Amy Benson

February 27, 2018

ECE 251

Observation of Classroom Caring Elements

School: CornerStone Christian Tykes Preschool

Telephone: 702-939-5050

Teacher: Mrs. McCann

Age/Grade: 4’s Pre-K

Date: February 27, 2018

Beginning & Ending Observation Time: 8 am-10 am

Teacher Characteristics:

1. Upon meeting the teacher, I noticed her excited and friendly demeanor. I felt very

welcome to come in to the classroom as she greeted me at the door with a big smile. She

appeared to be in a great mood. Once I was in the classroom, I observed that she greeted

all the children (and parents) in this same way. It was as if she couldn’t wait to start the

day and show me around the classroom. She was very engaging!

Throughout the morning, I felt more of a calming presence in the teacher, especially

when she was dealing with behaviors. She handled the issue with flexibility and respect

toward the child’s feelings. She was very nurturing to a student that was struggling to

transition from home to school. By the end of the observation, I felt that her demeanor

was loving, friendly and calm. She wasn’t as animated or excited as she was at the

greeting throughout the day. Instead, she was calm and loving, taking changes to their

classroom routine in stride.



2. Mrs. McCann appeared very loving and unconditional to the children in her class. For

example, I observed her greeting all children with the same greeting, “Good Morning,”

calling each child by their name, “how are you this morning?” She also asked for a hand

shake or hug. Those children that struggled to transition were given time and allowed

space when coming in. One child in particular was very clingy with her dad when

entering the classroom. Mrs. McCann adjusted her greeting with her and held her for

quite some time. She put her down after her dad left and asked her if she was ready to go

find a center to play in. The child wasn’t ready so she offered her hand to the child to

hold. The child continued to stay right with the teacher and when it was time to go to the

carpet for morning circle time, she bent down and offered the child their classroom bear

to hug if she was still feeling sad. This put a big smile on the child’s face and she held the

bear throughout circle time. Once circle time was over, the child transitioned to a learning

center with ease. The teacher and child appeared to have a loving relationship.

I observed another child to be very agitated when entering the classroom. Mrs.

McCann greeted and received some push back from the child whom went directly to the

cozy corner to sit. The teacher talked to the child’s father and he explained that he got his

IPad taken away for bad behavior the night before. The teacher proceeded to go over to

the child and provide empathy in saying, “I understand that you are upset about losing

your IPad time. That is such a bummer. We all make mistakes buddy, and I bet you’ll

make it right with your daddy after school. Do you want to draw a picture with me of

your favorite game to play on the IPad?” The child nodded his head and the teacher lead

him over to the writing center. She continued to check in with this child throughout the

morning to gage how he was feeling. She seemed very unconditional towards the


children, greeting each child with a big smile and allowing them to transition at their own

time.

3. In observing a few challenging behaviors, I noticed Mrs. McCann’s demeanor to be calm.

She didn’t seem flustered, but instead got down at the child’s level and spoked with him

personally not reprimanding him in front of his peers. Her voice did not escalate, and she

continued to use words in telling the child what he could do instead of what he couldn’t.

For example, while she was greeting another child, a boy began to wrestle with another

friend on the carpet. She asked the arriving friend to excuse her for a minute and she

walked over to the boy, got down at his level and said, “Uh-oh, I see you being unsafe

with your body on the carpet, and you could get hurt. My job is to keep you safe. You can

read a story or build with the magnet tiles on the carpet, which do you choose?” The child

chose to build happily. She did not raise her voice or yell across the room at this child.

She didn’t demean him in front of his peers. Instead, she gave the child two options for

safe play on the carpet. Once the boy chose one of the choices, she ended the

conversation with, “Good for you, you are keeping your body safe!”

Another behavior I observed was during transition to the carpet. Two children were

fighting over a specific seat on the carpet. Mrs. McCann quickly intervened and said, “I

see you both want to sit at that spot for circle time. What could we do to solve this

problem?” One of the other children in class exclaimed, “Get the solution kit!” The

teacher responded, “Great idea!” She got this box out with picture cards that said things

like trade, or ask nicely. The children chose a solution together and both seemed content.

