Boy, would I! I just don't think it is possible. I need to spend my spring break here finishing my hours with the public school. I still have not gotten my placement yet...it is kind of frustrating. As a reminder, I have to complete 150 hours in a classroom this semester. 75 of those hours I am completing at the preschool/daycare on campus. Then the remaining 75 hours are done at a public school with older students. I put in my placement request when I signed up for the class back in November or December. Now it is already February, and I still have not been placed. I still have 2 weeks left at the daycare/preschool, but time is running out. I want to knock these hours out so I don't have to worry about them at the end of the semester. It is just hard when I don't have a lot of control over it. There's really nothing I can do....
So, let me tell you about my week at the Preschool/daycare. Monday was pretty uneventful, nothing too crazy. The kids were acting pretty normal for a Monday. They all missed their Daddies and Mommies. Then Tuesday, the funniest thing happened. Well, not so much funny as, well, you judge...
We had just come in from outside, and the kids were putting their coats away. There was a basket of books they could choose from to look at before circle time. Most of the kids were in the circle, choosing a book. Well, there's one particular book that one boy "Z" really likes. Unfortunately, "L" had the book and was looking at it. "L" was sitting on the ground and Z tried to take it from him. All I saw was Z start crying. Hysterically. I let him sit on my lap during circle time b/c he would not be comforted. Then, while everyone was listening to the story and being quiet, he said "L bit my peepee!" What?? The head teacher and I looked at eachother. Neither one of us had seen it. "I need a bandaid." Z said. Wow. I'm not equipped to handle this. The head teacher took him eventually into the bathroom and I think she ended up giving him a bandaid just so he would be comforted. He stopped crying immediately, which leads me to believe he wasn't really hurt. Holy Cow! How do you not laugh about that? The head teacher took L aside and talked to him about not biting people and being kind to our friends. Then, during snack, one little boy, B, turns around, looks at us, and says "Z has a bandaid on his penis." I had to bite my cheek to not laugh. How funny! These 3-year-olds are so dramatic sometimes.
Anyways, Wednesday was my first day teaching a lesson by myself. I was so nervous. But it turned out well. I talked about seals, read a story about a little seal, and it went all right. Then we did center time, and the centers worked out fairly well. The center I was in charge of (I came up with all 3 centers for the day) was "Sink or Float?" I had two bowls, one with freshwater, one with saltwater. We put on our scientist coats and glasses and predicted whether various objects would sink or float. We tried the objects in both the seawater and the fresh water. I brought raw eggs, and unfortunately, I didn't use enough salt in the saltwater. Raw eggs are supposed to sink in fresh water and float in seawater. I was a little disappointed that it didn't turn out :( The other two centers went really well-the art center was sponge art. The kids decorated a seal with paint on sponges. And the other one was a fishing game with a stick fishing pole and a magnet, with fish and paperclips.
Thursday was my second day teaching, and we talked about Moose. I taught them some moose songs, such as:
I have antlers and a nose
I have hooves for toes
and I stand about 10 feet tall
I'm in the mud up to my knees
just a chewin' on the leaves
I'm a moose, I'm a moose
Hear me call!
They liked that one. I had a moose puppet that helped me out. It was fun. My center that day didn't go so well. It was supposed to be a matching game, but the kids were distracted. The art center went extremely well, though. I stole Jill's idea from her Christmas cards, and I traced one little boy's hands, made 14 copies, and then used them for antlers. The kids traced their foot, cut it out, and used it for a nose. Then there were googly eyes, and paint for decoration. They had a lot of fun with it. The third center, the kids were engaged the whole time. I had put various letters into a grid, and they had to find the letter M's. Then there was another paper with pictures that started with M as well as others. They had to find the pictures that started with M. Overall, a successful day.
Then came Friday. Since Ground Hog Day is on Monday, we decided to talk about groundhogs on Friday. I told the kids a story about a groundhog, we played around with shadows, and I think the kids liked it. Our centers were fun, too. One group played "Cover Up" with animals from the week. This game has a bunch of pictures that the kids cover up with, in this case, Apple Jacks. Then, when each picture is drawn, they eat that Apple Jack. The center I was in charge of was playing more with shadows and shadow puppets. We went into a darkened room, used a flashlight and some puppets, and explored shadows. For the most part, the kids liked it.
Ok, so that was my week. Next week my co-teacher is teaching the whole week, and then it will be my turn. I'm still undecided about what to do for a unit. I was thinking either famous artists, or winter sports. But I can't come up with 5 winter sports (I don't think Curling has any literature books...) I can only think of skiing/snowboarding, ice skating, football (since we just had the SuperBowl), maybe Basketball, since March Madness is coming up? I dunno, help me out here, guys. And if you have any recommendations for books to read to them about sports, that would be great, too. I was thinking, since my Friday is Valentine's Day, we'll decorate bags for our art lesson on Thursday. Then, the bags can be in each child's "Cubby" and they can leave the cards and candy out there. It might help alleviate some of the problems we might have on Valentine's day.
Ok, this turned into an extremely long post. I hope everyone who is doing the Health Challenge with me is working hard and setting goals and meeting them!
Love you all,
Pam
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