This week my observations had a lot going on. First off there was a new student in the class and it was his first day. He did good for his first time in a child care classroom. At first I mostly saw him keep to himself. He walked around the classroom and began to play in the puzzle area. His parents brought one of his puzzles to class with him so he can play with. During the whole time I was there he didn't want to let go of that puzzle, even during snack time. The teacher told him she would put his puzzle aside for him while he ate, and that he could get it once he was done. After snack time, the kids all went outside to play in the outside area. The new boy didn't really inter act with any of the other children which is something he may need to work on next week. Instead when we all went outside he sat down by the slides on a little bench and was entertained with his puzzle. He is about 3 years old and had his puzzle block memorized, it had the numbers 1-10 on them. During free play, there was a lot going on, some children played in the kitchen area, while others constructed a race track/train track
to put cars on it, two other little boys started playing with water paint or color dye and began mixing colors on a piece of paper. One boy grabs the blue and red color at the same time and starts squirting spots on the paper which quickly turned an orange color. He then screamed "yeah! This is super cool!" boy B comes into the picture and asks boy A what he was doing and boy A replies "I'm mixing the colors."
The other boy decides to do what his friend is doing and they each painted
3 different papers. Once they finished they cleaned up their area and moved on to play in the legos area. These activities I observed showed some parallel play going on. I observed children playing next to each other using the same objects but they didn't interact with each other directly. Some of the play also showed arts and crafts, blocks, and dramatic play. Language, movement, and literacy also took place when they all went into the cove to sing a song "shake their wiggles". The children danced in the middle and jumped around when they teachers sang the song. One activity I would choose in my class would be a painting/color wheel activity. I see how the kids were excited when they saw the colors mixing together so this activity would allow them to explore
and learn new colors. They can practice mixing them together by painting a drawing that they wanted. I would provide them with white paper, brushes, water colors, and a color wheel to be demonstrated as an example.
Hi Ericka,
ReplyDeleteWow,I also have new girl in my classroom as well. She is very engergetic and have no problem interact with other children in the classroom. I rememeber i did painting wheel color activity for my presentation in the classroom and the students love it. They got to mix different colors and paint whatever they want. I learn new colors and alot of children are suprised how you can mix colors and turn out to be different.
Hi Ericka I can see why the child was engaging in solitary play only with his puzzle because he still wasn't use to his new environment and interacting with other children. The first day can be a challenge for some children. Maybe the puzzle was a connection with home since his mom brought it for him. He needed that puzzle to cope with the separation from his mom. I observed two boys and a girl in cooperative play through out the entire day. They went from the sand box, to the tricycles, and science area. One boy in particular kept calling them to splay with him. I think that the mixing color idea is a good idea specially because it ties not only to the colors but the children interest.
ReplyDeleteThe class I observed was really busy too. The children in my class seem to like when music is played too. They jump around and sing to the music. I think if I was the teacher I would have asked one of the children to be friends with the new student or I would have asked him to come play with me.
ReplyDeleteHi Ericka!
ReplyDeleteAn activity that I thought of for helping them learn their colors is hand painting. Have the children paint one color on their left and another on their right. Then have them place their hands down on their paper. Then allow them to mix their finger and hands together to make the new color. A color wheel is a great idea but I was thinking because these children are so young this might be a good idea too. Most children love finger painting and their parents would be more willing to save a hand print.