Observation: Head Start
INFANT TODDLER OBSERVATION Julie Martin ECE 215 Infant/Toddler Curriculum
For my first observation I chose the Early Head Start Program in Omak. I was at the facility on February 14th from 8:30 to 10:30 A.M. The name of the head teacher and supervisor at the center is Jodi. On this morning I was specifically looking for evidence of the ten principals from the research of Magda Gerber as described in chapter one of our textbook. There were four adults to the eight toddlers in the center and all of them have had some training in early childhood development. The children were ages two and one half to three and a half years old. The following are some of the observations that I made during my time at the center. I saw the employees modeling desired behavior rather than teaching or preaching. The children have breakfast shortly after arriving at the center and the staff washed hands “with” the children and talked about what they were doing; “now I am putting soap on my hands” and “now I am taking one paper towel to dry my hands”. The caregivers did not just serve the children their breakfast they were allowed to dish up their own food with developmentally appropriate utensils. They had a small pitcher with the milk in it that had a special pour spout to prevent spills, they had the children pour their own milk into a cup and then put it in their bowl, I feel that by allowing the children to serve themselves they were respectful of their abilities and contributes to their feelings of success. It would have been quicker to serve the food to the children as I have seen in other centers yet they allowed the children to serve themselves thus teaching many self help skills. The adults sat with the children at breakfast and modeled desired behavior. One of the teachers put food in her bowl and in a conversational tone said “now I’m putting the cereal in my bowl, I don’t want to put too much or it will spill”. They did these types of things with
For my first observation I chose the Early Head Start Program in Omak. I was at the facility on February 14th from 8:30 to 10:30 A.M. The name of the head teacher and supervisor at the center is Jodi. On this morning I was specifically looking for evidence of the ten principals from the research of Magda Gerber as described in chapter one of our textbook. There were four adults to the eight toddlers in the center and all of them have had some training in early childhood development. The children were ages two and one half to three and a half years old. The following are some of the observations that I made during my time at the center. I saw the employees modeling desired behavior rather than teaching or preaching. The children have breakfast shortly after arriving at the center and the staff washed hands “with” the children and talked about what they were doing; “now I am putting soap on my hands” and “now I am taking one paper towel to dry my hands”. The caregivers did not just serve the children their breakfast they were allowed to dish up their own food with developmentally appropriate utensils. They had a small pitcher with the milk in it that had a special pour spout to prevent spills, they had the children pour their own milk into a cup and then put it in their bowl, I feel that by allowing the children to serve themselves they were respectful of their abilities and contributes to their feelings of success. It would have been quicker to serve the food to the children as I have seen in other centers yet they allowed the children to serve themselves thus teaching many self help skills. The adults sat with the children at breakfast and modeled desired behavior. One of the teachers put food in her bowl and in a conversational tone said “now I’m putting the cereal in my bowl, I don’t want to put too much or it will spill”. They did these types of things with
References: Mena, J., & Eyer, D. W. (2012). Principles, Practice, and Curriculum. Infants, toddlers, and caregivers: a curriculum of respectful, responsive, relationship-based, care and education (9th ed., pp. 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18). New York: McGraw-Hill.