Today was my last day observing the children, I've completed my 45 hours and it feels absolutely wonderful knowing that I can relax (meaning I don't have to wake up early on tuesdays anymore since I dont work until 2). But on the other hand I enjoyed getting to learn all of the children and the things they enjoy doing. It was a bitter sweet moment. Today's observation went well I spend the majority of the time tracing my student for observation assignment 5. He is always there and on time, which is wonderful because I can get the information I need every time I observe or have to worry about whether or not he will be present when I show up. The children were all over the place and very engaged in their creative play, jumping from one activity to the next. Some of the students got an opportunity to go on a nature walk.
As I look back over my observations for the last 11 weeks I think that when I first started observing the students I was kind of anxious and unsure of what was going to happen. As the weeks progressed and I begin to pick on who the students were and the things that enjoyed doing, observations were becoming alot easier to do. The things that would affect how observation went were the weather and lack of sleep. The children were always energized and looking to find some way to channel all that energy. I have a greater appreciation for teachers especially preschool teachers because some days the students completely took over the classroom and their wasn't much that the teachers could do. After taking so many CDECE classes I understand the importance of the classroom setup, curriculum planning, and observations and assessments. Looking at the developmental skills and levels of the children, it is so amazing to just sit back and observe how "smart" children are. I just sit back and wonder just how smart I was as a child. A play based curriculum is extremely valuable to children and their education.
I now see the value of observations and how observing the behaviors and practices of educators can assist future educators in the field. I witnessed first hand children developing in all six areas: spoken language, cognitive, social, physical, emotional, and emergent reading and writing.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Observation week 10
Today's observation was okay. I think that I am just counting down the days until the semester is over. All of the children are just so adorable, they always find a way to grab my attention whenever I feel myself drifting away they do or say something that has me smiling and laughing on the inside. The children seemed to really be involved in the activities going on and working together as a group cooperatively. I think the teachers were engaging the students more than usual, but when it was getting close to lunch and the other teacher had to leave to prepare lunch. Some of the students were sneaking into the classroom and the teacher had to bring them out. Overall I think everyone enjoyed the day and it wasn't too cold. Oh yeah while I was outside observing some students from the other class begins to splash water off the table right in my path of where I was sitting. Lukily the water didnt sget me, I would've been cold, wet, and upset because I would've been freezing all day. Good thing their teacher came over and saved the day.
The activity that observed a student doing for the day was as follows: Student A is helping the teacher by taking down the chairs from the table. The teacher has a bag of diapers in her hand and the student says "my mommie bring me more diapers?", the teacher replys yes. She hands him his spare clothes to put in his cubbie and walks over and puts the clothes in the storage container. He returns to the class and walks over to a large chair in the large group area. He says " I want the horsey book" in a whining tone and repeats this. The teacher says "okay get the book" and she turns on the audio cassette of the story for student. He is sitting on the rug with the book open, looking at the page and then turning the page. He is not on course with the audio reading. He grabs a bunch of the pages together and the asks are you starting over? and he releases the pages. He releases the pages and it goes to the last page he was looking at and he says "look the horseys" as he gets up heads towards the dramatic/block area. He selects a toy horse from a basket and walks back over to where the book is and says "look they are the same." The teacher says "yes, its the same horse as in the book."
The skills that the teacher used in this activity were motor, cognitive, social, and language. An activity that I would plan to develop child's developmental skills would be having the child create a hand puppet of horses or other animals. An extension to this activity would be to read the horse book to the students or have them create their own horse story then act them out.
The activity that observed a student doing for the day was as follows: Student A is helping the teacher by taking down the chairs from the table. The teacher has a bag of diapers in her hand and the student says "my mommie bring me more diapers?", the teacher replys yes. She hands him his spare clothes to put in his cubbie and walks over and puts the clothes in the storage container. He returns to the class and walks over to a large chair in the large group area. He says " I want the horsey book" in a whining tone and repeats this. The teacher says "okay get the book" and she turns on the audio cassette of the story for student. He is sitting on the rug with the book open, looking at the page and then turning the page. He is not on course with the audio reading. He grabs a bunch of the pages together and the asks are you starting over? and he releases the pages. He releases the pages and it goes to the last page he was looking at and he says "look the horseys" as he gets up heads towards the dramatic/block area. He selects a toy horse from a basket and walks back over to where the book is and says "look they are the same." The teacher says "yes, its the same horse as in the book."
