Sunday, December 28, 2008
You Gave a "Starbucks Moment"!
to: Philip Koh
cc: "Nanthini. v" ,"Alfred Pang"
date: Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 9:05 PM
subject: You Gave a "Starbucks Moment"!
Dear Philip,
At a time when my view of the ECE course that I am currently undertaking at NIM had been severely fractured by questionable teaching styles and rudderless assignments, you came along and gave me, in your own words, a "Starbucks Moment" today.
For the first time, I could sense that the entire class under your tutelage was truly enjoying ourselves, with unqualified vigour and zest.
Your teaching method was a breath of fresh air, and your assignments were (are) relevant to our wish to begood early childhood education practitioners, when we graduate. You made us think of new ways to reach outto the children through the often all-too-serious subjects of Science and Math, but more importantly, you made us want to learn more, explore more. That, in itself, is saying a lot, given your adult audience.
Once again, I thank you for giving me my "Starbucks Moment" and helping me to regain my belief in NIM. I look forward to more of your "IMPACT", and I am sure there are many, if not all, in our class who share similar sentiments.
rgds,
George Lee
NY-SD-A2
Philip, you gave us laughter and inspiration in your class, as richly shown in these 2 video clips here..
Happy New Year, Teacher Philip!
(and thanks, teachers for sharing)
Friday, December 19, 2008
Renewing Your Commitment to (and faith in) Teaching..
It's that time of the year again..
Time to review the year that's been,
Time to reflect on where else we will be goin',
And perhaps even time to recharge and rekindle,
Our love for teaching our children who are o' so special.
If ever you feel down and a bit low because yesterday was particularly tough in class or because that child was just so difficult to manage all of this year, well, click here and watch..
Feel what it does to you...
And you will know why we teach.
(Thanks to Cindy Lam, DPL class of 2008/09, for bringing this video to us)
Friday, December 12, 2008
Reponse from NIM to Open Letter
Responses from NIM Management to my Open Letter dated 12Nov:
(click here: http://childrenareourfutureteachthemwell.blogspot.com/2008/11/open-letter-to-nim-management.html )
Nanthini.v to me, Alfred.Pang
Nanthini.v to me, Alfred.Pang
Nov 13 Reply
Dear Mr George Lee.
Thank you for your letter of 12th November 2008 regarding your feedback on 'An Open Letter: "Did I Really Learn this During MY ECE Course?"
Please accept our sincerest apology for any trouble we have caused you. We highly appreciate your feedback as it will assist us in becoming better at what we do.
We will conduct an investigation in regards to your concerns and at the same time Alfred and myself would like to meet with you to have a discussion.We would apprecaite if you could give us a date and time in the coming week. Thank you
Regards
Nanthini
Head of SchoolEarly Childhood Education
Nanyang Institute of Management Pte Ltd
Nanthini.v to me, Alfred.Pang
Nov 24 Reply
Dear George,
Thank you George. I will definitely look into your inputs. I will work along side with the Nanyang team as well as the Associate lecturers to "Make the Change". Thank you again
Regards
Nan
Alfred.Pang to me, Nanthini.v
Nov21 Reply
Hi George,
You are most welcome. I have enjoyed our session.
Best regards
Alfred
(attached)George Lee to v. Nanthini, Alfred.Pang
Nov 21
Dear Nan and Alfred,
Thank you for taking the time to provide a listening ear yesterday, as a followup to my open-letter. I hope that the inputs given were taken in the right spirit, and that you will consider using them to bring the standards of NIM's courses to a new level.
I am still in this course, and so, my vested interests are clearly there. All the same, I appreciate the quick response from the both of you, as senior management, to my inputs.
regards,
George Lee
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
ST Forum : "Govt recognises role of preschool teachers"
MCYS replies to article posted here last week:
Govt recognises role of preschool teachers
02Dec08, ST Forum
I REFER to Mr How Weng Kong's letter last Thursday, 'Preschool teachers do so much: Parent'
[ http://childrenareourfutureteachthemwell.blogspot.com/2008/11/st-forum-preschool-teachers-do-so-much.html ]
Mr How suggested that the Government help to raise the salaries of pre-school teachers and provide additional financial assistance to enable childcare centres to employ more support staff.
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports recognises the important role played by preschool teachers in the development of young children and has been working with the Ministry of Education to progressively raise the academic and professional qualification requirements of preschool personnel.
However, the Government does not determine the salaries of preschool teachers, as they are employed by childcare centres which are business entities. Nevertheless, the higher qualification requirements for preschool teachers should help to raise teacher salaries.
The childcare subsidy has also been increased since Aug 17 to enable childcare centres to pay higher salaries to teachers, while maintaining the affordability of childcare services for parents.
Further, the Government will grant bursaries and scholarships to preschool personnel who wish to upgrade themselves. These measures should translate to better remuneration and recognition for preschool teachers.
We thank Mr How for his comments and feedback.
Lee Kim Hua
Director Family Services Division
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
Govt recognises role of preschool teachers
02Dec08, ST Forum
I REFER to Mr How Weng Kong's letter last Thursday, 'Preschool teachers do so much: Parent'
[ http://childrenareourfutureteachthemwell.blogspot.com/2008/11/st-forum-preschool-teachers-do-so-much.html ]
Mr How suggested that the Government help to raise the salaries of pre-school teachers and provide additional financial assistance to enable childcare centres to employ more support staff.
