As I made my way back to my practicum site I began developing new relationships with the new children at the center. I was also able to revisit these relationships with returning children.
Mentor meetings:
- Refrain from using the term “Be careful” – Instead say what you want them to do. Ex. “Hold on tight!”
- Don’t say “Good job”
- Laugh at your mistakes – this shows the kids it’s okay to make mistakes!
- Positive, negative, positive when talking to parents.
Dog Walks:
Our program is located downtown on Nicola Street. This allows us to walk downtown through different neighborhoods. We have a route that we often take called the “Dog Walk”. We walk this route where we can see and interact with the same dogs, if their owners are out in the yard we may also stop and talk with them. I love our dog walks as they show the children the importance of being friendly and connected to the community!
October 24th
Today I got the chance to run the program, which I felt went very well. I ran both morning and afternoon snacks, led the walk, transitions, etc. I took our afternoon “walkers” to Dominion Park where we played with beanbags and spent time on the playground! I have created a circle that I started doing on Wednesday. During the morning snack I read “Hey Little Ant” By Hannah Hoose and Phillip Hoose, this book aligns with my pedagogical documentation on being kind and caring, starting the conversation through bugs. I ended the day by making cloud dough with the kids which they loved!
November 1st
I ran the program today and ran morning and afternoon snacks. I read “We Don’t Eat Our Classmates” by Ryan T Higgins. I read this book because the children enjoy it, and it is a silly read for us. We also don’t eat our classmates because that isn’t kind! Alongside running these, I facilitated most transitions and delegated work to my coworkers. When our littles were napping, I decided to take the other children puddling jumping. They loved this and had so much fun. We finished off our afternoon inside as all our gear was soaked from morning outside play!
Written Feedback: Written and given on Friday, November 1st
Pinecone Walk:
On September 18th we went on a pinecone walk to collect them for our play kitchen. This was a good way to get outside and get fresh air! While on our walk we passed a house with hundreds of pinecones in its yard and we pointed this out to the children. As the children were looking at the surplus of pinecones in their yard, the owner came over and engaged in conversation with us. Once we told her our objective for our walk she told us to grab as many as we wanted. This interaction happened due to our location in Kamloops and was a great way to show the children the importance of helpfulness, being kind (both of which the owner was), and engaging with others in the community.
My Last Day! – Nov 6th
Today was my last day! I am very sad that my time is up with these amazing kiddos, but am very grateful for the opportunity to have worked with them and had such great individuals to look up to as well! I decided to plant sweet peas with the kids today, as I wanted them to remember to be ‘sweet and kind’ to one another. As well as having to routinely water them, I saw this as an opportunity for them to remember our time together.