New Adventures

Well, the Spring semester has come to an end, and everyone is home celebrating a short break before summer classes begin. Summer classes bring new challenges and adventures as well as new kiddos to serve. Several of us will continue to work in the preschool as volunteers during this summer, but we will also be working with little ones in the Parent Infant Program. I'm glad we get the opportunity to work with kids of all ages throughout our Masters program. I am still not sure what age I would like to work with when I graduate. I have had so much fun in the preschool, but I have also toyed around with the idea of working with older kids. I'm sure time (and experience) will tell.

This break has definitely been much needed. As the semester was winding down it became clear that everyone needed a few days away from school. Everyone said graduate school was going to be hard, but I didn't anticipate the emotional toll it would take. From the stress of classes, work, and relationships with classmates to the feeling of being a fish out of water, expected to do things I have never done before, this semester definitely tested my spirit. I am feeling much better after spending a week at home with my family.

One night, as I was venting to my husband, he asked me, "Do you even remember why you decided to do this?" I stopped and thought about that for a second, and 7 little faces came to mind. Yes, I know exactly why I decided to do this, because I love those kids, and I want to be the best student I can be so that someday I will be the best educator I can be.

We are halfway done with our program, and it's scary to think that in less than a year we will be in the "real world," but I know I still have a lot to learn and a lot of adventures to embark on.

Dickerson Park Zoo

After graduation, since the teacher and the graduate students weren't ready to really say goodbye to all the children for summer, we went and spent the morning at the zoo!! All the children were very excited to see the animals. There was a peacock outside of the Zoo enterance, and the children were so excited and kept wanting to touch it and chase it away. As we entered the Zoo, we were very excited to see all the zoo had to offer. We saw, wolves, monkeys, ducks, various kind of exotic birds, a bear, elephants, tigers, lions, cheetahs, deer, snakes, lizards, tortises, hippos, raccoons and giraffes... The giraffes were the animals that EVERYONE wanted to see. All the children and the graduate students had a GREAT TIME!!! I loved watching the children's faces as  they fed the various animals. It was a great way to end a fun and challenging semester.

I enjoyed almost every moment of this semester! It was very challenging, but it was also very fun! I definitely learned alot and was pushed intellectually! I am so happy that it is over...I cant believe that a year from now I will be graduating and will be starting my own career!

Preschool Graduation!!

May 6, 2010, was the preschool graduation!! Only two of the students graduated this year; it was such a great day. Tara, the teacher of the preschool, got both of them an oversized Missouri State t-shirt as thier gown, and they wore a white graduation hat. Everyone was there, the EDHH graduate students, the childrens' speech friends, the adminstators from the clinic, and of course the family and friends of the preschoolers! When Tara handed them thier diplomas, one of the children said: "Um... can I take this off? and this?" (talking about the hat and the gown) It was so cute!! Everyone laughed because it was just in the character of this child. After a small cermony, everyone went outside and released butterflies as a symbol of the children taking off and going to the next step in thier lives. SO SO CUTE!! I will miss teaching both of these students... they were precious!

One door closes as another door opens...

So, this semester is coming to an end. I think I learned more about myself this semester than I have in the past five years. It was a real test to see how I could handle stress and I'm not quite sure how I did. As for the kiddos, I will miss them, but I will get to know new ones. I absolutely know this is what I want to do for a long time because my passion for this profession has grown so much and I can't wait to see how much more it can grow. I think I'm ready for the next steps and I will tell how it is in a few months!

Lets Go Fly a Kite...

Well this week we are talking about SPRING preschool!!! Spring is in full bloom here in missouri! The last few days have been SO SO nice with the sun out and a nice warm breezee. So the wedensday preschool group thought it would be PERFECT to make kites and go out and fly them! It was a great idea! Although we had a few hiccups in morning and we got a little behind but we made it up and made kites! It did rain last night and the grass was a little too wet to go outside but that didnt stop us. Three students and the three teachers all made a kite and ran around the classroom flying them! It was so much fun!! It made the hectic morning a little bit better! After preschool, the teachers decided that we need to release some stress and we went outside and flew our kites between our classes!!

Big Bad Wolf

Last Week on Wedensday March 17 was a great day in the preschool. It was so much fun, our team had a 3 out of the box lessons and I totally thought we would need all hands on deck for classroom management. I am so happy that this time I was wrong. It went SO WELL!! All the children were able to attend and to particpate in the lessons. The topic of the week was "Little Red Riding Hood." Two of the three lesson, we took the children on a walk through the forest (i.e: down the hall that had paper trees on the wall) and the children need to find the various characters in the story. They had a great time just running up and down the hall and pointing to all the photos. During story time, I was honored to be one of the characters in the book, THE BIG BAD WOLF! I dressed up like the wolf all morning. It was so great to seethe children reaction when they noticed my tail! OMG!! if I could post photos of the children faces, I would in a heart beat! At the end of the day, three of the children had a chance to go to "grandma's house" and see who was inside. Of course, you know the story it was me: the big bad wolf. I jumped out and scared the kiddos. Not to the point of tears, they laughed and they were so happy. Needless to say that, that day I ended the day with a great big smile! I love my job!! It is so much fun to play with the kids!

Where does the time go?

It seems like everytime we are in the preschool we are rushed for time. There are so many lessons, objectives, and activities that need to get done in a day, but so little time. I'm guessing it's the same way as a classroom teacher, especially in the public schools when there is state testing to think about. It just seems like everything is so important and we have such little time with these kids before they go off to kindergarten that I don't want to leave any stone unturned. The Thursday girls are going to meet to try to discuss ways we can better manage our time, maybe then I won't feel so flustered, but I have a feeling the state of flusterness (that's a word right?) is permanent.