All of Me

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Connections to Play

The two quotes that I wanted to put in this section are:

Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning. Fred Rogers

Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a neccesity. Kay Redfield Jamison

Children's Play Magazine. (n.d). Quotes about play and learning. Retrieved from:http://www.childsplaymagazine.com/Quotes/index.htm

As a child, I viewed play as a way to create, imagine and pretend. I remember making pies out of mud and eating them. I know I got awfully dirty, but I don't remember my mom being angry or restricting my play. I chose a picture of mud for that reason because it is open ended. I had choices, I felt free to use the materials and equipment in and outside like I desired. I also remember planting watermelon seeds along our house without the direct instruction from an adult, I watered them and watched the seed bud and grow a small sized watermelon. Then, when it died I tried to rationalize why that he did not grow to its greatest potential. I felt like a little scientist.That is how children should feel as they play. But, nowadays, children are so teacher directed that they are not given the opportunity to create, explore, and discover. In addition, as a child I would play for hours. These children are not given ample time to play, run, jump, in unrestrictive environments like outdoors. They need that exercise for their developing bodies. That is why I included a picture of a slide. Another picture that I thought was representative of play is water because children love water. There are endless learning opportunities regarding water and its properties and how other objects and water interact.

Now as an adult, I play with my children and enjoy it. It still makes me feel free. Some of my favorite play activities as an adult is swinging on the swings and coloring or drawing.        


 Www.newportffa.com

 www.civileats.com

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Saturday, July 13, 2013

Relationship Reflection


Relationships are important for me because they help to define who I am as a person by their associations. In specific, the pictures that I have uploaded show a few of the positive relationships in my life. Another partnership/relationship that is not listed is the one that I have with my co-teacher, Mrs. Ola. I absolutely love this lady and she is heaven sent. In my relationship with my children, they help me to understand the importance of being a mother. Although, they are young we participate in give and take exchanges which helps our relationship to develop. We often have “cuddle time” and I spend time with them one on one so that I can develop my relationship with them. In addition, my relationship with them has helped me to learn to be selfless they are so important to me and equally important is making sure I “pour into them,” so that they get what they need to be successful in life, overall. With my mom, she is very supportive and encouraging. She motivated me to finish my undergraduate degree and inspired me to continue to pursue my Masters degree. We spend a lot of time being together in which she gives me insights and wisdom about life experiences. In our relationship, we contribute to each other’s lives in positive ways through spending time, praying with each other, being open and through communication. We are very close. With my sister, we just seem to think alike. We finish each other’s sentences and we just know each other. We also have spent a lot of time talking and being together. Over the years, my sister and I have supported each other and walked side by side through some of the most difficult and happy times in our lives. As a result, we have become extremely close because of the many experiences we have shared and she knows so of the most intimate details of my life. With my dad, he used to be my biggest critic. But, through the years, he has shown me that he has my best interest at heart. We spend time through going on daughter and father dates. We communicate with each other often and as a result we have become close over the years. As I have mentioned my family and I are very tight knit and through the years, our individual relationships have grown closer through: a mutual understanding of each other, open communication and through spending time getting to know one another. Last, but not least, I have just met my co worker, Mrs. Ola. But, it felt like I have known her for years. I have never worked with someone that I truly considered a good partner. We are in a “school marriage”, I always joke with her saying that are partnership is a marriage. We have an open communication line. Communication is the key to any positive/healthy relationship. We work well together, she allows me to incorporate my ideas within the classroom and I also respect and incorporate her ideas as well. We have a mutual respect for each other, despite the obvious age difference. We see are partnership as effective because of this difference and recognize that we can both enhance our learning environment with our varied experiences and knowledge. She has had many years of experience in the educational field (almost 30 years) and because I am new to the field we understand that we can learn from each other and we do. In addition, our ideas regarding the goals for our classroom are on one accord as well. Additionally, this relationship is one of the partnerships that could positive affect my work as an early childhood professional. It has changed my view about working as a team prior to working with my co teacher. I had never had a partner that I enjoyed working with or worked with so well. I believe my experience with her will allow me to grow as an educator to become effective in the classroom because she allows me to be creative and just be myself in the classroom.