October 2024
At the the educator placed a pumpkin, a mallet, a few cookie cutters and a knife. As the educator held the pumpkin up for the children to see, she began to push the knife into the top of the pumpkin. As the knife went in and out of the top of the pumpkin, the child’s eyes widened with her mouth opening into an “o” form. Trying to get closer, she used both of her hands to pull the two garbage bags that were laid out on the table under the pumpkin. As the garbage bag moved, so did the pumpkin that the educator was cutting. The educator held the pumpkin steady and stopped cutting. She said, “Please do not pull the garbage bag, if we pull it, that moves the pumpkin to which I could miss and cut my finger.” Making eye contact with the children, the educator then said, “put your hands down behind your back to keep me safe, please and thank you.” Right away, the child lifted both her hands and placed them behind her back, saying, “I'm ready.” The child continued to demonstrate how to be safe by keeping her hands behind her back until the educator was done cutting the top of the pumpkin out.
Belonging: By placing her hands behind her back, the child showed concern for the educator’s well-being when she was cutting out the top of the pumpkin.
Well-Being: By making the decision to keep the educator safe, she placed both of her hands behind her back and used her communication skills to tell the educator that she was ready.
Expression: By listening to the educator, the child learned about consequences because if she were to keep pulling on the garbage bags that she could have pulled the pumpkin to which could have resulted in the educator getting cut.
Engagement: By focusing her attention on the educator, the child was able to follow through on what the educator had asked by placing her hands behind her back and saying “I'm ready.”
Written By Jessica Martin, RECE
September, 2024
The children gathered around the carpet, as I said, “come to the carpet, we are going to do an exciting activity.” A few of the children shouted, “what are we going to do?” I said, “we are going to look for animal footprints around the daycare. We have to look up high and look down low.” As the children began to look up at the walls, they began to spot the tracks. A boy ran up to one and used his right index finger to point to the tracks. He said “I found some tracks. Look, it's an animal.” Nodding, I said, “you found squirrel footprints, you can go take down the tracks from the wall.” Reaching up onto his tip toes, he used his thumb and forefinger to pull the squirrel tracks off the wall. Using both hands, he held the picture close to his face to see the outlines of the footprints, before turning the laminated paper over to see green tape. Using his thumb and forefinger, he pried the tape away from the paper and held it up to me. He said, “garbage? Can you take it?” Nodding my head, I placed the tape into my hand.
Belonging: The entire class had been invited to come join the activity, they were able to search and pull the laminated animal tracks off the wall. The boy was able to participate alongside his peers.
Well-Being: By looking up and down throughout the daycare, he had been able to tackle this new learning activity by being hyper-focused on searching for the hidden animal tracks.
Expression: By using his words, the boy had been able to formulate his responses on how he found some animal tracks and was able to listen to his educator on what animal tracks he had found in the daycare centre.
Engagement: By looking up and down around the walls of the daycare centre, he had been able to focus his attention on spotting the animal tracks. He was able to communicate his findings to the educator when he spotted the tracks.
By Jessica Martin, RECE
August 27, 2024
The child watched me as I folded and tore some paper into smaller pieces to add to our art shelf. After a few minutes she asked me very quietly, “can you make me a paper airplane?” She waited patiently as I folded the paper making a paper airplane. Once it was complete, I handed it to her. Off she went, gliding it through the air in every direction throughout the classroom. She told her friends that, “Miss Mandy made me a paper airplane.” After a few minutes, another child came to me and asked me to make them a paper airplane. Slowly, children came up one after the other asking me to make them a paper airplane. I saw the girl stand in one spot, watching all of her friends flying their paper airplanes. One of her friends did not have one yet. She then came to me and asked if I could make her friend an airplane. Once all of the children had their own paper airplane, I asked the girl, “how did you know about making a paper airplane?” She said to me, “Mommy and Daddy made me a paper airplane.” She then walked away and started throwing her plane with her friends. I watched as the girl climbed up on a new piece of stable furniture in our room to toss her plane from up higher. She then crouched down and tried to fly it through the center opening of the furniture, watching it come out the other side. She continued taking turns with her friends and moving around the room to find different places to throw their planes. They communicated with each other, talking about the different things they can do with their planes, saying things like, “Watch my plane go through the hole,” and “Watch it go up in the tree”, and “Watch it fly down”.
Belonging: The child is able to communicate with her educator and peers with ease. She is able to show me full participation. She shows a connection between home and daycare when we talk about how she knew about paper airplanes, telling me that her Mommy and Daddy have made them for her too.
Well-Being: She used her fine motor skills to grip her paper airplane with her thumb and pointer finger, flying the plane across the room. She uses her motor skills to navigate the room, finding other ways to watch her plane fly through the air. She experimented with climbing furniture to throw it up high and crouching down to throw it through spaces down low.
