What I Miss About Preschoolers

Since I started volunteering with the infants and young toddlers, I’ve realized I really miss the conversations that I had with the preschoolers. During my internship, Shy and I would usually have a conversation before her nap. Here’s some of one that I had with her before nap time.

Shy: “Is somebody sleeping in here?”
Me: No. David is usually here, but he’s sick today. So he’ll be back tomorrow.
Shy: Why?
Me: Well, he’s sick so he had to go home early.
Shy: “He need to go to doctor.”
Me: “He does. He has a doctors appointment.”
Shy: “Then he can come back here.”
Me: Yeah. He’ll come back here when he’s better. He’ll take some medicine and get better.”
Shy: “Yeah. I also go to doctor when I get all better.”
Me: “What do they do at the doctors?”
Shy: They check on my throat and my elbows and my hands and my hand.”

Here’s another conversation we had on the same day.
Shy: “I had to pee-pee on the potty.”
Me: “You’re getting to be a big girl.”
Shy: “Yeah!”
Me: Are you going to be big, big, big?” (She liked to say that things were going to grow big big big.)
Shy: Yeah! I’m going to just be more than you.”
Me: “You’re going to be more than me?”
Shy: “Yeah!! I’m gonna be bigger too when I come next time. I’ll come back in that door and I will see you.”
Me: “You’ll come back and see me when you’re big?”
Shy: “Yeah.”
Me: “I hope so.”
Shy: “You’ll stay here till you get back in your car.”
Me: “Yeah.”
Shy: My mommy’s coming after nap.”
Me: “I know.”


I enjoy working with babies and toddlers, but they can’t really talk to me and I miss hearing some of their thoughts. With the preschoolers, there was at least one conversation or something I heard as they were playing that would make me laugh every day. I also miss doing some of the activities you can do with preschoolers that you can’t do with younger kids. With infants and toddlers, you worry about a lot of safety issues. Not that you wouldn’t worry about a preschooler’s safety, but the younger the children, the more you worry. There is a bigger variety of activities they can do and toys that they can play with. However, you don’t get as much individual time with older toddlers and preschoolers because there are more of them. It’s also easier to manage a group of younger kids at least in my experience. I like that you have more time to work with the younger kids individually, the group size is smaller and they do other things that are cute and funny. Some of this balances out and makes the extra worries worth it. There is much more hands on work with toddlers and infants which I don’t mind. Of course, there are a lot of laughs with babies and young toddlers too. I feel that I’m better at working with them, but sometimes I miss the way things were with the preschoolers.

Tribute to Knut the Polar Bear

Yesterday, I read that Knut the polar bear passed away. This is sad news. I've never seen him in person but have been watching his story since he was a cub. I'm a big fan of polar bears so I wanted to post a couple of links about him and some of my favorite pictures of him. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I like to teach children about animals and to treat them with kindness and respect. I think even the youngest children can learn things from being around animals. Usually it starts with pets like cats and dogs at home with supervision of course. Through books, photos, stuffed animals and field trips, children can be introduced to the diversity in wildlife.

Here's a link to is article on Wikipedia. I tried to find one from another source, but couldn't find anything with as much detail about his life.
Knut the Polar Bear
A book for kids.
How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World (Knut)
This movie about Knut is also kid friendly.
Knut and Friends







I can't remember where I've gotten these pictures. They were from articles I've read about him and I don't claim them as my own.

Pots of Gold and Lessons Learned

This is a St. Patrick’s Day project I attempted to do last year.

To make this pot of gold, you’ll need:

Paper cup,
Gold stickers,
A whole punch,
A gold pipe cleaner,
Gold materials such as ribbon, candy wrappers, Easter grass, yarn, shiny paper etc.
Glitter.
You could even use sparkly crayons or gold paint.



I punched a hole on each side of the cup and put the pipe cleaner through. On each side, I bent the pipe cleaner to make a little knot on the inside of the cup to make it stay in place and to hide the sharp ends.

