Celeste Mejia

Child development reflection #1

My buddy's name is Arta, he’s in grade 2 and loves drawing, playing soccer and hanging out with
his mom. His favorite color is green, Christmas is his favorite holiday, he loves playing Minecraft and
playing with his Edu sphere at home. Arta is more on the quiet side, he’s very shy and during each visit
it takes him a bit of time to warm up. By the end of each visit, he becomes more talkative.

A week ago, Arta and I played Minecraft in a class activity. Our goal was to create a garden filled
with crops to grow with a fence surrounding it and a sign with our names. During the process of this
activity, I found out how much Arta enjoys playing Minecraft. He still needed help figuring out how to
join the multiplayer world and moving around properly. Since we both already knew the basics on how
to play, building the garden was easy. We had extra time to spare so we made sure to add extra
decorations to our garden with special lights, cool signs, a doorway with a path and flowers leading
towards the front of the garden. We planted many different crops like watermelon, pumpkin, beetroot,
carrots and potatoes, making sure there was enough water for proper growth. Arta did a lot of the
building on his own, most of the time I had to jump in myself to help because he did not ask for it on his
own, in the end he was still very thankful for my help. Arta followed instructions very well and was super
eager to add his own touch to the build. We came into no problems with the technology either.

Last week, the class activity was to make paper plate leaf wreaths. Together Arta and I worked
together to create the wreath, I drew out the guilde lines and let him cut out the hole in the wreath.
Arta was very eager to help out and do things on his own. He retrieved the glue for us three different
times due to the glue not coming out. Arta followed instructions well, I applied the glue while Arta
added the leaves, he did need help holding down the leaves for them to stick so we worked together.
Even though we struggled getting the leaves to stick how we wanted them to, we still ended up finishing
the wreath. Arta was very helpful during the cleaning process by helping me wipe down the desks and
putting away all the supplies.

Arta is very shy and does not interact and speak with his peers often, there are only a couple of
peers who he shows enthusiasm towards. Arta loves helping and being independent. During our crafts
Arta tends to do things on his own, coloring, getting supplies, cutting out shapes and cleaning up. He
does not reach out for help but, when I notice he needs some I offer it. He takes up on my offer for my
help, letting me help him. Every week he seems to become more comfortable with me. After the wreath
making activity, he ran up to me to say goodbye and gave me a hug. This has shown his significant
progress in becoming comfortable with me through the class activities we do together. Fostering his
creativity in making more creative detailed designs and solving ways to fix current problems. For
example, when he got his pencil case out to hold down the leaves when they were not sticking to the
paper plate. Arta is a super sweet boy that has a lot of hidden talent underneath his quietness.