Using my Blog across B.Ed

I have found that during the course of reflection in this blog that it is very beneficial for my professional development so I feel that this space could be utilized for reflecting across my other modules as well.
I feel our input on Friday 18th February is worth reflecting on as I found it very helpful and exciting. During this input we set up our context area in groups which we decided was 'People Who Help Us' as it is a prominent topic for nursery and early years education.
We were then joined by a nursery class who were free to explore every area set up by our entire year. This gave us all the opportunity to interact and observe the children and learn more about nursery. I have had lots of nursery experience as the bulk of my work experience before university was in nurseries rather than higher up in the primary school however I had been observing and interacting without having it backed up by theory. Because if this I was comfortable around the children and could easily interact and have fun but I could now add to that by taking into account the aspects Erika and Brenda have been talking to us about. I found this helped me with respect to observation as I was thinking about what to watch and what I could note if I had planned an observation however I was unsure how much we were expected to get involved as we were being told to interact but are often told in lectures that we should let the children play on their own and not dictate to them what to do. I feel that I managed to strike a balance between the two but until I have had more experience applying theory I cannot be 100% sure.
I learned a lot about what attracts children to a certain area. I think our area was great but the position was wrong as we were right next to the door in the corner and our tables were out of reach for the children. The areas which were colourful and had objects at the children's height were very popular plus colourful and crafty things were a favourite! Also, leftover balloons from the 1CM1 World Cafe were more popular than any area which goes to show the point that Erika and Brenda make all the time that you can create a fantastic context area but it still may not interest the children.
Overall the input has made me even more excited about my nursery placement!