Observation Of A Play-Directed Play In The Classroom

It is our job as teachers at to help children to develop by creating a comfortable playing and learning environment in which they can spend their early years happily. This means that it is our responsibility to create a classroom environment in which the children can learn while they play, and play while they learn.[prs101y/1 page 23]

I observed a classroom of four-year-old students who are enrolled at the Child Development Center on the George Mason University campus. This observation lasted about fifteen minutes with a total of twelve students in the classroom. At the time of my observation the students were engaging in free playtime where they are allowed to play games, make crafts, and interact with their fellow classmates. I was seated in the corner of the classroom where the children could not easily see me or get distracted by me. I stayed seated throughout the whole observation so the students would not be affected by my presence. Many different activities were happening at the same time, but a couple standout situations reminded me of many subject areas we

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,

In the toddler classroom, the children interacted with each other, however many of them were more interested in playing and exploring on their own. The children enjoyed free play at learning centers, story time, and outside play during my observation. The toddlers preferred parallel play in which the children used similar toys in similar ways, but did not interact with each other. For example, when one child began playing with the kitchen toys in the dramatic play center, soon all of the children began playing with the available plastic food items. However, the children were more interested in showing the teachers what they were doing and

We know that a rich and varied environment supports children’s learning and development. It gives them the confidence to explore and learn in secure and safe, yet challenging, indoor and outdoor spaces.

A world of structured, gray, and unamused faces isn’t the environment for crazy, colorful, happy kids; so why should we force this onto them earlier than needed? David Kohn’s article “Let Kids Learn Through Play” speaks of this issue, shedding new light onto the subject. In his article, Kohn highlights many of the misconceptions that come with early childhood learning, and many drawbacks that may come from the rising trend. He also talks about the struggles young students will face in a structured learning environment, and how it may actually be harmful towards them, instead of beneficial. As I was reading, I found myself agreeing with Kohn's points, not sure why formal education needed to be started

The classroom observed for this assignment was a 4/5 year old (pre-kindergarten/kindergarten) room in a local day care. After researching the correlation between play, development, and diversity, many realizations came to light. First, there are different stages of play and they all correlate with the developmental stages. Then, diversity is found in every classroom, either positively or negatively effecting the room. Educators who are flexible with change and comprehends the levels of development for children are expected to create a positive and effective learning environment filled with play-based activities. Below show three scenarios of classrooms from infants, toddlers, and preschool/kindergarten room.

Have you ever walked into a preschool classroom and wondered what they are doing and why they are doing it? The Highscope Classroom to an untrained eye may look like the kids are just "Playing". The classroom is full of conversation and play and the teachers are actively engaged with the children, on the floor talking with and or playing with them. What is the theory behind all this play?

Lilly what a great time you had outside in the winter sunshine bathing our baby. You and Oscar both spent time together bathing the babies and after a while left and headed to the sandpit. I watched as you carried on bathing the babies happily on your own for about an hour, you did such a wonderful job making sure that the babies face and wee feet were nice and clean .

In the article “Learning Through Play; Portraits, Photoshop and Visual Literacy Practices” written by Michelle A. Honeyford and Karen Boyd the idea of learning literacy techniques through imaginative and visual play is featured. The article gives a detailed look at an afterschool program that lets students learn about literacy while using creativity. Although there is a lot of detail on the program the layout of the article is very scattered and hard to follow. Also the article highlights the success of the program but never once mentions how it is funded, this raises a lot of questions. And the article also does not speak of any formal assessment so one has to wonder how effective it really is.

Play is inevitable when it comes to children. Given the right environment and objects (of any sort), children will find a way to play. Jarvis, et al state that educators must offer inspiring, playful environments which include hands-on activities and interesting resources. This will empower children to educate themselves (2009). Along the same line, Wood and Attfield consider that an environment inclusive of varied resources will provide room for growth in their learning and will support the child’s “creativity, inventiveness and originally” (2005, p.231).

Room arrangement: The classroom I am has a child sized bathroom right in it making toileting easy. The children can get around the room easily as there is open walk spaces and the room is arranged well. The room itself is not very large as it is shared so there isn’t much room to engage in active play.

Dramatic play is one of the most important developmental activities that a young child participates in. Research shows that dramatic play increases the verbal and social skills as well as helps children learn how to function in the real world, since most dramatic play is based off of interaction that children see in person, on TV, and even in the books that they read. One reason why teachers need to observe the dramatic play of his or her individual students is to see if that student’s play is becoming more complex as the school year goes on. As children mature, they will start to use other objects to symbolize one particular object, for example, a child may use an eraser to represent an airplane, instead of an actual toy airplane. Because dramatic play times very chaotic, it is important that teachers only observe one child at a time, to ensure that the records include dialogue, and so that there is no jumbling of information for each child.

This source focuses on a type of play therapy called Adlerian play therapy and talks about how when children act out in the class room it could be an indication that later on in life they can have difficulty in a greater number of social situations along with more personal problems. It also mentions that they use elementary schools as that is child’s more natural setting, while using play therapy to also improve the teacher-child’s relationship too. Another major topic discussed is how group sessions are supported within the school setting.

There are various toys provided in the childcare that kids can use to build the setting they want. For example a group of kids wanted to build a classroom setting. They can use everything in their surrounding for the setting such as books, number or alphabets blocks, some cards and etc. They also can arrange the chairs and tables in order to make it similar with a classroom by help from teacher. After the setting, the kids can pretend as teacher teaching in the classroom or as students listening to the lessons. The teacher can ring a bell when wanted the end the pretend play to make the situation similar with a real school. Generally in this game, kids need to learn how to work together and tolerate with each other in order to accomplish the task. They might have different opinions in setting their