GROUP TIME EVALUATION

Name of school; KinderCare Learning Center

Telephone number; 702-263-9326

Teacher; Naomi Cockburn

Age/Grade level; 3-year-old

Beginning and ending time of group time; Start of group time was 9:15 a.m., end was

9:33 a.m.

Date of observation April 5, 2017

Number of adults There was 1 teacher and 12 children during the time of observation.

1. Describe the group time you observed.

The children were sitting on the carpet as the teacher was doing a large group

circle time. The teacher started by singing a hello good morning song. As she

sang, the children sang along with her. Once the song was over, the teacher told

the children what the new letter of the week was. The letter was T, and as she

told the children the letter, the children answered if they knew what starts with T.

The teacher had a chart with pictures and words that used the letter. As she told

the children the words, they would act out the word that was said. Some

examples were tiger and a child made a growling noise, a top, and a child would

spin around; and a little girl did a turtle where she crawled slowly on the floor.


2. How appropriate are these activity(ies)? Explain. The activity was appropriate, I felt,

because the teacher was introducing the children to new vocabulary. As the

teacher was introducing the new words, she included movement so the children

were also using large motor skills.

3. How long is the group time? Is this appropriate for the age of the children? Explain

(Include the childrens ages in your answer.) The group time was 15 minutes. I

felt that it was appropriate because the 3 year old children were actually involved

in it and they didnt seem bored at all.

4. How appropriate is the space used for group time considering the number of children

in the group and the activity the group engages in? Explain.

Circle time is done on a large round carpet that is a caterpillar. Each child sat on

a letter that formed the caterpillar. The space was large enough for the children

to move as they were being the different words of the letter.

5. How does the teacher bring the children together and begin group time? The

teacher did a clean up song before the beginning of group time. This was a
 transition from open centers to large group time. Once the song was over, she

would start the hello song, then the children would come over to her on the

carpet.

6. How does the teacher involve the children in group time? Support with observed

examples.

As the teacher is singing the hello song, when each child would sit down, they

would sing a verse of the song. Once they got to carpet, they sang the song of

the next child who came to the carpet.

7. What percentage of the time are the children actively vs passively involved in the

group time? Is this appropriate? Explain. The children were actively involved the

whole time. I think this was because the teacher was making the circle time fun

and entertaining.

8. How do the children react to the group time? The children were engaged and

learning.

9. What evidence of flexibility, on the part of the teacher, do you observe while she is

conducting the group time? Support with observed examples.

The teacher was flexible because she started the group time, and let the children come

to the group as they were ready. One little boy didnt come to the carpet, but sat close

on a chair and watched what the group was doing.

10. Is there any individualization to accommodate special needs of children during

the group time? This addresses both children with special needs and the typically

developing child who is exhibiting a need that the other children are not , e.g.

shorter attention span, higher need for attention, lack of understanding of activity,

etc. Support with observed examples.

The child that sat on a chair during group time has a short attention span. The teacher

has this chair placed close to the carpet, so that he can sit, and when hes ready and

get up he can do so without disturbing the rest of the group.

11. Does one gender tend to engage in inappropriate behaviors more than another

gender during the group time? Support with observed examples.

The boys did tend to goof around more than the girls when the teacher was going

over the new words on the chart. The girls were listening and paying attention

more.

12. Describe inappropriate behaviors that occur during group time and the behavior

management techniques the teacher uses. Discuss the effectiveness and

appropriateness of the techniques used.

The inappropriate behavior was 2 boys pushing each other. One child then hit the other,

because he was to close to his letter he was sitting on. The teacher asks the boys what
was going on. Then she asked the boys to tell each other how they feel about what

happened. Once the children talked to each other, and expressed their feelings, the

teacher had each of the boys sit on different spots on the carpet.

13. Describe how the teacher ends group time. At the end of the group time, the

children went, one at a time, over to the bathroom and they lined up and got

ready to go outside.

