SFL observation paper

Part 1
2. When all of the students were listening to the story Magic Tree house being read the children realized that the short soldier was Annie in discuse. They began to shout out who what they were thinking, and the teacher asked them to all whisper to their neighbor who they thought the short soldier was. Later in the story when the author tells that it is Annie the teacher asked the students to give her a tumbs up if they were right. This was a great example of DAP group time because it involved the students interaction, and not simply the teacher demanding attention and silence. This developed a sense of positive social interaction that made reading time less stressful and social. (p. 122)

4. The day that I observed there was a class of BYU students who preformedd a short play for the students. It was obviously not two-dimensional, because it was a play. The preformance included musical instruments, colorful costumes, and even a few songs. This was DAP appropriate because the play was about the weather and applied daily thing that children incounter such as snow, rain, and sunshine into an entertaining and engaging play. “draw on children’s own interesets and introduce children to things likely to interest them.” (p. 21)

7. Prior to the play the teacher put on a song and they all danced to the music. It was a song that required that the student’s move around. They reached up, jumped, turned around, and stomped the ground. It was a great way to help the children get their wiggles out before they had to sit down for the preformance. This was DAP appropriate because it altered sitting time with physical movement. There should be 60 minutes of structured physical activity (p. 117)

10. In one of the group times that teacher read a story. After the story the teacher tried to start a discusion with the question, Raise your hand if you know what the problem was in the story. That question was not getting a positive response so she returned to asking what happened first, and what happened second. This was DAP appropriate because the teacher did not expect to get one right answer, but she helped to scafold her students to think deeper into the plot. After she helped the children to think of the book chronologically they were able to discuss were the problem was.

8. Math and science was intergrated during show and tale. One of the students brought a toy car that changed colors in hot and cold temperatures. The lead teacher asked one of the aids to bring hot and cold water to the front of the class room and then the little boy demonstrated how the car changed colors. Not only did it seem like magic to the students, which, I guess could be scientific, but the teacher said “oh, look it goes from pink, to blue, to pink, to blue, it is almost like a pattern.” I was so impressed with how the teacher took this moment to identify the concept of a pattern in the classroom. “development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and cultural contexts,” (p. 13)

12. The drawing activity was to draw insturtion pictures. The teacher showed the students examples of what an instruction picture was and talked about how an insturction picture would have arrows and words on the bottom. When the instructions were over for the coloring station the children were intently coloring. They put in some arrows. And started asking questions such as What is happening? what should I add? I need words? What are some words? They even started to sound out all of the words. This was DAP appropriate was for an art project because it was open ended curriculum. It was also DAP appropriate because the children were in small comfortable groups which helped support for cooperative small group projec ts in which children work together, they help to promote children’s comofro telvel with one another and, potentially, their likelihood of vecoming friends. (p. 271)

Part 2
Section A:
1. the show and tell time during class was DAP appropriate because it helped the children bring something from home were they are comfortable and show it to the class. Before the student’s started to share their items the teacher clearly reminded them what the expectations were for show and tale. That we do not talk, we sit criss cross apple sauce, and when we talk about our item we do not use a lot of words to explain it. (p. 22)
2. There were many opertunities during recess for play. These activites were ranging from on the playground to the small patch of grass in the corner, and were appropraite areas for the children to interact. One little girl wanted the other to be her dog, but the second little girl did not want to be her dog. The enviornment enabled her to go and play with another friend because she did not want to be a dog. On the playground the developmental play focused on developing gross motor skills. Because in of what we know about the general development of kindergarteners from our DAP book we know that they are still learning physically movements like climbing. The playground was the right size and the steps were the right distance to help the children support themselves while they learned to move up and down the stair cases.
Section B: I observed one child in particular.
One of the children had lost their important homework booklet. Instead of making the student feel dumb the teacher talked with her and told her how easy it was to get a new booklet. The teacher helped the student find the right book that she needed for her homework. I think that the teacher handeld this situation wonderfully and think that it also would have been good to ask the student if there was a special place that they could put her homework so that she would not lose it. I related to this child because I am always loosing everything, and appreciate it when people do not make me feel dumb about that.
The room was arranged to support the children because the rug was organized by colored dots. More than once I heard a teacher make a comment such as: my red dot row is sitting very nice, can my friends please sit on their dots, and so on. I watched this student move around on the rug to try and mimic the red dot. She was laying down during one of the rug times, and when the teacher reminded her to sit on her dot she wiggled back up to her dot and sat down. Having a clear and easy to understand environment helped this child to know the expectations of the classroom.
When the teachers rearranged the classroom for the play they put one of the tables near the coach, and this particular student was trying to jump from the coach onto the table. I believe that when the teachers rearranged the classroom to make room they should have just moved the table a little ways away from the coach, and the children would not have tried to run across the two item.
She did not want to do anything during free time. Instead she was wondering around the classroom. The lead teacher saw her, and asked her if she wanted to go write a book, draw, or do puzzles. She told the teacher she wanted to write a book. The teacher walked her over the book table and then left her there. When the teacher realized that she still had not started her book she asked her if she wanted to sit next to so and so or another person. She sat next to one of her friends. Then the teacher helped her pick out the colors that she wanted, and finally the girl started her book. After free time she put her book away and sat on the rug with the rest of the students. When the play was over and all of the parents were picking up their children this student was the last to be picked up. To my surprise the first thing she started to do while she waited for her mom or dad to come was to write in her book.
The student I observed did not have the most social or positive interactions with her peers. During outside time she spent most of the time by herself. When she did talk to another student it was because she wanted the soccer ball that he was playing with and she wanted to take it from him. There were times when she appeared to want to play soccer with the rest of the children, but just could not bring herself to interact. Other times while she was on the playground she was walking across the balance beam completely uninterested in the other children.
Section C: I learned a lot from observing the classrooms, but I particularly learned the importance of observing. It was helpful to get good ideas from the kindergarten classroom. Most of them I would never have thought of by myself. For instance I would not have thought to have the students whisper who they thought was in the soldier out fit in the magic tree house book. It was also helpful to see how simple things like big colorful dots on the rug really help to set up the classroom for a place of learning. The real take home message I had was that it is important to have lead teachers and teacher aids. Not simply because you have to have an adult there to help the children, but because you need an adult to help the adults. I learned so much from observing the postivive examples. I thought how I myself, just like the children, was drawn to the more enaging teachers than the dull and demanding ones. It made me realize that when I am a teacher I will still be learning from the examples of teachers that I surround myself with.