Final Personal Reflection

I want to thank the students for making some of the comments and feedbacks on my blog because it really gives me many new ideas, which helps me to learn more about how to work with children.

After reading the feedback from other students, it gives me many different and good ideas of what I could do with the children to help extend their knowledge and learning. I also learnt the different types of activities that I could set up for the children. For example, one of the students suggested that I could use different materials and tools for next time when I bring out the activity of tools for the children to fix, or play with. These are some of the new ideas that I gained from reading the feedbacks.

Some more things I learnt from others’ feedbacks are that adding in extra materials into a particular activity can also help the children extend the children’s learning. It is also a good way to make an activity more exciting and creative. I noticed that empowering can be an important technique to have as well because as stated by MacNaughton and Williams (2004), empowering can “ensure fair, respectful and non-exploitative relationships” and “ensuring children have the ability for self-expression and experience self-esteem” (p. 280).

As mentioned by the students’ feedback, I realized to remember that asking children to share and turn taking is good skills to practice with children.    

With all these new ideas, I hope that I will be able to put it into practice for the children at my centre next time, so that hopefully, it could let the children learn more from doing so.

Overall, I think that the people, places, things and events on children’s learning and development are very significant. I think that they are significant because according to Dunkin and Hanna (2001), “to foster young children’s learning and development involves more than simply offering a programme and an environment for them to operate in” (p. 1). To continue about this, Somerset (2000) mentions that “children who are surrounded by people who respond…will learn” (p. 6).

Also, Somerset (2000) describes that in a centre, “a child can explore and experiment in the world of people and how to relate to them, the world of nature and how it behaves, and the physical world and how it works” (p. 15).

Lastly, as discussed by The Ministry of Education (1996), “children develop the ability to identify and use information from a range of sources” and “the ability to represent their discoveries, using creative and expressive media and the technology associated with them” (p. 88).

To conclude in evaluation, I think that these theories from literatures explains and states the significance of the people, places, things and events that links to children’s learning and development. So, I think that these facts, (people, places, things and events) are all very important and significant towards children’s learning and development.  

Reference List

Dunkin, D., & Hanna, P. (2001). Thinking together: Quality adult child interactions.

            Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (1998). Foundations of early childhood education: Teaching

            children in a diverse society (4^th ed.). Boston, United States of America:

            McGraw Hill.

MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2004). Techniques for teaching young children:

            Choices in theory and practice (2^nd ed.). Frenchs Forrest, NSW, Australia:

            Pearson Prentice Hall.

Somerset, G. (2000). Work and play in the early years (4^th ed.). New Lyn, Auckland:

   New Zealand. Playcentre Federation.

The Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whaariki: He whaariki matauranga moo ngaa

mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand:

Learning Media.

A lamb visitor

Today, my manager invited a special guest to bring one a lamb from her farmyard to show to the children. The children really liked it. They had so much fun with it. They were asked to sit in a circle and that they will get to take turns to pat the lamb. Gonzalez-Mena (1998) mentions that, “we should encourage sharing and taking turns….most comply with an adult’s requests more often than not” (p. 326).  

The teachers started patting the lamb first, to show the children that it is okay to pat the lamb. MacNaughton and Williams (2004) states that “showing children how to do something can be the most effective to assist learning. In general, demonstration can be used to teach children how to do something….when support or encouragement will assist with success or perservance” (p. 56). Some of the children were a bit afraid of touching him but other children was excited about patting the lamb when it was going to be their turn. For the children who was afraid, I asked them if they wanted to pat the lamb together so that they could still have another try at patting the lamb. A few more children agreed and we patted the lamb together. The lamb is very soft and cute. (He had a coat on him and at the beginning, he was a little afraid of letting the children pat him but when he got use to it, he was walking around the children and letting some of the children hug him.) I think that this was a good experience for the children as the “children develop increasing control over their bodies, locomotor skills, non-locomotor skills, manipulative skills…co-ordination” (The Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 86).

