Today was my last day on my placement at the nursery, 19/01/18. The day started as usual with the briefing then preparation for the day before the children arrived. I was told that there were some new children who had started but had not yet met them as I only attend the nursery on Fridays.

The focus of the day was making play-dough with children (out of real ingredients) and subsequently using it in their play, and reading stories to children who showed interest. I was designated to making the play-dough with the children which for both me and them seemed very fun as perhaps they felt a sense of accomplishment like I had felt as I was supporting their learning. One of the children who was making play-dough was a new boy who has started at nursery the week before. One of the practitioners told me that he does not speak much and likes to be reassured when he is participating in an activity. While I was supervising him, he seemed eager to play and experience new things and did not seem shy to ask me for help if his dough became too dry or too sticky.

In the afternoon, I read to some children for around an hour. I had noticed that one of the children I was reading to was continually coughing, had teary eyes and a red nose and red lips. He was clearly ill to me. In the reading area, there are cushions which children sit on while being told a story, however he decided to lay down and eventually fell asleep. He seemed to have a temperature; one of the practitioners noticed and came to analyse him. She then decided it was best to contact his mother so she could take him home despite nursery finishing in about an hour.

After nursery finished, during the briefing I was asked to write down what activities some of the children enjoyed doing today. The fact that I was writing on a document that can help the nursery with their future planning. It was nice to know that once I left, I would have at least left something behind that would help the children and practitioners.

Themes: Free-flow Play, Safeguarding  

This visit was very similar to previous visits therefore I had started to form a routine while at the nursery. The morning briefing had shortly discussed the Ofsted visit on the Wednesday. I had later asked how it was out of interest, and was told that it went well however was not told much more as the deputy head said that it is confidential until the report is released.

During the morning preparation, I was told that the focus of today was role play, specifically visiting the doctors. Children who chose to pretend play as doctors and patients were encouraged to use words such as: stethoscope, syringe, vaccine, patient, nurse, doctor, doctors’s surgery and appointment.

It was very interesting to watch the children play together as if in a real life setting. Every now and then they would ask me to explain what something was named and its function such as the hammer used to test joints and reflexes.

During the day, I was asked to observe a particular child’s verbal development/speech as this was his key workers learning outcomes for him. I found this very interesting as I was with this child during play at the ‘surgery’. Later in the afternoon he had decided to go outside; since it was after lunch a lot of children play in the garden instead of the room. When I went outside, he was in the ‘cafe’ serving drinks and asking for payment with T guiding him.

When T left, he continued to play seeming comfortable with my presence. However, when one of the male key workers approached him for conversation he went silent and continued to pack away since it was nearing the end of the day. He had not responded to the male key worker, so when the key worker left, the child started to sing and participate in private speech.

Themes: Free-flow Play, Role-play,