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports recognises the important role played by preschool teachers in the development of young children and has been working with the Ministry of Education to progressively raise the academic and professional qualification requirements of preschool personnel.
However, the Government does not determine the salaries of preschool teachers, as they are employed by childcare centres which are business entities. Nevertheless, the higher qualification requirements for preschool teachers should help to raise teacher salaries.
The childcare subsidy has also been increased since Aug 17 to enable childcare centres to pay higher salaries to teachers, while maintaining the affordability of childcare services for parents.
Further, the Government will grant bursaries and scholarships to preschool personnel who wish to upgrade themselves. These measures should translate to better remuneration and recognition for preschool teachers.
We thank Mr How for his comments and feedback.
Lee Kim Hua
Director Family Services Division
Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports
Monday, December 1, 2008
My ECE Assignments : Observation and Planning
"My ECE Assignment" series is meant to demystify ECE and make it a more pleasurable endeavour for those of us who are willing to commit to it :
Module: Observation and Planning
Observation #1 : Anecdotal Record
Name of Child: A
Age: 5 years 2month 3 days old
Date of Observation: 9 September
Time and Duration:11.10am, 15 minutes
Developmental Area: Cognition
Setting: Blocks Corner
Context: A (5.2) was given free-play time at the Blocks Corner of the centre, together with her 11 classmates of 5 girls and 6 boys. The class teacher was taking this opportunity to provide individual attention to some of her students and at the same time, doing her observation on one particular child (who is not A). The Blocks Corner was well stocked with large and small wooden blocks, colour-coded blocks of various shapes and wooden picture puzzles. All 12 students were able to find an activity to do with their own blocks-of-choice, or by grouping with others to play together.
Observations:
A (5.2) was sitting on a chair by a rectangular table, playing with her wooden puzzle, which had 20 puzzle pieces which were coloured red, yellow, green and blue. The wooden puzzle pieces were of different shapes but each colour of 5 pieces was of different height. A (5.2) sat quietly, while three other classmates were talking loudly to her left on another table, as they played as a group. She said “Hey, you are talking so loud!” to that group of students, but turned back to do her own puzzle.
A (5.2) first separated all 20 pieces of the puzzles into 4 coloured groups of red, yellow, green and blue. She was trying to hold on to one cylindrical piece of the puzzle, which was rolling off the table, and yelled “Hey!” to it, as she grabbed hold of it, just before it fell off the table.
She then proceeded to begin putting each of the puzzle pieces onto its wooden base, starting with the yellow piece, shaped triangularly. This was followed by the square yellow piece, the round cylindrical piece and the elliptical piece. The last yellow piece of the puzzle was star-shaped, which took slightly longer than the first four pieces.
A (5.2) then continued with the next 5 red pieces, and as she finished with the last red elliptical piece, she said “Good!”, while looking down at her work so far. Another girl (G) came over to look at A (5.2)’s puzzle and said that she could do that too and reached out to one of the pieces left on the table. A (5.2) replied by saying, “Wait for your turn”, and quickly stood up and moved in front of G, using her body to block the outstretched arm of G. G then walked away and sat on the floor, joining another boy, who was playing with his wooden blocks.
A (5.2) began slotting in the blue puzzle pieces, followed by the last 5 green pieces. When she completed putting the last green piece in place, she said “Good!” again. Her teacher came over for a brief moment and said “Good work, A!”. A (5.2) smiled, while raising her shoulders to her cheeks. When her teacher walked away, A (5.2) pointed to the blue square piece on the board and said, “This is where Mummy is, and this is where Granny lives”. A (5.2) then looked at her finished puzzle for a few seconds, first by standing up, and then viewing it to her right. Her teacher then said to all the students that they have 2 minutes left before they have to put all their individual blocks and puzzles back to their original shelf spaces. A (5.2) began to hold the 2 edges of the puzzle board with her hands and gently stood up. She walked over to the shelves and placed her puzzle board, together with all the 20 pieces into a shelf space, without toppling any of her puzzle pieces.
Interpretations:
A (5.2) seemed to fully understand grouping and sorting, based on her ability to begin her puzzle work by firstly grouping all her puzzle pieces into 4 colour groups. She started with the yellow pieces and ended with those of the green colour. This coincided well with her skills in grouping and her sorting abilities at her current age, given that she was able to create classes of objects, based on a single attribute (Schickedanz , Schickedanz, Forsyth, Forsyth, 2001).
She appeared to be able to praise her own work by saying “Good!” after finishing a particular task, or achieving an activity. This sense of purpose at her age is well supported by the theory proposed by childhood behaviour expert, Erik Erikson, when he stated that a 4 to 5 year old child would be in the “Initiative versus Guilt” phase of development. (Mooney, 2000). Such sense of purpose encourages independence in the child, says Erikson, and will bring forth a more confident and competent child.
A (5.2) was also using mental representation when she referred to the taller puzzle pieces as the homes of her mother and her grandma. Again, this coincides well with Jean Piaget’s Theory of the 4 Stages of Cognitive Development of a child (Mooney, 2000). Piaget’s theory expounded the notion that a child at the Pre-operational Stage will exhibit an ability to make mental representations. Here, A (5.2) definitely showed a healthy dose of that capacity in her.
