Class/Section: Name: Assignment:

FHS 1500-Sp14-Jarvis Online Shanna Wylie Borunda Observation 2 Preschooler 3 to 5 yrs. old

Background Information Childs age: 4-5 years old Pseudonym: Ace Location: Ready-Set Grow, Bountiful, Ut Brief Description: It is a two level building three rooms upstairs separated for ages, a small lunch room, and two play rooms downstairs. Each class has about 8-10 kids and at least two caregivers for each class. There is also a play area outside as well. Physical Development Ace was shy and quiet when I first saw him. He is around 4 years old. His height appeared to be around 45 inches, a little over the average height. His weight seemed to be around 35-40 lbs, which 40 50 pounds is the average for a 6 year old. Ace was skinny kid but with the belly still sticking out just a little. Ace seems to be a little tall for his age. Ace was the tallest in the class which consisted of 4-5 year olds. He was easily distracted by anything mentioned or pointed out. During this time although shy and quiet he was very active in play and exercise. Ace motor skills have seemed to develop properly in all aspects. He is doing extremely well on his fine motor skills. It was noticeable that he could tie his shoes when they left from play time to snack hour. I would assume the parents practiced often with the child. He colored well during play time as well, holding the crayon as an adult would with two to three fingers instead of clasping it like a toddler. He was above average for hand eye coordination. Ace seemed to be more predominately right handed. Ace spent some time using building blocks. He and another child built a skinny tower seeing how high they could get it making sure it would not fall over on its own. Ace also tossed little bean bags throwing them through a hole. He was able (on occasion) to catch the bag when thrown to him with his hands instead of using his body to stop it. Ace was also able to get it through the holes a couple times and throw them pretty accurately from three to four feet away. For how good he seemed to be it was fun to see how surprised he was when he made it in a hole or caught it. Ace never ran or climbed on things so it was hard to see the gross motor skills at its best and if he has is average for his age. But from area to area that he walked from he did not seem to have any problems doing so. He was aware of his surrounding and personal space. There was an incident where he was walking to pick up a new toy and walked around where two other kids were playing instead of straight through. Ace was able to put things away that were higher up or needed to be lifted to be put up or taken down. He seemed to have great strength for his age. There was an incident where he wanted a toy during play time and he went over to the shelf and it was a bigger toy, but he lifted it up without dragging and then carried it to a table. He had told the teacher that he wanted to play with it like how he saw another child in the class did earlier that day. Physical Development in comparison to the class or text book According to the text Ace is taller and heavier for his age. Ace is closer to the average of a 6 year old instead of a 4-5 year old. Ace is able to tie his shoe which according to the text on Infographic 5(Berger, 2014, p. 171.) it shows Ace is a little ahead for his motor skills-more average of a 6 yr old. Ace seems to be on track or a little ahead for the most part on his physical development. Ace lateralization has matured enough to the point that it has almost fully established a dominate hand. With his physical development being average or above average the teachers did not have to watch the child as much as a toddler. Ace knew after the bathroom he had to wash his hands, before snack time to wash hands, not to climb on chairs or shelves and so forth. The child had more freedom and the teacher had to worry about being more cautious. Intellectual/Cognitive Development At Aces approximate age of 4-5 years old is intellectual/cognitive stage is where he is learning by playing. He is also quicker on processing information and understanding more of what things mean and are. Ace knew that a fire man belonged in a fire truck and nothing else. Aces development on language showed great examples of symbolic thought. He was at one point trying to explain a toy and why he need

a certain part. The teacher told the other child to listen as to why Ace needed one of his toys. Ace then tried to explain but it was almost like he was stumbling over his words. A person could tell by body gestures, hand movements, and words he was using- he knew what he was talking about and it made sense. However for me it was more of a broken sentence. There was another incident where another child had the piece he needed to play but the other child would not give it to him. The teacher asked if he wanted to go look to see if there was similar toy on the shelf that he could use. He started to interrupt (my guess is he though she was just going to say find a different toy) but when he processed what she asked him, he thought about it and went to the shelf to look with her. The teacher then helped the child go through the little pieces in hopes to find one that might actually work and for the child to move on to continue playing. They finally got to one after many nos. The particular piece Ace wanted was a fireman to go in a huge fire truck. Ace would keep looking at the child after every time he was shown a new figure, like as if he was comparing the pieces. Finally the teacher pulled out a Lego fireman. To Ace he knew it was similar and possibly do the trick but not exactly what he wanted. He picked it up out of the teachers hand and examined it but then went on to explain why it couldnt work and why it was not the correct toy and then refused to play with it. Some would say this could be a sign for obsessive compulsive or just right. However , I believe it had a lot to do with the childs thoughts and imagination. The child wants to make it just right when playing because to them it is really close to the real thing. To Ace- he knows dogs dont drive fire trucks or an elf, he wanted the fire man for his fire truck. Ace did not exhibit any other compulsive behaviors while I was there. I believe because of these factors he is far away from obsessive compulsive. There were several incidents where the teacher would encourage Ace to ask the right questions and other children in the class. The teacher would help Ace with his reasoning and problem solving skills. The teacher would challenge Ace to problem solve several times. The teacher would ask Ace things like how else could we get the toy? Ace would then walk up to the child and asked for it. The other little boy said he was not yet done playing with it, but said he could when he was done. The child had a moment to process it. He tried asking again and the boy said no again. He did seem to be a little more distracted then the other kids. Maybe it was because he was upset he couldnt have a toy, but he would constantly look around or at the toy he wanted. Ace seemed to have some sort of a preservation on the fireman toy. Ace would also move quickly from one thing to the next but it was interesting to see that he would finish whatever he had started, it was just quick. He would figure out an item and then realize he had boogers and left to the Kleenex box to blow his nose, then go play with another child building a tower. He was playing with that child then another child Ralph came over and knocked it over but after Ace left and played with Ralph and a group of boys. The child was verbal about when he needed to use the restroom and could go on his own. After play time Ace knew he had to put certain things away at certain spot without any extra instructions. After Ace was done he knew he had to sit on the alphabet carpet with his classmates and sit quietly. Then when everyone was finished they got in line to go to the lunch area to have a snack. Ace decided that he wanted crackers and sliced apples and a juice box. Ace seems able to make decisions and ask for things they want or need which is on track for his age. After snack time they went back to the alphabet carpet and learned about the letter Q. He was eager to give answers at to things that had to do with Q. Aces development appeared to be in track. Intellectual/Cognitive Development in Comparison to the class or textbook Aces development on language showed great examples of symbolic thought (Berger, 2014, p. 182.) The child seemed to process what he would do next often. When he was playing he was talking about what they would do next, if he was working on a project he was telling the teacher what he was doing. Ace is on track even in role playing. Ace would tie in what he thought was real life to his imagination. He seemed to follow along the lines of Paigets four periods. (Berger, 2014, p.182). Then in this case Freud was wrong. He did not seemed to be stuck in the phallic stage. There was one incident where the teacher held out a girl figurine and he did not want it, however due to the situation I think the child was more upset that he did not have the toy he wanted originally. Later Ace was seen playing with a girl toy. When playing it was not things that wer e more dominate male or female. Ace was very involved in active and sociodramatic play. Ace did seem to need a little work on his dependent clauses but was very involved in asking why things were the way they were, how to do things, and why he needed to do things. According to Vygotsky he showed great signs of being a social learner. Aces prefrontal cortex appears by actions and thoughts,