Engagement: The child tests out her plane in different ways around the room. She is able to stay engaged and focused in her play. She shows joy and excitement on her face as she plays alongside her peers, trying out different ways they can throw their planes together. They talk amongst themselves and show each other what they can do with their planes.
Expression: The child is able to express herself and interact with her peers and educators with meaning. She moves around the room, talking back and forth with her peers and her educators as she plays with her paper airplane.
Written By Mandy Bertling Beres, RECE
July 5, 2024
A child approached the building block shelf after arriving in the morning and picked up one block at a time, stacking them one on top of the other. I approached him and asked, “What are you building [child]?”. He looked up at me, smiling, and said, “I’m making a tower!” I stepped back for a few minutes as I observed him building his tower. I then approached him and asked, “How many blocks tall is your tower?” Pointing to one block at a time, he counted, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!” He was so excited as he counted and then knocked it down with his hands. He started laughing and said, “Now I have to make a new tower.” He continued again and a peer decided to join him. His peer ran over to the play kitchen and said, “You want to put some food in the tower?” The child said, “Yes! It can be a food tower.” They built the tower up high and the boy and his peer added the play food into the center of it. I then went to the boys and said, “Did you know that there are food towers in real life, and they’re called silos?” The boys looked at each other, smiled and kicked and pushed down their tower. They then picked everything up and started all over again.
Belonging: The child is comfortable in the classroom and uses his imagination while making creations with building blocks. He is showing confidence in building with his peers and communicating positively while building and accepting new ideas from his peers.
Well-Being: He showed that not only did he value the input of his peer but was also able to show that he was capable and competent to build a tower and count the blocks. The boy was able to self-regulate his emotions as they broke the tower and problem-solved as they rebuilt the tower.
Engagement: The boy and his peer interacted positively with the blocks, while making decisions together, adding blocks and pretend-play food to their tower. They accepted each other’s input on what they were making and were curious about what the outcome would be after breaking the tower and closely observing to see where the food would go.
Expression: The child is showing his ability to build relationships by engaging in a positive way and by collaborating with his peer in their food tower creation. He was inclusive by allowing his peer to join and accepting to add a different material to his tower that he wasn’t originally using. They problem-solved as they broke and re-built their tower.
June 3, 2024
A child was playing with the babies when she asked me, “Where did the blankies go?” I answered, “They should be in the basket with the babies, let's go check!” She ran back to the basket. As she looked inside she said, “Oh! Yeah, here it is!” After grabbing the blanket for her baby, she said, “Ms. Chelsea, my baby’s sick.” I said, “Oh no, what’s wrong with your baby?” She said, “She puked. She needs to go to the hospital in an ambulance.” I said, “Oh my, I hope your baby’s feeling better soon.” She responded, “Yeah, she just needs cuddles right now. And you know what? When I was a baby I had to go in an ambulance to the hospital, too.” I said, “I bet that was very scary for Mommy and Daddy.” She replied, “Yeah, I had to have medicine to make me feel better, so my baby needs some medicine, too.” The girl continued rocking her baby and said, “She needs to go to sleep now.” She walked over to the reading center and placed her baby in the egg chair with a fluffy blanket. She closed the covering on the chair so her baby could rest.
Belonging: The child felt a sense of belonging during this pretend play by caring for the needs of her baby and communicating with her educator about how her baby was feeling, what it needed and relating it to experiences she said she had as a baby.
Engagement: She cared for her baby by rocking it, cuddling, taking it to the hospital and administering medicine to help her baby feel better. She then laid her baby down on a soft blanket so it could rest.
Expression: The child communicated her thoughts and imaginative play to her educator and expressed concern and worry for her baby as she cared for its needs.
Well-Being: The child recognized that if her baby wasn’t feeling well it needed cuddles, a possible trip to the hospital, medicine and rest. She mentioned that this happened to her as a baby and is relating her own experiences that she’s heard about to her pretend play and what she needed to do to help make her baby feel better.
By Chelsea Kelly, RECE
May 23, 2024
The child was riding a bike around the path in the play yard. He stopped a friend running by and said, “Hey! Do you want to ride on the back of my bike?” The friend agreed in excitement and quickly hopped on the back of his bike. The friend stood on the back part of the bike and leaned forward onto the child to hold onto the handles. The boy held the outside of the handles and peddled himself and his friend as fast as he could. They laughed at the fun they were having as they steered the bike together, turning the handles to go around the bike path. As they drove past me, the boy laughed and said, “He’s riding on the back of my bike!” They continued riding around the path and steering their bike together.
