Shaylah Ware

 

                      My first day of being in a daycare setting was exactly how I thought it would be, inviting, organized,

 

and friendly. I’m very good with attracting children to me until the point I was listening to one read me a story

 

and before I knew it a few more children had gathered around wanting to either read to me or me read to them. It

 

felt great to know that they were comfortable enough with me being a stranger to them and allowing me to talk,

 

be around, and reading to them. One child that was a girl started off trying to read to me but she began to get

 

frustrated because she couldn’t read the words that good. I told her that she could be able to read the story to me

 

by telling me what she sees in the picture because a picture can say a lot of words. She began to read to me the

 

book she had picked out and along the way I would ask her what is going on in the picture or what is the name of

 

the character to what color does he or she have on just to get her mind thinking even more.  
     

                       The theme for the week when I was there was The Ginger Bread Man. The head teacher

 

implemented two story times with different books, arts and crafts, and a group activity based upon the theme for

 

the day along with the children having free choice. One day they made Ginger Bread men out of a recipe that the

 

teacher had put on the board. The children were able to help with the mixing of the flour, salt, cinnamon, and

 

water. Followed by exploring the texture of the dough, how it smelled, looked so they were able to use some of

 

their senses, and she challenged each child to make their own ginger bread themselves before using the cookie

 

cutters made out of them! Within helping the children to guess what the story was going to be able the teacher

 

would pull out her magic bag one item at a time prior to reading the story which was very unique to me because it

 

was different. The children very involved as well as curious to see what was all in the bag so that they could come

 

up with some ideas on what the story was going to be able and what might happen in the story based on the

 

prompts.  
     

                      The head teacher made her on book of Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See by renaming it as

 

Students, Students What Do You See? It was a very creative story that she put together because she implemented

 

shapes and buttons within the story. The question of the day was, what would you do to catch a ginger bread

 

man? Most of the children pretty much said they would chase him until they got him back or use a net. On this

 

day the children made Christmas bell ornaments and they were all shaking them because they actually had a bell

 

on them. Each child’s name was written on a ginger bread man that was laminated and they had to go and find

 

their name so they could pick the area they wanted to play in for choice time. That was a great way to get them to

 

recognize their names by having others around to make it more challenging.  
   

                      I talked with the teacher in regards to homework and she told me that she gives it out but doesn’t

 

like to. I was very happy to see that she was very into the children reading, recognizing words as well as objects,

 

understanding what is being said and or asked of them. After watching how she interacted with the children as

 

well as those who had some specials needs helped me to get an extra technique when working with a group of

 

children at one time by myself. Example would be was when she would read a story and one of the children

 

wasn’t paying attention or acting out she would simply plug their name into the story and it actually helped them

 

to refocus themselves. When she wanted everyone to bring their voices down, and focus she would raise her hand

 

and start counting up to five and the children raised their hands up too. Her style supports teaching because in

 

order to learn you have to not only be able to read some but comprehend as well and I feel that it starts their

 

first.