In the pictures, you’ll see I’ve used a Styrofoam cup, but I don’t recommend it. One of the lessons I learned from trying to do this project was that the ribbon, Easter grass and gold lace don’t stick to Styrofoam. These would have come out a lot better with paper cups or bowls. The kids kept trying and trying, but the glue wouldn’t keep any of these materials on the cups. They enjoyed trying though. They also enjoyed the glitter and foam stickers. The glitter ended up everywhere, but that was the most fun part of the project for them since the rest of it wasn’t working. They ended up with sparkly cups on the inside and out. They had at least one gold star and a couple of other gold foam stickers. Since I didn’t have enough, they could each only have one letter. Usually, they picked the first letter of their name. They could also have one or two gold numbers if they wanted. The second lesson that I learned is to double the amount of materials that you’ll think you’ll need especially for projects like this. The third lesson was to try the project yourself first to see if all the materials work as planned. If I would have done this, I would’ve realized that most of the gold materials wouldn’t stick to the cup. Only a few of the children did this project because I got overwhelmed with the amount of children who wanted to try and with the materials not working as planned, I packed it up early. Maybe I should’ve left it out longer to see what the remaining children could do. In my own frustration, I thought it was a failed project, but maybe the kids could’ve turned it into something else by exploring the materials.



The previous year, I had an idea to do a two day project with pots of gold and rainbows. We had a rainbow printable and the kids could either draw or paint their rainbow. At the last minute, the head teacher made painting the only option. The kids liked painting their rainbows. The next day, the kids were supposed to cut out their rainbows and attach them to a small pot of gold. The pot of gold was a print out, but the kids were going to decorate them with gold materials or by drawing on them with sparkly crayons. Ahead of time, I gave them the smaller pot of gold template that I found and at the last minute, they decide to change the project altogether. They had cut out the rainbows for the kids and put them in their cubbies. Then they had printed out a regular larger coloring sheet with a pot of gold on it and then expected them to color in the whole thing. I was disappointed because my plans for the project were ruined. Not only was the creativity taken out of it, but so were the kids choices. They couldn’t choose how to decorate their rainbows, they no longer had a choice of how to make their pots of gold and an opportunity for them to work on a longer project that they would put together themselves was lost.

I learned some lessons from this project too. If you plan something, make all the preparations yourself unless you know that you and whoever you are working with are definitely on the same page.
I learned that too many people take the lazy way out. How do you expect the kids to learn to take initiative or to complete a task if you can’t yourself?
How do you expect attention spans to develop if you constantly change everything at the last minute to the quickest thing possible? I’m not saying that things shouldn’t be changed to meet the kids needs or if you are short on time. I’m talking about those classrooms that are so chaotic on a daily basis that the children can’t focus on anything. Also, how do you expect teachers to take time and pride in planning when you are constantly changing their plans and ideas without talking to them about it first? These are some questions and thoughts I’ve had over these past two years.
For this St. Patrick’s Day, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for me will be to watch toddlers make shamrocks. I won’t have to worry about planning or the final product. After all, my plans have been for the kids enjoyment and to allow them to express creativity.

A New Look

Play2Grow now has a new look. I also have a new blog button if anyone wants to link up to me. What are your thoughts on the new template?

Changes

This year has brought a lot of changes for me. In January, I decided to quit my job. I don’t want to be too specific here. I’ll just say that I wasn’t fired and it had nothing to do with the kids. I felt that I wasn’t going anywhere as a substitute at this particular place and rather than drive myself nuts, I needed to move on. I’m happier now, but I miss the kids.

