Reflections of a Preschool Teacher:
Term 2 Weeks 1 to 4 April 20th to May 10th
Background: I'm contracted to a preschool for 2 terms. I knew going in they were in the middle of Assessment and Rating.
Where do I begin!? I’m happy to be back in a familiar space with a welcoming team. It’s been a really nice change to my contract last year. I loved some of my colleagues, but honestly the assholes really made going to work with a smile upon my face difficult.
I’m keen to dip my toes back in the preschool pond and create some beautiful learning spaces for the children. I look forward to following their interests as the vehicles of their learning. And I look forward to being creative and making resources on a tight budget.
A short term maternity leave position requires some finesse. I don’t want to be “that teacher” who takes over an entire room but I also have to work with the children and the team to create innovative curriculum and a workable space for this group of children.
So, I’m being cognisant of any changes I'm making and I'm having conversations with my colleagues so they understand the why of what I'm doing. I’m currently making little resourcing adjustments to the play spaces without any big changes for now as I want to respect the previous children/educator experience, but also support the learning and interests of the children. I am also making sure I speak with my co-teacher along the way, especially in regards to the verandas and outdoor spaces that we share. Again I don't want to be "that" teacher.
It's really been so refreshing NOT working with passive aggressive and territorial assholes.
My biggest focus is relationships relationships relationships! I need to get to know the children and they need to know, like, and trust me in order to feel safe to learn alongside me. The same goes for the parents and my colleagues. I want to have honest relationships with everyone, and this will take some time. As I get to know the children and understand them, I’ll be able to better assist them to grow within our space.
Nature Science & Discovery Table
We are going to revamp the science and discovery table. I had a couple of my students join me and we did some google research on the computer to see what types of resources we could add to our space and came up with some discovery bottles, magnets. I have found some timers in the storeroom as well as a broken globe. The globe has now been repaired and I’ve added it in. We had been looking at the map of the world, and the globe is an extension of this. Later on we'll play with Google Maps and Google Earth.
The table will also be a home for our Spiny Leaf Stick Insect. This will also be a way for us to show their life-cycle as well as include some of the insect discoveries we’ve been making outside in our garden. The table is a bit too dark for us to be growing seeds, but we can maybe set up a space outside on the veranda or near the veggie gardens to continue this.
I’ve gathered some spider plants from my garden which we have popped into a bowl of water. I was thinking that we could grow one in some water, and we could plant another in some soil and over time see how the two go and perhaps compare their growth in the two mediums?
Spider plants are perfect safe indoor plants for children. They are very resilient and forgiving as well. I am also looking at bringing some Swedish Ivy from home and growing this with the children. Both plants are safe for children to use and handle.
We ended up adding a small shelf to the top of the table in our discovery area so we can go up a bit and include more resources. The notice board above is where we will include some small educational posters, document some of our work for the children, our webs, our discoveries and research, so that educators and families will be able to see some of the ideas we’re exploring.
Play Dough Table
I have moved the play dough table to the front wall of the preschool room where the covered trolley and small manipulatives had been. The reason I’ve done this is because I want the children to be able to exercise agency and make choices around the tools they need for their dough work. Previously they had rollers, coloured dough and a handfull of cutters. This kind of resourcing tells children they should roll the dough and cut out some shapes. Play dough can be so much more than that. I will be using the existing materials, but also adding in the natural elements that the children have been showing so much interest in.
Our mentor visited from Management and I was sharing our space with her and some of the changes we’d made and our decisions behind these changes. She’d suggested that we use the trolley for art supplies to support the painting space as well as the play dough space. We have another shelf that I had been wondering how to resource, so we’ll transition the play dough tools to that shelf, and then resource the trolley to support both dough play and painting. I’d also explained that we were going to be working towards exploring multi-media artwork in a few weeks once the children are confident painters.
