Offers a chance to see children as INDIVIDUALS, meeting the challenges of development in their own way and time. Observing young children and INTERPRETING their behavior are skills that take time to learn – but it brings to life the material in this course!!! We become FAMILIAR with the various stages of development and can encourage their progress through those stages…

 Observing shows their PERSONALITIES  Provides us with FEEDBACK  We can watch how they RESPOND to our attempts at guiding their behavior and development, and see how successful we are.  Young children are FASCINATING  Provides VITAL INFORMATION about each child’s needs, interests, abilities, and learning styles  Most of what is known about child development was learned through observation  To UNDERSTAND how to plan curriculum for your class

 Be OBJECTIVE.  State the FACTS.  Don’t rely on personal feelings or OPINIONS  Do not INTERPRET – just observe! You don’t have to come to a conclusion.

 Always get:  WHEN, WHERE, WHO, AND WHAT (they are doing)  Be DESCRIPTIVE  Make COMPARISONS between OBSERVEES  Record only FACTS  REVIEW your work – check for clarity, and fill in missing notes

 RUNNING RECORD – write everything that happens in 1 time frame  FREQUENCY COUNT – tally of how many times a behavior takes place  TIME SAMPLE– record behavior only if it occurs at the end of an interval  DURATION – record how long the behavior lasts

Description of Physical Environment: The dramatic play center has a play kitchen, washer and dryer, table and four chairs, and various dishes, empty food containers, and play food. There is a desk with a computer keyboard and play phone. There is a mirror and a chest full of various clothes and hats for dress up. Record of Children’s Speech and ActionsNotes and Interpretations Olivia calls to Grace, “Do you want to play ‘kitchen’ with me?” Grace walks in the play area and asks “Can I be the mom?” Olivia says, “No, I’m the mom. See, I have the apron on. You be the girl, okay?” Grace frowns and then says, “Okay, my name is Brittany. Our dog can be Spot. I’ll feed him. He’s hungry.” Olivia gives Grace a bowl for the imaginary dog. Olivia tends to tell everyone what to do. Both children have active imaginations and enjoy role playing. Observer: Lauren Date: Nov. 23 Children ’ s Ages 4-year-olds Time 9:15-9:25 am Location: Parkland Child Care Center OBSERVATION OBJECTIVE: To observe children ’ s social and emotional development during dramatic play.

Frequency Record //// (One tally mark for each act) Notes and Comments Dec. 7 11:15 a.m.: Grabbed doll from child #3 and hit her. Dec. 8 3:08 p.m.: Hit child #2 with book and took same doll. 4:20 p.m.: Pulled child #6’s hair. Wanted to be the one to feed gerbil. Dec. 10 9:30 a.m.: Squashed child #5’s fi ngers with block. Three of the hitting acts were because of a disagreement over a toy—twice for a particular doll. She pulled child #6’s hair when it was child #6’s turn to feed the gerbil and she wanted to do it. No hitting occurred while the teacher was talking to the class or paying attention to child #12. The teacher made child #12 sit in the time-out chair only once for hurting her classmates. The other two times she saw her, she reminded her about the “no hitting” rule. The teacher did not see the hair-pulling, but she did witness child #6 crying and holding her head. Summary and Interpretations Child #12 seems to know that hitting usually gets her what she wants. The teacher seemed inconsistent in how she reacted to the hitting and hair pulling. Child #12 did not hit as long as the teacher was paying attention to her or could see her. She may be seeking her attention. The teacher could temporarily put away the doll that the girls do not want to share. Try new frequency count two weeks after teacher responds consistently to child #12’s misbehavior in order to check progress. Observer: Candice Dates: Dec. 7, 8, 10 Location: Logan Preschool Child: #12 Age: 3 OBSERVATION OBJECTIVE: To observe how often child #12 is hurting other children.

Time Sample Time Interval On TaskOff Task Observer: ________________________Date: ________Time: __________ Location: ________________________Child: ________Child ’ s Age: ____ Observation Objective: ____________________________________________________________ Time Interval Chosen: _______Start Time: _________End Time: ___________

DateTime Enter time when behavior began Enter time when behavior stopped Length of time that behavior last for 11/59:30 –10:30 AM9:55 AM10:06 AM11 minutes 11/59:30 –10:30 AM 10:19 AM10:28 AM9 minutes 11/69:30 –10:30 AM 9:43 AM9:51 AM8 minutes 11/79:30 –10:30 AM 10:04 AM10:19 AM15 minutes 11/79:30 –10:30 AM 10:13 AM10:23 AM10 minutes Behavior: Working individually Behavior Definition: Sitting at desk, with an assignment on the desk, looking at assignment, not talking to peers. Once student looks up (not looking at assignment any more), the behavior has stopped. If student begins talking to peers while looking at assignment, behavior has stopped.

 What are the four W’s of observing?