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 Kindergarten- aged 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, 2013by 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