February 27, 2025
Spotting the two large ice cream outlines, L and a peer stepped up behind the canvas placed on the table. Placing her right hand onto the contact paper, the paper sealed to her hand. Leaning in close to investigate, her head tilted to the side to see that her hand was being pulled down. I said, “what happened to L?” L looked up at me and said, “it’s sticky.” Nodding my head, I said, “it is sticky, we are going to stick some fluffy cotton to fill in the ice cream then we can change the color of the ice cream afterwards.” Grabbing a container full of cotton, I handed the container to the children. At first, L used her thumb and forefinger to pick up the cotton pads and gently place it into the center of the outline. Seeing where she placed the cotton pads, L’s lips turned down into a frown before reaching for cotton pads that she recently applied. Using her right hand, she turned her thumb and her fingers into a claw-like position and pulled the cotton pad up from the outline. On further inspection, L looked closer to the tiny pieces of fluff behind the cotton. Using her finger tips, she brushed up against the pieces of fluff. Looking back at the educator, she said “so soft.”
Belonging: Throughout the activity, L had been using her communication skills and body language to share her thoughts and experiences of what the contact paper feels like and how the cotton pad felt against her finger tips.
Engagement: L had engaged the educator by describing her experiences of the different textures. She focused her attention to detail about what the contact paper and cotton pads had felt against her skin.
Well Being: L had been able to use her fine motor skills with ease and confidence by picking up the cotton pads between her thumb and forefinger to using her pincer grasp to peel away the cotton pad from the contact paper.
Expression: L had been able to use describing words such as soft and sticky to help the educator understand her thought process.
Written By Jessica Martin, RECE
January 3, 2025
Placing two hockey sticks at the end of the classroom with a couple of fluffy snowballs, M and his peer came running over to snatch up the equipment. M used both hands to pick up the hockey sticks before handing one over to his peer. His peer took the hockey stick and backed into the corner of the room. M looked around the floor to find the fluffy snowball before using his entire palm to pick it up. Holding the snowball up in the air between him and his peer, he said, “ready, hockey.” Throwing the snowball onto the floor, he bent down with the hockey stick. He positioned his left arm further down the stick while his right arm was positioned up higher to balance the stick properly. Swinging the hockey stick up behind him, he moved his body with the momentum to hit the snowball. The snowball flew across the room into the corner, where his peer tried to follow where the snowball went. M patiently stood by, waiting for his peer to get the snowball with his hockey stick. When his peer was ready, M bent his knees and slapped his hockey stick to the ground to show that he was waiting.
Belonging: M showed his interest in wanting to participate by running over and picking up both hockey sticks. He was able to share the experience by giving his peer the other hockey stick to join in the activity.
Well Being: Throughout the activity, M proved to be physically active by bending his knees, using his entire body to move with the hockey stick and using his gross motor skills to hit the snowball. M had been able to use his eye-hand coordination to hit the snowball towards his peer.
Engagement: M had been able to participate in cooperative play with a peer by giving a turn to his peer when he was done hitting the snowball. He was able to share the experience with his peer by extending the extra hockey stick towards the other individual and using his communication skills to state what he wanted to do.
Expression: M had been able to show his interest in the hockey activity by getting into the proper position of bending his knees and slapping the stick onto the ground. He was able to verbally communicate, “ready, hockey,” to his peers.
Written By Jessica Martin, RECE
December 9, 2024
A toddler was walking towards the book area and she noticed that a friend was struggling to put her shoes on. She came closer to the peer and sat down beside her friend and said, “M help you.” Her friend turned and looked over to the toddler, smiling, and nodded at her. She first grabbed the other shoe sitting beside her friend and placed it in her hand, directing the shoe towards her friend's foot. She guided the shoe so her friend's foot would fit into the shoe, making sure it would go in properly. She turned to her friend and asked her, “it ok?” The friend smiled and once again nodded to her. The friend then passed M the other shoe to put on her opposite foot. M responded, “Push [friend].” The friend pushed but was unsuccessful. She then tried to guide her foot more into place and the friend was able to get into the shoe. Both girls then looked at each other and responded by clapping and saying, “Yeah!” The educator saw what M had done to help her friend and praised her by saying, “thank you for helping [Friend], that was a very nice. Good job.”
Belonging: As the toddler was helping her friend, she felt empathy and built on social skills that are important for building positive relationships with others around her. She saw her friend was struggling and she was there to help her.
