Comments on other students blog:
http://rainmit.blogspot.com/2011/04/discovery-about-light.html#comments
http://miriammit.blogspot.com/2011/04/blog-post-3-think-and-learn.html#comments
http://vanillayf.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-am-driver.html#comments
http://laudebra.blogspot.com/2011/04/writing-and-drawing-with-chalk.html#comments
http://laudebra.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-is-sharpener.html#comments
http://monika-prasad.blogspot.com/2011/05/technology-has-gained-acceptance-in.html#comments
http://libyjose.blogspot.com/2011/04/blog-4-yummy-yummy-pizza.html#comments
Contrubution on course blog:
http://tamarwk.blogspot.com/2011/04/children-as-competent-confident.html#comments
http://tamarwk.blogspot.com/2011/03/martin-robot-man.html#comments
http://tamarwk.blogspot.com/2011/03/welcome-to-blogging-for-people-place.html#comments
Wednesday 4 May 2011
My Reflection
My reflection
My blog of technology was a learning experience for me. It has opened my eyes to all the different technology activities that we have at the centre. Through the readings I was able to familiarise myself with technology items like the popcorn maker. I found this to be an exciting activity for the children. It was great to see some of the children jumping up and down chanting “popcorn look popcorn”!! This was also a learning experience for the teachers too as they had not seen a popcorn marker too.
The reflection I had with the balls in the trough was lovely to watch. It is amazing watching toddlers climbing into the trough not thinking about who they might be hurting in the process. In this particular situation one of the toddlers climbed on top of two other toddlers as he was trying to get into a trough filled with little plastic balls.
It was challenging trying to put pictures in also, in my first post I had placed a picture on the posts and it turned out to be too large and I could not take it off for a while. I asked people if they could help me to delete the picture but no one could help to delete the picture. Luckily I had managed to delete the picture and I had placed a note on the blog to tell others that I had successfully deleted the picture.
Technology was interesting especially when we had the speaker Martin come into class and showed us his many robot inventions. The way that he had collected his robot equipment through other people’s scraps was extraordinary.
I enjoyed reading my fellow students blogs. It was beneficial sharing their experiences and being able to see what centres the children worked alongside with.
I was also thinking back to the last class we had before the holidays. When some of the students in the class discussed having group assignments for the blog. I disagree with this and I think that working individually is a better way of learning as it offers us more challenge and rewards of how we blog and the reflections we experience in the centres. Receiving feedback from other people was rewarding and satisfying, it made me feel value in my work and I appreciated their response. The help I received was great too and being able to benefit from other people’s help for example when someone was able to help me place pictures on the blog. I felt reassured that the blog was a good thing to learn and I may use it in future endeavours.
Through the technology experiences with the children, I found that the children are quite technology aware. The children were able to perform with most of the technology uses that we have in the centre. I was unfortunate not to be able to use our computer we have for the children as one of the computers were broken and the other computer had a limited source of games. Overall the experiences that the children had with technology were gratifying and we will continue to share more experiences.
Sunday 1 May 2011
Post 4 - Balls in a trough
Today, after my lunch break I had to relieve one of the staff members from the Under 2’s area. C, the teacher that was with the children, says that we would take the children outside for a play. While outside I noticed that the water trough was empty. I asked C if she would like me to fill the trough with water. She replied that she would get some balls as the children love to play with it. At this time I was holding one of the babies, D and I sat with the other babies while C went inside.
C came back with a bag of small coloured balls. She poured the balls in the trough and later placed two of the babies U and T inside the tough to play with the coloured balls. I sat near them on the sand box while holding D. U and T smiled and reached for a ball as they started throwing them out of the trough. I said to U who started to throw the balls first “U, do you like throwing the ball?.” D the baby that I was holding was excited too, as he watched them throwing the balls. I lay D on the grass saying “There Dylan ball, get the ball”. D smiled and reached out for the ball and I placed the ball closer to him so that he could reach it as mentioned “Infants have often been described as relying on sensorimotor understandings of their world. The infant who reaches to grasp objects and then places them in the mouth is using the senses of touch and taste to explore those objects” (as cited in Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett & Farmer, 2008, p.79).
