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In after-school it’s just a continuation from yesterday. Counting and gluing.

In after-school today I sent home the polar bear art and started on the name rocket ship project. I’m really excited to see which kids can recognize what letters are in their names. But we’re just starting with counting how many letters they’ll need.

Ways in which I strategize to solve problems, I understand the child. Theories in family science are helpful to this because I am able to understand how and why the child might be acting a certain way. I’ve found that some people who don’t necessarily have that background knowledge of kids don’t often understand children and how they interact with the world around them. Not only do I have a foundation of knowledge, but I also have the benefit of knowing each child’s personality. I am to strategize by accessing the situation and children involved before I approach and decipher what is the best course of action. It helps to understand where that child is developmentally and therefore what is the best solution. A brief example, if someone is crying, would be first assessing whether the child is hurt or just angry. Then, who else is around them and see if I can figure out what happened on my own? I then approach the child and ask them what happened. I usually ask a series of questions including; are you hurt? What happened? Are you hurt or just upset? Etc. Then, depending on their responses and the situation, I solve it.

Today I had mid-day group again and started putting out the new work. I got to be a part of picking out the work for our math shelf. This includes work that uses manipulatives to count and identify numbers. I was able to start a new project in the after-school program today. My goal is to get the kids to ‘write’ their names. 
(the one on the top left was my example I showed them)

I spent a lot of the day preparing for the new month coming up next week. We take down all the art and prepare new name tags because we have a new student in our class starting next week. I had mid-day group. I’ve also been asked to put together a class collage. (it’s hard to describe but there’ll most definitely be a picture when I’m done). After school, I made two more little tike cars. 

I did mid-day group today. A bilingual student brought a book in Spanish for his sharing so that was interesting to try and read to the class. Then at the end of the day, I was tasked with making little tike cars for the playground. This is normally the supervisor’s job. I built one.

I lead mid-day group. We had a lot of packages arrive today. There’s a printed invoice and I went through and opened and put all the supplies for the school away and made sure we received everything. We were low on paper plates, paper towels, cleaners, utensils, and trash bags. We also received little tike cars and some requested art supplies. I also stayed for the after-school program today. The kids worked on adding features to their polar bears.

Today was my first day being able to start working with the after-school kids. I did mid-day group. In this group we do phonics for the current letter we are working on. Right now our letter is “n.” In our after-school program today I had a winter-themed art project planned. I got the kids to paint with a fork (in hopes of mimicking fur). They were all pretty interested in the fact that they weren’t using a paintbrush.

A specific way that I strategized to solve a problem this week was by keeping calm when dealing with my boss. I was told that I would be able to do all these tasks and things. I ended up not being able to do those things due to her leaving me out and simply not getting back to me. I’m extremely frustrated and worried about getting my hours, but, the best thing to do is not worry about and focus on what I can get done. Next time I see her, I should advocate for myself and make sure to take her up on what she told me I could do.

We didn’t have a sharing person today, but we still had group. Later on in the day, I helped go through the practical life work for the next month. Practical life work is things like pouring, scooping, sweeping, and etc. It’s probably the kids’ favorite work.