookshelf and hoarding ways, you can see that these books have a variety of themes ranging from party planning to gender. But reading through these books now, I realised that most of them are aimed at parents or children as an antidote to boredom. I couldn't really find any book within my collection which had an overt appreciation for learning through the play and exploration.

It was when I stopped at my local bookstore that I found the book of my dreams... 

501 TV Free Activities for Kids by Diana Hodges 

This is an activity binder filled with different ideas and plans on how to entertain and delight children of various ages.

One of the biggest things that sold me on this book was its setup. It has tabs for the types of activity including areas such as outdoor, indoor, science, maths, and words as well as others. The tabs make appropriate activities easy to find under what subject area you want it to focus on or what the children under your care are interested in. It's like having eight books in one! Since the book is spiral bound on a large coil, it is easy to lay flat and look at and this setup prevents damage to the spine and pages of the book as a results of handling and use.

The actual activities in the book use everyday household items which are not difficult to get your hands on and when applicable, lists substitutes which can be used. Depending on the activity, notes are also given on how to can be progressed or simplified depending on the children's abilities and/or the materials available.

With these features plus easily identifiable symbols used throughout the book as a visual representation of key elements used in the activities, this book can be of value for both parents and educators. It was an absolute lifesaver for my last Early Childhood Curriculum and Pedagogy unit when looking at planning for individual children plus I plan on using it as my bible for placement! 

On sale at my local bookstore, it only cost me $13.00 (RRP 24.99) but it is available online at Booktopia. For those outside Australia, Amazon does stock new copies at varying prices. The book is even available off iTunes!  

With so many sources for activity inspiration, especially those to be found online, this book spoke to me as a physical collection of ideas I can take around with me. Whether I use it when babysitting, on placement, during an assignment or even in the workplace, this was definitely worth the buy.

Do you have a favourite source for activity inspiration?

Care to share?

Drop me a line, ask some questions or just follow the LMST blog!

Miss Tracy xx