October 3, 2025

Harvesting our knowledge. Elder spoke of transitions of animals, survival, hunters, the cycle, each season provides food on the land.
Elder Sempulyan says there’s a season where we don’t hunt, the animals prepare and replenish to bring on the next generation. We should also include the children by asking them what animals are staying and going, their answers may surprise you, they may know more than you think. Children come up with amazing answers. Engage with them, we help with their brain development, teach them young so that they may learn the language, not just one language, but many. Children are observant, so ask them, why do the frogs and lizards barrow in the dirt before winter?
Anita (elder) goes to say, include them in preserving canned goods. Anita says when the children help make raspberry jam, and share it with the community, the children can look back on it and feel pride. Singing helps with brain development and it helps with words, it’s the repetition.

Russel talks about healthy sleep for children.
what he had to say was more for parents at home. there was a topic I didn’t really agree with. Melatonin and children(prescribed by Doctor), but he goes to mentions, there may be children who take the medication to help them sleep. I do understand that there are people who believe in it, but I can’t.
He goes on to talk other possibilities of troublesome sleep in children, autism, trauma, mental health-stress. It’s important to read your children, do they have enough energy for the day?
Sleep drive, as a person who works with children, the educators need be asking the parents, what is naptime like at home? is it weekends? weekdays? consistent with the time they go for their nap? any specifications like no/light, weighed blanket, music or quiet environment, etc. Maybe it’s overstimulating for the child at daycare than at home.

Share the success stories about nap time at home and at daycare. succuss is the thing that we can do to help with nap time.

Busy Box
“the box” can be anything, doesn’t have to be a box, people use a wicker basket, storage bin, luggage. what interested me more about the box was try and convert it to a more traditional box like cedar or weaved basket.
Anything can be added to it at an appropriate age range.
The items in the box could have its purpose, help with transitions, sensory, motor development, keep children focused and calm, imagination and learning. switching the items around to keep it interesting or to the children’s interests.
again what interested me was about traditional items to add to the box. culturally rich items.

Anita Frost-Rainbow
being present with the seasons, if you’re not paying attentions, in a blink of an eye, the season will be over, and before you know it, you have to go through the season over again
regulate ourself by taking deep breaths, humming a song, singing and setting boundaries. finding our sacred NO! it’s taking care of your own energy. Letting go and release. Save save save for yourself. Rest isn’t earned, rest in inherited.
We need to model self care, what could be accomplished if you are well rested?

I believe every child is unique and deserves to feel proud of who they are. In my work with young children, I value identity and diversity — where each child’s culture, language, and background is respected and celebrated.

My grandmother, Janice McGillis, is a strong influence in my life. She is a language teacher and a residential school survivor. Even after everything she went through, she taught me the importance of respect, generosity, and that communication is key. I carry her teachings with me every day, and I want to pass them on to the children I work with.

As an Indigenous person, I know how much was taken from our people through residential schools, including our language and traditions. That’s why it’s so important to me to bring culture into the classroom. I want children to feel connected to their roots and to know that their identity matters.

I believe learning should be hands-on, caring, and full of respect. I aim to create a safe, loving space where all children feel seen, heard, and valued — just as they are.

In my next practicum, I’m excited to keep growing as an early childhood educator. I want to build stronger relationships with the children and staff, and to practice bringing more culture and language into my daily work. I’m especially looking forward to learning from experienced educators and I would like to continue on with Titqet Daycare for my next practicum. I will keep my grandmother’s teachings in mind — especially respect and communication — as I continue to grow in this field.

Assignment B

My final learning and take away is to have projects ready in advance before you present them to the kiddies, otherwise you would be scrambling around trying to get things ready while the kiddies are waiting and getting anxious and restless. I noticed this may take some of your off time, but what I also noticed is the Daycare goes by routine, the crafts are done every year, they will change it up when something arises. Yes, important to be organized and prepared when implementing activities. This is a good goal for the next practicum!

What I learned from the kiddies, one child in particular is bringing out the hand drumming back to me. I honestly never thought I would pick up a drum again and sing. So, one of my goals is to relearn hand drumming song and their names. It also wanted me to learn more about my traditions. I want to learn and I want to teach and pass on to our future generations. So glad to hear about your experience and to become excited about sharing songs and drumming with the children.

I also need to work on my multitasking, while I was at the daycare, I noticed that when I was with One kiddies, another kiddie wanted my attention, but I felt like I couldn’t give it to them because I wanted to give my full attention to the child I’m with right now because the before the other kiddie wanted my attention, the child I’m with was getting rambunctious and I was trying to keep them focused by giving them something to do without distractions., That was a challenge for sure. We will discuss the challenges of guiding groups and individual children in the next term. It is always a challenge to know exactly what to do and when to stay engaged and when to move away. However, from what you have shared you did the right move by staying with child who was distressed and trying to ignore the other children at that moment. Sometimes I would say to the other children quietly, “Right now I am helping So and So and when he calms down then I will come and help you. “

With Friday being a free time day, I thought I wasn’t able to do my projects, but i thought it would be useful since there was no listening ears today and the children seem to be in a mood. I let C know that i have a project for them to do if that was ok, she agreed to let me do my project, I went to get my project out and called the children over, JF was still doing 2 kiddies at a time for tumble time, but I felt it was much needed to do my project while we waited for the 10 minutes for the next two children to have their turn.

Couple of days before today, I wrapped a bunch of Dinosaurs in painters tape individually, at first I was wrapping them a little more snug then I should have, but CT let me know that we should make them loose because we don’t know how they will do with taking the tape off, and I mentioned the ages and she agreed that with the ages, the younger ones will have a little more troubles than the older ones.

Free the Dinosaurs, C told the kiddies it’s time to listen to Stephanie now, I explained to them that we need to free the Dinosaurs, I gave them one each and gave them the opportunity to figure out what they needed to do and wait, after a minute of waiting and watching, they asked for help, so I grabbed the one who was asking for help and took a smidge off of tape from the Dinosaur, then gave it back, it took off from there. The children watched the one kiddie and they mimicked the kiddie. As predicted, a few kiddies found it easy, so I OH! you need a challange do you? I gave him them one of the snug ones, and sure enough, it took a little bit more time, but they were able to do it, when I gave the few kiddies an easy one again, they came apart easy, I I kept giving them the harder ones because giving them the easy one, they would unwrap it all in no time giving no time for the younger ones. Love the name of the activity Free the Dinosaurs!

While watching, a few used their teeth to try to open it, they asked for help, giving it to me and C, one was Difficult, even for us, I had to give the kiddie another, after letting the tape dry, I tried again, but still, took a little bit to take the tape off. Another kiddie enjoyed playing with the tape once and a while, touching the sticky side, and I said “Is that sticky?” they nodded and looked at their finger, but they noticed, it doesn’t stay on their finger, so the kiddies continued to unwrap the Dinosaur. Great for fine motor and also for providing an activity to sustain focus!

In between freeing the Dinosaurs, they would play with them. I would ask them about the colors of the Dinos and was the tape hard or easy for them. some said it was easy, others said it was hard and it was fun for them. They wanted to unwrap more but I didn’t do a lot, I wasn’t sure how they would take a liking to this project, but now I know.

After freeing the Dinosaurs, I handed out cup that have been colored by JF, I said it was color matching time! I helped by placing a yellow Dinosaur in a yellow cup, with no success, I asked, who has a yellow Dinosaur? they started to put their hands up and saying I DO! then I said ok, it goes in the yellow cup, then I continued with the other colors, then they came to me with their colored cups saying witch color they had in their cups, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, PURPLE. Soon after, we started to play with the Dinosaurs and started to color coordinate, then after they lost interest, I tried to ask them about the different Dinosaurs, but with no luck, we put them away.

Again, soon after, they kiddies started to get rambunctious. I said to C that I have one more project if we wanted to do it. She said yes, I went to grab my last project, Dinosaur Skeleton.

