I actually kind of had fun.


Last night I attended another one of the stupid PCL (PDL?) classes. Basicly, these classes are to bore the life out of providers until the last spark of defiance is gone. They say they're to prompt higher learning in childcare providers. That's a crock, I already know all the stuff they 'teach'. But, ok.


The class was three hours long, but stretched into almost four. Outside Activites. When we first got there we had to sign in (So they know who's there and what name to put on your certificate...yes, you get a certificate, but it dosen't make up for the classes!) and then wear name tags. (Ew, I don't look good in a name tag...but then they told me to put my clothes back on, and it was a little better.) Then after a bref intro (And being offended a couple times...I paid for the class, it's not like I just showed up. The lady who was running it made a few comments about if you don't participate you won't get your certificate, and blah blah. She even added 'Understand?' a couple times! I wanted to stand up, salute and scream "Yes, Ma'am".) we got split into groups (Another thing, if I've paid for it, why can't I work with who I WANT to work with?) by giving everyone a number. I actually was lucky, I got placed with a group of four other people whom I've taken a couple classes with that were just hysterical to work with. Then, we got herded outside (erm, bad wording perhaps) to do some outside activites. Who would have known right?


There were six 'stations' set up. We had to go to each station, do the activity, and write down some notes on the Physical, Social, Language, Cognitive and Emotional aspects of each activity. (The class centered around the point that children learn differently outside, but still learn in the five.) Then we had to present them to the class later. (I didn't pay for public speaking man! If I'd wanted to do that I'd join Toastmasters!) We decided to split the five between us, mine was social. Something I'm never quite sure if I have a grip on.


The first station our group went to was covered with Jello and Balloons. We had to rub the balloons (ahem) on our heads and then hold them over the jello (poured on a plate) to see what the reaction was. It was actually really neat, although we made a huge mess with the jello. The second station was one where we had to make, basicly, gack. Yes, I made it, and I kept it. Because slimey nasty icky things are kewl.


The third station was the funnest. We had to make ice cream balls. We took a zip lock bag, put cream milk and sugar in it, and closed it up. Put it in another bag, inside another bag, inside another bag and filled the last bag with ice and rock salt. Then we rapped it in newspaper and duct taped it shut. We spent the rest of the class throwing it at (lol) each other and tossing it into the air. (I'm happy to say, the ice cream turned out ok...if you didn't eat the stuff that escaped the first bag, that stuff tasted like salt.)


The four station was paint, they taped a sheet to the wall and we got to throw sponges and stuff at the sheet. That turned into us trying to hit each other to get back at who-hit-who with the ice cream package at the last station. I love being silly. Someone missed at got paint all over a window. No, it wasn't me.


The fifth station was filling film canisters with alkaseltzer and water, putting the lid on and waiting for them to 'pop'. There were different types of canisters and lids to try. Our first try didn't work, but our second and third flew a good 20 feet in the air and made a loud pop. (Which made us jump, because we were sure they were duds.) The fourth didn't work, we were sad. Very, very sad. By now the ice cream package was cold, very very cold.


The sixth and last station was making stepping stones from cement (which I made a hand print in, later took home and filled the hand print with multi-colored glass chips, now I'm getting sealer to seal it. Gonna put it in my flower bed.) that was fun, but messy. My hands are still kind of sore and funky from the cement. They didn't like it.


Then we went back inside and talked about each station and their relation to development of the five, then we had to write our own outdoor activity (ours was an obstical course) then we had ice cream. (Yay for ice cream!)


All in all, I had alot of fun just goofing around with the group I was in. That made the class worth going to, becides a wonderful recipie for gack, and a kewl way to make ice cream, I didn't learn much else new.


I'm glad I went anyway.


Happy Birthday to Mackinzie! She's two, so she dosen't read this (or anything at all, for that matter). She's one of our clients, so I'm going to go paint faces and make cupcakes for after lunch. Woohoo.