Observation #2 : Running Record
Date of Observation : 11 September
Duration : 15 minutes
Development Domain : Social
Setting : Dramatic Centre
Context : A (5.2) was playing with her 11 classmates at the Dramatic Centre. She was asked to
play at one corner of this centre where there was a model of a kitchen, complete with cooking
utensils, plates, cups and cutlery. Four other classmates were also assigned to this area of play.
They comprised 2 girls, M and T, and 2 boys, L and Y.
Time
Observations
Interpretations
1112-1115hr
A (5.2) was sitting by a wall. She held a cup with her right hand and said to her classmate, M, “Look, I made a cup of Milo for us. We can share”. M said thank you. A (5.2) then raised the cup to her mouth 3 times and tilted her head to drink from the cup each time. One boy, Y, came over to join her and sat beside her. He was carrying a plate of bread. A (5.2) stood up and walked over to the kitchen model, to join M. She then placed on the floor her cup of Milo, to the right of the kitchen model.
Small group sharing and pretend play.
1115-1118hr
A (5.2) called to another girl, T, “Do you want to cook with me?”. T smiled and came over to the kitchen model and stood beside A (5.2). A (5.2) said to T, “You wash the vegetables, T, and I will wash the frying pan to cook.” T picked up 2 pepper corns and a knife to begin
slicing them. A (5.2) washed the frying pan in the sink and said “Shish, shish, sheeee”, while moving the pan left and right, under the tap of the sink. A (5.2) turned to her left and asked T, “Are you ready?”. T replied yes, and then moved a step closer to A (5.2) by the kitchen hob. Y walked over to join them. He reached out to take the frying pan away from the right hand of A (5.2). A (5.2) yelled, “No!”.
Her teacher turned towards the 3 children and told Y to not snatch the frying pan but play and share together the utensils. Y immediately released the frying pan, stood by the side and watched the 2 girls continue with their cooking. A (5.2) took the pepper corns on a plate from T and dropped them into the frying pan. She said, “See, I can cook. We can share with Y when I finish, ok ,T?” T replied yes.
Associative play. Forms small groups.
Excludes others from her group.
Sharing and cooperative play.
1118-1121hr
T then suggested to A (5.2) that they can sell the cooking too. A (5.2) replied, “Yes, let’s do that”. T took 2 new plates from the floor and placed them on a table next to the kitchen model. A (5.2) said that the food was ready to be served on the plates, and took the frying pan over the the 2 plates on the table, and served the pepper corns on them.
A (5.2) said, “Anybody wants to buy?”. M came over to ask A (5.2) what she was selling. A (5.2) said, “Vegetables”. M smiled, and said no, she didn’t like vegetables. A (5.2) said, “No, my mummy say vegetables are good for everyone. It has lots of vikemins”. A (5.2)
held one plate up with both her hands towards M, and said, “See?”
M said that she would buy one plate. T said to M that it would cost 20 cents. M reached into her uniform pocket and gave M the imaginary money. A (5.2) smiled and said, “Anyone else to buy?” T then said to A (5.2) to eat together. Both smiled and took a plate each and pretended to eat their food, together with M.
Plays simple games in small groups.
Engage in prosocial behaviour.
Cooperative play with others.
1121-1124hr
A (5.2) walked over to a corner of the dramatic centre towards her left and picked up a xylophone from a tray of toys. She sat on a chair beside this tray. She was by herself. She took the mallet stick of the xylophone and began hitting with it gently to make several musical notes. She smiled. She continued to play the xylophone by herself. Twice, she looked over to the rest of her classmates, who were playing by the kitchen model. She did not join them, but stayed by her chair, playing the xylophone instead.
Plays with minimal supervision.
1124-1127hr
A (5.2) picked up a new cup from the floor, left there by another classmate. She walked over to the kitchen model and picked up a spoon. She started to stir with the spoon inside the cup. She walked over to her teacher and said. “Nah, teacher, this Ribena is for you”. Her teacher took the cup from her, drank from it, and thanked A (5.2), while returning the cup to her. A (5.2) flashed a wide smile to her teacher. She walked over to her classmates by the kitchen model and started to play with them. Her teacher announced to the class
that there were two minutes left to play, and all the toys must be returned to their cupboard and shelves.
Spontaneously offering things to others.
Interpretations:
A (5.2) showed her development in the social domain well by showing her willingness to share her toys with others. She engaged in associative play with other girls and was able to form small groups to play amongst each other. This coincided well with the milestones of a child of her age (Bredekamp, Copple 1997, p.107).
She was also able to exhibit her power to exclude others from her own playgroup by asking an adult to intervene. Again, for a child of her age, A (5.2) was reaching her milestones in her social development, as theorized by Erik Erikson (Charlesworth, 2004). A (5.2) was in her Initiative versus Guilt stage of her social development, where a child plans and carries out activities, and learns society’s boundaries.
A (5.2) also showed her fondness for cooperative play and group sharing with her classmates. These prosocial behaviours made her an easy child to play with, which in turn, allowed friendships to develop easily between her and the other girls, M and T (Schickedanz, Schickedanz, Forsyth, Forsyth, 2001, p. 393).
