Name Andrew Adolphus Murdock III

Class EDUC 121

Date November

30, 2016
Observation
Purpose: Identify the signs of development in school-age children.
Directions: Observe a group of six- to eight-year-old children for at least one hour.
You may want
to observe these children more than one time. Record your responses to the
questions or statements
that follow.
Site: Family Residence

Date(s) of Observation(s): November 23 & November

24, 2016
Number and Ages of Children: Ashton Horston(8), Leon Flowler(8), Laniece
Flowler(8), Jordan Flowler(7)
1. Describe the small-motor skills you observe in these children.
There are many different types of skills that fall under the small-motor skills finemotor skills, these words however do focus on how the hands and feet are being
used at certain ages (Kail, 2015, pg. 483). Leon and Laniece Flower and two kids
from a set of triplets, however the youngest girl passed away a few months after
they were born. First I would like to talk about Laniece because she has some
disabilities, were she has good and developed skill when using her hands and feet.
Such as she is able to hold her own silverware when eating, or tie her own shoes.
However, her small motor skills when it comes to speech, are lightly delayed for her
age. She experiences trouble pronouncing certain words, she struggles with her ts,
and ws. When it comes to Ashton, Leon, and Jordan, all their small motor skills

seem to be at the right stage for their age, this includes speech, hand, and feet
movements.

2. Describe the large-motor skills you observe in these children.

When talking about the larger-motor skills, all the children seem to be developing at
a great rate for their ages. They can all move freely little to no effort at all, they are
also able to navigate around objects without seeing them. For example, I had
Ashton and Leon close their eyes and walk around a room with only the directions I
gave them. I will say that this wasnt the easiest thing to do, because they have the
tendency to peak, start laughing and two other children were in the room trying to
give directions as well. They are all also able to do specific physical activities such
as push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks.

3. According to Erik Erikson, school-age children strive to be industrious. Describe

several behaviors
or actions you observe that support this theory.
With Erik Erikson theory for this age in mind, I found that this theory was very
accurate for this age. For example, when I had Ashton and Leon moving around in
the room with their eyes closed, Jordan and Laniece would take it upon themselves
to tell them if something was in front of them. When I would tell them to not say
anything, they would be quite for about a minute and start right back up again.
Also, when putting up Christmas decorations, I observed how they would much

rather work closer to each other than apart. Challenges: to learn basic motor skills
and to work with others (Kail, 2015, pg. 10). From the youngest to the oldest every
child in this group, only kept their interest in something if the other kids were doing
it as well.

4. Observe school-age children involved in a group project. How do the children

utilize social and
language skills to work cooperatively? Seeing how this group of children have grown
up with each other, and see each other quite often. They can interact with each
other very well, without much supervision. While at Thanksgiving we decided to
start putting up the Christmas decoration, each one wanted to be the boss of what
went where. This caused minor arguments, in which I had to step in a decided
where something should be placed. Due to the fact that my family consists of
mostly females, I will say that the one giving out most of the orders was Laniece.
Although, I will admit that some of things she did say made sense even to me.
Meaning that the boys werent really thinking about what looked good in a certain
spot, and were totally engulfed in the idea of just simply putting decorations up.
However, with Laniece things had to be color coordinated in a way, or have some
kind of pattern. I am not certain if this is actually what she was thinking but that is
how it turned out to be.

Guided Observation: School-Age ChildrenSix to Eight Years

Name Andrew Murdock

Class EDUC 121

Date November 30, 2016

5. During physical education time or outdoor active play, observe school-age

children in an organized

group game. What rules are the children able to follow?

For this activity, I simply put together a game of tag. The rules being very easy to
follow, they included that they are able to run, but most not run each other over, if
touching it other it must be soft and not aggressive. If anyone would happen to fall,
the closest person has to stop and help them up, or they were out. Ashton the
oldest out of the group was able to follow the directions the easiest I believe, this
maybe because I am his uncle. However, I did notice if the Lanciece was tagged out
of the game, the boys threw all the rules out and became hard to manage. Im
certain this was due to the fact of Laniece being a girl and nobody wanted to be the
one to have hurt her.

6. Are the children dependent on teachers for enforcing the rules, or do the children
enforce rules
for each other? How is this accomplished?
To be honest, there was a mixture of independent and dependent mentality when it
came to enforcing the rules. Although, I was there watching them play tag, I
obviously couldnt watch every child as they ran back and forth. So when one of the
kids did break a rule, one would tell them to stop cheating. This is what I would refer
to as an independent mentality. However, if the rule was broken again the child the
child would say something and also tell me.

7. How are group play disputes handled between children? What social values, such
as honesty,

do the children strongly defend?

The disputes arent handled in a typical manner from what I observed. For example
Leon usually would get upset and set a few rounds out for some odd reason.
Although, he is the second oldest out of the group, he is the most emotional. His
feelings can easily be hurt, and he would shut down not willing to talk to anyone.
After five or ten minutes of being left out because of a decision he made, he would
slowly ease his way back into a game. I did notice that there isnt a clear version of
the truth when talking to the children. Each one has their own opinion on what the
right thing was or wasnt. They arent at the stage, were they can agree to disagree
about something. They all seem to have the mindset of all or nothing, when it
comes to something going their way or not.

8. Identify friendships between the children. Considering the behaviors you observe,
on what
basis do you think these friendships are formed?
All of the children observed for this assignment are cousins, so they play, bicker,
and then play again like it is nothing at all. As I mentioned in one of the questions
above Leon is always the odd child out. Ashton and Jordan seem to get along better
than anyone out of the group. I would say this is because Leon is always getting
upset about something a walking off. Therefore the two remaining boys, just carry
on with whatever they were doing. However, Laniece is the only girl and so she has
to force her way into most activities that the boys are doing. Although, she does
have an older sister Laniece would rather play with the boys it seems.

References
Kail, R. V. (2015). Children and Their Development. Pearson.