Observation 11

The children played on an obstacle course that had balance beams, blocks, slides, benches that were placed on a see-saw that allowed them to rock back and forth and much more. Some children went counter clockwise and some started clockwise on the obstacle course which turned into conflict when they would meet up in the middle. Boy #1 decided to sit on one of the blocks. Boy #2 was trying to walk through. Boy#1 didn't want to move out of the way so he was holding up the rest of the kids. The teacher had to talk to boy 1 and tell him it wasn't a sitting area and he was holding up his friends behind him. He didn't want to move, but he finally got up and continued walking around the course. At one point him and boy # 3 bumped into each other when they were walking opposite ways, and boy #1 told boy#3 to move. Boy#3 said "no you move, your in my way" they both didn't want to move, and began pushing each other out of the way. They were standing at a narrow angle so it was difficult for them to hold their balance. Finally Boy #1 got distracted when he saw his friend who got to class late, he said hello to her and got off the course and ran off to play with his other friend. One activity i would choose to create is having them gather around and play red light, green light. I would divide them into groups of two so there wouldn't be so much confusion. I would have the children rotate in being the one to say red light, green light, when to go and stop. This would be a good exercise to see who is listening, and who just follows the crowd. It would give them a chance to multi-task by listening, and playing in control at the same time.

Observation 10

Today the children were allowed to play outside in the playground first thing in the morning since today's forecast was suppose to be rain in the afternoon. Boy #1 is a few weeks new to the class and he usually only plays with puzzles. But today he interacted with the other children and played on the slides and jungle gym. He called out for his teacher to come help him climb the steps the first time. The teacher came over and told him "you can do i" he was saying "I can't do it, I need help" as she stood by him she told him yes you can try it. He slowly stepped up the stairs and went down the slide. Once he went down he clapped his hands and said "yeah, I did it!" aftter his first try he kept going up and down and was slowly adjusting and letting go of his fear of falling. An activity I would choose is have the children create a painting of whatever was on their mind at that moment. I would give them easels and white paper, brushes, paint, glitter so they can add some brightness to their drawings if they wanted. Then at the end they can go around sharing what they drew and explain why they chose that piece. They could draw their favorite food, toy, character or whatever they wanted, just a way to express something on their mind.

Observation 9

There is a lot of movement in the classroom today. Girl #1 is playing with paint brushes and painting on a canvas that are set up in the art area. Boy #1 and boy #2 decided to come play in this area. Boy #1 takes the paints and grabs a brush and starts painting in his own paper. Boy #2 tries to dip his brush in the paint that boy#1 has but boy #1 doesn't want to share and says "No!", boy #2 begins says "i want to paint." But boy #1 still doesn't want to share. Boy #2 frowns and calls out for his teacher, he says" teacher, he doesn't want to share the paint." The teacher comes over to talk to both of them and suggest a solution for boy#2, she tells him he can play with another activity until boy #1 finishes because he was there first. Boy #2 finally agrees and goes over to the next table and he begins playing with paper and tape. He tapes up a roll of paper to create a sword. He then runs around the classroom playing with his sword. Him and boy #1 made up by then and began playing with each other again. An activity i would choose with children is getting a big canvas where a group of four or five can all paint. I would provide many watercolors they can choose from with brushes. I would add shaving cream on the canvas so they can swirl the paint on it and create a cloud looking surface. They would explore new colors and could all participate at the same time.

Observation 8

I arrive and see some children playing with puzzles, some children coloring, some children listening to stories that the teacher is reading to them, and one boy is getting dropped off my his mom but he doesn’t want to stay. She walks in carrying him because he is still tired. The mom explains how he didn’t get much sleep last night so that is why he is tired. He is crying and doesn’t want to play with the other kids. The teacher has to pick him up and hold him while his mom leaves the class. She asks him if he wants to sit and color, he says no. She then asks him if he wants to lay down and he responds “yes”. She tells him okay I’m going to lay your bed out for you while the other kids get here so you can rest a little. She lets him get a little rest while the other children continue to play. Once more children arrived he heard the class getting louder and he got up. Once he rested his eyes for a little while, he was in a better mood. He began interacting with the other children and sat in the art area and picked up a marker and started scribbling in the paper. He moved to different areas of the class and played with puzzles and then ran around chasing the boys.            An activity I would use is dress up. I would have all the children pick a costume from the costume area and let them dress up for the day as the character or super hero they would like to be. This activity would allow them to use their imagination through out the whole day because they would get into characters and role play. This can motivate them to use dramatic play if they want to reenact something they have seen at home or on TV. They can switch costumes in between if they get bored of being one person. 

