Observation #5

Today was one of those days that felt very disorganized and nothing went smoothly, partly because of uncoordinated planning by the adults and partly because of the general mood of the kids.  It was overcast, they had to get up in the dark, and it was Monday. Also, to add to the confusion, several kids arrived late.  Being a person who tends to enjoy an unstructured, free-flowing environment, I felt right at home.

One of the free choice activities I observed was the water coloring table that was set up in the garden area that surrounds the old school house, which is a great setting to inspire young minds.  There are plants, bugs, birds and the smell of the outdoors.  I’m not sure what the prompt for their painting was.  I helped open some of the baby food jars filled with water color solution, then retreated to the classroom because I didn’t see a good spot to observe without feeling like I was hovering or lurking.

As an extension or variation of this activity I would try making a “still life” display on the table for the children to observe and paint:  some leaves, twigs, rocks, flowers for them to touch and hold, and gather into their own still life display in front of them.  Showing some big prints of paintings depicting nature would be good. Like the works of Monet, Matisse or Picasso, which are fluid and abstract, and don't rely on photographic perfection to make an artistic statement.  

Observation #4

The children I’m observing are in the intuitive period of what Piaget terms the Preoperational Stage.  This means they explain things (phenomena) according to appearance and what they think rather than based on an understanding of scientific facts.  In other words, a 4 year old pointing at a playmate may say, “He has more play doh than me!” even though the 2 children have the same amount.  It’s just that one may have made 4 small pancakes and the other 2 big ones—a classic example of age-related inability to classify objects with more than one attribute or according to the Piaget theory of “conservation.”  From first hand experience, no amount of explaining and demonstrating to the child will make them understand that nobody got cheated when the play doh was doled out; their brains aren’t wired for that kind of discussion.  Which leads me to the “make a volcano” activity I observed this week—not so much as an example of not understanding the conservation issue but just the children’s general inability to understand complex scientific facts.  However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about them. Even though children may not appear to understand certain concepts, they are storing away information that they can later use to puzzle together and make sense of as their brains become more developed. 

The “volcano” was built outside in the gross motor area near the teeter-totter.  Five children were told to build a huge mountain out of dampened sand.  They carried water to the volcano location, dumped it on the sand and with hands and scoopers created a “mountain” that would be transformed into a volcano. To make it a “real” volcano a paper cup filled with baking soda was put on top. Vinegar was then poured in to create the foamy “lava” that flowed down to the village below. I’m sorry to say I missed the big event, but I did arrive to see the kids bringing dinosaurs to climb all over their prehistoric creation.

As a follow up I would show some picture books of present day live volcanoes like the ones on the Big Island in Hawaii.  And pictures of the ruins of Pompeii to show the effects of an exploding volcano on everyday life would be exciting (and scary!) for them to see. The teacher did have a table that was already set up with watercolor materials for the kids to express what they saw by painting a picture, which was a great idea.

Entry #3, part 1, Language and Social Norms, Running accounts and frequency counts

This week I began doing the note taking for the 2^nd observation assignment having to do with language and social/emotional development using running records and frequency checklists.  It was a little difficult finding the same child, or children, to produce the conversations for each of the questions on the assignment; but it was great fun.  I was amazed at some of the complex language being used by quite a few of the children.  Using a past continuous sentence as she emerged from the space between the sofa and the wall Grace declared, “I was squeezing through here!”  And then later, while in the block area with some other children, she said, “I think we should build a tall tower!” which demonstrated her meeting the developmental norm for 5-year olds of being able to express future events (or wishes for them to happen?).

 Then there was Jonathan whose language production was much less developed.  He used lots of repetitive speech: “Goo goo caca, goo goo caca,” he said to a group of children sitting around the snack table.  He and Zoey are among the youngest children in the class, yet Zoey’s language is more developmentally advanced and is closer to language production norms for 4, or even 5-year-olds when you consider her use of prepositions and pronouns as well as the overall complexity of her utterances, yet she has just turned 3. “Yesterday I was playing with that;” she told her playmates in the dramatic play area.

The frequency counts weren’t as difficult, but I still couldn’t find evidence of all 6 of the children on my list doing either “good stuff” or “bad stuff.”  In fact I’m looking now at my list and 3 kids have no check.  Hum.  There are 2 children that have several checks in the “antisocial behaviors” column and one child with only one check for being a good helper to her friend during block play. 

This blog entry is getting too long, and I still haven’t talked about a specific activity or a follow-up activity.  I’ll do that later. 

observation 4 today....

I'll write the details later.  It was great fun.  I was reminded of a cartoon that's been on the bulletin board in the teacher's break room at Park...... El in San Pedro for a long time.  It's shows a teacher on one side of a table and a mom and dad on the other.  The teacher is saying, (and you're always supposed to start on a positive note!) "Your child is my FAVORITE student..........to be ABSENT." 

My 3rd session observing.

It rained steadily the entire time I was there, which meant no outside playtime.  Fortunately the classrooms at both the LBCC facilities are huge in comparison to most of the ones I work in, so it’s not such a big deal to have the kids stay in.  The unfortunate part was that I wasn’t able to get enough input to do a very good job of recording the physical development part of the first observation assignment.  I also realized I need to be more diligent in my note taking.  It seems like I’m doing a lot, but when I get home later and look at what I’ve written it doesn’t seem like much. 

The teachers put out some extra activities for the kids to do.  I sat near the “Connects” table and watched 4 boys try to duplicate the picture of the robot on their “placemat.” They were to match not only the specific parts but also the color of each part.  Only one of the boys was able to “match” everything and complete the object. The others put together the pieces to make objects but they didn’t “match,” although they had assembled a creature that had a head, body and other anatomical parts resembling a human. From a developmental standpoint and in reference to milestones for 4 year olds, socially these boys were demonstrating competency.  They cooperated with each other.  No one grabbed parts from the other’s pile but rather took from the box in the center of the table. "Look at mine!" one boy said.  Each held up their creations for the others to see.

Time was up and the “Connects” were put away.  I was thinking it would be fun have an ongoing project that didn’t have to be disassembled but rather set aside to continue later—like a Montessori or Reggio type endeavor.   

Ambler El today, autism class

Fun day.  Kids went home at 11:30. Then pot luck.  I made carnitas and rice. 

Purchee El, Gardena

I subbed a primary grade autism class yesterday and today. Just 7 kids and 2 other adults to help. I'm worn out.  The rain didn't help because we had to stay inside all day.  I'm so behind in my classwork.