She also exhibited her ability to play with minimal supervision. She was spontaneous in offering things to others (in this case, her teacher), showing that she wanted to please others. Both such behaviours were in line with her social development milestones (Bredekamp, Copple 1997, p. 107).
Observation #4: Work Sample
Developmental Area : Emotional
Setting: K1 Classroom
Context: A (5.2) was asked to begin a worksheet exercise by her class teacher. The worksheet involved both the tasks of colouring and writing of words to identify the various items in the picture on the worksheet. The teacher then explained to her class that the picture on the worksheet shows the full water-cycle, from water in the sea and lakes, to clouds and then back to rain again. She then asked the children to colour the picture based on what they know, and write the words that identify the items on the picture.
This observer did not want to interrupt the normal class work of A (5.2), in case she felt left out or felt pressured to have to complete her required tasks before the allotted time ended. But her teacher was asked by this observer if A (5.2) can do her task separately from her other classmates. The teacher gave her approval. A (5.2) then took her worksheet from her teacher and sat by a table away from her classmates, with this observer.
Narrative of Work Sample:
When I asked A (5.2) what she was asked to do by her teacher with the worksheet, she said, “Colour and write all the words”.
A (5.2) began her task by colouring the sun yellow. I asked her why she started with the sun and she said, “I like the sun!” and flashed a smile. I asked her what the sun meant to her, she replied, “I can come to school”. She continued by saying, “I can play with my best friend, S.” I asked her who S was, and she said “There”, pointing to another girl sitting near the teacher. “We play together in school a lot”. I asked if there was anyone who was not a friend of hers, and she replied “Yes, M is naughty”, taking a look at a boy to her left.
A (5.2) then changed to the blue colour pencil and began colouring the clouds with it. The clouds also showed some rain falling to the ground. I asked her if she liked the rain, and she said “No, I can’t play outside when rain come.” A moment later, she continued, “And all my dress get wet and I feel cold. I don’t like.” She then added, “I like the sun more. I can play with my mummy and daddy when the sun is shining, not when raining”. She proceeded to colour the sea, lake and river blue. When she found that she had coloured the area outside the river blue, when it should be other colour, she said, “Oh”. I asked her what colour it should have been for that area, she said “Brown”. She then said, “Never mind lah”, and moved on to the next action.
A (5.2) switched to the green colour pencil and began colouring the mountains. I asked her if she thought the mountains could be other colours, and she replied “No, it is green only”. When completed, A (5.2) changed to a lighter green colour pencil to begin shading the trees around the mountain.
A (5.2) then proceeded to finish her colouring by shading the arrows on the picture. She walked over to her teacher with her colouring to ask her, “Is this ok, Teacher S?”, who replied in the affirmative. A (5.2) skipped back to her chair, with a smile on her face.
A(5.2) then picked up a pencil to begin writing the words of sea, lake, rain and river on the picture. She was tracing the letters of these 4 words, which were dotted. I asked her if she had been to the sea to swim before, and she said, “Yes, many times. I like swimming in the sea. It’s so fun. But my brothers always throw water on my face”.
A (5.2) then picked up her worksheet and passed it over to Teacher S, who then asked her to say the 4 words aloud. A (5.2) spoke the 4 words correctly, and her teacher told her that she had done a good job. A (5.2) looked happy, and flashed a smile at me before joining her other classmates.
Interpretations:
A (5.2) was able to follow the instructions of her teacher well. She seemed to know how to form her own circle of friends, while at the same time, excluding others from that circle, as shown by her when she was readily identifying a boy she regarded as naughty. These 2 behaviours showed that A (5.2) can follow requests and understands the power of excluding others. These 2 behaviours are in line with her emotional development milestones (Bredekamp, Copple 1997, p. 107).
A (5.2) was able to exhibit her ability to control her feelings when she realized that she had done something incorrectly when colouring the area outside the river blue, when it should have been brown colour, according to her. Instead of showing disappointment, she did not feel the need to be angry with herself and moved on to another task. This emotional development is a milestone expected of a 4 year old child (Bredekamp, Copple 1997, p. 107), therefore showing that A (5.2) had already grasped this emotional development well, at her current age of 5 years old.
Narrative of Focus Child
Strengths:
A (5.2) has shown very good developments in her social skills. She is able to engage in cooperative play with her classmates and also understands the need to give-and-take when playing with them. She is also able to form small groups when initiating her play with others and can be spontaneous in offering things to others to please them. These behaviours make it easy for her to make friends with her other classmates in her class.
A (5.2) has shown that her physical developments are well in line with her milestones. Her dance movements show that both her gross and fine motor skills are very much intact. Her ability to synchronize her dance steps with the rest of her classmates point to her intelligence in not just her kinesthetic or bodily functions but also her musical intelligence as well.
A (5.2) has good cognitive skills. She is able to sort and categorise with minimal prompting. She can show a sense of purpose in her work, which is a precursor to the development of a confident child. Her mental representation is good as well, given that she was able to imagine her parents’ and grandmother’s homes when playing with her wooden puzzles pieces.
Emotionally, A (5.2) is within her milestones for this developmental area. She exhibits self-control of her feelings when required. The case in point is when she mistakenly coloured incorrectly the areas around a river as blue. Instead of showing anger, she chose to move on to another task at hand. She is able to follow instructions from her teacher with minimal fuss.