Because of my experiences at this last job, I spent a lot of time asking myself whether early childhood education was the right field and then if not, what was? I looked around and most degree programs in other fields didn’t interest me. In 2009, I applied to a counseling program, but since they only accept 40% of their applicants, I didn’t get in. I thought of trying again, but I missed this years deadline for fall and would have to wait another year to reapply. I had found an online certificate in play therapy, but you have to be licensed to actually practice play therapy so I thought of waiting and reapplying to do the counseling program. Then after I got a license, I could specialize in play therapy. Around the same time I had found the certificate, I found another online
masters program through Walden University. It’s an online university and I didn’t know much about it and still don’t other than what they have written on their website. So far, I’ve taken the demo course that shows you how their system works. I’ve taken online classes before so it wasn’t difficult.
The program that I applied to was early childhood studies. It’s broader than early childhood education. It included more administration, advocacy, and research type specializations. I chose the teaching and diversity specialization.
I talked to an advisor and she told me that people have gotten jobs in social service
agencies, program management and of course regular jobs in early childhood settings after getting this degree. After a few E-mails with her, I applied and it took me
a few days to get everything together, but last week, I was accepted into the program. So I’ll be working on this program for the next two years. It’s completely online and I’ll be taking one course at a time.

On Wednesday, I will start volunteering at another preschool. I don’t know what room I’ll be in yet. I’ve asked to work with the infants and toddlers which they seemed fine with but we’ll see. I know some places would rather not have volunteers work with the babies, but the director seemed happy with it. I figured this would be a way to get more experience while I’m not working plus I don’t have any hands on experience with infants or really young toddlers. It’ll be a new place with new people and maybe some new opportunities. I’m only expecting to have fun with the kids and to build my reference list. I met with the director last week and she seemed nice. She was impressed with my resume and portfolio and asked if I’d also like to be on the substitute list. I said that was fine with me. Today, she called again and told me there was an opening and had already set up a time for me to meet with the director of the other center. For now, this place has two centers and will possibly have three by the end of the year. The job would be in the infant room. I told her that I didn’t have experience with infants which she already knew, but she said the other director didn’t mind and that she liked my resume too. I’m not getting my hopes up since there would be plenty of other applicants who are more experienced and then I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get it. I’ll look on the positive side. I would still be able to volunteer, substitute and I’d have school to keep me busy.

Other than that, there will be a change for the blog in the next couple of weeks. I have ordered a custom template from Simpley Fabulous Blogger Templates. The blog will have a new look and layout. There will be more content and activities related to infants and my volunteering. I will also continue to post preschool activities that I’ve done in the past or planned. I have a bunch written down already that I’ve been meaning to post. My camera is fixed enough to take pictures and there is a new one on the way so I will be able to post pictures again. I hope you will still enjoy reading the blog. I’d like to thank all my followers. I have more followers than I thought I’d ever have. I appreciate all your comments and thank you for reading the blog.

Good News and Bad News

There’s some good news and bad news. All of the sudden, my computer started working. I’m not sure why, but after I held down the F1 key as I was turning it on, Windows actually launched and it started up normally. I’m still not sure if the power supply has something to do with it or if the mother board is messed up. I’ve decided to keep the new power supply just in case because I’ve had a problem of random restarts. This crash will happen again in the future if it is the mother board so I now have every file backed up including my blog notes that I mentioned yesterday. I still should plan on buying a new computer though.

The bad news is that when I was syncing up my E-mail account with my Ipod for the second time after some trouble with sending mail, almost every message in my inbox disappeared. They weren’t deleted, they simply disappeared and I can’t find them anywhere. They somehow got deleted from the server without me knowing. I had about 20 messages in there. Some were important enough for me to keep, but I hadn’t moved them to another folder yet and others I hadn’t responded to. I don’t even remember everything that was in there. When one thing works, another stops working. I’m hoping I don’t have any more technological or other types of problems for the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow, I should be able to do my weekly favorites post and will work on a new sensory tub for next week.

