Play Activity Assignment Essay

This assignment is called Play activity. It is worth 30% of the overall grade of the module Early Childhood Education. As part of the assessment criteria of this assignment I must complete a play activity to a group o children aged between 0-6 years. WORK PLACE I have been starting to work in Creche X in Donnybrook area since two weeks ago (as a full time). I have been in a free trial, then part time till they decided I can start full time. I work in Baby room. There are five children at the moment. I love children and I like being around them. I haven’t worked before with babies, so it was a challenge and a big responsibility for me and I was very happy for the chance given to me. Despite the fact I had no experience to work with babies, I learnt lots of things in a short period of time and I can say I still have to learn few more. It is a small but spacious, but friendly and brightly creche. It is a full day care service from 7:30 till 6:00. They have a Baby room, Wobblers room, Toddler room and Montessori room. The Baby room has also a cot room with 4 beds. It is a lovely room plenty of toys and books (for babies). The creche has also a changing room, an office, a kitchen and a large outdoor garden. They provide breakfast and hot nutritious meals. All of their staff (six persons) are full trained and experienced. They are Garda vetted and First aid trained. They use the Montessori and Highscope methods of play and education. They have a secure access, outdoor safety surface, wheel chair accessible, daily log kept for parents. When parents come to pick up their children they must say a password or if they send somebody else to pick up their child, they must call before and then to say a password as well. DUTIES * Sign the children in and out * Keep daily record of each child (record book) * Parents sign in and out * Changing nappies * Feeding children * Playing with them ( sponge painting, hand print, activity gym, ball play, pulling objects, mirror play, face expression, different kind of music, messy play, etc) * Bring them to sleep area * Verify then from tem to ten minutes * Write every day on a Care of Sheet the quantity and the hours they had their bottles of milk, solids, how many time nappies were changed, * Write down on the Cot Sheet that you verified the children and they were safe at that moment * Answer the phone. * Hovering and mop every day the room * Fill out an accident report * Chat with parents about day’s activity * Medical consent and administration form for medicines given to children must be completed by the manager, parent, staff and witness. * Take the temperature of children that seem to be sick checking from 15 to 15 minutes and right down on the medicine book; if the temperature is high we call the parents * Verify every morning and afternoon the temperature from refrigerator * Hover and mop all the creche one day a week (when my turn comes) PERSONAL PROFILE My name is Mihaela Serea. I’m from Romania and I came in Ireland in 2008. I have been starting to work as a child minder for two families. I took care of a child of four years old and one of three years old. The second family just moved in UK two months ago, so I decided to start Fetac Level 5 in Childcare. In Romania I went to College for a period of 4 years Faculty of Letters, profile Romanian-English. During the college I completed the courses for the Department of Teaching in primary/secondary school. After the college I have done a master degree in Business Management for one year and half. During my Master degree I had the opportunity to work in a kindergarten. I was afraid of taking care of small children, but it was a really pleasant experience and I enjoyed it a lot. Some other courses completed: when I was in secondary school, I decided to do some courses within the area of computers. What I want to achieve from this module Early Childhood Education? It is a crucial period of children at this age, so I want to explore all the aspects of a child development, from safety and psychology to physical, cognitive and emotional development. I want to help children to gain confidence in everyday tasks, to ensure that the play is conforming to official health and safety standards. It is a period when walking, talking, vision of the world and moral foundations are established. The early years of life are critical to the development of intelligence, personality and social behavior. I would like to learn about children needs and interests. My unique selling points I enjoy teaching, but in Romanian language because it will be easy to express myself. In English I loose myself, I forget the words, I don t know anymore what I want to say, it s difficult, because in school we don’t communicate enough, we just learn to read, to write, grammar, exercises. When I was a child I dreamed to be a teacher. All my story books have marks on. I like painting, singing, computers, I like to be informed. One day I believe I will have my own business a creche. But first of all I need to work in a creche for more years to get more experience and to find out everything I need to know about. I like children very much, I will be a good manager and I think it will be good money as well, if I provide a good