For my child observation article, I went to the Young Children's Center. The center's hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. I attended the center on November 7, 2019, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. The center offers programs for children ages three to six. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The specific room I observed was called the “Red Room,” which was one of three rooms designated for preschoolers. In the class, there were about 16 children aged three or four, as well as three teachers and two undergraduate student assistants. The first thing I noticed about the demographics of the group was that most of the individuals were white. In fact, everyone in the room was white, except for four of the children. Additionally, the only language spoken was English. The specific child I observed was a four-year-old Asian girl named Jubi. The room appeared to be divided into activity-based sections, called “centers” by the teachers. In the middle of the room was a rug with the children's photos as assigned seats; to the left were building blocks and an art easel; to the right there was a playground and lockers, and closer to me were tables set up for drawing and having a snack. The room was colorful and decorated with students' arts and crafts, as well as an extra classmate named "Marshmallow", who was the class pet Zebra Finch. At the start of each day, the children started with “free choice” before their morning meeting, allowing the class to stay busy while everyone else arrived. Free choice seemed to consist mostly of drawing, reading, blocks, and, for some, a morning snack of Cheerios. One of the first things Jubi showed that stood out to me was her ability to draw, something she spent most of her time doing. This indicates that his fine motor skills are progressing. These skills are defined as the movements we perform with the small muscles of the hands, in addition to hand-eye coordination. These actions demonstrate that her physical development is progressing and that she is able to control the small muscle groups that give her the ability not only to hold a marker steadily, but also to draw. Over the next few years, especially between the ages of five and seven, his fine motor skills will be significantly improved. Another form of child development exhibited by Jubi was their social and emotional development. At Jubi's age, a child develops greater self-esteem as an active person in a social world full of others. Throughout my observation as a child, Jubi seemed very independent, more so than most of her classmates. I first observed her independence when her father dropped her off. She immediately seemed ready to join the class, even wiping away her father's goodbye kisses from her cheek. But as he left, she ran to give him one last hug. By returning for one last hug while still being ready to explore on her own, Jubi demonstrated a secure attachment with her father. His father acted as a comforting and secure figure, which is a sign of secure attachment, according to John Bowlby. From the time he arrived until I left, Jubi seemed to be enjoying himself, seemingly oblivious to the activities the other kids were participating in. This increased initiative and self-efficacy demonstrates a greater sense of autonomy that will only increase with age.This also fits with Jubi's father being her safe base allowing her to explore without his presence. Jubi arrived in the morning with a stuffed panda, which she left in her compartment while she played. Throughout my observation, Jubi seemed to return to his compartment to check on his panda and even seemed to whisper to him. Preschoolers have difficulty differentiating between living and inanimate objects; this confusion often leads them to attribute life to non-living things, which is called animism. The fact that his panda is still in the back of his mind during a chaotic class doesn't surprise me. After this age period, Jubi's reasoning will become more complex and therefore his confusion between living and non-living things will decrease. Assessment The first activity that took place was the morning class meeting, where a teacher led the class in singing and then began her lesson. The Red Room is currently in the process of learning more about trains, and I'm told they will continue to do so over the coming months. The activity included one student approaching a picture of a train, naming a part of it, and then the whole class learning how to spell and pronounce that part. From this activity, children were able to skillfully learn more words and pronunciations by listing the parts. This concept of listening to the teacher's pronunciation and spelling helps children practice their use of phonology, semantics, and pragmatics in early language development. Then, by using their fingers to spell words, children were able to better recognize the correct way to produce, understand and spell language. Another activity that caught my attention was all the children creating a page in a “birthday book”. » for one of their colleagues. Before the birthday student arrived, all the students took turns at the drawing tables and created their own page to add to the book. This activity was awesome because I got to see all the kids come together to create something special for someone else. In the end, Jubi and her classmates were proud and excited to give the book to their friend. This activity of coming together cohesively as a group is called collectivism. Adult-Child Interactions in a Daycare Many students drew trains to add to their “train book” at the art table. After Jubi finished her work, she was extremely proud of her drawings; she was going to show her work to one of her teachers. The teacher responded to Jubi with a big smile, admiring her book. These acts of sharing positive emotions with attachment figures are examples of emotional sharing. By asking her teacher to share positive emotions with her work, Jubi received positive encouragement. She will continue to have an emotional share with future tasks assigned to her teachers due to interactions like these.Conclusion and Recommendations for DaycareAs I observed the center, I noticed several positive aspects of the program. A strong aspect is the freedom given to children. I loved how the children had free rein to choose what they wanted to do with their time. Not all children share the same interests, so it is very important to allow children to explore their likes and dislikes. This belief in the ability to influence our own functioning to achieve our goals, according to Albert Bandura, is called self-efficacy. Another strength of the center that I liked to see was the amount of reading implemented throughout the class, and even more so, the amount.