THE LAWRENCE

FAMILY
By Taylor Villani
Otis Fannie Pete
Kim
The Lawrence Family

The Lawrence Family consists of Otis and Fannie Lawrence, along with
Fannies 2 children, Kim and Pete. Otis has two sons from his first
marriage. Otis has been a father figure to Kim and Pete because Kim and
Petes biological father lives far away and they only see him once or
twice a year. Fannie is getting ready to give birth to her third child in a
few months. The family recently moved into a new house, which has four
bedrooms. Even though there isnt enough room to occupy all of the
children(if Otis two sons came to visit, on top of Fannies two children
and the new baby on the way). Fannie is a third grade school teacher and
she plans on taking a three month maternity leave once she has the
baby. She is on a few waiting lists for infant care for after the child is
born. Otis is a car salesman and is going to school at night to get a
business degree. The family doesnt believe in time outs, and they strive
to model positive behaviors in their family by not raising their voices.
Lawrence Family cont.

The family has a lot of strengths. Their 4 year old child Pete is a great
eater. He loves to eat vegetables, so his family has done a great job
with instilling these into his diet. Pete loves to get out and play
outside and be active. Otis and Fannie believe in setting a good
example for their children, so they dont raise their voices and use
positive ways to help guide their children out of misbehavior. Otis and
Fannie engage in play with their children to help set a good example
for them. The two children have great relationships with their parents.
Pete is extremely close to Otis. Pete likes to try new things without
question. Pete has become confident with himself after becoming
toilet trained recently. Pete has a good relationship with his birth
father despite only seeing him once a year, so Otis and Fannie respect
that relationship. They eat dinner together every night. The
Lawrences come from a big family and they are close with their
extended family.
Lawrence Family cont.

The family also have some things that they need to work on. Pete has
inconsistent sleeping habits, despite Otis and Fannies best efforts to
try and support positive sleeping habits. The family is also very busy
with both parents working and Otis working and going to school part
time. This makes it difficult for check in times.
Characteristics and Milestones
for Four Year Olds
Gross Motor:
Runs smoothly Fine Motor:
Gallops Works zippers and buttons
Skips with one foot Cuts paper in half
Rides a tricycle or bicycle with training Cuts on a line
wheels Pours liquids
Pushes wagon Buckles belt
Balances on one foot Builds bridges with cubes
Walks stairs with alternating feet Begins to draw pictures that represent things
Throws ball overhead
Hops on one foot for up to four hops
Creates movement to music
Kicks accurately
Characteristics and Milestones
for Four Year Olds cont.
Cognitive:
Shows interest in dramatic play
Begins reasoning and thinking logically
Develops number concepts
Learns matching, classification and identification of shapes and colors
Explores how things work
Shows interest in producing designs
Displays interest in senses and sensory discrimination
Shows interest in symbols
Explores and learns with their senses
Expands vocabulary
Asks lots of questions: Why? How? What?
Characteristics and Milestones
for Four Year Olds cont.
Strategies for Facilitating Language Development:
Language:
Follows three unrelated directions
Understands more complex comparisons
(strong, stronger, strongest)
Listens to long stories but may
misinterpret the facts
Understands sequence of events
Asks when why and how questions
Joins sentences together (I like cake
and milk)
Tells about recent events that have
happened
Speak with children from birth
Respond to an infants coos, cries, babbles, and interests
Provide new sights and experiences; carry babies to the window
to look outside, take toddlers around the neighborhood, and give
older children new things to experience and talk about
Talk about what children are seeing, feeling, and smelling. Also
use self talk about what you are doing.
Give children words to communicate when they do not have
them
Correspond your words with their actions
Label spatial concepts as children engage in play
Bring interesting materials into the classroom
Play language games such as I Spy, singing and touching
Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. Naming classmates
Encourage conversations with peers
Ask open ended questions which call for more than a yes or no
answer
Offer simple choices which encourage a verbal response
Encourage children to ask and answer each others questions
Be available to listen, respond, reflect, explain, share and play.
Characteristics and Milestones
for Four Year Olds cont.
Emotional:
A preschoolers increased language
ability provides avenues for teachers
to explain and talk about emerging
feelings
It is important for preschool children
to learn how to identify and label
feelings and learn to express them in
socially acceptable ways
Emotions expressed by a preschooler
include dependency, fear and
anxiety, anger and aggression
Social:
Preschoolers improved abilities and increased
skills foster the development of independence
Initiative motivates preschoolers to want to try
new things
Preschoolers who are allowed to experiment and
ask questions will develop initiative
A sense of initiative leads to ambition and purpose
later in life
Preschoolers must be assured that it is okay to
make mistakes or feelings of initiatve may
connect to feelings of guilt
Preschoolers with feelings of guilt will not want to
try new things
Resources for the Lawrence
Family
Resources for Educating Pregnant
Women
http
://fnic.nal.usda.gov/lifecycle-nutriti
on/nutrition-during-pregnancy/resource
Grants to get scholarships for Otis:
s-educating-pregnant-women
http
Resources to bring Father and Son
://www.usagrantapplications.org/v4/4ba.php?tc=y
together a
http://
www.nj.gov/dcf/families/NJ_DTYCTSD
_PLANNING.GUIDE.pdf

Nut free recipes
http
://www.bbc.co.uk/food/diets/nut_free
Resources cont.

