Practicum Information/Log
Psy498PracticumLog
site: Children's Therapeutic Preschool Karen and Connie, Tracy and Sarah
Activities: Monday 5/3/04
Karen and Connie's Class
Downstairs waiting for the rest of the class was good as was books and puzzles. The table activity however was not good. None of the students were paying any attention to the instructor and one student kept running to the sink and saying he needed to wash his hands but in addition he kept drinking from the sink. Transitioning to the gym was not very good either: no one was listening, kids were yelling and jumping around or running, they were just generally noisey in the hallway. Gym time itself was good. Going upstairs from gym was not very good either. One student didn't want to leave the gym so one instructor stayed behind with him to get him to come along. When I got into the hallway, the other instructor was dragging the students up the stairs by their wrists. She decided that instead of going straight to big toy time they would take turns practicing walking correctly up the stairs and in the hallway while the other students played quietly with play dough. I st!
ayed at the table with some of the students. Snack time was not too bad. One of the students kept changing his mind about whether or not he wanted his snack and kept getting up and walking around. Another student wasn't listening at all. Going downstairs was okay. The kids were making noise and not listening. One student ran to the bathroom and when I got there he told me he wasn't feeling well.
Wednesday 5/5/04
Tracy and Sarah's Class
Downstairs was good as was breakfast. During books and puzzles time, one student requested that I sit with him while he finished breakfast. Hurts Group wasn't very good. One student was sitting on my lap and wouldn't sit still or listen or stop talking. Another student acted up at the beginning of the group. And another student left the circle and then came back. Going down to gym was good as was gym time itself and going back upstairs. The table activity was good. Toy time was okay. I was playing with one student and another came over and started taking the toys we were playing with. Both students ended up crying and then one left to do another activity with an instructor. The remaining student wouldn't share the toys with another student who came to play. The one student I was playing with refused to clean up when it was time. Going downstairs and leaving for buses was good.
site: Karen and Connie, Tracy and Sarah
Activities: Monday 4/26/04
Karen and Connie's Class
Overall today was a good day with a few shaky parts. Breakfast went well for all students. We had a little trouble getting some of the students back for the table activity. At the beginning of the table activity the students were attentive and well behaved, answering questions, etc., but this behavior quickly faded as the activity went on and several children had to be asked to be quiet and pay attention. Transitioning to gym was fine and most of gym time was actually fine until the end. The students who usually has a hard time leavign gym needed to have a teacher stay with him and once we left another student did not want to take the elevator upstairs. There were several issuses with sharing durning big toys time, all were solved by asking one student to play with an instructor with something else several issues were with the one newest student. Snack time was trying as one instructor was trying to read a story and students were playing with each other or not paying!
attention or grabbing at the book to see the pictures. Going down and waiting for the buses was fine until we had been sitting there for a while and one student ran up the stairs and wouldn't come back down. He was finally convinced to come down after telling me I had to go first and he would follow.
Wednesday 4/28/04
Tracy and Sarah's Class
All of the students were good through breakfast and books and puzzles until Hurts Group. Four students were acting out during the group by not paying attention or talking or walking around while other students were talking. Transisitoning to gym, gym time was fine and moving back upstairs was fine. After the table activity back in the classroom, one student threw a tantrum because a teacher told her she couldn't have candy. She ran out into the hallway and when she came back in she threw all of the books on the bookshelf onto the floor. When she had calmed down a little bit she began picking them up again and quieted down a lot. Everything was fine again until it was time to get ready to go downstairs and get jackets on. One student swore at a teacher and stayed upstairs with that teacher when the rest of the class went down for buses. When the student and the teacher came down to wait, the student no longer was wearing shoes. While we we walking down the stairs wit!
h the rest of the students, two students got in a fight because the one touched the other student's hat and the student with the hat smacked him.
site: Tracy, Sarah and Karen, Connie
Activities: March 29th - Monday - Tracy and Sarah's class
Today was a good day. It felt good to be back and it was a beautiful day. Apparently the kids did not have such a good day on Friday and during breakfast the instructors asked each of the children if they had a good day those kids who did have a good Friday were allowed to go and play with books and puzzles those who did not were given a "job" they had to do before they could go and play, such as putting puzzles or blocks away or cleaning the dolls. Gym time was fun and music time was good. One child started to cry when we were singing the Goodby Song bu calmed down by the time we got ready to take a walk outside. At the beginning of the walk, the kids were very good, but by the end of the walk, people were having problems holding hangs. We had snack outside and the kids were all very good about putting their garbage in the bag brought down for it.
