Development in Early Childhood
Observation Date 5/08/03
Journal # 6
Ruhi Vasanwala-Khan
ruhi@stanford.edu
Words of Wonder
A dragon and a bear
A dragon and a bear fought
But then they were friends
Then they die and went to heaven
~Ayla
This is a house
This is a chair
This is a dentist
Dr. Adam
I call him Dentist Adam
Because he’s a dentist
~Wilson describing his picture
Scene: Playing by the rules
As I walked through the doors of the classroom, I had this sudden sense of
jubilance and curiosity came over me as if I was the child today. I couldn’t wait
to join into an activity, looking around at the vast amount of activities already
in progress, trying to choose where my first place will be. I first met with my
liaison teacher and discussed my mid-quarter review. We went over questions I
had and my feeling about the quarter so far. We spoke on the covered patio,
and as we talked I could see two boys building a castle with the large blocks. I
couldn’t help by hear some of their dialog, and visibly see the intensity at with
which they played. When my review finished, I chose to stay on the patio and
continue to observe the castle being built. Also on the patio, Wilson came up
from behind, and was just standing in front of a tray with water and plastic
animals that had been laid out. Not committed to being there, I walked closer
to him to see what I could do to help him focus on this activity. As I moved
closer he then began to draw me in, by asking questions about the animals. “Do
you want to play?” he asked. “What are we playing?” I replied. He didn’t have
a name for this game, but he had ‘rules!’ “If a crab falls into the water the frog
will eat them and win.” As he began stating his rules others kids came by to
see what we were going to play, I asked Wilson, to repeat his rules to some of
the other children to see if they wanted to play as well. At first, Wilson, was
not interested in including anyone else in his game. I told him; maybe we could
have two other people come, so we can make a team of two? He liked that
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Development in Early Childhood
Observation Date 5/08/03
Journal # 6
Ruhi Vasanwala-Khan
ruhi@stanford.edu
idea, and soon we were a foursome. Once the play continued, I withdrew
myself slowly, and then just began to watch. A minute later, I saw Grace and
Eliza, walking through the classroom and the playground dressed up from head
to toe as brides! They had a veil, a tutu for a gown, a bouquet of flowers in
their hands, a tiara, everything they could think of. At the end of the day,
after lunch bunch, Nandini and I asked Eliza, why she and Grace had dressed
up. We asked if they had been to a wedding recently, she said, “no.” We asked
if she was ever in a wedding, and she said, “No, we just wanted to.” Later,
when Eliza’s mother had come to pick her up, I heard Nandini telling her
mother about the dramatic play the Eliza took part of. Her mother on the other
hand was not surprised at all, “Again,” she said. Apparently, Eliza dresses up at
home and really enjoys it. This talk with her mother also game me a very
different perspective on the child. We can learn so much more about the child
from a parent that obviously may know them best. Things that I may wonder
why is the child doing “so and so,” may be much clearer after speaking with
the parent. I also, notice how involved some of the parents are here at Bing.
It’s wonderful. We have parents that come early in the morning and sit and
read with the child, before they leave. There are also parents that come right
at story time and sit with the child. I compare this to some of the parents that I
remember working with at my old school. We also had some wonderful, caring
parents, but unfortunately, we also had some single parents that worked so
much that never got a chance to be with their child. They would run and drop
them off in the parking lot at 6:30 am, and pick up at 6:30 pm. Run home, fix
dinner, eat and put the kids to bed by 8:00 so they could wake up again the
next morning at 5:45 to do it all over again.
Today at snack time, I visited Sarah and her group. She began by teaching the
children words in sign language that they could use during snack. We learned
how to say, apple, orange, banana, plate, milk, water, thank you, and you’re
welcome. I noticed that some of the signs were difficult for the children’s
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Development in Early Childhood
Observation Date 5/08/03
Journal # 6
Ruhi Vasanwala-Khan
ruhi@stanford.edu
dexterity, but again, they remembered each one quickly. I asked Sarah
afterwards if any of the children’s family member’s used sign language thinking
maybe that was her source of inspiration, but she said no, it was just
something she thought the children would find interesting…she was right.
Scene: “Where’s the buried treasure ”
Dramatic play is everywhere at Bing. Although, I’m specifically going to
describe two cases that I observed today, I also consider the game with Wilson
and the students to be part of dramatic play and of coarse Grace and Eliza
pretending to get married.
