Children's Center- Non-Structured

I did this observation on Friday, Feb. 13 from 10-10:45. The demographics, gender and age are all the same as the structured environment. This time is for the students to be able to make decisions and figure out their plan for the day. The basis for this time is all about student centered and teacher guided. I say this because the students get to choose what they want to do, but the teachers give them the broad options to choose from. There options on this day included the snack table which was very important today, the dramatic play, the blocks, the computer, reading corner, blue table (arts and crafts), red table(today was math), the round table with puzzles and the writing center. Today the dramatic play, blocks, arts and crafts and snack were all co-ed at all times. The dramatic play consisted of all of the house materials. The students were able to play any type of house and together they made a whole family of the boys playing the little son, the girl was playing the sister and the other boy in the area was the dog. The whole concept was family, but the idea that there was 1 boy and 2 girls did not make that much of a difference because the emphasis of this play was on the dog. They had to work together to walk the dog, feed the dog and watch the dog. In the blocks, the girls and boys were building the same "building" but the boys had one idea of what it was and the girls have another idea. The boys were making a space ship that would take off and land on the "landing strip" and the girls were making a castle that had a diving board into the pool that was the carpet. While playing together very nicely, the girls were playing with one concept and while the other group was playing a whole different concept even though it was the same structure. In the snack table, the students were very talkative and playing with their cheese sticks and pretending that all the cheese was friends, but they were talking about what they were doing at home and they were acting it out what they do at home or what they see at home. Through all of my observations, it is very important to realize that the teacher never picks what the students do, but the students pick what they do and how they have to manage their own time. The teacher will never remind a student to do something, and the main goal is to not discipline but let the students figure out their feelings by themselves. Overall, this time is a great experience for children because the students are allowed to learn how to handle time, but more importantly how to figure out what to do with their time and also what to do when they get into a fight, but let them figure out how to work out their own feelings.

Children's Center- Structured

I observed the structured environment of the classroom in the circle time of morning preschool on Friday February 13, 2009 from 9:00-9:30. The demographics were a little different from the playground experience. There were all Caucasian children except for one Asian American girl. There were 3 to 5 year olds in the class today. This day was different because the day before, a student who is in morning preschool had a seizure, so the students were very curious about what is going on with their friend and what was going on and why they had to go play at the gym during lunch. From those questions, the teacher led a student based discussion about how they were feeling and some stupids were showing us through motions. Some students reenacted what they saw. They read a book about valentines day, but during that we moved into a circle and sang a song about valentines day. After our movement from valentines day song, we played a game that dealt with cupid. In our book we learned about the difference between cupid and the phrase "fall in love" and "shoot an arrow". The whole action was to figure out the actually phrase and not just think about weapons which is what all the boys thought about.

Overall, through play the students learned a lot and got to express their feelings about what they saw the day before with their friend all through play.

Children's Center-Playground

The first observation I did was on the playground on Tuesday, February 10, from 3:00-3:30. There were both genders on the playground, and there was mostly Caucasian students, but there was one child was African American girl. This group consisted of all the children at the center including the 21/2 to 5 year olds. The first observation that I made were the age group differences. The students were separated by 2 and 1/2 year olds were in the playhouse or on the little slide. The only interaction I ever saw between the older children and the younger children was if they were siblings. With this instance, the older sibling was always checking on the younger sibling to see if they were ok. The 3 year olds seemed to play by themselves. They sat at the table observing their friends, played on the tree stumps located throughout the playground, or they tried to play in the sand pile (even though it was off limits). The 4 and 5 year olds seemed to play together on the playground equipment or they were playing tag or hide and seek with one another. Based on gender, the younger girls seemed to come to the teacher with all of their problems and always tattle on their friends even if they were not involved in the incident. The older girls would not go tattle on the others unless something truly did need to be brought up to a teachers attention. What I noticed that they do is go towards the gate or get away from any adult, and it looks as if they are gossiping. The younger boys would cry in place if they were upset, and don't have many ways to express their emotions. It seemed like they were trying to express what they were feeling or if they were upset, but they did not have the developmental status to understand what they were feeling. The older boys did not talk out their feelings, but instead, they hit, kick, and threw things at one another.

While looking at their plays, the playground equipment or the playhouse turned into so many different titles and ideas for this equipment. The playground equipment was a different idea for each group of kids that were playing together. The girls were just using it as a playground, but the boys told me it was a spaceship and they had to slide off of it to get saved. Throughout the whole time of observation, the students did not seem to interact with the different age groups, but instead they played with only their age group. The "little" kids were playing house, but the boys and girls were mom's, dad's, brother's, sister's, and animals. The children all played like they observe at home. One child told me that is what Mommy and Daddy do at home, so it shows they are expressing what they do from what they observe in their own home. When I was talking to the older boys, one boy who is 4, told me that it was the spaceship from Star Wars and another boy told me he was Bob the Builder.

These connections really show the incorporations that students are making into their play from their home lives. The younger children are only playing what they are modeled at home, but the older children take what they know from home, and also the media attention that they can get from home. Depending on what they see from the tv or the computer, it will impact the way that they play on the playground.

