Full plate
I have a problem. I am a workaholic. Not all the time, just when I already have so much going on and feel stressed. That’s when I keep agreeing to take things on. I was so worried about not having a steady income while student teaching, that I continue to overbook myself with work things at night and on the weekends. I.need.help. I’m always tired and the worst part is my appetite is getting smaller and you know how I love food!
On the other hand, even though I am stretching myself pretty thin, I don’t have to worry about money AND I am getting experience in other areas like tutoring new students and babysitting new kids.
The weeks are starting to go quickly (not as quickly as the weekends go). But I have a feeling that it is going to be over before I know it. I’ve already started thinking about how much I am going to miss my students. Yet, once I am licensed I can sub for my current mentor teacher. I already know the kids and their routine. How great would that be?
So, enough of my rant.
Here is our Friday Flash with what we did last week!
We continued our study on dinosaurs. The children used dinosaur skeletons to make prints in the sand and in the play dough. Some of the children learned the word “fossil.” The children also had fun digging for dinosaur bones in the sand (sidenote: I was quite intrigued myself with this activity).
The children learned that dinosaurs hatched out of eggs. We had a color matching activity at circle time. The children picked an egg and identified the color. Then they opened the egg to see what color dinosaur was inside. They matched the dinosaur to the matching color circle. The afternoon class played the game again, but the eggs had a different item inside. They told me if it was a dinosaur or “not a dinosaur.” They enjoyed finding out what was inside the egg.
We also reviewed our listening rules: “Eyes are watching,” “ears are listening”, “voices quiet” and “body still” which is part of the Second Step program. The children sang our listening song that reviewed the rules. We played a listening game where we practiced our listening skills. We listened to a sound and we had to guess what we heard. The sounds were our instruments (bells, rhythm sticks, tambourine and egg shakers).
During circle time, we read the story “Little Quack’s New Friend.” We talked about being a good friend and using kind words to ask a friend to play.
Next week, we will move on to our fall theme with a study of apples.
Lauren Muellner will receive her master’s degree in early childhood education with an endorsement in special education in December. She is student teaching in a self-contained special education preschool classroom in Oak Park and works as a part-time nanny. Born and raised in Chicago, Lauren likes culture and adventure. She received her bachelor’s degree in theatre from Columbia College Chicago. She plans to integrate music and theatre into her curriculum and teaching.
