Thanks!

I just wanted to say thanks to all of the classmates. I really enjoyed reading about your internship experiences, and have gained a lot of useful information from them. I hope that you all learned something from mine as well.

Internship on 8/28/2011

Today I went to my internship. It was the Parent Orientation/ Open House for the 2011-2012 school year at the local Park District Preschool Center. I really enjoyed interacting and helping parents. The day was set up into 4 one hour sessions. The first session was for student M-W-F Morning Classes, the next session was for M-W-F Afternoon sessions, the third session was for T-TH Morning Sessions and the forth session was for T-TH afternoon & M-F Preschool. All session started off in the gym where the parents were directed to the table that their child's teacher was at. While at the table, the parents dropped off their child's school supplies and met the teachers. Then they were directed to the second half of the gym where chair and snacks were. In this area, the program director introduced herself and spoke about the center. Policices, Daily routines, parent involvement, etc. After this mini session, parents were directed to their child's classroom to listen to the teachers. When they arrived in the classroom, the teacher introduced themselves and spoke about how they conduct their class, and what is expected. (Bring children in clothes that they can get dirty in, bercause with exploration comes messiness. They also explained how they do try their best to keep the children clean but occassionally they do get paint on a shirt or ect.) After that the parents were ablke to ask the teachers questions. It was nice to be able to be part of this. I was able to help direct parents and show them where the classroom was. I also answered questions in which they had that I knew the answers. Overall, this was my favorite part of the internship so far.

Observing the Director on August 9th

On Monday I was able to go in and work side by side with the director of the early childhood departmnent at the local park district. I really liked seeing this aspect of the program. I was able to observe her use her staffing skills, as well as publicity that she does for the park district. She designs the programs for the park district book, and then budgets the results at the end of the classes. I was able to help her budget a couple of these classes. She also explained how she prices the classes and how they pull more children in with on site display posters. She also allowed me to see what she does to get the posters made for upcoming events at the park district. I also was able to see the food delivery system and observe the students at their lunch time.  I have worked the child care center for over 10 years, and have been a center director for 8 of thos years. I did think this was a lot like the child care setting director, except with the planning for the Early Childhood programs for the park district book. Overall, I am very happy with the knowledge I am gaining about the program. Right now the only challange I seem to have with the class is coming up with my thesis statement for my paper.