Child Observation, Essay Example

Ann is three years and two months old Caucasian girl. She goes to preschool at a local church. Ann is the only child in the family, thus getting all the parents’ attention. She is cute little girl with dark hair and wonderful green eyes. One would say she is too skinny, but I would say that it is just for now, because she is growing and is pretty tall for her age. Ann is actually 41 inches tall. I was observing the child in a preschool room of a church, and during my observation Ann was listening to a story, playing and interacting with her peers and her teacher Mrs. Harnett.

When Mrs. Harnett starts reading the story “A Trip to the Zoo” and all the children sit around and listen. However, Ann is not interested in the story, thus she is looking around the classroom, fidgeting, and playing with her pigtails. Ann is exploring the environment around her to better understand it and her peers. She definitely is I need for movement. When the kids are playing the “centers” game, in which everybody gets a chance to become a “leader”, Ann does not want to work in a team. She picks her own puzzle and starts working on it by herself. She is a “can do” child, though she cannot accomplish the task completely, she does it with the help of Mrs. Harnett. Ann is a quick learner, for after Mrs. Harnett advices her to try turning the pieces, she does it correctly right away and completes the puzzle.  Ann is developing her motor skills through interaction with small pieces of the puzzle. Ann is more interested in learning about other areas of physical development rather than simple interaction with her peers, thus she keeps working on her puzzle ignoring them. Ann grabs another puzzle and tries to solve it. When one of the girls starts playing cashier and yells: “Anyone coming to pay?” Ann overhears it and sharply says “No”. She demonstrates she does not want to interact with her peers and keeps working on her own. She also shows a great understanding of spoken language, and responds with an intonation expressing emotions. However, Ann does not refuse another child Kelsey trying to help her with a puzzle. After they successfully complete it, Ann suggests cleaning up, thus demonstrating she had learned a habit of not leaving a mess behind. Ann is very happy about completing a puzzle.

Another activity she gets enrolled in is working with dough. She is developing her fine motor skills when squeezing the dough and squishing it into a sheet of paper trying to make a star. She makes a remarkable comment on the good smell of dough, thus proving to intensely develop her sense of smell at the age of three. Mrs. Harnett tells all the children to clean up, and Ann looks at other kids first, and then starts cleaning up. Thus, she demonstrates she is aware of peers surrounding her. Also Ann cleans her hands after that, showing she has developed a sense of cleanliness. Again, Ann was very cheerful after she succeeded to make a star out of dough. Mrs. Harnett gathers all the children for another story and Ann sits down and listens attentively. After the story, the teacher asks questions about the story and Ann is the only one who does not say anything. She feels inferior towards her peers in the classroom because she is the youngest one in this class. However, Ann demonstrates clear understanding of questions and spoken language in whole, for she does not look confused on this one.

For her age of three years and two months Ann is very capable child comparing to other peers. She has demonstrated good learning ability, when following Mrs. Harnett’s advices and successfully completing the assignments. Ann did not frequently express her emotions, being inferior and intimidated by her peers because of the fact that she was the youngest in the group. However, she was very happy and cheerful after succeeding in any of the assignments, like solving puzzles and working with dough. Her physical development is on relatively high level, for she is relatively tall comparing to other children of her age, and possesses great motor skills, when interacting with the environment. I think the child is highly influenced by the environment for she is always aware, thus studying things and people that surround her.