September 16th, 2021

In class today we started off with some indoor playtime which the students usually enjoy. I learned that the infants and toddlers that I’m with, toddlers really enjoy playing in the dramatic play area of the room. They enjoy dressing up and playing with the fake babies and putting clothes and diapers on the babies. One of the things I’ve noticed while doing my field experience is that the principle DAP that speaks about play is important for kids has been present in my days of field experience. I notice how when the students play with the different toys in the classroom, they sometimes mention the colors, shapes, or amount of the items they are playing with. While the students are playing, I make sure I am engaging with them and even asking them questions such as: “what food is this”, “what color is this block”. After our indoor free play, we went outside on a nice nature walk around the campus. We were able to get a breath of fresh air and see nature outside. A lot of the students enjoyed being outside, playing in the grass, and running around freely. Through my few days of field experience, I’m noticing how true it is for educators to make sure they allow students to play because it benefits them overall. Play can stimulate children’s creativity as well as assisting them with thinking outside of the box, it also contributes to the development of student’s cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being. It’s important that students are given an opportunity to express themselves in a safe and nurturing environment.

September 9th, 2021

Today was my first day working in the infant and toddler classroom. At first, I was a bit nervous, but once I got into the classroom and all the teachers were welcoming, I knew it was going to be a good day. I enjoyed playing with the different children, I even had the opportunity to feed one of the infants their bottle. My main goal this year when working in the infant and toddler classroom is that I want to be able to assist with facilitating their development of relationships which consist of sharing, caring, and trust. I want to help all the kids learn how to express themselves by using their words. One of my strengths is that I have been working with kids for about 11 years at a variety of different age groups, so I’m familiar with all the ends and outs of what it’s like to work with kids. I’m open to learning new skills and tips from the teachers I work with this year to better my skill set. I was able to get a snippet of how things go in the classroom and how the children and teachers have a set routine which I like because I think kids need a good routine/consistency to help with their development. Overall, I was able to see just in a few hours how each child is and what toys/games make them happy and the things they don’t like, I’m looking forward to learning more about each student as the days go by.