Child Observation

Child in the block area is trying to stack on top of each other on the carpet. The blocks tumble down and the child slaps the carpet and crosses his arms. The teacher says, “(Child’s name), why don’t you try building your blocks off the carpet? Your blocks may be more sturdy.” The child replies, “I can’t! It’s too hard!” with his arms still crossed. The teacher then goes over to the child and begins to stack her own blocks on the tile to show the child how the blocks are being more stable and not falling down. The child then joins her and begins to rebuild his tower. Comment: I like that the teacher went over to demonstrate to the child how much sturdier the blocks would be on the tile than the carpet. The teacher made this suggestion

There are two children who are still playing when the others are cleaning up. The teacher notices them and says, “I see some of our friends who do not have their listening ears on.” To this the two children look at the teacher, smile at each other, and continue playing. The teacher takes a deep breath then walks over to the children. “Girls,” she says, “I asked the class several times to clean up. You can miss the movie if you choose not to listen.” The children keep playing. The teacher then grabs the toys from the girls, throws them in the basket, and points to the carpet in front of the television where the other children are sitting. The girls furrow their brows at the teacher then walks over to the

The children painting on easels, with red, blue, green, yellow, and purple paint. One child is painting with his paintbrush, when he accidentally marks his picture with green paint. “Oh, man!” He exclaimed, his face getting red. “What’s the matter (child’s name)?” the teacher asks. “I painted with the green paint, when I meant to paint with the yellow! Now my picture is ruined!” he explains. The teacher says, “Your picture is not ruined! If you mix the red with your green paint it will make yellow! Try it!” The child looks at the teacher, looking perplexed. The teacher then guides the child to dip his paintbrush in the red paint, and mix it with the green on his picture. She guides him as they mix the two color. Once the color yellow starts to emerge, he says, “Whoa! That is cool!”. The children walk over to his picture and try the technique with their own paints and