After about 7 weeks of sessions with The Family Learning Center, I’ve found that I have developed a fond connection to the preschool students as well a better understanding of what a preschool means for the kids, in regards to what they are learning in the time they attend. I’ve noticed a change of my own perspective, from showing up and trying things out a little blindly, to actually seeing what goes into a daily session for the couple of hours that I observe and participate with the kids. I see that these children are receiving constant reminders of remembering the days of the week, learning how to count, introducing new foods, participating in joint activities with adults and peers, and each day expanding their semantic lexicons.
When I come to the preschool, the children are all sitting around tables enjoying their one o’clock snack time. I believe that this practice is a great introduction into the kid’s lives for developing functional eating habits and introducing new ideas about health and balanced snacks/foods. I like to ask questions about the kids’ snacks, especially when they are having trail mix, I ask if they know what kind of ingredients are in the snack, “Do you like the raisins? Or the cashews? What kind of nut is this? A peanut?” After snack I was given the position of being in charge of making sure all of the class brushes their teeth, another way of teaching and practicing personal hygiene outside of the home. After that we all participate in games before the whole class meets up in a circle for song time. I try my best to mix up my one on one interactions with all of the kids equally, I also notice that a lot of the girls are draw n to me and want to take my hand and say “Follow me, let’s play!”
As I mentioned earlier, every day the preschoolers practice with learning about the days of the week and counting, along with the basic skill of checking on the weather. Usually Manuela leads the kiddos as we all sit down together as a group and count the days of the week and name out the current day of the week in English and Spanish. One selected student gets the honor of running to the window to report to everyone what the weather is like that day. I find that this is a good practice for the age group of these kids because I know that the person who is going to check on the window must feel special in that they were the chosen one. I think it’s a classic way to teach individualism and brings a sense of community and value that each kid can bring to the group.
Lately Mona’s class has been participating in a lot of new activities! I mentioned earlier that they are introducing new foods. Mona uses the book about unusual foods that are good for everyone to know, so far the class has been able to try Gouda cheese and daikon radishes. Mona tells the kids that they should tell their parents next time they ask what kind of cheese to buy, to go gourmet and buy gouda. I am really learning that teaching variety of all things at a young age is good for a versatile palate as the kids get older and become independent with their own style and methods of cooking. We have also been playing with more hands on activities like dipping hands in water to play with plastic fish as well as blowing up balloons and learning how to make them float over a fan.
The preschool is so much fun and all the kids are little rays of sunshine; it’s awesome to observe each of their personalities. I find that I am learning myself about what goes into running a preschool with activities and routines and how basic things are really what these kids are learning to help their growth as independent and functional adults. I love being a role model for the students and I know how important joint attention is for kids, especially at their developing age range of 4-5 years old. Reading with them and playing games one on one always seems to uncover some new sort of knowledge each and every session.