Computer Troubles

Last night, my desk top stopped working. We thought it was the power supply so we bought a new one, but the computer is still not working. I might have to take it to a shop, but I have a bad feeling about it. We think it’s the mother board and if that’s the case, it’s cheaper to just buy a new one. That won’t be happening for at least another month. In the mean time, I’m using my laptop which I’m not used to. The last time I used it was for lesson planning at work over a year ago. I used to use it more for school work, but I’ve forgotten the layout of the keyboard plus it’s a little slower than the desk top. If there aren’t as many blog posts in the upcoming weeks, this is why. I think I’ve lost my blog notes file as well where I list all the things I want to post about. I thought I had backed everything up and I’m hoping that file is in a folder somewhere on my Dropbox account. If not, I’ll just have to try to remember what I wrote in there and use new things I come up with. All of my really important files are saved though. I learned that lesson from last time my computer crashed. I hope I can fix my computer because all the other parts are almost brand new including the hard drive and I’d like to get the few files I’ve saved or created in the last week that I forgot to copy.

I’d also like to thank my new followers. I’m up to 30 now. I appreciate everyone’s comments as well and try to respond to all of them. Even though I won’t be posting as much, feel free to drop by and leave comments. I’ll still be checking my E-mail and reading the rest of your blogs.

My Friend's Last Day

Today was my friend’s last day. My friend with the Fire Truck.
This morning, he saw me when I walked in. He showed me the book he brought for the center and then he followed me to the office. He noticed I have a backpack and he said, “You have a backpack too? Like mine?” I said, “Yes, I have a backpack.” I told him it was cool that we both had backpacks and we went into the classroom. His mother was still there. She stayed for a few minutes to talk to us and then said goodbye because his dad was coming to pick him up instead of her in the afternoon.

They didn’t have our usual play-dough out so we sat down at a table and he looked at the book he had brought with another teacher. After that, we started lacing spools. They had pipe cleaners and shoe laces that they were threading through the holes in the spools. He did most of them fine, but there were a couple of spools that he had trouble threading so he asked for my help, but he was pretty quiet for the rest of the time. I was told to go outside and help with the other group of kids which made me miss his little snack party.

When I saw him again, he ran over and sat in my lap during story time. After that we went outside and he pretended the caterpillar tunnel was a train, played in one of the houses for a while and then I had to take him inside. He started talking about fire safety from last week. He noticed a smoke detector and made the beeping noise. He told me that when there’s a fire that you have to leave. I said the word, “Exit.” Then he said, “Yeah. You exit.” He talked about how if you can’t get out the door you have to go out the window in the classroom. I asked him where we’re supposed to go once you get outside and he pointed to the door that leads to the parking lot. I said, “You know a lot about fire safety.” He said, “I know a lot about fire safety.”
We watched a short movie and then it was lunch time. The kids nap for a while after lunch, but he’s one of the ones that wake up early so I brought him back to the classroom. We played with play-dough for a while, but we had different molds to use. Some were dolphins, starfish, and lobsters and there is this thing that the kids call, “Crazy hair.” You push it down on to the play-dough and long stringy pieces come out of it. It’s like an extruder for clay. He made a few shapes, but he was back to being quiet again. Some of the other kids thanked him for bringing his book and he decided to play in the kitchen area with a telephone. I asked who he was calling and it turned out to be his dad.

A woman came in to do Tyche with the older kids and he didn’t want to participate so he brought his stuffed hedgehog over and sat with me. I always have called it, “igelkott” ever since his mother told us what the word for hedgehog is in Swedish. When I first said that to him, he laughed probably because I said it wrong. Then I got the other kids saying it and he’d laugh even harder at that. He finally started to look out the window until his dad drove up and he ran out of the classroom. The director stopped him and told him to make sure to get his lunch box. I ran after him because I didn’t want him leaving with out an adult. He almost forgot, “igelkott” so the director ran out to give it to him. When we got to the door to the lobby, his dad was there getting the rest of his stuff. He thanked another teacher and me for taking care of his son. Then he ran out the door and almost to the parking lot. I caught him and had to bring him back to his dad, but at first he wanted to stay in the entry way. Eventually, we were able to say goodbye to him and give him a hug. He was happy to be going home with his dad and quickly went out the door. I know he probably won’t remember me later, but I’ll always remember making big pancakes and counting eggs with play-dough, arguing about more pushes on the swing and, “igelkott.”

