Day 4 - Jeanette B, No observation:

 I went to my site today, but I did not see the toddlers nor did I stay long. No observation was done. I'm looking forward to going back and interacting with the toddlers next week.

 On my third day, I walked into the classroom to observe them dancing and giggling so hard to Baby Shark and a variety of other songs that involves gross motor skills.  Then a couple of my new friends came over to my legs holding on to them and smiling.  Immediately, I started dancing on my knees which had the children so excited.  The joy and laughter were so rewarding and had me so excited to be around them.  Then it was time for a morning snack in which one friend took my hand to come to the table as well.  My friend pushed his bowl towards me to share and smiled and another friend did as well. They made me feel so welcomed in a matter of minutes by their actions.  It was time to clean up and prepare for group time in which the teacher did letter review along with the sound and familiar words from a picture book.

Next, it was time for an art activity so I prepared materials for the activity of painting various shapes from sponges.  The children came over to the table smiling and eager to get started.  We dipped the sponge shapes into some colors of paint to form shapes, and as they were engaged, I asked a question about the shape they were holding, " what shape do you have in hand"  and one child responded with circ meaning circle and skare meaning square.   Another child was pointing to shapes and putting my hand on them to tell him and I sat there identifying the shapes with the whole class.

During clean-up time the CT sang a song to get them to clean up for lunch and my friends were ready to wash their hands and eat, that some of them passed down their sponges and took smocks off.  As we prepared for lunch by the CT changing diapers and putting down plates. One child shouted eat as the food came onto their plate. I really enjoyed my time with the class and acknowledging their skills such as eye-hand coordination and enhancing their social skills.

Day 3 was a Snow Day - Jeanette B.

 Today would have been my third week of interacting with the toddlers, but unfortunately, I could not go to labs this week due to being quarantine. I thought I was going to miss a day, but the center was also closed as well due to the weather. Today was a snow day.

My 2nd day...Mica Howard

 On my second day, as I walked into the room the children were at the table eating their breakfast with their teacher.  As I approached the table a couple of the children were smiling from ear to ear at me and one of them offered me some of their breakfast in hand giving it to me.  Another friend replied, all ga meaning all done and handed me her sippy cup.  I continued sitting with the children and two friends walked over to give me a hug.  That reassurance that I got from the children made me feel more comfortable with myself in their classroom.  I started blushing through my mask because the children felt more secure with me as well.  As my CT, Ms. Bianca Freyre started cleaning up, the children had a chance to explore with books that they love, and I sat with them and a friend brought me a book so I read it.  The enthusiasm as I read the book with a different voice had the children smiling and laughing. Then the CT proceeded with circle time by introducing the letter Oo on a card, expressing the sound several times, and bringing out pictures starting with Oo such as orange and owl.  A couple of the friends were able to say the owl sound and clapping.  Then the CT introduced counting in English and Spanish, I joined in with the counting as well as the clapping to numbers and the children were excited and staring.  The children were patiently waiting as she told them let's do colors with color shapes, and she sang red is Rojo, orange is Anaranjado, green is Verde, and white is Blanco, etc.  Some of the friends were engaged and singing along with the song.  Then my CT discussed to the children she would be talking about love and she hugged her arms around her to represent love.  She read a Baby's Valentine book with flaps in which she gave the children options to touch the textured pictures under the flap and explained what they were.  The CT ended circle time with a gross motor song from Youtube called Mr. Freeze and the children jumped and identified with the actions.  I was able to say goodbye to my friends and got some hugs and waves, this was a great day.

Feronica Crawford

02/09/2021

 On my second day which was my last day, I observed the toddlers sit at the table and engage in decorating red hearts. The toddlers were so involved in the art activity they did not lookup. Although they did not look up, I played the peek-a-boo game with my hands and that got their attention. They began laughing and playing the peek-a-boo game back with me. I love when I bring laughter and joy into their lives. While I walked around the classroom to observe the other toddlers, they were sitting on the comfy couch turning pages in books from right to left and left to right. I asked a question about the pictures, "Can you tell me what you see?" one toddler replied, "Dog." and began barking like one. The other toddler replied, "Cat." I love how the toddlers were able to comprehend language and engage in conversations by giving me a one-word meaningful answer. 

When it was time to clean up, we began singing the cleanup song and one toddler was sitting on the floor putting her shoes on. I walked over to her and asked, "Do you need any help?" she replied first by shaking her head no and second by verbally saying the word "no." Watching her put on her shoes without the need for my assistance, shows that she is capable of meeting her own needs. In addition, she is increasing her eye-hand coordination, along with increasing her fine motor development skills. 

Furthermore, the teacher began to play the fingerplay song, "The Wheels on the bus go round and round" the toddlers began dancing and using their large motor skills to follow the movement of the fingerplay. I really enjoyed myself today and watching the toddlers transition from one interest area to the next and increasing their socialization skills. 

Day 2 - Jeanette B.

I enjoyed interacting with the students on the floor. After breakfast, the students went to circle time to listen to a story. Afterward, they sang a couple of songs. The students were dressed to take pictures for love day. I was thinking to myself the teachers should paint the windows because the kids are dressed-up, and they might not decorate the window right, and they probably get paint everywhere. The children finger-painted the window with pink and red hearts with their hand-prints for their small group activity. The children enhanced their fine motor development skills with finger painting. The toddlers were talking and smiling throughout the activity. They look like they were having fun, and the windows looked beautiful. The experience I learned from this is to let the children explore and be creative.

I also observed the toddlers in the different learning centers. It was nice seeing one of the boys in the kitchen cooking, eating, and washing dishes. Another boy was on the floor reading a book, while a student was matching shapes at the table. For movement, I interacted with all the students singing and dancing. Afterward, I placed paper and bags of markers on the table.  The children began to scribble and color until the CT called them one at a time to come to take a picture. While the children were in the learning center. I interacted with them and asked them questions. I enjoyed my day with the little ones.

My First Day

 Feronica Crawford

02/07/2021

 On my first day, I had a joyous time. The children ran up to me with their masks on and gave me a hug. I asked each child, to tell me their name and they did. Next, the students walked back to the areas, they were engaged in, I observed one student, stacking colorful cups. I observed another student, turning pages in a book from left to right. I observed a group of students sitting at the table, scribbling on construction paper. The teacher turned the radio on and all of the students stopped what they were doing, held hands, dancing, jumping up and down. I began dancing with the children as well.

After the children had a great time in the interest areas, it was time to clean up, the teacher began to sing the clean-up song. Each child was able to clean up their own area independently. I was very impressed with how each child, put all the toys they played with, back on the shelf without assistance. Once all of the areas were cleaned, the children sat at the table to listen to a story called, "The Little Red Hen."

My day was full of energy, laughter, and fun. I really enjoyed my time with the children.