Observing, documenting, and assessing are crucial for supporting young children and families by providing educators with insights into children's development, informing individualized instruction, and facilitating communication and collaboration between educators and families. What i have learned from observing children is that you can tell a lot about how they approach new situations tolerate frustration and adapt to change. I am also learning how documenting our observations helps early childhood education professionals look at their interactions with children and discover how important interactions are as they get to know and support the children. I am beginning to understand how much assessing your observations can help you to promptly recognize any gaps in learning and allow you to implement appropriate support at the earliest point, ensuring the needs of both the child and the family are met..

Child observations

Observation 1 Date. 2/12/2025 Time. 8:35 am Setting. The Head Start Preschool site on Vista de Lago Rd. In Valley Springs, CA. Observation. The observation begins when I introduced young D. to a foam block with a vinyl cover that is 1 foot Cube. I hand the Cube to D. D reaches out his hands to me and accepts the cube. He spins the cube halfway around and throws it on the ground at his feet. The cube does a couple of small bounces and lands on one side. D takes the two steps necessary to reach the cube and kicks it with his right foot. The cube tumbles corner over corner to my feet. I gently pushed the cube back to D with my foot. The Cube tumbles toward DJ and bounces off the foot he had lifted from the ground to kick it. Back. His foot continued through the arc of the kick until it was leveled to the ground. He puts his foot back on the ground and claps and squeals. He motions toward me and then toward the block. He motions to where the block had landed and then back to me again. As he is pointing at the block, he starts to shake his finger up and down with his entire hand and vocalizes want it. Do you want me to hand you the block? I ask him. He nods his head up and down and vocalizes. Uh-huh. I walk over to where the block landed, and I sit down in front of it with the block between myself and D. I push the block with my hand, so it tumbles over corner over corner until it reaches D who grabs it with both hands as he plops down on the floor. He looks at the block that is in his hands, still on the floor, and then looks up at me. By motion my hands from my chest to outstretched hands, as I say, you can push it. D pushes the block with both hands, and it doesn't go far enough to reach me. The block only turned over three times. I leaned forward to get the block and D expresses discomfort. He vocalizes Hey. Me next. I bring the block back to where I am sitting cross legged, putting the block in front of me. I say to D you pushed the block to me, now I pushed the block to you. Get ready. I pushed the block with enough force to the bottom of the cube so that the cube doesn't tumble but slides across the floor until it reaches D. D claps his hands, and it says how? I reached over for the block and put it back in front of me and I said watch. I showed him where to place his hands on the back side of the block and push. As the block slides forward on the floor without tumbling and comes to a stop, D claps his hands. I do it, he vocalizes to me as he toddles over to the cube and sits down with the cube in between myself and D. He tries to push the block from the backside but gives a little too much effort and the block tumbles end over end until it reaches me. He giggles and claps and says again. I say 2D. Now watch me again as I place my hands on the back of the block and do a slow pushing motion until the block slides halfway between myself and D. D. scoots up to where the block stopped and places his hands on the back of the block and pushes slowly and the block slides about a foot away from him. He collapsed and vocalized again, again. D is quite content to continue to slide the block back and forth across the floor for the next 5 minutes. Finally, when it is his turn to push the block, he stands up and gives it a kick as hard as he can, and the block flies across the room and past. The gate that leads to the outside Access door. I look at D and put my hands on my cheeks and vocalize. OH it's out of bounds now. D looks at me and then looks toward the block that is just past the gate. No, he vocalizes. I vocalized to D. You know the rules, don't you? Remember past the gate is out of bounds. If we put the toy out of bounds, then it's unavailable. No vocalized D. He stumps left foot, then right foot, then right foot, then left foot and vocalizes want it as he outstretches his hand and makes a gripping motion repeatedly. I've vocalized 2D. I'm sorry, the block is out of bounds. Now we can get another one. D stomps his feet in the same pattern again and then screams at the top of his voice. No. After his scream finished, which lasted at least 2 seconds, I said Are you sure you don't want to play with this block? It's the same color. I picked up a block the same color and exact same size as the one we had been playing with. I show it to D. it's the same. Do you look at the block, walks over, takes it from me with both hands, turning it over, and over until he looks up at me and vocalizes? OK, good. I asked him, DJ, are you OK with play with this one? D looks at me again and says, yeah, we play. I sit down with D and we continue to roll and slide the block back and forth with each other for another 3 minutes. As we are pushing the block back and forth between us, one of these peers arrives and is being checked in by his parent. When DC's his peer, he gets up and runs to the gate and begins to try to explain the block sliding game to his peer. As I am completing the observation, D and his peer are sitting on the floor and rolling the block back and forth between them. Conclusion. I picked this objective style of observation for D because I wanted to observe his physical development. D is progressing well in his physical milestones. D can hold things with both hands. D can hold a large object proportionately to his size and turn them around to inspect them. He can manipulate the objects to go in the direction that he wants. His ability to kick with accuracy is still developing. Throwing accuracy is improving. He still throws overhanded with both hands. D can balance well when carrying an object Such as the block. He can move about the classroom without using the furniture or other people for support. His grasp of language and ability to follow multiple related directions would put him in the exploring early category. After completing this observation, I will be able to use it to enter into his DRD portfolio to help rate his further development.

