I decided to write up my blog a little early this week as today was my first day of first-year placement. I wanted to write about it while the experience is still fresh in my mind.
It was nice to meet new families and children in the area I was placed and found my mentors and play group teacher very nice. It was nice to see the children having fun playing and engaging in various activities that were set up such as playdough, painting, book corner ect.
One thing that was a concern of mine (and others in my group) is how can we can engage children in learning about place. Everything in the classroom was made of plastics and the children arent allowed outside when the school students are out so I was left wondering though the session what to do.
We had a de-briefing at the end of the session where the girls in my group and I talked about ways we could incorporate learning about place into the program in week 2 without overwhelming the children too much.
In week 2 we will be taking the older children on a nature walk while the yard is empty where the children can collect leaves, bark ect. and really think about the environment. Inside we will have a painting station where children will paint with leaves, bark, small ferns ect. instead of paint brushes. We will also have a big collage set up where children can collaborate and glue leaves, barks and so on onto a large piece of paper stuck onto the table.
It would be nice to know how everyone else found their first day at placement. What did you like? What didn't you like? What experiences will you be doing next week that relates to the content in class?
Its interesting hearing your experience at placement. My experience was good, however, I felt it was a bit rushed and I feel my mentor wanted children to be on every station, however, I sort of disagree as I feel children need time to explore and engage in what they are doing. Next week we are also doing a natures walk, however, i am using natural materials in order to create sensory bottles for the babies as there were many activities for their age group. I am also potentially using the sensory bottles as a musical experience by shaking them in order to hear different sounds, and pattern of rhythm I can make
ReplyDeleteMy experience was quite different to yours as mine was placed in a library. It was quite hard to take the children on walks because the site was surrounded by shops however we did have some discussions on doing the walks inside the library where kids can participate in a treasure hunt to find nature books and natural materials we've placed around the library for them so i think that was a great idea since we don't have a nature environment for children to explore outside.
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