THE VET PROJECTHELPING ANIMALS Kelsi Ward PreK Teacher

THE VET PROJECT/HELPING ANIMALS Kelsi Ward- Pre-K Teacher

DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROJECT… How did it come about? The students had experienced free time with our doctor center for about a month and on their own brought in stuffed animals from the reading corner as “patients”, as I watched over a period of time they continued to want to take care of the animals instead of the other children. Seeing it was something they were interested in on their own, I wanted to see if we could turn it into a project. We organized the space in the beginning of January and we still have interest in the space and it is now April. So the project will be coming up on three months now. What were some of the children’s main ideas? The children expressed the most interest in learning about some of the tools in the vet center, some of the different types of medicines, and they all wondered what a vet was. I didn’t do a large topic web with the whole group of students in our room; I found it more successful to call them over one by one and get the children’s main ideas about the vet topic. Why was this topic so important to them? Many of our students have family pets (cats and dogs) so I think they related to taking care of animals at school because it is an important part of their home life and I think it genuinely made them happy to explore with the center. Rationale/Logistics/Curriculum links for the project? I wanted to proceed with the project for one main reason; it was very easy for me to fit into this concept of a holistic approach to children’s learning. I was excited when it related to so many of our social skills we are trying to promote, inquiry learning, hands on learning, and language development. Through questioning and observation I centered on four of our children that were really motivated in the project; I will be focusing the presentation on my three little girls and one guy, whom everyday visited the vet center.

TRANSFORMATION FOR THE VET PROJECT We really wanted to promote the visual aspect of the center. We added as many animal photos as we could find, stuff toys, leashes, collars, signs, dog toys, dishes, x-rays, medicine containers, Band. Aids, uniforms, cotton balls, tweezers, masks, eye patches, brushes, etc. Everything you could think of that an animal would need to be taken care of by a vet or at their stay in the hospital.

SOME THINGS THE CHILDREN TOLD US WOULD NEED TO BE IN THE CENTER

HOLISTIC LEARNING APPROACH: SOME EXAMPLES FROM THE VET PROJECT Resilience/Aesthetics Themselves/Relationships When I observed KO performing “an examine on a sick penguin” I realized he was learning more about himself by pushing his personal limits (very shy, hasn’t expressed himself much). When I observed KS and HI playing with the vet tools, I saw them develop relationships, working together, sharing materials, and discussing ideas showed common respect for one another. When I observed KB “working on her cat, ” I noticed she was learning how to face challenges and be successful. She wouldn’t give up on “making him better”, even if it meant staying with him in the hospital. When I observed all four children I saw they were developing their aesthetic learning by being able to see the beauty in every animal they were taking care of, sick, or not.

OH THE LANGUAGE AND WORDS WE ARE LEARNING/EXPRESSING: SOME EXAMPLES FROM THE VET PROJECT “There are bones inside these x-rays” “You keep animals there and buy them, he needs some animals, he needs carrots and cats, why does he have lot’s of animals” “A vet is when you want to play with something, but he needs medicine” “How come they have those white shirts” “He has a needle, how come he has needles” “He needs a walkie talkie and some potion to make them better” “He would need food, and toys for the animals, I want to know why they get hurt” “A vet is a guy that takes care of animals, we need animals, and a table for animals to go on, I want to know how the animals talk, walk, and think” “Does he need 1 or 2, I’m writing checkdowns to see if they come for 4 or 5 days, the baby wolf, we take care of them” “My tiger is very sick, it needs medicine, he will die, he was choking” “I’m washing the cut, it has bugs on it. These are the bubbles (cotton balls). I used bad bug soap for medicine. The cat is going to be okay (brushing it’s fur). In the mouth, in the eyes. ”

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT Sharing, working together, discussing ideas, talking about feelings, empathy, sympathy, including others

PERSONAL LEARNING THROUGH THIS EXPERIENCE: Challenges vs. Successes Challenges- first time attempting a project (was anxious to see if I could personally execute what was expected, own nerves/anxieties), children who are “shy” or don’t participate much in the planning/discussion period for the project, having students motivated on a regular/continual/prolonged period, documenting/observing all of their learning while attending to the needs of some other children, being in a remote location without a resident vet it was hard to find visitors to bring in (just brought some local pets in) Successes- hearing my “shy” guy come out of his “bubble” with this center and talk sooo much, hearing how caring some of our students are towards each other and animals, practicing more ways to document and observe, bringing in pets Observations to note and modify for next time Modify for next time- try and schedule an appointment with one of the vets that come to La Ronge some weeks (didn’t know that), try get the SPCA to come and visit our classroom with animals to show the children contrast between taking care of animals and not, just more outside sources (ask doctor parent in our classroom to maybe bring some of his tools that would be similar), I would like to try get more students involved on a regular basis and do more varied activities within the center

CONCLUSION OF THE VET PROJECT…T. B. A. I learnt that a project does not need to “scare the beejesus” out of me anymore; with some time with the children and really understanding what they knew and needed to know made it more practical for me (also putting it more as a center made it easier for me to incorporate it into our classroom- since this was the first time for me it was a nice transition into projects) Our vet project is still up and ongoing because the children are enjoying the tools and animals; with the last couple months (if still going and interested) we might be able to have more visitors come in. I learnt that children need to have some say into their own learning because it made them more excited for the vet items, instead of just throwing it up and saying here play. I think I still have a lot to learn and practice with only being in Pre-K a couple years but this was a good tool to show me what the Pre. Kindergarten approach should be focused on.