When all the children got their turn to pat the lamb, the special guest asked one of the teachers to feed it some milk. We got to see the lamb drinking the milk. The children found it quite funny as it drank quite fast and it wanted to jump at the same time.

After when the lamb was feed, the children were asked to make space for the lamb to work pass them. When the lamb got space, the lamb started walking off. It walked around the playground and the children followed. They were very excited and interested in looking at the lamb. When the lamb walked into a corner, the children crowded the lamb and they all wanted to pat the lamb again. I think that at this area, “children develop confidence with moving in space….playing near and with others” (The Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 86).  

When it was time for the lamb to go, most of the children began to miss the lamb already. But some of the children came and talked to me about the lamb. I asked them questions about what they enjoyed and what they liked about the lamb. They thought about it and some said they think the lamb was very soft, a few of the children said that the lamb was very funny. But overall, I think the children really enjoyed having the special guest and the lamb coming over to visit. It was a great and fun experience for everyone.

Children in my centre do not get to use much of the technologies, for example, digital cameras, computers, printer, scanners and so on. So, today, I decided to take one of my digital cameras for the children to use.

When I took the camera out, the children were so excited and fascinated. They suddenly all crowded me and they all wanted a turn on the camera. I had to ask them to wait as I had to explain and demonstrated to them what to do. “Demonstrating can help children’s learning by showing them how to use materials and special tools or how to accomplish a particular task. Simply moving in and showing a child how to approach a task can be a very effective way of…teaching them a new skill” (MacNaughton and Williams, 2004, p. 55). So I showed the children which button to press to take photos and showed them how to view the photos after taking pictures. After explaining to them what to do, I reminded them that the camera cannot be put into water, otherwise it will not work.

I then told them that they have to take turns, otherwise they will not all be able to get a turn. The children I work with is three to five year olds, so I think that it is a good chance to promote sharing/turn taking as they are more older and because according to Gonzalez-Mena (1998), “three-year-olds are begging to understand the concept of sharing and taking turns; they aren’t always willing, but they can, if they choose to. We should encourage sharing and taking turns…. Three-year-olds have become more cooperative, and most comply with an adult’s requests more often than not” (p. 326).

After all the explaining, I decided that they are able to use the camera by themselves, so I let them play with it. At first, they all wanted a turn, but I reminded them about sharing and I let C use it first. Another teacher heard about this and told the children that they can have 5 minutes each. They agreed and began taking pictures. At first, they took pictures of each other, but soon they took it to the sandpit to take pictures of the sandpit toys. When it was time for G to have a turn, he started to play around with the camera. I think he wanted to explore what the camera does as he pushed all the other different buttons. I left him continuing to explore as explained by The Ministry of Education (1996) that “children develop the attitude that not knowing and being uncertain are part of the process of being a good learner, the knowledge that trying things out, exploration, and curiosity are important and valued ways of learning” (p. 84). After exploring for awhile, then he would start taking pictures. He pressed the on/off button to turn off the camera. When he reached his destination, he turned the camera on and he began taking the pictures that he wanted. He went to different areas of the outside area to take pictures. When his turn ended, he turned the camera off again and then gave it to his friend to use it. He also showed his friend how to turn it on again and showed him how to use it when he was unsure.

At the end of the day, the children seemed to really have enjoyed it and had lots of fun. I was glad that they were able to experience a day with some technology involved in their daily activities. It was so exciting and enjoyable for the children and me to be learning and experiencing something new to the centre. It was so good to see the children filled with joy using the camera.      

The children were playing in the family corner. In the family corner, there was some plastic food and empty cereal boxes for them to use. There was a cupboard for all the food and boxes. Then next to the cupboard, there was a shelf filled with cups of tea bags, coffee, sugar, salt and rice. In front of it was a small table with a cash register.

The children that were playing at the family corner was playing shopping. J asked me to join them with their shopping. J gave me some pretend money to buy things. P went to grab a phone to put next to the cash register.