imagination and process and problem solving it is on the right track. Ace was responding pretty quickly after being asked of something-Myelination is being developed properly. The teacher did actually show a lot of influence on the child when it came to decisions and responses. In Diana Baumrind caregiving styles the teacher did seem to show a lot of Permissive and authoritative parenting. Maybe the child was new, or has been there for a while or just responds differently when shown extra care. For instances when the child got frustrated the teacher would put her hand on his back and talk gently to him. Then when it came time to do things- it was strange to hear a voice gentle but very firm reminding the child how to do something or ask something and the child would do it. Social/Emotional Development Ace seemed to be very on his own at times. But if he was asked if he needed help he was not afraid to say yes or no. I saw Ace upset for about 15 minutes of my observations. It began shortly after I arrived. Ace got is fire truck down and started to play but then realized he was missing a piece. He was scanning the class room for the toy. Ace realized that another boy had it and that he did not only have one but two of that toy. He had told the teacher he needed one of the toys. The teacher challenged Ace on what to say or ask when that happens. He asked the boy if he could have one of the toys. The boy said no he wasnt done playing with it and that he could when he was finished. Instantly after the boy walked away with both toys, Aces lip began to tremble and started getting frustrated of not being able to have one of the toys. He told the teacher he wanted it now. The teacher tried to explain several times that the other child was playing and he had to wait his turn. They went in circles of Ace saying he wanted the toy (even to the point of raising his voice and stomping one foot). The teacher then tried a different approach asking what other ways could he get the toy. It seemed to calm the child and see that he was thinking for a moment. He tried asking the child again the boy gave the same answer. Ace began to cry and at that time another child approached Ace and watched him. The teacher asked to help look for a new toy until the boy was done playing, Ace agreed finally. It was interesting to see that the child had more trigger words and would instantly look to what the teac her was talking about or react in a certain way. When she would mention truck, people the child would look back at the toy he wanted. Almost like sign language with the body. There was another incident the teacher suggested playing with the dump truck, child slightly calmed and turned his whole body towards the truck for a moment and then turning around with a different demeanor almost like saying okay without having to say it. Ace played well with other children. As mentioned earlier after his fire truck debacle, blowing his nose, and playing with the dump truck he played with another boy. They were building with blocks and Legos. The blocks they made more like a home and the Legos they made it as high as possible. They were happy and playing with cars and driving them around what they built. A short time later another boy Ralph came by saying that he had to wreck their buildings. He did not give an explanation. Ace and the other boy just stared at Ralph and watched him go to another group and show excitement of wrecking their buildings so they could finish building their race track. A few seconds later Ralph went right back over to Ace and the other child and wrecked their buildings screaming in excitement and yelling about a car track they were building. Ace then seemed to be excited as well and joined the other boys. He was not upset at all about his stuff being wrecked. Ace spent half the time while I was there by himself and with others. Ace seemed to be content with everything around him. With a child between the ages of 4-5 mood swings are a little more common. Social/Emotional Development in Comparison to the class/textbook I believe when the blocks were knocked over it was a good example of Eriksons third developmental stage. The stage is Initiative versus guilt. Ralph took the initiative to show excitement and then after knocking the blocks over there may have been some guilt and then allowing Ace to play with them. Ace also took the initiative to play with them but also would turn to see the boy he was playing with and try to include him, guilty that he just left him. Another great example is that Ace many times tried to get the other child to give him a fireman or to even share the toy, after the other child said no so many time and seeing him cry, the boy later invited ace to play. Ace was trying many new things, but sometimes not succeeding in them like when asking for the toy. Ace showed for the most part that he was deciding things on his own, that even if it was suggested to him it was going to be his decision much like self-concept. The child did seem to have a healthy mix of Externalizing and internalizing problems. For instance he would begin to throw a tantrum

but would quickly stop and control himself minimizing his frustration and upset behavior. Ace along with other children did show a lot of empathy towards each other when it came time to playing and feelings. They made sure everyone was included that was around.

Resources Berger, K. S. (2014). Invitation to the life span (2nd ed.). New York: Worth.