The Fire Truck

Last week, the kids learned about fire safety. On Wednesday, two firemen brought the fire truck so the kids could see them in their uniforms and look at the fire truck. The kids were able to spray the hose on the lawn and sit in the driver’s seat of the fire truck while having their picture taken. Earlier that morning, the little boy who loves to make food out of play-dough ran over to me carrying his plastic fire hat. All he could tell me was that it was a fire hat and he put it on his head and then took it off. He sat on my lap and while another teacher was asking questions about fire safety, he’d be one of the first to answer. At the end of the day, his mother told me he loves fire trucks and that at home, he and his brother are always playing with them. I remembered him playing outside a few weeks ago. He sat up in the play house and kept saying that he needed to put out the fire. His way of putting it out was to fill a bucket with wood chips and pour it on an imaginary fire somewhere on the playground. Every time I thought he was done and that he had put out the fire, he’d say that there was a new fire and he had put that one out too.

Usually, his last day of school for the week is Thursdays. Since he will be moving back to Sweden after this week, I bought him a going away gift. I found a fire truck that makes sounds. It has four buttons for the different sounds. I also got him run run koala!
I was actually looking for a book about fire trucks or trains, but there weren’t any that I liked so I bought this one hoping he’d like it. When he opened his gifts on Tuesday, he was excited about the fire truck. He immediately found the buttons and listened to all the sounds. I wasn’t sure if his mother was in a hurry so I told him there was something else in the bag. After digging through all the tissue paper, he found the Diego book and he was even more excited about that. It turned out that he loves Diego and the, “Dora The Explorer” show. I was glad I had picked that book because he started looking through it right there and wanted it read to him. His mom explained that they could go home and play so they packed up the bag and he lifted it. He found it heavy, but he wanted to carry it anyway. The director walked by and he had to show her his new big fire truck. After he put the fire truck away again, he realized the bag had his name written on it and pointed at a couple of the letters. His mother thanked me and he gave me a hug. I was happy that he liked his gifts and that I had the chance to get to know him.

Play-dough Candy Shop/Bakery

Today, I had fun making food with play-dough. This time, we decided to make candy instead of breakfast. When I sat down at the play-dough table, the little boy from Sweden who I made Breakfast with last time came over and sat on my lap. Since I wanted him to make his own creations, I offered him a chair and then he started making cookies. We had a sun cookie cutter and an oval one. He had trouble rolling the dough out with a rolling pin, but that was because it was a huge ball and because the play-dough was a little dry after being a week old. He’d ask for help and I’d get the dough flat. Then he’d take over pressing the cookie cutter into the play-dough and then cutting around the cookie cutter making perfect sun and oval cookies. I wish I had pictures of this!

Next, I asked him what I should make and since we had been talking about cookies, I started making desserts. I started with an ice cream cone. I made the triangle for the cone and then a small oval with a flat side for the ice cream. Since the play-dough was dry, it didn’t fit together that well, but he put it in his pile next to the cookies. I asked him if he knew what it was. He said no and I explained it was an ice cream cone. One purpose for making all of these things is to practice English with him. We usually talk about food while working with the play-dough, but if there are shapes, animals and other things for cookie cutters, we practice those words as well. He repeated the words ice cream cone and then I thought of making candy. M&M’s came to mind so I made two tiny M&M’s. I asked him again if he knew what this was. He said no and then I told him what they were and asked if he liked them. He repeated the word, M&M’s and then said that yes, he liked them. He asked me to make bigger M&M’s. I got a bigger piece of play-dough and made an M&M that was the size of three or four M&M’s put together. He loved that and put it in his pile of desserts.

