Observing and Interacting With Professionals, Children, and Families in an Early Childhood Setting

Observing and Interacting With Professionals, Children, and Families in an Early Childhood Setting

The preschool program I observed is The Salvation Army, Incarnation Head Start. There are two sessions of 3 ½ hours. The morning session starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 12:00 p.m. The second session starts at 12:30 p.m. and ends at 4:00 p.m. Each session serves 17 children, but right now the enrollment is a little bit low, there are only 10 children in the morning and 8 children in the afternoon. There are two teachers in the classroom; Ms. Erika Byrd that is the lead teacher, and Ms. Wendy Lara the teacher assistance.

I observed the afternoon class, and as the children were arriving parents were helping their children to hang up their jackets, then they went to wash their hands for lunch. Children were helping to set up tables, and I noticed that they have a routine, because they knew what to do without the teachers help. During lunch time teachers and children were talking, some children were talking in Spanish, and Ms. Byrd told me that most of the children are from Hispanic families. She does not know a lot of Spanish, but Ms. Lara is bilingual, and they help each other, when children say something and Ms. Byrd does not understand, Ms. Lara translates to her or she translates for the children.

After lunch children went to get a book, and then they went to sit on the carpet. Ms. Byrd had a Helpers Chart, and children look at the chart to see who the book collector is. Ms. Byrd started circle time by dancing with the children, and then she started reading the book of the day. This is the activity that I observed the most, because it is related to my topic that it is early literature. Ms. Byrd started the reading activity by showing the cover of the book to children and after that she asked them what they thought the book was about. After she was finished with the book Ms. Byrd told children that they were going to draw a picture about the story, and that they will dictate a story. Children went to draw the picture, while others went to play. Children dictate their story in English as well as in Spanish.

Ms. Byrd and Ms. Lara had a good communication. Ms. Lara was taking care of the children that were having a hard time during reading time. One insight I gained was that Ms. Byrd has books in each area of the classroom, for example she has books about cars and numbers in the block area, and books about different families and cooking books in the housekeeping area. One more insight I gained is the way she reads the books to children. She makes faces, she changes her voice if she needs it according to the character of the book, and this really engages the children into the reading activity. Another insight is that it is important to talk to children in their own language if it’s possible, like Ms. Byrd and Ms. Lara they took turns to take history dictations according to the children’s language.

 

 

Interview

I interviewed an early childhood teacher about Early Literacy; I gained so much insight that I think it is going to be my research topic. I explain to my host teacher that my interest was on Early Literacy because I notice it is very important for children to get involve in literacy because when children are expose to literacy, children learn to read, write, and learn to understand cognitive concepts, that will help them to  be good readers.

My host teacher told me that children need to develop the concepts of listening and comprehension before they move to a higher level of learning, because if they don’t develop these concepts they will have problems due to the lack of these skills, so it is very important to involve children in literacy activities since they are babies or toddlers.

My host teacher shared some issues, she thinks effects the readings skills of children. One of the problems she sees is that children do not follow directions when it is time to read, and they move around and they have difficulty focusing during reading activities, so these children do not grasp the concepts that will lead them to understand what is being read to them.

Another problem that she thinks affects the students is that parents don’t get involved, they don’t have time to read to their child, or some parents don’t know how to read. Consequently these children’s reading skills are poor or they don’t have interest in reading activities.

One insight that I gained is that trough literacy activities children get ready to be good readers when they are in upper school levels, and that it is very important to get parents involve to do more reading activities at home.

My second interview was to the librarian, she explained to me that they have different literacy programs to involve the families that live in the community. One of the programs is called “English Language Learner Story Time” This program is for parents and children from birth through age 5. Through stories, songs, and different activities parents and children learn and build their English language skills. She also shares that they visit schools around the neighborhood to talk to the teachers, because now teachers are also putting more emphasis in teaching History as well as Math and Reading. So at the library they want to have the appropriate books to support students that go to the library to look for resources.

An insight that I gained from this interview is that parents really want to help their children, there are a lot of resources outside of the school, and we as teachers can redirect them to the right place.

 

Research paper topic

I'm thinking on doing my reseach paper on Language Development, early literacy or ADHD. Can anyone give me an advise?
Thankyou