Still on the patio, I turned my attention to Jake and Patrick who were building
their castle even higher. I noticed that Jake, every so often would stand next
to the blocks to see if they were at the same height as his shoulders. He had
tried to build a tall tower earlier, but Nandini had reminded him of the rule.
When I looked closer at Jake I noticed that every time he came went to
compare the height he himself got a bit taller. I walked closer to him and
realized he would stand on him “tip toes” when he would measure up!
Continuing his concern for safety, Jake walked over to Patrick and handed him
a “hard hat” for him to wear. When Patrick turned it down, Jake said, “I’m
wearing mine because if blocks fall on my head, I’ll be safe.” When Jake and
Patrick began knocking down the blocks and tearing down the castle, I began to
think maybe they were done playing. That was not the case. Apparently, there
was “buried treasure” underneath the castle and they had to find it. Block
after block came down, until the treasure was found. They were excited at
first sight. “Here it is,” they exclaimed as they pointed it out. When they first
began talking about buried treasure, I thought they were pretending, but they
really had buried a treasure. It was their artwork from self-help table earlier
that morning. It’s important for me to note how they must have consciously
thought out the play from the beginning to bury their treasure thinking they
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Development in Early Childhood
Observation Date 5/08/03
Journal # 6
Ruhi Vasanwala-Khan
ruhi@stanford.edu
will want it later. Also, the concept of seeking out a “buried treasure” may
have come from a variety of sources, particularly a book they may have read.
Griffen mentions how children play out stories that they read. More closely, it
follows Caroline Pratt from The City and Country School’s philosophy of using
blocks to play out stories that children read. Once the treasure was found,
Jake wanted to rebuild the castle quickly saying that “ships were coming
towards them.” “How many ships do you see out there?” I asked. “There are so
many, 52,” was his answer. When all see around me are other children on the
grass and a wood working area, Jake can see 52 ships coming towards him to
invade his very own castle.
After lunch Eliza and Michael straddled on top of the red barrels of the
playground. Again, it may have been a red barrel to me, but to Eliza it was her
horse for that moment. “Are you going for a ride?” I asked. “Yes, on Rainbow.”
She said. Noticing that Eliza had named her horse, Michael said and my horse in
“Kirplunk.” I wanted to ask him about that name. Did he make it up on the fly
or did he know of a horse named Kirplunk. I didn’t want to seem to question his
name. Thinking back, there are many ways I could have asked him about that.
Unfortunately, at that time, nothing came to mind.
I really enjoyed joining the team meeting that afternoon. I commend the team
for being so productive in a one-hour period. The aura was casual, but depth of
discussion was deep. Teachers brought up how some of their parent
conferences were going and other teachers gave their own opinions. They
discussed their thoughts on many of the children, but especially focused their
attention on the children that were in transition; either into kindergarten or
from 2 days per week to 3 or to 5. Lastly, by the end of the meeting, another
seasonal activity had been decided as well as a field trip to the nursery. What
impressed me the most about this was everyone’s willingness to work over the
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Development in Early Childhood
Observation Date 5/08/03
Journal # 6
Ruhi Vasanwala-Khan
ruhi@stanford.edu
weekend and buy the needed supplies by Monday morning. This really is a great
team to work with.
T houghts and Questions to grapple with from the reading
I found the beginning of chapter nine very interesting to read. One of the girls
in my LDT program is a children’s book publisher from the Philippines and we
have become very good friends this past year. This chapter seemed to augment
my previous knowledge I gained from her as well as solidified it. I liked
Griffen’s point about not using contractions in sentences and also so we need
to write a book so it can be read out loud. I also valued her point on not
stereotyping in our books, “mothers cooking, fathers working” (p. 186).
One comparison that is easy to make with Bing school, especially in West AM
where many of our books are about insects. I noticed that at snack time the
children are usually choosing non-fiction books about bugs. I have also on other
occasions during playtime read to children a book on asthma and our health in
general. The children really seem to enjoy these types of book and remember
the facts from the stories. This past week I began my stories with “there are
over 30,000 types of spiders….” And Regan jumped in saying, “I know that,
every book says it.”
I did have some questions about animals playing human roles and Griffens point
of view. I briefly spoke to Peckie about this, but Nandini, I would like your
opinion as well. Griffen says that the animal characters in the books should not
resemble humans, because it confuses the children too much. I do see how it
may confuse them, but the truth is that countless children’s book classics do
portray animals in a human light.
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