Observation Project

Laura Pantoja
Pacific Oaks
HD 450
Observation #1
 The boy I observed is three years old
 He is of Asian culture
 There were 21 other children present
 As he came in mom told him to say, “good Moring teacher” and he said, “good morning”
 As the children came in they followed the routing of washing their hands (A) went to the
sink holding moms hand, mom helped him wash his hands
 He then walked himself to the carpet and instead of sitting on his letter like all the other
children he went straight to the doll house and started to play.
 Teacher asked him to go to his letter, but he did not move he just stared at her
 During the song, he starred making a loud yelling noise, and didn’t stop until the song was
over
 They then transitioned to small group where they worked at the tables. He walked with his
peers but instead of sitting on the chair he climbed onto the table and sat down on top
 Teacher redirected him to sit on the chair, he did and was able to focus on the activity for
a few minutes
 He then ran off and started to hit the trashcan
 Teacher helped him back to his seat were then he finished the activity
 After small group the children went outside, (A) followed and went to play on the play
structure by the wheel the whole time alone
 When the children came back inside they went off to play in areas. (A) went with a little
girl to the house area
 He interacted with her using sign and toys. I can hear him laughing while beside her when
he threw the toys to the floor
 During lunch, he went under the table, ran around the classroom. When teacher finally
helped him to sit down he grabbed the food near him using his hands instead of the utensils.
Teacher told him we use utensils and he laughed.
 He started yelling and banging his cup
 After cleaning up time he helped teacher pick up the napkins from the tables
 He then went to the carpet to join the others in tooth brushing
 He got his toothbrush, and started banging a boy next to him, teacher dismisses him to rinse
off his toothbrush and that when he started to throw water with his toothbrush onto the
mirror, laughing
 He then went back to the carpet to play with toys until he was called on to go home
In this first observation I witnessed at this school was very interesting. I noticed the child did not
have much language and communicated by using loud noises or pointing at things. This reminded
me of theorist Piaget. His theory of cognitive development on the first stage of sensorimotor he
describes how a child’s knowledge of the world is limited to their sensory perceptions and motor
activities. Just like this child he hit the trashcan, threw toys, ate with his hands instead of using
utensils, and banging a boy with his toothbrush all reflects on Piaget’s theory.
Second Observation: (Theorist Albert Bandura)
 I observed the same boy as in observation one (A)
There were 19 children present with two teachers and one parent volunteer
 As (A) walked in holding hands with his mother, he said “good morning teacher” after
mother asks him to say it
 While mother is signing him in (A) starts to bang on the shelf using both hands
 Teacher asks him to not bang on the shelf and mom laughs then tells him to stop and grabs
him to take him to the sink
 He then walks to the carpet were the other children and teacher are singing along to an
alphabet song
 He walks to his letter the turtle and sits down
 Teacher starts to read a book and (A) starts to pound on the carpet with his fists and starts
screaming
 The second teacher moved near him and asked him to stop and he repeated the word “stop”
and he stopped yelling and pounding his arms
 As the group transitioned to small group (A) stayed at the carpet, until teacher went to hold
his hand and take him to the tables
 For small group, the children were asked rip paper into pieces and then glue it onto an apple
 The parent volunteer helped (A) out and showed him how to rip the paper, he was able to
rip it a few times
 The child next to him had finished cutting the paper into tiny pieces and (A) starts blowing
the paper, he sees how it flew off the table and started to do it to others around him with
cut paper
 Teacher approached him and told him to stop blowing his friends papers, that that was not
nice; he laughed while teacher talked to him and kept blowing the papers
 Teacher had to sit next to help and help him to work on his activity and to remind him to
not blow papers
 After small group, they were asked to line up (A) went in between the girls and boys line
and laid down on the floor; teacher helped him up and walked outside
 Today he interacted with one other child playing in the house outside he didn’t talk but he
did sign to the other child and laugh along to things they did
 After outside time, they went inside to wash their hands (A) played at the sink with the
bubbles left from other children. The parent volunteer helped him to dry his hands
 For work time, he stayed at the playdough the whole time working with the tools and
baskets
 When it was clean up time he was able to understand and helped teacher to clean
 During lunch, he sat at the wrong table, so he had no plate he kicked the table and started
making loud noises
 Teacher then gave him a cup and plate and told him he needs to ask for utensils and he
shook his head
 Teacher served him food but did not give him broccoli, (A) started doing his loud noises
so teacher went to him and asked him to stop making loud noises, so he gets up and points
to the broccoli (so his way of getting something is to make noise)
 The moment his food finished he started to pound on the table and make noises until teacher
came to ask if he wanted more and he would shake his head yes
  During cleanup he saw teacher cleaning the cups and napkins left on the table and he started
to help, teacher told him thank you, good job (A) and he smiled and gave teacher a thumb
up (he liked being praised)
 Teacher then asked him to go to the carpet to brush his teeth, the teacher at the carpet
handed (A) his tooth brush and he brushed his teeth. After a few seconds he started brushing
a child leg with his toothbrush, teacher told him that that wasn’t okay and dismissed him
to rinse toothbrush
 He then came back to the carpet and was dismissed to go home.
