Observation: Children in Home Day Care Setting

1.

Child name: M

Age: 7 years (second grade)

A. Wavy Brown hair

Blue Eyes

Medium Built

Beauty mark next to left side of her nose

Bangs framing face

Approx. 4 ft 4 in tall

Good health standing, except for asthmatic cough

B. Scenario: Practicing gymnastics moves with two other children (both ages 5 years).

M is showing off her gymnastics skills with two other five year old girls. First she wants to show off how she does a round off. She takes off running. She runs about steps and then with both hands in the air, she kicks off with her right foot. She makes on perfect landing and then takes a bow to the two girls. "Thank you, thank you!" She says to them after she is done. She then tells them she wants to show them how to do a handstand. First she places both hands on the floor and then kicks both of her feet up into the air. She is only able to hold her handstand for two seconds, so she decides to do other one against the wall for support. She walks over to the wall, places both hands on the floor and put her head down. She kicks both feet up and places them against the wall. She calls over to the girls to tell them to look at what she was doing. She stays in this position for much longer than her previous handstand-about thirty seconds this time. She pushes her feet down and stands up. As she gets up, she is asked to do another cart wheel. This time she wants to show them how she does a round off on the opposing leg. She runs about three steps and then kicks off on her left leg this time. This time, she lands with her legs slanted on the ground, not straight like she had the last time.

C. Scenario: Playing a bowling game with two other children (both five years of age).

M is playing a bowling game with the same two children as before. The plastic pins are set up on the floor and they are using a small kick ball to knock down the pins. It is M's turn to roll the ball. She walks up to the line (they had used tape to mark how far away from the pins they should be) and kicks her left foot back. Using her right hand, she bends down and rolls the ball underhand. Using this technique, she was able to knock down eight pins.

2.

A. Scenario: Dancing with one other child.

M wants to make up dance moves with E. M walks over with E to the cd player that is sitting on top of one of the shelves. She asks E what cd she thinks they should dance to. When E says that she does not know, M decides to put on a Kidz Bop cd. She put on track number 3 and says, "This is the song that me and my friend are going to dance for the talent show at our school. Do you want me to show you the moves that we made up?" E says yes and M begins to show her the dance moves. First she dances quickly to the first half of the song and then she pauses the cd. She begins to give a slower demonstration of each individual move for E to watch and copy. When E is confused as to which direction her hands and feet are supposed to go, M is very helpful with giving her directions. "You pop out both feet one at a time. See. First you pop your left foot out then you do your right one. When you pop out your left foot, you bring both of your hands to your chest and move them in and out."

B. Scenario: Snack time, eating "cup of dirt".

M is eating her after school snack, a "cup of dirt", which is crushed up Oreos with gummy worms on top. "Mmmm. Gummies! My favorite!" She says, as she picks up the gummy worm and puts it in her mouth. She goes to pick up another worm to eat, this time she pretends as if the worm was alive. She takes to worm in one hand and begins to dangle it in the face of the girl sitting next to her. "It's alive! Muahhahahaaaaa!" she says. She takes on bite off the end. "Oops, it lost it's tail," she says. "Don't eat me!" she says this time, speaking as if she was the worm. "I'm going to eat you!" she says as she puts the gummy worm into her mouth.

C. Scenario: Getting ready for outside play.

The caregiver is trying to get everyone ready to go out in the backyard and play on the swing sets. M is the oldest child in the group, so her caregiver asks her for assistance with helping the smaller children putting their jackets on.

Caregiver: "M can you help A with her jacket please?"

M: "Sure."

M: (Stooping down in front of A) "See this is how you zip up your jacket. Put it in the track thingy and pull it up like this." (Demonstrating how to zip up the jacket by putting the zip in the track and pulling it up with one hand holding the bottom of the jacket.)

Caregiver: "Thank you. You're a big help! Can you do one more thing for me and go grab the