IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

EDUC 121 OBSERVATION REFLECTION

Observer: Misti Neely Date: Saturday, April 5, 2014

Grade/Preschool: Preschool/Greenwood Daycare Ages: 3-5 year olds

OBSERVATION TOPIC #1
I conducted my research at a daycare in Greenwood that is ran out of someones home.
There are two licensed teachers/day care workers and eight children. There were two boys and
six girls. All of the children were in between the ages three to five. The time I was there the
children were up in the playroom, while the adults were downstairs cleaning up from lunch. And
of course I was with the children upstairs in the playroom. As the children played I quietly sat in
the corner and observed their behaviors. A few children showed great social behaviors, but most
of the behaviors were bad.
When the girls came into the room they all gave each other hugs, as if they didnt just see
each other downstairs. I found this to be very sweet, but wonder if they were putting on a show,
noticing me in the room. After their hugs the two oldest girls paired up, and the other four girls
went their separate ways.
As for the boys, they were pretty much doing their own things. As one boy pushed a car
around the quickly cluttered room, the other boy started moving toys out of the way for him. I
was pretty impressed by this notion since he wasnt even asked. He knew the other child needed
help and took the initiative to help.
After the little boy moved all the clutter he proceeded to go play in the toy kitchen area.
As he was playing a little girl came up and handed him some other toys that belonged in the
kitchen. She went out of her way to show a nice gesture to a child who had just shown another
child a nice gesture. She then went back to playing with her dolls.
As time went on the children started to join together and play with each other. They had went
from playing by themselves to several small groups playing together. Three children played
make believe with the babies and the play house as two more played kitchen. These little people
were socializing and forming social groups.
When the younger children would squabble or start to argue over a toy, the lonely older
girl would try to keep the piece by giving the child who just had their toy ripped out of their
hands a new toy. She was very good at keeping the conflicts from escalating. And was very
nurturing to the other children.
Sadly the other two older girls wouldnt include her in their games. They seemed to
isolate her. You could tell that she noticed and her feelings were hurt. She kept her distance from
them and it made me wonder if a conflict had occurred previously between them. The two girls
that were bonded together seemed to be side by side the entire day. They had catty behaviors
towards the other children as if they were superior.
As for the little girls, a constant war of who was playing with what was occurring. A little
girl would be playing with a doll and another girl would come and rip the doll out of her hands.
This behavior seemed to progress with a certain child. She didnt stop at taking the doll. When
she noticed another child playing with a toy she would walk up and take it as well. My guess is
she is an only child who doesnt have to share her toys.
Another flawed quality some of these children expressed was a lack of respect for others
property. They would drag all the toys out and just completely destroy the room and even
destroy the toys. One girl broke the door off a toy, threw it on the floor and walked away. In my
house my two year old knows if he breaks a toy purposely it goes to the trash. I think children at
this age have a hard time understanding if they break something, then its unfixable. They still
believe that you can magically fix it.
I noticed that some of the children preferred to play alone and were antisocial. A little girl
was playing with the dollhouse and a little boy tried to hand her a doll and she just kept turning
her back to him. He tried multiple times to talk and play with her but she just kept ignoring him.
The little boy didnt seem to care too much and soon found something else to play by himself.
I also noticed that some of the girls seemed to be less accepting and meaner than the boys.
They boys tried to be inclusive and play with everyone, where some of the girls were the
opposite. A girl was pretending to make cupcakes, frosty as she called them, and a boy came
over and asked if he could have a frosty. She yelled at him as loud as she could, no! They arent
ready. As he tried to join in she shoved him away, and he continued to play nevertheless. I was
kind of proud of him that he just ignored her poor behavior and kept trying anyways. Eventually
she allowed him to play side by side, but she never allowed him to actually play with her.
Throughout my observations I found that I was coming up with more negative behaviors
than positive. Although there were two children who didnt show any antisocial behaviors, there
were six that did. I think children at this age have a hard time with following the rules. If they
know they can get away with something, then they will do what they want. I was surprised that
these children were unsupervised for this amount of time, even with me there. Children at this
age dont understand consequences of their actions. From the two girls bullying the other girl, to
the child breaking the toys, to the girl who enjoyed physically shoving, all the children showed
no fear or knowledge of consequences.
















IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
EDUC 121 OBSERVATION REFLECTION

Observer: Misti Neely Date: Saturday, April 5, 2014

Grade/Preschool: Preschool/Greenwood Daycare Ages: 3 years old

OBSERVATION TOPIC #2

Interviewer: How old are you?
Child: I am three years old, no four. No three.

Interviewer: When is your birthday?
Child: This weekend. You know whose birthday is today? My birthday is today.

Interviewer: What is your favorite food?
Child: My favorite food is frosty.

Interviewer: So you like Wendys frosties?
Child: No a cupcake with frosty on it.

Interviewer: Why do you like being a kid?
Child: Because I get toys to play with.

Interviewer: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Child: I want to be a princess.
Interviewer: What is your favorite color?
Child: My favorite color is pink. And purple. And Yeah pink.

Interviewer: Do you have a favorite movie?
Child: I like princesses. And my Mommy took me to see Frozen

Interviewer: Whats your favorite animal?
Child: I like a pony but Mommy says Daddy said no.

Interviewer: Do you have a best friend?
Child: I do but today shes not here.

Interviewer: What toys do you like?
Child: I like my Barbie but sometimes she makes me mad. She wont let me drive in her car.

The Interview
I chose a three year old girl to interview for my child development interview. Ella is a
typical three year old. She lives with her Mother and Father. She attends preschool in
Greenwood, and is at the average level for learning. Throughout my interview I found that many
characteristics our book and different theorists mention about this age group proved to be true.
Decisions Decisions?
First of all children are indecisive. When I asked Ella how old she was, she couldnt
decide between three and four. Then again when I asked when her birthday was she couldnt
decide if it was next week or today. She also went back and forth on what her favorite color was,
she couldnt decide if it was pink or purple. I believe this is common for children period. I have
often noticed at restaurants when you ask a child 3-5 years of age to choose between two objects
to eat they tend to go back and forth. Then once you order the hamburger and its placed in front
of them, they cry and say they wanted a hot dog!
A Frosty
Children of this age also make up their own words for things and think others
automatically know what they mean. When she told me her favorite food was a frosty, I
automatically thought she was talking about Wendys. So I was confused when I said, So you
like Wendys Frosties? It wasnt until she said something about cupcakes that I realized she was
talking about icing. I have often noticed with children in general make up their own terminology
and continue to use it, if they like the word. A fourth grade girl that Ive watched before often
says, Oh my gersh. And although her friends and adults tell her they dont like it, she continues
to use it. I have often told her to use goodness in place of gersh but she ignored my advice.
When I told the two year old, Oh you mean icing, after she referred to it as frosty, she said,
Yes frosty on cupcakes and continued to use her terminology.
A Princess
She also had a very active imagination. She believed she would grow up to be a princess.
I have often found when you ask children what they think they are going to be when they grow
up they all think they are going to be sports stars playing in the NBA or NFL for boys and girls
will always grow up to be princesses. Although these are very unlikely to become true children
of this age range believe it to be possible. I remember myself at this age believing I would grow
up to be Zena the warrior princess! But if you ask children in 5
th
grade and up they will likely
say things such as a doctor, a teacher and a veterinarian. So this is obviously a phase created by
inexperience with the world around them.
Inanimate Objects
Ella also believes inanimate objects are real. She believed her Barbie had feelings and
had the ability to anger her. As I watched her play I noticed that she would often talk to different
objects, for example her Barbie and another doll. Information on this comes right out of the book.
Some theorists believe it shows intelligence and others believe it shows immaturity and anti-
social ability skills. I myself tend to favor that it shows intelligence, since my children
themselves like to talk to their toys when pretending.
Speech
I was impressed with her grammar and how many words she actually knew. Although she
did skip a few words when talking she was actually very fluent and understandable. I didnt
realize children in this age range had such good speaking skills. I was also impressed by ability
to answer my questions. I only had to ask her each question once and she answered right away.
She was very excited to talk about herself and to answer my questions.
Conclusion
Overall I found many correlations between child development studies the results from my
interview. The biggest being her imagination and the fact that she believes inanimate objects
have feelings. Although all children arent the same, many in this age group of 3-5 years old,
show the same characteristics. This is why its important to communicate and experience each
age group of children to know where you should be placed as a teacher. Before this experience I
saw 3-5 year olds as babies who couldnt talk or have feelings of their own. Boy was I corrected!


IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
EDUC 121 OBSERVATION REFLECTION

Observer: Misti Neely Date: Saturday, April 5, 2013
Preschool: Greenwood Daycare

OBSERVATION TOPIC #4

Social Issues of Todays Children
Our children, the leaders of our future, are facing some major issues in todays society. I
have chosen two issues to focus my energy on. Sadly both of these issues have very simple
answers. Although most parents are not willing to take the time to focus their energy one what
really matters Our Children!
I believe the number one issue that children in todays society have to face is bullying.
Its starting younger and younger every day. I once asked a classroom of third graders to raise
their hands if they had ever been bullied. Every single childs hand in that room shot up. I
couldnt believe that third graders had to deal with bulling. Most of them said they were harassed
by a bully every single day. I was even more surprised to find that even preschool aged children
used terms such as fat and ugly when referring to others! Along with pushing one girl out of
the circle and giving her the cold shoulder. Being a parent myself this absolutely breaks my
heart. Tell me that their parents didnt teach them these awful terms! Bullying is everywhere
from preschool throughout adulthood and its a serious problem. How can we expect our
children to pay attention in school when they are worried about the bully thats waiting for them
at lunch, or at recess, or on the bus ride home? In the past you never really heard a lot about
bulling, but now a days its all over the news. A child killed him or herself after being bullied,
another brings a gun to school, after being bullied. The news headlines dont lie. I have
personally watched a classroom of young children make fun of a student and the teacher joins in.
What kind of society are we living in where we promote our students to pick on the weaker or
less fortunate student? Apparently we havent evolved from prehistoric times, were still
promoting survival of the fittest. In this case the fittest are the bullies and the weak are the
students who show an emotional uproar, when instigated, feeding the bullies excitement. Then
when the student has an outburst of flooding feelings we make an example of them by punishing
them for disrupting class, just stoking the fire. Its metaphorically like a cat playing with a
mouse. Someone needs to step up with the broom and block the conflict thats occurring right
before them.
Another major issue that younger children are facing is very limited time with their
parents. In todays society its not unusual for both parents to work full time. So when a child is
spending five to seven days a week at a daycare they tend to start acting up, in a desperate plea to
get attention from their parents. Not only are todays children lacking good concrete emotional
bonds with their parents, but they are also missing out on learning experiences. When a child
comes to preschool and is completely behind, you can tell that their parents didnt have time to
work with them. Most likely because they are busy working a full day, and dont have the time to
work on the alphabet, or counting, or building vocabulary. This is how or society is ran now,
either you work 40 hours to provide for your children or you starve. The sad thing is the youth of
our country are the ones who are suffering. Once these children reach preschool and are behind
the others they become recessive, and retreat from participating. Then the other children who are
already up to the preschool level become upset that they have to keep repeating lessons that are
common sense to them. Therefor these children lash out against the child who is behind.
Returning to the vicious cycle of the number one issue again, of bullying. This is why children
are developing emotional issues and learning level issues. The sad thing is once a child is behind
at the preschool level they will most likely remain behind during grade school. This is why lack
of parental contact is number two on my list of issues children are facing in todays society.