March 31st - Wednesday - Karen and Connie's class
Breakfast and books and puzzles went by uneventfully. Gym time was fun, and I think we made it through without anyone crying. After gym was when things started to get a little rough. When we were getting ready to go upstairs, two of the children ran down the hall to the elevator and needed to have a teacher bring them back. When we reached the top of the stairs, one of the students didn't want to go into the hall and had to have a teacher stay with him. During music the child who was sitting next to me wasn't singing or doing motions at all. It looked like he didn't know what to do. So I tried to help him by pointing to what he was supposed to do. he got very upset, but didn't say anything, he just raised his hand as if to hit me, and stood like that for a while. He swung at me twice before another teacher took him into the hall to calm down. The other kids seemed kind of bored by the end of music time. toy time was good and one student who is usually very impatie!
nt waited nice and quietly for his turn with a toy. When we went down for buses, one child would not sit still or listen to any teachers. He was throwing books and shouting and hitting both students and teachers. One instructor had to sit with him the entire time to keep him under control.
site: Tracy, Sarah and Karen, Connie
Activities: March 22nd - Monday - Karen and Connie's Class
Today was pretty calm. For almost half of the day, it was a one to one student to teacher ratio. This is becuase one of the students was out until the middle of gym time with therapists. At the end of gym time, one of the students didn't want to leave. So one teacher stayed behind with him, while the other teacher and I went into the hallway with the otehr kids. When we were all in the hallway, the children scattered, each running in a different direction. the other teacher went after two kids and I went after the third one who ran into the bathroom. When we finally all got back upstairs, everyone seemed to calm down a bit. The rest of the afternoon was relatively calm until it was time to leave. One of the studnets just didn't seem to want to leave. He didn't want to put his coat on or walk down the hall or stairs. He wouldn't sit still when we finally got him down to wait for the buses. He calmed down a little when we went outside and used the chalk on the side!
walk.
site: Karen, Connie and Tracy, Sarah
Activities: March 8th, Monday - Karen and Connie's Class
Today was hectic, to say the least. The whole class seemed to be upset and out of control today. The child who usually has a bad day was better overall (he didn't tantrum as much as I usually see him do). At the table activity before gym (making pictures with shaving cream on the table), the three children who participated were well behaved and having fun. One child decided he didn't want to play and instead sat in the corner by himself. Gym time went well until the end. One child told me to "Shut up" and another teacher heard her and told her to apologize. When she refused the other teacher told her she couldn't play until she did and she came over and apologized and then realized it was the end of gym time and they had to leave. She began crying and didn't stop again until we had been back upstairs for almost ten minutes. The rest of the afternoon went by well, until bus time. Everyone just stopped listening. No one was paying attention to the teachers and it ju!
st seemed like chaos.
March 10th, Wednesday - Sarah and Tracy's Class
Sarah and I were in the same class today because she was video taping transitions, etc. I really don't have a whole lot to write about today because there weren't a lot of issues that came up. If anything, there were too many teachers. At one point, there were more teachers in the room than students, so every student had someone to play with and some adult paying attention to them.
site: Karen and Tracy
Activities: Monday - Karen and Connie's Room
Most of the children were fairly calm today. However, one child in particular acted out several times througout the day. First, the instructor had planned a special coloring table activity for after books and puzzles and before gym time and this student did not want to come to the table, he instead threw a tantrum in the corner. During gym time, this student was plyain with another chilf when he was accidentally knocked over and while he was still on the floor, he began pushing himself backwards across the floor and kicking his legs at the other child. One of the teachers then sat with him and rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. He was fine for a while, but when it was time to go upstairs, he didn't want to go and so again an instructor was needed to stay behind and talk with him. When he finally cam upstairs, he sat in the corner and did not want to listen to anything any teachers had to say. He did not want to put on his coat and stayed upstairs with a te!
acher while the rest of the class went down to wait for the buses.