For this project, I laminated dinosaurs and cut them out so it was easier for the kiddies to trace. The kiddies would use running glue to dip with their Q-tips and they would make their skeleton. A few times I would show the kiddies to dip their Q-tip in the glue and put it on the paper and explained that the glue would help keep the bones in place, but it would take a little bit longer to dry. I would ask what dinosaur they would doing, I had troubles naming them since the dinosaurs have difficult names, but I did the best I could with remembering and pronouncing them properly, but it made them laugh.

watching them trace and place the glue down, it was sweet to watch. One kiddie wanted to make two, one for mom and one for dad.
I was happy to do my projects with them, it was exciting, I felt proud! making up these projects were difficult for me, was it the right age range? would there be no interests, and one of them was a learning process for sure.

I forgot to mention that I was leaving, I haven’t told the kiddies, for that I feel bad. I was only able to give one kiddie a hug at the end of my practicum. I felt I was being present with them, in the moment, not thinking of anything else. I wasn’t able to tell the kiddies Thursday, Friday’s they don’t have a lot of kiddies as they normally do during the rest of the week.

Great way to end your practicum time with these children Stephanie!

Nov 29, 2024

I did my second project with the kiddies today. Dinosaur workout, one at a time, the kiddies were able to spin the wheel so we can do the workout, I think it tired me out more than the kiddies, they sure had a lot of energy. I think the workouts excited them a little too much, I was hoping it tired them out but before CT project, she had to settle them before they went into the next room, my intent was to get some energy out but instead did the opposite

I wasn’t able to take pictures during because I can’t take pictures of their face, but after the event, I thought I should’ve tried to get pictures of their feet running on the spot, maybe that would’ve been a good picture? after the excitement, CT got the kiddies to lay down and she sang a bear song to calm them down and take three deep breaths. Maybe next time can think of a quiet activity to follow if it was before naptime or maybe do at different time of the day. Sounds like it was a hit with the children!

At the end of the days, JF is with the last of the kiddies that dont go home before nap. After nap, they have some snacks and then they go onto free time, today I got to experience Tumble time, the kiddies get to play with mats, foam blocks, and a pop up tent that has some activities they can do like; bowling and basket ball hoops; tunnel. An hour and a half, we were left with one kiddie, he was insistant he can do 5 summersalts, but he could only do four, JF suggested that in order to make the five summersalts, he would have to place the mats diagnally, corner to corner, after he placed them corner to corner, he was able to do the five summer salts.

This here is a duck! At first, I made a pirate with these foam blocks, then we went on to see what else we could make, so kiddie decided that they needed legs, a body, a beak, then the top of the head, so, it became a duck, but kiddie then decided the duck needed to open its mouth, so kiddie put the green triangle on, then i went and got excited and said, I SEE IT! so, I grabbed the upper beak and lifted it, QUACK!

Great example of promoting creativity and exploration of material ( ELF pg. 77) I am sure that everyone enjoyed what was happening at tumble time. You have really been able to pick up on children’s cues Stephanie and add to their learning, this is exactly what we were wanting to see on your practicum.

Nov 28, 2024

Dinosaur land was a hit.

In my previous publish, I mentioned that I haven’t been able to take picture for the “before” we started the activity, I thought that would’ve been some great pictures to add to this. The children had a good time making their dinosaur land, I went to help start some of their activity by showing them how to place a tiny branch to get them to stand on their own, but while helping others, I felt like I should’ve grabbed some more dirt for them since some of the children’s branches weren’t standing on their own, but along the way, I thought it would be best to make the branches shorter, that worked much better than having to use the longer ones which also made them heavier. Did you include the children in your thinking about why some sticks worked and others didn’t? Next time present the problem to the children to see what ideas they might have to make the sticks stand up.

This project was a relief for me, I was glad they enjoyed this. I liked to see their creativity. While, some were for creativity, I watched some play with the dirt with their hands, sensory play. Yes, nice to just let each child decide how they used the materials you presented.

through all this fun, was a lot of mess, but that’s ok, let the children experience this fun. CT assured me that it’s ok to get messy, the kiddies had fun, which I am thankful for, thankful to have great mentors that understand that it’s about the kiddies and their development, also thankful JF and CT are open to my projects. 🙂

I feel I’m slowly starting to communicate with the kiddies more about what they shouldn’t do like hitting and knocking another peers blocks over, watching CT and JF communicate with them is something I also want to master. Good goals for the next practicum Stephanie.