Belonging: This supported the boy’s sense of belonging because he rode his bike with enthusiasm and excitement by pedalling as fast as he could and inviting a friend to ride along with him which also gave his friend a sense of belonging by being included and working as a team to steer their bike together.
Engagement: The child engaged in cooperative team work with a friend to ride their bike together. He expressed joy in his encounter with this friend and focused his attention on his hand placement on the handles, making sure there was room for both himself and his friend to hold on.
Expression: He communicated his idea to his friend and invited him to come and ride the bike together. He expressed joy and excitement by the way he laughed and rode around the path with his friend on the back, exclaiming to the educator, “He’s riding on the back of my bike!” as they rode past.
Well-Being: Riding the bike supported the boy's gross motor skills and with his friend riding on the back they experimented with balance and the way their weight shifts as they turn to go around the path. They practiced their coordination skills as they steered and controlled the front of the bike together and turned in the same direction.
By Chelsea Kelly, RECE
April 17, 2023
Today during our play in the gym, I picked up two tennis rackets. The child noticed it right away and asked, “What’s that?” I replied, “It’s a tennis racket. Do you want to play with me?” He nodded enthusiastically and we found a tennis ball. A few peers approached and tried to take the rackets from the boy and I, but I assisted the boy in telling them they needed to wait their turn by helping the boy tell them, “I’m playing now, you can try when I’m done.” I started and used my racket to hit the ball towards the child. I showed him the steps I was taking, explaining, “First, you hold the ball up and drop it. When you drop it, swing your racket.” I completed the action, sending the ball in his direction. The ball sailed past him and he chased it down, picked it up, and attempted to hit the ball with his racket. First, he held the ball on his racket. I said, “Try holding the ball up a bit.” He looked at me with a thoughtful expression, and I repeated the instruction. He then lifted the ball up, dropped it, and as it hit his racket and rolled forward he shouted out in excitement, “Yeah!” I said, “Look! You hit the ball!” He repeated, “I hit it!” and grabbed another ball to try. After a few tries, we moved on to me tossing the ball to him as he swung his racket, hitting the ball. The boy seemed very pleased with his abilities as he would smile and say, “Look! I did it!” after every hit. Once he was finished, he found a friend who wanted a turn and offered them his racket.
Belonging: The child approached me inquiring about the tennis racket and accepted my offer to play. With assistance, he was able to establish that his peers needed to wait their turn to play with the tennis racket. He continued to show enjoyment and enthusiasm as we played together, and when we were finished he sought out one of his friends who had asked for a turn earlier to offer them his racket.
Engagement: The child was able to use his hand-eye coordination to swing his racket and hit the ball. At first he was trying to work out how to hit the ball when he released it himself, but was able to follow the instructions given to him and make it work. He showed quick improvements to these skills as he got the hang of using the racket, often hitting the ball successfully.
Expression: The child needed a reminder of the language to use when his friends were trying to take the tennis racket that he had. In this scenario he started with using his hand to try and push them away but quickly resolved to use his words with my prompting. He expressed his joy and growing confidence when he exclaimed, “Look! I did it!” He used non-verbal communication through his facial expressions and body cues to show his determination and enjoyment during this play.
Well-Being: The child was able to use his hand-eye coordination to successfully hit the ball with his tennis racket, using cross-body motion. He experienced positive reinforcement and increased confidence through my praise and encouragement, as well as his own excitement over his triumph. By Savannah LeBlanc, RECE
March 4, 2024
A girl and two other friends were sitting in the mud kitchen with piles of wood chips. I asked “What are you girls doing over here?” One friend cheered, “They’re doing my nails!” The girl and another friend gently held the child’s hand and used the wood chips as their nail tools. They brushed the wood chips over her nails, dipping them every so often to get more nail polish. I asked, “What colour are you painting her nails?” Her friend said, “Pink, purple, and blue!” The girl added, “With rainbows, caterpillars, and ladybugs!” I said, “That sounds like a perfect design for spring!” The girl and her friend continued painting their other friend's nails and once they finished they gently blew on her nails to help dry them.
Belonging: The girl felt a sense of belonging by participating in pretend play with her peers. She shared her ideas and made contributions that gave her a sense of purpose and pride in the detail and work she was doing on her friend’s nails.
Engagement: She engaged in shared play with her friends where she showed her understanding and knowledge of doing nails from her own experiences.
Expression: The child expressed herself through pretend play and doing her friend's nails. She expressed which designs they should paint on her friend's nails and participated in this meaningful experience by communicating with her friends and educator.
Well-Being: She was confident in her ability to use a steady hand to paint and design her friends nails and demonstrated her fine motor skills.
By Chelsea Kelly, RECE
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
