Observation and analysis

Running head: OBSERVATIONAL STUDY 1

Observation Study of Children’s Head Start

Ricardo Rivera

Post University

OBSERVATIONAL STUDY 2

Observation Study of Children’s Head Start

This is an observational study of classroom activity settings in relation to children

observed at the Bright Head Start. This descriptive study will examine classroom setup,

interactions, child gender and basic teacher behavior within the preschool classroom. 14 children

were observed across a 2-hour period using the Foundations of Early Childhood Classroom

Observation tool provided by Post University. An observational measure that conceptualizes the

following criteria; Program Philosophy, Lesson Planning, Location, Materials Being Used,

Children’s Interest and Engagement, Teacher-Child Interactions, Child-Child Interactions, and

Teacher-Family Interactions. The purpose of this observational study will be to determine if

Children’s Head Start uses any Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and / or NAEYC

Code of Ethics in the classroom.

To begin the program philosophy, which was visibly posted in the main office and in the

literature which they hand out to parents was concise and well defined. The Bright Head Start

(BHS) is a non-profit organization with a strong focus on three main elements. 1. To enhance the

functioning and self-sufficiency of the community they serve. 2. To provide a safe, nurturing and

stimulating environment within a bilingual and multicultural atmosphere. 3. To use a school

readiness curriculum approach which as stated by the BHS program as designed to support the

child domains of language and literacy, cognition and general knowledge, motor skills and

social-emotional development.

As I entered the classroom the main setup was like many Head Start programs that I have

visited in the past. BHS uses a classroom arrangement that encourages child independence, has

availability and accessibility of learning material spread throughout the classroom. There is clear

planned scheduling of activities, located low on a bulletin board to promote child interaction and

OBSERVATIONAL STUDY 3

vocabulary learning. There is variety, timing of activities, and the physical arrangement of the

room with its many different “centers” again promotes independence and exploration. The

curriculum is designed to engage in language, fine/perceptual and gross motor, social/creative

domains and a strong encouragement of cultural awareness. This setup purposely considers the 3

cores of DAP which include, Knowing about child development and learning, Knowing what is

individually appropriate, and Knowing what is culturally important (NAEYC, n.d.)

On the schedule was about 16 different activities that are part of the daily routine. I

witnessed about 6 of these in the early session that I was present. My first observance was

breakfast. Here students arriving early would have some cereal with fruits and orange juice. Each

child was given the opportunity to make his/her own breakfast. The teachers were present sitting

with students and assisting those children who were having problems making the breakfast

themselves. From here the children were asked to join the main teacher Mr. J in the carpeted area

to begin “Meeting Time”. Participants sat around in a circle with the teacher and sang a series of

songs. These songs were designed to teach vocabulary and social connectedness. Songs sung

were “Hello How Are You” and “Happy Together at School”. Once the singing was done Mr. C

sat the children down and pulled out two puppets named Juan and David. In introducing the

puppets, Mr. C proceeded to create a dilemma for them. Mr. C pulled out a number of toys and

began to distribute the toys between Juan and David. David had more toys and Juan seeing this

became irate and started to become angry and cry. Mr. C asked the class what the dilemma was

between the two friends and the children quickly deciphered it to be the uneven toy distribution.

The teacher then went to ask the children what would be the solution to this problem and the

children quickly echoed that an even distribution of the toys was necessary. Mr. C had the

OBSERVATIONAL STUDY 4

children quickly work as a group to disperse the toys evenly, infusing math and sharing into the

lesson.

From “Meeting Time”, we went right into “Movement”. In this activity, children

listened to various songs and used tangible items like handkerchiefs and beanbags to accomplish

motor skill activities. Movements included twirling the handkerchiefs in small and large circles,

balancing the bean bags on top of their heads and playing catch with each other, first with the

handkerchiefs and then the bean bags. Interestingly, it was in this activity that I was able to see

child-on-child interaction. As I was observing them balance the bean bags on their heads, one of

the little girls inadvertently hit herself in the eye. As the little girl fell to her knees and began to

cry, almost immediately all of the children that were doing the activity stopped to run to her aid.

Many of the children were consoling her, while others were running to the teacher to let him

know what transpired. It was quite impressive to see children at such a young age, show genuine

empathy and concern on a classroom level. This made me think about the loss of empathy that

we as adults have, and when exactly most of us lose it.

Next on the schedule was “Centers”. This activity had each child choose a play center

of his/her liking. Centers included, a sandbox 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. This activity really showcased the independence that each child was

given in the program. During no other activity that I observed were the children allowed to go or

OBSERVATIONAL STUDY 5

do as they please. On average, children’s interactions with peers and tasks were more positive in

child-directed settings, such as free choice in “Centers”, were as their interactions with teachers

were higher in teacher-structured settings, such as when in a large group. There was more

conflict during “Centers” than in any other activity observed. Here it was interesting to see

teacher-child interaction, especially when conflict arose. 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 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 the 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. In another occurrence where a

child at the sand station, poured sand all on top of another student’s head which resulted in sand

getting into a little girl’s eyes. The teacher handled this beautifully by walking up to the child and

using kind words and asking the child to apologise for his actions. He did not punish the child

nor did 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. Finally, gender

differences were observed within small groups and individual teacher-child interaction. Once

“Centers” was over each child was once again congregated to the middle of the carpeted floor,

for an “Arts” activity. This art teacher who is from Argentina, Mrs. J, is there once a week at the

same time and day. She brought to the activity a sense of culture and wonder to the children.

Opening the activity with a recap from the previous week with words that were introduced, she

OBSERVATIONAL STUDY 6

carefully reiterated each of the vocabulary words learned in both Spanish and English. I was very

surprised to see that the art teacher had such a cultural connection with many of the children in

the class, most of whom were of Spanish descent. In her activity as well as in all of the lessons I

observed, the materials were age appropriate and used with intentionality. It clearly showed that

CHS had the 5 DAP frameworks that address key aspect of the role of a teacher. These being:

1. Creating a caring community of learners

2. Teaching to enhance development and learning

3. Planning curriculum to achieve important goals

4. Assessing children’s development and learning

5. Establishing reciprocal relationships with families (NAEYC, 2009)

In retrospect, the Bright Head Start program championed many of the DAP / NAEYC

Codes that really shows that the teachers are thoughtful and intentional about what types of

support and resources they provided so children can be successful. Everything from classroom

setup, curriculum, materials and teacher experience shows the CHS understands that young

children learn through a wide range of interactions throughout the activities in a school day, and

their competence or adjustment is best indicated by the nature and quality of these interactions,

bringing an importance to a child’s readiness and ability to successfully transition from pre-

school to a full school environment.

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References

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (n.d.). Developmentally

appropriate practice (DAP) introduction. Retrieved from

https://www.naeyc.org/resources/topics/dap

NAEYC. (2009). Position Statement: Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood

programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved from

https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-

shared/downloads/PDFs/resources/position-statements/PSDAP.pdf