Observation 2 Date. 2/13 Time. 9:20 am Setting. The Head Start Preschool site on Vista de Lago Rd. In Valley Springs, CA. Observation. This observation begins right after toileting and hand washing. Young P was sitting on the floor looking at his wet hands, turning them over, palm facing him and back again several times. One of his peers in the toddler room, all the way across the hall Called out to P and pointed at one of P's favorite stuffed animals. He put his hands down from in front of his face and looked forward toward where his peer was calling to him. After seeing the stuffed animal his peer was pointing to, he smiled and vocalized a positive sound. P leaned forward, putting his palms on the floor and stretching himself out, laying on his stomach with his head facing up toward where he was going. P props himself up on his elbows, folding his hands Against his forearms. He then stretches his arms out and pulls himself forward on his elbows. He looks around and smiles. And repeats the motion. He repeats the motion one more time, stretching his arms out and pulling himself back up on his elbows one last time until he continues to fold his elbows down to his stomach. He looks around with a smile again and notices that I'm watching him. He looks down at his elbows, then looks back at me. I say to P. That went a little further, didn't it? He looks forward again toward the stuffed animal and extends his elbows all the way in front of him and then pulls himself up, bringing his elbows all the way to his stomach. And then extending his elbows out and then bringing them to his stomach, scooting himself along the floor of the classroom toward this stuffed animal. Peak continues This motion until he reaches the stuffed animal. The distance P has traveled is approximately 35 feet, or just over 10 yards. It has taken him 8 1/2 minutes. Once P has the stuffed animal, he sits down and puts his back toward the cabinet which held the stuffed animal. It moves the animal rapidly up and down. As he is moving the animal up and down, he is watching the animal's head bounce back and forth and imitates the nodding motion for a moment before he starts dropping. The animal onto the floor and picking it up. After dropping the stuffed animal and picking it up three times. He begins to bounce the stuffed animal up and down rapidly again. After bouncing the animal several times, he begins to bounce the animal as he is bringing it up to the left, then down straight, then brings up to the other side, then down straight. And repeats this motion until he drops the animal suddenly. Peace seems to have been distracted by the sound of a Magna tile tower falling across the room. He discards the stuffed animal and uses his arm to help himself up with leverage from the cabinet he was leaning on. He gives himself a moment to study and then begins to walk, right foot first, then left foot, toward the pile of Magna tiles that used to be a tower. He looks at the pile of Magna tiles and then at the pier who is sitting next to the pile and vocalizes. OH. It's all gone. That's no more. P sits down next to his peer and begins to help, picking up the Magna tiles and rearranging them into a different structure. BP continues to play with his peer for the remainder of the 10-minute observation. P takes turns with his peer placing one magnetic tile and then allowing his peer to place a magnet tile until they have used up the magnetic tiles that were in the remaining pile. Conclusion. This observation was completely unplanned. I decided to do the objective observation since this behavior had been unusual for the child in question. Previously to this observation, this child had been walking around without assistance. This behavior caught my attention because it seemed to be. That young pee had just discovered a new form of locomotion and was experimenting with its efficiency. It seemed to have been entertaining enough for him to continue it. This observation tells me that P is still exploring with his physical development. He is still experimenting with different ways of moving and different parts of his body to move himself with. This may put him in the exploring middle section of his DRDP portfolio.

Observation 3 Date. 2/19/2025 Time. 10:10 am Setting. The Head Start Preschool site on Vista de Lago Rd. In Valley Springs, CA. Observation. This observation begins at the start of our outside playtime. OHH seems excited to go outside. Has been talking about wanting to play on the push car all morning. L runs immediately to the car and pulls it away from the wall from the handle on the back. The orients the car to point toward the sandbox. He looks around the car, both sides, to make sure he's pointed where he wants to go. He opens the door to the car and gets inside. He puts his feet on the ground and begins to walk the car around the playground. He pretends that the different power and play colored squares around the sandbox are a road, and he goes around honking his horn. Making the beep beep sound and putting his hand to the center of the steering wheel as he goes around. As he is completing his 3rd circle around the colored floor and play squares One of his peers steps out of the sandbox onto the power and play squares in front of L. L lets the car come to a stop and he continues to make the beep beep sound and push his hand into the center of the steering wheel. The peer who is blocking L's path is confused at 1st and turns to look at L. The pier copies L and makes the beep beep sound, making a gesturing motion in the air as if he is pressing the horn on a steering wheel. L seems confused at first and then makes a frustrated face. He turns His head around to look behind him as he pushes his feet in the opposite direction to back up. As he is backing up, he continues to look over his shoulder and steer his car around sandbox. He backs up all the way around the sandbox to the concrete slab where he changes direction to forward and starts to make circles on the concrete slab. L seems quite content to continue to go around the concrete slab. In circles. Occasionally, he will stop and make a straight line toward the water fountain and then continue to make circles in the opposite direction on the concrete slab. There are several circles in the opposite direction. El stops his car and gets out. He walks around to the back of the push car and takes a hold of the handle on the rear. He turns the car in the direction he had been going in circles before and continues to push the car in circles around the concrete slab. While on the outside of the car, pushing from the rear, he completes 1 circle in One Direction and then stops, turns around and goes the opposite direction until he arrives at the water fountain again. El makes three more oscillating circles around the concrete. Slab, each time returning to the front of the water fountain. Elvin. It reenters the push car and decides to travel around the sandbox again, in the opposite direction from his original path of travel. Hell makes several more circles around the sandbox. Even beeping his horn at his peers and waving as he goes around End around. His peers in the sandbox waved back at him when he honks his horn. Conclusion. L will begin to include one or two peers in his play of choice, building on his ability to engage in cooperative play. Here at school, teachers can help L reach this goal through cooperative building teams during small group time, encouraging L to use his skills to lead in play during free choice (i.e., if L is building a puzzle successfully, encourage him to invite a friend over to include them in the puzzle building process), and through our Second Step curriculum (playing with friends cooperatively) L will begin to lead or participate in planning of play, with other children. .

Observation 4 Date. 2/20/2025 Time. 10:30 am Setting. The Head Start Preschool site on Vista de Lago Rd. In Valley Springs, CA. Observation. This observation was conducted during free choice time. Was on the floor next to the art area. She was playing with the magnet tile blocks and using the square shaped ones to build a tower. She built a tower that was 4 levels tall before she decided to switch to the triangular shape tiles to make the tower come to a point. When she finished putting the last triangle piece on top and made the tower look complete, she clapped her hands and said yay. L turned around to look at the sound of her clapping hands and her exclamation of joy. He stands up, walks over to the tower and pushes on the top of the tower. He gives. Too much of his weight onto it and he falls forward onto his belly, knocking the tower over completely. Hey, yells loudly. Hey. The hay starts out as a yell and continues into a scream, the entire vocalization lasting for over 4 seconds. During the vocalization, A swings her hands back and forth to show that she is upset. L rolls over onto his back and swings his arms above him and laughs. A looks at him and yells very loudly. Don't want to break it. Lol laughs and claps his hands and picks up some of the magnet tiles and tosses them into the air to land on his belly. One of the teachers. That is kneeling with the children playing Magna tiles, says to L. “That wasn't nice”. “A wanted to build a tower, not knock it down”. A was beginning to build another tower when L reaches over and knocks the tiles from her hand and laughs. The teacher interrupts Elle from knocking the tile from her other hand and says to L “If you don't want to help build the tower, you can play with something else”. L smiles at the teacher and shakes his head. L picks up a magnetic tile from the floor and tosses it in the direction of the teacher. Before the teacher can get out of the way, L picks up another tile with his same hand and throws it directly at the teacher. The Magnet bounces off the teacher's thigh. The teacher looks at L and tells him “That’s dangerous to throw toys. We only throw balls. Then only outside”. L picks up another magnetic tile and begins to throw it.” Hey, L” I say to him,” why don't you come here, and we'll build a car with these blocks?” I held up one of the foam blocks that are approximately 1 foot cube. We put three of them on the floor in a line and one on the middle block. L sits on the block behind the stacked block, and I pushed the set of blocks slowly across the floor and make a beeping noise. Once I have pushed L to one side of the classroom, I have him get up from the block and go around to the other side of the blocks and I push him to the other side of the classroom L has lost interest in A and her building with the Magna tiles. L continues to scoot his block car across the classroom for another 3-4 minutes. Conclusion. Using the second-step curriculum to teach L about recognizing other’s feelings and using words to communicate needs, assisting L when needed and modeling what words to use with peers then encouraging L to practice same words, giving L positive praise and recognition when he does use words with peers and teachers to reinforce the positive behavior. L will build his knowledge of different strategies to solve conflict. He will develop the ability to use his words to communicate how to solve a problem with a friend. A will build on using her words with peers, in a calm manner, to solve conflict. She will build on her ability to use kind words to include others in her play, also recognizing other’s feelings. A can reach this goal through the second-step curriculum – stories and puppetry, teachers can assist A when needed and model what it looks and sounds like to use words with peers, then encourage A to practice the same actions and words, giving her positive praise and recognition when she follows through. The problem-solving cards can be used to give A strategies on how to solve problems (i.e. asking nicely, using a timer, trading and so on).