The skills that the teacher used in this activity were motor, cognitive, social, and language. An activity that I would plan to develop child's developmental skills would be having the child create a hand puppet of horses or other animals. An extension to this activity would be to read the horse book to the students or have them create their own horse story then act them out.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Observation week 9
This week of observations went pretty well besides it being chilly. When I arrived two students were already present and engaging in activities. I was able to settle in quickly. I was wondering to myself what the mood of the children would be this week since last week they were taking over the place. As the children begin to arrive they all seemed happy, greeting their teachers and classmates in high pitched tones. The first two students to arrive had started building a large circular train track so when the other students arriving saw this they were like "ohh, trains, I wanna build or play." Once they washed their hands they make their way to the literacy area where the train tracks were being built. The children were all playing together peacefully despite there being very little room for all them to move about. As some of the children left the area the tension started to erupt over who's train it was and children went to throw "blows" at one another.
This week I had to observe one child and complete measurements from DRDP. I choose to observe male student A because he is very active in the class doing almost every activity. Measurement 15: Expression of self through language. (Child uses language to communicate with increasing complex words and sentences.) I would descride this child as transitioning into the intergrated developmental level and has mastered the building level. Student A is playing with a set of trains on the floor in the literacy area, he leaves his train sitting there as he walks over to the train table to get another train. As he is getting the train another student picks up his train and starts to play with it. Student A looks over and sees the other student playing with the trains he had. He runs over to the other student and tries to grab the train out of his hands, but other student continues to hold on to it. Both are pulling at the train. Student A tells other student " I was playing with it first. I wasn't finished playing with it. Mine. I wanted more trains, I had it first give me." Other students says "no, I want to play with it" and begins to start yelling. Both students are "whining" loudly and teacher comes over to mediate the situation. She asks to hear what happened and student A goes first. "I was playing with that first and he took it and I was still using it. I wanted more trains and he took it when I get more trains." Teacher asks other student about the train. They both compromise and let student A have the train back and will let other student use it when he is done.
The student was able to explain the events that happened when the train was taken while retrieving more trains. He used complex language to illustrate that he had the train first and that he wasn't leaving the train there because he was done playing with it. The students were using motor, social, language, and problem solving skills in this activity. An activity that I would plan for the students would be to setup an outdoor dramatic play area of a train station. I would have conductor hats, gloves, pictures, etc. for the children to prepare they are working at a train station. Also, I would encourage the students to build their own trains with the large blocks.
This week I had to observe one child and complete measurements from DRDP. I choose to observe male student A because he is very active in the class doing almost every activity. Measurement 15: Expression of self through language. (Child uses language to communicate with increasing complex words and sentences.) I would descride this child as transitioning into the intergrated developmental level and has mastered the building level. Student A is playing with a set of trains on the floor in the literacy area, he leaves his train sitting there as he walks over to the train table to get another train. As he is getting the train another student picks up his train and starts to play with it. Student A looks over and sees the other student playing with the trains he had. He runs over to the other student and tries to grab the train out of his hands, but other student continues to hold on to it. Both are pulling at the train. Student A tells other student " I was playing with it first. I wasn't finished playing with it. Mine. I wanted more trains, I had it first give me." Other students says "no, I want to play with it" and begins to start yelling. Both students are "whining" loudly and teacher comes over to mediate the situation. She asks to hear what happened and student A goes first. "I was playing with that first and he took it and I was still using it. I wanted more trains and he took it when I get more trains." Teacher asks other student about the train. They both compromise and let student A have the train back and will let other student use it when he is done.
The student was able to explain the events that happened when the train was taken while retrieving more trains. He used complex language to illustrate that he had the train first and that he wasn't leaving the train there because he was done playing with it. The students were using motor, social, language, and problem solving skills in this activity. An activity that I would plan for the students would be to setup an outdoor dramatic play area of a train station. I would have conductor hats, gloves, pictures, etc. for the children to prepare they are working at a train station. Also, I would encourage the students to build their own trains with the large blocks.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Observation week 8
This weeks observation was quite interesting it was like watching an action packed movie just watching to see what will happen next. When I arrived none of the children were there and the teacher just arrived. We entered and then the students were beginning to come one after another. The students were getting into everything they had a lot of energy more than usual it seemed. The feeling I had overall when the the day was coming to a close is that the students took over the class for a day. It seemed as if there wasn't enough help for the adults in the classroom trying to prepare snack, interact with students, and prepare activities. On several occasions I had to inform the teacher what was going on to avoid any injuries or unfriendly behaviors. There was one student in particularly that was just having "one of those days" where he didn't want anyone telling him what to do and everything belonged to him.
The activity that I observed involved a female student sitting at an activity table which had large sheets of writing paper, markers, crayons, and color pencils. The student grabs a purple marker with her right hand and places the marker down on the paper. She begins to move her hand in a circular motion around the paper. She scribbles for several minutes on the paper. She stops moving the marker around on the paper and looks up in the direction of the teacher and says "look" with a smile on her. She holds the paper up with both hands and the teacher replys " Oh student you drew a purple picture today." She walks over to the table where the teacher is and holds the picture close to the teachers face and doesn't say anything. The teacher replys "that's very nice student." Student walks away after a couple of seconds and puts the picture back on the table she was working at. She then proceeds to leave the area.
