Morgan Stewart

FHS 1500-400
Ages 3-5 Observation
For this observation, I observed a child in a Davis School District community preschool
classroom. This student is a four year old female in a class of fifteen students. While observing
this child I noticed several physical, cognitive, and social/emotional development connections.
Physical Development:
One noticeable physical development things I noticed while observing the students was
her severely picky attitude towards food. In the classroom alone, the only thing shell accept is
Oreos. Theyve tried to give her the knock-off brands, but shell only refuse them. Its Oreos or
nothing and not only is it just Oreos, but its only one Oreo. According to her teachers if they
gave or offered any more than that she would get upset and leave snack completely. This is an
example of just right, which is the tendency of children to insist on having things done in a
particular way (Berger, 2014; pg. 169). It can apply to more than just food, such as routines and
clothing. This obsession for sameness is common for children between ages two and six, but
luckily will fade after six.
The next thing I observed was pretty obvious when thinking back to observing two and
younger, and that is, their improved motor skills. For the average two year old, their typical
development consists of being able to run without falling, climb out of cribs, walk up stairs, feed
them with a spoon, and draw spirals (Berger, 2014; pg. 171). Their motor development
drastically continues to develop through the next couple of years, like for a three year old, they
are able to kick and throw a ball, jump with both feet, and walk downstairs; three things most
two year olds cant. For a four year old, they are considered to know how to use scissors, hop on
either foot, feed themselves with a fork, dress themselves, copy most letters, pour things without
spilling, and brush their teeth (Berger, 2014; pg. 171). While observing the student I not only saw
her cutting paper on her own, but I saw her jumping up and down not only on both feet, but each
one at a time.
Cognitive Development:

In connection to her obsession with having only one Oreo for snack, when she received
more than one Oreo, not only did she get upset, she refused to eat snack, even after the second
one was removed. This is an example of irreversibility, or the idea that nothing can be undone
(Berger, 2014; pg. 183). This concept is common for children ages two to six in Piagets
preoperational stage. Preoperational intelligence is where children have passed thinking using
only their senses and motor skills, but cannot yet think using logical operations; they think using
language and imagination, including symbolic thought (Berger, 2014; pg. 183).
During circle, just like all her classmates, she was fidgety and had a hard time not sharing
something during circle. When the teacher talked about October meaning pumpkins, and
eventually relating it to Halloween, every kid immediately started to share what they were going
to be for Halloween. Even when told it was teachers turn to talk they kept trying to talk about
their costumes. There were a couple times they would talk out of turn, fidget in their spot, and
look around the classroom fixating on different things, and all of them relate to their balance of
impulsiveness.
As the text explains, neurons can only be on or off and each is signaled by biochemical
messages in the brain (Berger, 2014; pg. 179). Adults are more capable at balancing these on-off
impulses than children are which accounts for the student being more fidgety and talking. This
doesnt relate to the student I was studying, but I did see another student persevere and continue
to exhibit behavior, like leaving circle and talking. This student had to be told several times to
listen or sit on their pockets and it often came with even more refusing. Impulsiveness and
preservation are opposite manifestations of a prefrontal cortex that is too immature to check
activation or halt inhibition (Berger, 2014; pg. 179).
Social/Emotional Development:
On the playground, Im pretty sure I spent ten minutes pretending to eat imaginary
cupcakes and French fries and drinking glass after glass of juice. The entire time it was all smiles
as she kept making me all kinds of cupcakes and describing each one too me and then watching
me pretend eating them, with a proud grin on her face. This is an example of sociodramatic play,
which is pretend play in which children act out various roles and themes in stories that they
create (Berger, 2014; pg. 214). While imagination can develop early in toddlerhood, it develops

more after three because they can now combine their imagination with others (Berger, 2014; pg.
214).
One thing I did not see matching the text is the student addressing sex roles. In the text, it
says that by age four, most kids assign gender labels to toys and roles like dolls for girls and boys
are construction workers. In the classroom though, I saw not only the student I was studying, but
other students as well playing dress up in clothing they would normally tie to other genders.
Some might tie this to the increasing acceptance and complexity of gender, like lesbian, gay, bi,
trans, etc, but the text also states that even today, most three year olds are rigid in the idea of
gender labels. The only possible explanation I can imagine is that through behaviorist techniques
(all roles, values, and morals are learned) these kids have been reinforced in the classroom to
accept that roles can be embraced by both genders.
The last social/emotional thing I observed was during circle, when the student was eager
to answer the teachers questions before anyone else, and the pure joy she got just from being
praised. This is an example of extrinsic motivation or when people do something to gain praise
or another kind of reinforcement (Berger, 2014; pg. 207).

References:

Berger, K.S. (2014). Invitation to the Life Span (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Worth
Publishers.