Observation 7

Everything was going fine today but it wouldn't be a normal day without a little pushing and someone crying. Out in the playground boy A and boy B who almost always get along were playing in the sand box. Today they argued for the same toy. One boy was playing with a shovel and a little bowl that can hold water in it. Boy A scoops up muddy water from the sandbox with the bowl. Boy B tries to take the bowl away from his hand. They are both tugging at each other trying to pull it away, one of the teachers stops them and explains to boy B he may not take it from him because he was playing with it first. They go back to playing but then Boy B gets mad and throws something to boy A. Boy A begins crying and Boy B runs away. The teacher saw the whole thing so she ran after boy B and had to talk to him and give him some time out from playing because he didn't want to listen and was kicking and crying trying to get away from the teacher. After a few minutes he settled down.
An activity I would choose to use with the kids is having them bake cookies together for everyone. I would provide all the materials needed to make them. For instance the flour, chocolate chips, milk, bowls, measuring cups, trays, dough. This activity would give them chance to work together as a group. They can help each other out and in the end enjoy a snack that they each made. I would allow them to break up into groups of 5 so they can know who baked what. If they would like to add other ingredients they can do so and at the end tho whole class can share with each other. Friends can learn to share and be patient with each other.

Blog#6

I arrive and see boy#1 happy to see his classmates, his father is dropping him off and telling him come on let's go put your jacket away. He waves to his classmates and yell, "ill be back I'm gonna put my jacket away!" He enters the class and begins playing with his friend on a puzzle. Boy#1 grabs a piece of the puzzle and is bouncing it around the table saying "boing, boing." They are both happily running around the table chasing each other laughing, Boy#1 is chasing boy#2 for the piece of puzzle he is carrying on his hands. The mood quickly changes when boy#1 tries to take the piece out of his hand by snatching it from his hand. Boy#2 yells because he tries to take it from him. The teacher walks over and tells boy#1 he can't take it from his hand because the other boy is using it at the moment. Then she shows him, " look there are other pieces on the floor." He picks them up and then moves on to play with something else. An activity i would try is hop scotch. I would have them play hop scotch in the playground and i would draw out the squares with chalk and number them. This would be a good exercise for the whole class so they can work on their large motor skills by hopping and jumping and using balance. They would also benefit with the numbers because they will be counting and measuring the length they can go. This would be a fun way to get them active and competitive.

blog#5

The children slowly showed up to class this morning. It seemed quiet at first, and most of the children wandered around class playing alone. One boy arrived into the classroom in a different mood. He usually arrives ready to play with the boys. Today he was having trouble communicating with his teacher about what was wrong. At one point he picked up a piece of tissue paper that the teacher had for the students to play with and started tearing it up then would throw it on the floor. He was throwing it with a lot of force and had a frown on his face as he was doing it. The teacher then asked him what was wrong. He didn't respond and started throwing more paper on the floor. It got to the point where the teacher had pick him up and take him outside of the class in order to speak to him. He began kicking so she sat with him outside until he calmed down. When he returned to class after about 10 minutes he was in a better mood. Once more children showed up to class the teacher decided for everyone to go outside to play. One activity i would create would be to have have the children make an art collage of their favorite things. I would have them bring in pictures of their families, then draw pictures of their favorite cartoons, foods, music, movies etc. They would then take turns showing it to their whole class in order to learn more about their friends.

Observation #4

This weeks observation had a lot going on. I get to class and the new boy that started last week gets dropped off by his mom. As soon as they go in he walks in screaming and crying saying "mom, no I don't want to stay". His
mom kisses him goodbye and quickly tries to rush out of there. He walks towards the door and tries to open in to get out. The teacher then has to try to console him by telling him she will back soon. Once all the kids are in the classroom, the new boy continues to cry, the teacher gives him the option to go play outside in the playground or stay inside and free play. He decides to stay inside then after a while of crying, the teacher goes over to turn on some music because another little boy asked her to put on a certain "bear hunt song". Once the music starts the other boy gets distracted with the music and quietly sits down and observes the other child who is singing along and making hand gestures. The child demonstrated separation anxiety because he still hasn't adapted to leaving home. It may take a few weeks before he feels completely comfortable and makes new friends. Other children played wit each other well, they played with puzzles and made paper airplanes, and played in the kitchen area which demonstrated some imaginary play. An activity I would try for the next class would be teaching the children how to make shapes and sizes out of paper. I see the kids enjoy working with arts and crafts so I would teach them making diamonds, triangles, house shapes, hearts, paper airplanes and then let them color or decorate it as they pleased. The children that had paper airplanes needed assistance fro the TA, so by letting them make their own they can enjoy making it themselves.