A (5.2) has a happy disposition. She smiles frequently and that makes her an easy companion to be with in her school.
Weaknesses:
A (5.2) shows that she interacts with only children that she likes. She readily excludes those she regards as naughty, as opposed to being more sociable and accepting of other children and their accompanying behaviours.
A (5.2) can improve in verbalising with her classmates more. This interaction will enhance her linguistic skills more than she currently possesses.
Interests:
A (5.2) clearly shows her delight whenever she is playing with the classmates that she consider her friends. Given her strong prosocial behaviours, this does not come as a surprise. She particularly enjoys pretend play, as shown by her cooking lesson and the ‘store’ she created with her friend to sell her food, at the dramatic centre.
She has an inclination for music, as exhibited by her excellent dance routine to a relatively new song, as she prepares for her concert day. When she sat in a corner of the dramatic centre with a xylophone on her lap, playing it by herself, again she showed her interest in music. Accompanying this musical interest is her interest in dance movements, which she appeared to enjoy when she was deep in the middle of her dance routine.
These three interests of A’s (5.2) are the most distinct, as presented by the 4 observations made of her, thus far.
References
1. Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C. (Eds). (1997). Developmentally Appropriate Practice,
Early Childhood Programs (revised ed.), 3 Through 5 Year Olds, p.107, 16th Street,
NW, Washington DC : NAEYC.
2. Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C. (Eds). (1997). Developmentally Appropriate Practice,
Early Childhood Programs (revised ed.), 3 Through 5 Year Olds, p.102, 16th Street,
NW, Washington DC : NAEYC.
3. Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C. (Eds). (1997). Developmentally Appropriate Practice,
Early Childhood Programs (revised ed.), 3 Through 5 Year Olds, p.105, 16th Street,
NW, Washington DC : NAEYC.
4. Campbell, L. & Campbell, B. & Dickinson, D., (1999). Teaching and Learning
Through Multiple Intelligences (2nd ed.), p. xvi, 160, Needham Heights, MA : Allyn
& Bacon
5. Charlesworth, R, (2004), Understanding Child Development, Chap 2, Developmental
and Learning Theories, p. 15, 5 Maxwell Drive, Clifton Park, NY : Delmar
Learning.
6. Mooney, C.G., (2000), Theories of Childhood, Chap 3, Erik Erikson, p. 52, 450 N,
Syndicate, Suite 5 St Paul, MN : Redleaf Press.
7. Mooney, C.G. (2000), Theories of Childhood, Chap 4, Jean Piaget, p. 69, 450 N,
Syndicate, Suite 5 St Paul, MN : Redleaf Press.
8. Schickedanz, J.A., Schickedanz D.I., Forsyth P.D., Forsyth G. A., 2001, Understanding
Children and Adolescents, Chap 11., Milestones in Preschool Development, p. 403,
Needham Heights, MA: Allen & Bacon.
9. Schickedanz J.A., Schickedanz D.I., Forsyth P.D., Forsyth G. A., 2001, Understanding
Children and Adolescents, Chap 11, Social and Emotional Development in
Preschool, p.393, Needham Heights, MA: Allen & Bacon.
Module: Observation and Planning
Observation #1 : Anecdotal Record
Name of Child: A
Age: 5 years 2month 3 days old
Date of Observation: 9 September
Time and Duration:11.10am, 15 minutes
Developmental Area: Cognition
Setting: Blocks Corner
Context: A (5.2) was given free-play time at the Blocks Corner of the centre, together with her 11 classmates of 5 girls and 6 boys. The class teacher was taking this opportunity to provide individual attention to some of her students and at the same time, doing her observation on one particular child (who is not A). The Blocks Corner was well stocked with large and small wooden blocks, colour-coded blocks of various shapes and wooden picture puzzles. All 12 students were able to find an activity to do with their own blocks-of-choice, or by grouping with others to play together.
Observations:
A (5.2) was sitting on a chair by a rectangular table, playing with her wooden puzzle, which had 20 puzzle pieces which were coloured red, yellow, green and blue. The wooden puzzle pieces were of different shapes but each colour of 5 pieces was of different height. A (5.2) sat quietly, while three other classmates were talking loudly to her left on another table, as they played as a group. She said “Hey, you are talking so loud!” to that group of students, but turned back to do her own puzzle.
A (5.2) first separated all 20 pieces of the puzzles into 4 coloured groups of red, yellow, green and blue. She was trying to hold on to one cylindrical piece of the puzzle, which was rolling off the table, and yelled “Hey!” to it, as she grabbed hold of it, just before it fell off the table.
She then proceeded to begin putting each of the puzzle pieces onto its wooden base, starting with the yellow piece, shaped triangularly. This was followed by the square yellow piece, the round cylindrical piece and the elliptical piece. The last yellow piece of the puzzle was star-shaped, which took slightly longer than the first four pieces.
A (5.2) then continued with the next 5 red pieces, and as she finished with the last red elliptical piece, she said “Good!”, while looking down at her work so far. Another girl (G) came over to look at A (5.2)’s puzzle and said that she could do that too and reached out to one of the pieces left on the table. A (5.2) replied by saying, “Wait for your turn”, and quickly stood up and moved in front of G, using her body to block the outstretched arm of G. G then walked away and sat on the floor, joining another boy, who was playing with his wooden blocks.
