Name: Ashlie Bray
Date: April 26, 2011 and April 27, 2011
Name of child observed: Finn
Age of child observed: 4 years and 5 months
Location of observation: Preschool Observation Lab - Star Room
General Observation Characteristic:
- Describe objectively the child’s physical appearance. Give physical characteristics that are unique to that child.
The preschool child I had observed was Finn. Finn has straight short blonde hair with blue eyes and thin blonde eye brows. He is taller than most of his classmates and thin. Finn has a small button nose, full cheeks, a full set of teeth inside his mouth, and fair Caucasian skin.
Physical Development:
- Describe an example of the child’s fine motor skills observed
When Finn first arrived into the classroom he used his hands to try to undo his zipper on his sweatshirt. He was also using his hands to push the Lego’s together to make a spaceship, and to put his shoes back on his feet.
- Describe an example of the child’s gross motor skills observed
When Finn unzipped his sweatshirt he could not undo the zipper at the bottom to completely unzip his sweatshirt so instead he pulled it from the hood over his head to take it off. Finn was crawling on the floor an pushing the wooden flat bed truck on the floor. He was also running and skipping around the classroom and climbing up and down the stairs of the Cozy Corner. While outside on the playground Finn was running non stop around the entire playground and on the jungle gym.
Cognitive Development:
- Describe examples of the child’s cognitive skills observed
Both days I had observed Finn, when he came into the classroom he immediately went over to his cubby to take off and put away his sweatshirt. Finn was playing with a play tool box, the class room had both a real tool set and a fake one, and the real hammer was not fitting in the toy hammer slot. After a few times of trying to get the real hammer in the slot and realizing that it would not fit he went up to Miss Joy and told her that it would not fit in and asked for help. While playing outside, Finn picked up a rock off the ground and observed it.
Language Development:
- Describe an example of the child’s receptive language skills observed
The blonde assistant teacher in the classroom had asked Finn when he came in how his Easter was, Finn replied with telling her each and every family member that had come to his house for Easter. While Finn was playing with the red toy cash register a girl in his class went up to him and asked him if she could buy one of the toy cell phones. Finn asked her which one she wanted and then began to ring her up the phone she had chosen and said thank you when the “transaction” was done.
- Describe an example of the child’s expressive language skills observed
When Finn’s Lego spaceship fell off the ledge of the bookshelf by the Lego table he said, “oh no!” While Finn was pretending to be a construction worker he put on an orange Home Depot smock. Finn went up to Miss Joy, turned around and said, “could you please tie this Miss Joy?” and she tied it for him. Finn was standing on the last shelf of the bookshelf while playing with his Lego spaceship; he slipped off and said “ouch.”
Social-Emotional Development
- Describe examples of the child’s social skills observed
Finn was playing at the Lego table with a classmate of his, Jasen. They were making Lego spaceships together and running around the classroom making spaceship noises. Finn was playing with another girl in his classroom, Aitana, for a good portion of the morning. Finn picked up a small black tray and gave it to Aitana. He also tried to give Aitana the toy that he made. Finn was holding hands with Aitana, brought her over to the cardboard house put her inside, shut the door and walked away. Then he went back approximately ten minutes later to get her. While playing outside Finn and two other boys in his classroom were pretending to be pirates.
- Describe an example of the child’s emotional skills observed
When Finn’s mom dropped him off he gave her a hug and a kiss as she was leaving the classroom. Finn was laughing and smiling with his classmates and teachers the entire time I was observing him except for one moment when he fake cried because Jasen was touching his toy.