Wednesday - Tracy and Sarah's Room
Several of the children grouped together in an act of defiance today: during Hurts Group the children were rolling around on the floor and talking to each other instead of listening to the child who was talking. They didn't listen to the teachers when they were told to sit up and be quiet. They were held back from gym time because of this and one of the children started crying. Gym time was fine, but the return from gym left one of the teachers behind to talk with a student about listening when it was time to go. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, except for one student who whined a lot about not getting to play with the toys he wanted to play with exactly when he wanted to play with them. Getting ready to go home was a little trying as well. Several of the students did not want to just put their coats on, they instead walked around the classroom until a teacher walked over and put their arms into their coats.
site: Tracy and Sarah
Activities: Wednesday -
After morning snack, during books and puzzles, one of the children (one who rarely reaches out to me, speaks to me or plays with me) grabbed my hand and asked me to play with him. We put the same puzzle together twice (we finished it and he said it was his favorite and wanted to do it again). Another child came over and helped us complete it the second time. When it was time to go to gym, there were two children who seemed sort of lathargic about the idea. One of the instructors stayed behind with them while the rest of us went downstairs. The only other problems that occurred were at the end of the day when it cam etime to get ready to go home. One of the children decided he didn't want to listen when one of the instructors told him to put his coat and boots on. One of the instructors again stayed behind with him and talked with him about getting ready while the rest of us went downstairs for the buses.
site: (Monday, Feb. 9) Tracy and Sarah, (Wednesday, Feb 11) Karen and Connie
Activities: This week was my first experience with music time!
Monday - Several of the boys were very agressive today. During gym time, they were play wrestling, during play time they were fighting with the action figures and hitting each other, or taking the other's toys. At the end of music time, one of the children started crying, the instructor says that this is what usually happens, she has so much fun that she doesn't want it to end. At the end of the day, two of the children didn't want to leave and began screaming and crying after they had their coats and boots on. One of the instructors stayed behind with them while the other instructor and I went downstairs with the other children. All of the children were fine in the downstairs area and were sitting near people reading books.
Wednesday -
One of the children had a very difficult day today. He was very lathargic and didn't want to do much of anything. He didn't want to come to the rug to sing the morning song, he didn't want to go line up for gym, he didn't want to come back from gym and one of the instructors stayed behind with him to talk about it, during music he didn't want to sing at first, but then joined in toward the end, at play time, he became a little bit more active and the instructor told me that he had been really down on himself when she was talking with him. He was very good about getting ready to leave, which he usually has a difficult time with. Another student was fine throughout the day, until we got downstairs for the buses, he didn't want to sit still or sit down at all, he wanted his jacket off and he was crying. One of the instructors sat with him on her lap and that helped to calm him down a lot.
site: (Monday, Feb 2) Karen and Connie, (Wednesday, Feb 4) Tracy and Sarah
Activities: Monday -
When the children were taken upstairs from the buses, one was sort of dancing around in the hallway, so I asked if he had to use the bathroom, he said yes with a very concerned look, so I helped him pull his jacket off and in the time it took me to hang it up, he had urinated on himself and on the floor. One of the instructors came out to take care of him. The rest of the day went smoothly until it came time for putting on jackets to leave. One of the children didn't want to sit at the table as we were reading a story, he wanted to play instead, so one of the instructors sat behind him blocking him into the table, he began screaming and crying and the instructor took him into the hallway. He cried until we went down the stairs for the buses.
Wednesday -
There was a lot of crying today. During Hurts Group, one of the children talked about how her mother hurt her throat, but said it wasn't scary. During gym time, one of the children began to cry because one of the other children pushed him off of the bike he was playing on. When we went back upstairs to play with toys, there were several instances of not sharing that led one child or another to crying or tantruming. These were worked out by instructors telling the students that if they could not share, they would have to play by themselves or not play anymore.
site: The Theraputic Preschool, Monday - Karen and Connie, Wednesday - Tracy and Sarah
Activities: Generally assisted teachers and assistants who were already familiar with children.
Monday - Helped bring children to classroom, helped set up breakfast, played with puzzles, sang The Color Song, played in the gym with children (was asked by a child to retrieve a toy from the stage (toys that are used for therapies and not to be played with ordinarily)), played with toys in the classroom with children, helped with snack and getting ready to leave (one child left the room and then walked back in and sat down, not wanting to leave, he walked with an instructor to leave for the buses.
Wednesday - Children arrived late due to bad weather and so both groups played together in the gym, helped with bringing the children to the classroom and preparing breakfast, assisted social work intern with the "Hurts" group activity, played with action figures and castle with kids, assisted with snack and getting ready to leave.
