Running head: OBSERVATION #4 CHILD MANAGEMENT 1

Observation 4

Jeremia Vergara

Raritan Valley Community College

Professor Kimberly Schirner

November 26, 2018

EDU 212 Field Experience

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I. Observation #4:
The four domains of a child

II. Grade Level and Subject Area:

Pre-Kindergarten

III. Setting:
Facility of the classroom is located in a suburban town. The school is private and
specializes specifically in early childhood care and education. Each classroom has
a main teacher, two assistant teachers, and about thirteen students.

IV. Pre-Observation:
In this observation, it is imperative to know that children grow at different
rates. An idea known as the “Four Domains of a Child” include the social,
emotional, physical and cognitive development stage. “The domains are
interrelated; what happens in one domain influences development in the other
domains. The skills and knowledge that children develop early in his life are the
foundation for more advanced skills and knowledge” (Child Development
Principles, n.d.). Teachers use these domains to see how their students are
progressing. Social and emotional development depend on the child learning to
understand and express emotions, form attachments, play with other students, and
handle peer challenges (Development Domains of Childhood Development, n.d.).
This gives the children the ability to understand how others feel and how to
control their own. Every child differs in whatever environment he/she is exposed
to. The physical stage involves the child mastering balance, movement, and fine
motor skills, while cognitive has the child using skills pertaining to learning and
thinking (Oguejiofo, 2017). I would expect my lead teacher to use these four
domains in her lesson plans to accurately see how each of her students develop
during the school year. It should be recorded, both physically and mentally, the
progression of each child. This determines their placement for a classroom in the
next school year. For this study, I will label the child being observed as Child A.