Engagement: She used critical thinking to help figure out where her friend should put her foot in the right direction in order to get her foot into the shoe. She maintained focus and concentration as she helped her friend complete the task.
Well Being: As she was helping someone else, she was initiating her own learning experience by using problem solving skills to select the right shoe and using her motor skills to open the shoe before helping put on the shoe. She showed confidence by helping and having mastery over her own skills.
Expression: She expressed compassion as she was eager to help someone else. As she sat beside her friend, she let them know that she would help them and guided them using verbal directions. She and her friend celebrated their achievement with clapping and exclaiming, “Yeah!”
Written by Erin Vandesompele, RECE
November 19, 2024
The girl picked up the cotton balls in the sensory bin, squeezing the cotton balls to feel the texture. Next, she began throwing them in the air. She observed the other children as they retrieved a spoon to scoop up the cotton balls. She looked around the sensory bin until she could find a spoon to grab. She grasped her fingers around the spoon, reaching with the spoon to grab the cotton balls closest to her. She used her pincer grip to transfer the balls from the spoon to the snowman, filling the container until it would overflow. Her classmates would clap and smile at her. Using her eye and hand coordination also helped her improve the development of small muscles in her hands, fingers and wrists. She decided to use a bigger scoop and noticed that as she did, she was able to pick up more cotton balls easier and found it easier to transfer them to the containers.
Belonging: The girl shared her experience with her classmates through sharing the materials in the bin. Her classmates observed to see what was happening and showed excitement when cotton balls fell back into the sensory bin after they were thrown by her, creating a social reaction between each other.
Engagement: She used her fine and gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity in the process when transferring cotton balls. Using the ability to focus on a task, she remained very focused as the activity took place.
Well-Being: The girl showed confidence in her abilities in her play, crucial for fine motor skills enhancement. This activity helps develop a dominant hand for her through repetition and consistency of scooping and placing the cotton balls.
Expression: She expressed creativity through sensory play and through meaningful interactions with her classmates.
Written by Erin Vandesompele, RECE
October 1, 2024
The boy observed his peers around him as they dove into the sensory bin, poking and squishing the cloud dough. He waited for a minute but couldn’t resist getting involved. He started by putting his fingers right into the cloud dough, wiggling his fingers around using small muscle movements. He began to wave his hands in the air to show the educator and peers around him. He then used his fingers to roll the dough in small, round balls as he was squeezing and manipulating the cloud dough. As he squeezed a piece of cloud dough back and forth between his hands, he said to the educator, “ball, ball,” with a big smile on his face. Eventually, something in the bin caught his attention. He started to investigate an object that he noticed sticking out of the cloud dough. After a few minutes of investigating it, he was able to pull the object out of the cloud dough. The educator asked, “what did you find?” He responded by saying, “truck!” with excitement. He then decided to keep looking for other objects that might be hiding in the dough. As he dug deeper he found more objects. The educator asked again what he had found. The boy lifted the objects, showing the educator. He was unsure of what the objects were called. The educator told the boy that he found a motorcycle. He tried to repeat the word as best as he could. The educator praised him for learning a new word and trying to say it.
Well Being: The boy showed confidence in his abilities using his fine motor skills as he manipulated the cloud dough by shaping it into balls.
Expression: He was able to communicate with his educator by answering questions that they asked him. He also was able to practice saying new words like “motorcycle” as he dug different items out of the cloud dough.
Belonging: The boy participated in social interactions by sharing the materials with other children and sharing his experience with educators, expressing a sense of purpose in what he was learning and seeking information.
Engagement:. The boy expressed joy and wonder when exploring with the cloud dough. He was able to roll the dough into little balls. He was able to investigate different ways to play with the dough.
Written By Erin Vandesompele, RECE
September 13, 2024
I mixed together cloud dough in a bin for the children to explore. I added some baking soda and placed a small cup of vinegar and an eye dropper for the children to see the effects of what might happen. The child came over right away to see what I had. I demonstrated the eye dropper first and she looked in the bin with excitement as she watched the cloud dough begin to fizz. I handed her the eye dropper and with her right hand she grabbed the top of the eye dropper and squeezed several times, watching the cup of vinegar as she created bubbles. She lifted the eye dropper and transferred it above the bin. She squeezed the purple top of the dropper and watched as the cloud dough fizzed again. She pointed in the bin and said, “Bubbles!” She continued using the dropper to transfer the vinegar from the cup to the cloud dough. She looked at the areas of bubbled cloud dough she created and used both her hands to further explore. She placed her hands on top of the bubbles, then squeezed the dough between her fingers. Next, she grabbed the eyedropper again to add more vinegar.