Meanwhile, U and T were playing in the trough when DD climbed over the top of them in the trough. U and T started to cry as DD placed his weight on top of them. I said to DD “Oh DD wait for your turn”. I lifted DD off U and T, and U stopped crying and continued to play with the balls but T was not happy he kept crying. I lifted T out of the trough and said “Okay, T let’s go and see what else we could do”. I held T and sat him on the large cushion where there were other little toys for T to play with.
As I lifted T out of the trough DD climbed in. He happily grabbed hold of some balls and started to throw the balls on the grass. I noticed that DD enjoyed sitting in the trough and playing with the balls. S a 14 months girl climbed into the trough and joined U and DD. This relates to Te Whariki, “Infants have opportunities to watch and join in with other children and to see and hear new things”, (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 89). The children were exploring the balls and learning to share the trough with one another. DD was able to climb in and out of the trough independently, U could stand and reach for balls if he wanted to and Sina was able to move freely as well as stated "Promoting motor development in toddlers follows the same principles as that of infants. Toddlers need freedom to move and experience a variety of ways of using the skills they possess."(Gonzalez-Mena & Eyer, 2007,p.145).
References
society (4th ed.).Boston, United States of America : McGraw Hill.
C came back with a bag of small coloured balls. She poured the balls in the trough and later placed two of the babies U and T inside the tough to play with the coloured balls. I sat near them on the sand box while holding D. U and T smiled and reached for a ball as they started throwing them out of the trough. I said to U who started to throw the balls first “U, do you like throwing the ball?.” D the baby that I was holding was excited too, as he watched them throwing the balls. I lay D on the grass saying “There Dylan ball, get the ball”. D smiled and reached out for the ball and I placed the ball closer to him so that he could reach it as mentioned “Infants have often been described as relying on sensorimotor understandings of their world. The infant who reaches to grasp objects and then places them in the mouth is using the senses of touch and taste to explore those objects” (as cited in Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett & Farmer, 2008, p.79).
Meanwhile, U and T were playing in the trough when DD climbed over the top of them in the trough. U and T started to cry as DD placed his weight on top of them. I said to DD “Oh DD wait for your turn”. I lifted DD off U and T, and U stopped crying and continued to play with the balls but T was not happy he kept crying. I lifted T out of the trough and said “Okay, T let’s go and see what else we could do”. I held T and sat him on the large cushion where there were other little toys for T to play with.
As I lifted T out of the trough DD climbed in. He happily grabbed hold of some balls and started to throw the balls on the grass. I noticed that DD enjoyed sitting in the trough and playing with the balls. S a 14 months girl climbed into the trough and joined U and DD. This relates to Te Whariki, “Infants have opportunities to watch and join in with other children and to see and hear new things”, (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 89). The children were exploring the balls and learning to share the trough with one another. DD was able to climb in and out of the trough independently, U could stand and reach for balls if he wanted to and Sina was able to move freely as well as stated "Promoting motor development in toddlers follows the same principles as that of infants. Toddlers need freedom to move and experience a variety of ways of using the skills they possess."(Gonzalez-Mena & Eyer, 2007,p.145).
References
Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Dockett, S., Farmer, S., & Death, E. (2008).
Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4th ed.). Victoria
Thomson. Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whāriki: He whāriki maatauranga moo ngaa
Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
Gonzalez-Mena,.(2008).Foundations of early childhood education:Teaching children in a deversesociety (4th ed.).Boston, United States of America : McGraw Hill.