Sleeping tips:
http
://www.babycenter.com/6_your-4-year-old-sleep-struggles_10329708.b
c
My plate website for healthy eating habits.
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/
How to make recipes allergy free
http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/page/tree-nut-allergy.aspx
Healthy no bake recipes for desserts
http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Healthy--Bake-Dessert-Recipes-17
916360#photo-34843938
Resources cont.
South Carolina Education Lottery:
http://www.sceducationlottery.com/
Department of Employment and Workforce in South Carolina:
https://www.dew.sc.gov/
First Stop South Carolina:
http://scfirststeps.com/
South Carolina Commission on Higher Education:
http://www.che.sc.gov/
South Carolina Higher Education Tuition Grants Commission:
https://sctuitiongrants.org/
Family Statistics
Over 50% of US families are remarried or recoupled.
80% of remarried or recoupled partners with children both have
careers.
50% of the 60 million children under the age of 13 are currently living
with one biological parent and that parents current partner.
Most young adults from divorce are establishing careers, creating
intimate relationships and building meaningful lives.
http://www.stepfamily.org/stepfamily-statistics.html
73% of young adults in the work force worked full time while in
school.
www.nces.ed.gov
Strategies

I have developed some strategies for this family in order to help them with their problems with
having trouble getting Pete to sleep, and also to help them out with being able to participate in
check in times despite their crazy schedule.
Otis shared with me that the best time for check in would be early in the morning at drop off
because of the familys busy schedule. So I have developed an idea that would help this family
and I be able to check in once a week to see how Pete is doing. I have planned that we will meet
Saturday morning at a local diner for coffee with one of the parents (depending on who is free). I
will bring some information written down from the week that I thought would be relevant to
share, things that happened that were positive, as well as things that I feel that they should
work on at home with Pete. If this plan doesnt work, I could organize a time to have a home visit
at dinner time with the family. This could work because the family has dinner together every
night, so I could swing by after dinner, everyone would be at home, the children could play in
their room while I speak with either Otis or Fannie about Pete. Early mornings could be hectic for
the both of us, with me managing a classroom of children, and along with Pete having to get to
work to start his long day, so thats why I thought that meeting on Saturdays or scheduling a
home visit would be better.
Strategies cont.

As for Petes inconsistent sleeping habits, I have developed a few strategies to support him in trying to sleep better
and more consistently. I have offered some tips to the family. A tip that I have offered to the family is to not allow
Pete to have sugary/caffeinated beverages or foods after a certain time. Sugar and caffeine is something that can
keep children and adults awake for long periods of time. By not allowing Pete to have these certain types of foods
and beverages after a certain time, this will help him fall asleep faster and stay asleep cause he wont be wound up.
Another strategy for the family to follow to help them with helping Pete to fall asleep faster would be to establish a
bedtime ritual. Read the child a story, lay with them and talk about their day until they fall asleep. Once they fall
asleep, leave the room. Check on the child every couple of minutes for a half hour or so to make sure the child is
staying asleep. If the child is having trouble staying asleep, you may need to repeat these routines a few times.
Another strategy to bring this family together would be cooking meals together. Have the children join in the help of
cooking the meal. They could do something as simple as measuring out a cup of water to boil vegetables or putting
the silverware out at dinner time. This would help bring the family together as well as teaching the children different
skills such as self help skills and developing those fine motor skills by putting the silverware out. Also, you could bake
things together that the family could eat. I have provided the family with some nut free recipes that they could try at
home. They could have Pete and Kim measure out the ingredients and put them in the bowl and help mix. After the
family has created a dish or dessert together, I would have them take pictures of them enjoying the dessert as well
as helping to make the dessert or dish. We could post these pictures on the family board in the classroom that shows
families doing things together so this would help build community in our classroom.
 Here is an activity that you can do at home with your children.
In class, we are learning how to count in order, and we are
learning about how we can help tone those gross motor
muscles. I have provided you with a giant number dice that we

Activity! have made in our classroom out of a tissue box, a brown

paper bag, and numbers that I found online. This is a game
that you can do at home with your children. You roll the dice,
see what number that it lands on, and then you can pick a
certain gross motor movement to do to the number. I am
providing you with a group of cards that have different
movements listed(hop, jump, skip, clap, and so on). After you
pick a card, read it to your children, and then have the family
do the movement on the card to the number that is on the
dice. For example, if you pick the card that says jump on it,
and the dice says 4, the whole family jumps 4 times together.
This activity supports a 4 year olds development in math and
movement by matching to these standards: PD 4K- 1.1 Move
with balance and control while walking, running, jumping,
marching, hopping, and galloping. M- 4K- 2.1 Count orally
forward to twenty and backward from three.
We are doing a family project in our classroom. We have a
board in our classroom where we will display pictures of each
family engaging in this activity. I have provided you with a
disposable digital camera so you can take pictures of your
family participating in this activity. After you are done doing
this activity, you can turn in the camera so I can take it to get
the pictures developed and I will post the pictures on the
board in the classroom for everyone to see. Please turn in the
dice after you are done also so we can continue to use this
material in our learning centers to help children tone their
gross motor and math development.
References

ECD 101 Module 5/Handouts 8c and 8d, Module 4/Handout 2d, Module 6/Handout 5c. Module 6/Handout 8
http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/lifecycle-nutrition/nutrition-during-pregnancy/resources-educating-pregnant-wome
n
http://www.nj.gov/dcf/families/NJ_DTYCTSD_PLANNING.GUIDE.pdf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/diets/nut_free
http://www.usagrantapplications.org/v4/4ba.php?tc=ya
http://www.stepfamily.org/stepfamily-statistics.html
www.nces.ed.gov
http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-4-year-old-sleep-struggles_10329708.bc
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/
http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/page/tree-nut-allergy.aspx
http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Healthy--Bake-Dessert-Recipes-17916360#photo-34843938
http://www.sceducationlottery.com/
References cont.

https://www.dew.sc.gov/
http://scfirststeps.com/
http://www.che.sc.gov/
https://sctuitiongrants.org/
http://www.prekinders.com/pdf/NumeralDiceCD.pdf