5th Observation. . . .

This week of observation I observed the children in the sand box, listening and asking question at circle time, singing with song cards, creating with art materials, drawing in journals, helping make banana and cinnamon pancakes, building with legos, and at the seed and butterfly bin.

The activity that mostly stood out to me was making the pancakes for snack time with the teacher. The teacher grabbed the materials from the kitchen and asked loudly, "Who wants to help make banana pancakes?" Two girls said, "Me." The replied, "Ok go watch your hands." She unpealed the bananas as the children were coming to the table. She gave them a half a banana with a plate and fork and said, "Okay girls you gotta smash the banana, you remember how to do it?" They replied, "Yes." They smashed about three halfs each and on child said, "I'm tied." The teacher responded, "You not tied you already smashed two bananas." Then a boy came over to join them and sliced his banana with the fork. Then he said, "Im done." The teacher replied, "No you have to smatch it like this." She demonstrated how to smash the banana from her seat will he watched her. Then he caught on quickly. The other child got up from the table and the teacher asked, "You finished, are you leaving?" She said, "yes" and left the table. The teacher said next were going to cook them," after adding water to the pancake mix, cinnamon, vanilla abstract and the smashed bananas. Another girl was the onlooker as the teacher started cooking the pancakes on the portable grill.

The developmental skills the children learned from this activity were science concepts, follow directions, patience, gross and fine motor skills, cognitive and communication skills.

The following day I would elaborate and explain to the children that bananas come from a tree, monkey's eat bananas and ask what other kind of ingredients can be added to pancake mix to further the interest of the children as the teacher of this classroom. I would also read a book about fruits that include bananas and a book about being helpful to others.

Observation blog 4. . . . .

This week I observed the children being active as thy participated in all kinds of activities. Building with blocks, magnet shaped units, reading at the library center, digging at the bird seed and butterfly bin, magna duddles, riding the tricycles, in the sand box and making music with the instruments outdoors.

In the block center their was four children building. One girl seem to be playing alone as she built away from the boys. She gave the aide and teacher that was in this area aslo the blocks she built. She said, "Here's your cake." It was a triangle block on top of the square block. The teacher replied, "That's a good cake, your a good baker." She saw a different boy standing in this area and asked him, "Do you want a cake?" He didn't reply. She walked to him and tried to give him it but he walked away. The aide said, "I have four cakes on my lap, anybody want a cake?" A boy yelled, "Meeeeeee!!." Then she gave him one. A girl said, "I want one." Then she gave her one also.

The developmental skills this child was using were hand-eye coordination, cognitive thought, building with a purpose, sharing and being creative.

To further develop the interest of this child, if I was the teacher I would go to my local library and find a book about cakes or baking. I would read to the children and also explain the ingredients it takes to make a cake and if one ingredient isn't added our cake wouldn't bake properly. I would also tell them experiences of baking cake when I lived with my mom and six sisters when I was a child. We would clean the mixing bowl with our fingers after my mom filled the baking pan and put it in the oven.

3rd Observation............

During this week of observing at the child development center I observed as the children created pumpkin puppets, had free play indoors and outdoors at the rug using blocks and their toy transportation tools, throwing up and putting the hoola-hoop around their waist as they tried to move their bodies in a circular position to keep the hoola-hoop up, group activities as they did song cards, story time and singing in Spanish and they also sung the Five Little Pumpkins song.

The activity I wanted to reflect on which caught my attention was when they had group time on the carpet indoors and the did the "Word of the Day" activity. The teacher decided to choose the word of the day from snack time earlier on this day and she said it was "Pink Strawberry Yogurt." When their names were called it was their turn to repeat the word of the day. If it was difficult to pronounce or if they repeated the words incorrectly the teacher would as them to try it again, ask the class to help them and then repeat it to child. Some child could communicate the words clear and with ease while other children didn't do as well.

The developmental skills the children are using in this activity was listening, paying attention, turn taking, communication skills, cognitive skills and language skills.

To further the development or interests of the children from this activity, if I was the teacher in this classroom I would include the class by asking them what kind of things were new to them today or what was a new word you learning while at school today? This can help the teacher pick the word of the day, help the children feel more involved in the activity and gain knowledge that they thoughts are valued in the classroom.

1st Lab Observation. . . .

This week I observed the children in the morning as they were active indoors and outdoors. They were making jewelry with beads for their parents, dancing and singing to the songs on the cd, singing individually and as a group with the song cards, running around playing with paper made swords, puzzles, legos and counting cards with clips at the tables, reading and listening at circle time and also asking and answering questions about the book titled, "The Doorbell Rang." The children seemed to enjoy themselves as they had many choices to choose from throughout the day. I also liked that during snack and lunch the meals were nutritious and although the children had not preferred a particular item the teachers served small portions and encouraged them to at least taste it. They also reminded the children how to be polite at the table while eating by asking, "Do you mean not thank you?" The teachers also asked the children if they could be excused from the table after they finished eating.

During outdoor exploration three girls dug a whole in the sand using their shevels at the sand and water area. The teacher rolled up her pants and put her bare feet in the whole. She said to the children who were just observing , "Their digging me a whole to do me a pedicure." The children proceeded by getting containers to fill them up with water and poured the water into the whole. A child from another class dumped sand in the whole and Aoife said, "No, don't we're putting water not sand," then the child stopped dumping sand. Another child, whois a boy sat down and put his feet in the whole also, then smiled at the teacher. They continued to pour water then the boy got up and went over to the water fountain and began to throw sand in one of the girls face. She started screaming loudly. The teacher got up from her chair went over and grabbed the boy and said, "Now you have no more minutes." The teacher took him away and told him to rinse his feet and began to talk to him about his actions. A student helper in another course took the girl to the restroom to clean her up after the teacher asked for her to.

The developmental skills the children were using were communication skills, problem solving, gross motor skills, cause and effect, team work and cognitive skills.

To further the development and interests of the children as a teacher I would have shevels, chairs, bowls and a table set up for manicures on the following day. Ask the children do they need other materials to add to this activity. Also share a book to read on hygiene and beauty. This activity will help develop the children's fine motor skills and emerge curriculum.