Observation Notes

Observations: Public Space Analysis

The first day I observed was supposed to be Wednesday, but due to the bad weather and KinderFrogs closing, the first opportunity was Thursday afternoon. I went there at 3:00 as soon as I got back to campus. I knew this was the pick up time for the children and I wanted to see how the parents and children interacted at this point in the day.
The kids go out to the front of the school and sit in a line until their parents come up and get them. The parents often are already parked in the drive in front and simply walk up to get their kids. The kids were very happy and excited to get picked up; their faces simply lit up when they recognized their parents or whoever was taking them home. Sometimes, the kids are picked up by babysitters and nannies because their parents are working. These kids were so cute pulling their little backpacks that were still as big, if not bigger, than they were.
There were always at least four adults out with the kids to monitor them. The aids were always ready for anything whether it was a runny nose or a child that wanted to wander off instead of sitting down. They carry plenty of tissues with them because most of the kids have sinus problems and constant streams flowing from their noses. The aids use sign language to communicate with the kids as well as encouraging vocalizations. The kids love the teachers and vice versa. The parents and teachers have a similar relationship. The teachers interact with the parents when they come to pick up the kids and give them updates on how the day went. The pick-up process was completed by 3:15 and after speaking with the aids, I know that I will be back around 8:00 in the morning for drop-off.
Some children are dropped-off at 7:15, but the majority of them are dropped off closer to 8:00 as school officially starts at 8:15. At the time of my arrival, 8:05, there were two children in the room and another one was being dropped off. It is very refreshing to see the interactions between the parents and the teachers. These kids are very special and are in this school for years with the same aids following their progress. This consistency allows a special bond, almost a friendship, to develop between the aids and the parents. They interact and talk about what’s happening in their families and they also discuss what signs the kids are using. For example, one father helped the teacher out by saying that the sign his son was using meant “harmonica.”
As children continue to arrive, some of the aids keep newcomers entertained while two others work on oral/motor stimulation and speech sounds like /u/, /i/, and /a/. It took until 8:40 for all six of the students to arrive and get settled. Several students don’t attend KinderFrogs on Fridays and one child was ill. The group I observed is aged four and five. Some of them will return to the Leaps classroom next year and others will integrate into a regular kindergarten room. I believe it depends on how well their language is and how they interact socially. They want to make sure that the kids can handle a normal school environment before integration happens; the kids need to be able to go to the bathroom on their own and eat their food without too much assistance.
I used Spradley’s List of Concerns for a lot of my notes. This list includes: space, actor, activity, object, act, event, time, goal, and feeling. The space in the classroom was arranged in a very kid-friendly manner. The furniture was child-sized and arranged into interest centers. There was a kitchen, library, blocks, building table/light box, cubbies, music area, dress up, and a pet area for the guinea pig Whistle. There were also multiple bulletin boards showing the work of the students. Everything was very colorful and very appropriate for the age of the children.
The actors in this space include the children, the teacher and aids, and the parents. The kids interact with each other and the teacher and the teacher interacts with the parents. Granted, the parents are not constant participants in this space, they are only present in the morning for drop-off and in the afternoon for pick-up.
The activity in the classroom was quite varied. Two children would participate in oral-motor stimulation while the others played in the various centers. The oral-motor stimulation consisted of various things for the kids to chew on, whistles for them to blow, bubbles, brushes, and vibrating objects. All of these are designed to help the kids chew properly and to make the needed facial positions for speaking. For example, the bubble blowing poses their lips into position for sounds like /w/. Some kids would go out of the room for occupational therapy and physical therapy throughout the day. This morning, kids went to OT (occupational therapy) one at a time.
There are multiple objects in the classroom. There needs to be because of the age of the children. A particular favorite center for the kids was the kitchen. It had little appliances that made noises and acted like the real things. For example, the little toaster actually popped the toast up after they were pushed down and a dial was turned. There was also a blender, a coffee pot, and a bunch of fake food. Another favorite object was the drum in the music section; quite a few kids enjoyed banging on it and making music. Several kids played with the dolls that were in the house section and pushed them around in little strollers. A couple of them read books with one of the volunteers at the table.
One of the main acts of the morning was their morning circle time. They had the child-sized chairs arranged in a half circle by the calendar and dry-erase board. In order to better get the attention of the kids, the lead teacher turned the lights on and off and then told them to start cleaning up. The kids finished cleaning and went to the circle to start singing songs like a “Hello” song and an alphabet song. The teacher used each child’s name in the “Hello” song as well as corresponding signs; majority of the kids know sign language, sometimes more than the teachers. They did a song that said A thru E and then had the children say their names. Some kids were able to say their names in complete sentences, about half could and half couldn’t. After singing the introduction songs, the teacher reviewed the days of the week and had one of the kids use a pointer to help count out the days in the month. They started winding down with another alphabet song that had actions for each of the pictures; “d” for deer, “g” for gorilla, and “h” for horse just to name a few. They ended with the pledge of allegiance and washing up before morning snack. I had to leave and go to class at 9:30.
I returned to KinderFrogs after my social work class at 11:05. The event the kids were participating in was cooking. It was great watching the children help the teacher make cupcakes. The children poured, stirred, cut, mixed, dumped, and even broke eggs with the aids assisting as necessary. Due to a need for confidentiality, I cannot say the names of the students in the room. Therefore, I will use their initials to distinguish them; TL cut open the bag of mix, J dumped it, A broke eggs, TD poured the eggs in, C poured oil into the mix, K poured water, and everyone had a turn stirring the concoction. The teachers helped put the dough into the tray and took it to the oven to cook. The kids will get to eat the cupcakes during their afternoon snack.
Spradley’s “Time” section basically is the classroom’s schedule of events:
7:30-8:30
Arrived and had free time, some had oral/motor stimulation
8:30-8:40
Clean up
8:40-9:20
Circle Time
9:20-9:45
Fine motor activities/centers
9:45-10:00
Toileting/Snack
10:00-10:25
Outside play
10:30-11:00
PE
11:00-11:30
Cooking
11:30-12:00
Lunch
12:00-1:30
Quiet Time/Nap
1:30-2:00
Music/art activities
2:00-2:20
Toileting/snack
2:20-2:50
Science/guided exploration
2:50-2:55
Pack up
3:00
Dismiss at front of the building
The goal of this space is to educate the kids and work towards getting them ready to integrate into a regular kindergarten classroom. They work on speaking, eating, going to the bathroom, and other social interactions that are going to be needed. While the hope is always integration, some of these children are probably never going to be able to be in a totally regular classroom; they are simply too severe and require too much attention.
A pervasive feeling of happiness was in the room the entire time I was in the room. The kids were happy as the learned and interacted with each other, the teachers were definitely happy when the kids listened to them which occurred fairly often. The teachers are very caring and obviously enjoy their work very much. This is apparent in their interactions with the children. They never show any sign of aversion when hugging the kids that have boogers and are always overflowing with snot. It takes a strong heart and stomach sometimes in this line of work. I know that the first time I volunteered at KinderFrogs, I was told to not where white because it wouldn’t be white by the end of the day.
A visual argument that the room presented was the bulletin boards that were all around the room. They were very colorful and appropriate as well. There was a particularly colorful one located in the kitchen area that had pictures of various foods on it. I enjoyed watching TL point to the toy hot dog and then point to the corresponding picture on the board. He was so excited! There was another bulletin board by the blocks section that showed different shapes. A few of the other boards contained displays of the children’s artwork that they had done. One board had an activity that required the children to cut a line leading to different colored sweaters. This activity helped develop their fine-motor skills.