 Mom walked him by the hand and told him to say thank you to both teachers.
In this second observation I started to notice I few changes from the child I observed. I started to
notice that to get something he wanted he would make some sort of noise or yell. Piaget still took
place in this observation because he was still banging on things and was ripping paper. Theorist
Albert Bandura also came to mind when doing this observation. Bandura talks about positive and
negative reinforcement. In this observation I noticed how the child started to do things others did.
He started to imitate what other children and what teacher did. When he helped teacher to clean
up after he saw her cleaning and she gave him a positive reinforcement and it was obvious he liked
the praise because he smiled. This time I noticed that he brushed his teeth along with the other
children. I also noticed that he screams and makes loud noises to get attention or when he wants
something.
Observation #3
 I observed the same child from my previous two observations
 Today as he came into the classroom he went straight to washing his hands
 He cut in front of the others
 At the sink he washed his hands following the procedures: water first then soap all on his
own
 He then walked to the carpet and sat down on his assigned spot
 Today while the teacher and other children sang songs he sat the and listened without
making any noises or moving around
 After the songs, teacher read a book about pumpkins, he listened through most of the book
without interrupting. Towards the end of the book he started to scream and make noises
 Teacher asked him to stop and he repeated “stop”
 Teacher then dismissed the children to the tables, he followed the other children and found
an empty space at his table and sat down
 Teacher passed out crayons and paper and asked the children to draw a small, medium,
large pumpkin. (A) did not draw what was assigned but he did makes circles and lines all
over his paper using the black crayon only
 Teacher then told the children to place their paper in their cubby, he placed it in another
child’s cubby
 They then proceeded by lining up into a boys and girls line. (A) lined up with the boys on
his own
 As soon as they got outside he stood next to teacher, screeched and when teacher looked
down to him he pointed to the sand. Teacher asked him if he wanted to play in the sand, he
nodded yes and went to play in the sand
  He played the entire outside time in the sand next to a girl. When teacher called clean up
time he started dumping the buckets full of sand into the sandbox, then he reached for a
cup full of sand and pour it onto the girls’ head and laughed
 Teacher talked to him and told him that was not okay, and he replied “no”
 They then went inside, and he got in line to wash his hands on his own
 During play time he pointed to the painting easel, teacher asked him if he wanted to paint
and he nodded his head.
 He painted a few lines then noticed others painting pumpkins and he sat down next to them
grabbed a brush and started painting a pumpkin
 During lunch time he went to his table but there was no chair available for him, so he
grabbed a chair from the art area and moved it to the lunch table
 Teacher helped him with putting tortillas and chicken on his plate but no bananas. He then
said “banana” and pointed to the bowl of bananas.
 He grabbed the banana using the tongs on his own
 He ate lunch and sat at the table the whole time without grabbing others food or making
noises like the pervious time I observed him
 When teacher called cleanup, he took his plate to the trash and he helped the teacher clean
up the remaining trash
 During dismissal he stayed in his assigned spot until teacher called his name
 Mom told him to say thank you to both teachers and he did
In this third observation I noticed how (A) was more observant and wanted looked at what teacher
was doing and what other children did. Bandura talks about observational learning, which is when
children observe the people around them and they see how they behave. B.F. Skinner believed that
when a child’s action repeatedly brings positive effects it will be continued and when the action
was negative and brought negative effects it was not repeated. In my observations I started to
notice that most of the time when teachers would redirect him or tell him that what he is doing is
not okay most of the time the behavior stopped, and it was not repeated the next days. And when
he did something good and was praised he would continue to do that positive thing to get his praise.
