Evelyn

(This baby on the side is my baby sister.)

I had the opportunity to complete my internship requirement at an amazing day care site called 'My Little Blue Dolphins Day Care' with my supervisor and boss Rita F. My position was to instruct art activites and have art activities that I could perform with the children for an hour on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.​

Weekly Logs

Log 1: Week 1 September 2, 2013 

     This week was my first week at My Blue Dolphin Day Care. The first day I got acquainted with the children there and taught them basic colors. As I watched them color, helping them along the way, they began to call my name and warm up to me. The next day I went to my internship, the children ran up to me to greet me. We all finger painted and I listened as each of them explained what they drew with great enthusiasm. Afterwards, I read the older children three books and had them imitate the sounds of each animal that was featured in the book. This week I used skills of organization, communication, and critical thinking to solve problems before they arose.

Log 2: Week 2 September 9, 2013 

     By this time the children and I initiated a schedule that we would follow every week. Mondays were to be coloring or painting day, Wednesday was usually going to be sticker card day and Fridays were going to be playdough day. I’ve learned to see how flexible some children could be. Most children I encountered were very selfish and stubborn, but I can’t blame them because they are young. I realized how well children are able to concentrate when they are being interactive while reading. I like to ask the children to act out sounds of animals, machines. or actions, and they responded very well, and were able to sit still and listen to the story better than just listening to the story. 

Log 3: Week 3 September 16, 2013 

     This week was the second trial week of the established schedule between the children and me. On one of the days everyone cooperated and colored to their hearts content, until two of the kids started arguing over a snatched crayon. When children argue, I’ve learned to stop their fighting with a firm voice, without shouting, and give more attention to the child who did nothing wrong. This shows the other child that he or she will not be rewarded for his or her bad behavior. As I experienced each day, I’ve been learning more and more about children, their behavior, and how to deal with them, as well as learning about how to be a good leader and advisor.

Log 4: Week 4 September 23, 2013 

    The children got acquainted with the idea of having an organized schedule for the activities. Not only have I learned how to be more organized, putting materials in certain places and compiling the childrens’ art works by their names, but also familiarized myself with problem solving. When working with children, they tend to cry depending on various factors such as not getting what they want, not receiving attention, or getting hurt. I’ve learned, this week, to differentiate the tone of voice when they cry. The tone of voice is different when children cry just because and when they cry because they’re actually hurt. When they cry just because, the way to show them that they are wrong is to pay less attention to them, and when they’re hurt, never panic, give them attention for a while, and say that they are okay. 

Log 5: Week 5 September 30, 2013 

    This week I used the skill of leadership more than usual because the children were quite rowdy and energized. During the activities, some of them would get up and walk around without permission and make loud noises. Whenever this happened, I would quiet them down by talking in a more quieter voice, and firmly tell them to sit back in their seats. Leadership comes in different ways, from literally leading and directing a group of people, to showing an example and influencing others to do the same thing. In this case, I led by example. By talking in a quiet voice, I was displaying what the children should be doing, resulting in them copying my “indoor voice”.

Log 6: Week 6 October 7, 2013 

    Communication is of great importance especially when working with children, and I put a significant amount of effort into communicating with the children this week. One of the children finally warmed up to me, and started talking to me in his three-year-old way of speaking. To me it sounded like gibberish at first, but as I took the time to pick at every word he was saying, I was able to formulate the sentence he was trying to convey. “I want more crackers”. 

Log 7: Week 7 October 14, 2013 

    During my final week of my internship, the only problem I faced was a small argument between two of the children. One of the children was holding a plastic pair of play dough scissors and not using it, and the other child wanted to use it. When the child asked the other three-year-old, the three-year-old hid the scissors. I had to ask the child for the scissors with a firm voice and when he finally gave it to me, I handed it off to the other boy. I then had to tell the boy who formerly held the scissors to share because it’s what nice boys do. From then on, he started to share, still being reluctant at times, but eventually sharing.