Placement - Planned Experiences Part 4

Wishy Washing

Remember how the ice cream play dough parlour went? Remember the sweet, sweet children who helped me to wash up the dishes? Remember how I told you how much these kids love water play? Link them all together and what experience do you have? A washing up station!

I put together a wooden dish rack, a crate of soapy water, some dishes from our home corner and four brightly coloured cloths and this was the product. Again, I set this up in the morning, outside, before the children could spend anytime outside. I find this presentation of play gives the children more freedom and flexible in what they could can do as opposed to when they watch me interact with the materials and what do with them.

At first, the children were content washing up the cutlery I brought out from the home corner. When these were deemed clean, the children began to bring toys from their sandbox and mud kitchen to clean. When these no longer fit on the drying rack, L brought out a large crate to place the clean and dried items.

The fact that these children so promptly and effectively solved the problems they encountered within the play reminds me of why I love this field and why i continue to do what I do. What surprised me even more was the engagement of the boys in the room.

Many of them came by and had a look at the activity and it wasn't until they saw L and the other girls splashing the water that they took interest in something they usually walk by when playing indoors.

This activity was super simple and yet the children had so much fun. By the end of the day, all of our sand and mud toys were squeaky clean. Ah...the planning cycle in action!

Miss Tracy xx

Placement - Creating Environments Part 1

Creek Explorers

If there is one thing I have noticed about the children in this kinder room, it is their love of exploring and how much they love playing with water. Last week, after days of rain, a large puddle formed over part of our playground. While did this pose a safety threat due to its size and depth, the educators cornered it off and allowed play provided that the children didn't put their hands or feet in the water.

One of my focus children, W, used a garden rake to play with this new attraction. He skimmed it across the water and watched the patterns it made. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me his was fishing, and that all the fish went into the bucket, the large bin we use to store the sand and water toys in.

I pondered over this observation throughout the week and used what I had seen as the basis for my next implementation; a creek environment where the children could explore a small ecosystem. 

After filling the bottom of the container with various sized pebbles and filling in one-third full of water, i began to arrange the elements of this environment. I purchased the frogs from my local dollar shop, along with the lizard. I foraged the park across from my house, and the kinder store room, for the large logs and twigs. After attaching some twine and a hook shaped paperclip to the long twigs, I had two fishing rods.

Accompanying the creek were some small fish! I printed and laminated images of trout and attached them to paperclips, so that the children could link the hook and the paperclip to catch the fish. Below is a link to the document that you can laminate to create your own fishing experience! In the end, I added a total of 8 fish.

The children were so excited to watch me put this together! By the time I had finished, they had already picked up the frogs, experimenting with how stretchy they are and who was too scared to even attempt touching them. The fishing rods worked great, however I wished I had made more so that more children could fish simultaneously with out too much conflict. Had I the money, I would have acquired a container which looked more natural, but I made do with what the centre already had.  

Some images of the little explorers...

DOWNLOAD FISH TEMPLATE HERE

UPDATE 28/05/2014 - The water, if not changed regularly, begins to smell and can be dangerous if accidentally ingested. If you plan on having this environment active for longer than 7 days, ensure you change the water as soon as you notice any changes.

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