Blog 2

Blog 2 Observing and Interacting with Professionals/Colleagues in Your Setting

For blog two I was able to go into the field in my chosen setting of a colleagues Head Start classroom to observe and interact with the professionals who are directly involved with the care and education of young children.  In Ms. Jessica's classroom there are three staff a lead teacher, an associate teacher and a center support aide in the classroom with 16 children ages 2.8 to 5.2 years of age.  In this classroom are 3 children with IEP's one for speech and langauge and two for autism.  I spent over 2 hours in this classroom observinga and interacting with each of the three professionals in this classroom.  I was able to speak with Ms. Jessica and ask her thoughts on childhood obeisity and how her classroom addresses this ever growing problem.  She informed me that Head Start is very dedicated to keeping its children and families healthy.  The food served for example is never fried, whole grains breads,pastas,etc. are served even in the breading of such items as  corn dogs, ravoli and more.  Head Start does not serve sugary cearals but serves such cearals that is also approved by the government run WIC program such as Kix, Corn Flakes, Shredded Mini Wheats and the like.  Fresh fruits are served at least once a day and the canned fruits are in natrual juices or light syrup only not heavy.  The milk served is now 1% milk not the whole or 2% milk served in the past.  The foods for the entire Head Start program in Saginaw County are chosen and purchased by a
registered nutritionist who also documents the allergies and weights of each and every child three times each year.  Also Ms. Jessica stated that the children go outside for a total of 1 hour each day minimum along with having 15 to 20 minutes of music along with 15 to 20 minutes of what is known as IMIL time.  IMIL time stands for I am moving I am learning which is time mandated for exercise movement and learning for all children once a day.  This is an awesome time as sometimes the children play parachute games to music with balls, dance with ribbons, or scarves, do yoga poses and so much more and according to Ms. Jessica the children love it and really do get a large amount of time dedicated and set aside for moving and learning.  All of these actions helps reduce or reverse the effects of childhood obeisty while also allowing the children to actually enjoy moving and exercising without even knowing they are phyiscally working hard.  The associate teacher assists the lead and the children in all activities and keeps them motivated to dance and have fun with movement.  The center support aid serves the food and speaks with the children about the nutrients and how it is healthy for the children.  The children themselves tell me about how healthy milk is for their strong bones and muscles and how fruits and vegtables make you strong and your eyes see really good.  The children love the movement and music and play an active role in what and how they do the activities related to this action.  All in all this classroom seems to be extremely involved in helping young children reduce and or reverse the effects of childhood obesity and I applaud them for thier dedication and their efforts.  I hope they keep up the good work.