Through the toddler and preschool observations, I was able to note similarities and distinctions each child faced, in their every day activities. For my toddler observation I watched Lydia, a 38 month old girl who was having an ordinary day at the CCCC &LS Toddler center. Weeks later I observed Thomas, a 60 month old boy for my preschool observation. I learned and became aware of each movement and development they were encountering, which prior to me taking this class would have seen insignificant. Watching each child through a one way mirror gave me the ability to observe without interfering. Through both the observations I focused on the cognitive and physical domains. Each child encountered both domains in similar situations but faced them …show more content…
Lydia is at the point where she can fully wash her hands independently. She does have to be reminded to do so a couple of times before acting. Although she can coordinate using her left and right hand, really fine motor skills are arduous for her to do. Bulky movements come easier while moving a certain finger alone would be toilsome to control. When she washed her hands, the movements were precise enough to get it done, but she definitely spilled a bit of water. Thomas' fine motor movements are easily controlled. He didn't have to be told to wash his hands for this routine is already set. Washing his hands was an easy task as well as brushing his teeth. As stated in the textbook, "Many fine motor skills involve two hands and thus both sides of the brain" (Berger, 2015, p.268) This is exactly why Thomas not spilling any toothpaste when putting it on his toothbrush and doing it alone was significantly important. Even with various friends around pushing and moving, his movements were precise. When it came to playing with the puppet, I could really see that his movements with his pinky and thumb were very controlled. His three middle fingers all moved together when needed. Lydia and Thomas are both able to do certain things independently, but Thomas has achieved the physical development measure number 4, fine motor manipulative skills while Lydia hasn't. Gross motor skills come easily to both, but when it comes to being precise and using two hands to play different roles in an action, Thomas gets it
In this assignment I am going to describe a child observation that I have done in a nursery for twenty minutes in a play setting. I will explain the strengths and weaknesses of naturalistic observation through the key developmental milestones based in Mary Sheridan (2005) check-list and provide a theoretical explanation to support the naturalistic observation.
The daycare that I visited was Rosemont Daycare and Preschool. This center is faith based and I was able observe the “Duck Class” which was the age group of four and five year olds. I went to observe on February 11th and 16th, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 and the 18th from 3:00 to 6:00. On the 11th and 16th, there were a total of 12 children in the Duck class. At 9:00 the children were engaged in circle time meaning that the children were learning about their bible verse for that month which was “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.” The children then discussed what they thought that meant. On the 11th I was present to see the children, the ones I decided to observe were Kali, Roslyn, Fiona, and Brayden. When the children were doing crafts I sat near the counter island in the class room so I was out of the way but still able to see and hear what the kids were doing and saying at the table.
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.
I observed at St. Eve’s Learning Center location in their preschool room. The center has a naturalistic feel to the environment and all of the staff is friendly and welcoming. The classroom displayed best practices, modern theories and research, and followed expected standards set by their accreditations.
Observations are carried out to collect information such as: how a child is progressing; how they learn; their interests; and what they are learning through their play. Along with their unique abilities, talents and needs. Observations can be holistic or focused to one area and indicate whether children are at the expected stage (Early Years Matters, 2015). They can also identify possible SEN. Afterwards, the information retrieved from observations are used to assess and plan for
For 12 weeks I observed a young pre-schooler Child C aged 31/2 years old, through my account I would give an observer’s view of Child C, three theories peculiar to Child C and my the emotions evoked in me as an observer. My observation assisted in my understanding of the changes in Child C as the week progressed over the 12 weeks.
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.
I gave birth to a healthy, beautiful baby girl named Luna. Jeffrey has taken quite a liking to being a big brother. He likes to hold and rocker her and helps with feeding her. Jeffrey is still a slow-to warm child. He can communicate fairly well and is now using mostly complete sentences and seems to understand most of what I say. He occasionally makes errors of overregularization. He has taken an interest in music and singsongs even though he usually repeats a certain part a lot. I encourage this by taking him to local performances of children’s musicals. Jeffrey has learned the routines pretty well and is reasonably cooperative for his age. He is rarely aggressive to adults or other children. Jeffrey’s fantasy play has become more elaborate and sometimes includes superheroes or cartoon
Preschool 101 Not many people can say that in a single day they encountered thundering dinosaurs darting through an unruly forest, conquered a castle guarded by the kingdoms most ravenous dragon, and hosted a sophisticated tea party with Queen Elsa as the guest of honor. My sister is a preschool teacher, and going on unique imaginary adventures is a hidden job description I was not aware she possessed. She often shares her comical mishaps that occur in her classroom with the rest of the family. My favorite of her tales involve the children terrorizing her with their innocent antics. It might just be the dominate older sister trait coming out in me that make those particular stories so humorous, or it could be the overwhelming emotion she portrays
Everyone learns at a different pace and in different ways. When trying to manage different learning style it can be difficult for the teacher to teach the whole class. In this paper, I am going to identify, analyze, critique instruction and assessment, and behavior strategies that affect a typical, special need, and gifted student. Typical Student I observed a six-year-old girl, who was a kindergarten student.
A few general effective teaching strategies include acknowledging, encouraging, modeling, and demonstrating. General effective teaching strategies where used in the classroom I observed by the teacher demonstrating fairness to all student in her classroom. When the first homework assignment went out all students had a chance to do it in the classroom with the teacher or myself. The teacher than provided a letter that was put into the homework binders for the students to take home and whoever does homework with the student could read over the directions and know how to help their child with the homework. Each student knew how to do it from doing it in class with the teacher or myself and could help their parent out if they did not understand
Martin (2007) states that “No two people see the same child in an identical way. Two educators can be asked to observe the same child. What they see and interpret will depend on what they look for and their own particular perspectives.” Observations gather a vast array of information to complete a holistic view of the child. Observations are commonly recorded through jottings, learning stories, anecdotal records, work samples and photographs.
Observation is important as the practitioner can find out what the child is interested in and what motivates them to learn alongside their progress and how they behave in certain situations, additionally at the same time it identifies if children need assistance within certain areas of learning or socially (DCSF, 2008). Furthermore the observations check that the child is safe, contented, healthy and developing normally within the classroom or early years setting, over time the observations can be given to parents as they show a record of progress which helps to settle the parent and feel more comfortable about their child’s education. Observations are not only constructive within learning about an individual child, they can be used to see how different groups of children behave in the same situation and how adults communicate and deal with children’s behaviour (Meggitt and Walker, 2004). Overall observations should always look at the positives of what children can complete within education and not look at the negatives and all observations should become a fundamental part of all practitioners work alongside reflection (Smidt, 2009).
Understanding and observing a child’s development and learning skills. Progress can then be assessed and next steps can be planned to ensure the child keeps on developing.
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.