Jessica Swanson
Holly Pappas
English 101
April 10, 2012
Ethnography Essay
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. One thing I always wondered is how they
discipline the kids because everyone has a different perspective on
disciplining kids’ behavior.
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 four feet away I see the kid’s cubbies where they put their coats, lunch
boxes and bags. The toddlers play on the
other side of the cubbies. 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. Lots of
shelves in the classroom 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 princess and Spiderman and
batman backpacks in their cubbies. Then they do free play for about an hour and
play at the different centers. Then at about nine 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 the kids singing along with the teacher, “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 and the teacher would read it to the child.
One child picked a card that said, “Where do you 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 the child hopped to the
bathroom like a bunny and washed their hands because it was 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 in an upsetting tone, “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
came 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 ate their lunch, one child got all the lunch
boxes from all the preschoolers’ cubbies for all his/her friends and passed
them out so they could eat their snack. 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 mom’s 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. One main thing I noticed in the preschoolers’
behaviors is that if one child did something another child would copy their
behavior.
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