THE PROJECT APPROAH ~ PHASE ONE

BY: STEPHANY DANGELO

COURSE CODE: ECEP 229

DATE DUE: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2012

TEACHER: MARIA ROBERTS

PROJECT SUBJECT: TRANSPORTATION (VEHICLES)

Centennial College Early Childhood Education

Student Name: STEPHANY DANGELO

Agency: Danforth Child Care Center

Name of children: Children’s: Rion, Shemar, Thomas, Cora, Vivien, Armaan, Chris, Joseph, Sam

Age range of children: 3.5 -4 years

Centre Focus: ELECTIVE

Day of Observations: Thursday, October 11, 2012

ANECDOTAL OBSERVATION

On Thursday, October 11, 2012 ECE teacher Yuki and Observer walked the school age children, Rion, Shemar, Thomas, Cora, Vivien, and Armaan to their school. As we all walked on the sidewalk, a fire truck sped on the street away from us. As the fire truck passed us, Thomas said, “That’s a new fire truck! The fire truck house is over there” Thomas pointed to his left where there was a fire station on the other side of the street. After the observer had looked in the direction Thomas had pointed, the Observer said “ hmm, maybe we can go visit the fire house one day.” Thomas had

POSSIBLE CUES

Developmental cues

Asks questions when unfamiliar with objects

Able to remember familiar locations and past events

Able to identify/categorize vehicles

Understanding of speed and sizes

Interest Cues

a smile on his face as he told the Observer he had already gone to the fire station and then told the Observer who he had gone with.

As Yuki, the Observer and the children continued to walk towards the school, Armaan and Vivien had begun a conversation regarding what they saw in front of the school previously. Vivien said “I saw a monkey in front of the school before!” Armaan had said, “I saw a race car in front of school! It was fast.” Yuki had replied with “there are no monkey’s at school! But we did see the sport car, and it did go very fast!” Armaan then had said “it went so fast no one could see it when it moved!”

When the school age children were dropped off at school and Yuki, the Observer and Shemar walked back to the center, Shemar pointed to the sky and asked the Observer, “what is that?” The Observer looked up and saw that it was an airplane that looked like a jet, but wasn’t sure and told Shemar that it was like an airplane but smaller and really fast. Shemar then said “is it faster than a race car? The Observer told Shemar that she “did not know” and that they

Speeds Sizes Noises of different vehicles The different vehicles (fire

trucks, race cars, airplanes/jets, trucks, trains)

would ask someone in the center if they knew.

The same day, the Observer noticed Joseph and Chris playing with toy trucks and play pretending with them. “Vroom vroom my car is bigger and faster vroom vroom”, said Joseph as he pushed a blue truck back and forth on the carpet in front of him. Chris, in response grabbed a bigger truck and said “my truck is bigger than yours and it makes more noise!” He then pressed the horn on the toy truck. As this was happening, Sam walked towards Chris and Joseph and watched the two boys. As Chris and Joseph continue to hit their trucks together, Sam said, “I want to drive the train”. Chris told Sam that these “trucks are trucks and not trains”. Chris then pointed to the bin of trains to his right and told Sam that the trains were “over there”. Sam walked over to the trains and began to pull out three trains and said “choo choo” as he ran the trains back and forth in front of him on the carpet.

Possible Interests Web

Small group experience (circle) to confirm interest in the topic: (describe all parts of your circle)

As part of the afternoon circle, I had gathered a variety of transportation toys, such as cars, trains, trucks, airplanes and bikes. I had placed them in the middle of the circle area floor and asked the children to sit around the toys. I asked the children to name each of the toys and how they are used, where they are used. I asked them which types of vehicles they liked and which kind they have ridden on. After all the children had had their say, I asked them what they found interesting, or “cool” about any or all sorts of transportation.

As the children talked about what they liked or knew about all types of transportations, I had a piece of paper laid on the table. I asked them to come over around the table and to tell me more of what they know about transportation (vehicles) and what do we want o know as I wrote down all that they were saying.

And that is how our exploration Web was started.

Procedure:

Different types of transportation toys (cars, trains, trucks, airplanes and bikes)

Floor space and use of circle time to discuss different types of transportation Long table to explore more ideas on transportation

Consider the following and fully describe how you INTEND to explore your chosen experience with preschoolers

How will you introduce the experience?

I will introduce the experience during a SPONTANEOUS circle time! I will gather the children in a circle and have with me, just like the beginning of the exploration web, a variety of transportation toys. I will ask them if they remembered what we had talked about regarding transportation (vehicles) and what we could do with them. I will then mention that since transportation is usually outside, we will be taking these (transportation) toys outside when we go play.

