Daycare story: Helping (2yo)

I love this story from daycare about you offering to help your teachers! Makes me so proud to see you demonstrate the values of sharing and helpfulness. When I see you with other children, I always notice how quickly you offer your toys to them, without me even asking you. You're so mature for your age.

Daycare story in May 2015

One Friday morning when I, Anna, noticed that there were no tissues left in the tissue box outside, Laleeta (the Preschool educator) volunteered to retrieve some from the storage cupboard located in the Laundry Room.

“Thank you, Laleeta!” I called out after her.
“No problem.” Laleeta replied, who began to make her way over.
Lucas, who was standing next to me, began to follow after Laleeta.
“Laleeta, I think Lucas wants to ask you something.” I said, just loud enough so Laleeta could hear me.
“Oh, yeah?” Laleeta said, turning around. She knelt down to where Lucas was standing to meet his eye level.
“What’s up, Lucas? Would you like to help me?” Laleeta asked.
“Yeah?” Lucas said, nodding his head.
“C’mon, let’s go!” Laleeta said, gesturing for Lucas to follow her towards the Laundry Room.
Laleeta propped the door to the Laundry Room open using a door stopper, and passed some light-weight objects over to Lucas.
Several minutes later, Laleeta and Lucas emerged, both carrying a handful of items.
“Wow, what a great helper!” I exclaimed.
Lucas proceeded to walk over to where I was and handed to me, one by one, the objects in his hands.
“Here…here.” Lucas said, as he handed each item to me.
“Thank you so much, Lucas.” I said with appreciation.

Another Toddler who happened to witness this verbal exchange, came over to get a better look.
“Me too!” the girl said.
"Meee tooo, I want to help!" another Toddler said excitedly.

It seemed Lucas’s helpful act had inspired other Toddlers to join in and offer assistance. What followed was a trip to the Laundry Room as a small group so more necessary items could be retrieved.

As educators, we regularly scaffold experiences for children to co-operate and work collaboratively with others. It was therefore wonderful to witness how Lucas’s act of kindness, of his own accord, ignited a spark and encouraged other children to join in. In other words, Lucas’s offering of help evolved into a collaborative offering of help. Such group experiences are wonderful because they help children in their development of a positive sense of identity and strengthens their interests and skills in being and becoming active contributors to their world. We are very proud of the helpful young man Lucas is becoming.

School report: May 2014 - An abundance of curiosity

This school report really made me and your Dad laugh when your carer described how you don't like to get your hands dirty and how you cried out for more during storytime and stayed on while all the other kids came and went. You sound very mature being able to sit and concentrate for 20 minutes at the sandpit and 30 minutes during storytime. I'm so proud of you. Funnily enough, we didn't even know you could say 'book'! So 'more' and 'book' are your first words (not mummy or daddy...!)

School report: May 2014 - An abundance of curiosity

We are continuing to see Lucas begin to feel more at ease in the Nursery, and as a result we have seen his curious side emerge. Lucas now explores all aspects of the program, and is beginning to learn the routines, being able to predict when exciting events are about to occur. With his interest in these experiences increasing, educators have been planning for him to participate in a wide range of literacy, music and investigative experiences he hasn’t previously shown an interest in, exposing him to a range of new ideas and concepts.

One of these experiences is ‘What’s In The Box?’ Educators bring out a white box, and it is a game of surprise and intrigue as the children wait in anticipation to see what is in the box. Sometimes its books, sometimes resources, sometimes felt pieces; the list is endless. Lucas has grown to love this experience. When he sees the box, his eyes light up and he quickly follows whoever is holding the box, eager to join in. Books are a favourite for Lucas and on one occasion when we finished reading the stories that were in the box, he repeatedly cried out more. We kept replenishing the books in the box, and Lucas enjoyed a half hour story reading session. Children came and went during this time, however Lucas stayed, eager to hear every story, and study every picture in the book.

As we have engaged Lucas in a broader range of experiences, we have noticed he has an interest in sensory experiences, and have thus been sure to include him each time. Lucas loves the sandpit, and sits for up to twenty minutes, filling containers with sand, tipping it out, back and forwards, feeling the sensation of the sand trickle through his fingers. He is a little more hesitant about messy experiences such as painting, goop and dough. He does show interest, however sometimes may only use one or two fingers to explore, other times just preferring to watch. As the month has gone on, we have noticed that the wet messy play isn’t as favourable to him as the dry sensory experiences. When the children were helping to prepare the goop, Lucas was eager to place his hands in the dry cornflour, but once the water was added there was some hesitation. He did place his hands in, and move them through the gooey substance; however it took a few minutes of watching the other children enjoying the experience and encouragement from his educators before he did so. Interestingly, he is now able to tell the difference between the dry and wet substances purely from observation, not needing to feel it first.

Through all these experiences we have continued to model language for Lucas, in an attempt to further develop his vocabulary. This is still a work in progress, with ‘book’ and ‘more’ being his favourite words thus far.

Analysis of Learning: Lucas is beginning to demonstrate curiosity in his surroundings and is enjoying exploring a greater range of experiences and resources. He demonstrates a keen interest in books and stories, and can concentrate on these for extended periods of time. Lucas is also showing enjoyment of sensory tactile experiences, and as he participates he is beginning to learn more about his world, for example now being able to distinguish between wet and dry substances without needing to touch them. We are continuing to work on language development with him, and encouraging him to learn new vocabulary.