14. What activity follows group time? Is this appropriate? Explain. The children

lined up to go to next activity which was outside. The teacher was singing a silly

song until all the children were on a rope lined up to go outside.

Evaluation: Write an overall evaluation of the group time experience. Focus on the

following information covered in this course.

Use of DAP philosophy The teacher is using DAP philosophy by using pretend

play as shes teaching the letter of the week. She is integrating teaching as the

children use large motor skills.

Use of authentic activities The teacher is using a new way to learn about letters as

the children act out the words.

Principles of learning utilized The teacher is encouraging the children to engage

in full body movement as well as learning letter recognition.

Appropriateness of teachers interaction with children

 The teacher interaction was great she keeps the children engaged in what she

was teaching. When behaviors were inappropriate she dealt with them in a good

matter.

Routines involved The teacher keeps the children on their daily routine as was

noticed on the schedule posted.

Pace of activity The pace was smooth and ongoing. The teacher kept the pace of

the activity going, which I feel that was why the children stayed engaged.

POWERFUL INTERACTION OBSERVATION

40 points

Observe a powerful interaction between the teacher and one child. To save yourself

time, you may use the same classroom and teacher from the preceding observation. If

such an interaction does not occur in that classroom, you will need to observe another

classroom, ages 3 yrs to 2nd grade.

Use the following format typing first what is in blue and then writing your response.

Date: April 5, 2017

School: KinderCare Learning Center

Teacher: Naomi Cockburn

Age of Child: 3 year olds

Time: Write the beginning and ending time of the observation (i.e. interaction between

child and teacher) Start time was 10:25 a.m. end time was 10:36 a.m.

Setting: Write a brief description of the context in which the interaction occurred,

including the age and gender of child. If you use a different class than in the preceding

observation, be sure to also include a brief description of the new setting; number of

adults present; and the age and number of children present.

The child was a 3-year-old male. The teacher had play dough out on a table with cookie

cutters and play mats. The teacher was sitting at the table with 2 children when the boy

came and sat down in a chair next to the teacher.

Interaction:

1. The child sits down Can I play with you guys too? he asks. Of course, the

teacher says. We are making gingerbread men from our story we read today.

What color would you like yours to be? the teacher asked. She points to the

play dough that is in front of her.

The child says My favorite color is green, so I want a green gingerbread boy.

He reaches for the green tub of play dough.

He tries to open the container but he is struggling with the lid. He is getting upset

with the lid.

The teacher is watching him. She is waiting to see if he can open it himself. The
 teacher asks the child when she sees him getting upset The lid looks like it is on

pretty tight would you like some help with it.

The child says, It hurt my finger when I tried to open it. Let me look at your

finger first then. Then well see if we can open the lid. The teacher said to the

child. She looks at the childs finger. There no red mark on your finger but I bet it

did hurt when you tried to open the lid. She says. The boy shakes his head yes.

Then he says why is the lid on so tight. The teacher tells him The lid is made to

go on tight so no air gets into the play dough when its not being used. If we leave

the lid off what happens to the play dough? The child says It gets real hard and

we have to throw it away.

Yes, that is the same thing that we would have to do if the lid isnt on tight the air

would make it hard and we couldnt use it anymore. The teacher tells the child.

The teacher opens the play dough. See, you hold the container and pop the lid

off like this , the teacher tells the boy. Thank you, Ms. Naomi now I can make my

boy. The child tells his teacher takes the play dough and starts to roll it out, then

takes a cutter and cuts out a boy shape. The teacher walks away to tend to

another child.

2. DAP Page, 156 When talking with children, teachers take into account childrens

capabilities as listeners, recognizing that preschoolers skill of recall and focused

attention are still developing.

DAP Page,157 Teachers encourage childrens effort to communicate.

3.DAP Page, 154 Teachers promote childrens learning and development by

scaffolding : that is. they provide assistance and/or support to enable each child to

master a challenge. The teacher did show the child how to open the container, but

she didnt let him try to do it himself.