Head Start Center Observation

The Head Start Center at Martin Luther King school is a great way to learn about the three domains of development of cognitive, phsycal, social and emotional. The observation took place towards the end of the school year. This observation consisted of observing an early childhood boy on April twenty-two, twenty fourteen, named Anth, with the age of 4 years, 2 months. The Head Start Center had a classroom that consisted of 16 children, between the ages of three to five years old, and a ratio of eight to one. I conducted my observation for a period of about half an hour in room 52 at Martin Luther King Jr Elementary School. My first impression of the classroom was a good surprise. The classroom reflects a great environment for a place for preschoolers

According to Guyton (2011), any type of music will help children learn in various ways. Whether it’s Rock and Roll genre or a song in a different language, the baby will love bopping and bouncing along to the rhythm and that is exactly what I found Anth doing. There was a time though where he was not bopping and bouncing. He did not seem to dance along to a Spanish song that came out. However, as soon as a Rock and Roll music in English started to play, he started to smile with joy. He also smiled numerous amounts of times when the different children would call out his name. During this entire observation time that I was in the preschool classroom, I gathered more information by asking the teachers questions. By the teachers knowledge of Anth, what I was was able to notice was that Anth was more trusting of strangers than other children. Anth has built a positive resolution on the stage of Trust vs. Mistrust in Erickson’s stages of psychosocial development. This is where the child acquires the basic sense that other people are trustworthy. Another key factor was that he understood object permanence. This was demonstrated when his mother left the room and he didn’t cry while some other children did cry. Anth continuing presence at the preschool during the earlier stages of his life is beneficial for him to prepare him for his journey in life. A theorist by the name of John B. Watson once said “give me any healthy child and I can transform him or her into anything from being a lawyer to a doctor.” Based on this statement and my own observations, I strongly believe that the environment that surrounds him will prepare him for a better future in life. Since there are a variety of developmental classroom levels he can move to, he can gradually accomplishes the milestones of development as well as learning