Stephany Murgua

FHS 1500
Observation 1
Childs Age: 24 months
Pseudonym: Alice
Location: Redwood Campus Eccles Lab School

There were seven children, ranging from 2 to 3 years old. I initially observed the children
in a large play area for mud day. Throughout my observation the children transitioned into a
classroom area, where they participated in circle time. Which consisted or reading and singing
four stories, while two caregivers took turns prepping their lunch and changing the children and
one caregiver lead the story time. The last ten minutes of the time were spent transitioning the
children towards lunch time and the children eating lunch.
Physical Development
When I first saw Alice, she seemed to be substantially smaller than the other children.
She was at least a head smaller than the boys and a couple of inches shorter than the girls. She
was thin framed and took very small steps although those steps were intentional and showed a
mastering of that motor skill and even ran (although in smaller steps) as expected by about 20
months according to the chart At About This Time: Age Norms for Gross Motor Skills (Berger
2014, p.104). She seemed to have trouble with some of the more coordinated motor skills, like
when one of the caregivers instructed her to walk with a towel to keep warm. She kept dropping
the towel and had to be given special attention to keep up with the class as they walked to the
classroom. However, when she sat down and participated in the songs, there were a couple of
songs where she was asked to show fine motor skills as described by Berger (2014), physical
abilities involving small movements especially of the hands and feet (p. 104). One song
asked her to clap on beat and in another using her fingers in highly coordinated movements. She
was right on track for those skills and ahead of the other children and would often take pleasure
in showing the children around her how to do the finger movements. Which made me think that
Berger (2014) was correct in describing dynamic sensory-motor systems and the need for motor
skills to further social interaction (p. 105) she seemed to really enjoy showing her classmates the
skills she had mastered.

Intellection/Cognitive Development

Alice seems to be significantly ahead of her classmates, she would often follow directions
and listen intently when the children around her were having a hard time following directions.
She had also memorized many of the books they talked about and would anticipate movements
and lyrics before the other children would. There was a classmate who Ill call Betsy who
decided not to participate in the song, Alice actively recruited her to participate and would tell
her answers to the songs. This made me think that the teachers had spent a lot of time reinforcing
what was to happen at story time and that Alice remembered this, she also knew from Bergers
(2014), description of stage six of new means through mental combinations that Alice had
tried other ways to change story time before and that her participation had been reinforced and
now she participated. When the book demonstrated numbers and letters, Alice went ahead and
started counting before the book started to. She clearly answered questions the instructor posed,
when the instructor asked if they wanted this book she clearly said, Yes and when they
finished she clearly said one more. This showed that she was right on track with the language
milestones as depicted in, At about this time; The Development of Spoken Language (Berger
2014, p.122) she used multiword sentences and used them with the intent of impacting her
surroundings.

Social/Emotional Development

She demonstrated that she had developed a sense of self-awareness (Berger 2014, p. 134)
during story time the book references a belly button, she lifted up her shirt and searched for her
bellybutton. She also seemed very prideful of the fact that she connected the book to her own
self and searched for recognition from the caregiver present at the time. Alice seems to have a
temperament that mixed will with the transitions in the classroom she demonstrated ability to self
sooth and regulate emotion and attention (Berger 2014, p. 138); she was able to transition from
outside time, to story time, to lunch with relative ease while the other children seemed to have a
harder time. She also provided her attention to the stories with other children were visibly
distracted and tried to switch other activities. She also showed a sense of surgency, or an active
and social child (Berger 2014, p. 138). She showed this through her interactions at lunch. The
caregivers asked every child at the table where they would like their salad dressing. One child
next to Alice was not paying attention and Alice poked him and asked him where would you like
your salad dressing and when the little boy seemed upset by salad dressing Alice showed
empathy and communicated to the caregiver that he was sad.

Although Alice is small for her age her physical, cognitive and social development are
advanced or where they need to be for this stage of development. It also makes me think that
Alices home or educational setting is very structured and actively engages her in various
settings to practice her cognitive and social skills. Alice demonstrated that she trusted her
caregivers to give her what she needed and was able to gage when to communicate to get her
needs met. According to Erikson this is an important goal for a child her age, to learn trust versus
mistrust (Berger 2014, p. 150).
Reference List
Berger, K. S. (2014). Invitation to the life span (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.