February 12, 2025
We have been focused on everything senses in our classroom. We have been talking about our different body parts and what they can do. I grabbed a couple of the paint shirts from the cupboard. A was watching me and scooted right over to me, putting her hands up, showing she was ready to put her paint shirt on. I had been mixing up some vanilla and chocolate pudding in containers with a paintbrush and water. I put her in a highchair once she was ready, buckled her in and placed the tray on. Then I placed a piece of coloured paper on her tray with a dish of chocolate pudding with a paintbrush, and a dish of vanilla with a paint sponge. A just looked at me and looked at what was in front of her. She turned and looked at a peer, who was doing the same, neither one of them picking up the materials. I then picked up the paintbrush with chocolate pudding and made a mark on the paper. Next I handed the paintbrush to A and said, “Do you want to try it?”
She picked up the brush and started to make chocolate marks on the page. I then showed her that she could do the same with the vanilla pudding. She picked up the vanilla sponge brush. I thought she was going to paint with it, but it went straight to her mouth. She made sounds of “yum” while she ate it. She would dip it back in the vanilla and eat more. A did not paint at all with the vanilla pudding. She kept eating the vanilla and painting with the chocolate, smiling and making noises as she went.
Belonging: A observes her peers while playing parallel to them. She imitates the educator when shown an example of what she can do with the pudding paints. She is able to keep eye contact with the educator when she is being spoken to, and watches her movements as she is shown ways to use materials in front of her.
Engagement: After I showed A how to use the material, she stayed focused on what was in front of her; painting, eating, smiling, making sounds and showing she was right into the activity. She kept her focus on the activity and watching what happens as she places the brush on to the paper.
Well-Being: A shows she can use her palmar grasp and eye-hand coordination to make marks on the paper. A shows she is exploring with her sense of taste. I wonder if she could smell the pudding before she decided to taste it. Maybe she did not like the look of the chocolate, as she did not taste it.
Expression: A is able to understand the educator as she follows through with using the paintbrush on her own. She is able to communicate that she likes the taste of the pudding when she makes sounds that sound like she is enjoying it.
Written By Mandy Bertling Beres, RECE
January 6, 2025
After being dropped off, M needed a couple minutes to calm down. Once she was calm, I set her down on the carpet and she sat and watched the other infants for a few minutes. Then she started picking up toys that were close to her. After a while longer, she started walking around the room, playing with other toys. One of the infants was playing with a pvc pipe and was dropping it on the hard floor. It would make a loud sound as it was dropped. M made her way over to her peer and picked up one of the pipes that was on the floor beside him. She then dropped the pipe on the ground, watching as it fell and squinting her eyes as it made a loud sound. After she dropped it, her peer would pick it up and hand it back to her. They went back and forth, dropping and picking up the pipes, for quite some time. Then I showed M that she could put a ball down the tube. She tried herself a couple of times but then continued to drop the pipe again and again.
Later in the day, we tried different types of balls in the pipes and put our ears up to it to see what sounds they would make. I watched M’s face as I did this and you could see her eyes move and her head tilt as she heard the sounds being made.
Belonging: M shows us she is able to interact with peers and teachers. She shows that she can participate in ways that she feels comfortable. She takes her time when coming into the classroom as she transitions from home to daycare, and is comforted by her educators.
Well-Being: As M takes her time transitioning from home and moves around the room before joining play with a peer, she shows us that she knows she has control over herself and her decision making. She also shows that she is capable of initiating their own learning.
Engagement: As M plays with the pipes, she is interacting with a peer and is increasing her observation skills as she watches her peer. As she watches and listens to the pipe as it falls and hits the ground, she is learning how to investigate, testing theories and her problem solving abilities.
Expression: M is able to communicate with her peers as they use non verbal communication by handing the pipes back and forth to each other. Her expressions show us how she is responding to the sounds and the movement of the pipes
By Mandy Bertling-Beres, RECE
December 12, 2024
We have been working on movement in the classroom this week. I gave an infant the pink heart-shaped popper first and she placed her right hand covering the right side of it. Next, she took her left hand and put each finger in the same row to make them pop! I gave her the yellow heart-shaped popper, too, so she had one pink and one yellow. She took her right hand and moved it over to the yellow popper. Her left hand was still on the pink one, pushing in the popper, too. When she was all done with the poppers, she picked them up with one in each hand and tried to give them to me. I said to her, “Those are for you. Put them on the floor so you can keep playing with them and I’ll sit beside you and do it with you.” She placed both of them back onto the carpet and we began to both push the poppers in. She smiled at me and was happy doing this activity together!