What lures might you use to attract the children?

I will use a selective amount of transportation toys, enough for all the children, and bring them outside with us. I will spread the toys out through the play area. I will be placing a few on the sandbox, some on the grass, and some on the pavement. I will also have road signs and place them on the pavement. As well as a bin filled with water.

Preschoolers require support and guidance to fully explore an experience. How will you guide and support their interactions with the materials and each other and with you? COLLABORATION

I will go over to all the sections and observe what the children are doing with the toys first. I will co-play with the children and get a feel on how the children are liking the activity. I could interact and ask questions on what they are doing and why they are doing it. I could help them expand on the activity (add water to the sand so the tractor lifts “dirt” up rather than sand), place “people” in their way and see how they act and what they do.

Closure is important in any planned experience. How will you end the experience with the children? What guidance strategies would be helpful to use?

By ending the activity, I would have the children come inside and draw a picture (using markers, crayons or paint) of which type of transportation they likes best and to tell me why. Then the children could show everyone, (once the pictures are dried) what they had drawn and I would post the pictures up in the room for everyone in the center to see when they come in, as well as parents.

Evaluation and Reflection:

How did it go? ARE THE CHILDREN STILL INTERESTED IN THE TOPIC?

The circle went well for a large group of children! There were 16 children in the circle and everyone wanted a say. I had a few children who were really eager and excited to continue on about the subject and they were the ones who got the whole group going. There was a lot of repetition and of course a lot of “Stephanyyyy, so and so is copying what I just said!” but I must say the group held on great.

After bringing the toys outside, the children were running in all directions to see what I had placed where. After assessing, some children got in there little groups and started playing in the same area. Others really stopped and thought about where they wanted to go, some wanted the sand and the water, so I placed a bin of water near the sandbox and I placed a bin of water and sand on the pavement. Children added dinosaurs to their games and a couple of children wanted to see if a big bouncy ball could roll over a toy truck.

After observing the children playing with the transportation toys for a good 45-50 minutes (I was so surprised it lasted THAT long!) I concluded that most of the children in the class are somewhat interested in the further exploration of transportation. I hope, by the way some of the children were playing and enthusiastically talking about the various types of transportations that I will have no problem with implementing my activities with the children.

WILL THE INQUIRY PROCESS WORK WITH THIS TOPIC? WHY OR WHY NOT?

` I do believe it will work, we have the time (block week!!), the center has a variety of transportation sorts, I have children who are most enthusiastic about certain types of transportations, and based on what the children know and want to know, I have been able to create many experiences that I would like the children explore.

POSSIBLE EXPERIENCES

Sensory – Vehicles in water, sand, salt (snow)

Literacy – Match transportation to word, Reading and Reflecting

Science – How do boats not sink? How do airplanes fly? Making boats and airplanes

Math – Sorting/Matching, comparing weight

Art – Paints tracks, Make own transportation vehicle

Music – Sing songs

Drama – Pretend Play

Rationale:

After observing the children and discussing with them at our circle time about transportation, I found out that they are very interested in the further learning of transportation!

Our Senior Preschool children are inquisitive about vehicles and what they do, and will have many opportunities over the next week to explore all types of transportations, perform supervised experiments and deepen their understanding of what transportation is and share their ideas with everyone.

During the following week, the children will be:

• Pouring, scooping, lifting sand/water/salt with various types of transportation toys

• Partaking in pretend role playing

• Weighing and comparing different vehicles

• Sorting and matching

• Singing songs of different types of transportation

• Creating tracks with various types of transportation

• Creating their own favorite vehicle

• Familiarizing themselves with new transportation words

• Exploring how things move

We will be posting our art work and discoveries through the classroom, and taking what we learned that day home with us to share with everyone! Please expect your child’s cubbies to be filled with all means of transportation!

Centennial student,

Stephany

Kwhl chart

“Transportation”K(know) W(what do we want

to know)H (how will we learn

it)L

Comes in different sizes

How heavy can they be?

We can use a measuring scale and measure the trucks vs trains!

Moves in different speeds, some fast some slow

How do they move? We can put boats in water and cars on pretend roads as well as tractors in the sand.

It takes people (and animals) places, (you ride on it)

Who drives it?We can look at book and see who the driver is to all the vehicles and what the drivers “special names are.

It (usually) moves outside

What do they do?We can take a look at all the special jobs different vehicles have, and act them out

Cars, trains, boats, trucks, garbage trucks, fire trucks, airplanes are all sorts of transportation

What sounds do different vehicles make?

We can look at a book that shows us all the different sounds vehicles make

Riding can be funWhere can we find the different transportation?

We can have the children look for different types of transportation when we are outside, playing or walking