Play in Structured and Unstructured Environments

This week I went to Aldo Leopold Elementary School in a Kindgarten classroom. It was definitely not as unstructured play-based of an environment that I would have expected considering the schools history. The teacher, Nathan Knight, made a remark that made sense. He was saying the since it is a Kindergarten classroom, there needs to be a little more control over the environment just because it would be absolute chaos if there wasn't any structure. I was there during their literacy center times and I rotated from center to center. I connected with the children right away and hope to continue building the relationship with them in order to understand and observe them in a meaninful and authentic way.


During class, I really liked the video we watched that presented different environments (the country, the suburbs, and the city) and discussed the pros and cons that these environments have on child development. I liked that the movie said "Bring the children back to play", and talked about the importance of nature and play in early child development. It also made a very good point when it discussed the fact that many children are growing up in a world that is steered by the mass media.

Children are interacting with one another via text, email, facebook, and other forms of technology instead of face to face interaction; we are transforming the ability of intimate relationships for abstract ones. I, myself, grew up in the country and I was always outside interacting with nature. I feel that that has definitely benefited me in my development and can only hope that our society's children are able to get those opportunities before it is too late.

Play, PicoCrickets, and Other Thoughts...

I am still working on trying to find a compatible time with Aldo school but hope to be starting next week. If my starting date gets pushed back later I can use my time at the preschool on campus (I work 4 days out of the week) as well as reflect upon my time at West Wood Elementary (we just finished our first assessment week for tutoring for Dr. Meidl's reading class).

I really have been loving the Children's Center and continue to learn more and more each day. I have been in and out of the preschool throughout the whole school year so far and am cherishing the amount of knowledge I've gained so far. I have learned a lot about each and every one of my students as well as learning a lot about myself, my teaching techniques, my strengths, and also my weaknesses. One thing that I have had trouble with in the past that I am really starting to get a hang of is classroom management and etiquette. The children really see me as a teacher and not just a student worker anymore. At first, they would only go to Miss Bonnie and talk to her about the issues they faced or if I would try to reprimand them for something they didn't understand that they had to give me the respect that they gave Miss Bonnie. But now, I can clearly see the bond of mutual respect that we've created for one another. All of the children are growing and learning so quickly, I am so proud of each and every one of them.

The PicoCrickets were definitely a learning experience. It made me realize that it is more difficult to learn and create a functioning masterpiece in a group then as individuals; and that is just because the more people you have, the more creative ideas and opinions that you have to realize and compile together in one concise project. Communication was definitely key to success. Although our PicoCricket failed miserably as a functioning manipulative, we learned a lot about one another and about the software and technology that we can utilize in our own classroom.