HERE's An EXAMPLE OF A RUNNING RECORD & REFLECTION:
Name of Child: Nick Age: 4 years 9 months Date of Birth: 5/17/04 Choice Time: Legos Other Participants: Greg
This observation was done during a time of free play. There were three activities the children were participating in; playdough, counting bears with colored tiles (the children were making patterns with them), and a bin of legos. There were six children playing with playdough, four children playing with the bears, a couple of children wandering from one to the other, and Nick was playing with the legos. There was a lot of talking in the room but the noise level was low, there was classical music in the background.
10:15 – 10:28
N is wandering around the room. He sees a lego “ship” he was working on earlier.
N – “I love to play with ships”, “I love to play with ships”
Looks at me and says, “When mom drops me off I take the bus home, when dad comes here he comes back to get me”
He pushes the lego ship over to a carpeted area and begins to add legos to it.
G comes over to see what N is doing, picks up a lego plane
N – “Hey you’re a big ship too, you can have my car.” He hands G the car and G makes the car fly. N watches G as G lands the car on the ship. N knocks the car off the ship and swats his hand at it on the floor. G leaves.
(There aren’t any other children around anymore so N speaks to me when he talks.)
N puts the legos on top of each other and looks over at the kids playing with playdough. “They need to share with the other kids (referring to the children who have playdough and the ones who don’t).”
He continues to put legos together while watching the other children play. He looks at the children playing with the 1 inch square tiles and counting bears. “I am going to have to work really hard to get this ship together”.
He pulls at the legos stuck together and says, “I can’t get them apart”. He pulls harder and they come apart.
N secures all the pieces of lego. He asks for a picture we took of a ship he built last week. He looks at the picture. “Oh man, I have to start new, now I have to wreck it all and do it over.” He looks at the picture and takes some of the legos off the ship. He starts to put some other legos on the ship. He looks at the other children at the playdough table and playing with the tiles and bears.
He looks up at me and says “When mom drops me off I take the bus, when dad comes here he picks me up.”
N puts more legos together, frequently looking at the other children in the room.
“I remember that when mom drops me off I take the bus , when dad comes here he picks me up!”
N puts a lego on the side of the ship. “This is the one we use to jump into the water.” He demonstates with a lego person someone jumping off the lego onto the carpet.
N looks at the children playing with the tiles and bears.
He looks in the lego bin for a lego and takes out a red one. He claps his hands, “almost perfect! I need a lot of people on that ship”. He points to the ship. He put people on the ship.
He watches the other children.
N puts a green and a red lego on the ship. He points to the ship. “That took very very hard work to do.”
He lays on the couch and says, “that tired me out, I work so hard to make that ship.”
N says, “Do you think I should be tired out doing all that hard work?”.
He looks in the bucket again. “Only certain times I have to get rid of stuff, oh I mean clean up.” “Probably sometimes I will be bored of it.”
Put a green and a blue piece on the ship.
He looks over at the children playing playdough.
He puts a police car on the ship. “I think I brought this police car to school.”
“Let’s see the ship move. This is the front part (points to the side facing me), and this is the back part (points to the part away from me), I need to work harder.”
He lays back on the couch. “Oh man, this will take a long time, I worked hard huh?” (sigh) “My dad will think so, he will pick me up today and when mom brings me I take the bus, right?”
A(me) – “That’s right N.”
N - “I don’t like to work this hard on that.”
A (me) – “You don’t have to work so hard on it. You can do something else if you would like”
N says, “Yeah, I have to work hard, I want it to look good.” He keeps building with his legos.
He looks at the playdough table again.
Reflection
In accordance to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs N has his physiological needs met on most days. On the day of the observation his physiological needs were suitably met. I am aware of this because of his behavior and appearance based on having seen him with his needs not met.
Due to some ongoing family issues N is struggling with levels two and three of the hierarchy, his security and psychological safety, and his belongingness. His struggles with the second level are apparent through his constant need to check in with adults. He said over and over that he was working hard, very hard. As he often does he looks at an adult when he says this as if looking for reassurance and approval. He also told me repeatedly about his drop off/pick up routine. “When dad drops me off dad picks me up. When mom drops me off I take the bus home.” This routine has been going on for a few months but it seems like it is just starting to make sense to N. Knowing this structure and order of events seems to help N with his psychological safety and security.
As I observed N, I noticed his interest in the other children in the room. He often looked over at the two other activities where the other children were. He made a couple of comments about them but did not make a physical attempt to join them. The one child who came over to interact with N quickly left after his toy was swatted away. These instances made me aware of his struggles with the belongingness. He seems to be in the beginning stages of level three which is another reason for his lack of confidence in this area.
I will continue to observe N and focus on his lack of interaction with the other children in the room as well as his constant “checking in” with adults.
