Fast Moving!

Wow when thinking about this week of service I had some difficulties. Thinking back to Monday and Tuesday is a bit challenging, I had meant to get this down earlier and one thing after another seems to always slow me down a bit.

Okay here goes Monday morning I was up pretty early to get to PUSH and get a physical, TB test and a flu shot too. When my mother asked if I passed my physical I just told her that I could still touch my toes, which is always a plus. After getting that I had a bit a break and before class, so naturally I went and got Starbucks. Later that day I went to the daycare to help out. It was really nice out and the kid had a lot of fun when they got to play outside.

On Tuesday I was there during free play. This week’s theme was the zoo. The teachers are so creative when making these themes. They had paper cutouts of animals that “fenced in.” There was paper food to feed them also. On the floor there was a zoo carpet piece and plenty of animal piece for the children to play pretend with. This day they put hidden jewels in the sand table that the kids could search for. During free time there is also art projects, writing projects, puzzles, and books. 

On Thursday I went back to PUSH to get my TB test checked and to get my physical form finished up. After getting both of those I went and turned them into the daycare.

I need to email my supervisor because I will not have my Monday and Tuesday hours this week. I might go in later in the week to make those hours up.

I am still enjoying the daycare very much and I feel relieved that I am finally done with all of the paperwork!

Almost All Set

My supervisor wanted me to make a schedule of when to come in so that she knew when she needed other help. I said I would pick two days each week. Sometimes I can do more than that but I don’t want to commit to more than I can handle. So right now I am going in on Monday’s and Tuesday’s, which will be three and a half hours a week. Then if I ever have extra time and want to stop in that’s fine too.

Last week was pretty fun. I know most all of the children’s names now. It is much easier to communicate with them if you have a name. On Mayday’s I am there when they are outside playing. They have a sandbox, climbing/slide area and a kitchen. Also, there are plenty of wagons, trikes and things to push around. The playground is new but has a few safety problems, so the children have to be watched pretty closely.

On Tuesday the kids had a few special guests. They got to go into a playroom area and learn to play soccer. Being so young it wasn’t actual soccer but they got a few basics, like kicking and stopping the ball. They each got to make a goal at the end also. Most of them really enjoyed it and participated in the games.

Tomorrow morning I have to get up insanely early (I am not a morning person.) to be at PUSH by 8:15. I am going to get my TB test and physical. Hopefully completing all of the requirements to keep volunteering.  I am not sure exactly how they do a TB test but I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.

Excited to see the kids this week for what I’m sure will be another adventure. I’ll let you all know how it goes!

A Tad Annoyed

I started at the daycare last week. The first day I was given a bunch of paperwork to fill out and told I needed to get a drug test. Then I was given a swipe card so I could easily get into the room that I am helping in. 


I went in to the two and a half to four year old's room. I got to see large group time where the children were learning about the sense of smell. They smelled different things such as lemons, baby powder and syrup. They had snack time and one more group meeting. Then I helped with the outside playtime.


On Tuesday, I was there during free play, which happens when the children first come at 1:15pm. I helped watch the water table. The teacher's had prepared an activity with different sizes of ice blocks. The ice had holes drilled into it and the children were given watered down food dye and tiny medicine droppers. They could put the dye on the ice and in the holes to see the different colors it turned. 


I also went on Thursday. To help with leaning about different senses they had a flower shop set up in the class room. Also, during group time they had the owner of a real flower shop com in a talk to the children about the different colors, smells, and feels of the flowers. 


This week I went only on Tuesday. I was also there during free play. This week the flower shop was turned into a train station. The study idea was about different types of transportation. 


Today I went into the daycare to turn in all of my paper work and form from the drug test in. The secretary took them back to the office them came back out and said "okay the only things we need from you now are a physical and a TB test." I was surprised to hear this because I was not told this before. So right now I am a little annoyed not just because of the seemingly crazy amounts of things to prepare for this. Also, the fact that they didn't tell me everything. 

Setting Up

Where to start?

When I heard that were in a class with service learning I was a little skeptical then quickly grew to like the idea. I was worried about the time issue at first, but when broken up into two or three hours a week it doesn't sound nearly as bad. I don't consider myself a very good writer, but doing service work - that I can do. I really like that this class is not just a read this book (that has nothing to with you and you will hate it) and then write a paper on it (that you also don't know or care anything about). So far we have had discussions about things that matter or are interesting.

Also, we got to pick our own places to volunteer at, something that interests us even. CRAZY IDEA! I am an Elementary Education major so when I heard about this project I really hoped that I would be able to work with children. Very luckily, I realized that right down from my dorm is a Children's Learning Center. I went in and introduced myself and the project for class. The people there were very helpful and excited from the beginning. I got contact info and started emailing. They wanted to make sure that what I was helping with was something that I was interested in.

At first I was going to work in one room that focuses on reading projects. The times for that didn't end up working with my schedule. At the moment I am going to start there tomorrow afternoon. I will be working in the two and a half to four year old room.

I titled my blog Hand Prints for a few reasons. On being children have hand prints everywhere whether its the window, an art project or the table covered in food. Hand prints symbolize leaving a mark on something. Not only do I want to leave my own hand prints on the world, I want to teach children to leave their marks also.