Since it’s close to Halloween, I made a candy corn. He didn’t know the name for that either, but I told him it was a candy corn and that it’s Halloween candy. He put it in his pile after repeating, “Candy corn.” I started making a pumpkin, but it was turning out shaped more like a Hershey’s kiss so I went with it and asked if he knew what this was shaped like. He didn’t know, but I told him it was a Hershey’s kiss. He repeated it again and then asked what it was made out of. I explained that it was made from chocolate and he was very interested! He added it to his pile of desserts.

Then I made a cupcake by making a small ball, flattening the top and bottom and then making another small ball and smoothing it into the top to look like frosting. I wish I had different colors of play-dough so it looked like the actual foods. I started to make a donut, but realized I didn’t have enough play-dough so I asked his friends at the table. They gave me some, but the donut wasn’t coming out right so I asked him for more ideas. I asked what else he liked for food and he yelled, “Hamburgers!” Meanwhile, he was working on making big pancakes. I made the bottom bun which was flat, a smaller round piece for the meat, a small square piece for the cheese and I showed him my progress by showing him each piece and labeling them; the bun, meat, cheese etc. Before I could start on the top bun, he got excited and put the unfinished burger in his pile. Then he asked me for a hot dog so I took what little play-dough I had left and made the outside role and then a tiny hotdog. He said, “No, no, no, that’s not big.” I took some more play-dough and made another bigger hotdog which he really liked. He pretended to eat some of his food and then it was time to clean up. It was a lot of fun making more play-dough creations.

I found out from his mother that he asked her if he could come to my house sometime. I joked about that with him the other day, but he really took it seriously and now asks me about it everyday. He said something about going home and I thought he was talking about going home to his house, but then he said that he wanted to come to my house and that’s how it got started. I told him he could come to my house any time! I’ve written a lot of details here that probably won’t matter to anyone but me. His last day with us is on the 22nd of October and I write about some of my favorite kids so that I can keep the memories of the short time that I have with them. It’s interesting that the kids I’ve worked with for two years are less attached to me than the ones I’ve worked with for a few months or is it that I'm more attached to them? It's my luck or bad luck depending on how you look at things. A new kid will come to the center who I’ll bond with and then I find out they have to leave. It’s happened a few times and even though it’s hard to see them go, I’m thankful that I’ve known them.

Let Them Play

One day a week, there’s a bus that comes to our center and it has mats, rings, ladders and other things for kids to climb on. We divide the kids into three groups so that the bus won’t be so crowded. Lately, my job has been that I take the middle group which is mostly three-year-olds. I’m supposed to take them to the classroom for snack and choice time while the third group is on the bus. Usually, they eat snack, I’ll read them a book or two and then they get a shorter choice time. Today, while they were eating snack, I asked what they’d like to do during play time. The kids were all boys so of course they wanted to play with the leggos and trains. Instead of reading a book or doing something “educational,” I decided to let them play!

At first while they were busy with leggos, I started cleaning up the room and checking in with them every couple of minutes. I heard about space ships, telephones, bridges, towers, trains etc. What they could build was endless. After about ten minutes, I went over and sat with them. One boy told me that he was building packages so that he could deliver them. I asked what was in the packages and he told me it was candy. Another boy told me how he was making a bridge. I asked about his bridge and where it could take you if you walked across it. He told me that you have to walk underneath it and that it would take you to the woods. Another boy told me about his space rocket and that it was really big and loud when it crashed and broke apart on the floor. He decided to rebuild it as something else.

A couple of the boys built phones. One boy told the other to call his grandfather and he did. Then he told me that his grandfather hung up on him. I asked why and he said that maybe his grandfather’s phone was dead or that his own phone was dead. I asked if he was going to charge it and he got some more leggos and plugged his phone into the charger and started to call his grandfather again. Then another boy picked up his phone and called his grandfather too, but a similar situation happened with the phone getting disconnected.
We could’ve done work sheets or coloring pages, but then the boys wouldn’t have expanded their ability to build things and take them apart. They wouldn’t have been able to use their imagination and creativity to make up stories about calling their grandfathers or delivering packages of candy. It’s not only dramatic play, but it develops language skills and is a precursor to literacy. They wouldn’t have practiced sharing or conflict resolution when one boy would take a leggo or toy car from another and they had to work it out. They wouldn’t have practiced how to collaborate. I asked for some extra round pieces of leggos so I could finish making my donut and the boys happily found what I needed and wanted to help me build. Finally, there was clean up! They wouldn’t have had the opportunity for some extra team work when we all had to rush to put all the leggos back into the bucket. They would’ve missed out on a lot if I hadn’t decided to let them play!

