2nd Practicum
January 10-12, 2024: Busy week with 5 new children in the program, I spent this week getting to know the new children and starting new connections with them.
January 17-19, 2024: We went sledding! The children loved it and would ask everyday this week after it snowed! Here is a few photos I caught of two of the children sledding together.
January 18, 2024: Lead a snack time for the first time! During the snack time I felt nervous and as if I was doing everything wrong but I only had 2 children with me so that made it easier. My mentor educator did mention that I need to be phrase my statements as statements rather than questions. For example, when I was asking the children if they want to have snack I had said “ would you like to have a snack with me right now?” most of the children said they wanted to be in the next group so they could continue playing before going outside, and so I should have responded with “we’re doing snack right now, would you like snack or are you ready to go outside?”. Giving them the chance to choose one or the other.
January 19, 2024: Lead a lunch table for the first time! There were 6 children at my table along with my mentor educator there to support me when needed. I think that the lunch went okay, it could have gone better in my opinion for myself but no children were crying or mad at me in the end so I’d call that a win. My mentor educators feedback on it was that I can tell the children I’m busy when I am and will get to them as soon as I can. For example, a child was yelling what they wanted at me and i was in the middle of asking another child what they were wanting, so in that scenario I could say “I’m just talking to ‘name’, can you remind me what you want when I get to you please?”
January 24-26, 2024: Had a great practicum week, on Thursday we went on a hike and the children were very tired at the end of it but they did great throughout! On Friday, my mentor educator had the opportunity to take a group of our children to the Elementary Day hosted by the TRU Wolfpack where we watched a basket ball game and had a picnic lunch! The children seem to have started seeing me as a teacher rather than a friend, taking what I ask more seriously and coming to me for help when they need. For example, helping them peel their oranges or reading them a book.
January 31, 2024: Today we visited the pirate ship tree on our outing and I noticed the children seem to be able to entertain themselves for hours while out in nature. I was able to capture some moments of all of the children playing together and some of them holding hands on the walk.
February 1-2, 2024: This week my mentor educator had mentioned noticing a lot of growth in my confidence and to continue allowing my confidence to grow throughout practicum. On Thursday Charlotte and I made some moon sand which allowed us to sit wth some of the children to guide them through the “rules” of the station. On Friday we got to visit the pirate ship tree again on our outing.
February 7-9, 2024: This week on Thursday we went for a walk down to the horticulture gardens! It gave the kids a chance to run get all of their crazy energies out by running and rolling down the hill. On Thursday I got the chance to talk to a newest child in the classroom, they started on Monday so I haven’t had much time to talk to them. I got them talking a couple times as well as calming them down when they were having a bit of a tough time.
February 28- March 1, 2024: This week my mentor educator told me that I have been doing well at lunch and snack tables, with all of the children, and jumping into conflicts between the children without hesitation. We walked down to the ELC this week on Wednesday and the children had a lot of fun throughout the time there, there was a child that wasn’t wanting to be there or leave but when I sat down with him and started asking/listening to what he was saying we were able to figure out a way for him to have fun. On Thursday we went on a hike around TRU hills, we all got super muddy but that allowed the children to explore and investigate the mud!
March 13-15, 2024: On Thursday this week we went down to campus and played in the green are for a bit while waiting for some of the international day activities to be ready for us to explore! This week I have been having a hard time with some of the children crying to me and not using their words when telling me what was wrong. I told my mentor educator what was happening, she told me I handled the situations properly, but could also have the child take a few deep breaths to allow them to calm down and sit with them until they are able to tell me what is wrong/how I can help. We also encountered an incident where a child had fallen and gotten a scratch but needed to be checked by my mentor educator to insure that they were okay, my mentor told me that the best thing to do in this situation is to stay calm to help the child not react larger than they might. When this happened I didn’t react largely but I didn’t know how to handle the situation as I had never been in it before so my mentor telling me this and seeing how she handled the situation made me more confident in how I can go through next time.
March 20-22, 2024: This week I was being tested again by two children in practicum, at some point I realized I didn’t know what my next move could be and decided that was the time to ask for help from the educators in my room. Later in the day I asked my mentor educator what I could have done in this situation to make it turn out better than it did, and she said that how I was handling it was a good way of handling it and it’s hard to tell what would have happened if I had handled it in a different way. She also mentioned that to acknowledge when I need some help in situations like that is amazing, as most educators struggle with asking for help. Other than being tested by some of the children the week was quite fun. On Wednesday I spent some time with a child spelling out the different names of children in our class, she was so excited to sound them out and try to spell them, I did have to help a little bit with some of the harder names but for the most part I was so excited with her and her enthusiasm in her spelling. On Thursday and Friday we went on little hikes and we were able to teach the children a little bit more about prickly pear (they had learned about them earlier in the week) because some of the children were still scared of them. Being able to show the children and teach them more about the life around us is very important to me as a becoming educator.