V. Data:
● Child A is considered the youngest child in the whole classroom. They
had just recently turned three years old in the beginning of summer.
● The child, as considered by one of the teachers, must push himself harder
in order to fit in with the peers, meaning with his lack of development in
some areas, it can be hard for them to adjust.
● Child A always bumps their head on something.
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● Child A does not respond right away to given commands or when it’s
snack time, which is right after nap time.
● Child A does not listen when it is time to clean up or line up to go outside.
● Child A yells at everyone, regardless of superiority.
● When being forcefully lifted up, Child A will hold down weight and start
kicking.
● Child A needs to be asked constantly if they need help because they do not
reply right away.
● Child A talks back a lot.
● Child A has days where they are good in the morning then a problem in
the afternoon. Sometimes this switches.
● Child A has hit and kicked all three teachers in the room.
● Child A was recommended to be placed in a younger room where they
would be the oldest. Parents declined thinking they would do well with the
older crowd.
● Child A has profound art skills.
● Child A tries to fight all the other kids.
● Child A is the smallest child in the class.
● Child A uses the potty properly but needs to be constantly reminded to go
before going outside to play.
● Child A always puts hand in mouth.
● Child A spilled yogurt on the floor and spread it with their foot. When the
teacher asked them to clean it up, he laid on the floor.
● Child A sometimes uses their words when they do not like something, but
most of the time they just stay quiet.
● Child A digs through the garbage can a lot.
● When Child A’s parents are alerted about what they’re doing, i.e. hitting a
friend, taking toys, not listening, the parents do not pick up their phones or
call back for what I have seen. When they are told of their progress at pick
up time, they say they will try better.
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VI. Analysis:
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From the given data, we can see that Child A is behind on some
development. A development checklist from Pathways.org can be used to see how
Child A is doing. For his play and social skills, Child A proves to be sufficient,
getting 11 out of the 15 parts checked as “Yes”. In coordination, however, they
scored less than 10 out of the 13 given items. The child cannot stay still when
playing catch with another friend. Whenever they walk into a new room, the child
looks around to see the new environment, but then trips over a chair shortly after.
Furniture is leaned on when the child is told to do something they do not want to
do, such as washing their hands after putting it in their nose or mouth. They lose
balance quickly as they are not always paying attention to what is around them.
The child walks fine using the heel-toe pattern rather than always on their toes,
but they drift left to right in the hallway when they’re being taken somewhere out
of the classroom. In the activities portion, I switched out bathtime with washing
hands before snack and after they go potty. For car rides, I put in the time used to
line up when it’s time to play outside and how they behave in the hallway. I took
out diaper training entirely as it is required for the child to be potty-trained in
preschool, but from this checklist it shows that this child may not ready to be in
an older classroom. For falling asleep and having a set sleep schedule, I used their
naptime and used the amount of time it takes the child to sleep. For the haircut
section, I used the time that teachers use to help the child put on a jacket and
when it’s direction time for arts and crafts. For this part, Child A scored a 6 out of
the 12 parts. When they wet themselves, they ignore it and continue to play
around the room. When asked if it’s water or an accident, the child screams,
“No!” when the smell may make it obvious. Sleeping during naptime proves to be
a problem at times. Child A may wake up an hour early or not sleep at all. This
makes them fussy for the rest of the afternoon. They would scream, jump around,
and even be a problem for their friends. During reading time, Child A may throw
around a book in the air. Sometimes it would land on a friend’s head. For the self-
expression part of the checklist, they scored an 11 out of the 12 parts. They can
handle themselves to an extent to stay calm, but will wail and lash out when
things do not go their way. This led to teachers getting hit and kicked, eventually
being sent to the front office. Their sleeping schedule proves to be a challenge at
times, but it depends on the day and how their morning drop-off was. The child
cries for various reasons. Sometimes they don’t get to choose a stations, not liking
their snack, or even not staying outside long enough.
In the mornings, I am not always there to observe, so I would ask the
assistant teacher how Child A was in the morning. Some days she would say he
had a really good day, others would be her saying Child A could be better, and
some are just terrible days for them. In the afternoon, the assistant teacher would
leave at around 4, leaving the helper teacher and the lead teacher. After snack
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time is usually when the children would be taken outside to play. If Child A had
been acting up prior to everyone lining up, they would stay behind with any other
child that also had a bad day. The main teacher would talk to them, the children
would apologize, and head outside together. One day, while walking back to the
classroom from the playground, Child A was creating a scene and was having
difficulty walking back to the classroom. A staff who was in charge of snacks
happened to be in the kitchen. Seeing that the child was acting up, she gave them
a colorful plate from the kitchen to show the lead teacher. The child stopped
acting up and immediately ran towards the lead teacher, but this reinforced
negative behavior. The teachers agreed that the child now sees that if they act up,
they will be given something instead of being taught that how they acted wasn’t
right. From the child’s behavior, we can assume some things that may go on in
their home life. Since the child has no problem talking back and hitting, then it
can be assumed that this behavior is not being worked on or tolerated at home.

VII. Recommendations
Certain milestones are met before, during and after a child is in preschool.
However, some children would need extra help in their progression. The older
children in the classroom had already reached milestones that Child A had yet to
reach. For one thing, the child should be considered being moved into a younger
classroom. In the older classroom, it’s more pressure for them to try to act and get
along with the big kids. Some of the kids are able to walk into the bathroom, do
their business, and walk out without a problem. Child A still needs help and must
be moderated when they’re in the bathroom. Socially, the child is proficient in
being able to converse with peers. They have friendships, but cannot say the name
of the friend because they don’t know it. However, the child does not come to
terms when it’s time to take turns (Social and Emotional Growth, n.d.). They
would not hesitate to shove children or take a ball away from someone who was
already playing with it. Seeing as how children’s eyes move to things that are
colorful, perhaps showing them a book or making a puppet show about sharing
would allow the child to see that they need to be patient (Cox et al., 2014).
Emotionally, the child does not recognize superiors and, like mentioned
many times before, talks back. They do have a sense of individuality, but cannot
sense it with other peers, hence why they start to use their hands to hit friends or
to throw things at teachers. Child A’s eyes begin to get watery on the playground
when they cannot shoot a basketball through the hoop. When it’s time to put on
their jackets, it’s a given that the kids may need help in zipping up their jackets.
Child A, however, does not attempt. A teacher may help them the first time, but
then the child undos it entirely, causing him to look frustrated. Perhaps having a
friend show how to do it or a song would encourage Child A to ask for help.
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When Child A sees a friend upset, they do take time to observe why the friend is
sad and may give them a book.
Physical health in a three year old proves to be more advanced. At this
point, the child should be able to have better coordination for running, climbing,
and any other physical activity (Physical Health, n.d.). Child A shows that they
can balance, but may drift off to the sides when walking. They also bump into
friends when walking in a line. To practice this, I would try to have the child try
to follow the curbline on a road that doesn’t have many cars passing along it. The
child would try to keep themselves balanced on the rocks, perhaps with their arms
out to obtain their balance. When it comes to pulling up their pants after potty
time, the child shows efficiency in buttoning but not zipping their pants. Child
A’s shirts may ride up from time to time or their pants fall as well. The child is
able to pull them up or down without being told to do so.
Child A’s cognitive skills prove to need more work. For one, Child A does
not wash their hands properly, so a friend is asked to show Child A how it is
done. Child A follows them accordingly. At this point, a three-year-old should be
able to follow three-step instructions (Morin, n.d.). Child A shows difficulty in
following procedures for cleanup time. They must be reminded constantly on
what to do. Perhaps helping them identify shapes and colors would help the
cleanup (10 Ways to Promote Your Child’s Cognitive Abilities, n.d.). A teacher
can say any blue items have to go in the blue bin, and the pink items would go in
the red bin. The child can then use this pattern to learn how to sort items by color
as well. Concentration is limited to Child A as well. The children would be
tracing letters that they are learning for the week. Child A would focus on it, but
then drift off to the toys and stations before finishing their work. One
recommendation would be to use signals (Great School Staff, 2017). The child
does understand that when it’s time to work, everyone is seated. A teacher may
point to the child’s chair as a reminder that they need to finish their alphabet
tracing before it is time to play.

VIII. Post-Observation
Children take time to grow and learn, and a teacher’s job is to make sure
that the lessons taught stay with the child. Child A’s progression in their four
domains show me what to be expecting when it is time to get out there myself.
Through the research done for this observation, I was able to get ahold of what to
look for in a child and where he/she should be developmentally during the school
year. A checklist is crucial as it gives teachers a sense of where they should be in
their teaching. Should some milestones not be met, it is the job of the teacher to
alert it to the parents as soon as possible. Though I only show one here, I found
multiple checklists online that can be referred to in the time that I’m in the field
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teaching my own students.

IX. Citations:
Child Development Principles. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.bbbgeorgia.org/childDevelopment.php

Developmental Domains of Childhood Development. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.childhealth-explanation.com/developmental-domains.html

Child Development Checklists | Free Resources. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://pathways.org/topics-of-development/milestones/checklists/

Cox, K., CoxKaren, K., Pages, V. @., Karin, Claudia, Scott, . . . Smith, P. (2014,

July 16). Helping Children Share and Take Turns. Retrieved from

https://www.prekinders.com/helping-children-share/

Great Schools Staff. (2017). Print article. 5 easy ways to help kids stay on task.
Retrieved from

https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/helping-kids-focus/

Morin, A. (n.d.). Developmental Milestones for Typical 3-Year-Olds.

Retrieved from

https://www.understood.org/en/learning

-attention-issues/signs-symptoms/developmental-milestones

developmental-milestones-for-typical-3-year-olds

Oguejiofo, N. (2017, June 13). Stages of Development in a Preschool Aged Child.

Retrieved from https://www.livestrong.com/article/111697

-stages-development-preschool-aged-child/?ajax=1&is=1
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Physical Health. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopment

tracker/three/physicalhealth.html

Social and Emotional Growth. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopmenttracker/

three/socialandemotionalgrowth.html

X. Appendix: Attachments being used as supporting documents.