October 1, 2024
The girl went over to the shelf and looked around for a minute before grabbing the 3D hexagon blocks off the shelf. She picked up one block using her palmer grasp and placed it on the floor. She grabbed another block with her right hand, placing it on top of the first block on the floor. She used her verbal communication skills and said, “Miss Missy, I am building a tower.” She focused and concentrated on placing the third block on top so it did not fall off the other two. She said to the educator, “It did not fall, I did it!" Her peers came over to help her build her tower, and she confidently said, “no,” with her eyebrows lifted and communicated to them, “I want to do it myself.” The educator praised the girl for using her verbal communication skills to express that she wanted to do it herself. When she was finished, she placed a 3D triangular prism on top of her tower.
Belonging: She felt safe and confident enough to let her peers know that she wanted to do it herself. She chose which materials she wanted to use to build a tower, making use of items available to her in the classroom.
Engagement: She focused her attention on placing the 3D blocks on top of each other so they did not fall, taking notice of how to keep the tower balanced.
Well-Being: The child used her fine motor skills to build her tower with the blocks. She showed self-regulation skills by communicating to her peers that she wanted to build her own tower.
Expression: She communicated to her peers that she wanted to build her own tower and did not need their help when they asked if they could help her. She used her verbal communication skills to tell the educator that she was building a tower.
Written By Melissa Mansley, RECE
September 4, 2024
The educator asked all of the children to come join the table. The girl was the first one there. The educator had two bags of play dough. The educator divided the play dough between each child. As the educator distributed the coloured play dough, she asked the girl if she likes the colour purple. The girl used her verbal communication skills and replied back, “yes.” The educator placed a variety of tools on the table for the children to use to mold and cut the play dough. The girl eagerly grabbed a circle cutter. Next, using her right hand, she grabbed the tool and placed the purple play dough into it, making a circular shape. While she practiced her fine motor skills to manipulate the play dough with the tools, she took turns sharing the tools with their peers. She showed the teacher what she had created by taking the teacher by the hand to the table where she was sitting. After cleanup time, she practiced her personal hygiene skills and washed her hands.
Belonging: The girl showed belonging by feeling safe and included in the activity, where she was able to share the different tools and interact with her peers
Engagement: She expressed joy and excitement when the educator handed her the play dough and tools. She was able to create what she wanted and showed it off to the educators and peers.
Well-being: She used her fine motor skills to mold the play dough into shapes to make her art piece. She was able to form connections and include her educator in her accomplishment by bringing her over to show her what she had made.
Expression: The girl practiced her verbal communication skills by saying, “yes,” when asked if she liked purple play dough.
Written by Missy Mansley, RECE
June 13, 2024
There was one friend already here when the girl arrived. She said goodbye to her Mom and used her hands to motion for her to leave. As she walked across the room, the friend said to her, “Hey [child], come see what is over here with me.” They walked to the table where a provocation with a few books on butterflies and insects had been set up, along with a Very Hungry Caterpillar game. She said, “let's feed the caterpillar.” The child and her friend took turns feeding the caterpillar pieces of food. As they fed the caterpillar, they named off each type of food they gave the caterpillar. I stopped and asked them how much the caterpillar was eating. “So much food,” said the girl. I asked her if our caterpillars ate the same kind of food. She said, “no, they only eat the leaves from their plant.” They emptied the caterpillar and fed him again, counting as they put pieces of food into his belly. Once he was full, the child took one book at a time to one of the educators in the room to read to her. Slowly, other friends started to join. The child examined the pictures as she read them out loud. She stayed for each book to be read. There were five books in total.
Belonging: The child quickly does what she needs to get ready and shoos her Mom away, showing she is ready to join the classroom. She shows confidence when talking with her peers and teachers. She shows a willingness to participate and explore materials provided.
Well-Being: The child shows confidence in her fine motor skills as she picks up the small laminated food pieces and feeds them to the caterpillar. She shows she has the competency to follow through with her task from start to finish.
Engagement: The child is able to keep focused attention while she works with her friend to feed the caterpillar. She sat through five books being read, showing us she is engaged and focused. She shows us she has confidence in engaging with her friends and her educators.
Expression: The girl shows she is having meaningful interactions with her peers and her educators. She plays and listens to books read aloud. Listening to stories read aloud will support the child in her abilities for later reading and writing skills.
