As a class this past week we have spent our time preparing for our first Early Childhood Education practicum, which starts on the 16th of January.
Implementing Activities
It has been a week of excitement over finally getting to go out into the field and put all that we’ve learned into practice but also a bit bittersweet as this was our last week in class all together. This week we learned all of our assignments that we will need to implement, talked about what is expected of us as practicum students and discussed our thoughts and fears about going out in the field.
Over the course of the next month we will be implementing 13 activities in the areas of Math, Science, Social Studies, Art and Movement and will present four circle times to the children at our practicum centers. We have spent the last ten months creating resources that we will be able to use to implement activities in the areas mentioned above.
Other things we need to consider when planning all of the activities we are going to do with the children is the age of the children, their individual developmental needs and the themes that our centres have for that week or month.
My first practicum is at a preschool and they have both a 3-year-old class and a 4-year-old class. My personal experience is from working in a childcare centre with combined ages of 2.5 to 5 years old so it will be a fresh new experience working with children in a class all of the same age. The themes at the preschool this month are Bears for the 3’s and Space for the 4’s and I am really looking forward to expanding my knowledge on these subjects and planning some fun, interactive activities around theses themes.
Amidst Fear, Be Positive!
As appealing as the thought of going out on practicum is, I also have some fears as I anticipate the next month ahead.
Primarily these are: will the staff like me and will I be able to meet their expectations? Will the children find my activities fun and exciting? And will I be able to get everything I need to get done and do it well? We talked a bit about it in class and the best way we came up with to overcome these fears is simply to be positive. I’m hoping that as long as I go into this being positive and excited about everything I’m doing and learning both the staff and the children will feed off that as well. Overall I am hoping for the best possible outcome and will post later on my experiences out in the field!
Check out a video of Early Childhood Educators career.
