Observation In Early Childhood Development

“I know”, talkative, and energetic are three words that describe my five year old nephew, Landon. First, let me tell you a little bit about him and his family! Landon is an only child that lives in a development with a lot of other children. His mother, Jessica, travels for work and is gone most weekends and some week days too. Kyle, his father, is a car salesman and works long days. Landon is often dropped off at daycare by one of his parents and then taken care of after kindergarten by a babysitter. At home he also has three dogs and is very interested in playing baseball.

Observing children’s development is very important while they are growing up. When a child is physical growing every child growth may not be the same. At this age the child may began to lose fat and gain muscles. Children’s that are at the age of 2 and 3 height will increase faster than the weight. Motor skills are when you observe a child when they are engaging in with others and using their muscles. When children’s use their fine motor skills, there is so much that you can observe as simple as a child climbing the stairs. The main purpose of a child using there fine motor skills is to gain more control of their muscle movements. That’s why sending your child to a preschool because this will help them master those skills.

My observation was during outdoor play time at Child Development Center in Milpitas. There are 40 children ages from three to five and four staff when children. In the play yard has two playground equipment. The bigger play set has swings and climbing. Each staff cover and supervise different areas in the playground.

This paper contains observations of a preschool classroom in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The observation was conducted in a Pre-K classroom with approximately ten students present. Observations are presented with regard to dramatic play, the presence of gender roles, and themes that emerge during preschool play. Peer relationships and levels of friendship between students will also be discussed. Relationships with adults in the classroom with in terms of attachment styles and general interactions involving teachers and parents will be reviewed. Observations are also described in relation to self-control, self-regulation, aggression,

Toddlers and preschoolers are at different developmental stages, and therefore require their teachers to use different approaches and techniques to further learning. I completed my observations at the Bright and Early Children’s Learning Center where I observed a toddler classroom and a preschool classroom. My observations took place from 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. on the 21st and 28th of September. The first day that I observed I was placed in the toddler classroom which had two teachers, Miss Ashlynn and Miss Miranda, and six students, most of whom were two years old. In the preschool classroom there was one teacher, Miss Stephanie, and eight students, each of whom were 3 years old or 4 years old. While the rooms were physically similar, the teachers used different strategies and activities to appeal to the different age groups.

It was 9:45am on Tuesday, October 20th, 2015: The children were taking part in an art activity. On the piece of paper, each child had a drawn out bubble lettered number one. They were given each given four popsicle sticks and a small pile of glue. The teacher instructed them to use the paint brush to spread the glue out inside the number one and then place the popsicle sticks on top.

As an early childhood educator during observation of the children in the classroom teachers should answered four questions in order to accomplish meaningful observations. The first question, is focus in the process and steps to follow observing the children and making observation meaningful. The second question, gives the opportunity to realize if we know how to interpreter what children do in their daily interaction, in order to understand

1. The three videos have displayed many examples of pre-operational children's abilities and inabilities. Children enter the preoperational stage of cognitive development during the pre-school years. They now have the capacity to think symbolically. Symbolic play is one example of a cognitive function that preoperational children can engage in that younger children cannot. They can use blocks to represent something else (a building), as shown in the video "Preoperational Stage." They can also engage in pretend play, where they imagine different scenarios that represent different objects/people. The "theory of mind" states that children's views of how minds work are very different than the view that you or I would have. In the mind of the 3-year-old, everyone sees the world the same way. But once you turn five, an understanding develops that is much similar to ours. They think that the 'false belief' test is almost silly, because the answer is so obvious (have a view of the mind much similar to ours; things aren't always the way they seem).

For my second practice observation, I watched an 18-month old boy, who I will be referring to as B. The setting takes place in a classroom where two other children are present, two teachers are there as well, and plus the observers. The room had a dramatic play center because it had a dress-up center and kitchen center. It also had a block center. I observed by watching a 5-minute video from 5:40-5:45 p.m. on January 27th, 2018. B played with a ramp, blocks, bottles, balls, etc. He played with a lot of toys in this short video.

On November 18 at 10:30 AM I had agreed with Alicia’s teacher to let me in the classroom for just about 20 minutes so I could observe her for my early childhood education class. I told her that I wouldn’t be using the real child’s name and that I was just going to observe her movements and what she did while in school. As soon as I came in the classroom I saw the classroom full of colors like pink, green, red, orange, yellow and much more. The classroom was also full of bulletin boards about the season and about the latest holiday witch in that time was Thanksgiving. and pictures of the children and their families that were places in front of their cubbies. I also saw different types of books like "The very hungry caterpillar" and "The five

It is imperative that practitioners are able to observe and assess each child’s development in order to gain a full understanding of their development and how they can build upon this in order to cater to the needs of the child and allow them to fulfill their potential. This is highlighted by Wheeler (2009, p.63) in stating that ‘Observations are fed into family worker and team planning so that future activities can be based on an individual child’s interests and patterns of behavior and thereby enhance their learning’.

The key to understanding children is observation. As observers, we begin to look for daily patterns in their behavior. Once patterns of behavior are recognized, the observer can then give positive guidance in securing the child’s developmental needs.

Observation is something that educators do carefully to gain information about young children. Documentation is the process of collecting evidence that serves as a record. When teachers observe the young children, it provides the information that the teachers need to build relationships with individual children and enable them to be successful learners. The best way the teachers should learn about children by carefully watching them, listening to them and studying their work. When the teachers are watching and listening to children helps us understand what they are feeling, learning and thinking. Observation is an excellent way to track children’s

Observing children in the classroom is important for a number of different reasons. First, observations allow teachers to learn about a child’s development and growths. They provide inside information as to the child’s thoughts of their selves and what they think of others. Observations also allows teachers to determine a child’s weaknesses and strengths. In addition, they point out behavior patterns (Beaty, 2014, p. 2). By observing children, teachers can provide them the appropriate learning materials to help them develop in areas in which they need more work on (weaknesses). They can also use the child’s strengths to build new skills (scaffolding). I personally believe that none of this could be done effectively without observing

September 20, 2017- Garrett came to preschool a half-hour early and had to wait until preschool stared at 12:55 which mostly likely contributed to his agitation upon arrival. It was not observed if he independently hung up his backpack and coat. He immediately got a plastic fish and carried it with him for the day. He screamed, yelled, cried “NO NO NO” and resisted all directions to comply with assessment commands. He briefly played with play dough and a thunder instrument, but refused to participate in playing hand bells. He refused to put stickers on the sheet of paper but did enjoy taking them off my nose and putting them on his. He giggled and smiled when I put them on my chin and wiggled making it harder for him to get them off. He wanted snack right away and was unhappy to wait. Roman reported he’d had a large bowl of fruity pebbles before coming to preschool. He drank a milk and made his own peanut cracker sandwiches. He drank a glass of water and ate a few veggie straws. He used a straw to drink and put his glass in the sink when he was finished. He attempted to wipe up his own mess when spilling a little milk. He scratched multiple times, pushed, tried to bite and kicked the teacher on three occasions, when pushed to comply, and cried and screamed saying “shut up” numerous times. He didn’t resist when doing asked to participate for 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed song