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.