Meal time routine

There are 4 tables at the meal time area. 2 placed horizontally along the wall and
another 2 placed vertically. There are 4 chairs per table and one teacher present per
table.
This meal time routine starts off with the teachers and children singing their meal time
song. While they are singing, teachers will hand out bowls of food to the children
individually. The children then eat their lunch with at least one teacher supervising per
table.
At 53m35s a boy tries to communicate with the educator but the educator tells him
“You have to chew first, I cannot hear what you are saying.” He immediately starts
chewing his food. At 53m55s, the educator realises that one of the children is holding
his utensils wrongly. She proceeds to correct him and uses his classmate as a good
example. She holds his hand and guides him to hold his utensils the correct way. At
54m23s, the educator realises that one of the children has stopped eating. She asks
“You’re tired already are you?” A child from another table hears their conversation and
tells the educator that she is also tired. The children do not interact much with each
other during meal time as most of the time, they are concentrated on eating their own
food. They only watch each other occasionally.

Hand washing routine

There are 2 sinks in the toilet which the children use to wash their hands. On top of
the each sink, there is one mirror each, one green and square shaped, another one
oval shaped. To the left of each sink there is a soap dispenser attached to the wall.
There are also 2 posters regarding toilet hygiene can also be seen stuck to the wall.
Towards the right, there is another station where the tissue dispenser and dustbin is
located.
During the hand washing routine, one teacher will stand in-between 2 children to guide
them along their hand washing routine. The teacher will remind them of steps to do in
their hand washing routine if they were to forget. Like for example at 7m33s, the
educator said “Remember to wash your wrists okay, make sure you wash your wrists
properly.” After which, at 7m43s she also reminded them to shake their hands in the
sink. At 7m44s, one of the children forgot that they needed to dry their hands with
tissues to complete the hand washing routine. The educator called out his name and
reminded him by saying “You forgot one step, take the tissue, clean your hand,
remember?” He immediately responded by running over to the tissue dispenser
located on the other side of the wall. At the tissue dispenser, there is another educator
who is there to guide the children if they need help pulling out the tissues or to open
the dustbin cover. The children do interact with one another. At 7m32s, one of the
children looked over towards the left to see what their friend was doing. At 7m45s
when the child forgot to wipe their hands with the tissue, the children in the queue who
were waiting for their turn to wash their hands also turned and watched as the educator
reminded him. At 8m4s one of the children forgot to put soap on their hands before
washing, the educator realised and guided him by holding his wrists and walking him
towards the soap dispenser. As the educator was guiding the 2 children, one of them
looked up at her and she reassured him that he was doing the right thing by nodding
and saying “Yes! Very good!”.

PEARL SOH, T03, S10240004H 1

1PRAC1 ASSESSMENT 2
WRITTEN REFLECTION
One transition
During the transition from chinese story time to outdoor play, the children and teachers
moved from the classroom, past the meal time area to the front gate and then
proceeded out to the front yard for outdoor play.
In order for a smooth transition, the teachers planned and ensured that all the materials
need for this transition was already in place before conducting this transition. Visual
cues and schedules were also used; visual cues in the form picture cards, each
representing an activity available for the day’s play, and visual schedules to help the
students visualise the transition before it takes place. The teacher conducting the
transition also gave clear and specific step-by-step instructions to the children so that
they will not get confused. Other than that, the educator also called out the names of
the children along with which activity they will be taking part in so that the teachers-in-
charge are aware of the children in their activity. There are also teachers situated
around the room to direct the children to their respective areas so the children will not
get lost. There are also 2 teachers handling a group of children at a time so that the
children are more safe and less prone to injury or getting lost.
From 37m13s to 40m, the children transitioned from chinese story time in the
classroom to outdoor play, in the school’s yard. At 37m13s one of the educators
attracted the children’s attention by pointing to the board and asking “What do we have
next?” She asks them questions like “Is it indoor or outdoor?” to engage them and also
check if the children are aware of their daily routines and activities. After which, she
shows the children 3 cards, each representing an activity that the children can choose
for outdoor play. She gets the children to recognise the different activities on the card.
At 38m15s, one child was not paying attention, the educator realised and catches his
attention by saying “You not listening then you won’t know where to go”. She finishes
introducing the activities to the children then tells the children “Okay, Let’s stand up!“ .
She then asks the children which activity they want to play for the day. The children
select their respective games, then follow the teacher in charge of that activity to the
front door. As for interactions, the children tend to follow each another’s actions, when
they see their friend doing something, they tend to follow. For example at 38m50s, the
children see their friend raise their hand for a certain activity, it might encourage them
to follow each other and raise their hands for the same activity. At 39m16s, a boy
started running towards his teacher, one of his classmates saw and started running
towards the teacher too. At 39m19s, a girl can be seen holding onto her friend’s
shoulder.