Monday 25 April 2011
(Post3)Popping corn for afternoon tea
21/4/2011
Today I brought my popcorn maker to the centre so that the children can have popcorn for afternoon tea. At the centre we usually cook popcorn in the microwave. In the afternoon, I prepared the table for the children to observe the popcorn maker. I noticed there was a girl J who was 4 years of age and a boy T who was 4 years of age writing at our literacy table. I asked them if they would like to watch me cook some popcorn using the popcorn maker, they replied “yes” and placed the paper and pencils away on the shelf. So I asked J and T where I shall put the popcorn, J said “in the cup”.
They were happy and excited as they followed me to the table. I asked J and T to call the other children from outside to come in and observe. When they returned with some children I asked them, if they would like to watch the popcorn maker generate. The children reacted with excitement and prepared for it.
I turned the switch on the popcorn maker and we all waited for it to heat up. It was a great experience for both teachers and children as the teachers there had not seen a popcorn maker too.
It took a couple of minutes for the popcorn to work, during this time I explained to the children that when the popcorn heats, it would come out and pouring into the bowl. When the corn started popping B (3.3 years of age) was jumping up and down shouting “Oooh, there it is! Popcorn! ” The other children were excited with him, they watched in amazement. Some chanted “popcorn, popcorn”. R (a boy who is 3 years of age) touched the popcorn maker but I told him not to touch it as it is warm.
W, (4.5 year old boy) asked me “who made that?” as he pointed to the popcorn maker. I replied to him saying “I don’t know”. Then W asked “where did that come from?” pointing at the corn in the bag. (This was related to Te Whariki , “confidence in using a variety of strategies for exploring and making sense of the world , such as asking questions” (Ministry Of Education, 1996, p. 88)). I explained to him that it was corn and was found in shops and in peoples gardens. Some of the popcorn fell out of the bowl and onto the table; the children held the popcorn in their hands and then ate it. They seemed excited to be able to see popcorn being made in front of them. Some corn that was not a success was leftover on the table, T asked if he could eat it, I told him that it did not taste very nice for it is just a seed. T put it in his mouth and tasted it, it is okay for them to explore it themselves by tasting as stated in Exploration, “the confidence ...to explore actively with all the senses,” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.88) . So I was glad that he did try it himself instead of me telling him not to.
As the bowl filled with popcorn, I obtained some in separate cups. There were about 12 children watching. One of the parents arrived to pick up her son so I obtained a cup for her to take home. It was great to see that they were interested in tasting the popcorn at home as well.
We were then ready for afternoon tea! Children had to eat fruit first and then have their popcorn with water to drink.
This was a great experience bringing in the popcorn maker for afternoon tea for both the teachers and the children. I did not know that the teachers have had no experience about popcorn makers. So everybody enjoyed it!
Technology is a purposeful activity aimed at meeting needs and opportunities through the development of products (Smorti, 1999, p.5).
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whariki: He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington: Learning Media.
References
Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999
Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whariki: He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington: Learning Media.
Sunday 24 April 2011
Posts 2-How do you use tongs?
How do you use tongs?
21.4.11
Today at afternoon tea time the children were using tongs to pick up their cut fruit pieces. There are eight children seated at each table. As a child picks a fruit he or she then passes the plate to the child next to him or her and then places the tongs on top of the plate. I noticed some of the children are still learning how to control the tongs as the tongs can be a difficult task.
"D" is a 4 year old boy who had just started a few weeks ago and is still learning how to use the tongs. I observed “D” him for a little while he picked up the tongs from the table and held it in his right hand. He then tried to squeeze the tongs together and when it would not press together. He looked at the end of the tongs and pushed down the metal piece with his other hand. This is a small metal piece used to hold the tongs together.
When “D” was unable to pick up the fruit he tried once again. I prompted him saying “That’s it D keep trying” and as D picked up the tongs, he tried to squeeze the handle but the tongs would not squeeze together. He then looked at the end of the tongs and lifted the tongs so as the part that opened pointed towards the ceiling. When the metal piece was released, then “D” squeezed the tongs together and was able to pick up the fruit. Great work ”D” you were determined to master using the tongs and you were patient too.
