Feedback
Last week(March 6) I did group time for the first time. Although i have been doing everything as my mentor educator and other educator does but I didn’t had confident to do group time. I asked for some advices like which songs can I do during the group time? What are the important things I should focus on? What can I do to dismiss the children? and we discuss about it and finally with the advice like ” its not that hard, you just have to hold the children during group time with whatever their interest are, you can read book to them , you can sing song or do some moving with them, you can do anything to dismiss them like asking about favorite food or animals and also we will be there to support you” and I was able to do the circle time and it got success too. After the group time other educator came and said me “it went all good and the number of children are low so you did it well but you have to tell them everything before you start other things” as I was dismissing them by asking tell me your any favorite animal names but they got little confused as i didn’t mention them whoever tells the name they will go and wash their hand for snack ,so the educator asked me at that very moment to tell them you are dismissing them so i did the same so it went good.
I thanked her for giving me feedback and for the next circle time i am going to be mindful and try not to do any mistakes.
Plan and prep
This coming week is all about the St. patrick week and we planed together what are the activities we are going to do like thumb print gold pot, shamrock man and prep almost all the activities and materials required for those. I am happy to get involved in everything from planning to preparing.
Karolyn’s Notes March 14, 2024:
Srijana, please put a date on your reflections. This seems to be from last and this week. I would like you to be more specific in your descriptions of what you are doing. For example, You said ” I asked for some advice and we discuss about it and finally with the help and advice of my mentor I was able to do the circle time and it got success too” What was the advice that you got? What questions did you ask? What did your group time look like? What activities did you do? You mentioned you dismissed children with animal names. How did you do it? What did you say, etc. What let you know the activity was confusing for the children? How will you incorporate your mentor feedback next time you do an activity to dismiss the children?
Under Plan and prep
This could be a place to explore, let your mentor know what you would like to do and would be a place for me to add thoughts and suggestions too. The idea is collaborative dialogue as you plan and prepare for the experiences you will have with the children. Be specific about what you are planning, what you and your mentor discussed, etc. Then when you photograph, write about how the implemented plans went I will have a frame of reference to explore those experiences with you.
21st March, 2024
Today, our day started bit late because of power cut in North Shore area, with bit late start children were bit off as we usually do our group time at 9;15 and today we started by 10 Am. I attempted to do the circle time, I played one song where they seems enjoying it with full energy and in the next song they enjoyed and dance till half of the song and started leaving the group without listening to me as well as Ms. Courtney, I asked them to be in there letter and somehow I did the family phonics letter story. As Ms. Courtney and I both were thinking of making the cricle time till 20ish as we planned both of us will do something but they seem to off so Ms. Courtney ask me to dismiss them. As this week is the Farm week I ask them name of the animals found in farm and dismiss them. Then during snacks time Ms. Courtney came to me and said its not my fault they are off maybe because of late start and suggested me to do the circle time next week again.
How time is organized can have a dramatic impact on how children and adults engage with one another and
affect the kind of play and learning that occurs? (BC ELF)
Karolyn’s Notes Apr 4, 2024
I am expecting min weekly entries here. There should be about 9 or 10 entries here reflecting on your practice and highlighting new skills you are practicing and making progress on.
March 27, 2024
After spending some time in Gym, we all started to suited up for playground, one of our friend was bit emotional and fussy as her mom told that she wake up early and looks tired too. I helped her to suited up though she was not willing to get ready. I told her we will go to playgroup and we gonna play swing, and ball and also told her i will give her high push on swing so she finally got ready and we went to playground. We had 14 friend and 2 balls only, they were sharing and playing with it. But all of a sudden Eva wanted to play alone with it and she started to fight with Oliver and started crying. I asked her if she was hurt or not and she said No. So I ask her to breath and calm down so that she can listen to me. Then I explain her “we all are friend and we should be gentle with everyone. Oliver had the ball before you so you should ask him for the turn, he is very kind and good friend he will give you a turn, if we don’t play friendly they will also not want to play with you and that will make you more upset and Can you please check on your friend if he is okay or not” so he calm down herself and ask Oliver either he was okay or not and told him she wants turn after he was done. So I ask Eva lets go for walk little bit and we started roaming around. She like to spin around so i spined her and she was fine.
After seeing all this Ms. Joslyne said “good job, the 1st thing we have to do is make them breath and calm themself down if they are not hurt and then only they will listen to us, you did pretty good job”.
March 28 (Easter party and games)
On 27th I ask Ms. Courtney that I want to bring some game for Easter party day and she said okay So she came up with the idea of each teacher bring their own game for Easter. As it was in Gym, I had to think something related to gym play so i came up with bowling idea. During snack time I had three friends so I told them after snack we are going to the gym and we have so many games to play. My team we will go to the block area and make a tower and knock it over. We switched it this time, teacher were staying with their won games and children were rotating in every 10 minutes. So I lead my group and we went to block area and I explain them we have red lane from where we will throw the ball and everyone will get a turn. Frist we will built the bowl and jack goes first, Malea second and Damein third. As i guided them they were doing the same and also hooting and cheering their friend to knock it over. Frist group went well and them second group came by and Rayan said i know how to play this game i was seeing Damein doing it, so i thought they don’t need more explanation so I told them who is going first, second and third. They were enjoying 1st and 2nd round but i think there was lack of explanation so they started to play whatever they like so I had to do the easter egg game to engage them with game which was given by Ms. Courtney to every group for backup game.
Later Ms. Courtney and I discussed more clear direction and expectation of game is needed for this kind of game and overall it was okay. We just have to give them more task so that they can stay busy. And It was a nice day to remember. From the last conversation i wanted the
April 4, 2024
I wanted to make my space as a ‘YES’ space. As we learn in our class how can we start saying yes from small things and how trust is everything to take care of children , I don’t like saying No to children it left some kind of negative impact on them. So for things which was safe and creative we have to say YES setting some boundaries rather than not letting them to try it. After classroom activities, we went gym and one of the friend ask to open rocket ship for him so I open it. They were not allowed to cross yellow line as they are small and can’t hold tightly. But he insisted me to go higher and I said yes to it and he went up without being scared and said “look Ms.Srijana, I am so tall and high”, he looks so happy which made me feel happy too. Sometime a little things, a small yes makes children happy, they build more confident and trust on us and themself. Then he again and again came down went up and each time he tried to climb and sit on different way. I was near to him keeping eye for his safety but he didn’t needed that.
Also it was last day so I got them timbits and they were so happy getting special snack in the afternoon. I told them I will not be there from next week and I will miss them. Everyone of them gave me hug and looked little sad. They also said they will miss me alot. It was a sad moment for all of us. Also i am so thankful to them because they also taught me so many things, we were sharing special kind of bond with each other some time friend, sometime teacher. So it was nice to be around them and Nine of my friends are going to school to whom I will miss in Fall a lot.
Karolyn’s Notes Apr 19th, 2024
It is great to see a connection to class learning about what environments are saying to children. Building on ideas you are exploring in class help you to connect theory to practice and share your learning with Courtney in a way that will help in your planning for future experiences and materials you will bring to share with the children.