Taylor Lesko

ECE 251-1001

March 12, 2017

Observation of Classroom Caring Elements

School: CSN Early Childhood Education Lab

Telephone: 702-651-4004

Teacher: Ms. Stevenston

Age/Grade Level: 4-5 years old

Date: March 7, 2017

Beginning & End Time: 9:00am-11:30am

Teacher Characteristics

1. First meeting: At the start of the observation I met the teacher and I felt welcomed into

the classroom because of her kind gestures and the rooms atmosphere. Ms. Stevenston

was interacting with the kids on the playground when I first met her. She was cheerful

and smiling which made the children happy as well. I noticed that she was kneeling on

the ground so that she was at the childrens level when she spoke to them. She never

spoke to the children in a tone that would be perceived as angry. At the end of my

observation, I had the same feelings about Ms. Stevenston. She is genuinely happy when

interacting with the children and being their teacher. A child gave her a picture to take

home and I overheard Ms. Stevenson respond to the child by saying, I would love to

take this home, it is so pretty. The little girl proceeded to give Ms. Stevenston a hug.
2. Unconditional and Accepting: I have noticed that Ms. Stevenston is accepting of

individual differences during her time with each child she had the same nurturing attitude
 no matter their differences. She allows the children to make many choices during the day

and always encourages them even if they pick something different than another student. I

watched her go around the classroom during free play and she was interested in every

activity that was going on.

3. Accepting of Challenging Behaviors: There were a few times during my observation

when I noticed some children experiencing challenging behavior. Ms. Stevenston

remained calm and talked the children through their decisions in order to achieve a

positive outcome. She allowed them to make their own decisions and was very patient.

For example, there was a little girl in the class that was having a hard time staying still

during reading. Ms. Stevenston reminded the child that she would need to put her bottom

on the ground or she could sit by a teacher so that everyone could listen to the story. The

little girl got upset and decided to leave the group and sit in the loft away from others.

After this behavior occurred, Ms. Stevenston mentioned to the child that she could come

back to the reading area anytime she wanted to join them again. She continued to read the

story and after a couple minutes, the little girl made her own decision to come back and

sit with the class.

Bonding

1. Bonding rituals: The main type of bonding that I see the teacher use frequently is signing

songs to the whole class. There is a song they start off with every single morning and it

welcomes each child to the class. The whole class will sing Hello (insert name) how are

you, hello (name) how are you, how are you today?. Greeting every child when they

come into the class in the morning gives them a sense of belonging and significance.

Another song that the class sings that creates a bonding moment is we wish you well.

This is a song that they sing when they have classmates or teachers absent from class.
 This song promotes a caring atmosphere that shows the children it is okay to miss our

classmates.
2. Other ways of bonding: Another way that the teacher promotes bonding in the classroom

is having pictures of the students around the classroom. She has pictures of the children

and their families placed in the classroom. It is a great reminder to show the children that

they have their families at home and it is okay to miss them. It also reminds the children

that this is our school family. They have a song that they sing all together that says This

is my school family.
A way the teacher also bonds with her students is simply getting down to their level

whether it is sitting at a table or sitting on the ground and being interested in what they

are doing. By her getting to their level, it shows that she is interested and not talking

down to the students.

Another bonding ritual that made the children interact together was a kindness sprinkle.

During the morning routine there are two children that perform the kindness sprinkle.

They take special wands and sprinkle kindness on their classmates. This allows them to

bond with each other and make a friendly interaction every day. This also reminds the

children they need to be kind to their classmates.

Schedule & Routines

1. Classroom Schedule:
7:30 Centers/Child directed play
8:30 Playground
9:00 Morning meeting/Child directed play
- Snack
- Free choice centers
- Small group time

10:00 Door open to Aspen and Patio

10:30 Clean up/Story time

11:15 Movement/Music
 11:30 Lunch Time

12:00 Patio/Playground/Prepare for nap

12:30 Nap Time

1:15 Quiet activities for awake children

2:30 Wake up/Snack

3:00 Centers/Child directed play

3:45 Outside Playground

4:30 to closing Snacks/Centers/Table Activities (Aspen Room)

2. Interview: Ms. Stevenston made it of utmost importance that she eased the children into

various aspects of the routine. She likes to move into new ideas slowly so that children do

not feel rushed and are more accepting of the change. For instance, she used fire drills as

an example. When teaching children about fire drills she first discussed what they are,

then went on how to practice them, and lastly, what the noise would be. She wanted the

children to first know the meaning behind the action of a fire drill. After that, she would

ease them into participating in a drill. They do them frequently so that they get use to the

idea and if it did happen, the children would be prepared.

