Today I observed the three year old and toddler classes at the Early Childhood Development Center. The first class I observed was the three year old class. When I arrived, the students were playing with blocks and small toys around the classoom. The lead teacher's name was Ms. Mcartney. After playing with the blocks it ws time tostart the day, so in order to get the class ready to transition to the next activity, Ms. Mcartney had them sing the clean up song so that all the students would know it was time to finish playing with the blocks, cean up, and move onto th next activity. She told each student to find their name on the rug in the classroom and sit on it. During this rug time she told then that they would be going to breakfast neext but before they did, they woud need to wash their hands and get in line. She had a stck with each students name on it which she would pull out one at a time and say the childs name and that would be their sign that it ws thei turn towash their hnds and then get in line to go to breakfast. I thought this was a great way to move the children frm one place to another in an orderly fashion. Not only did the kids have to folo the diections fromtheir teachers, but they also were able to practice getting to know what their names looked like from the name she pulled out on the sticks. After they were ll lined up she had them sing a song which old them to have their hands behind their backs and get ready to be quiet to go out into the hall and to the cafeteria. Once in the cafeteria, the kids knewto sit down patiently while the teachers came around with the cereal anf fruit. Ms. Mcartney said that it is part of the head start program for the school to give them a nutritious breakfst in the morning. After breakfst the each lined p on an imaginary line, sang the hall song that they did before and went back to t heir classroom here they were instructed to once again find their name on the rug and sit down. I learned that the rug is a great thing to hahve in the classromm as the primary spot for the teacher togather her kids to instruct them on whet will be hapening next. Its a great spot for transition. I had to move onto the toddler class next but really enjoyed being with the three year olds!
The next class I had was the toddlers. In this class there were 4 children. The teacher said that the way they carry on classroom activities is by introducing different activities to the kids for them to do and then they et the kids decide whether they want to dothe activity or not. These kids are less able to follow direction like the three yera oldds, so it is easier to introduce a variety of things for them to doand then let them decide what they would like to do. We layed ouside and then painted and also played with the blocks that were in the classroom. One of the chldren was a little mre advanced than the others and so she was given tasks tha were a little more cchalenging for her to do. My favorite class so far was the three year olds.
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Hi Liza! I remember in preschool and kindergarten too, in my class, we used a similar technique as you described with the "name stick" to help organize/stay in a line. However, we used a string, and had to line up by name, alternating boy/girl. Mixing up gender probably helps because from what I have observed often times that boys (and girls too sometimes) can get rowdy and by splitting them up, they are kept in line a little more. You said that the teacher presented the toddlers with different activity options, which is probably a good idea, since at this beginner stage, kids are still somewhat ego-centric and definitively know what they do and do-not want to do. It also seems that they cannot focus their interest on activities for as long as older kids, tiring quickly. Painting is a great thing with kids though, especially now that we understand the "form" development of a children's illustrations from last nights lang and lit class:) .
ReplyDeleteI love being able to observe all of the different routines that each teacher uses to conduct his/her classroom in an orderly manner. Usually these activities, such as the clean-up song, or the name sticks, will have some educational value besides getting the kids organized. I've seen classrooms where students are assigned spots on the carpet by color, which teaches them to recognize their colors. Teachers have students line up for lunch alphabetically. What I really love seing is how quickly these procedures become routine for the children. This can be very helpful for substitute teachers (like myself) who come in and have no idea what the classroom routine is like. The students already know and, for the most part, perform the correct tasks out of habit.
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