Written By Mandy Bertling Beres, RECE
May 1, 2024
As soon as I pulled the cover off the sandbox, the boy went into it and started digging. As he was making shapes in the sandbox, he pointed to the shapes saying, “Look Miss Mandy, a circle, triangle and a square.” He then noticed behind him that I was helping some friends build a ramp for their cars. He quickly came over to join in. The child took turns with some friends, pushing the big monster cars down the ramp. One of the children had a smaller matchbox car and was using it on the ramp. The boy was watching this child, and a few seconds later he looked up at me asking, “Miss Mandy, I want the red, yellow and cyan car.” I said, “Oh,” with a puzzled and intrigued look on my face. I then said, “do we have one in the shed?” He said, “yes we do,” as a smile grew big across his face. I said, “oh, ok. Let’s go and look.” To my surprise, when I opened the shed he reached down into a container and picked up a car. The car was cyan with red and yellow on it. He also picked up a truck with a flatbed. He brought them up to the pavilion and drove them along the blocks and into a wooden box. I asked him, “What are your vehicles doing in that box?” He said, “they are hiding from the monster trucks.” I said, “oh, why do they have to hide?” “Because the monster trucks will get them and then they will be crushed flat as a pancake,” said the child. “What would happen if they did get flattened? Then what would you do?” I asked. He replied, “Then I would have to fix them. I would need to take them to the repair shop to be fixed.” I said, "oh, have you ever seen someone fixing cars before?” He said, “No, but my Daddy has to fix cars sometimes.” Once the vehicles were done hiding, the child drove his car around the different blocks. Then a friend came along and built a smaller ramp and asked if the boy wanted to try out the ramp. They continued to play for a few minutes longer before cleaning up.
Belonging: The child went from playing on his own in the sandbox to joining his friends on the ramps inside the pavilion. He was able to communicate with his peers in order for turn taking to happen. He shows interactions both with his friends and his teachers during his play. He also shows a connection between play and home as his daddy sometimes has to fix cars.
Engagement: The child is showing he can represent some of the ideas of the world around him through his play. He is also able to negotiate with his peers and take turns during play. He shows an understanding of different colors and shapes which can help support him later when it comes to literacy.
Expression: He was able to have a back and forth conversation with me as he played out his scenario with the vehicles. He has a large variety of words, even surprising me with his knowledge of colors. This can then later help support him in his reading and writing.
Well-Being: During this play time, the child has shown us both his fine and gross motor skills, showing confidence in his physical abilities. He is able to share and show he has control over himself and his decisions in his transitions from playing alone and with his friends. He is developing a sense of self in knowing what he is comfortable with.
Written By Mandy Bertling Beres, RECE
April 2, 2024
The child attempted to join play with some peers on the carpet, as they engaged with little people in a playhouse. He then wanted to play on his own and tried to remove the playhouse from the center of the play group, where an educator redirected him. He appeared upset as he made sad noises, but when he saw the educator building something out of blocks, he decided to collaborate with the educator on this creation. One block at a time, the child and the educator created their own block house for him to play with. Content with his creation, the boy picked up the farm animal bin and placed it next to the house he created. He began singing “Oh McDonald had a farm,” and as he placed one animal in his house at a time, he sang, “Oh McDonald had a farm, e, i, e, i, o…. And on his farm he had a cow, e, i, e, i, o. With a Moo Moo here and a Moo Moo there, here a Moo there a Moo everywhere a Moo Moo.” He continued this song and activity for multiple farm animals. Many children were so interested in the boy’s song and creative play, that they were drawn into his play area. He was okay with them singing with him but did not want them to remove any animals from his house.
Belonging: He shows a sense of belonging by participating in a way that is comfortable to him. The boy really enjoys singing and playing independently.
Engagement: He was able to express his joy as he picked up each animal and continued his singing while peers came to join, one at a time. He was able to negotiate his comfort level of play with his peers, where they could join his play space to sing but not remove any of his animals or blocks from the house he created.
Expression: He was able to express excitement while singing and smiling at his educators and peers. If his friends attempted to take something away from his creation, he made it known that he was upset by saying, “No,” or by taking it back and placing it where it was.
Well-Being: The child shows confidence in the classroom through engaging in positive ways through play. He has been developing a sense of competency in following the routines and engaging with peers. He was able to state his wishes clearly by telling his peers what he didn’t want them to do when they tried to take an animal.
March 18, 2024
Today, a child joined a friend who was playing with some valentine cards. They started putting a valentine in each windowsill. Next, the boy took a few and left a few with his friend, going his own way. The child took his valentines over to the play house. He opened the door to the house and placed the valentines inside. Next, he opened the whole house up and turned it around to see where the valentines ended up. He did this a few times and even asked his friend to look at the house, saying, “look, it’s inside,” while pointing to where the valentines ended up. Next, he bent down and started pushing the buttons in the house. He then stood up and took the house to a table and started pushing the buttons again saying, “working, working.” I said to him, “the buttons are not working.” As he continued to push the buttons he would say, “no working,” over and over. He tipped the house upside down, touching the parts where the house goes together and saying to me, “look, look.” I said, “Yes, that is where the house is built together." He continued examining the house and flicked a switch that was in the house. He then flipped the house upright and started pushing the buttons again. One of the buttons turns the light on inside the house. He pushed it a few times saying, “It’s working.” He picked up the house and walked over to his friend. As he got closer, he said, “look, look (friend), it’s working!” As he said this, his voice went up and a big smile came upon his face. He showed his friend how he could turn the light on.
