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!