Observation and analysis

PRINT THIS FORM to use for your classroom observation. Once completed, print this form again and type the information you recorded into the form. The completed, typed form will be submitted in Unit 4. Observer’s Name: Rick Rivera Date(s) of Visit(s): Thursday 5-10-2018 Time(s): Start: 9:00am End: 11:30am

CENTER/FAMILY CHILD CARE HOME/SCHOOL INFORMATION Name: Bright Head Start Location: ____________________Program Type (Place “X” for all that apply): __ public _ private

_X non-profit __faith-based __ corporate __ other: _____________________

Observed Classroom Teaching Staff Total: 1Teachers 1 Assistant Teachers ______Other: ________________ Observed: 1Teachers 1 Assistant Teachers ______Other: ________________ Child Enrollment Total Enrolled: _____ Infants ______ Toddlers 15 Preschoolers _____ Kindergartners _____ Primary (1-3) Total Observed: _____ Infants ______ Toddlers 14 Preschoolers _____ Kindergartners _____ Primary (1-3)

EDUCATIONAL APPROACH You are looking for signs of quality, applied theories, one or two specific approaches, and developmentally appropriate practices.

Program’s Philosophy (This information is usually found in the staff handbook, family handbook, the program or school’s mission and vision statement. Ask if there is a specific theory-based philosophy, model, approach or curriculum. What is their approach to family engagement?)

Mission and Vision: Bright Head Start is a non-profit organization with a mission to enhance the functioning and self-sufficiency of our

diverse community. For over 35 years, they have been providing essential pre-school services for the children in the community. They also focus on the health and comprehensive development of the children that fosters intellectual, social and emotional growth.

Educational Philosophy: The program provides a safe, nurturing and stimulating learning environment within a bilingual and multicultural

atmosphere. They provide culturally competent, linguistically appropriate care to individuals who seek support.

Curriculum Approach: Bright Head Start uses a school readiness approach. Children learn the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary

for success in school and for later learning and life. This curriculum approach means that children are ready for school, families are ready to

CHS111: Foundations of Early Childhood Education

Classroom Observation Tool

support their children’s learning, and schools are ready for children. School Readiness goals are developed in order to meet the Office of Head Start mandated school readiness goals, which are defined as the expectations of children’s status and progress across domains of language and literacy development, cognition and general knowledge, approaches to learning, physical health and well -being and motor development, and social and emotional development that will improve readiness for kindergarten goals and that appropriately reflect the ages of children, two to five, participating in the program. Family Engagement: Family engagement is core of the program. Bright Head Start believes that parents are the most important influence in

child development. An essential part of Bright Head Start is involvement of parents in parent education, program planning and other operating activities. Many parents serve as members of the DAPC (Delegate Agency Policy Committee); and have a voice in administrative and managerial decisions. Through the participation in classes and workshops on children development and through home visits, parents learn about the needs of their children and about the educational activities that can be carried out at home. Many parents also serve in Head Start as volunteers.

POSTED CLASSROOM INFORMATION

(Put “X” for all that are observed): Daily Schedule X Lesson Plan X Parent/Family Bulletin Board X Other: __________________

Lesson Plan: Describe evidence of developmental domains and early learning standards? (Hint: Ask the teacher for the week’s lesson plan. It may be posted on the Family Bulletin Board.)

Upon my visit to the classroom and speaking with the Teacher. Mr. C (head teacher) told me that the lesson plan for the morning is designed to engage physical wellbeing and motor development as well as some social foundations. The Lesson plan was broken into three sections for the a.m. session. Although I was only there for 2 hours I was able to see each of these sections. Each activity was tailored to hit on three things:

 Social Behavior: Develop executive function skills, including inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility, curiosity, and persistence. (Observed songs, “Hello how are you” & Happy to be together at School”)

 Motor Development: Muscle control, balance, and coordination also observed self-help skills, such as dressing, brushing teeth,

washing hands, and feeding. (Observed an activity called Movements -Children listen to songs with instructional cues and then children perform the skills).

 Language and Literacy: Speaking and listening includes participating in conversations, asking and answering questions, describing

information, speaking audibly, with a command of the English language as appropriate. Also observed the second teacher (Mrs. Santiago) speaking to the participants in Spanish and then translating into English.

OBSERVED EXPERIENCES

Write only what you see and what you hear! Only the facts! No opinions! You are not required to observe each of these locations. Please plan to spend 1 hour observing.

Location (Check all that apply): Classroom X Outdoors (e.g., playground) _____ School Gymnasium _____Other: __________ Daily Schedule Routine (e.g., free choice, morning meeting, transition to outdoors,) The morning schedule consisted of the following things Breakfast: Students sat together in a small group and ate morning breakfast while teachers sat with participants and helped those who had

difficulty eating their food neatly. (teaching of motor skills observed) Meeting Time: -Participants sat around in a circle with the teacher and sang a series of songs. Songs that were song: “Hello How Are You”

and “Happy Together at School” Also observed a small skit where the teacher pulled out two puppets names “Juan and David” the puppets where playing together until “Juan” got upset because “David” had more toys than him. At this point the teacher asked the group the question “Why is Juan mad at David”? This got the group to quickly blurt out multiple answers, all to the avail that Juan was upset because Da vid had more toys. This lead the teacher to express the importance of sharing which was the shared sentiment of the small students in the class. Movement: This activity had the children listen to various songs and use tangible items like, handkerchiefs and bean bags to accomplish