Observation #4
 Observed the same child from previous observations
 As he came in to the classroom he went straight to washing his hand on his own
 He cut in front of the others
 Followed handwashing steps; wet his hands first then pumped soap and lathered his hands
for a while, then rinsed the soap off with water on his own (did not needs moms help today)
 He then went to the carpet and sat down on his letter
 He listened to the story without making any noises or interrupting
 During the dance portion of large group, he did not participate he just sat on his letter
 Teacher then asked for the blue group to go sit at the table he looked at everyone in the
blue group and looked at teacher for reassurance (he is in the blue group) to get up and go
to the table
 At the table they were instructed to color a paper plate orange and glue shapes onto it to
make a jack lantern
 He threw his plate to the floor and started making loud sounds
  He grabbed other children’s plate and teacher helped him to get his from the floor and he
picked up the crayon and scribbled a few lines on his paper
 He then started screaming and used the glue on the table
 Teacher called clean up time and children lined up to go outside
 He went to the front of the line and stood next to teacher and smiled
 Teacher asked him to go the end of the line and he did
 Outside he looked at teacher and pointed to the sandbox. Teacher asked him if he wanted
to play in the sand and he shook his head yes and said “sand”
 He played at the sandbox the whole outside time didn’t interact with any children
 During clean up time he cleaned up his toys on his own without teacher pushing him too
 He went to sit on his assigned group and stayed seated until teacher dismissed them to go
inside
 During work time he played at the block area with the toy cars with children around him.
Did not communicate much
 During cleanup he cleaned his toy cars on his own then went to sit at the teachers chair
and smiled
 Teacher asked him to sit on his letter and he got off and went to his letter
 During lunch time he did not like any of the food, so he started to throw it around teacher
sat down next to him to help him
 He continued to be disruptive touching another children’s food, teacher kept redirecting
him
 During clean up time he helped teachers clean up the milk jugs and picked up the trash that
was on the floor.
During this observation I started to notice how he was being more independent. He was still
playing on his own but around other children. Erick Erickson talks about the stages of learning
and how their personality grows in stages. I feel like this child I observed is going through stages
of growth as well and he is getting to know what he likes and dislikes. Teachers are aware of what
his needs are, and it seems like they are there to help and redirect him when needed.

Observation #5
 Observed same child as other observations (A)
 As child walked in he went straight to the sink, he cut in front of everyone in line and
started washing his hands while another child was washing his hands at the sink
 Mom grabbed him and told him to wait
 When the other finished washing his hands, mom helped him to wash his hands
 He then ran to the carpet and sat on his assigned seat
 Techer began to sing the good morning song and he just sat looking at teacher
 When teacher began to read the story, he started making loud noises and started moving
around the carpet
 Teacher redirected him to his spot and he stayed there for the rest of the story
 During their small group they were instructed to cut tape with their hands and put it on a
mummy cutout
 He was not able to cut the tape, so he cut off the mummy’s arm
  Then he grabbed the tape and taped the hand to the table and taped the mummy to the edge
of the table
 The teacher walked over and tried to help him explaining and showing him wat to do but
he just laughed
 He then grabbed tape and tried to put it on the mummy of the boy sitting next to him (he
understood what to do)
 The boy told him “A No” and A repeated “NO”
 After their activity they were asked to put it in their cubby and A just left it on the table
and went to the front of the line, teacher helped him to line up in the back and told him no
cutting. He repeated “no cutting”
 Outside he went to the sandbox and started to play with another child in the sand
 He played at the sandbox the whole outside time
 When teacher called cleanup, he started to clean up the toys but then grabbed a bucket of
sand and threw it another child while laughing.