A (5.2) began slotting in the blue puzzle pieces, followed by the last 5 green pieces. When she completed putting the last green piece in place, she said “Good!” again. Her teacher came over for a brief moment and said “Good work, A!”. A (5.2) smiled, while raising her shoulders to her cheeks. When her teacher walked away, A (5.2) pointed to the blue square piece on the board and said, “This is where Mummy is, and this is where Granny lives”. A (5.2) then looked at her finished puzzle for a few seconds, first by standing up, and then viewing it to her right. Her teacher then said to all the students that they have 2 minutes left before they have to put all their individual blocks and puzzles back to their original shelf spaces. A (5.2) began to hold the 2 edges of the puzzle board with her hands and gently stood up. She walked over to the shelves and placed her puzzle board, together with all the 20 pieces into a shelf space, without toppling any of her puzzle pieces.
Interpretations:
A (5.2) seemed to fully understand grouping and sorting, based on her ability to begin her puzzle work by firstly grouping all her puzzle pieces into 4 colour groups. She started with the yellow pieces and ended with those of the green colour. This coincided well with her skills in grouping and her sorting abilities at her current age, given that she was able to create classes of objects, based on a single attribute (Schickedanz , Schickedanz, Forsyth, Forsyth, 2001).
She appeared to be able to praise her own work by saying “Good!” after finishing a particular task, or achieving an activity. This sense of purpose at her age is well supported by the theory proposed by childhood behaviour expert, Erik Erikson, when he stated that a 4 to 5 year old child would be in the “Initiative versus Guilt” phase of development. (Mooney, 2000). Such sense of purpose encourages independence in the child, says Erikson, and will bring forth a more confident and competent child.
A (5.2) was also using mental representation when she referred to the taller puzzle pieces as the homes of her mother and her grandma. Again, this coincides well with Jean Piaget’s Theory of the 4 Stages of Cognitive Development of a child (Mooney, 2000). Piaget’s theory expounded the notion that a child at the Pre-operational Stage will exhibit an ability to make mental representations. Here, A (5.2) definitely showed a healthy dose of that capacity in her.
Observation #2 : Running Record
Date of Observation : 11 September
Duration : 15 minutes
Development Domain : Social
Setting : Dramatic Centre
Context : A (5.2) was playing with her 11 classmates at the Dramatic Centre. She was asked to
play at one corner of this centre where there was a model of a kitchen, complete with cooking
utensils, plates, cups and cutlery. Four other classmates were also assigned to this area of play.
They comprised 2 girls, M and T, and 2 boys, L and Y.
Time
Observations
Interpretations
1112-1115hr
A (5.2) was sitting by a wall. She held a cup with her right hand and said to her classmate, M, “Look, I made a cup of Milo for us. We can share”. M said thank you. A (5.2) then raised the cup to her mouth 3 times and tilted her head to drink from the cup each time. One boy, Y, came over to join her and sat beside her. He was carrying a plate of bread. A (5.2) stood up and walked over to the kitchen model, to join M. She then placed on the floor her cup of Milo, to the right of the kitchen model.
Small group sharing and pretend play.
1115-1118hr
A (5.2) called to another girl, T, “Do you want to cook with me?”. T smiled and came over to the kitchen model and stood beside A (5.2). A (5.2) said to T, “You wash the vegetables, T, and I will wash the frying pan to cook.” T picked up 2 pepper corns and a knife to begin
slicing them. A (5.2) washed the frying pan in the sink and said “Shish, shish, sheeee”, while moving the pan left and right, under the tap of the sink. A (5.2) turned to her left and asked T, “Are you ready?”. T replied yes, and then moved a step closer to A (5.2) by the kitchen hob. Y walked over to join them. He reached out to take the frying pan away from the right hand of A (5.2). A (5.2) yelled, “No!”.
Her teacher turned towards the 3 children and told Y to not snatch the frying pan but play and share together the utensils. Y immediately released the frying pan, stood by the side and watched the 2 girls continue with their cooking. A (5.2) took the pepper corns on a plate from T and dropped them into the frying pan. She said, “See, I can cook. We can share with Y when I finish, ok ,T?” T replied yes.
Associative play. Forms small groups.
Excludes others from her group.
Sharing and cooperative play.
1118-1121hr
T then suggested to A (5.2) that they can sell the cooking too. A (5.2) replied, “Yes, let’s do that”. T took 2 new plates from the floor and placed them on a table next to the kitchen model. A (5.2) said that the food was ready to be served on the plates, and took the frying pan over the the 2 plates on the table, and served the pepper corns on them.
A (5.2) said, “Anybody wants to buy?”. M came over to ask A (5.2) what she was selling. A (5.2) said, “Vegetables”. M smiled, and said no, she didn’t like vegetables. A (5.2) said, “No, my mummy say vegetables are good for everyone. It has lots of vikemins”. A (5.2)
held one plate up with both her hands towards M, and said, “See?”
M said that she would buy one plate. T said to M that it would cost 20 cents. M reached into her uniform pocket and gave M the imaginary money. A (5.2) smiled and said, “Anyone else to buy?” T then said to A (5.2) to eat together. Both smiled and took a plate each and pretended to eat their food, together with M.
