Observation and analysis In was during outdoor play when two children were arguing about whether the plant in front of them is a tree. It was a banana plant. Thus a lesson was created to address that issue. The teacher started by reading a book “The Giving Tree”. Then she asked the children about the differences. Some said trees are taller and some said trees are bigger. She then brought the children outdoors and asked them to touch and feel the stem and trunk of plants and trees respectively. The teacher had to point out the parts as couple of them asked the teacher where the stem of a plant is. The lesson ended with the children drawing a tree and a plant as well as stating the differences. Looking at The Kindergarten Curriculum framework, …show more content…
It is used for the walk in the garden where they had first-hand experience with the plants. According to Carr, (2001) learning stories bring out the story of the moment and they are powerful research tools (Carr,2001). It also supports the educator in engaging parental participation and interest (Ennis, 2006). Learning stories is in relation to the sociocultural theory, which links to Vygotsky’s sociocultural developmental theory, where interactions with peers assist the development in the young child (Berk & Winsler, …show more content…
Therefore, photographs were paired with the learning stories to provide context and give meaning in this learning experience thus making it a suitable and effective assessment tool. Since checklists provide a summary of children’s development, this learning experience only plays a minute part. Furthermore, checklists have a narrow focus, being only concerned with measuring development based on specific observations in defined areas of skills. McAfee and Leong (2011) as cited in Authur (2014) argue that checklists filter out too much information that it fails to show the complexity of children’s learning (Arthur, 2014). Arthur et al. (2014) mentioned that “Checklists are not useful as the only form of documentation.” (Authur et al.,2014, p.
The Giving Tree was first published in 1964 by Harper & Row and was written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein. Silverstein was a controversial children’s book author due to his long connotation with Playboy and his lack of patience around families. Despite this, Silverstein sold more than ten million copies of The Giving Tree. It remains a classic picture book. It has a prominent green cover but the words and pictures are black and white and displayed in a minimalistic way. There are many interpretations of what the actual relationship of the boy and tree is based on. A mother and son’s bond is one that always circulates through discussions, but a religious view is an interesting way to interpret this book. God is portrayed as the tree giving the young child who grows into adulthood, his unconditional love with little to no return. There are also many biblical allusions from the
I have always had a keen interest in observing children as they play and learn and using the observations to support the child’s growth. This is partly based on my past professional experiences and observations of my own children. I believe that my other strength in assessment is in analyzing data and using the data to make decisions. While I feel, this area is a strength, my exposure to the vast array of assessment tools used to support student learning has been
The Child Development Center of College of San Mateo provides early care and educational programs for children between the ages of 3 to 5 years old. Children are divided into classrooms with a “master” teacher, a “regular” teacher, and two or three “associate” teachers. Klara attended Classroom, “A,” a stimulating and well-resourced classroom. Klara was observed for two hours on Monday from 9 am to 11 am and for two hours on Wednesday from 9 am to 11 am. During these two hours, classroom activities consisted of “free time,” “story time,” and an outside “play time.” A “master” teacher, a “regular” teacher, and two “associate” teachers were present during observations. Additionally, a total of eighteen children were in attendance during the observed days.
Puckett, M., & Black, J. (2008). Meaningful assessments of the young child. (3th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Eliason, C. F., Jenkins, L. (2008). A practical guide to early childhood curriculum (8th edition). New
The goal of education is to provide children with the opportunity to amass a wealth of knowledge, love for learning, and academic strength. Children go to school to read, write, and learn a variety of subjects. While education is meant to be exciting for children, there have to be standards in order to make sure that progress is being and those children are where they need to be in order to move onto the next phase of their education. Education builds as it grows, and students need a strong foundation in order to succeed and continue. Without those strong building blocks, students will continue to fall back and repeat the same material again and again. And so, testing and assessment come into play to make sure children are where they need to be. However, in early childhood settings testing is almost non-existent because of the stigma around testing. The current debate in our education system argues that testing is not a good measure of a child’s actual knowledge. Rather, assessment gives teachers a better picture of a student’s abilities and capabilities in the classroom. Thus, currently the debate continues over assessment versus testing in the classroom due to the demand for knowledge on whether or not testing is a good way of measuring a student’s progress in school.
Morrison, G. S. (1976). Chapter 6: Early Childhood Programs APPLYING THEORIES TO PRACTICE. In Early childhood education today (10th ed., pp. 5-31). Columbus, Ohio: Merrill.
The first experience (appendix 1) the practitioner was working with a group of children, the activity was reading a story from a book to which a discussion is formed. The aim of this activity was to promote the children’s thinking development. This type of thinking is from Matthew Lipman (1993) who uses a philosophical approach, it is known ‘stories of thinking,’ this can help to a...
...earning story with noticing, recognising and responding is crucial, and it is imperative that teachers take the time to learn how to assess a child correctly.
In order to promote the best outcome from the curriculum we must consider that each child is an individual in their own right. Tricia David (2001: 55) states that early childhood should be a time of “spontaneity and of exploration according to individual interests”. Thus accounting for the child’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as their likes and dislikes, provides a curriculum, which will promote optimum development. This is also known as a ...
Attending kindergarten means having more structure in a child’s young life, and they are ready for it after going to preschool. They have learned to socialize, follow simple rules, and stay on a task longer and longer. They are now ready for more intense learning; this is an opportune time for a teacher to harness the mind and still keep the fun and adventure of a kindergartener’s mind going.
When assessing young children in particular it is important to look for more then simply right or wrong. An in depth look is necessary to see what the children really know before giving them a poor grade. Children’s work needs to critiqued in more then one way to be sure that they really do ...
Entering my kindergarten teaching experience in the last quarter of school year I had to quickly become familiar with kindergarten content standards and the school’s curriculum. To do this I observed my mentor teachers instructional time with the children and gained as much information as I could about the children’s educational standing by developing a professional relationship with the my mentor teacher and the children. I learned that the majority of my kindergarten children had not previously attended preschool and that this was their first year of school. I found that interacting with the children in social activities provided me with great insight to their literacy, math, science, and social studies development. In reviewing the children’s class projects, school displays, and an array of their work sample along with my mentor teachers year-long assessments I was able to recognize challenging, emerging and advanced content areas of the children’s core curriculum. These emerging and challenging content areas is what I centered my curriculum planning around. “Information about each child’s learning and development is used to evaluate teaching effectiveness. This may lead to changes in schedule, curriculum and teaching strategies, room set up, resources, and so on.” (Bredekamp and Copple, p. 249)
What Kids Really Learn in Preschool. Parenting. (Fall 99):Vol. 13 Issue 7, p 74. October
The purpose of early childhood education is to firstly learn about one’s self and agency, how one’s actions can affect and impact others; to develop a sense of identity; who you are and how you fit into this world. Experience a sense of belonging through interactions with peers and teachers whilst celebrating and sharing diverse cultures whilst embracing others. Children need to have opportunities to explore, experiment, to gain insight and knowledge in numeracy, literacy, science and social structure through innovative and richly supported curriculums (DEEWR, 2009). I have very high expectations of all children as I believe that this assists in building self-confidence and