Painting Table
I wanted the children to have independent daily access to painting. I found that this was such a successful space in my old preschool classroom and I want to make this part of our classroom here. So we have moved the play dough space to make way for a larger table for two to paint. We will use small fine brushes and we’ll start out with the water colour palettes. I am going to work on finding some small table easels or looking at how we can make our own.
Children benefit from painting on a flat surface, but they also benefit from painting at different angles. I'll have to see what I can come up with on a budget! Or what I can make myself using cardboard.
Writing + Drawing Table
I usually like to have my drawing and writing spaces separated but they are also so very much related so using the space we have, I am going to have them together in the same space.
To support the children’s literacy development, I have written two signs that say “What can I write?” and “What can I draw?” I’ve used the previous teacher’s signs she had written with the children and placed that above the space.
I’ve found an Auslan alphabet that I thought would be a fabulous addition to our space. I’ve also included an Arabic alphabet. I will also be adding in English signage and resources to the pace to support the children’s interest in writing and to continue their journey with written language. The resources are available if the children would like to engage with them, otherwise they can draw and drive their own ideas.
Block Area
Block area is working well as it is. The imagery and quotes are similar to what I have done in the past and what I probably would have done in this space. The inspiration cards are a nice touch too! I’ll see how this space goes over the next few weeks and we may add some elements to it … I’m thinking some loose parts in baskets.
Veranda
I’ve moved the tables to the far end so they line up. This gave us space to move our chairs and create a lounge area with a coffee table. The children can access a basket of books or simply sit and chill. It's near the garden so it’s a lovely outlook.
The tables have had duplo in two large containers either side on the ground which frees up the table space for building and playing. While I love having baskets of resources, I
I’ve actually moved a shelf from my room to the veranda as we simply had too many shelves in our space. This means we can resource our outdoor small world play space and the writing area outside a bit better. But this is still a work in progress.
Crunch n’ Sip
In term 1 the children were introduced to Crunch n Sip and I was so glad to hear that this was part of the program. In my last preschool service children didn’t eat until 11 and I felt that was such a long wait, especially for those children who either don’t have breakfast or have it early in the morning. I had tried to introduce crunch n sip at the old preschool but I was told I couldn't do anything differently and I was shot down. That pretty much summed up a lot of my suggestions at the "old place". So when I saw we had crunch and sip in this space I was stoked.
The children are transitioning well to having a progressive crunch and sip, and the play is not interrupted. They come and go as they need. They are washing their hands independently without any if much reminding to do so, finding their own containers and eating their fruit and veggies. It’s been a wonderful opportunity to have discussions about different types of fruits, personal likes and dislikes.
Music
I love music from around the world and to be honest I’m not a huge fan of children’s music. It annoys the crap out of me. Ridiculous I know. So if I’m playing music for dancing or possibly during our transitions to and from preschool, I like to choose music from around the world such as something from Putumayo. They also have children’s albums that are fantastic as well.
I’ll be interested to see how the children respond to different types of music and we can then explore movement and dance and see where this takes us! We have a portable bluetooth speaker and we've been playing some music outside for the children and its been a great use of our stage and grassy area.
Indoor/Outdoor
We thought we’d re-introduce an indoor/outdoor program. The reasoning behind this is that children will be able to make choices and seek learning spaces that suit their style of learning. It also means we aren’t excluding children from connecting with their peers across both groups. Two of our students prefer to be outside are able to make this decision around their play. We talked about how to best implement this between both rooms in the best interests of the children and the educators.
We are going to alternate daily - so one day our room will be open and on another day, the other Room will be open. This way the children have an opportunity to play in both spaces, make choices around where they play and who they play with.
It also gives us a chance to work within our own rooms with our students. It’s also an opportunity for us to work across teams. When I’m inside/outside, if the numbers permit, the other assistant will join me, and vise versa. This gives the children familiar educators from both rooms and it means we can work on the children’s individual plans collectively and holistically.
As we've implemented the indoor/outdoor plan, and it actually flowed quite well.
Miss GiGi
Preschool Teacher
