The Potty Situation

For any young child, learning to use the potty can be tough. As a young lady, I hate having to use the bathroom because there is almost always a line to wait in. As a little boy, using the bathroom can be worse than having to wait in line.

Some little boys are taught to the use the bathroom by sitting down and once they master that they are allowed to try it standing up. Today at work, one of the children went to the bathroom standing up for the first time at school. He has been practicing at home but his parents wanted to wait for him to do it at school until he was a pro. He was so excited to go this morning but it did not end the way he had planned. I guess since the toilet is smaller that meant that he had a smaller target which was hard for him to make. He ended up peeing all over the place and was not very happy about it. I thought it was so cute and could not help but giggle! A couple of the other teachers in the room did not feel the same. They were upset that he had made a mess and made him clean it up all by himself.

Reacting the way that the other teachers did can have a negative influence on his confidence and self-esteem. He may be hesitant to go to the bathroom standing up at school again. I was glad that he was excited about what he was able to do and for trying it at school, I just with the situation was handled differently.

– The Assistant Teacher

Happy Mother’s Day!

Here are some adorable Mother’s Day videos that I found on YouTube! I hope everyone enjoyed this beautiful day with Mommy!

She is precious!

Imagine how awesome it would be to see this happen at the toy store…

I saved the best for last 🙂

Happy Mother’s Day!

 – The Assistant Teacher

Another Great Teacher Blog!

I have just stumbled upon an amazing teacher blog that I could not keep to myself! The teacher, Ms. Cassidy, chose to use her blog to share what her students have been working on throughout the year. She specifically discusses her students and even includes pictures which I’m sure she has received permission for. As a teacher, I would enjoy having a blog to track progress of my students and I plan to keep one for my classroom in the near future when I am a lead teacher. For students and parents, I bet they love being able to see all of the work they have done at school. Including the children in the blog is a great way to introduce them to new media in an educational way. Check out Ms. Cassidy and her students by clicking on the link below.

http://mscassidysclass.edublogs.org/

The Very Sleepy Toddlers

Here are a few pictures that I found to sum up my day with the very sleepy toddlers. No matter where they were or what they were doing, they just kept falling asleep!

Some of the kids fell asleep outside on the playground,

while going potty,

while picking out toys,

and even during lunch!

Until it was nap time and they looked like this…

They all must have decided that they had enough sleep from power napping; if only I could have napped instead!

 – The Assistant Teacher

Children with Disabilities

For one of my college courses, I read the book that is shown above. Each week we were assigned to read a different section which was discussed in small groups during class. Before reading this book, my perspective of teaching and working with families and their children with disabilities was pretty closed minded. I had never truly been interested in teaching children with disabilities due to all of the extra work and challenges that come with the children.

Reading this book has positively influenced my perspective on the topic. My Baby Rides the Short Bus if filled with short stories written my parents of children with disabilities. Each parent shares his or her perspective of what it is like to raise a child with disabilities while still having to meet the needs of the rest of the family. The stories that these parents share has opened my eyes to not only the challenges that the parents experience, but more importantly the rewards. From now on, I will use the personal experiences in the book while working with parents of children with and without disabilities. Knowing what I know now will allow me to be more understanding and supportive of parents and families of my students.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon; check out the customer reviews to see how other people felt about this inspirational book. I hope my readers have a chance to pick the book up because once they do, I know it will be hard to put it down.

http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Rides-Short-Bus-Disabilities/dp/1604861096/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430875569&sr=1-1&keywords=my+baby+rides+the+short+bus

 – The Assistant Teacher

April Showers Bring May Flowers…and Worms

As a teacher, I believe in turning any experience with children into a learning opportunity and I do not let the weather hold me back. On rainy days, at the school I am teaching at now, most teachers chose to keep their children inside all day even if it was only raining in the morning. Although I am new to the school, I decided to take a risk and bring my children outside in the afternoon after it had been raining for a few hours before lunch.

