"Power Rangers Jungle Fury, transform into a Robot!"

These are pictures of the Power Rangers: Jungle Fury and Transformers. And don't even pretend that you didn't watch the power rangers when you were a kid.



At work today, two children had the dollhouse, so toy people, and some animals out. The people (who really came from a leggo set or something) were power rangers. The animals were what the rangers became when you fed them pumpkin pie. The lived in the hotel, and hid in the hotel, and the fought each other. Every time they died, they just got back up and started fighting again. This was really fun to watch. A child's imagination is a crazy place, but the stuff that they come up with just amazes me. I know it's all pretend, and they know it's all pretend, but they were serious when they said that pumpkin pie turns them into evil cheetahs. I thought pumpkin pie just made me fat, but if I'm going to turn into a cheetah, you guys better watch out!

But seriously, I was intrigued with how children could just take all this stuff and make their own reality. I would never think about pumpkin pie creating evil cheetahs, but when you're wrapped up in a world or power rangers, anything could happen. Children have a knack for making the ordinary seem extraordinary, and that's something I've always appreciated. As a teacher, I want my children to feel free to make the ordinary extraordinary in my classroom. I believe that a classroom should be a place where anything can happen and it's safe to do so. Children need to be comfortable being themselves, and they should be able to do that, whether they like power rangers, ninja turtles or barbie dolls. That's what this experience taught me.

The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.

The older age group I work with love to hear stories. They love to be read to and they'll keep the books coming, too. This is one book I have read multiple times to the children.

Sometimes, The children will hear a story, take the book, and then make their own interpretation based on what they've heard and the pictures they see. I like to see what children come up with while looking at a book. They create ideas based off what they see and what they've heard. When I read books to them, I make sure to ask questions about what they see, how they would feel, and if they've ever been in that situation before. With this book, I ask if they're patience in certain situations.

Through this experience, I have learned that children like to hear stories, and it's always a good idea to ask questions to get them thinking and to keep them engaged in the story. In my classroom, I will make sure that when we read, I ask open ended question (questions that only require a yes or no answer don't leave a child's mind open to wonder and think freely) to keep them thinking, engaged, and the story becomes relevant to them. To help children understand the concept of patience, relating it back to things they do in their everyday lives helps.

Turtles, turtles, turtles

This is a picture of turtles that is in one of the classrooms I work in during nap time.

The curiosity that children posses has always fascinated me. For instance, I was at work, and it was nap time, but the children don't always want to nap. One of the children sleep right next to a wall full of pictures of different animals. Normally, I would just overlook this. There are animals on the wall. Big Deal. But to a child, they're something new and exciting that they get to look at and think about. This particular child would point to every turtle and say, "turtle" because they new what it was, so it was new and exciting. The fascination had not gone away from learning about what was in the picture.

This has really made me go back and think. I mean, what have I overlooked because I had already figured it out? Children can really open your eyes and teach the teacher. I learned to be more observant and not take the little things for granted. Turtles may not be a new thing for me, but the ability to understand and share a concept is an amazing thing to a child. I hope when they grow up, they keep that wonder and curiosity, because learning will be a much easier process if they're willing to take everything in and show other people what they have learned.