service. Title of play activity: Autumn leaves Aim Autumn is a great time to teach children about leaves. I want to learn them through play and exploration of the nature and to get involved with it. Collecting different leaves they learn different colors, shapes and structures. Another aim is to develop children’s creativity by mixing colors, working in groups. Consultation with my supervisor When I take a group of children out I have to be aware of their safety: planning, permission, supervision, transport. In my case, I go into a park just near by our location with a group of pre school children. I spoke with my supervisor to give permission and a letter should be sent to all the parents/guardians of the children. Co-operation with families is essential to ensure the welfare of the children. The supervisor told me it s not necessary a transport, because it is just two minutes away. We do not need packed meals, only some bottles of water, tissues, spare clothing, small first aid kit, a charged mobile phone and emergency contact numbers, ensuring that the service’s insurance policy includes adequate cover for outings. I have to take care of health, safety and hygiene of children maintaining a high standard of care which promotes the development of the children. Children should be suitably dressed for the outing in cloths which protect against the weather. Children should not wear their best cloths. Children’s clothing needs to allow them freedom of movement so that they can take full advantage of all the opportunities offered on the outing. I remembered to children about road safety. Always we cross the road at safe points such as traffic lights. I checked the place in advance to be sure of the facilities that are available and the area that may be a danger to children. Benefits of my chosen theme: A study of leaves/ autumn opens up possibilities for learning in many content areas. Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Art all contribute to a unit on leaves. If there is access to a park or playground, the children can go on a leaf gathering walk. When this isn’t possible, children can be encouraged to gather leaves at home with their families and bring them in to the classroom, or teachers can provide the leaves. Leaves change colors, usually from green to red, orange, yellow and brown. Leaves can be found on trees, fall to the ground and we rake them. Children sort the leaves they collected by color, size or type of leaf. Fall is a beautiful time of year, when the leaves change color and fall from the trees. Besides sweeping them up and bagging them, consider putting the fallen leaves to good use. Children collect and turn them into leaf art. The multi-colored leaves make beautiful craft projects, and the best part is that they’re free. There are several types of crafts you can do from leaves. The only limit is your imagination. Going out in the park they learn different types of animals. Also children learn about the season ‘’autumn’’: season of the year between summer and winter, lasting from the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice and from September to December; period of maturity verging on decline. Five related themes: 1. Leaf print 2. Hedge hogs 3. Colors 4. Collecting leaves 5. Autumn leaves Chosen activity: I have chosen an art activity to be completed with a group of 5 children within a pre-school setting. Preparation: * I will talk with my supervisor in order to inform her about the background of the play activity assignment * I will bring a photocopy of my plan about this play activity * During the meeting I ask her about some suggestions related to the play activity and its educational content * I ask my supervisor if parents will give the permission to take the children in the park * I will ask my supervisor about a suitable time and location to complete the play activity and what I may need to get. * I wil try to figure out how long it may take to complete this activity * I will create a checklist in order to ensure that all essential supplies are present during the play * Equipment needed to complete the skills demonstration will be: baskets to collect the leaves, glue, white papers, small and big paintbrushes, water based paints, paper plates, paper tissues, wet wipes, and aprons. The paint used will be non toxic. Implementation: First of all the activity will be safe for the children to undertake. The park was at 5 minutes walking away from our location and it was a safe area. I gave them baskets to collect the leaves from the park We spent 2 hours in the nature Wash hands Gather materials using the checklist as a guide Set out an area permitted by the supervisor Put on the aprons on each child I give to each child a paint brushes and paper plates I showed them how to make the operation They cleaned up the mess Evaluation: As part of my assessment for the FETAC module: Early Childhood Education, I must complete one play activity within a work place setting. I tried to follow step by step the plan in order to complete the Play Activity ‘’Autumn leaves’’. I spent almost two hours in the park with children, and then we came back. 1. How the skills demonstration went from my personal viewpoint 1. In my opinion everything went very well and I was