Transcript Children’s Education at the Learning Center

Children’s Education at
the Learning Center
By: Eric Reinert
Intentions
• Fascinated with young
minds
• Wanted to find out how
things worked at the
Learning Center
My Job
• I was in charge of documenting the Kindergartenaged group of kids called the ‘Mighty Mites’ on
Wednesday afternoons
• Met with instructor Kim Braun and the children for
6 weeks of the 8 week program
• Documenting consisted of taking notes on what
lessons were taught that day, taking pictures, and
writing down quotes by the children
Timeline
• My procedure for the
schedule started with
something I deemed
the “timeline”
• Consisted of that day’s
events, which included:
•
•
•
•
•
Intro
Puppet Show
Outside
Snack
Quotes
Intro
• The intro usually
consisted of
gathering, taking a
worksheet and
coloring them
• Each day had a new
theme consisting of
various aspects of
gardening i.e- seeds,
leaves, stems, roots,
flowers, fruits.
Puppet Show
• Consisted of a short show acted out by two youth
helpers
• They teach the kids new information that is related
to each week’s them
• Kim sums up the Puppet show by asking the kids
questions related to the show
• The kids tend to enjoy answering the questions
Outside
• The main part of the
program
• Each child has their
own garden plot
• Each gardener weeds,
waters, and harvests
their gardens
Snack
• Every week the class goes
to the kitchen to create and
eat their snacks
• Kim plans out every week a
healthy snack related to the
week’s theme
• This usually concludes the
day
Quotes
• I was also responsible for
writing down any funny,
intelligent, or absurd quotes
that the kids say throughout
the day
• Favorites quotes
• “What comes first, the animal
or the egg?” (the age long
question, asked by a curious
kid)
• “Oh no you don’t! Get away
from my plant you weed!”
Week 7 Wednesday Mighty Mites
Posted on August 8, 2013
by mnarboretumchildrensgarden
Lifecycles/Decomposers
By Eric Reinert
Puppet Show:
Worms help plants grow
Kids were showed many different kinds of decomposers and learned how they are a vital part to all life.
Outside:
Weeding- Kim had weeded all of the gardens before class so they were in tip-top shape. Kids were challenged to
keep theirs the cleanest from now on
Kids watered their gardens, which they were becoming better at each week.
They harvested more plants that were ripe including a newly mature vegetable, beans.
Snack: Dirt & Worms
Kids were excited to eat it
They made it themselves, which required some work on their part by shaking the milk & pudding contents up
for 2 minutes in a Tupperware container.
After the snack the kids all got their thumbs painted green and got their picture taken at their individual gardens
showing they earned the green thumb.
Quotes:
“What comes first, the animal or the egg?” (the age long question, asked by a curious kid)
“Awkward!” (I found it funny because that is being said at age 5, which would have never been said when even
myself was in kindergarten.)
“Look at this baby bean I got”
Reflection
• I learned a lot about how children
learn and what techniques work
best
• One thing I thought was amazing
was how much of a personality
these 5 year olds had
• I admire Kim’s passion to teach
children in a unique and
informative way that is fun, for not
only the class, but myself as well