Head Start Observation

Personal thoughts on Volunteer Teaching at Pathways’ Deland Head Start Location
I want to start off by saying that conducting this service learning project was a wonderful experience that allowed me to encounter an entirely different aspect of the local Deland community. I very much enjoyed being able to interact with the children at Pathways’ Deland Head Start location and teach them a lesson about personal hygiene. Speaking on matters of personal health habits that allow you to lead a healthier and happier life is something I am very passionate about. Throughout the development of the service learning project and designing a lesson plan for the children, I wanted to create an interactive curriculum they would enjoy, and be able to remember the skills we taught them regarding how to best
Particular topics we focused on in our presentation for the children were basic personal hygiene methods, such as brushing one’s teeth and hair, taking a shower, and washing one’s hands with warm water and soap. Our lesson utilized pictures, props and an interactive charade-style game of “guess that hygiene” after giving a short and presentation.
When we initially arrived at Head Start, we greeted the children and their teachers, who had already gathered them in a group for our lesson, and introduced ourselves. After introduction had taken place, we began our lesson by initially asking what the children believed “personal hygiene” was, and after all the children who had wanted to answer spoke, we explained that personal hygiene involves maintaining healthy habits to keep one’s self clean and free of germs. Also, we explained that this would prevent them being exposed to germs and getting sick. This lead to us prompting the children to give some examples of what they believed to be examples of “healthy habits.” Personally, I feel that this question was one they were all very excited to answer, as they all jumped in anticipation whenever it was their turn to answer