The skills that the student used while involved in this activity included the following motor, cognitive, and hand -eye coordination. An extension activity that I would plan for this student would be color bingo. I would have a bingo card make that had colors and word spelled out. This could help student build vocabulary.
The activity that I observed involved a female student sitting at an activity table which had large sheets of writing paper, markers, crayons, and color pencils. The student grabs a purple marker with her right hand and places the marker down on the paper. She begins to move her hand in a circular motion around the paper. She scribbles for several minutes on the paper. She stops moving the marker around on the paper and looks up in the direction of the teacher and says "look" with a smile on her. She holds the paper up with both hands and the teacher replys " Oh student you drew a purple picture today." She walks over to the table where the teacher is and holds the picture close to the teachers face and doesn't say anything. The teacher replys "that's very nice student." Student walks away after a couple of seconds and puts the picture back on the table she was working at. She then proceeds to leave the area.
The skills that the student used while involved in this activity included the following motor, cognitive, and hand -eye coordination. An extension activity that I would plan for this student would be color bingo. I would have a bingo card make that had colors and word spelled out. This could help student build vocabulary.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Observation week 7
This week's observation was okay. It seemed as if the children were still coming off their sugar "highs" from Halloween last night and some even came in with parts of their costumes. The conversations between the children during arrival were about pumpkins and what they were or wanted to be for Halloween. I thought that it was cute that the students were discussing the different sizes of the pumpkins the students brougt in. One female student thought that she had brought the smallest one, but when she looked on the table and saw the smallest pumpkin I've ever seen her eyes were wide open as if she was shocked. I enjoyed doing this observation watching the children as they engaged in all different types of play and the conversations went from happy participants to "no you're not my friend".
The one activity that I observed included two male students playing in the block area. Both students go over to the shelf were the blocks are stored and begin to take them out one by one and place them on the rug. Once all of the blocks are off the shelf, both students sit down on the floor and picks up a wooden block with their hands. Student one places the square block on its side then student two does the same thing with his block directly next to student one's block. They grab block after block and stack them on top of their own blocks. The towers of blocks are getting taller and they run out of sqaure blocks so they reach for the cyclinder looking blocks and stand it up the long way. Student one places another cyclinder looking block on top of his tower and it stays up. Student two begins to put his block down and student one tells him "No, it's gonna fall put it right here" as he points to a empty spot. Student two puts the block where his classmate is pointing and it also remains standing. As the two male students are standing in front of their towers another male student who is just arriving to class walks over and says "student one's name, wow that's really cool tower." The student walks off to wash his hands and the two block tower building students remain with their creation. Student one kicks his leg out towards the tower and down going crashing all the blocks and then student two does the same exact thing. Both students begin laughing about a minute. They go down to pick up the blocks and student one says " let's make a doggie house" and student two says "no, lets make an airplane."
The developmental skills that the children were working on included the following: small and large motor, social and cognitive development, and cooperative play. An activity that I could plan based off the observation today would be to have an activity table where I would bring round unsharp popsticle sticks and glue and allow the students to build from their imaginations.
The one activity that I observed included two male students playing in the block area. Both students go over to the shelf were the blocks are stored and begin to take them out one by one and place them on the rug. Once all of the blocks are off the shelf, both students sit down on the floor and picks up a wooden block with their hands. Student one places the square block on its side then student two does the same thing with his block directly next to student one's block. They grab block after block and stack them on top of their own blocks. The towers of blocks are getting taller and they run out of sqaure blocks so they reach for the cyclinder looking blocks and stand it up the long way. Student one places another cyclinder looking block on top of his tower and it stays up. Student two begins to put his block down and student one tells him "No, it's gonna fall put it right here" as he points to a empty spot. Student two puts the block where his classmate is pointing and it also remains standing. As the two male students are standing in front of their towers another male student who is just arriving to class walks over and says "student one's name, wow that's really cool tower." The student walks off to wash his hands and the two block tower building students remain with their creation. Student one kicks his leg out towards the tower and down going crashing all the blocks and then student two does the same exact thing. Both students begin laughing about a minute. They go down to pick up the blocks and student one says " let's make a doggie house" and student two says "no, lets make an airplane."
The developmental skills that the children were working on included the following: small and large motor, social and cognitive development, and cooperative play. An activity that I could plan based off the observation today would be to have an activity table where I would bring round unsharp popsticle sticks and glue and allow the students to build from their imaginations.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Observation week 6
This week of observations was okay. I woke up later than usual than the cold weather had me feeling like I didnt want to do anything, but lay in the bed under the warm blankets while drinking tea and watch some television. But of course that wasn't the plan for the day because the children would be there and full of energy. Once I made it to the site my focus on being cold was quickly redirected by the really active students. I would've thought that it was monday if just observing the children because they ha that start of week energy. Children seem to love the different types of weather and it had me reflecting on when I was their ages, but I've always had a dislike for the cold. I had to take a break to go get hot tea so I could finish my observation.