Belonging: The child has been able to show his belonging through sharing his thoughts with his friends and educators. He showed the other children where his valentines ended up in the house and then as he discovered the buttons he was able to show his educator that they weren’t working, and then showed his friend when the light was turning on.
Engagement: He kept his focus on the doll house, exploring all parts of the house and how they work. He used his words and his expression to show his engagement. He was able to problem solve through his observations and investigations of this doll house.
Expression: Using his words to think out loud, as well as listening to my words, the child was able to communicate with me about what was happening with the house as he went along with his investigation. He was able to express his excitement through his voice and body language, and share it with his friends by showing them his discovery of the light on the house working.
Well-Being: As the child independently investigated the doll house, he showed a sense of self and well being. He was able to work out the problem of the buttons not working on his own. He showed he was proud through changing the tone of his voice and his smile, as he ran to show his friends that the light was working.
Written By Mandy Bertling Beres, RECE
February 2, 2024
A child approached me with a cup full of counting cubes. He asked, “Want some ice cream?” “Sure! What kind of ice cream do you have?” I replied. “What kind you want?” he asked. “How about chocolate?” I asked in response. He handed me the cup and said, “Here, it’s chocolate ice cream.” He then watched as I pretended to eat the ice cream. I handed it back and said, “Thank you, that was delicious.” He asked, “Want more?” I said, “Sure, what kind will you bring me this time?” He responded, “Nilla [Vanilla]” and offered me the cup again. This continued for a few minutes of him offering me different cups of ice cream. He then placed the cup down on the three way mirror and exclaimed, “Look! Lots more ice cream!” I looked into the mirror and said, “Yes, I see four ice creams in there!” and he pointed at each ice cream in the reflection. As he was looking at the mirror, his gaze when to the bottom mirror and he noted, “That one is upside down!” He moved the cup off the mirror and back on again, watching the reflection in the three different angled mirrors. He set the cup down again, then looked behind the mirror. “The ice cream isn’t there,” he said. Next, he put the cup behind the mirror. He looked into the mirror, tapped me on the arm, pointed to the mirror and said, “Where did the ice cream go?” I expressed shock at the disappearing ice cream, and asked, “Did it disappear?” He said, “Yeah!” then he looked in the mirror and said, “It’s just me.” He continued to look at his reflection for a short while, then he said, “Oh! Here it is,” and then retrieved the ice cream from behind the mirror, offering it to me to eat again.
Belonging: This child showed interest in interacting with me, although I am not a regular educator in his class. He was comfortable with approaching me to engage me in the activity that he had chosen.
Engagement: He was able to use the counting cubes to represent ice cream during his role playing. As he continued to play, he was experimenting with the reflections in the mirror, noting what he saw in the reflection and watching the reflection change as he moved the cup on and off, as well as behind.
Expression: He used his finger to point out the different ice cream reflections in the mirror. He was able to name different flavours of ice cream as he served them to me. He asked questions during our play and was able to make statements about what he was noticing.
Well-Being: He took initiative to engage me in his play. He was able to successfully lead his role play to play out as he wanted it. When he was offering me ice cream flavours he would offer me broccoli ice cream and then exclaim, “yuck!” to indicate that he knew what flavours of ice cream would not be appealing. He also took some time to look in the mirror and study his reflection, which helps him with identity formation and to build a sense of self.
By Savannah LeBlanc, RECE
January 16, 2024
A child was asked by a peer to play doctor with him. The other child laid down on the big pillow, allowing her to be the doctor first. She first examined inside her peer’s mouth, saying, “Oh no you have a cavity!” She pretended to do some work in his mouth before moving on to check his heart. While listening to his heart with the stethoscope she said, “ Oh no, you have a tummy ache.” Once she was done with her examination she said “(Friend) it's your turn to be the doctor.” They went back and forth taking turns examining each other until it was time to tidy up.
Belonging: Both children worked together cooperatively in turn taking. The child shows she is comfortable in her play and is able to socialize with her peer in their role playing.
Engagement: She shows us that she has some knowledge about what a doctor does. She is able to use tools from the classroom to take on the role of a dentist/doctor. She role plays using her tools to find out what is wrong with her patient so that she can decipher the illness, and decide what to do next.
Expression: She is showing a positive attitude and communication skills in her role play. She is able to express her ideas with her peer. You can hear her voice changing as she tells him he has a tummy ache, sounding sad and posing her lip in a pout. Once she helps him to be well, she is smiling.
Well-Being: She and her peer went back and forth between patient and doctor for quite some time. She was able to switch roles when asked, and vice versa with no trouble at all. This demonstrated skill in showing respect for one another’s turn taking in their role playing. She showed knowledge of care for others, drawing from experience and knowledge about the world around her.
Educator: Mandy Bertling Beres, RECE