Belonging: The girl and I had several interactions together while doing this activity; when I gave her the yellow popper and when I sat down beside her and we popped the popper together.
Well-Being: Showing confidence in growing abilities in fine motor skills, she was able to place each of her fingers of her left hand on a popper and pop it, practicing her dexterity.
Engagement: She was focused during this activity as she manipulated and investigated the poppers with her fingers and hands, getting them to pop.
Expression: She smiled at me while we were sitting on the carpet doing the activity together, expressing joy in the poppers and working together with me.
Written by Amber Sinnesael, RECE
November 7, 2024
The girl and a friend watched as I taped a piece of contact paper onto the wall. I then placed some large pom poms on the floor in front of the infants. The girl grabbed one right away. She pulled at it with her fingers. I then picked up a pom pom and pushed it onto the contact paper and it stayed there. Next, the girl took the pom pom from her left hand and placed it against the contact paper. She squealed as she took her hand away and the pom pom stayed. Her friend joined her in placing the pom poms on the wall. She switched between her left and right hand, placing more onto the wall. Some of the pom poms were out of her reach. Her friend then started passing her the pom poms, one by one. Once there was no pom poms left, as they were all on the wall, the girl began to pull them off of the wall. Once they were all removed, she tried to grab at the green tape, but it was on the wall behind the clear contact paper. She then started peeling the tape that was holding the paper around the border. Once it was off the wall she started picking at the pom poms again.
Belonging: She was able to share this activity with her friend. They worked together and helped each other complete the task. They were able to place all of the pom poms onto the contact paper.
Well-Being: We see the girl use her hands to place and push the pom poms onto the wall. She uses her fine motor skills to peel the tape off of the wall. She shows us she has accomplished the task at hand, as she squeals with delight.
Engagement: She was able to stay focused during this activity. She used her skills to investigate the pom poms, how they feel on her hands, how they stick to the contact paper and how they can be removed. She was able to engage with her friend and share the activity.
Expression: The girl was able to express her feelings and excitement through her facial expressions and squeals. She was able to interact with her friend and her teacher during this activity.
Written By Mandy Bertling Beres, RECE
October 22, 2024
I mixed a full can of shaving cream and two cans of pumpkin puree together in the sensory bin. I put the sensory bin on the ground in the classroom and watched to see what the children would do. The boy kept coming over to the sensory bin and checking it out but wouldn’t actually touch what was inside the bin. I took his one hand and stuck it in the messy goop. He was not impressed at all, and I could tell because the look that I got said it all! He looked down at his fingers and began shaking the shaving cream and pumpkin mixture off right away. He then also started wiping it onto his clothes. At this point I grabbed a washcloth and started cleaning him up as I knew he was done with this activity.
Belonging: The boy participated in a way that he was comfortable with. The educator attempted to encourage him to interact with the mixture, but he was not interested. After he expressed his feelings about it, the educator was able to read his non-verbal cues and clean him up.
Well-Being: He showed a sense of autonomy by knowing he had control over himself and his decision making. He indicated that he didn't enjoy the feeling of the mixture and his response was respected by the educator cleaning him up.
Engagement: The boy had increased his observation skills with this activity as he would approach the bin a few times and decide what he wanted to do with it. Eventually he had the educator’s assistance to try touching it and he wasn’t impressed with it.
Expression: He made several faces while participating in this activity, indicating his hesitancy and dislike. He also made it very clear when he was done with the activity as he attempted to wipe the substance off of his clothing.
By Amber Sinnesael, RECE
September 9, 2024
I dipped the foam paint brush in yellow paint and placed it on the white paper in front of the child. She picked it up using her right hand. She held the brush using her palmer grasp and began to move her brush around the paper, spreading the yellow paint all over. When she got yellow paint on her left index finger, she placed her finger down on the paper and started making fingerprints. Next, I gave her red paint on the foam brush and she began to paint with it, spreading it over the white paper and mixing it with the yellow paint. After a few minutes, she looked at the brush and took her left index finger and placed it in the paint on the brush. She kept dabbing her finger in the red paint that was on the brush, observed her finger for a moment, and then would continue dabbing it again.
Belonging: The child participated in a way that she felt comfortable. She was confident using the paint brush and showed this as she picked it up and knew exactly what to do with it.
Engagement: She investigated the red paint on her paintbrush by touching the paint using her left index finger. She looked at the paint on her finger and then dabbed it back into the paint again. She used the paint on her finger to mark the paper in front of her.
