2nd weekly reflection

 As this was my second week of senior project, I felt a lot more comfterable in my overall role as a TA. I was downstairs and split between the two classrooms for most of the week. Even though the kids downstairs don't do projects or worksheets, I could still find ways to interact with them, whether that were sitting on the floor and playing with them or eating snacks with them around the table. They seemed to enjoy my presence. Obviously, at the 1-2 year old, they are not as verbal as the 3-5-year-olds, so a lot of what they're trying to say is a fun guessing game. All year, the teachers have been attempting to teach them a few signs in ASL to better communicate their feelings. Most of the kids knew the sign pretty well and tended to use it during snack time. However, other signs like all done, or please, were still a work in progress. The one day I was upstairs that week is because one of the children downstairs got covid. Because that whole age group is unvaccinated, the Inn had to close the downstairs floor. All the little kids were sent home early that day, so the downstairs teachers moved up and continued with a regular schedule. We were lucky, though to have an overall hot week, so it allowed us to spend a lot of time outdoors, which the kids loved. However, the black flies love the playground, so that was the only stress of the week. Overall I loved the school and was very happy I was able to work there during such a crazy time.

1st weekly reflection

 My first week at the imagination inn is complete! This week was pretty all over the place as I was just learning how everything is run. I was mixed pretty evenly between all the rooms which was helpful in terms of learning the layout of everything, but it also caused me some stress as each room had a different daily scheduled they abided by. A lot of the morning circle was used for me learn the students name as there were a total of 50 kids give or take there daily. The morning circle was also used as a playful attempt of structure, as I believed it help the kids feels a sense more involved in the movement of the day. A lot of my time spent this week was outdoors. Even though I am only there about 4 hours a day, about an hour of it is dedicated to recess or some version of being outside, for instance a walk. This is when kids would get out the bulk of their stored up energy. This is also when a majority of the arguments would happen, either over a toy or sand being thrown or someone was pushed. This is where I would help talk out a lot of the disagreements. This helped me negative my role as being a TA, to know how much or how little I should involve myself in kids real world experiences. Even outside I found myself in the sandbox or playing catch with kids just so I can learn a little more about them everyday. Throughout the week I became more comfortable to involve myself in class actives. I would play bingo with them or in the mornings sit in their tiny chairs and join them for morning table activity. I feel like I really tried this week to allow the kids to come to me as it was their first time in a while having a new teacher in the classroom. Overall though, I am very happy with the design of my project. The faculty is very caring and always willing to help me navigate around the school. Cant wait for what next week will hold. 

day 6 at the imagination inn

 Today was a rainy day in Andover, NH, which honestly was kinda nice as it was a nice change of pace to stay indoors. This time also gave me the freedom to plan activities I wanted to do with the kids, so I picked out Dr. Seuss books, which were my old time favorite and read them at circle time. I also got to be a customer at the imagination Inn pizzeria, very delicious felt pizza, if I do say so myself.  We spent a good amount of the day drawing and playing with dress up Mr. Potato head. The kids also seemed to like this chance of pace as it allowed them to calm down and take time to play with things they normally don't get too. Even-though, I do not tend to like rainy days this one was pretty nice, if I do say so myself.

day 8 at the imagination inn

 The focus of today was on honeybees and their lifecycle. Starting at circle time I read a book to the class called"Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera" by Cadence Fleming and Eric Rohman. 

The book was aligned with the honeybee's life.

At first, being a baby and just being born, to then moving into being a worker bee. 

This went through the steps of collecting the nectar and moving it throughout the hive. 

It also talked about, what it is like to have an intruder bee that tries to steal the honey. 

After reading this we made bee crafts. I traced out everything such as the body, the antennas, the stripes, and such. 

This allowed for kids to practice their scissors skills, this also let them use their imagination to create a personal bee's face. 

Overall, I had fun making crafts and getting to talk with the kids in smaller groups.

day 10 of senior project

Unfortunately, today was a short day for me as I wasn't feeling my best. I arrived to my last day at the inn at 8:00 am with a pretty bad headache and overall just feeling exhausted. With covid coming back around the school wanted me to leave to take a test, luckily I was negative. They were so supportive and allowed me to go back to my room to a much needed nap as well as an early lunch break. With it being my last day I didn't want to not say goodbye to the students and faculty. As I started to feel more like myself, they let me come back at 2:00pm to hang with the kids one last time. We made some arts and crafts and I even got some cards from the kids as well, which was super sweet. I only stayed for about 2 hours as the kids began to depart with their parents for the weekend. Sad to say goodbye, but I was so happy I was able to have these opportunity. 

day 11 of senior project

 Due to short staffing, the imagination inn had too close for today and tomorrow. Trish and Gabrielle in the athletic store, allowed me to pick up some hours as they needed help cleaning and putting away the spring uniforms. Throughout the day I did laundry loads of all spring sports team sports, and boy did they stink. Once they were all washed and dried, I went though the uniform checklist to make sure everyone had returned what they needed to. After about 5 sports teams, I toke a much needed lunch break. Once returning to the uniforms, I started to hang them in numerical order and pack away uniforms that were being donated. I enjoyed the day as it was a change of pace from my regular senior project. 

day 12 of senior project

Because the inn is still closed due to covid, I helped out Gabrielle in student life cleaning out the "weekend love" office as we move closer to summer. For most of the day though, similar to yesterday I was with Trish. I washed and organized uniforms as well as counted clothing inventory for the athletic store. That toke a while, as I had to go through each box of a specific item and count the amount of each size, and label the product descriptions. About 4 boxes in with over 200 pieces of clothing I toke a lunch break and got to walk around with Jaxson Gabrielle's dog. Once returning back to the office I counted laundry pins, socks, hats, and other times of accessories. At 7pm I turned on babysitter mode and read 6 books to a faculty's member child. Overall a very good day, and an even better way to end senior project.