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.