Having Fun with Preschoolers

While it normally takes me ten minutes for me to wheel from the LAB Preschool to my house, this past Tuesday it took me twenty-five! At the preschoolers recess, two boys raced me aroun the preschool track in the playground. You would think three laps around a tiny track wouldn't wear one out, but I was pooped!
I can tell when the weekend is drawing near as the children are a bit on the wild side. Yelling, screaming, running around. "But" you ask, "isn’t that a typical preschooler?" A day before the weekend… it’s ten times worse!
What had only been five days since being in the preschool felt like two weeks to me. My back was sore from sitting in my wheelchair all day the day before, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me from getting my fix of three, four and five-year-olds. One man’s work is another man’s play.
Started the day off by reminding children that we don’t pet Ally until the designated opportunities; when we first arrive at preschool, at recess, and again when children are getting ready to leave. Children even instruct their parents as they are dropped off at or picked up from preschool, telling them when it is okay or not okay to pet her. I love it! There are weak moments on occasion, mostly coming from the teachers!
My first duty during centers was playing with a child at the trough, asking him about the play lizards and snakes that were in the dirt, if he plays with dirt at home, what kinds of activities he does at home. He didn't have a sandbox at home. He could correctly identify the colors on the toy snakes and lizard (figured out later his favorite color is “geen” (green). He seemed to skip the letter R in words. Everything else he said to me I had a terrible time understanding. He faced away from me when he talked and mumbled. Maybe I’ll work with him on that next time.
I have never had so much fun playing with preschoolers on the playground as I did today. I spent the whole time racing a few boys around the track , and and came home in dire need of a nap! But it was all worth it. Of course they beat me every time, and had fun doing it too.
I was chewed out for a situation in which I knew nothing about nor had any control over. The teacher from another program got on my case for children being on the playground without a teacher. I was on my way up the ramp on the other side of the playground and her class was in my way so I waited for them to go by. I didn't see that there was no teacher watching our children. I tried not to let the situation get to me, but I just couldnt help thinking about it the rest of the day.
At the end of the day, I received a hug goodbye from a little girl. Two other children cried and I had to try hard to keep my composure, or I would start crying too! The girl didn’t want to go home yet, though she had the same play dough at home. I helped a little boy make a snowman out of play dough complete with googley-eyes, and toothpicks for arms (he insisted on two arms for one side and one for the other). He wanted to show his dad when he came to pick him up. I set it aside and assured him it would be safe. No sooner did I turn my back and it was gone! Another student teacher came by and cleaned everything up. I figured"oh well, he'll probably forget all about it (hopefully) when his dad shows up". NOPE! I felt horrible when his dad showed up and the boy started to cry! Hearing him cry made me want to cry too! (I learned in a class last year that this is called emotional contagion. Funny, I have been wondering about that for years!).