P said, “here J, this is for you to make calls, if you need someone’s help”. T went to get some fruits and cereal boxes to put on the shelf to sell. P said “we are ready now”. Then J said to me “come and buy something”. When I walked to the cash register, J said, “what do you want to buy?”. I then asked, “what do you have?”. J started to list some of the things he had. Then I paid J the ‘money’ and bought some fruits from him. Then, it was the next person’s turn to buy things. They continued this process for awhile but using different objects/food with a different person.

J soon needed to call someone, so he decided to use the phone. Soon, I decided to suggest to them to be turn-taking/sharing so that they could each get a turn with the cash register. “Suggestions can be used to enhance many areas of children’s learning” (MacNaughton and Williams, 2004, p. 194). Gonzalez-Mena (1998) mentions that teachers “should encourage sharing and taking turns” (p. 326), so that is why I decided to suggest sharing for the children.

I think that from this ‘dramatic play’, the children get to learn to “act out their feelings, as if they were someone else, or were experiencing an event again” and “they relieve anxiety and get used to the new situation by ‘playing out’ that experience” (Somerset, 2000, p. 63).

From this play, they got to interact with their friends, which provided them the “opportunities for children to interact with…. other children” (The Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 73). The children also “develop knowledge about the role of the wider world of work, such as the… supermarket” (The Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 56). I think that the children have extended their knowledge about ‘the supermarket’ after this dramatic play experience.

I think that next time if I do this again with the children, I could add more materials to the play to make it more interesting and creative. For example, we have different cooking utensils, and ‘dress-up’ clothing. We could have used these items to enhance the play by dressing up as other people, or using different materials and utensils to sell. This could make the play experience more dramatic and creating a new, exciting event for the children. I think that if we did this, it might have been more interesting and enjoyable for the children.

Fixing Machines

Today, a teacher took out a set of printers, fax machines, keyboards (that were unusable) and some screwdrivers from the storeroom for the children to play with. The children do not normally get the chance to play with it, so they were all very interested in it. The children all wanted to take a screwdriver to ‘fix’ the machines. The children had to share and take turns with others with the screwdrivers. “Children develop responsive and reciprocal skills, such as turn-taking and offering” (The Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 74).

They all really enjoyed it. They all used the screwdrivers to turn some screws from the machines and they were putting back some loose screws back on. They really enjoyed it. Some of the children who were waiting for their turn were playing on the keyboards. There were also some notebooks and pens next to the keyboards and the children took that opportunity to do their ‘work’. They did some writing on the notebooks and then they did some typing. Then they repeated the process or they took their turn on the screwdrivers.

Then, a girl: S, she said to me, ‘you have your turn now’. I was so surprised that she would give me a turn. Then while I was having my turn, she was watching me, looking to see what I was doing. I was removing some of the screws by turning the screwdriver round and round. I repeated the process again and then S said to me, ‘my turn now’. So, I gave back the screwdriver to her. Then, I started to realize that she was copying what I was doing. I think I used a teaching technique called ‘demonstrating’ to S. As stated by MacNaughton and Williams (2004) “demonstrating will be most appropriately used as a teaching technique when: children are keen to learn the skill or technique” and “when children are exploring new equipment or materials that require skills or techniques that are new to them” (p. 56).

I think that bringing out this set of machines it a really good idea as it lets the children explores something new and different. They also get many different experiences from what we normally do. “The environment should offer a wide variety of possibilities for exploring, planning, reasoning, and learning, with space arranged to encourage active exploration, providing both new challenges and familiar settings so that children develop confidence” (The Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 83). Also, I think that other children can observe and learn from others. For example, when S observed what I did, she copied and learnt from that. Then, other children can learn from S. “The programme should provide opportunities for children to interact with a range of adults and with other children” (The Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 73).

I think that next time when it is my turn to set up something, I would want to take out the machines so that the children can become more familiar with the technologies. They could also learn and communicate with others. I also think that children can gain different experiences from using these items. I enjoyed watching what the children was doing and I was glad that I got to have a turn. I think S felt comfortable and enjoyed that I could show her what to do before she began exploring some more. I think that this activity is a good experience for the children and the teachers as we do not normally get to do this activity.