D was learning to pick up the fruit as in Te Whariki, Exploration as stated “Children are encouraged to use trial and error to find solutions to their problems and to use previous experience as a basis for trying out alternative strategies” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.89).
It is important for children to have self help skills as related self-help skills in eating is encouraged (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.49). Our centre has purchased several tongs for children so that they are able to serve themselves using the tongs. This way they become more independent and value themselves as capable and competent learners.
Technology is a learning experience for children and the children experience different opportunities.
We will continue using tongs for our children to develop self help skills and be able to use the tongs more freely.
Next time we could let our children serve themselves from their platters. During lunchtime when the children eat their meals such as fish pie, spaghetti and sausages. Also the children could pour their own water.
References
Ministry of Education. (1996).Te Whariki, he whaariki, he matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Wednesday 20 April 2011
E is mowing the lawn
“E” is one of our children that start in the afternoon. He is 2.4 years of age and of Samoan heritage. “E” is bilingual and is developing in language.
This afternoon I noticed that E was looking for something to do. Showing him the lawn mower I said to him “E, would you like to have a go at mowing the lawn?”. “E” was excited about playing with the lawn mower. He then turned to me and nodded, saying ''yeah... lawn mower'', then he reached out his hand and I offered it to him.
He started pushing it towards the grass area and as he walked on the grass, he stopped near the middle where there was a sand box storage."E was aware that he had to stop pushing the lawn mower to avoid hitting the box. I said to "E" "Great thinking "E" you stopped at the box so you will not hit it?". "E" turned and smiled as he acknowledged me. E then continued walking towards the fence, “E” knew he had to stop at the fence ahead of him in order not to hit it, and turned the lawn mower towards the other side of the fence. E realised that instead of walking straight into an object he would have to turn to avoid it. I said to him “Excellent work, E”. After doing so, he pushed the lawn mower towards the concrete and headed towards the garage door. Stopping in front of the garage door, he turned around still holding onto the lawn mower, holding the handle with one hand he turned and walked backwards as mentioned "Toddlers need opportunities for independent exploration and movement (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.5). He looked up at me, smiling as he says “look at me!” and I answered “wow, good job “E” your mowing the lawn ?".
Surprisingly I noticed his stance was real confident. As I observed him I wondered how he knew what to do in this part of mowing the lawns, I guess that he might have had experience of watching his father mow his own home lawns. According to Te Whariki in order for our children to participate in this world, our children will need the confidence to develop their own perspectives as well as the capacity to continue acquiring new knowledge and skills, (Smorti, 1999, p.5).
Next time I will offer him more transportation objects where “E” could experience more learning resources through this.
References
Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whariki: He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington: Learning Media.
This afternoon I noticed that E was looking for something to do. Showing him the lawn mower I said to him “E, would you like to have a go at mowing the lawn?”. “E” was excited about playing with the lawn mower. He then turned to me and nodded, saying ''yeah... lawn mower'', then he reached out his hand and I offered it to him.
He started pushing it towards the grass area and as he walked on the grass, he stopped near the middle where there was a sand box storage."E was aware that he had to stop pushing the lawn mower to avoid hitting the box. I said to "E" "Great thinking "E" you stopped at the box so you will not hit it?". "E" turned and smiled as he acknowledged me. E then continued walking towards the fence, “E” knew he had to stop at the fence ahead of him in order not to hit it, and turned the lawn mower towards the other side of the fence. E realised that instead of walking straight into an object he would have to turn to avoid it. I said to him “Excellent work, E”. After doing so, he pushed the lawn mower towards the concrete and headed towards the garage door. Stopping in front of the garage door, he turned around still holding onto the lawn mower, holding the handle with one hand he turned and walked backwards as mentioned "Toddlers need opportunities for independent exploration and movement (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.5). He looked up at me, smiling as he says “look at me!” and I answered “wow, good job “E” your mowing the lawn ?".
Next time I will offer him more transportation objects where “E” could experience more learning resources through this.
References
Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whariki: He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington: Learning Media.
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