motor skill activities via the songs being played. Each song was kid friendly with easy vocabulary and instruction to follow. At one point I was even asked to participate with the children during the song. Also observed was two small activities revolving around the life cycle of plants and one around butterflies. Centers – This activity had each child choose a play center of his or her liking. Each center had different activities that a child could participate in. Centers included: a sand box section, a blocks section, a kitchen play area, a small area with shapes and tongs to pick up the shapes, a small area full of science related toys, an area with picture books and an area with tablets. For each child to go to a particular station, teachers handed the students small badge ID’s with pictures of each child and Velcro attached. It was instructed to each participant that they place their id in the center where they are playing. If they want to go to another center, they are to remove their photo from the current station and place it in the new section. Listen and Move- This activity had the children walk around the room listening to a song about movement. Each child had to do as instructed by the music. Again, music was used to redirect the energy of the children and use the opportunity to teach vocabu lary. Words that were used, skipping, galloping, tip toes, skating and thunderous. Arts- This activity had an outside artist from Argentina come in and do a lesson on cutting shapes and gluing items together. The artist,

whose name was Mrs. J, is there on the same day and time every week. The teacher sat with the group in a small circle and asked the children if they remember what she taught the last time she was there. The children all raised their hands and the Art teache r went from child to child to give each an opportunity to answer. Many of the children remembered that the last time she visited the classroom she taught them how to hold and use scissors. As she pulled out a pair, she held them incorrectly and asked the children “is this the right way to hold a pair of scissors”? Quickly the children retorted “No” and the art instructor again paused to ask the question of “what is the correct way to hold scissors”. At which point she demonstrated several ways of holding them and the children gave their answers of yes or no. I did not witness any children holding any scissors during the activity though. When I asked about this the teacher simply explained that the activity was not to have children use the scissors yet, but to teach the proper way of holding them and some safety precautions. All of the cutting of the shapes was performed by the art teacher. The children were tasked with gluing the shapes that the art teacher cut out to blank const ructions papers of different lengths and sizes.

Materials being used: For the activity call Movement, items that were used were bean bags, handkerchiefs and small soft balls. For the Arts activity. Small pieces of paper were precut for the students and each table was prepared with a small plate, a small amount of glue and a small wooden stick to help with applying the glue to the pre-cut shapes. In the Life Cycle activity students were asked where does a pupa fit in the life cycle of a butterfly, participants were asked to come up to the board and place the pupa picture in the life cycle board. After which the group followed with a song about the stages of the butterfly. Signs of Children’s Interest and Engagement in the activities: In the activities observed during the visit, the children all seemed engaged

and very happy. There were one or two children who were disgruntled and crying, but the teachers were quick to calm these children down so as to not aggravate the rest of the group. One child would not stop crying, unless a picture of her was being taken during the activity. Teacher-Child Interactions (including words spoken, gestures, actions, etc.): During the activity of “Centers” there was this one little

boy who was sitting in the kitchen section that refused to allow any of the little girls use any of the items in the kitchen . The teacher approached the student and used kind words to demonstrate the importance of sharing, referring to the earlier skit between th e two puppets Juan and David. Most impressive was the calm and loving persistence the teacher had with the student, who according to the teacher suffers from Asperger syndrome. Both teachers used many approaches that involved kindness, understanding and patience. Never once did I see any of the teachers lose it. There was yet another instance where a child at the sand station, poured sand all on top of another student’s head which resulted in sand getting into the little girl’s eyes. The teacher again walks up to the child and uses kind words and ask the student to apologies for his actions. He does not punish the child nor does he berate him. He kindly tells him why it’s not nice to do what he did and then even asks the child if he would help in getting the sand out of the little girl’s hair. Besides the two small altercations, both teachers showed remarkable kindness and patience with all of the children and likewise the children feel comfortable and loving back toward the teachers. One child I observed would not leave Mr. C’s side, stating that he’s his best friend. The connection in the room was quite apparent that both teachers had great relationships with all of the children in the class. During the arts activity and Centers both teachers were fully engaged with the children. Child-Child Interactions (including words spoken, gestures, actions, etc.): Most impressive was the child on child interaction. All of the children displayed love towards each other and it was apparent that the values of kindness, love, respect and caring was taug ht in this classroom. At one point while they were playing a movement song dance with bean bags, one of the little girls accidentally hit herself in the eye with the bean bag, and all of the children ran to her aid, to console her and assure her that she would be alright. Many of them ran to get the teachers attention to describe what had happened. It was quite remarkable. When it came to Centers, each child was working well with each other and very few incidents of not sharing or not playing nice were observed. Teacher-Family Interactions (e.g., communication during arrival and departure, encouraging family members to read or play with children, help with separations and transitions) I arrived at 9am and did not see any interaction with parents in the classroom, but I did

see late arrivals come in and the parents offering words of comfort as they walked out of the classroom to their children. I also noticed that whenever a child came in later, the group and the teachers would stop what they were doing to sing a welcome song for those children.

Other (add any relevant additional information that you gathered below) – not required.

Things that were observed, were room appropriateness. The entire room was designed with young children in mind. Everything wa s size appropriate and the walls were decorated with the children’s work. The daily schedule was located really low to the ground on the bulletin board and was decorated with words and an arrow with Velcro, which allowed the children opportunities to choose what activity was next on the schedule. Giving them many opportunities to demonstrate their understanding of programming and also vocabulary as well.