Well-Being: The child showed strong fine motor control when it comes to holding her paintbrush and spreading the paint around the paper. She grabbed a hold of the paint brush using a palmar grasp and went right to work!
Expression: She used her creative expression to communicate how she was feeling during the activity and laughed through her painting.
Written by Amber Sinnesael, RECE
August 15, 2024
The child came to the table as soon as he saw the items for the activity placed on the table. He stood among his peers, observing them scooping black beans from a bowl to a container. He then grabbed a clear container with a lid for his choice of bowl. Then he was able to squeeze in between his peers and grabbed a spoon to scoop the beans. Once he got the beans in his small spoon, he would look at them for a moment and put them in his container and repeated the process. When he saw his container was filled at the bottom with beans, he took the lid of the container and pushed it on to keep them enclosed. He shook the container a couple of times, making a lot of noise and showing excitement from his body movements.
Belonging: The child felt a sense of belonging by observing and engaging in the activity with his peers and the educator.
Engagement: He fully engaged in this activity by scooping and transferring black beans from the bowl and the container. He made his choice to use the items (spoon and container) for this activity and showed progress of his work by shaking and making noises with the container.
Well-being : He was able to figure out how to use the items for this activity by observing his peers and choosing items which were offered to him. He increased his fine motor development by scooping the beans and pushing the lid tight to the container.
Expression : The child showed his excitement by shaking his container with two hands to make noises and moving his body up and down with a big smile. He also showed his interest in the activity by observing peers at the table and staring at his spoon while he was working on scooping.
By Youngmi Kang, RECE
July 3, 2024
A child approached the paint station set up outside. She observed the various materials that had been laid out. As soon as she spotted the educator walking over with two large plates covered in paint, she began jumping up and down in excitement. She slowly reached for the large masher. Using her palmar grasp, she gripped the entire utensil. Seeing that she struggled to hold up the weight of the masher, the educator used hand over hand to balance out the extra weight. The educator and the child worked together to lift the masher into the paint. Her eyes widened as the masher was lifted from the paint mix to the paper. When the child was ready, she pulled away from the educator, indicating she had wanted to try on her own. She repositioned her one hand to grip the bottom part of the masher. Pushing down onto the masher, she leaned closer to inspect the markings left behind on the paper. She observed that as would press down onto the masher, the paint from underneath would create tiny bubbles. As this happened, her lips would tilt up into a smile and a little giggle would pop out of her mouth.
Well-Being: By having the educator use hand over hand with her, this formed confidence in her fine more skills. When she was ready, she stepped away from the educator to indicate she wanted to try these new skills on her own.
Engagement: By being able to explore the materials of the paint and the potato masher, the child would be able to observe and experiment with the paint. By giving her various materials to work with, the child had been able to initiate her own learning and understanding of how she was forming bubbles by using the potato masher and paint.
Belonging: She had shown her excitement of the activity by jumping up and down, showing that she was comfortable. The child and the educator had shared the experience of working together to lift and hold the masher.
Expression: She expressed her emotions through her body language skills; giggling, tilting her lips into a smile and jumping up and down.
By Erin Vandesompele, RECE
June 12, 2024
A child saw a big paper placed on the table. He walked to it right away and touched the paper. He felt the paper with his palms, gently first, and then made a few big slaps on it. The educator asked him, “M, what do you feel? Is that a paper?” He smiled at the educator. The educator placed the paper and colours of paint in the sensory bin on the floor. He quickly came to the bin and grabbed a Lego block that he found in the sensory bin. He used both hands, dipping into the paint and attempting to taste it. He was redirected by the educator to stamp with the block. He looked at the other children stamping painted blocks on the paper, brought his block to the paper and stamped it. Seeing the outcomes that he just made, he found another spot to stamp and repeated this a couple of times. A peer who was very excited to paint, ended up jumping on the paper. This made him smile very big and squeal with delight. His peer then jumped much faster and danced all on the paper. In response, the child now had two Lego blocks in each hand, making noise with them as he clapped the toys together and giggled a lot with his peers.
Belonging : The child felt a sense of belonging by communicating with educators and peers. He showed an interest in interacting with peers as a companion of the activity. He was very confident to engage and explore with the activity, shown by smiling at the educator, observing and communicating with his peers.
Engagement : Through the stamping paint activity, he was able to engage in painting with blocks and explore paint using his hands. He also engaged in communication with his peers to make sounds with them and share the joy of playing together.
Well-being : The child explored the paints using his motor skills and senses. He also showed social interests in his peers and educators during the activity by showing lots of smiles and giggles.
