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Class observation for preschool
Class observation for preschool
Foundation of education observation in early childhood education essay
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During my observation at the Ester Jetter Preschool, I observed a quiet, well-behaved three year old little girl named Savannah. Although she is three years old and her average weight should be 30 pounds, I would say that she weighs less than thirty pounds although she looked very healthy. Savannah was dressed in a green dress, gray leggings and a jean jacket. She was accessorized with a pearl necklace and a pink bracelet; she also had her hair down with a small side braid. Within her physical development, she showed great gross and fine motor skills. Whenever Savanah wanted to move around the preschool, she would run, jump or even skip to the destination. In fact, Savannah hardly walked anywhere. She was able to run to the bathroom and easily …show more content…
She played in the kitchen by herself for about 15 minutes. This included picking up plates and silverware as well as “shaking” parmesan cheese in her bowl to “stir it up” and “eat” it. While she was playing in the kitchen by herself, she was talking aloud as if there were people around her. She was even giggling and laughing; she even continued to do so when an adult walked up to talk to her. Animism is the tendency to attribute life to objects that are not alive (Papalia, Feldman & Martorell, 2012) and while up in the loft, Savannah interacted with a stuffed mouse and stuffed monkey. She even pretended that the monkey was hanging from the ceiling tiles, just like they do in real life. Savannah spent a significant time up in the loft (10:00 a.m.–10:35a.m.) then had to get down for “clean up” time. She understands the “cause and effect” rule while cleaning up because she went specifically to the kitchen area to clean up the items she previously used. However, Savannah was very calm and timid. She played with mostly herself and became very shy and quiet when other children would come around her. By three years, children know the difference between I, you and we as well as using plurals, possessives and past tense (Papalia, Feldman & Martorell, 2012). Although I couldn’t hear always what Savannah was saying, one time she was talking to another child and said “I” and pointed to herself, then said “you” and …show more content…
Altruistic behavior is an activity intended to help another person with no expectation of reward (Papalia, Feldman & Martorell, 2012). During clean up time, Savannah was excited to help clean up the area around her, expecting absolutely nothing in return. As mentioned above, Savannah had a very mild and calm temperament. Although she was very active, she remained quiet and still during carpet time toward the end of the hour. She respected and interacted with the teacher up front. Within the time on the carpet, Savannah sang along with the class and talked to the teacher about St. Patrick’s Day. Within this moment, she was able to “self-evaluate” herself. She was very proud of herself for knowing the songs, what day of the week it was as well as the weather outside. When it was time to move to the other room, Savannah quickly grabbed her friends hand and held it as they ran in line. While in line, Savannah was obedient to the teacher’s commands to be quiet and stand still. Even though she is young, Savannah is aware of her gender identity. Gender identity is awareness of one’s femaleness or maleness (Papalia, Feldman & Martorell, 2012). She gravitated towards playing with items that you would typically see girls play with while staying clear of the boys and their dinosaur toys. She even played within her gender role while she was in the kitchen playing, I did
About.com - Preschoolers. Retrieved March 21, 2014, from http://preschoolers.about.com/od/development/ss/Your-3-Year-Old-Development-And-Milestones_4.htm.
Vygotsky believes that a child’s cognitive development originates in socialization activities, and then goes through a process of increasing individuation. He argued that self-directed speech did not show any cognitive immaturity, but did show some form of development. He claims that private speech represents a functional differentiation in the speech of a child, or that a child begins to differentiate between speech that is directed towards the others and speech that is self-directed.
Due to the fact that, when she was eating the rice sitting on the dining table, but she suddenly got up from the table, started walking towards the living room, grabed her barbie dolls and started feeding them. Moreover, not only she was pretending to drink from the toy cup while playing with the kitchen set, but, also was pretending to talk on the toy phone as she saw her mother talking to someone on her cell phone. These are the example of make-believe play because according to book “Make-believe play increases in sophistication during the preschool years. Children pretend with less realistic toys [such as] in early pretending, toddlers use … toy telephone to talk into or a cup to drink from. Their earliest pretend acts usually imitate adualt 's actions” (Berk, 227). The theory that perfectly relates to these examples is Piaget 's theory because Berk in the book infer that “Make-believe play is … excellent example of the development of representation in early childhood. Piaget believed that through pretending, young children practice and strengthen newly acquired representational schemes” (Berk,
Piaget proposed that cognitive development from infant to young adult occurs in four universal and consecutive stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations (Woolfolk, A., 2004). Between the ages of zero and two years of age, the child is in the sensorimotor stage. It is during this stage the child experiences his or her own world through the senses and through movement. During the latter part of the sensorimotor stage, the child develops object permanence, which is an understanding that an object exists even if it is not within the field of vision (Woolfolk, A., 2004). The child also begins to understand that his or her actions could cause another action, for example, kicking a mobile to make the mobile move. This is an example of goal-directed behavior. Children in the sensorimotor stage can reverse actions, but cannot yet reverse thinking (Woolfolk, A., 2004).
