Project Reflections
| Date | Place | Reflections |
| 01/21/06 | TESC | This was our first group meeting. It was exciting to finally meet my new group members!! We exchanged phone numbers, e-mail addresses and discussed possbile meeting times. I can't wait to get started. |
| 01/24/06 | Learn and Discover Preschool | It was great to be back with the same group of children I was working with last quarter. Much of this hour was spent talking with Kathleen about what was accomplished last quarter and what kind of activities I would like to do this quarter. We brain stormed some ideas and then she sent me off to come up with and organize a few activities. |
| 01/25/06 | Garfiled Elementary School | This was an exciting adventure for me. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I put my name down as a volunteer to do arts and crafts. However, I jumped right in and started playing. I let the children lead me. As it turns out I didn't do any major art projects. I mostly played with in the block, kithcen, stamp and puppet areas. I didn't leave empty handed either. I was given a rather nice collection of stamp art from a few of the children. It is amazing how much you can learn from children. I caught myself in a few instances wanting to cry because what the children were talking about. They are so young and innocent and are dealing with issues that most adults never have. It was sad leaving.... |
| 01/27/06 | Vic's Pizza | Yummy!!! The LHG group met to discuss a plan of attack while munching on delicious pizza. I was of course accompanied by Mr. Ryan who delighted to meet everyone and enjoy the food until he got sick and we had to leave running. |
| 01/28/06 | Peterson Garden | Another soggy day in the PACNW!!! The rain was coming down hard, but we didn't let this stop us! It was also exciting taking out new group members to meet Merilee. (Our secret oasis.... shh don't tell anyone) Okay, so the first day of work we spent transplanting blueberry bushes! It felt so good to be out there working again, even though we were soaked and muddy. After working for awhile Merilee invited us in to have a nice warm cup of tea and clam chowder. She is truly amazing. Sitting around sipping warm tea and talking with Merilee, does it get any better than this!! |
| 01/28/06 | LHG Group | After working in the Peterson Garden I headed back to school to work with the Long House Garden group. I was met with an introduction and tour of the garden. It was nice to see and have someone explain to me what was accomplished last quarter and what needs to be accomplished this quarter! |
| 01/29/06 | Heat | What a jam packed weekend! This was a fun group to start working with. I definately enjoyed the wide age range of kids! Ryan, of course accompanied me and had a blast making puppets. All of the children enjoyed making them! They were rather content in their art work. I was again impressed by the creativity and bravery when it came to putting on their own puppet show. |
| 02/01/06 | Learn and Discover Preschool | It was a delight seeing all of the children's faces again. It was a busy morning which began with free time for about 45 minutes. I took this opportunity to have the children lead me. I found myself immersed in lego's, housekeeping (which is very popular) and puzzles. I love listening to the stories and creative minds busy at work. Afterwards, we met in circle time. This was fun! The children are working on the alphabet and recognizing certain letters. I took this opportunity to read books and then have the children make certain letters out of their body! Wow, did they get into that. We then danced, sang and concluded with art work. I will note that it is amazing what kind of response you can get from children when you sing to them! |
| 02/08/06 | Learn and Discover Preschool | Again, this day began with free time. I was especially drawn to one little boy who is five years old. I am not sure why I am drawn to him other than I sense he really needs extra attention. There is something lacking and he shows it through some rather extreme behavior problems. So, during most of free time I spent playing and just listening to him. Some of his vocabulary is rather disturbing, but it feels good to help him recognize how we treat one another. I think instances such as this reinforce why I am so drawn to little people and education. The rest of the morning proceeded with circle time, the alphabet and they were dying for me to help them make the shapes with their bodies! They are so eager to learn and do given the opportunity. Oh yeah, I almost forgot.... Today's art project. We took cooked spaghetti noodles and made different shapes out of them and glued them to construction paper. They loved touching and playing with this!
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| 02/15/06 | Learn and Discover Preschool | This morning began with dancing and singing. I brought a few homemade musical instuments that the children loved palying with! I have not really ever explored children/music/dance together I beginning to be fascinated with thier attraction and response to it! They have uch great energy and I received several request from the children to bring them back and next time bring more! |
| 02/25/06 | The Peterson Garden | Instead of a day working in the garden I attended a memorial service with Merilee. |
| 02/26/06 | Heat | I had a lot of fun attending today's class. Berry from class presented his curriculum which included water bugs and a walk to the Longhouse Garden. It was fun watching the children inspect bugs through microscopes and then creating their own out of pipe cleaners. And the rain didn't stop us from walking down to the garden. |
| 02/27/06 | Home | I narrowed my curriculum plan down to: circle time discussion of the water cycle, a sink, float, or absorb game, a 'jump in the puddle activit and a spray bottle art project. |
| 03/08/06 | Learn and Discover Preschool | I began by explaining the Water Cycle: I will note that the children loved all of the activities. The one I struggled with was the circle time explanation of the water cycle. However, all of the other activites were thouroughly enjoyed. It helped mixing up the activites with sit down stuff and then get up a move around. |
| 03/08/06 | Rebecca's House | Caitlin, Rebecca and myself gathered to discuss the presentation outline and assign various activities. |
| 03/11/06 | The Peterson Garden | What a day it turned out to be. It was a little chilly, but Merilee had lots to keep us busy. Tasks include: transplanting verns, pruning, dividing and planting bulbs, digging in various other plants, racking up debris left by the storms and laying a brick pathway. Merilee then invited us in to share a wonderful, warm bowl of elk stew. We had a wonderful conversation and then bid her farwell. |
| 03/12/06 | Home | This was my first solo attempt at putting together a power point presentation. At first it was exciting, but then became rather frustrating. I think it will work and in the future I will be know how to iron out all of the kinks. |
| 03/13/06 | TESC | Caitlin, Rebecca and myself met in the computer lab to put together our group power point. We also finalized the details of our presentation. |