really happy that I succeeded to complete it. The children helped me a lot because they followed my verbal instructions. Before we have gone to the park, I gave them wood baskets to collect the leaves. I provided all the materials they needed to deal with for printing leaves on the papers. First of all I showed them how to do it. I took one of my own leaves, I painted it and I put the painted side on the sheet of paper and gently press it with my hands. After few seconds, I lifted the leaf. They could choose small/big paint brushes and colors to use. I could see they tried to make the operation very well exactly as I showed it to them. TC1 and TC3 showed a big concentration. Despite of the fact that CT2 wanted to work on his own, he mixed the colors very nice. 2. How the skills went demonstration went from the child’s viewpoint The Play Activity ended very well, all children have been happy about their creations. I put on their creations their names and I hanged them on a wire. They applauded/clapped their hands and had big smiles on their faces. They showed a lot of concentration when they started to paint. 3. The last part of the evaluation is actually the development of children through this play activity as following: P. I. L. E. S Physical Development: This was developed when all the children collected leaves from the ground and when they printed the leaves on the papers. In the park they collected leaves using their fingers (fine motor skills). They moved from a place to another, jumping and running around developing their gross motor skills. (Large muscles: legs, body movements). They held the paintbrushes (fine motor skills) to print the leaves. Intellectual: They counted how many leaves they had at the end and they sorted the leaves based on colors and sizes (Logical/math). They compared their leaves to see who has the largest one (Concentration). Through art they developed their creativity and expression of their art when they put different colors of leaves on papers. Children love to find interesting shaped leaves. T. C 4 remembered some names of the trees they learned in the classroom (memory). T. C 1 pretended he is the child of the jungle, Mowgly (imagination). T. C3 stick two papers side by side to make a bigger collage of leaves printed and T. C4 mixed the colors of the leaves on the paper. (creativity). TC4 pretended he is a rabbit in the forest, so he started to jump like a rabbit. (imagination). Language: This was developed when children understood my verbal instructions related to leaves (collecting them, counting them, make comparisons, painting the leaves then stick them for few seconds on the papers, etc). They learned new words related to and animals trees like maple, oak, squirrels, etc Emotional: This was developed when T. C1 expressed his happiness about discovering he found the largest leaf. T. C2 started to sing a song we have learned in the class. T. C4 started to cry because he falls down on the ground. TC3 was angry because TC1 pushed him on a side just to take his leaf he found on the ground. They developed feelings associated with winning and losing. Social: This was developed when I brought them together in the park, in the nature. T. C1 was playing with the others. T. C3 collected leaves with T. C4. (team work, the ability to work in groups, interaction with the others). When we were in the classroom I put them to work in pairs of two. (they learnt to share the equipment, be patient, clean up the mess). Howard Gardner Kinesthetic: CT4 jumping like a rabbit, so he developed his gross muscles (legs). They played together, running. CT3 is very good at craft, he was doing a great job sticking two papers side by side, and making a bigger collage of different colors, shapes of leafs printed. Naturalist: CT2 was excellent at recognizing the squirrels. They enjoyed being in nature, exploring the nature, collecting leaves. CT1 recognized some flowers. Interpersonal: CT3 seem to be a a natural leader enjoy teaching the others how to paint the leaf and then to stick them on the paper. I noticed CT3 is a closed friend to CT4. Intrapersonal: When I put them to work in groups of two, CT2 replied to me that he prefers working alone. He showed a strong sense of independence in the park as well collecting the leaves on his own. (He does a great job on his own). Recommendations for change: I propose for the next time when we go into a trip, we should choose a larger place with more attractive/educational spots for children to see and we should take more children and more staff. It will be more fun. Impact on children: Children enjoyed going out exploring the natures, collecting the leaves. They deal with shapes, colors, how they look combined. They loved to use different colors to paint the leaves and they seemed very enthusiasts about their work. At the end at the project they were proud of their work. They learned to work in groups. Painting gives them the ability to share their equipment, to clean up their mess. They learned to be patient, they learned new words. Personal learning: * I learned to complete a play activity in a pre-school setting * I learnt to apply theory to practice * I improved to communicate with my supervisor and ask for advice regarding my plan activity.