A Successful Day

Today was pretty successful at least compared to most other days lately. I was able to work with the younger group which I prefer, but I’m no longer so picky about it. At one point in the morning, I was told to take a small group of kids in for snack and then keep them in the classroom for a half an hour. I was surprised because the director doesn’t usually leave the group to me as their substitute. Anyway, they quietly were eating their snack and the director eventually left the room. I asked them what they’d like to do after snack. They had a choice of any kind of art, puzzles or leggos. One of the girls chose art and the rest chose leggos. I got out some crayons, stencils, and two different sizes of paper. Then I brought out the box of leggos.

The kids finished up their snack and one girl went to the art table as expected. She drew a picture and put it in her cubby. She drew a kitten. Then one of the most rowdy boys at the center decided that he’d do art and draw a dinosaur instead of playing with leggos. I was surprised with his choice, but I encouraged him. I told him it was great that he wanted to draw. Then the girl asked if she could paint, but there were no paint brushes so I had to run out of the room and grabbed some paint brushes out of the art closet which probably took maybe a half a minute at most. The director was in her office and asked me on the way by if things were okay and I said things were fine.

The girl was happy after starting her painting. She discovered that mixing blue and red makes purple. And the boy was still busy with his dinosaur. The other kids were still playing with leggos. Then at once, two of them wanted to paint so the first girl started playing with puzzles and the first boy started his painting. A second girl wanted to paint, but there was only one spot available at the easel so I convinced her to draw a picture instead. The boys in the leggo area were making donuts, phones and microphones. When it was almost time to clean up, the director was back asking if things were fine and she seemed surprised those things were just fine and that all the kids were busy. She even commented on how all the kids were busy working. A few minutes later, we cleaned up and I took them down to music.

Then at lunch time, one of the teachers was missing because one of the kids was having a melt down so I took over in her room. Normally, I’m told to sit at a table in the room with the director since the room is larger there are more kids in there. That leaves me in charge of one table of usually the most rowdy kids who don’t listen to me or the director. In today’s room, there were two rowdy boys who weren’t eating their lunch even though I kept telling them to settle down. I don’t know why they put them together because they always play around and get the other kids to follow them. I did well with the other kids. The rest were only two and a half and usually they follow along with the two older ones, but today they ate their lunch and didn’t really pay attention to them. Some of the kids in my room were done before the kids in the other rooms and I think it ran smoothly. It was another instance where the director kept peaking in and asking if things were fine. Pretty much every time she does this, they are. It seems like she hovers over me more than anyone else, but I can’t let that bother me. I can do my job no matter what they think. It always helps to have people around who appreciate your work, but if they don’t, you can look back on your successes and see that your work is valuable. Even though my successes today were small and probably seem insignificant, especially to people who have been teaching for years, I was able to create opportunities for the kids to learn and I got practice with classroom management on my own.

Open Ended Projects and Creativity

Yesterday, I worked with the kids on an art project that had specific directions, but could be creative. I didn’t come up with the idea. Since this week’s theme was fall colors, the kids had to take five foam shapes, one of each color and glue them to construction paper. After they glued the shapes, they were aloud to draw with markers.

