Self-Reflection

Ocean A, B, C
1. I chose this activity because I wanted children to be able to recognize letters from the alphabet
and relate it to a story about animals in the ocean. I wanted children to share the paint materials
and take turns with the materials.
2. The strong points of my activity was being well-prepared, providing different materials (I used
large cookie-cutters and small cookie cutters). The primary role of teachers in encouraging
young children to make art is providing abundant and diverse materials (Epstein, 2007, p.111).
3. The weak points of my activity were the lack of dialogue between the children and me. I
should have related the letters they were using to the book more. When a child used a letter "W"
I should have sparked conversation by showing them a picture of a whale from the book or asked
a question. Encourage children to describe the visual attributes of materials, tools and artwork
in their environment (Epstein, 2007, p.33).
4. I did not make any physical changes in my redo. The children were less interested in the redo,
so when there was a child who participated; I provided more conversation by asking more
questions.
5. Although I feel the activity was successful, I will not use this activity again the same way.
When I provide the cookie cutters for another activity, I will try harder to relate it to a book.
Teachers play a significant role in calling it to childrens attention. They can draw an explicit
connection between logos or other symbols and printed words, and between the shared properties
of environmental print and books (Epstein, 2007, p.33). Or try to relate the letters to the
childrens name because the children were more interested in getting the letters in their names so
in the future this activity will be used to help with learning to spell their names.
6. My activity met one of my objectives and not another. The children were able to recognize
some letters in the alphabet but were not able comprehend the story and relate them to one
another.
7. To build on this activity, I would focus on just a few letters and relate them to the animals in
the story. I think there was so much to look at and too much to remember that the children
became uninterested. Using the cookie cutters did not have any relevance to the story for the
children.