Williamson Elementary Preschool Observation - Admission/Application Essay Example

Preschool Observation Introduction The activities and pretend play at a preschool is very efficient way of getting the preschoolers learn new ideas and skills that will help them in their coming lives. Their development can be “stimulated both by providing opportunity for children to learn on their own in play and by interacting in which the adults deliberately teaches some thing” (Dhingra, Manhas, & Raina, 2005). This report is based on an observation made in a preschool about the environment and a preschooler named Gerry in order to assess the play pattern and learning of the preschoolers. The fun tools available to the kids and the types of play activities were observed along with special consideration given to the teachers’ supervision and other adults’ direct or indirect contribution in play activities. Preschool Description The preschool under observation is named Williamson Elementary Preschool. It had a very warm and cozy environment ideal for the play activities arranged for the preschoolers. There were around 30 preschoolers, one teacher and two attendants. There were many sorts of play activities available for the kids such as playing with dough, coloring, trading, jigsaw puzzles, toy slides and swings, and many more. Kids could choose whichever activity they wanted to get themselves occupied with. There was a pretend kitchen which was a main focus of the preschool. It contained a toy stove and toy cooking utensils which the children loved to play with. The stove was made out of a big box overturned with knobs and burners marked on it by a marker. Healthful toy food was also available with the main purpose of teaching the children good eating habits and they were observed playing with their toy food with great excitement and fun. Apparatus was available in the kitchen to wash and sterilize the toy food as the preschoolers put the food in their mouths. Moreover, table and chair sets were there for the kids to use. There were maps, colorful carpets, tiny sofas, bright pictures, funny toys like baby dolls, and a baby calendar hanging on the wall. Kids were using all these as their pretend play. They set the tables and chairs, served each other lunch using toy food, and played chefs. Their sense of creativity was astonishing. There was also some toy cleaning equipment like toy brooms and mops so as to develop the sense of cleanliness in the preschoolers. The teacher was constantly supervising the kids with active participation in their play activities. She introduced me to the kids who then surrounded me and started asking me different questions. They dragged me to their pretend kitchen and offered me breakfast. They showed me their art work and introduced their little pet, a goldfish. While the teacher was reading a book, the kids started raising their hands and talked about things of their own interests. I heard one of them saying that his mama was going to have a baby boy. Another told that her grandma was going to pick him up that day. That was all so creative which enhanced the preschoolers learning. The attendants were also participating in the play activities and keeping an eye on the children so that none of them got hurt. Child Description The preschooler I observed keenly was a 3 year old, Gerry. As far his physical characteristics are concerned, he seemed to be really small for his age as he was very skinny and fragile, with innocent yet bright look on his face. He interacted with me by showing me his art work and things like a little pillow, from which I assumed that he was a social child. Yet I observed that he most oftenly played quietly by himself. Perhaps the reason for this was that his peers found it hard to understand him because he was slow in speech and could not deliver proper sentences. This made him frustrated enough to play all by himself. I asked him his name but he could not tell it properly. He pointed at my nail polish and said, “tha is pink” instead of ‘that is pink’. He showed me a banana and pronounced it like ‘ananan’. Then he showed me a tissue and said it was ‘ishoo’. After a while, he brought a colorful picture of people and asked me, “who?” then he went to his teacher and asked her the same thing. He played with colors most of the time but, to my amusement, he did not look at the paper while coloring and was not even holding the crayons properly. An interesting thing I noted about him was that he got bored easily and kept switching from one activity to another. I concluded that he was not consistent, tried to be social but easily got frustrated when he would discover that others found it hard to understand what he was saying, yet he liked to explore things and occupied himself with activities that interested him. Eriksons Psychosocial Theory  Erikson’s model of psychosocial development consists of eight stages that describe human and child development. The theory discusses and analyzes the individuals’ personality and behavior while they experience eight psychosocial crisis stages. Here, we will describe the stage two, Initiative vs. Guilt, which specifically deals with 3-6 year old kids at play stage or in a preschool/nursery. Erikson (1994) defines initiative as “the capability to devise actions or projects, and a confidence and belief that it is okay to do so, even with a risk of failure or making mistakes” and guilt as “the feeling that it is wrong or inappropriate to instigate something of ones own design”. The children at preschool age, if suppressed or discouraged to explore new ideas and take part in new play activities for fear of hurting themselves or creating mess, will stop from exploring and thinking about new ideas as they will not feel confident enough to do or invent something. At this age, they want to initiate projects and play activities that help them build confident personalities, and the guilt or suppression can ruin their personalities for their entire lives. It is a very big responsibility of parents as well as teachers to help children learn and explore along with mess and a bit of risk. Children tend to develop a feeling of guilt which inhibits their sense of creativity and confidence, so they should be given a chance of trial-and-error. And this is what I observed in the Williamson Elementary Preschool, that is, the teachers and the attendants constantly encouraged the preschoolers to take part in the play activities and did not scold them if they did any mistakes, but at the same time, they kept an eye upon the kids so that they did not hurt themselves or their peers. The first stage, Trust vs. Mistrust, is the most basic stage in one’s life. A child tends to learn to trust others if he is well cared for and not over-protected as kids “need to feel emotionally secure and valued” (NECChildcare, 2008), and learns to mistrust if he is insulted or not cared for by the caregivers. If he learns to trust, he will acquire a sense of security, otherwise he will learn to fear. The teachers and the attendants at the preschool I observed were always emotionally available to the kids supporting their new ideas and helping them take initiatives. But why Gerry was still unable to thoroughly interact with other kids his age as a result of his delay in speech, brought concern. There was no problem at the preschool. There might have been a problem at home that had stopped him from picking words and sentences that kids his age spoke fluently. But then again, learning at early or late stage is a part of child development. Summary The pretend play center or a preschool has a great responsibility of getting the children learn about new skills that will help them in their entire lives. The caregivers create “the largest impact on the attitude” (Stoddard, Pike, & Thomas, 1994) of the kids by encouraging them to take active participation in all activities that the preschool can possibly arrange, just like William Elementary did. This helps the children build confidence and trust in their abilities and enhances their verbal and social skills along with a great positive impact on their psychosocial behavior. References Dhingra, R., Manhas, S., & Raina, A. (2005). Play Pattern in Preschool Setting, 18(1), 21-25, Retrieved from http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JHE/JHE-18-0-000-000-2005- Web/JHE-18-1-000-000-2005-Abst-PDF/JHE-18-1-021-025-2005-1225-Dhingra-R/JHE- 18-1-021-025-2005-1225-Dhingra-R-Full-Text.pdf Erikson, E. (1994). Eriksons psychosocial crisis stages - meanings and interpretations. Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.businessballs.com/erik_erikson_psychosocial_theory.htm NECChildcare. (2008). Provide the children you care for with a safe and healthy environment. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://www.nec.ac.uk/childcare/product?usca_p=t&product_id=943&category_id=4660 Stoddard, K., Pike, C., & Thomas, D. (1994). Integrating special-needs children into a preschool setting. Early Childhood Special Education, 22(2), Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/k07464906m12w875.htm Read More