At first, the kids avoided the art table and only came over when another teacher sent them. I tried to get them involved in the activity, but they were bored and I understood why. I felt I had to hold the shapes container so that they wouldn’t take more than five and one of each color. I didn’t want to have to keep telling them, “no, only take one” or, “you have to use all five colors.” I preferred to have a more open ended approach where there was maybe one condition. I might say that they should use all five colors, but it wouldn’t bother me if they decided not to. As long as they were creating something, making choices about where they wanted to place things and which colors they wanted to use it was fine with me.

With the first few kids that came over, I had them follow the directions. When I’d ask them what they made or to tell me about their picture, they were so disinterested. They said they made something but they didn’t know what it was or they were done after gluing the five pieces. They weren’t interested in drawing at all unless they didn’t want to glue.

When the next group of kids came over, I decided that I’d try my open ended approach to see if they’d be more excited about this project. First, I gave them the five pieces, but when they were done, I asked if they’d like more and put the container between them. I told them to use whatever shapes and colors they liked. They started to have fun gluing shapes and using more glue than was necessary. They started naming their creations. One boy called his a beaver and was pointing out where his head, eyes and tail were. The other boy was calling his a race track and talking about engines, a caboose and the door that you went through to get on to the track. I think it was a cross between a train track and race track, but it was creative anyway. I was glad they were having fun at the art table! With kids, less direction leads to a lot more learning and creativity.

Lack of Inspiration

I’m writing to explain why I haven’t been posting regularly. It’s because of a lack of inspiration. Recently, I applied for a job at a childcare center. The job was working with two-year-olds. They had one teacher working with four or five kids and it seemed consistent. I liked how one teacher worked with a few specific kids who meant that you’d really get to know them instead of trying to keep track of fifteen kids and all their information. They interviewed me and I had an hour of observation time at the center. Obviously, I didn’t get this job and it was disappointing.

In the spring, a similar thing happened when I applied to a new program working with infants and toddlers. They interviewed me, but there was no follow up. At least with the second job, they contacted me to tell me that I didn’t get it. This has been going on since I graduated last year and it’s been frustrating. Every time I start thinking there’s hope for a new beginning at a new center, it falls through.

That’s one of the sources of my lack of inspiration. The other source is my current job. I’m not saying anything negative about where I work. I’m only saying that there’s no room to grow as a substitute. When I was an intern and last year when I covered for someone who was out for many weeks, I was able to do my own lesson plans and I felt like I was contributing something. I miss the creative part of the job. Also, as a substitute, you don’t have much input into anything. You just do what they tell you and cover for whoever is missing. Yes, you gain experience by working more days with kids than you would have otherwise, but, then what? They also have a few volunteers that come in too and it makes it difficult with so many adults in the room. The kids aren’t sure who to listen to or who will be there from one day to the next. Sometimes I feel bad because I’ll be there all week and then I won’t show up again until another whole week has passed. All the kids know me since I’ve worked there for a long time so when I’m not there, they wonder where I’ve been. The other thing is with all those adults, some of us end up with nothing to do. On some days, we’ve almost had one adult per child and that’s usually not necessary especially in the older group. If you want to be actually working on something with the kids, you have to almost race to get there first.

I’m not saying the job is pointless because you can always be there to assist or play with one of the kids. I’m saying that I’d like more responsibility and to have more say in my work. Once in a while, I’ll find special books to bring, make a homemade display or plan a quick activity when everyone else is out of ideas, but I haven’t been able to do most of those things for months. In most cases, when I bring something special or plan something, I feel like it’s not wanted or like I’m invading someone’s territory. Some of the people I work with get very territorial about their groups and will only let certain people help them out. I’m not a pushy person and I usually ask before doing anything there, but many times I think, why did I bother? I wondered if anyone who reads my blog has felt that way.

For now, I think I’ll focus my blog more on lesson plans and if I get more inspiration to do random activities I’ll post those. I’ll try to do a couple lesson plans per week since they take longer than the activity posts. I think my upcoming themes will be families, colors, pets and of course Halloween. Then I can start getting into winter themes and I always have fun with those. I’d like to thank all the people who have posted comments. I appreciate all of them.