Running head: MIDDLE CHILDHOOD REFLECTION 1

Middle Childhood Reflection

Ellyn E. Culotta

Louisiana State University

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Middle Childhood Reflection

In this middle childhood portfolio, I discussed the physical, cognitive, and

social/emotional development of a kindergarten aged child. Her name is Bailey, and she was five

years old at the time the observations took place. She was observed in her traditional styled

kindergarten classroom with twenty students total and one teacher. There was an area rug for

whole group instruction, and then five reading centers spread throughout the classroom for small

group instruction. The daily routine consisted of reading, math, writing, and ancillaries.

Throughout the rest of this reflection, I will briefly explain how I connected my observations of

the child to how her development is either appropriate or inappropriate for her age and what I

learned from this experience.

Beginning with the physical domain, I learned that the child is developing appropriately

for her age based on her skeletal and body growth. Nutrition and health education play a huge

role in aiding this childs development because she does not have to eat the heavy, unhealthy

cafeteria food every day, nor does she feel forced to play. Rather Bailey enjoyed going outside

and running around, testing her flexibility, and balancing on the edge of the playground. Each of

these components play an important role in the physical development of middle childhood

students. I have discovered that this is an age where students gain more understanding and test

more limits with what their bodies are able to do. Play is still such an important component as

children grow older because there is so much to learn through play. By playing games and

interacting with others there are valuable social skills and rules to be learned.

Cognitively, middle childhood students are also developing so quickly as they grow in

their attention, memory, categorization, reasoning, and problem-solving skills. Each of these

categories listed also involve a deeper understanding of students ability to think in the classroom
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and their readiness to learn. Observing different aspects of Baileys cognitive development

revealed that this is the area she most struggled in developmentally. Because she is on the

younger end of the spectrum for middle childhood she has not yet gained full control of each of

these skills. For example, she struggled to stay attentive to her partner when he was reading a

story, and she struggled to use more details in her conversations with others. After having

observed Bailey, I do not see any of these things to be considered alarming, rather she is just not

at the stage in her development yet. From this I have learned the importance of referencing the

appropriate age criteria when assessing a child for their different areas of development.

Lastly, the portfolio covers the social and emotional development of the middle

childhood aged kindergartener. From observations, I concluded that Bailey fit the self-

understand criteria that were based on social comparisons, and emotional self-regulation. She

also showed solid peer relations and a unique parent-child relationship. The parent-child

relationship was most interesting because of the dependence that had been established from a

young age had been viewed through her interactions with her mother and peers as well. This was

one of the most important areas of development that was discussed because most of the

observations contained a peer or some sort of social/emotional connection to another being. It

was eye opening to see how the family influences, peer relations, and child readiness all

determine the childs success in a classroom.

In conclusion, I have observed a child in the middle childhood category and found that

she is still in the process of physical, cognitive, and social/emotional development. Each of these

categories taught me something unique about this age range in which children begin to grow

even more rapidly and depend on others to guide their self-understanding. My biggest

understanding that has come from this portfolio is that Bailey is developmentally at the
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beginning of each of these stages and it is important to recognize the age of the child being

assessed so that he or she can be compared to the correct criteria.

Peer Reviewed by: Laura Simmons