Effectively or ineffectively carried out

The meal time routine was effectively carried out. During meal time, all the children
are able to feed themselves. They are also able to judge their own level of hunger, at
54m55s in the video, the educator can be seen asking one of the children if she wants
more apple slices. The child responded by nodding her head, signalling that she does
want more apple slices. At 55m6s, another child can be seen approaching the
educator with her empty plate. She does this because she wants more apple slices,
which the educator is distributing. “Developing decision-making skills means that they
can start to plan ahead, see other viewpoints and can focus on the long-term impact
of their decisions.” (Choo, 2018) this shows that we should allow children to make
decisions because it helps to develop their cognitive development. The meal time
routine was ineffectively carried out. Because almost none of the children sang the
meal time song with the educator. At 53m10s only the educator was singing the song.
PEARL SOH, T03, S10240004H 2
1PRAC1 ASSESSMENT 2
WRITTEN REFLECTION
The children were either looking at her sing or looking down at their own food. At
53m23s, only one of the children joined the teacher in singing, whom the teacher did
praise for doing so.

The hand washing routine was overall ineffectively carried out. Most of the children
are not very clear on the steps to hand washing. At 7m44s, one of the children forgot
to wipe their hands. At 8m15s, the 2 children that the educator was guiding were not
clear on the steps to hand washing, they needed a lot of guidance and help along the
way, they needed the teacher to hold their hands to physically show them the steps to
hand washing. The hand washing routine was also ineffective because there is one
teacher overseeing 2 children washing their hands. At 8m10s, she seems to be
struggling because the children are not clear, and therefore need more help. She can
only physically guide one child at a time, when one child is learning, the other child is
just watching. However, this routine does allow all the children to have their hands
washed and provides opportunities for the children to learn hand washing from the
teachers. As a result, a few children know the steps to hand washing. At 7m30s, the
child to the right of the teacher can be seen washing his hand without much help,
without being reminded, he also remembered that he needs to dry his hands with
tissue to complete the hand washing routine, this shows that he is clear of the steps
to hand washing.

The transition was effectively carried out. Most children are relatively clear on what to
do during the transition. At 38m58s, the children can be seen dispersing to their
respective teachers-in-charge without any prompt from other teachers, which show
that they are clear about where they need to go. The children also volunteer
themselves for the respective activities they want to take part in without much prompt
from the educators. The children also move in an orderly manner which helped to
make the transition smoother. As seen at 39m19s the children are lined up in a straight
line in front of the teacher. This helps the children to stay in a group. However, the
transition is ineffective because some children are not paying attention, for example in
the video at 38m15s. Some children are not paying attention and need to be told when
and where to move. At 38m53s, some children at the side of the classroom are just
standing and observing without participating. This shows that they need prompting
from the teachers. There is also a little boy sitting in the middle of the classroom, facing
away from the teacher who is conducting the lesson which shows that he is not
listening.

The interactions during the routines were effective. During all the routines; meal time,
hand washing and transition, student-teacher interaction was effective as the children
were able to learn from teachers, and the teachers were able to teach, guide and
correct the children. During mealtime at 53m55s, one of the children was holding his
utensils wrongly and the educator corrected him. During hand washing at 7m44s, one
of the children forgot to wipe his hands dry and the educator was able to remind him.
During the transition at 38m15s, one of the children was not paying attention and the
educator was able to get his attention back by calling him. However, the interactions
during the routines were ineffective because there was minimal student-student
interaction. During the meal time and hand washing routines, they only looked at each
other and observed what each other were doing. During the transition, not all students
and teachers get to interact with each other, only students and teachers involved in
the same activity were able to interact with each other. Therefore it was ineffective.
PEARL SOH, T03, S10240004H 3
1PRAC1 ASSESSMENT 2
WRITTEN REFLECTION
Reference List
Choo K. (2018, May 14). The Impact of Decision Making on Children’s Cognitive
Function. Neeuro. https://www.neeuro.com/blog/impact-of-decision-making-
childrens-cognitive-function

PEARL SOH, T03, S10240004H 4

1PRAC1 ASSESSMENT 2
WRITTEN REFLECTION