Since the jungle gym was wet and slippery, I asked the group of kindergarteners to stay on the concrete. This request brought many confused faces, the children were unsure of what to do and how to play. Since it had rained all morning, there were worms all over the ground. After watching the children look at each other unsure of what to do next, I picked up a worm. A few of the girls and even a couple of the boys cringed and shrieked when they saw me playing with the worm. All of the children came over to see what was going to happen next.

It only took the children about ten minutes of staring at me like I was crazy until they started playing themselves. For the next hour and a half, the children touched, picked up, observed, and played with worms. Some of the children were trying to figure out which worm was the longest. Since the worms were wiggly and did not straighten out, the children had to determine the best way to do this. Other children closely observed worms burrowing into the ground. The children discussed why they thought they were doing that and how they made their way into the dirt. Another group of children made a house for the worms out of grass, leaves, sticks, and anything else they could find to use as a part of the worm house.

When we went back inside, one of the other teachers told me I was crazy for taking the children outside. She was worried that the children were covered in mud and water. When she saw that they weren’t, she asked the children what we were doing outside. The children could not stop talking about everything they did and discovered about the worms. I was so glad that I was able the give the children a fun, unplanned learning experience that we could all share together. Now every time they go outside, they hunt for worms and use their creativity to discover even more about nature and worms.

Here is a link to a short article about why letting children play with worms is so great! http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2012/08/whats-so-great-about-worms.html

 – The Assistant Teacher

Tuesday’s Happenings

Today, after exercising, we sat down and talked about our heart beats. The children and I placed our hand over our heart and discussed what it meant when your heart was beating. We described our hearts as beating fast since we had just exercised. Some of the children said they could not feel their heart beat so they felt mine instead. One little boy said he could not feel mine either and then he asked, “Is it under these?” While he asked, he started to poke at my upper chest overtop of my sweater. One little girl laughed and said, “Hey! Those are not for boys, they are just for girls!”

Whenever I am in the infant room, I am always curious as to what…gifts I will receive in their diapers. Luckily, I made it out without having to change anything stinky, which is very rare! After being in the infant room, I spent the rest of the afternoon with the young preschoolers. All of these children are potty trained so I never really worry about any bathroom issues in there. Unfortunately, I had to wipe a very very stinky bottom. After finishing my dirty job, the little girl said, “Thank you so much for wiping my butt, I bet that was VERY disgusting!” I can honestly say that I appreciated the thanks since I can never get that from the infants.

Later in the afternoon, one girl said, “The boys be talkin’ like they fightin’ ova me cause they pullin’ my hair!” Although she was upset about the hair pulling, she was glad to have two boys after her. It turns out, the boy only wanted to play with her braids. Once the girl had enough of them pulling on her hair, I found the boys trying to braid the hair of one of the dolls.

I hope this added a little bit of laughter to your rainy Tuesday like it did to mine!

– The Assistant Teacher

Just Too Good

This post is different than what most of the others will be, but it’s just too good to not to share.

I have been working with a group of children with disabilities for a little over a month now. I visit the classroom twice a week and whenever I am there, there is a certified physical therapist to support one of the little boys. Today, the physical therapist was not there…this is my chance! Since I had not had much time to talk to him before, it was bothering me that I had not yet connected with this child because I know all of the other children so well.

This morning when he came in, I thought I could use his breakfast to motivate him to practice holding himself up on his walker. It took a few minutes, but right after he stood up he started shaking his hips. For about ten minutes, we danced, laughed, and smiled together. Before I knew it, a group of the other children in the class were dancing with us and sharing this influential moment with us. Everyone was so happy and proud of what he had accomplished; I even had to remind him that he still had to eat his breakfast.

I could not have been more pleased with my first true interaction with this child. Throughout the day, he came to me many times for a hug or a smile or even just to touch my hand. The feeling I get whenever I have a break-through with a child I have a tough time connecting with, is one of the reasons why I am so passionate about my career in teaching and working with young children. Whether I am teaching a child how to read, modeling basic communication skills, or even just tying a shoe; I know I am making a difference in that child’s life.