Belonging: The child felt a sense of belonging during this activity by feeling included and participating in ways most comfortable to her. She joined the activity right away and was ready to explore. She used the eye dropper and observed the effects the vinegar had on our cloud dough then explored the dough even more by using her hands to mix and squeeze the bubbles she made.
Well-Being: She practiced her fine motor skills by holding the top of the eye dropper and squeezing it when she needed more vinegar and when she was ready to add it to the cloud dough, as well as using her hands to squeeze the dough.
Engagement: She was focused on collecting the vinegar in her dropper and watching the cloud dough fizz and bubble. She investigated the materials given to her and figured out how to use the eyedropper and discovered that she needed to add the vinegar in order to make the cloud dough bubble.
Expression: The child communicated with her educator that she created bubbles and continued using the same process to create more.
Written By Chelsea Kelly, RECE
August 2024
As the educator was blowing bubbles, the bubbles would come out as a big cloud-like form when it hit the ground. The child would run over, looking up at his teacher, with a smile on his face. He then would lift his right leg and, using his balancing skills, he would then try to stomp on the bubbles yelling, “pop!” as he looked at his educator and peers with excitement. I asked, “what happened to your bubbles?” His response was, “popped.” I replied with, “oh no, it's all gone.” The boy then noticed a big cloud of bubbles on the ground beside him and crouched down to get a better look at them. Scooping up the bubbles with both hands, he began to look at it very closely. I asked him, "what do you see?" He said, “bubbles!” I asked him, “What colours are they? Are they all the same colour, or are they different colours?” He laughed and said, “the same.” He then started throwing them up into the air with both his hands, and watched them fall back down to the ground.
Belonging: He showed a lot of different social interaction between the educator and peers by making eye contact and showing that he felt included in the activity.
Well-Being: The child showed his growing confidence by balancing himself on his left leg while lifting his right leg to stomp the bubbles.
Engagement: While crouching down and observing the bubbles, he was able to focus on
how the bubbles would slowly pop one by one. He also was able to show how much fun he was having by his facial expressions and communicating to the educator..
Expression: The boy was able to start and continue to have conversations with the educator. He was also able to answer all the questions that were asked.
Written By Aleacia Austin
July 2, 2024
Miss Julia brought in her guitar today! She sang and played songs. When Julia started to play, the child got up and started to dance. She twirled around making her beautiful dress spin around her. When we sang 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', she sang along to parts of the song and did some of the actions to it as well. When Miss Julia stopped playing, the girl said, “More please.” Julia played one more song. As Juia played, the girl watched as she strummed the chords on her guitar. She took a turn using her fingers to strum the strings all on her own.
Belonging: The child had a few social interactions with her teachers during this group activity. She sang along and did some of the actions to a song, and also asked for more when the guitar playing was all done. She participated in ways that were comfortable to her.
Well-Being: She danced with large body movements as Miss Julia played her guitar. She twirled around on the carpet as the music played. She used her fine motor skills by participating with Miss Amber and doing some of the actions to the songs. She also practiced using her fingers to strum the guitar.
Engagement: The child focused her attention while Miss Julia played her guitar. She didn’t like when Miss Julia had to stop playing and put her guitar away. She was very interested in listening to the guitar and dancing along to the music.
Expression: The child sang along to part of the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. When Miss Julia stopped playing, she said, “More please.” Julia played another song.
Written By Amber Sinnesael, RECE
June 7, 2024
While outside this morning, a child was busy playing with friends when he looked over and noticed a friend was sad and crying. The boy dropped what he was doing and ran over towards the child who was sad. He leaned down and hugged his friend and said, “it’s okay, don’t be sad.” I walked over and asked the boy if he knew what happened. He replied, “I don't know, he’s sad.” I said, “I see that he is sad, thank you for helping him feel better by checking on him and giving him a hug.” The child looked up at me and smiled and went back to hugging and checking on his friend after I had checked the friend out and tried to figure out why they were sad. The boy wouldn’t leave his friend afterwards. He stayed close and every few minutes he would check on his friend and would tell him, “it's okay,” and give him another hug.
Belonging: The child was able to comfort his friend, showing empathy, and work on building his relationship with the child.