This is a short running record. Observation #1: 9:20: E. is painting at the easel. Teacher writes her name on top of sheet without asking. Using brushes, E makes circles. A teacher is giving a lesson at a nearby table, which E. overhears. She says, looking at me, "I'm Emily Elephant". 9:23: "Look it, Miss D!" to me. "What did you paint? Tell me about your painting." "I made lots of circles". 9:24: E. walks over to table where teacher asks her to do a sorting activity. E. sorts pictures of real bears and pretend bears. 9:26: Teacher says, "Count the pretend bears". E. counts them with assistance from teacher (i.e.: teacher points as E. counts). She then did the same with the real bears. 9:27: High 5 from the teacher, which E. reciprocates. Asks, "May I watch him?" as another friend is lacing. Teacher, "Sure". While watching, E. picks out the bear feelings puzzles, where she changes the bears' faces and clothing. 9:30: E. leaves the puzzle area.
Reflection: As this was my initial observation of E. I was watching to not only see what E. was capable of; but, also, what was being done for her that she may be capable of doing. E's regular education teachers have expressed concern over E's cognitive abilities, which have been variable. At times, E. can be quite competent; at others, she does not seem to understand what is being asked of her.
During this observation, E. demonstrated that she understands shapes, counting, identifying feelings, and the difference between real and pretend.
E. is often stubborn and wishes to do things when she is ready to do them (not uncommon for a 3-year-old) but I see her as capable to do things that may not be expected of her, such as writing the first letter of her name rather than doing it for her. I also wonder if she can count using one-to-one correspondence when asked to slow down or after demonstrating exactly what that looks like. (I believe she can and will try to observe this).She did demonstrate a good understanding of counting by rote in this observation.
When observing in the future, I'll look for other cognitive skills such as color recognition, patterning, number recognition, and problem solving skills, though I am most interested in her social/emotional skills.
Subject DOB: 2/20/2005 Age: 3 years and 11 months Setting: In a registered home childcare setting. 2 children (3years (L), 9 months(KA)), subjects younger baby brother K, 18 months(M), childcare provider, and adult helper. The infants are playing and investigating what older siblings are doing. Subject is playing with the other L. They are playing in the reading corner. 11:15 AM Moving the computer bench. Making a wall with it. “Hee, Hee…” Sitting in rocking chair. “They are our babies” “Drops, no are…Hey!” You come here!” standing up and hugging M (18month old). “M I am going to get you.” Returning to rocking chair. To L: “Make her get out of this house!” L: “we don’t want M to play with us.” S: “He look like he has a wet nipple.” “Whee….Hahahaha” Sitting on the sand and water table. Helper:” please do not sit on the table.” Getting off the table. L: “I am the badest you are the nicest .” S: sitting down on floor then standing up. “Now I am standing tall.” Picking up a doll giving it to L. “Now I am chasing.” Skipping and then picking up antoher doll “Jason, Jason I got you baby.” Yelling “We got all the babies.” “ Whee Haaaahaaaa” 11:20 L:” Yea, we got all the babies.” S: “We don’t have a cat.” L:”Yea, let’s go get a cat.” Walking into the other room and coming back. Dancing and singing. S: “I got them in the house. I am going to push that red button. Rarrrr…..” L: Let’s get them with a toe. S is standing on computer bench. Falls off bench and starts to cry. Stands up and laughs. “Now we have a dog and a cat.” L gives her a toy. S stars at it. 11:25 Helper:” It’s time to clean up for lunch.” S: picks up one toy and sings and twirls and puts it away. Picks up another toy sings and twirls and puts it away. Twirls around and bumps into baby brother. Baby starts to cry “I sorry K.” and Keeps twirling. Helper: “S please stop twirling and finish picking up the toys.” (The other children have finshed cleaning up. They are in the kitchen and asking what their job is.) S keeps twirling and starts to sing again. S picks up one toy and runs to the toy bins and puts it away. “I have forks today.” Going into Kitchen. Comes back with the forks. Goes to the table and passes out forks. “You get the elephant, I get an elephant, you get a giraffe.” Sits down at the table. “Where is my elephant?” Starts to cry. “I don’t have my elephant.” (At the same time the other children are passing out cups and plates). Helper: “ Look next to you.” S:” Where, Where? Oh!” 11:30 At the beginning of this observation the subject was engaged in pretend play. Some of her conversation was nonsense to me but made complete sense to her. She and her peer knew exactly what the other was saying. This is normal development of her age. Her attention was completely focused on the game they were playing. In the middle her attention was diverted to the toy the L gave her. She just stared at it for while until she was asked to clean up. This is typical behavior for her. Her attention can be distracted very easily and some times hard to get back. When she was cleaning up the toys it was clear that it was a challenge for her to stay focused on the task at hand. Out of all the toys on the floor she could only manage to clean up 3 toys in the time it took the other children pick up the rest. Mom wonders if she may have ADD like herself and 16 year old older sister. There may be some symptoms displayed in this observation. I wonder if focusing on the toy for such a long period of time could be a sign. I think she should be able to play for a long period of time then ten minuets, be fore her attention is diverted. As well as not being able to concentrate on cleaning up. She displays the same type of behavior as she displayed cleaning up the toys displays when she is getting ready to go outside.