Observation 5 Date. The original date of the observation was scheduled on the week of 9/13/2023. Due to illness, it was postponed. After the illness and the children were allowed to return to our site It was the week of September 18th through the 22nd of 2023. The actual date of observation. Was September 22nd. Time. The time of drop off for both brothers was approximately 8:32 AM. The brother being observed was allowed to eat breakfast before observation began. Breakfast time lasted for half an hour. Time of observation begins at approximately 9:02 AM. Setting. The Head Start Preschool site on Vista de Lago Rd. In Valley Springs, CA. Observation. K began his journey by exploring a collection of colorful blocks scattered on the floor. The child's little fingers skillfully grasped the blocks, examining their shapes, colors, and textures. For approximately 5 minutes, the child sat cross legged on the carpet, stacking, and unstacking the blocks carefully. Occasionally K would let out a triumphant squeal as a tower of blocks reached tall heights, only to erupt in a fit of laughter when it came crashing down moments later. Next, he ventured into the reading corner, adorned with a vibrant picture of books. As I sat down on the small, colorful rug, the child plopped into my lap. Tugging at a book with an inviting cover. For the following 10 minutes, we engaged in a cooperative reading session or at least attempted to. While I read aloud, the child eagerly turned the pages to mimic my storytelling. However, the child's attention span for each page proved short lived. As enthusiasm for new picture caught his eye at lightning speed. As our exploration continued, the child's attention was drawn to a set of musical toys placed on a small wooden table nearby. It was a mixture of tambourines, maracas, and xylophones. The child's face lit up as he grabbed a maraca shook it with excitement. For the next 3 minutes, we engaged in a delightful musical experiment, creating our own rhythm and melody. Although K's beat was often erratic, His laughter echoed through the room, showcasing the joy and freedom in self-expression. The child's attention shifted to a large mirror hanging against the wall. Fascinated by his own reflection, the toddler spent the next 10 minutes making funny faces, blowing kisses, and imitating every move I made. K starts to pay attention to the baseboard that runs along the classroom floor. He begins crawling around the room, exploring the baseboard all the way to the corner. Once he reaches the corner, he uses his hands to explore the seam. Running his finger along it, feeling the texture of the carpet versus the smoothness of the baseboard. Shortly after, he spots a colorful stack of blocks that are in the opposite corner of the room. Since these are different blocks than he was playing with earlier, he scoots over on all fours as fast as he can. As he arrives at the pile of blocks. He sits down on his bottom and uses his legs to pull the blocks toward himself. He then begins to stack the blocks one by one in two towers. With the stack of blocks on either side, he begins to move back and forth. Trying not to knock down the blocks. As he begins to move next to a Stack of blocks, and it begins to wobble. He stops. Looks at the stack but does not try to steady it. It didn't fall, so he continues along his path. After exhausting his block stacking adventure. Our young kiddos attention shifts. The child's energy began to wane. After a quick sippy cup and some cuddles, the toddlers’ bright eyes grew heavy. Signaling the need for an app. We bid farewell for now, both exhausted but content with the shared experience we had just journeyed through together. Conclusion. Block stacking was a favorite activity with this little kiddo. This activity provided the child with not only a sense of accomplishment, but also a lesson in trial and error. This activity also provided experimentation with gross and fine motor skills. Since this was an activity that the kiddo enjoyed it was repeated more than once during the observation. While sitting on my lap and attempting to read a story to the kiddo he became impatient and wanted to look at the next picture when he was done looking at the current picture. Nevertheless, this short-lived intervention contributed to language development, motor skills and a shared bond between us. The few minutes spent playing with the kiddo in front of the mirror Showed that he had an interest in himself. This activity not only encouraged self-awareness but also promoted a sense of identity and connection through imitation. It was a precarious reminder of the magical stage of development where children are gradually discovering who they are.

Teacher Robert

Child observations

Teacher Robert