Children's Center Observations - Non-Structured

The final blog I have regards the non-structured aspect of play for children. I think the Children's Center on campus does an amazing job at allowing the children to participate in non-structured play on a daily basis. This combines the best of both worlds in the playground and the classroom.

Due to the ages of the children, I was not surprised at how they acted or which activities they gravitated towards when they were on their own. Non-structured play benefits not only the children, but also the teacher. The children are able to spread themselves out over the entire classroom and work at different stations throughout the entire time. They are able to move from one to another without being afraid of getting in trouble for not staying on task at one particular project. Also, the teacher is able to have order in the room as well as providing adequate areas for the children to play. I found it interesting that the boys and girls worked together nicely in dramatic play and the concept of gender was completely gone for them. It did not matter if a girl wore boy's clothes or if a boy wore girl's clothes, all that mattered is that they stayed in the same plot line that they had started with. There was hardly any negativity towards one another either. Resolving their problems by themselves also shows that by playing, the children are able to regulate themselves and come to terms with what is going on during that specific time and work it out. Also, the children did not stray from one another meaning there was always at least two children playing together with interactive play. The notion of parallel play was gone along with any independent play that was happening during the playground time I observed. The children seemed much happier with being given a lot of options for play.

In addition, I found it important that the children were given many options for play. They could expand their imaginations in dramatic play and blocks or work on some skills they enjoyed such as reading and writing. By giving the children options as to what they want to play and how they want to play it also allows them to take ownership of their play, which in turn allows them to take ownership of their learning. In my personal opinion, I think non-structured play benefits the children in a more well-rounded way than on the playground or in the classroom. However, it is important for them to be exposed to all types of play in order for them to realize when each type of play is appropriate and how to deal with the different issues that may arise in each type.

Children's Center Observations - Classroom

In order to not have one extremely lengthy blog, I decided to break up the three environments. Also, I thought comparing the similarities and differences would be easier if they were separate. The demographics, ages, and gender are all the same for this as well.

In the classroom, the dynamic is completely different than it is on the playground/gym. The children are a lot calmer and listen to the teacher as they are expected to. Even though they usually sit together and are not able to run around screaming, the children do get a lot of play in the classroom. They are able to interact with one another, along with the teacher, and expand their minds in ways they never would have thought to do themselves. It is crucial that they have some sort of direction with this play, unlike the other plays they have throughout their days. The teacher is able to give the students activities to do that will stimulate their minds without them even knowing it. For an example, the children learned about the different colors associated with Valentine's Day. Instead of sitting there trying to remember colors and how to spell them, they played a game where they were able to learn the colors in both English and French. This broadens their minds and allows them to learn new information without them knowing what is going on. In addition, to emphasize what is associate with Valentine's Day, the children played a game in which they passed on a smile. The students would not have to get up, but simply sit in a circle and pass their smile on to another classmate of theirs. They were interactive with one another, everyone was equal, and everyone wanted the entire class to succeed. I found this reassuring because it was demonstrated very simply that children can play in various ways. It is not restricted to them running wild and doing whatever they want, whenever they want. In order for children to see the differences from a young age, they are being exposed to many different aspects of play that they can continue to nurture throughout their lives. Also, all of the children worked together, it did not matter what age, gender, or demographic they were, they were all equal and no one noticed any differences.

Children's Center Observations - Playground

Yesterday, February 12th, I went to the Children's Center to do my observations. While it should have been only 30 minutes, I decided to do all 90 minutes because I couldn't handle walking over there on three separate occasions! Anyway, while observing the children in the classroom I first took note of their ages, which range from 4 to 5, possibly 6 for one, the fact that the boys and girls are about even, and also that the entire area was Caucasian, except for one little girl who is Asian American. 

First, I was able to observe the children in their most free experience, the playground. Considering it is cold outside, instead of going to the playground, they were able to go to the Campus Center gym and get out all of their energy there. I noticed that the boys generally played with the boys and the girls played with the girls. There was never much intermingling of the two genders. Also, the boys definitely had a lot more energy than the girls in that they were running around, kicking balls, and screaming like they have been cooped up all of their short lives! I never noticed such a difference before between the two genders. Also, the boys tried to work out their issues on their own by either just pushing each other, or running away with the ball they were sharing. They never went up to the teacher to ask her to resolve their problems, instead they just took it upon themselves even though it might not have been resolved the best way possible. In contrast, the girls hardly played together and if they did, it more of parallel play than interactive play. I found this odd due to their ages. It seemed that the girls would rather walk off  or bounce balls by themselves. They truly did not want to interact with one another. When the girls would get together, they enjoyed talking or bouncing a ball back and forth. They were much calmer with their play even though they were able to run around and scream if they needed to get the energy they had been storing all day out. The differences were definitely remarkable between the two genders. Also, the girls went up to the teacher more often if they had an issue with one another or with one of the boys. They enjoyed playing with the adults that were there while the boys wanted to stay as far away from them as possible.