Classroom Scenario #1: Wested'S Center For Child and Family Studies, Desired Results T&Ta Project

Activity: Slide 48
Classroom Scenario #1
The children were engaged and attentive during morning circle. After
transitioning to center time however, the classroom began to fall apart. Two
children immediately went to the library to work on a puzzle. The rest of the
children wandered around the room without engaging in an activity. After 15
minutes, the noise level of the room rose when three children began to play a
chasing game. They accidentally scattered the puzzle pieces that two
children in the library were working on, and knocked over one of the easels.
Fortunately, no one was using it at the time.
While the teachers attended to the chaos, two children wandered into the
bathroom. They stuffed toilet paper into the sink drain and turned the
water on full force. By the time the teachers noticed, the floor was flooded
and the children were wet head-to-toe. When center time was almost over,
and it was time to transition outdoors, the room was in shambles.
Why might this scenario occur? How might you focus your observations to
evaluate the classroom?
What strategies would you suggest the teacher use in this situation?
Copyright © 2009 California Department of Education, Child Development Division with

WestEd’s Center for Child and Family Studies, Desired Results T&TA Project.
Activity: Slide 48
Most of the day goes well. The children are engaged in the morning circle
time. The room is well organized and has many interesting activities and
props available in the various centers of the room. The teachers are
attentive, energetic, and engaged. They appear to have healthy, close
relationships with the children in their group.
Transition times however are chaotic. It takes almost ten minutes for the
teachers to gather and settle the children into morning circle. Later, when it
is time to clean up and go outside, the teachers struggle for almost 20
minutes to clean up the room, and make sure that all the children have their
shoes on and have used the bathroom.
The classroom serves lunch family-style. Some children sit down before
washing hands and are sent back to the sink. Others wash hands and then go
back to the home living area to play. While the two teachers are rounding up
wandering children, three other children sit at the table and using the
serving spoons, begin to eat directly out of the serving dishes.
After lunch, the nap time transition is also chaotic. While one teacher cleans
up the lunch tables, the other tries to help children get ready for nap, as
three children move their nap mats around the room. One child finally gets
on his nap mat, and in the next moment, he is up again playing with materials
from the shelves that had just been put away a few moments before.

Activity: Slide 48

Activity: Slide 48
The morning begins at 8:30 a.m. with circle time. After a greeting song and a
10-minute show and tell, the teacher does a quick “beginning sound” activity,
an active dancing activity, and ends circle time with the teacher reading
aloud two picture books. During the final story activity, a number of children
leave the circle to use the bathroom or get a tissue. A few children take
some small toys from their pockets and begin to play with them. One child
takes off her shoes, puts them on her hands, and pretends to walk up the
wall behind her. The teacher assistant moves from child to child, redirecting
them to the story.
At 8:50, the children transition to the tables to do an extension activity for

one of the books. Each child draws a picture and dictates a caption to one of
the teachers. All the children remain at the tables until the activity is done.
One child pretends to fall off his chair over and over again. Another uses
markers to draw on her arms. One other child reaches over to write on
another child’s paper. Two children keep saying that they are done and want
to go play somewhere else. The teacher tells them it will just take a few
more minutes.
At 9:20, the teacher gathers all the children in the meeting area to play a
game of hokey pokey. Next they sing another song, first in English, then in
Spanish, and then again in Hmong. One of the children begins to complain
that he is hungry. Four children sit quietly and do not join in on the songs.
Two go to the bathroom and don’t return. One child screams the words of
the song into the ear of the child next to him. They get into a physical fight.
At 9:45, the teacher asks the children to line up to wash hands and sends
them to the tables for snack. The children must wait until everyone is
seated before snack is served (this takes about 10 minutes). One child
wanders around the room, and is sent back to the hand-washing line three
times. Two children physically fight over one of the chairs. Another child
pulls a sandwich out of her cubby and climbs up to the loft to eat alone and
watch the action below.

Activity: Slide 48


Classroom Scenario #1: Wested'S Center For Child and Family Studies, Desired Results T&Ta Project

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Activity: Slide 48

Copyright © 2009 California Department of Education, Child Development Division with

Copyright © 2009 California Department of Education, Child Development Division with

Copyright © 2009 California Department of Education, Child Development Division with

At 8:50, the children transition to the tables to do an extension activity for

Copyright © 2009 California Department of Education, Child Development Division with

Copyright © 2009 California Department of Education, Child Development Division with

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