Daycare Adventures

Behavior Management

• I have been in charge of the group for the past 3 days. I am learning that I like to give warning disciplines. The first time that a student did something that I didn't like, they had to sit out for 2 minutes. The second offense and each one after that during that activity cost the student 5 minutes. I took the time from group games, outside time, free time, and electronics time. 
• I go with this type of discipline because I do not agree with the punishment of having students write sentences when they act up. I feel like it makes students associate writing with being punished; I want children to enjoy writing. I do have to admit; however, that one of my pre-kindergarten boys learned how to write the sentence that he had to write so much this summer. He acted up during circle time so I sent him to the table while I finished the activity and decided what I wanted to do with him. By the time that I got to him, he had already written his special sentence (with correct spelling) ten times. 
• When the class became too talkative, I explained that it made me feel unhappy when they didn't listen to me. I continued by explaining that I chose to spend my spring break at the daycare instead of on a beach because I really liked the children and wanted to spend time with them. The students' became more serious and they sat quietly on the bench until snack time. 

Nature Walk

• While there was a break in the rain, I led the group in a nature walk. My partner was the caboose. I taught the children about daffodils, red bud trees, and a few other things. Some students complained that there was not enough real nature around the daycare, but other students really enjoyed the walk. Overall the group's attitude calmed down and became better. 

Circuits Experiment

• It was raining when I woke up, so I knew that my students would be bouncing off the wall because they would not be able to go outside very much today. I decided to grab my circuit experiment box. I did a brief lesson of my IMPACT lesson content for my students (kindergarten through fourth grade) before showing them how to create a circuit. I passed out some of the circuits that my 4th graders created, some needed to be reconstructed or fixed. I showed each group (there were 4 groups) how to test items. One group became so engulfed with the experiment that they did not decide to put it up for technology time. Another group got really creative with their circuit. It was nice seeing the entire class (except for 2 kindergarten girls) so engaged with this lesson. I will bring more complex science experiments in the future. I took pictures to send my boss so that the families could see. 

Learning about Siberian Unicorns

• One of the students mentioned unicorns during our morning meeting, so I told the group that apparently unicorns really did exist a long time ago, but they looked more like rhinos. I asked the group if they wanted me to look up the article that I saw about the unicorns, during my lunch break and they got excited. After my lunch break, I showed the students the pictures from the article and read the article to them. We all learned something today and the students were genuinely interested in this. 

Camp Songs

• I love leading camp songs at the daycare. I'm the only one who does it, it is a role that I created and that my bosses were excited about. Throughout the past 2 years, I have had some excellent experiences with the children through song time, I let the children create their own verses of "Boom Chicka Boom." Because of the rain, I wanted to use some of the students' energy. I began with "Bananas of the World Unite," but my car accident injury flared up at the beginning so I led the actions a little while I sung. This made me wonder how much this accident is going to impact the rest of my life and what type of accommodations I am going to have to prepare. Will I have to have student scribes from time to time? 

Tornado Drill

• At the end of the day, some guy accidentally pushed the Charlestown tornado siren button during a thunderstorm, so I ushered my daycare kids into the big kitchen. I didn't tell them why we were in the big kitchen, most of the children were happily sitting around a big table expecting us to cook or do something fun. I had the students share what their favorite thing that we had done today was. A few of the kids got frustrated with me and said, "Miss Jennifer, we're surrounded by conductors during a thunderstorm." At least my electricity lesson got through to them. Towards the end a few of the kids were worrying so I tried to make it make sense by saying "Who here has ever had a tornado drill at school? This is like a real tornado drill." Haha that didn't work well, but thankfully the siren was off by then. I am glad that I got to experience what I thought was a real tornado with such a small group of children. I know that I won't be allowed to let my future students talk during a tornado drill, but now I know how not to provide closure to the experience. When parents picked up their children, I told the parent about some of the fun activities that we did and that we had a tornado drill. 

Chilling on the "couch" without shoes

• At the end of the day, the children really wanted to play with our mats today, so I got out the rest of our mats to keep the children from fighting over them. The students quickly designed a couch that was big enough for all of them to fit on. I was really proud of their teamwork. They asked if they could take their shoes off. I knew that we weren't doing anything else until they went home, so I gave them my consent. It was so nice getting to hang out with them in such a relaxed setting. One of the students said something about bubblegum, so I sung the "Bazooka Bubblegum" song, which I had taught them a few summers ago. A few of the students whispered and decided to echo only parts of the chorus. When my song was finished, they echoed with the song "Chewy Bubblegum" followed by a bubblegum song that has the same tune as another camp song that I like. I responded by singing "Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut." The students enjoyed doing the motions. As a former music education major, I loved having this song conversation with them.