Today was my last day of service, and the children were kind of wound up today. When I first got there, I played with the children as usual, I helped them swing on a swing that was in the classroom and played with puzzles with them. Then it was time for gym class, the gym teacher was not here today, so the children played with various gym equipment in a sort of obstacle course. I helped Carlos shoot baskets for most of the class and he had a lot of fun, especially when he got it in. Back in the classroom, it was time for snack, there were two extra helpers in the class, since today was kind of a hard day. I sat at a table with Ronnie and Carlos and gave them their snack, Ronnie was not behaving, so the teacher took him over to her table. After snack I helped the children make "monster pudding" which corresponded with the video that they watched at the end of the day. It was too cold to go out to the play ground, so instead the children either went to the rice table, doctor station, or the computer. I helped at the computer, putting on different programs and making sure that the children took turns. After this we watched the video "Little Bear" and then I got everyone's coats and backpacks, and I took Carlos to his bus and that was the day. Today was a little hectic as many of the kids seems tried, but I really did enjoy my service and I'm really going to miss it.
A current event that goes along with my service is making education real and meaningful to the students. This is what I'm writing my final paper on, and something that I'm really interested in. Today at the end of the day, the children watched "Little Bear" and in the video Little Bear and his friends make monster pudding, and during the children's work time they made their own monster pudding. They really had fun with this, and many of them understood that it went along with their movie. This was a fun activity and a good way of relating cooking to the movie and to the students own life. It helps them work on their fine motor skills, and helps them to relate topics that they are learning from the video into their own life's. A media event that relates to my service would the use of computer. Today the children got to work on the computer for a while, they would pick which picture's and songs that they would like to see and hear on the computer and they each got about a five minute turn on the computer. This was fun, they all really enjoyed getting to go on the computer.
A theory the relates to my service is that of actions and consequences. I have observed that when the children are not behaving and they hurt themselves, the teachers tell them it is a consequence. Though this does sound harsh it does teach the children to listen and behave, because if they aren't listening, it could be dangerous and they could get hurt, such as if they are not sitting to wait their turn for the swing and then they get hit by the swing. I think that it is important for children to learn consequences.
I had a great time with my service and I am hoping to go back next semester.