Where to Next: We will continue to work with Lucas on further developing his vocabulary, using books to discuss pictures and identify familiar objects. We will also continue to engage Lucas in sensory experiences, and use these as a way to further develop his understanding of concepts such as mass, and volume, by providing a range of containers and scoops of various sizes that allow for open ended explorations.

School report: April 2013 Engaging in small experiences

Your report for April. I am not surprised at how much you enjoy storytime. I didn't know you could say, "more, more"!

School report: April 2013 - Engaging in small experiences

Lucas has begun to settle in really well over the last few weeks. There are still some tears in the morning after he is dropped off however he is able to settle himself quite quickly as he begins crawling around the room exploring what is on offer for the day.

As a result, Lucas has begun to show a greater interest in participating in planned experiences alongside the other children. Previously he preferred not to join in these experiences, however now he shows interest in what is happening around the room, as soon as he sees an Educator sitting down with books or other resources, he makes a beeline straight to them to see what is happening.

As a result Lucas has been participating in a large range of experiences over the last few weeks. He has enjoyed engaging in music time, where he waits his turn for an instrument and then enthusiastically joins his peers, shaking the maracas wildly with a big smile on his face. Lucas has also enjoyed story time, participating in a range of interactive stories including lift-the-flap books, touch-and-feel books, books with buttons that need pressing.

Since Lucas is showing such interest in joining in these experiences, we have been encouraging him to participate more, inviting him over by name, and closely observing what experiences he particularly shows interest in, thus giving us more information we can use in planning meaningful experiences for him. A definite favourite of Lucas’ is giving us more information we can use in planning meaningful experiences for him. A definite favourite of Lucas’ is the interactive stories, and we have organised a story time each morning not long after he arrives, to help ease any separation anxiety he may be feeling. This often helps Lucas to settle and he often bounces up and down in excitement as we begin to read. He takes delight in watching his peers engage with the stories as well as having a turn himself, and upon finishing a story he points to where books are stored and babbles “more, more”.

Analysis of Learning/Where to Next: Lucas is continuing to develop skills in self regulating his emotions, and this is further supported by the curiosity he has developed about his learning environment. Lucas quite enjoys music experiences, but shows more of an interest in story time. As he participates in these experiences, Lucas is enjoying the company of his peers and beginning to appreciate the benefits of shared learning experiences. Over the coming weeks we will be continuing to plan regular story reading experiences, inviting Lucas to join in. Props such as felt pieces, puppets and resources relating to the story will be added, and we will be encouraging Lucas to further develop his vocabulary, modelling key words for him to say as we read the stories and talk about the pictures.

School report: March 2014 - Gross motor development

This was your school report from daycare a few months ago in March 2014. It's fascinating reading about your interests and likes and how you interact with your carers.

March 2014: Gross motor development
Throughout March we have noticed that Lucas is developing more confidence in moving through his environment and has begun experimenting with standing alongside furniture. Lucas usually starts the day feeling upset, however once he has had an opportunity to crawl around the room on his own, and visit all the familiar areas, he settles and chooses an area to play.

Lately his favourite thing to do is to try and pull himself up into a standing position alongside the bridge. The day we first noticed this he had been crawling around the room after having cuddles, and had only stopped calling out to us in a tone that let us know he was sad. We suddenly heard this excited “oooh ooh!” and looked around, wondering who it was. There was Lucas, in a half standing position alongside the bridge, his eyes open wide in surprise and a smile beginning to form on his face. “Yay Lucas!” Everyone made a big deal of this, and the smile on his face broadened. He sat down tentatively and then stood up again, repeating “ooh ooh!” in excitement. Once again we all clapped and cheered him on. Lucas obviously enjoyed the attention he was getting from this as he continued on for another 5 minutes, calling out to get our attention to see him standing by the bridge, and smiling in response to our cheers.

We have been working hard with Lucas to help him settle easier in the mornings, trying a range of experiences that would help to distract him and calm him. At this stage we hadn’t found one that worked regularly, and were still trying a range of options. Recognising this was a game he was enjoying, we continued to use this as a means to settle him. Lucas is still quite upset in the mornings, but once we encourage him to engage in a game of Peek- A-Boo, using the bridge to support him standing up and sitting down to hide from us, he has begun to show signs of settling quicker. He has also enjoyed this throughout the day. Extending on this we have engaged Lucas in small group games of Peek-A-Boo, using the colourful scarves to hide behind. Again, this has been successful sometimes, but other times not so, but knowing Lucas enjoys the game we are continuing to play this with him.

As the month has gone on, Lucas has become more and more confident standing beside the bridge, and has also begun to experiment with pulling himself up alongside other pieces of furniture. There have been times we have even noticed him experimenting with letting go, and holding on with one hand. He does this very precariously, slowly lifting one hand and holding it out beside him before quickly returning it.

Analysis of Learning: Lucas is still developing a sense of security within the Nursery environment, however is now finding ways in which to distract himself, demonstrating that he is beginning to learn to regulate his own emotions. Lucas shows enthusiasm for participating in physical play; this is a recent development for Lucas and it was great to see him enjoying a game out of his attempts to stand alongside furniture. As Lucas experiments with his ability to stand he demonstrates a sense of achievement, calling out to educators to let them know as well.