Nov 27, 2024

This morning, we went on a field trip with the kids, it was a walk around the block, but still considered a field trip. the children got ready to go for a Nature walk, they were to wear a Visy vest and hand onto a rope with rings for them to hold on to. I coordinated with one educator, we combined our projects which worked great, educator wanted the children to do the 4 out of 5 senses; what they see, hear, touch, and smell. I project was for the children to make their own Dinosaur land, while on the Nature walk, I brought a bag for the children to fill with what they wanted to add to their project; leaves, twigs, rocks, etc. Our first stop, I thought it would be best to look on a garden bed, instead of looking on the garden bed, the children look around the garden bed, which I thought was silly, what they put into the bag was weeds and dread flower roots, at least that’s what I think they are. our second stop, we came to some sage bushes, I thought it would be nice to let them smell the sage, one boy in particular enjoyed smelling the sage, he spent most of the time there smelling the sage. I wish I bought my cell phone to take pictures. Also at this spot, the children picked up sand in this area, along with some sage. By this time, we agreed that we should make our way back, it took us a while to get back to the daycare centre, while on our way back, the children were told they need to come to a complete stop when someone drives by, some are good and they slow down to a crawl while others were told to slow down.

At the daycare, we didn’t have time to do the project I had planned for this children to do, so we agreed to finish it tomorrow when we have more time. While the children went down for their afternoon nap, I made some planning with the educators and talked with them about my future project for the children, educators were nice enough to tell me that what ever I needed, I could use. I made sure to plan with little items to use, that was then when I talked to my educators to talk to them about how nervous I was about my projects, would the children like it? will it be too difficult for the children? they assured me that it’s a learning process, when the time comes, when they do my projects, I would then know, it also gives us a teaching opportunity, if the younger ones don’t know how to do it, we would then step in and show them, maybe even given them a demonstration before hand. I felt better after the talk with the educators, it’s a learning process for everyone, and that when we make plans, its to plan ahead and have the stuff ready before hand. So important for your learning to have these conversations with your Practicum Mentor and other staff. This is how we learn about what the children are interested in, what they can and cannot do and what our role will be in the process of creating this ” project”.

While talking with an educator, I mentioned that while I’ve been here learning how to communicate with the children about communicating with each other, I noticed it’s now i started to do at home with my children, it was one of the things I wanted to learn, to teach children how to communicate with each other, other than picking the child up and placing them somewhere else. Reminding them to use their words instead of crying. It’s encouraged that the children talk so the educators know what the child needs help on along with gross motor. Educators have a good communication with the parents, they let them know what has happened that day and their open to listening to the parents. I find it interesting that the educators know who is staying for a nap and who goes before, they know the routine.

The day felt short, but it was busy, which I enjoyed. Always better to be busy than to trying to find things to do!

I find that I’m enjoying hand drumming, a child has been drumming during the week and he asks me to drum with him, I find that I don’t know many songs or their names. The last time I held a drum was 15 or so years so, but now I’m finding an interest in them again. I’m just not sure if I should commit to it. Traditionally, it’s not from my culture. I’m trying to get into traditional ways is something I want to learn and teach to the younger generation, we need to bring it back.

Back to the topic, it felt like the day was going by fast. It was more of a free time day, the children went to play on their own or together, I had fun watching a child and educator play with paper; snowflakes. Educator and child were making snowflakes, and educator ask the child for shapes to draw on the snowflake for the child to cut out; he listed heart, oval, heart, book, door. It also gave them a chance to work on their motor skills.

While the children took their naps, this have me a chance to think about program planning I could do with the children next week. I looked around their storage areas for their art supplies to see what is available, I think I have some ideas, but now I need to get the items together before I do them with the children.