Reflections week 1

Well these two days with children proved very challenging! One child in particular was extremely
difficult, the first day he had raging tantrums for three hours until he finally exhausted himself
and fell asleep, he slept for the next two and a half hours, woke up about fifteen minutes before
it was time to get on the bus. He is very abstention and extremely defiant and wants everything
his way. He screams while violently rolling around the floor kicking and punching whatever is in
his way. Transitions are horrible because he has to do everything on his terms. I felt so bad for
the other sixteen children on the first day, I feel like they were as traumatized as I was and this
is not what I wanted their first school experience to be like. My assistant is healing from a
shoulder surgery so I don't want her to re injure herself so I decided that I would be the one to
work one on one with this boy, which left her with the rest. It was the worst first day I ever had.
Day two was about five percent better, he didn't rage the entire morning, only during transitions.
I'm going to try to used hour glass timers to give him a visual warning before the activity has to
end and we transition to something else. Also, I am going to make a visual schedule so he can
see what comes next. He will be five years old in December, he has never been out of the
house away from his parents and I don't think he has much interaction with other children. We
have spoken to the parents and they are on board with behavior services and have taken the
first step in getting him an appointment. In all my interactions with him, I discovered that he can
count to sixteen, he knows several shapes including hexagon, he has some advanced
vocabulary and he recognizes numbers at least 1-9, so I really do not believe he has a cognitive
delay. I am going to try to get his Battelle developmental screening done next week. I will have
a fourth person with me Tuesday and Thursday so that will be extremely helpful. I want to be
able to make connections for the rest of the children and make them feel that this is going to be
a fun, safe space that they can trust. Fingers crossed for a better week!

Reflections week 2

The children are getting used to the routine of the day and transitions are getting easier.
We have six children in pull-ups, two of which are so close to underwear! We were able
to start some assessing this week, we started with letter ID's and number recognition,
we have Teaching Strategies Gold due mid to late October. I also have been working on
the Batelle Developmental assessment for each child, Head Start requires that we have
these complete for each child within 45 days. I have several returning students with
IEP's and their services started last week. IU8 comes to the building and services these
children. As of right now I have 7 IEP's; some are for speech, some are for special
instruction and some are for both.
I really worked on positive behaviors this week, I am using a gumball system and if they
collect 10 gumballs, they get to pick out of the treasure chest. On Friday I had 7 out of
10 get treasure, it is always hard to not give everyone a prize but my hope is they will
work harder to get the gumballs. I've given them all the ways they can earn them; being
helpful to a friend, following the rules, having great meal times, being quiet in the
hallway, listening the first time, having a good circle time. I sent a notice home to the
parents explaining this concept. I told them this is something that they can carry over
into the home to promote positive behaviors.
Reflections week 3

Things are looking like they are falling into place. Some days were better than others
but the children seem to picking up on the routine of the classroom and they are
understanding what is expected of them. Many of them have earned enough gumballs
to pick a prize out of the treasure chest, which is always exciting. It seems to motivate
the ones that haven't earn enough to try harder the next day. Small groups are started
to be a little better, the younger children are having a hard time with the concepts but
this is where I scaffold the activity to meet their needs. I know they have never
done these types of activities before and they will come around with practice.
Hunter is having better moments. He still struggle tremendously with transitions! He
came to circle time for the first time on Thursday!!! I was so excited, he didn't last the
whole time but I know that it is going to be small steps with him. He always gives his
input for the question of the day even when he's not at circle, so I know some part of
him is listening. Once his behaviors get under control it will be amazing to watch him
grow as a student. I can tell he already has a lot of knowledge.
I have a little girl who is very shy and keeps telling us that she is said and misses her
mom, she cries a few times a day. My staff and I continue to comfort her and let
her have her feelings. I am going to see how this week goes and possibly call the mom
on Friday if things don't get better. I believe that she is overwhelmed by the behaviors in
the room and she hasn't found any particular children that she likes to play with, I am
going to continue to keep her engaged by inviting her to play in a group and hopefully
she will be okay
Reflections week 4
This past week I did my unit plan all about apples. The children really enjoyed this unit. I
think it is so important to present the children with real life experiences. They learned
about the parts of an apple, how an apple grows, they got to take a virtual field trip to an
apple orchard and they got to takes a few types of apples. At the end of the week we
made apple turnovers, it was a great experience.
Behaviors are getting a little better although transitions are still a struggle with this
group. Walking in a line is a problem. I am trying different ideas to get these kids to
respond and listen, it is challenging.
I am working on tweaking my schedule to suit the needs of the children. I have a good
understanding that nothing goes as planned in Early Childhood! LOL I want to use the
end of the day for a short learning activity but it is proving difficult. Hunter's worst part of
the day is starting at 2:00 so it gets chaotic and my ideas go right out the window. I am
going to have my teaching assistant implement the plan if I am unable to because of
working with Hunter. He is supposed to be getting a personal care aide within the next
few weeks. Honestly, I'm not convinced that is going to help other than the fact that
there will be another person who can be with him. I don't think PCA's are trained in
behaviors.
Reflections week 5
This past week I worked with the children on name writing. About half of the children
were able to form letters. The other half just made marks on the paper. I am going to
work more on pencil grip and beginning writing skills in the upcoming weeks.
We did a counting lesson, the children had to use one to one correspondence to count
to ten. Almost all children were able to verbally count but not all children were able to
count each object. I assisted those children by moving their finger to each object as they
counted.
We are still working on transitions, lines are still an issue but I started using a poem the
says; "My arms are hanging by my side. I'm standing straight and tall. I'm looking
straight ahead of me. I'm ready for the hall" It seems to help somewhat.
My positive behavior charts are going well, I need to be more intentional in their use.
Some days just get away from me and when things are chaotic it slips my mind to give
the rewards. Hunter has been very challenging this week so I have focused on him a
lot. I can be very frustrating because I feel like I can not form those connections with the
other children, but I am doing my best to engage the others as much as I can in the
moments of calm in the room.
Next week I am implementing my Unit Plan. I have everything done I just have to add
the IEP's.
Reflections week 6

This week went well. We did a lot of work with shapes and colors. The children just
absolutely love painting! I need to spice up the art center because if there isn't paint
available they don't really go to the art center. I put a few new manipulatives in the
math/science center; tessellations and a set of magnetic shapes that go together to
form 3 dimensional shapes. The kids absolutely love these magnetic shapes so much
that they are fighting over them. LOL
Things with Hunter are about the same. I sent him home on Thursday with a fever and
he was unable to come on Friday. It was amazing how different the classroom was
without him there, the children were more relaxed as well as the staff. We are still
waiting for an aide to be assigned to him, I'm hoping that happens fairly quickly. I am
also waiting for the IU8 to evaluate him.
I am getting ready to start the Tree Study. I usually do this study at this time of year, I
think it's perfect with Autumn and the leaves changing. The children really seem to
enjoy this study. I also think it's perfect to get the families involved with it by suggesting
they go on nature walks and exploring their neighborhood with their child.