Plays simple games in small groups.
Engage in prosocial behaviour.
Cooperative play with others.
1121-1124hr
A (5.2) walked over to a corner of the dramatic centre towards her left and picked up a xylophone from a tray of toys. She sat on a chair beside this tray. She was by herself. She took the mallet stick of the xylophone and began hitting with it gently to make several musical notes. She smiled. She continued to play the xylophone by herself. Twice, she looked over to the rest of her classmates, who were playing by the kitchen model. She did not join them, but stayed by her chair, playing the xylophone instead.
Plays with minimal supervision.
1124-1127hr
A (5.2) picked up a new cup from the floor, left there by another classmate. She walked over to the kitchen model and picked up a spoon. She started to stir with the spoon inside the cup. She walked over to her teacher and said. “Nah, teacher, this Ribena is for you”. Her teacher took the cup from her, drank from it, and thanked A (5.2), while returning the cup to her. A (5.2) flashed a wide smile to her teacher. She walked over to her classmates by the kitchen model and started to play with them. Her teacher announced to the class
that there were two minutes left to play, and all the toys must be returned to their cupboard and shelves.
Spontaneously offering things to others.
Interpretations:
A (5.2) showed her development in the social domain well by showing her willingness to share her toys with others. She engaged in associative play with other girls and was able to form small groups to play amongst each other. This coincided well with the milestones of a child of her age (Bredekamp, Copple 1997, p.107).
She was also able to exhibit her power to exclude others from her own playgroup by asking an adult to intervene. Again, for a child of her age, A (5.2) was reaching her milestones in her social development, as theorized by Erik Erikson (Charlesworth, 2004). A (5.2) was in her Initiative versus Guilt stage of her social development, where a child plans and carries out activities, and learns society’s boundaries.
A (5.2) also showed her fondness for cooperative play and group sharing with her classmates. These prosocial behaviours made her an easy child to play with, which in turn, allowed friendships to develop easily between her and the other girls, M and T (Schickedanz, Schickedanz, Forsyth, Forsyth, 2001, p. 393).
She also exhibited her ability to play with minimal supervision. She was spontaneous in offering things to others (in this case, her teacher), showing that she wanted to please others. Both such behaviours were in line with her social development milestones (Bredekamp, Copple 1997, p. 107).
Observation #4: Work Sample
Developmental Area : Emotional
Setting: K1 Classroom
Context: A (5.2) was asked to begin a worksheet exercise by her class teacher. The worksheet involved both the tasks of colouring and writing of words to identify the various items in the picture on the worksheet. The teacher then explained to her class that the picture on the worksheet shows the full water-cycle, from water in the sea and lakes, to clouds and then back to rain again. She then asked the children to colour the picture based on what they know, and write the words that identify the items on the picture.
This observer did not want to interrupt the normal class work of A (5.2), in case she felt left out or felt pressured to have to complete her required tasks before the allotted time ended. But her teacher was asked by this observer if A (5.2) can do her task separately from her other classmates. The teacher gave her approval. A (5.2) then took her worksheet from her teacher and sat by a table away from her classmates, with this observer.
Narrative of Work Sample:
When I asked A (5.2) what she was asked to do by her teacher with the worksheet, she said, “Colour and write all the words”.
A (5.2) began her task by colouring the sun yellow. I asked her why she started with the sun and she said, “I like the sun!” and flashed a smile. I asked her what the sun meant to her, she replied, “I can come to school”. She continued by saying, “I can play with my best friend, S.” I asked her who S was, and she said “There”, pointing to another girl sitting near the teacher. “We play together in school a lot”. I asked if there was anyone who was not a friend of hers, and she replied “Yes, M is naughty”, taking a look at a boy to her left.
A (5.2) then changed to the blue colour pencil and began colouring the clouds with it. The clouds also showed some rain falling to the ground. I asked her if she liked the rain, and she said “No, I can’t play outside when rain come.” A moment later, she continued, “And all my dress get wet and I feel cold. I don’t like.” She then added, “I like the sun more. I can play with my mummy and daddy when the sun is shining, not when raining”. She proceeded to colour the sea, lake and river blue. When she found that she had coloured the area outside the river blue, when it should be other colour, she said, “Oh”. I asked her what colour it should have been for that area, she said “Brown”. She then said, “Never mind lah”, and moved on to the next action.
A (5.2) switched to the green colour pencil and began colouring the mountains. I asked her if she thought the mountains could be other colours, and she replied “No, it is green only”. When completed, A (5.2) changed to a lighter green colour pencil to begin shading the trees around the mountain.
A (5.2) then proceeded to finish her colouring by shading the arrows on the picture. She walked over to her teacher with her colouring to ask her, “Is this ok, Teacher S?”, who replied in the affirmative. A (5.2) skipped back to her chair, with a smile on her face.
A(5.2) then picked up a pencil to begin writing the words of sea, lake, rain and river on the picture. She was tracing the letters of these 4 words, which were dotted. I asked her if she had been to the sea to swim before, and she said, “Yes, many times. I like swimming in the sea. It’s so fun. But my brothers always throw water on my face”.
