Diamond Allen

TLED 474

OBSERVATION #2: PART 1

Date: February 23, 2018

Time: 2:30PM- 4:30PM

Place: Ms. Sarah’s “Toddler Pride” at the ODU Child Learning and Research Center

Observation #2: Play

On February 23, 2018, I walk into the ODU CLRC, the same way that I do every day.

When I enter the classroom, no play is occurring, and the children are napping. I sit down and

pat any children that stir or open their eyes during the designated nap time. At about 3:00 PM,

most of the children have woken up and are stomping around the room. This wakes up the rest

of the children and we prepare for snack. I wash all ten pairs of hands and instruct each child to

grab a cup and take a seat at the table. The children gobble up their cheese cubes and

strawberries asking for more every few minutes. After they have finished, they go back to the

sink with their cup in hand and wash their hands once again. This is the time I take to change

diapers before we go outside, meanwhile, the toddlers play.

Once I finish changing diapers, there are only nine children left and three assistants,

including me. As I close the gate to the changing table behind be, I notice that a teacher has

pulled out the bubble machine. It is a hot pink fish with its lime green mouth open wide. There

are multiple purple bubble wands inside that rotate inside the fish as bubbles shoot out it mouth.

Almost instantly, all of the children crowd around the bubble machine and shout. Some reach up
to pop the bubbles with their hands, others just bounce and spin as the bubbles rain down on

them. One child starts a chant, shouting, “Bubbles! Bubbles!” and soon most of the children

follow his example. They jump, and dance, and spin, as the bubbles cascade down their

shoulders and pop in front of their eyes. Soon enough the machine starts to slow down, the

teacher thinks the batteries are dying. A few bubbles pop out every few seconds, but for the most

part the bubble party is finished. The children walk away as the bubbles become weaker and

weaker. The teacher turns off the bubble machine.

After the bubbles are gone, the children go off to play on their own. Some play together,

but most are independent in their play. In the shelf there is a bucket full of wooden train tracks

and toy trains. Liam dumps the entire bucket on the ground, pushes the tracks aside, and plays

solely with the trains. He doesn’t connect them, but instead races them like cars. At this moment,

a parent walks in to pick up Greta. Greta runs to her father who is holding her baby brother in a

baby carrier. The class does not get to see very many babies despite the fact that the baby room is

right down the hall. So a baby is a sight to behold to the toddlers. All of them gather around the

baby carrier and stare at the baby boy. I hear some of the toddler’s shout, “Baby! Baby!”. The

father tells them to use their “looking eyes”. None of them reach to touch him. The father gushes

about how good of a big sister Greta is as Greta talks to her classmates, “That’s my baby

brother.” The children look on in awe. Liam is the first child to lose interest and pushes a toy bus

down the slide instead of looking at the baby. Greta leaves with her father and little sibling.

There are now eight children and three adults.

 Two children are in the corner, tossing shakers onto the ground. They do not play with

them once they hit the ground; they walk away from the mess they have made. Gavin grabs a

plastic orange bell pepper and attempts to balance it on his head. It stays for maybe a second as

Gavin bends over to try it again and again. Several toddlers walk up the stairs to the slide, but do

not go down. Instead they sit at the top of the slide side by side conversing and giggling. I cannot

understand what they are saying. William walks up to me and says, “All done homework!” as I

type up what I am seeing in the classroom. I inform him that I am not all done and that he should

go play. He smiles and walks away.

A teacher asks the children if they would like to go outside, two toddlers run up to the

window at the word “outside”. She asks them to clean up, but none of them listen. Thea walks up

to me and clutches my shirt. She leans into me and asks for a hug. I squeeze Thea back. Slowly,

some of the children pick up the toys and put them away. Most of them do not help clean. Some

play in kitchen and pretend to cook. The teacher turns cleaning into a game, and begins counting

cars as she throws them in the bucket. Children pick up cars and throw them in the bucket as

well. While cleaning, Thomas puts the play food (cupcake and pizza) in his mouth. I tell him that

it is yucky for his mouth and he throws the pizza across the room. Instead of cleaning, Thea spins

in circles repeatedly shouting, “I’m spinning, I’m spinning.” She gets dizzy and falls to the

round, she lays there for a while. Gabriel slides down slide, Thomas puts away a book, William

hands toy candle to teacher, and Renn messes up toys that were already put away. A teacher tells

him to clean it up, but he refuses. Renn must do “Hand over hand cleaning”. The teacher places

her hand over Renn’s and helps him clean up the mess he made. He screams and protests the

entire time. I watch as Thomas puts books into the library and praise him for being such a great
help. At this point, the classroom is mostly clean. A teacher grabs jackets for the children as all

three teachers assist the children with their coats. I ask Gavin if he needs help to which he

replies, “I’ll do it, Diamond.” Once everyone has on their jacket, we all sit on the carpet and

count the children in the room. There are eight. We count down from eight, tip toe to the door,

and go outside.

According to Morgan, “Vygotsky theorized that play provides opportunities for learners
to practice what they know and to acquire new knowledge in the process. (Morgan, 2011). The
children had this time available to play, but also to learn. Despite the fact that toddlers playing
does not look like much knowledge is being acquired, they are learning a lot. For example, when
a parent walked in with a baby the children were able to identify it as a baby. They saw the
carrier and small human inside and made that connection. They learned that babies are small and
cry, they learn that they must be gentle around them, and they exhibit interests.

Physical Development and Health

B1: Develop some ability to grasp and hold a variety of objects
B2: Demonstrate beginning signs of strength, control, and eye-hand coordination
B7: Use eye-hand coordination to perform simple tasks
B10: Persist in accomplishing more difficult fine motor tasks

Cognition and General Knowledge

E3: Become aware of own body and personal space during active exploration of physical
environment
E4: Explore the size, shape, and spatial arrangement of real objects
B6 : Uses sense to observe and explore materials and natural phenomena
B7: Demonstrate increased knowledge and memory for details and routines

Social and Emotional Development

B9: Show increasing ability to distinguish between self and others
B11: Demonstrate confidence and pride in accomplishments

Language and Literacy

A2: Use a variety of words, sounds, and motions to communicate
A3: Show increased understanding of gestures and words
A4: Use consistent sounds, gestures, and some words to communicate
A5: Understands questions, some basic concepts, and simple directions
A8: Demonstrate increased understanding of oral language through actions and responses to
directions and questions