March 27-28, 2024: This week we went to the ELC and on a hike, we saw a bunch of dogs giving us the chance to learn about asking someone before petting their dog or being cautious around dogs as some dogs aren’t so friendly. We investigated more prickly pears, bringing some into the room in glass jars so the children could look at them without getting poked. My mentor educator met up with me today asking how I was feeling towards the end of second practicum and we went over a few things we will be doing next practicum. She told me that I am at a great level considering how new I am and to continue working on my skills throughout the summer.
3rd Practicum
September 11-13, 2024: This was my first week into my third practicum! With that I did go through a tougher week, as most of the children aren’t familiar with me yet. I did have quite a great week though, I lead a lunch table that went very smoothly, and gained new relationships with some of the children I had just met. I sat down with my mentor educator and we decided to take this week to get back into the flow of the centre and next week we will actually start up again. I’m very excited to see what is to come in this practicum for me.
September 17-20, 2024: This week, I did some lunch and snack tables, lead some transitions, and went on a bunch of small adventures! One of the moments I was able to capture this week was our fishing on campus; the children all created the idea that their sticks they had were the fishing rods and the leaves on the sticks were the fish they caught in the drain grate. I found this play very interesting as the children had no human made toys or even a body of water but they were still able to create the idea that they were going to be fishing that day in that drain.
September 25-27, 2024: On Wednesday we took a walk up to the pirate ship, where we investigated the prickly pear and the children did a lot of climbing. One thing I found super interesting was how a group of 3 children created the idea of a car that the car was in need of repair (2 photos on the right). The branch was the car itself, the flowers sticking out of the branch were the mirrors of the car ,and the smaller sticks in each of their hands were the tools to fix the broken car. Thursday I focused on creating better relationships with the children that I noticed were having a harder time listening to me; causing me to think maybe we don’t have a strong enough relationship yet, by the end of the day I had a much better bond with those children.
October 2-4, 2024: This week I ran more snack/lunch tables, a group time where I read a story and sang a song, and lead a walk back to the centre. I focused on documenting this week, by writing notes and taking photos of what the children were talking about amongst each other or what they were telling me directly. Some feedback my mentor educator gave me this week was that I am doing great at working through the problems with the children and being patient in the situations that can take some time working through with some children. I was also told that it’s a great sign that I can ask questions and for help when I am struggling is any situations. When doing my documentation I got to listen to the conversations and observe what the children were doing, it was very interesting as the children were creating play out of something that most people would just walk past and not think to use.
October 9-11, 2024: This week I continued with my documentation of the Pirate Ship Tree. I did a group time, snack tables, lunch tables, and lead walks back to the daycare. I spent some time with some children looking/exploring different leaves, the ground and things we found in the dirt, played in the leaves, and observed what happened while the leaves fell after we threw them up into the air.
October 16-18, 2024: I continued doing lunch and snack groups this week, helped children solve some conflict, and interacted with more families. This week we split into two groups on Friday, with some of the children going to the trades building where the women in trades donated a toy tool shelf to the centre and the other half going down to campus to play in the grassy area. All children got the opportunity to help Meghan build this shelf later in the day and everyone was very excited to see what it would look like after.
October 23-25, 2024: This week we had 4 new children come to our room from other rooms in the centre, luckily I had the chance to work with them over the summer and already have some what of a relationship with them to build off of. This week some feedback I got from my mentors was to work on my confidence and to continue jumping into any situation that might come about. On Wednesday we walked down to the horticulture gardens where we looked at the fish in the pond, ran up up and down the hill, found some really big leaves, and on the way back headed through the Trades Building where we got to look at all of the big trucks and students working in the shops. On Thursday we headed to the TCC fields where we got to watch a maintenance worker check the conditions of the flags for Remembrance day. Lastly on Friday, we had a calmer day staying at the centre instead of going on a walk since we had half of our children, I noticed with the smaller group I had a much easier time finding a way to interact with all of the children there and I believe it helped the relationships I had to grow just a little bit stronger. Since we stayed at the centre it became an arts and crafts day with a lot of painting and creativity. This week I continued with snack tables, lunch tables, group times, stepping into situations that need support, interacting with families, etc..
October 30- November 1, 2024: This week was a colder week so we got the chance to stay in a little longer to make some play-dough with the children! It happened to be Halloween so we decided to attempt to make orange play-dough, it didn’t turn out super orange so we added some orange sparkles which made the children very excited. With this week being one of my last weeks of practicum I continued to focus on what I have been doing in this practicum, connecting with families, group times, supporting any situation that may need help, etc…
November 13-15, 2024: This week was my last week of practicum, I spent this week being with the children and explaining to them when I could that I will no longer be a practicum student in their room but I will still see them around. For my final practicum day my mentor told me that I have a natural and calm way with the children that I intend on keeping, and to continue to grow my confidence and voice so that will definitely be one of my goals for my future work.
With this portion of website coming to an end I would just like to add that I am so grateful for the opportunities I had with the Willow children and team, everyone in the room has taught me so much and I will use continue all of this knowledge for my future work as an educator.
