February 23, 2024
A child noticed the binoculars and bird pictures on the windowsills. He picked up the binoculars and looked through them into the trees and said, “I’m looking for birds!” When he turned around, he noticed I was putting small bowls of bird seed on the table. He rushed over and asked, “what are we doing?” I answered, “Making bird feeders, do you think that will attract more birds to our trees?” The child exclaimed, “Yeah we can hang those in the tree and watch the birds eat from them!” I helped apply the wow butter to the paper towel rolls, then he took the roll in his right hand and rolled it in the bird seed fully covering the wow butter. Once everyone had a turn making a bird feeder we headed outside to hang them in the trees where we will observe the birds from our windows and our playground.
Belonging: He participated in ways most comfortable to him by exploring the new materials put out in the classroom and making the connection between them and our activity. After using the binoculars to look for birds he suggested putting the bird feeders in the trees because he knew it would attract more birds.
Engagement: He used his problem solving skills when he couldn’t see any birds through his binoculars and knew the bird feeders would mean we would start to see more out our windows if we hung them in the trees.
Expression: He engaged in reciprocal conversations with his educators about the birds and the feeders we were making for them.
Well-Being: As he rolled his paper towel roll in the bird seed he noticed the corn and said “There’s corn in here, the birds will love that,” then used his fine motor skills, picking up as many pieces of the corn as he could to put on his bird feeder.
By Chelsea Kelly, RECE
January 3, 2024
A child was playing with two of his friends using our large wooden blocks to build a ramp to the shelf, driving their cars along it. He started with the board going into the shelf so their ramp was going downwards, after a few tries driving their cars into the shelf they noticed their cars stopped immediately. He lifted the board up on top of the shelf so their ramp was going upwards and their cars could travel much farther when they reached the end of the ramp. This child and his friends continued testing different speeds their cars could go depending on how much force they used to push their cars. He said “My car can jump over the shelf!” and pushed his car up the ramp, causing it to go over the shelf and land on the carpet. He came back to the ramp and continued testing different sized cars on his ramp.
Belonging: This supports the child's sense of belonging because he participated in ways most comfortable to him. He shared and collaborated ideas with his friends.
Well-Being: This supports the child's sense of well-being by taking the initiative to change the direction of the ramp when their cars were running out of room and adapt to the changes with enthusiasm. He showed his ability to regulate and organize his thoughts.
Engagement: This supported the child's sense of engagement spending time observing, manipulating, problem solving and testing theories with the different cars and different slopes on his ramp.
Expression: This supported the child's sense of expression by participating in this activity with friends and communicating their ideas to help them create and problem solve together.
Written by: Chelsea Kelly RECE