Well-being: He made a connection to what makes him feel better when he is sad, so he was able to bring comfort in giving his friend a hug and telling him it's going to be okay.
Engagement: The child was able to communicate to his peer about their emotions and was able to help make his friend happy again.
Expression: He communicated to his friend and educator by using non-verbal and verbal communication by smiling at the educator, hugging the friend and telling the friend that everything will be okay.
Written By Christine Pamplin, RECE
May 6, 2024
A child was playing in the kitchen center this morning. While holding a baby in one hand, she used her other hand to flip and make eggs for her baby. I walked over and said, “[Child], what are you doing?” She replied, “I'm cooking eggs for baby.” I said, “those eggs look really good!” She smiled and turned her attention back down to her eggs. When they were finished cooking she placed them on a plate and sat the baby down in the high chair. She began to feed her baby the eggs. I overheard her saying, “Only a few more baby.” Once the baby was finished eating, she picked the baby up and brought it over to the book center where she started to read the baby a book.
Belonging: The child made connections from the world around her and brought them into play. She knows that babies need to eat and she was able to role play being a caregiver and made sure her baby was okay.
Well-Being: The child used her hand eye coordination to flip the eggs while holding the baby at the same time. She also knew that eggs were a healthy choice to feed her baby in the morning for breakfast.
Engagement: She was able to stay focused on caring for her baby. She was able to multitask holding the baby while flipping the eggs. The child would then encourage her baby to eat more food. She demonstrated her ability to engage in pretend play and role playing as a caregiver to her baby.
Expression: The child was able to hold a conversation with the educator and the baby. She knew how to answer questions that were asked of her and was able to describe her actions.
Written By Christine Pamplin, RECE
April 2, 2024
A child walked over to the block, and using her right hand, she reached down and lifted up the block and placed it on another one. She continued to place the blocks on top of each other until she was unable to reach. She looked over in my direction and said, “Ms. Christine help please.” I walked over and helped place the block on the tower. The child then handed me another one and smiled as I placed it on the tower. The tower began to shake. Before it fell over, we began to count the blocks, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,” then using both hands, the child pushed the tower down and began to laugh. She then said, “oh no!” I replied, “let's try again?” She looked down at the blocks then back at me and said, “yes,” and began to rebuild the tower.
Belonging: The child showed belonging by feeling safe to express herself and building with the educator. She was able to seek her educator out and ask for help when she built her tower as high as she could.
Engagement: She showed engagement by placing the blocks on top of each other to build her tower, and expressing joy and excitement when she knocked down the tower. She also collaborated with her educator to build the tower together, count the blocks, and then rebuild the tower after it was knocked down.
Expression: She used her words to ask the educator for help and was able to express her thoughts on what she was going to do next.
Well-Being: The child showed well being by showing confidence in her growing ability to place the blocks on top of each other.
By Christine Pamplin, RECE
March 1, 2024
Today, a child embarked on a delightful gardening adventure in our classroom’s dramatic area. As she quietly sat down among the buckets, her eyes sparkled with curiosity upon discovering a pair of gardening gloves. With eager anticipation, she swiftly donned one glove onto her hand, but despite several attempts, struggled to put one on her other hand.
Undeterred by the challenge, the child persisted, trying different approaches to no avail. Finally, she looked to her teacher for assistance, her face beaming with determination. With gentle touch, her teacher helped her to open the glove, allowing her to slip her hand in with ease. The child's joy was palpable as she proudly wore both gloves on her hands with newfound confidence and excitement.
Belonging: The child’s challenge highlights the belonging principle as she actively engages with her surroundings and seeks assistance from her teacher, demonstrating her sense of connection and inclusion within the classroom community.
Engagement: The child’s engagement with the gardening gloves exemplifies engagement principle, as she actively participates in the learning experience and perseveres through the challenges. Her curiosity and determination to wear the gloves demonstrate her genuine interest and involvement in the activity.
Expression: Her interaction with the gloves embodies the expression principle as she explores and experiments with the task, demonstrating her individuality and creativity. Her attempts to put on the gloves and her eventual request for help express her autonomy and initiative in problem solving.
Well-Being: The child’s joyful persistence in putting on the gloves reflects the well-being principle, as her determination and eventual success contribute to her emotional and social well-being. Her positive experience, coupled with the support of her teacher, fosters a sense of accomplishment and confidence, promoting her overall happiness and fulfillment within the classroom environment.
Claudia Varela, RECE