It was obvious that the class had used the solution kit tool before. The teacher never

appeared frustrated, although she showed concern for the children’s problems. When a


child was combative, she would give them two appropriate choices and allow the child

time to make their decision. She always stated that her job was to keep them safe, and she

told the children what they could do, not what they couldn’t.

I also noticed the teacher approach a boy in the class before she gave the cleanup warning

and tell him that she would set his timer and in five more minutes it would be time to

clean up. I assumed that this child had a hard time transitioning which is why she gave a

warning before the transition.

Bonding:

1. I began observing right at drop off time in the morning and saw the personalized

greetings with every child. The teacher greeted the child and parent by saying good

morning and calling the children and parents by their name. She then asked for a hug or

high five, or “worm fingers”. She allowed each child to decide what type of greeting they

had, and personalized it. She also asked how their morning was and, “did you have

breakfast?” The teacher would then direct her attention to the parent and ask if there is

anything she needs to know, or told them a story about their child from the day before.

Once at circle time, the teacher sang a “good morning” song where she asked each child

how they were today. The children would either give two thumbs up, two thumbs down

or one of each. If a child gave two thumbs down, Mrs. McCann would say, “I’m sorry

your having a rough day, I’ll pray with you after circle to help make your day better.”

When she excused the children to learning centers, she stopped and prayed for those that

wanted prayer. The children whom came in sad, had smiles on their faces after the prayer.

2. Another observation that I saw of bonding between the teacher and children was at

individualized instruction. One of the teachers would oversee the children in learning


centers and the other would go to the “Teaching Tree” for individualized instruction with

each child. They were doing story cards together and the children got to pick out picture

cards from a bucket and then make a story using the cards they picked. After each child

was done, the teacher said, “Nice learning today”, with the child’s name and give them a

high five. Throughout this time, the teacher talked with the child individually and

allowed the conversation to be child lead.

Schedule and Routines:

1. Class Schedule- Attached

This classroom schedule appears developmentally appropriate for the age group in regard

to having both teacher and child paced routine events. The open learning centers allow

for child lead activities. The large group or circle time is teacher lead and is 10 minutes

long. On this schedule, there is a greeting time, large group time, free center time,

snack/lunch time, outdoor time and transition time. The open learning centers time is a

total of over two hours long for a full day. The outdoor time is an hour. Both of these

times are child lead opportunities. The whole group time is no more than 10 minutes due

to the age group of the class. During the learning centers, there are choices to play alone

such as the listening center, the easel and the writing center. During individualized

instruction at the teaching tree, each child gets one on one attention/instruction from the

teacher.

The schedule seems to have a nice balance between whole group, small group and

individual learning opportunities. There are times for self-directed and teacher directed

events. This schedule also has quiet and active activities in both short and long-time

periods. However, I counted seven different transitions throughout the day and this can


lead to behavioral incidents. I would suggest looking at where the class might be able to

avoid a transition if possible.

2. Interview-

Me: What are some cues that you use to help the children with your classroom routine?

Teacher: Well we have a song for clean-up time, the Clean-up Vacuum Cleaner, and prior

to that we sing the 5 minutes more song to cue them in that we are getting ready to

transition for clean-up.

Me: Do you and your co-teacher model for the children how to line up, clean up etc?

Teacher: Yes, we play the good cop, bad cop thing where one of us will the wrong thing

and then show the children the write way to transition. We also use what we call our

solution kit that has picture cards giving children choices of how to solve their own

problems. Some examples are “ask nicely”, “trade”, or “wait your turn.”

Me: Do you ever use teacher cues with one another to keep the day running smooth?

Teacher: We use both verbal and auditory cues with each other.

Me: Can you give me some examples?

Teacher: One we use a lot is “I’ve got this.” Another one is “Can you take over?” We

also use signals like pointing and gestures to communicate.

Me: Are there any other items you use with the children to reinforce behaviors you want

to see?

Teacher: We use our expectation/choice cards at least once a week. It shows the children

two choices of what they can do, and a card showing them what they can’t do. For

example, “You may rest on your nap mat. You may sleep on your nap mat. But you may

not get off of your nap mat because that is not safe.”


Me: If there are any changes to the normal routine such as a fire drill, how to you

communicate that to the children?

