Online Reflection #1 - Bakery Dramatic Play PDF

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Online Reflection #1 1) What background information would children have had to acquire prior to engaging in your planned dramatic play center? What are ways you might have provided this knowledge? The dramatic play center in a classroom is a place where children take on different roles and pretend to be someone or something different from themselves. In this video, the dramatic play center was turned into a Bakery. Since pretending is the main component of dramatic play that means that children are playing out things that they already know about. This is why it is very important and helpful for teachers to provide background knowledge to children before letting them straight into the dramatic play center. In this video the teacher stated that she gave the students a prior experience to base their play on by reading a non-fiction book about baking to the entire class. This book included information about what bakers do, where they work, what training they need, what tools they use, and who they work with. Before reading this book the teacher can facilitate a discussion with the students to talk about what they already know about baking. For example, in the video when the teacher asked the students what they know about baking they kept answering “You cook.” However later after they read the book and engaged in the bakery dramatic play center, they learned that there is a difference between cooking and baking. Another good way that you can provide background knowledge prior to engaging the students in a dramatic play center is to go on a field trip. For example, in my field study the kindergarten class went to the Peabody Museum. After they came back from the museum every student drew a picture of what he or she saw, liked, or learned from their trip. They shared their drawings with the class and the teacher put their drawings together into a book called “Dinosaur Museum Trip Book.” Later the teacher chose three students to actually create the museum

dramatic play center with the guidance of a teacher. The students talked about what they had seen in the Peabody Museum and what they wanted to put in their own classroom museum. They remembered that at the Peabody museum there were rocks and crystals on shelves behind glass, dinosaurs, a front desk where they paid for tickets, and a map of the museum and these were the things they wanted to put in their own museum. They used items in the classroom and also used their classmate’s artwork. For example they used the rocks that the whole class collected throughout the year, they used blocks to make shelves for the rocks, they used plastic film to make it look like glass in front of the shelfs, they incorporated the concept of shadows that they already learned about by putting aluminum foil on the bottom of the rocks and white paper behind the rocks so that when they hold a flashlight you can see the shadow of the rocks, they used the paper dinosaurs that their friends made, they made one big dinosaur out of blocks and made a box around it with tape so their friends know not to pass the tape and touch the big dinosaur, they made maps, tickets, and money and finally they added a book about dinosaurs and their dinosaur trip book into the museum. When they completed their museum, the three students invited 2 friends at a time to come play at the museum along with them.

2) What challenges did you anticipate with your planned center, and what are some ways you would have proactively addressed those challenges? For those of you who implemented your center, what challenges arose? How did you or the classroom teacher address them?

In the bakery dramatic play center shown in the video the challenges that arose were mostly social challenges. Since there was so much to do at the center and every student was excited to get a turn this resulted in them having problems interacting with one another. For example, sharing equipment, waiting, taking turns, and sharing space. This is why they needed a lot of teacher direction. To combat these problems the teachers put time limits, so each student got a turn to take on different roles and do different things. Also, when a problem occurred the teachers were around to help the students have conversations and collaborate to solve their problems. They showed them how to work together by modeling to the students how they should speak and what they can say to each other in situations where they get frustrated. For example, if a student wants to use something and another student is using it, the teacher tells that student to say, “Can I use that after you please.” In my field study, we came across the same problems. Since three students were making the museum for the dramatic play center, they had times where they did not agree with each other. The teacher who was guiding them said multiple times that they all had to agree on what their museum would be like, so they shared their ideas and came up with a way to incorporate what everyone wanted. At the end no one was mad or sad.

3) What opportunities for symbolism did your dramatic play topic provide? How would you (or how did you) support this symbolic play? In the dramatic play center shown in the video the kids were using imagination to symbolize certain things during their play. They know that in a bakery when you buy something you have to pay for it. So, they were asking each other questions like how much is this. Although they did not

have real toy money, they were pretending to go in their pockets and pulling out money to pay for what they were buying. This shows that the kids can think about things as separate from objects they represent. They can use their creativity and brain to come up with ways to foster their play. They also engaged in symbolic play by taking on the role of a baker and baking certain foods. In my field study, when the students were making the museum, they used blocks to make the shelves for the rocks, they used plastic film from the kitchen to make glass, and they used tape to make the do not pass sign around the big dinosaur. They brainstormed and thought about alternative ways to make the parts of the museum. The teacher was always there and guided them by asking them questions in order to get them thinking. For example, she asked, “What kind of cover should be in front of the shelf,” and one of the students replied, “Something that is see through because the people who come inside of the museum should be able to see the rocks.” After they figured that out together the teacher went on to ask, “What do we have that is see through.” One of the students said, “We have that thing we use in the kitchen to wrap stuff.” So, they went to the kitchen and found the plastic film and used that to make the glass. This is how they completed the entire museum by using the materials they had in the classroom. When the museum was completed, the students realized that they needed tickets, money to purchase tickets, and maps for their friends to use when they came into the classroom museum. So, they made money, tickets, and a map out of paper for their classmates. The students were aware that money and tickets are symbols of the procedures that you take before going into an actual museum and the map is how you find your way around the museum.

Pictures from the Museum:

Rock shelf -rocks -aluminum foil on the bottom -plastic wrap in the front -flashlight to make shadow of rocks

Dinosaur Museum Trip Book

Paper Dinosaurs (friends in the class made them)

Big Dinosaur -made out of blocks -they put tape around it so students know not to pass it and touch the dinosaur just like at a museum

be careful sign under the big dinosaur

Money

Ticket

Map...