Ethnography Essay

The subculture I picked was Preschoolers. I picked preschoolers because I have always been interested in little kids and how they learn. I am also going into the early childhood field. I babysit two twin girls right now and I have babysat them since they were three years old. Therefore I have had a lot of experience with them and wanted to know what a classroom environment was like for preschoolers. I expected to see cubbies for the kid’s belongings and different areas for the kids to play in. The areas were reading, art, block, science, computer, and dramatic play.

 As soon as I walk into the environment of infants, toddlers and preschoolers there are lots of things going on. My main focus is on the preschoolers. I walk on to a soft carpet near the main entrance and in front of me about 4 feet away I see the kid’s cubbies where they put their coats, lunch boxes and bags. On the other side of the cubbies is where the toddlers play. Then on the right side of the entrance I see a dramatic play area. There is a play kitchen and a small sized kid’s closet that has dress up clothes in it.  There are lots of shelves in the classroom to create the boundaries of each play area.  Then there is a math area with puzzles and other fun games. On the other side of the dramatic play and math area is where the infants play. On the left side of the entrance is the block area there are big, medium, and small blocks.  In the classroom on the tile flooring stands the art area. There is a shelve of art supplies and in front of the supplies is a red shaped kidney table.  There is a reading area filled with books and two cushioned chairs.  Next to the reading are remains the science area with tools, orange goo, weighing scale and a rectangle shaped table. Next to the science area be located the computer center. There are two computers that the kids can play learning games on. Nearby there is a bubbler and the restrooms.  The walls are half white and half blue and there is the kid’s art work of cat and the hat faces hanging up on the wall and yellow painted circles that look like suns. There are windows in the dramatic play area, block area and the infant and toddler area.

 The preschoolers are all dressed up either in jeans and long sleeve or short sleeve shirts or dresses. Some of the girls were fashionable boots and the rest of the boys and girls where sneakers. Also some of the girls either have their hair up in a ponytail or braids. At school the preschoolers have a schedule that they follow every day. First they come in and hang up their stuff in there cubbies. Then they do free play for about an hour and play at the different centers. Then at like 9 o’clock they get into circle and they listen to a story and sing songs. I heard one song that they would sing which is “What’s the Weather?” I see all the kids sitting nicely on their bottoms and I hear, “What’s the weather? What’s the weather? What’s the weather like today? Is it foggy, partly cloudy, is it raining or is there snow. Is it windy, is it cloudy or is there sunshine today. What’s the weather? What’s the weather? What’s the weather like today?” Then the teacher would have cards with activities on them that each individual child would have to do. The teacher would call up one child at a time and the child would pick a card. One child picked a card that said, “Where do u live?” Then the child would answer. Another card that a child picked was it said, “find something green.” So the child would go around the room and touch something green. After the child has picked a card and accomplished the activity they had to hop to the bathroom like a bunny to go wash their hands to prepare for snack time. At snack time they all had a bowl of purple yogurt and a cup of water. After they had their snack they had free play.  At the math area three kids were building a puzzle together.  When the kids were building the puzzle one child was trying to figure out where a piece goes.  Therefore a friend of her says that piece doesn’t go yet. Then she suggested her friend to try another piece.  Then I noticed a preschooler decided to take decorative grass and bring it to the dramatic play area while she walked it over to the area she was dropping pieces of it on the floor.  So when the teacher saw it she said, “Who of my friends dropped all this grass on the floor?”  No one would answer so she said, “I am going to turn around and count to ten and by the time I turn around I want to see it all picked up.”  As soon as she started counting four kids started picking it up immediately and as fast as they could.  Then it was time to go outside.

The kids got their coats on and the teacher gathered beads and string to bring outside. There is a fenced in play area so the kids can’t run away. There are two plastic jungle gyms that have slides. One jungle gym is triangle shaped and has holes that the kids can climb through and then there is a slide. The other jungle gym is a little bit bigger and it has stairs and two slides. In one corner of the play area there is a triangle shaped sandbox. There are two kids’ sized plastic tables and there is also a wooden house the kids can play in. Talking to kids is very different from talking to adults. When we were outside a child stepped on a castle that a child was making. When the teacher came up to the sandbox Olivia said, “he stepped on my castle.” The teacher said, “You look very upset about it and asked the boy, did you step on her castle on purpose or was it by accident?” The boy said, “I did it by accident” and the teacher said, “Can you say sorry to her?” Another time I saw was Emma was filling a truck with sand and Hannah comes up and says, “I will help you.” So the two girls start playing together. Then Emma says, “What are you doing?” “Digging for treasure”, says Hannah. “Me too”, says Emma. Outside some kids were making bracelets and necklaces too. Olivia made a necklace and I tied it for her after she was done and then later on she comes up to me and says, “I made this necklace for you. “Thank you Olivia! It was very nice of you and it’s beautiful.” After two minutes pass she comes back up to me and says, “Actually I made that for me.” So I hand it back to her. That moment just made my day even though she took it back after. Then it was time for all the kids to line up and get ready for lunch. When all the kids have hung up their coats and washed their hands they sit at the table and wait for their lunch to be served. Some of the lunches the kids have are peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and spaghettio’s. I can hear all the preschoolers being quiet while they eat their lunch. After they eat their lunch one child gets all the lunch boxes for all his/her friends and passes them out. Every day this switches off so everyone gets a turn. After they eat their lunch they are allowed to have two snacks from their lunch box. Then they are done eating the lights go off and light music is playing while the kids go to sleep on their cots.

 Over all, I have had a good experience with the preschoolers. One thing that surprised me was that when I found out the teacher has her own kid as a student. This surprised me because usually kids can’t have their own parent as a teacher. I watched the interaction between the mom and son in the classroom environment because I thought that would make it tough to teach. The son would always sit next to his mom during snack and lunch time. Then during reading time all the kids would sit nicely on the floor will the son would be leaning on his moms lap.  Also, whenever his mom told the kids to do something and they wouldn’t listen right away the son would always speak up and tell them what to do like he is in control.