Ashley had a normal birth, but her mental and motor faculties did not develop (“The Ashley Treatment,” 2007).
Best of child development: Physical milestones. (2003). Scholastic Parent & Child, 10(6), Retrieved February 19, 2014 from http://search.proquest.com/health/textgraphic/210652910/TextPlusGraphics/107581FDBF8A42F6PQ/1/2?accountid=35796
While walking through the front gates of County elementary school, you see children of all ages playing while they wait for the school bell to ring. Walking to the classroom that I will be observing you see students with their parent’s line up waiting to get signed in. The students are to be signed in by a parent or guardian for safety precautions, and shows that the child was signed into school. As a visitor, I am to sign myself in, this shows I was in the classroom, at what time was I there, and reason for visiting the classroom.
I observed a 30 month-old child whose name is Austin and his birthdate is 3/3/2013. I observed Austin at his home on September 12, 2015, from 12:15-1:30 p.m. The child wore sweat pants and a yellow shirt. He has brown hair, brown eyes, and appears to be Caucasian. His weight seems to be average compared to the other children. His height seems to be short compared to the other children. I used the running record type of observation.
Demonstration of concrete operations and decrease egocentric thoughts are observed when she shares her fruits snacks with her cousins. She opens the bag of fruits snacks and puts them on the table; she then attempts to “divide” the candy evenly. Another characteristic of this developmental stage is the ability to think about others perspective and point of view. LR, does not only see her view of things but she also takes into perspective the view of her cousins. She is starting to use others perspective to help her solve problems that may arise and also when she making her decisions. Her deciding to share her candy can be viewed as an example of this. Another example is when she attempts to help washing the dishes. She able to conclude that is the dishes were washed faster, through her helping, the faster she and her cousin would resume playing again.
Toddlers are the epitome of curiosity and energy. From ages 1 – 3, toddlers are always on the go and want to learn about everything in their world. As with infants, no two are alike; each toddler is unique in his or her developmental stages, and each accomplishes milestones at different times. “Although children develop at different rates, there are common stages of development that serve as guidelines for what most children can do by a certain age” (Groark, McCarthy & Kirk, 2014). As seen in the hatfieldmomof3 (2011) video, one observes toddlers at play and can determine the age of the toddlers by their actions and the milestones they have accomplished.
The mother described the child as being a fussy infant who had trouble sleeping and would awake several times during the night. The mother also reports the child was a fussy eater, and she experienced trouble feeding her daughter during infancy and needed to switch her daughter to soy formula. Overall the mother reported that the daughter was a happy infant who smiled often. The mother reported her child being alert and responding positively to family members who visited and enjoyed playing with her toys. In regards to the development, the mother reported that her daughter seemed to be developing slower than her first child who hit certain milestones earlier.
Leroy is a 2nd grade African American student at Martin Luther King Elementary School. He is 8 years old and lives with his mother and two older brothers. His favorite school subject is math. He likes to play video games and basketball, especially when he is playing with his friends. Leroy’s favorite holiday is Christmas, for he gets to visit his grandma and enjoy all the delicious foods that his mom and grandma cook. When asked where would he go if he can go anywhere, he responded with Skate Park. He likes to skate around the park with his brothers. Leroy wishes to be like his older brother when he grows up.
In electing to observe a kindergarten class, I was hoping to see ‘real world’ examples of the social development, personality types and cognitive variation found within the beginning stages of “Middle Childhood” as discussed within our text.
The child that I selected to observe through the course of this semester is a Caucasian female. Her name is “R.” She was born on April 24, 2013. She is currently 10 months old, but will be turning one year old at the end of the semester. “R” is a child who is very active. She has an independent but outgoing personality. At this stage, she exhibits uncertainty with strangers and other people she recalls but has not physically seen in a period of time. Some of “R”'s favorite activities include tossing objects, mirroring actions and movements, music, a...
Preschool programs began in the United States during the first quarter of the twentieth century with the first public preschool opening in 1925 in Chicago at Franklin School. After the 1970s the popularity of preschools increased as women were entering the workforce and people believed that children needed initial skills before they attended elementary school. (“All About Preschools, History…”2).