 Teacher went over to him and talked to him told him it is not okay to throw sand
 Inside the classroom they were instructed to wash their hands, but A went to a shelf and
started to bang the shelf loudly
 Teacher helped him to the sing and he washed his hands
 During play time he joined a group of children and started to destroy the tower they were
making. They would tell him “no A” they rebuilt it and he tried to add a block
(participating). He helped them a few times adding blocks but then he broke it. Teacher
redirected him
 He then went to play with playdough on his own
 During lunch time he did not eat he played with his food and tried taking others food from
their plate. Teacher sat down next to him and helped him
 When teacher got up he moved to sit on the chair teacher was sitting at and laughed
 During cleanup he helped clean up his plates and other plates left at the table
In this fifth observation (A) showed a lot of development and growth from the previous
observations. He had a better understanding of the routine and his attention span had grown. He
was able to follow simple directions and was starting to repeat more words. He was starting to
participate more with others. Teacher still had to help him and redirect him when he did things that
were not safe, but it seemed to me that he understood better what the teacher was telling him and
why. In this observation bandura theory of modeling and observing takes place because the teacher
talked and modeled what to do with the mummy, and after it was modeled, and he observed the
teacher, was when he was able to understand and do the activity.
Observation #6
 Observed same child as previous observations
 As he walked in to the classroom he went straight to the hand washing line and stood in
the back. Finally, when all chidlren were done washing their hands he stepped on the stool
and looked at teacher and said, “water first” teacher responded by telling him yes and good
job for remembering.
 He then washed his hands following the handwashing steps
 He then went to the carpet and sat on his letter
  Teacher sang songs with the children and proceeded by reading a book.
 He paid attention to most of the story without disturbing
 When it was time for a movement activity he stayed sitting while the other children danced.
Teacher asked him to stand up and she extended her hands to dance with him and he danced
with teacher, he smiled and laughed
 Teacher started to go over the alphabet she asked each child to identify one letter. (A)
identified his. She did it again and he got a different letter and he identified it. It was
obvious that the teacher was surprised so she started asking all letters of the alphabet he
was able to identify 23 letters out of the 26. (I asked teacher why she was surprised, and
she explained how he doesn’t talk and she wasn’t aware that he could identify his letters
or numbers)
 During small group someone sat on his assigned spot and he starts making loud noises to
catch teachers attention and points to his chair
 He worked on the small group, he couldn’t match the quantity of stickers to the number,
but he was able to peel and stick the stickers on his paper (fine motor skills)
 During outside time he stood next to teacher and made loud noises when teacher looked at
him he pointed to the sand box. Teacher asked him to say sandbox and he repeated
 He played at the sandbox the entire outside time towards the end he started throwing sand
into children faces and teacher had to stop him and talk to him.
 During work time he saw a child using the stamps and he joined him and stamped on the
paper then went on to stamp the table
 During lunch he sat in his seat and didn’t play with the utensils
 When the food was going around he pointed to the pairs and yelled “yellow” teacher asked
if he wanted pairs and he shook said his head yes
 He then started playing with his cup making noises when teacher came close to him he said
“milk”
 During dismissal he did not want to go home. His mom would say let’s go and he would
push and kick her away
In my last observation I noticed a huge growth in the child. He was doing things on his own, he
wasn’t banging on things and he was more attentive to the teachers. He was suing his fine motor
skills and using more language. I noticed how he was more hands on and learning a lot more just
like in Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory. Even though he was from a different culture and spoke a
different language he was able to identify letters and numbers and he was communicating a lot
more in the classroom. The zone of proximal development also reflected how the children was
allowing for teachers to help him and how he was able to do things on his own. Threw Banduras
social learning theory of observing and modeling I notices how the child started to observe other
children and would do the things he observed. Also, when teacher would model things for him he
would follow and do.
During this observation project I learned how much a child grows and develops in a short period
of time. During these six observations I was able to use a few theorists in my observations, I used
Piaget, Bandura, Skinner, Erickson, and Vygotsky. These theorists and their theories offered me
learning into the growth of this child. I was able to understand how and why this child was
developing in the way he was. It was great to see the growth in this child, I hope to make time and
go back in a few months to see at what stages he is at and how he has developed since my last
observation.