The activity that I observed this week included two male students sitting on the couch in the literacy area. One of the students has two books in his hands and is flipping through one of the books as the other student looks on. He is turning the pages one by one. They are not talking or speaking to each other about the book, but both maintain their eyes on the pages of the book. One of the observation students from 52b walks by the area and the student says to observation student "can you read us a book?" The student informs them that he has work to do today so he wouldn't be able to read to them today, but would read to them another day. Both students just look at the observation student as he walks away from them and neither one says a word. One of the students that had the books in his hand gets up from the couch walks over to the writing table and grabs a yellow marker. He then proceeds over to the kitchen area where one of the teachers was preparing snack. He tells her "I want to write in book", she informs him that the book belongs to the library and that they shouldn't write in books and if he wants to write to go over to the writing table and write on paper. The student walks back to the writing table and places the marker down on the table and walks back to the literacy area with the book. He sits in front of the book shelf and looks over the book select for a couple of seconds then one of his classmates calls him to go play with him. So he places the book on the book stand and walks off quickly to go play.
The skills the student used during this activity included the following social skills while interacting with classmate, motor skills while holding and turning the book, and literacy by expressing interest in writing and reading.
An activity that I would plan for the next day for the students would be a trip to the local library. I would have parents fill out an application for students to get a library card or have them bring library card so that students can check out books. I would make arrangements with the library prior to our trip so that we can have a book reading done. After the book reading students can select a book or two to check out. This will help students develop an interest in reading and learn responsibility for taking care of books.
The activity that I observed this week included two male students sitting on the couch in the literacy area. One of the students has two books in his hands and is flipping through one of the books as the other student looks on. He is turning the pages one by one. They are not talking or speaking to each other about the book, but both maintain their eyes on the pages of the book. One of the observation students from 52b walks by the area and the student says to observation student "can you read us a book?" The student informs them that he has work to do today so he wouldn't be able to read to them today, but would read to them another day. Both students just look at the observation student as he walks away from them and neither one says a word. One of the students that had the books in his hand gets up from the couch walks over to the writing table and grabs a yellow marker. He then proceeds over to the kitchen area where one of the teachers was preparing snack. He tells her "I want to write in book", she informs him that the book belongs to the library and that they shouldn't write in books and if he wants to write to go over to the writing table and write on paper. The student walks back to the writing table and places the marker down on the table and walks back to the literacy area with the book. He sits in front of the book shelf and looks over the book select for a couple of seconds then one of his classmates calls him to go play with him. So he places the book on the book stand and walks off quickly to go play.
The skills the student used during this activity included the following social skills while interacting with classmate, motor skills while holding and turning the book, and literacy by expressing interest in writing and reading.
An activity that I would plan for the next day for the students would be a trip to the local library. I would have parents fill out an application for students to get a library card or have them bring library card so that students can check out books. I would make arrangements with the library prior to our trip so that we can have a book reading done. After the book reading students can select a book or two to check out. This will help students develop an interest in reading and learn responsibility for taking care of books.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Observation week 5
This week's observation seemed to go smoothly as far as being able to report the children's reactions and their cognitive development. The children are all so different and the way they interact with their environment and find things that keep their attention. The class is composed of mainly male students and they spend the majority of the time engaged in the same activities daily. I think that the children have their own system setup when it comes to things they want to do. I enjoyed observing the children this week despite feeling under the weather.
An activity that I observed were a group of students standing around the train table. Each student had a train or two in their hands and were pushing the trains around and around the train tracks. Students spend several minutes at this location. Students were engaged in discussions about which color their train was and where their train was going. Some trains begin to race their trains against each other, they would start off pushing the trains along with their hands and then they were holding them in their hands walking quickly around the table trying to get in front of the other student. The skills the students used were use of their motor skills, language development, and social development.
An activity that I would plan for the next day for the students would be to plan a field trip down to the train station and let the students learn about the history of trains.
An activity that I observed were a group of students standing around the train table. Each student had a train or two in their hands and were pushing the trains around and around the train tracks. Students spend several minutes at this location. Students were engaged in discussions about which color their train was and where their train was going. Some trains begin to race their trains against each other, they would start off pushing the trains along with their hands and then they were holding them in their hands walking quickly around the table trying to get in front of the other student. The skills the students used were use of their motor skills, language development, and social development.
An activity that I would plan for the next day for the students would be to plan a field trip down to the train station and let the students learn about the history of trains.
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