Teacher: We tell them in advance what to expect and sometimes show them. We describe

what will happen and then talk them through the process giving positive feedback for

listening first time.

3. Transitions

a I observed the transition from circle time to lining up to go to chapel. This circle time

was just to greet the child with their morning song, ask if anyone needed to go to the

bathroom, and then line up to walk to chapel in another room. The teacher excused

the children by signing each one of their names. As she was doing this, the children

were calling out each letter she was signing and guessing who’s name it was. Once

the child’s name was signed, they were instructed to line up at the door where the

other teacher was waiting for them. The majority of the children were calling out the

letters as they were waiting for their name to be signed. Once they got to the door,

they stood and waited until the rest of the class joined them in line. Three boys in the

line were pushing one another until the teacher redirected them by saying, “You may

put your hands in your pockets or at your side, which do you choose?” The boys

stopped touching each other. The other teacher waited until Mrs. McCann got up to

join the line and then began singing “Peanut butter lips, marshmallow toes, hands

glued to your sides and follow your nose.” They continued singing this song until

they arrived at the room for chapel.

b The transition technique used was great! The children were very engaged as they

were all waiting for their name to be signed. I thought using sign language was not


only appropriate, but multi-cultural and a fantastic learning opportunity! The teacher

giving attention to each child in signing their name, the children would help one

another by saying, “Kai, that’s you!” It was obvious that this teacher has used this

technique several times before. The transition of walking from class to class was also

smooth as the children were engaged singing a song throughout the walk time.

c Once in line, there were several minutes where the children were just standing and

waiting for the rest of the class to get in line. There was strategic placement of the

other teacher at the door, although she wasn’t engaging the children in some sort of

song or activity. This is when the boys began pushing each other in line. Although

she used positive redirection, if she would have been doing an activity or song those

behaviors probably wouldn’t have occurred.

Rules:

1. Classroom Rules- Attached

2. The classroom rules written on poster board and hung in the class are generalized and yet

I heard many more rules verbalized throughout the observation by the teacher. For

example, “What is the first thing we do when we come into the classroom?” Child shouts,

“Wash our hands!” Another rule I heard is “Walking feet in the classroom keeps us safe.”

At the snack table I heard, “Where do we put our trash?” As well as, “finish chewing

before you talk.” While lining up the children were told that they can put their hands at

their sides or in their pocket. At learning centers a child went up to the sensory table and

the teacher asked, “What do you need to do before playing in the sensory table?” The

child replied, “wash our hands.” At circle time the teacher said, “It’s my turn to talk. I

will listen to what you have to say when I’m done.”



3. I heard and observed very consistent reinforcement of the rules. These implied rules were

continually being discussed by both teachers and children. Several children were

reminding one another of how to behave in class. The other thing I noticed is that on the

whole the children were told what the expectation was and not what the teacher didn’t

want to see. The feedback after the child complied was constantly followed with

encouragement and/or praise. There was follow through when a child was told an

expectation. For example, after the teacher greeted a child in the morning she asked,

“What is the first thing we do when we get to class?” The child responded, “Wash our

hands.” The teacher then walked over to the sink with the child and gave him reminders

of the hand washing process. Once the child was finished, she praised the child saying,

“Good for you Jaxton, you are helping to keep out classroom clean!” Another child ran to

get in line and the teacher saw this and said, “Corey, come back and show me safe

walking feet in the classroom.” She told the child what the expectation was instead of

asking the child to comply. When the child came back and walked, the teacher followed

with, “Great walking feet! You are keeping your body safe.”

4. I observed the rules in this classroom to be appropriate, expected and consistent. The

teachers were very in tune with what was happening in their classroom, and great at

reading each other’s cues. I also noticed children reminding one another of the classroom

rules. This tells me that the children are well versed as to the expectations in the

classroom. The teacher also told me that at the beginning of the year, the children as a

class, made the rules on their chart. This gives the children buy in for what the teacher is

expecting. However, I did observe negative behaviors in the class and when this

occurred, the feeling wasn’t degrading of the children, instead consistently reminding


them of what is expected. This showed an unconditional acceptance of the children. The

teacher’s mood was consistent throughout the observation, allowing the children to feel

secure and accepted.