On a side note.. this is what a running record is for those that don't know! It means you go and observe approximately 20 children and try to write down everything you can about what they are saying, what they are playing with, what seems to be interesting them, for 45 minutes! When you are done you have a whole lot of chicken scratch of various different things. Children are very busy as you can imagine, so trying to keep up with 20 of them for 45 minutes, it's a lot of work! That is a running record, time consuming but super useful!Next we go back to class and go over our records, and sift through all the things we have written down and try to find a common interests among most of the children. This is what we had to work with...
- Glitter glue and children commenting that they LOVE glitter glue...
- Children playing Pirates in the dramatic play area...
- Two children were getting married and they were both wearing lots of jewellery...
- Two child were playing store, their main focus was collecting the money...
- A few children were playing with a small box and pretending that it was a treasure chest...
On another side note, so I'm at my friends house last night and I see this cute little leather bound box in the corner of her room, to me it looks like the perfect treasure chest, so I ask my friend if it is heavy, and then if I could borrow it. She was so kind to allow me to borrow it for my themed circle. We emptied it out and I brought it home. How cool would we be walking into a centre with a "REAL" treasure chest! And let me tell you the children thought "We were cool!"
So with pirate chest in hand and filled with fun goodies! We embarked on a journey of trying to contain 18 children. We had songs, stories and games. I spent a few hours yesterday with a whole bunch of felt, some scissors and lots and lots of glitter glue and made a Shape Matching Treasure Hunt game.
The children enjoyed the game so much they asked to play it a second time, we did and then looked back after and decided that once would have been enough... hahaha it's all a learning process. The treasure chest was packed with goodies and we all had a good time. I think my favourite comment of the morning was from a teacher, she said "Wow you guys are making me re-think my circle skills and come up with some more interesting things to do with the children". I liked that because I have heard that it's easy to get stuck in a rut and doing whats comfortable working in a daycare setting, and the fact that something fun for me can breath life back into a teacher, it really is a blessing for the children.
At the end of the circle my friend Pete the Parrot came for a visit, he was calling children by their shirt color to go wash their hands and get ready for snack! Children love puppets and its kinda funny for myself to have to come up with a voice to speak for the puppet, hahaha I don't think I was successful there, I was laughing every time I went to talk.
Hmm... What did I learn today... Oh I know... DON'T CALL THE CHILDREN WITH PINK SHIRTS FIRST, then your left with all the boys to entertain while the girls take their time in the bathroom! HAHAHA
Well have a great day, and I am off to enjoy this beautiful weather!
~Blessed~
N