Expression : He looked at his educator when she was talking to him and responded with a smile. He was able to show interest in painting by dipping his hands into the sensory bin and stamping Lego blocks on the paper. His excitement for learning was also shown by loud sounds of him clapping the blocks together and giggling.
By Youngmi Kang, RECE
May 21, 2024
A child was experimenting with the sound of the tin foil as she crunched it. She seemed intrigued by the shiny appearance. She observed other friends engaged in unfolding the tin foil one piece at a time. She joined the others and slowly unwrapped one side of the tin foil and then worked toward the other side, feeling the outside of the foil. She continued to use her fine motor skills to unwrap the tinfoil. She finally reached the animal hiding in the foil. She looked at it, pulled it out and smiled. Looking at the educator, she pointed to the animal laughing. The educator then responded, “it's a Zebra with stripes.” She continued unwrapping more animals. Using her pointer finger and thumb, she pinched the foil and peeled it off. She worked alongside friends, watching each other as they uncovered each piece and making a connection together.
Belonging: As she participated during the activity, she showed an interest in social interactions with peers and educators. Social interactions included taking turns with others and showing her excitement and reactions to the other children and her educators.
Expression: She expressed that she was excited during this activity to see what would happen when she would unfold the foil and find the animal. She used non-verbal communication and body language as she pointed out to the educator what she had discovered.
Well Being: She stayed focused during this activity, not giving up and seeing it through to the end. She experimented and made different attempts to try one side or the other side and shaking the tin foil. Using her fine motor skills, she unwrapped the foil and grabbed the animals. She also increased her language and social skills.
Engagement: As she engaged with the tin foil, hearing the crunchy sound, it provided her with auditory, tactical and visual stimulation. As she studied the tin foil, unfolding it in different directions, she showed curiosity and careful thought about her actions. As she realized the animal figure was inside the tin foil, she became excited and started to clap her hands.
By Erin Vandesompele, RECE
April 2, 2024
A child was playing with toys all around the classroom. He noticed loose parts on the toy shelf, and crawled over to them. He slowly grabbed a long clear container and he started to fill it with floating foam rings from a basket right beside it. He picked one piece up first and placed it on the top of the container. He looked at it curiously as it didn’t go through. He used his hand to push it down and made it go inside. He grabbed some more pieces of foam, examined it, and repeated the process to fill his container. Everytime he succeeded in doing his work, he would clap his hands and show big smiles at the teacher.
Next, he approached other items to use. He chose some plastic round blocks and added them to his container. It was faster to use smaller items. Once the container was filled up with the foam rings and blocks, he planned his next move. He was very excited, with big smiles and giggles, as he shook his container and saw the small blocks popping out.
Belonging: He had explored all the toys and loose parts in the classroom and chose to play with what caught his interest. He was very comfortable with using all items that he found around him and was welcome to engage in his own play.
Engagement: He tested theories to get the foam rings and blocks to fill his container, holding his interest for a long time. He used trial and error with foam rings, figuring out to push them down on his own and enjoyed shaking the container after to get some items out.
Well-Being: He had noticed that the foam rings are too big to go through his container on their own so he pushed them with his hands, showing problem solving abilities. He used fine motor skills by pinching the foam rings with his fingers and grabbing smaller blocks with his whole hands.
Expression: He expressed his excitement by clapping his hands, smiling and giggling at the teacher. His interest in this activity was shown by his repeated actions of putting things in the container until it was filled up and shaking them out.
By Youngmi Kang, RECE
March 13, 2024
A child sat at the table with the paint and different materials that could be used with it. As he was looking at the different materials he could use, he reached towards the corks and moved them towards the paper. He started to examine and investigate the cork, dipping it in the paint. He moved the cork back and forth on the paper, lifting it in the air to look at it before pressing it back onto the paper. He looked at the educator and smiled. The educator assisted him, guiding him back to the paper to continue on. He used his fine motor skills with more motions as he tried to move the cork in different directions, making different shapes and lines. He seemed satisfied with his work, as he started to clap.
Engagement: He practiced his eye-hand coordination as he directed the cork to where he wanted it on the paper. He continued to experiment, using different directions to make more marks on the paper.
Expression: He made own creative expression through shapes and colour using the corks in the paint. He used his own way of painting and also expressed his emotions to the educator through body language.
Belonging: He felt comfortable doing this activity with help from the educator.
Well Being: He used his hand-eye coordination to help develop his fine motor skills holding and grasping the objects. He strengthened his fine motor grip during this activity.
Erin Vandesompele, RECE