Another aspect that she had to ease the children into was individual jobs. They have jobs

that each person has to perform during the morning routine. Ms. Stevenston let me know

that in the beginning it was messy and not a smooth transition to ask the children to

participate in. When it came to this lesson, she introduced a new job every day and went

over it so that the children got comfortable to the idea.

During their schedule, there are timers or signals that go off throughout the day that let

the children know what is expected of them. For instance, during happy nappy the

children are allowed to bring books to their sleeping mat. Once the lights turn off the
 children understand it is time to put their books under their mat. After this step, the

children are then given a signal to bring out lotion. This lotion has a soothing scent that

reminds the children it is time to relax and go to bed.

3. A) Transitions:
The first transition that took place in the classroom is the cleaning up the classroom

during free play. The first notification that it is time to start to clean up is when the

teacher notified the class that We closed the patio door to outside, it will be time to clean

up soon. From there, some children continued to play and some children started to

gather their belongings. As time passed, the teacher grabbed the clean up announcer

(classroom job) and let him know that it was time to announce the 5-minute mark. The

little boy grabbed the announcer microphone and said 5 minutes till clean up evergreen

friends, 5 minutes till clean up evergreen friends. After 5 minutes passed, the teacher

made the last announcement to clean up and said It is now time to clean up and we will

meet for a story!. The children started to clean up and met at the reading area.
The second transition that happened was when they were going to take the kids out to the

playground. The teachers told the children it was time to get ready to go outside. They all

lined up and some children were asking for help to put on their shoes. The teachers then

told them they would help outside. They counted all the children in a fun song to see if

they had everyone. They walked in a straight line to the playground.

B) I feel that the first transition was appropriate because they gave the children a friendly

reminder that the patio closed as a reminder to them that free play would end soon. They

also assigned a role of responsibility for one child to announce to the class that they have

five minutes left which gives the child a role in making sure the class follows the routine.
The second transition is appropriate as well because they made the transition to play

outside fun by signing a song. The song helps to make sure they have every child but also

to show the children they matter.

 C) When it came to the first transition, I feel that it could have improved by having the

children sing a song while transitioning so that it would be a motivator for the children to

start cleaning up instead of just being told what to do.

The second transition could have been improved by telling the children to prepare to go

outside by getting their coats and shoes on instead of saying they will do it outside.

Another way that it could improve this aspect is by having one teacher at the front of the

door and another one at the end of the line to make sure everyone is all set and acting

properly.

Rules

1. Classroom rules posted: The classroom rules that were posted said
Our school family works together to be:

Respectful, Helpful, and Kind!

2. Rules heard:
- Use your regular voice when speaking, please do not yell.
- Wash your hands so you can have snack.
- Push your chair in so no one falls.
- Put your bowl away.
- Put away your seating circle when you are down at the reading center.
- Do not pick your nose, clean your nose with a tissue.
- Do not run, please use your walking feet outside.
- Food stays at the table.
3. Consistent with classroom rules: The classroom rules seem to be reinforced a lot because

there were not many times when the lead teacher or assistants had to step in to alter what

the children were doing. The children knew what was expected of them and made their

own choices. When the children started to disobey the rules, the teachers made the

enforcement when it was needed.

4. Evaluate: I believe that because there was not an abundance of rules written down it can

be assumed that the children are aware of what they are supposed to do and are not as
strictly supervised. When rules were stated to the children, I believe they were more

positively enforced than negatively. They were positive in the fact they were not yelling

at the children and just simply telling what they wanted them to do. Rules are set in place

early on in a childs life so that they can realize that sometimes there are things they are

allowed to do and sometimes there are things they are prohibited from doing.