Observation #2

Observation Paper #2

Class/section FHS 1500-001

:
Your Name: Ana Arche
Assignment: Observation 2

Background Information
Childs age: Ages 3-5 years
Fictitious Laura
name:
Location: Primary Class
Brief During a Sunday school class as the kids played together and with
Description: Playdough.

Biological Development
Laura is a 5 year old girl who was sitting in class with her brother and sister that were
younger, also with another little boy. Lauras biological development seems to be right on for her
age group. While playing with playdough she was able to handle it in her hands very well. She
was making pancakes and sprinkles and the way she made tiny specks of sprinkles with the
playdough was easy for her. When trying to switch from playing with the playdough to another
game, she had a hard time putting things away as if she couldnt put things away. That tendency
is called preservation, when a person preserves, or sticks to one thought or action. (Berger,
2016, p. 171) Laura was able to sit in her chair without any trouble also while some of the other
younger children would be very wiggly and distracted compared to her. Many children are
notably unbalanced. They are impulsive and flitting from one activity to another. (Berger, 2016,
p. 171) This is called impulse control and its noticed in some 5 year olds, but not Laura.

Cognitive Development
While some of the other kids could barely speak, Laura spoke a lot and very well. She
comes from Hispanic/Latino parents and is bilingual. As she asked for the other kids to share the
playdough she did it in English but when she would talk to her little brother and sister she would
do it in Spanish. Early Childhood is the best time to learn two languages. Neuroscience find that
when adults mastered two languages when they were young, both languages are located in the
same area of the brain (Berger, 2016, p. 185) her vocabulary was out the window, she knew
words in Spanish and English and could complete sentences without any problem. The average
child knows 500 at age 2 and more than 10,000 at age 6, which is more than 6 new words a day.
These are averages, estimates in vocabulary size at age 6 is 5,000 to 30,000 words. (Berger,
2016, p. 182) Laura was also very aware of the needs of her friends around her as she played.
She would ask if they needed more playdough and ask for different colors in return.
Psychosocial Development
Laura did a really good job with sharing but when it came to having to put away the
playdough and get ready to play another game she didnt want to put things away. She got a little
upset and when the teacher told her that she was not following the rules she started crying. It felt
like she didnt want to cry but she couldnt really control it so she turned around in her chair to
hide her crying face from everyone in the room. Nobody seemed to mind her crying but she
seemed to be aware that it did not look good. She must have felt ashamed that she was crying or
that she got in trouble by the teacher. Her little sister asked her why she was crying and she
denied it, she said she wasnt crying when clearly you can see the tears running down her face.
The development of theory of mind can be seen when young children try to escape punishment
or ridicule by lying. Their faces often betray them: worried or shifting eyes, pursed lips and so
on. (Berger 2016, p. 180) Laura let go of her anger and stopped being upset after the teacher
comforted her and told her they would play with the playdough again next Sunday.