Observation #3

This week my observations had a lot going on. First off there was a new student in the class and it was his first day. He did good for his first time in a child care classroom. At first I mostly saw him keep to himself. He walked around the classroom and began to play in the puzzle area. His parents brought one of his puzzles to class with him so he can play with. During the whole time I was there he didn't want to let go of that puzzle, even during snack time. The teacher told him she would put his puzzle aside for him while he ate, and that he could get it once he was done. After snack time, the kids all went outside to play in the outside area. The new boy didn't really inter act with any of the other children which is something he may need to work on next week. Instead when we all went outside he sat down by the slides on a little bench and was entertained with his puzzle. He is about 3 years old and had his puzzle block memorized, it had the numbers 1-10 on them. During free play, there was a lot going on, some children played in the kitchen area, while others constructed a race track/train track
to put cars on it, two other little boys started playing with water paint or color dye and began mixing colors on a piece of paper. One boy grabs the blue and red color at the same time and starts squirting spots on the paper which quickly turned an orange color. He then screamed "yeah! This is super cool!" boy B comes into the picture and asks boy A what he was doing and boy A replies "I'm mixing the colors."
The other boy decides to do what his friend is doing and they each painted
3 different papers. Once they finished they cleaned up their area and moved on to play in the legos area. These activities I observed showed some parallel play going on. I observed children playing next to each other using the same objects but they didn't interact with each other directly. Some of the play also showed arts and crafts, blocks, and dramatic play. Language, movement, and literacy also took place when they all went into the cove to sing a song "shake their wiggles". The children danced in the middle and jumped around when they teachers sang the song. One activity I would choose in my class would be a painting/color wheel activity. I see how the kids were excited when they saw the colors mixing together so this activity would allow them to explore
and learn new colors. They can practice mixing them together by painting a drawing that they wanted. I would provide them with white paper, brushes, water colors, and a color wheel to be demonstrated as an example.

Blog#2- Observation #2

Hello all, well my observation for my second day went pretty good. There was more movement going on overall. When i arrived to the classroom, there were some students in the class already. They were doing their daily routines in washing their hands once they enter the class room then go on and play with what ever they like. The teachers have music playing in the stereo for them and they already know all the songs by memory. So some of the kids were singing and dancing along with one of the TA's. This week, some of the children appeared to be sick with a cold and cough. So there were a few children who weren't in the best of mood since they weren't feeling well. Other than that, everyone was working together in following directions when the teacher would ask them to clean up, or go outside to play. In the playground area, i witnessed alot of large motor skills. There were about 5-6 children who chose to play in the "block area" and remained in the area for a pretty long time. They all worked well together by blocks together, stacking them side by side and forming a circle where they all can sit in. This activity also had some dramatic play because they get to choose how big they want to build their little circle; they made it into a little obsticle course where they can crawl in and out of and running around it. One boy was being a trouble maker by walking by their obstacle course and kicking the blocks over. One girl got mad and screamed, she got up then walked over to him and tried to push him but he moved. The teacher saw this happen and went over to the little boy and told him he was not allowed to play in the block area anymore and made him apologize. The girls and boys continued building their little "cave" and picked up the pieces the other boy dropped. In the end, they were working together as a group which showed team work and communication going around. If i were the teacher, an activity i would choose for them to do tomorrow is jump rope. I think this activity will help them gain balance and will allow them to be competitive with one another. This activity will help them in their physical development area so they can jump and hop up high as well.

During the time i was observing, i noticed a little girl walk in with her hands in her face covering her tears. She was crying because she had to stay in class while her mother went to work. When she entered the classroom, first thing she did was wash her hands since the first thing they are required to do is wash them. After that, she went directly to the corner and didn't want to socialize with anyone. The teacher and aides tried to get her to participate but she would silently play by herslef. When it was time to go outside and play, she went and sat on the bench next to where i was sitting taking notes. The teachers took turns in trying different techiniques to get her to get up and play but she refused. I over heard one of the TA's asking why she was sad. She then was speaking to her, and saying to not be sad, she should take this time to play with her other classmates, while her mom and dad are at work, and that she will see her mom and dad later in the day. The little gir nodded and said "okay". She stayed sitting down next to me and when i looked over to her, she waved to me and said hello. What i got from this activity is that the young girl was feeling sad because she didn't want to leave her mothers sight. It seems she has a strong bond with her mom and doesn't know how to deal with separation from her parents. It seems normal for kids to feel this way when they fisrt start day care/school. There will be days when she may be completly fine and days when she may seem upset. Something i would like to plan for my next class day if i were the teacher is include some math activities. I would try teaching them with a nursery rhyme because i think singing is an easy was for them to remember numbers. I would also inlcude arts and crafts so they can have time to paint anything they wanted to and be creative.