A (5.2) then picked up her worksheet and passed it over to Teacher S, who then asked her to say the 4 words aloud. A (5.2) spoke the 4 words correctly, and her teacher told her that she had done a good job. A (5.2) looked happy, and flashed a smile at me before joining her other classmates.
Interpretations:
A (5.2) was able to follow the instructions of her teacher well. She seemed to know how to form her own circle of friends, while at the same time, excluding others from that circle, as shown by her when she was readily identifying a boy she regarded as naughty. These 2 behaviours showed that A (5.2) can follow requests and understands the power of excluding others. These 2 behaviours are in line with her emotional development milestones (Bredekamp, Copple 1997, p. 107).
A (5.2) was able to exhibit her ability to control her feelings when she realized that she had done something incorrectly when colouring the area outside the river blue, when it should have been brown colour, according to her. Instead of showing disappointment, she did not feel the need to be angry with herself and moved on to another task. This emotional development is a milestone expected of a 4 year old child (Bredekamp, Copple 1997, p. 107), therefore showing that A (5.2) had already grasped this emotional development well, at her current age of 5 years old.
Narrative of Focus Child
Strengths:
A (5.2) has shown very good developments in her social skills. She is able to engage in cooperative play with her classmates and also understands the need to give-and-take when playing with them. She is also able to form small groups when initiating her play with others and can be spontaneous in offering things to others to please them. These behaviours make it easy for her to make friends with her other classmates in her class.
A (5.2) has shown that her physical developments are well in line with her milestones. Her dance movements show that both her gross and fine motor skills are very much intact. Her ability to synchronize her dance steps with the rest of her classmates point to her intelligence in not just her kinesthetic or bodily functions but also her musical intelligence as well.
A (5.2) has good cognitive skills. She is able to sort and categorise with minimal prompting. She can show a sense of purpose in her work, which is a precursor to the development of a confident child. Her mental representation is good as well, given that she was able to imagine her parents’ and grandmother’s homes when playing with her wooden puzzles pieces.
Emotionally, A (5.2) is within her milestones for this developmental area. She exhibits self-control of her feelings when required. The case in point is when she mistakenly coloured incorrectly the areas around a river as blue. Instead of showing anger, she chose to move on to another task at hand. She is able to follow instructions from her teacher with minimal fuss.
A (5.2) has a happy disposition. She smiles frequently and that makes her an easy companion to be with in her school.
Weaknesses:
A (5.2) shows that she interacts with only children that she likes. She readily excludes those she regards as naughty, as opposed to being more sociable and accepting of other children and their accompanying behaviours.
A (5.2) can improve in verbalising with her classmates more. This interaction will enhance her linguistic skills more than she currently possesses.
Interests:
A (5.2) clearly shows her delight whenever she is playing with the classmates that she consider her friends. Given her strong prosocial behaviours, this does not come as a surprise. She particularly enjoys pretend play, as shown by her cooking lesson and the ‘store’ she created with her friend to sell her food, at the dramatic centre.
She has an inclination for music, as exhibited by her excellent dance routine to a relatively new song, as she prepares for her concert day. When she sat in a corner of the dramatic centre with a xylophone on her lap, playing it by herself, again she showed her interest in music. Accompanying this musical interest is her interest in dance movements, which she appeared to enjoy when she was deep in the middle of her dance routine.
These three interests of A’s (5.2) are the most distinct, as presented by the 4 observations made of her, thus far.
References
1. Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C. (Eds). (1997). Developmentally Appropriate Practice,
Early Childhood Programs (revised ed.), 3 Through 5 Year Olds, p.107, 16th Street,
NW, Washington DC : NAEYC.
2. Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C. (Eds). (1997). Developmentally Appropriate Practice,
Early Childhood Programs (revised ed.), 3 Through 5 Year Olds, p.102, 16th Street,
NW, Washington DC : NAEYC.
3. Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C. (Eds). (1997). Developmentally Appropriate Practice,
Early Childhood Programs (revised ed.), 3 Through 5 Year Olds, p.105, 16th Street,
NW, Washington DC : NAEYC.
4. Campbell, L. & Campbell, B. & Dickinson, D., (1999). Teaching and Learning
Through Multiple Intelligences (2nd ed.), p. xvi, 160, Needham Heights, MA : Allyn
& Bacon
5. Charlesworth, R, (2004), Understanding Child Development, Chap 2, Developmental
and Learning Theories, p. 15, 5 Maxwell Drive, Clifton Park, NY : Delmar
Learning.
6. Mooney, C.G., (2000), Theories of Childhood, Chap 3, Erik Erikson, p. 52, 450 N,
Syndicate, Suite 5 St Paul, MN : Redleaf Press.
7. Mooney, C.G. (2000), Theories of Childhood, Chap 4, Jean Piaget, p. 69, 450 N,
Syndicate, Suite 5 St Paul, MN : Redleaf Press.
8. Schickedanz, J.A., Schickedanz D.I., Forsyth P.D., Forsyth G. A., 2001, Understanding
Children and Adolescents, Chap 11., Milestones in Preschool Development, p. 403,
Needham Heights, MA: Allen & Bacon.
9. Schickedanz J.A., Schickedanz D.I., Forsyth P.D., Forsyth G. A., 2001, Understanding
Children and Adolescents, Chap 11, Social and Emotional Development in
Preschool, p.393, Needham Heights, MA: Allen & Bacon.
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