Today, I will leave you with a TED talk by the very inspirational, Rita Pierson. Her words paint a perfect picture of my professional philosophy on the importance of establishing positive teacher-student relationships.

Stay happy!

– The Assistant Teacher

Happy Monday!

Coming back on a Monday after the weekend is always exciting, you never really what is going to happen. Some Mondays even feel like the first day of school, like the kids have forgotten everything they have been practicing all year after being home for just two days. To most teachers, Monday is known as the least favorite day of the week; but to me, Monday is the most entertaining. Here are a few of the great things that I experienced today…

Just as I was about to start reading a book (after having already read two) I was warned that the child that was sitting on my lap tends to have accidents. Apparently he only sits on people’s lap when he has to go to the bathroom because he doesn’t like using the actual toilet. Right as I was about to lift him off of my lap, he tooted…let one rip, cut the cheese. I had to laugh, the kids did too. I can honestly say I was pleased with the result, I would have much rather had that than be soaked for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile in the bathroom…one of the other children had just peed, but unfortunately only about a third of it landed in the toilet. The rest was either on his clothes or on the floor. Since he somehow managed to get pee on his shirt and his pants, she had to change all of this clothes. Before she had time to put his clean clothes on, he was ‘inch worming’ on the bathroom floor.

One of biters, who I’ve so appropriately named Charlie…well that’s all I really need to say here. Unfortunately none of the other kids are British, but this is what goes on in my head every time…

Towards the end of the day, I was singing songs with the children who had not been picked up yet. After about the fifth verse of “The Wheels on the Bus”, it was time to sing about the Momma. While we were singing, “Shhh, shhh, shhh. Shhh, shhh, shhh.” and holding our finger below our nose to show the ‘shhh-ing’ motion, one of the children started to pick her nose. Whatever she found must have been good because she stopped singing and had her finger up her nose until her dad came to pick her up.

I hope your Monday was enjoyable as mine!

– The Assistant Teacher

Hello World!

Before I get started, I want to introduce myself. I am a junior in the Early Childhood Education program at the University of Delaware. Between my field placements, working at a preschool and babysitting, I spend A LOT of time with children.

Although early education is important because it prepares children for the world by teaching a wide variety of new skills, there are also many behind the scenes stories that people never hear. Throughout the day, children say and do unexpected, hilarious things. As a young teacher, I hope to give you a fresh and possibly slightly inappropriate perspective of my life as an assistant teacher.

You may have heard of one of the biggest tragedies in the world of education…”the burnout”. Unfortunately, I have observed and worked with many teachers, young and old, that have experienced this horrible disease. It’s usually easy to spot a burnout teacher because he/she usually has little patience with the children, doesn’t get along with coworkers, lacks motivation and enthusiasm toward their job, and doesn’t communicate with families. Click the link below to find out if you’re experiencing symptoms of “the burnout”.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teacher-burnout-warning-signs-maurice-elias

My plan is to help the burnouts remember why they fell in love with teaching and working with children. The little things that you can chose to let frustrate you or make you laugh, can make or break your day. Especially when working with young children, I have to remember to choose my battles. Children do many things unintentionally that you can look at positively or use as another reason to put the kid in time out; which you know you shouldn’t be doing even if it’s because he just won’t shut up!

If you are unsure about wanting to pursue a career in education or with children, I hope my blog will help you see how entertaining work in this field can be. It is a lot of hard work and dedication to want to be the best teacher you can be for your students. If you spend more time appreciating the little things children do without even realizing, rather than freaking out at them just for being kids, you can enjoy your day with much less stress.

The stories I am going to share are real and have either happened at my field placement, the preschool I work at, a babysitting job, or may even just be something I saw a child do at the grocery store or walking down the street. In order to protect confidentiality, I will use fake names for the children and adults I choose to write about.

Enjoy!

– The Assistant Teacher