Daryl, This was a brief observation, a little too brief for me to get a sense of E.'s development and who she is. It left questions unanswered. Did she rote count correctly? until what number? From this observation, I couldn't see any behaviors that would lead me to consider her to be "stubborn". Remember not to box children into labels. Remain open when you look and listen. Also, what is a reasonable developmental expectation for a child E's age? Refer to the research cited in your text as well as your own thoughts.
Cindy, I too found the children's conversations difficult to follow. Since this is a running record, it's fine (and necessary) to describe the actions as well as to record the language. When reflecting on an observation, discuss what you see and hear, and then bring in some of the research and not just your impressions. Based on what you've written, I can't say that I saw anything that would lead me to conclude that she has a very short attention span for her age. (Obviously, this is only 1 observation.) Hope these comments help. Manuela
HERE's An EXAMPLE OF A RUNNING RECORD & REFLECTION:
ReplyDeleteName of Child: Nick
Age: 4 years 9 months
Date of Birth: 5/17/04
Choice Time: Legos
Other Participants: Greg
This observation was done during a time of free play. There were three activities the children were participating in; playdough, counting bears with colored tiles (the children were making patterns with them), and a bin of legos. There were six children playing with playdough, four children playing with the bears, a couple of children wandering from one to the other, and Nick was playing with the legos. There was a lot of talking in the room but the noise level was low, there was classical music in the background.
10:15 – 10:28
N is wandering around the room. He sees a lego “ship” he was working on earlier.
N – “I love to play with ships”, “I love to play with ships”
Looks at me and says, “When mom drops me off I take the bus home, when dad comes here he comes back to get me”
He pushes the lego ship over to a carpeted area and begins to add legos to it.
G comes over to see what N is doing, picks up a lego plane
N – “Hey you’re a big ship too, you can have my car.” He hands G the car and G makes the car fly. N watches G as G lands the car on the ship. N knocks the car off the ship and swats his hand at it on the floor. G leaves.
(There aren’t any other children around anymore so N speaks to me when he talks.)
N puts the legos on top of each other and looks over at the kids playing with playdough. “They need to share with the other kids (referring to the children who have playdough and the ones who don’t).”
He continues to put legos together while watching the other children play. He looks at the children playing with the 1 inch square tiles and counting bears. “I am going to have to work really hard to get this ship together”.
He pulls at the legos stuck together and says, “I can’t get them apart”. He pulls harder and they come apart.
N secures all the pieces of lego. He asks for a picture we took of a ship he built last week. He looks at the picture. “Oh man, I have to start new, now I have to wreck it all and do it over.”
He looks at the picture and takes some of the legos off the ship. He starts to put some other legos on the ship.
He looks at the other children at the playdough table and playing with the tiles and bears.
He looks up at me and says “When mom drops me off I take the bus, when dad comes here he picks me up.”
N puts more legos together, frequently looking at the other children in the room.
“I remember that when mom drops me off I take the bus , when dad comes here he picks me up!”
N puts a lego on the side of the ship. “This is the one we use to jump into the water.” He demonstates with a lego person someone jumping off the lego onto the carpet.
N looks at the children playing with the tiles and bears.
He looks in the lego bin for a lego and takes out a red one. He claps his hands, “almost perfect! I need a lot of people on that ship”. He points to the ship. He put people on the ship.
He watches the other children.
N puts a green and a red lego on the ship. He points to the ship. “That took very very hard work to do.”
He lays on the couch and says, “that tired me out, I work so hard to make that ship.”
N says, “Do you think I should be tired out doing all that hard work?”.
He looks in the bucket again. “Only certain times I have to get rid of stuff, oh I mean clean up.” “Probably sometimes I will be bored of it.”
Put a green and a blue piece on the ship.
He looks over at the children playing playdough.
He puts a police car on the ship. “I think I brought this police car to school.”
“Let’s see the ship move. This is the front part (points to the side facing me), and this is the back part (points to the part away from me), I need to work harder.”
He lays back on the couch. “Oh man, this will take a long time, I worked hard huh?” (sigh) “My dad will think so, he will pick me up today and when mom brings me I take the bus, right?”
A(me) – “That’s right N.”
N - “I don’t like to work this hard on that.”
A (me) – “You don’t have to work so hard on it. You can do something else if you would like”
N says, “Yeah, I have to work hard, I want it to look good.” He keeps building with his legos.
He looks at the playdough table again.
Reflection
In accordance to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs N has his physiological needs met on most days. On the day of the observation his physiological needs were suitably met. I am aware of this because of his behavior and appearance based on having seen him with his needs not met.
Due to some ongoing family issues N is struggling with levels two and three of the hierarchy, his security and psychological safety, and his belongingness. His struggles with the second level are apparent through his constant need to check in with adults. He said over and over that he was working hard, very hard. As he often does he looks at an adult when he says this as if looking for reassurance and approval. He also told me repeatedly about his drop off/pick up routine. “When dad drops me off dad picks me up. When mom drops me off I take the bus home.” This routine has been going on for a few months but it seems like it is just starting to make sense to N. Knowing this structure and order of events seems to help N with his psychological safety and security.
As I observed N, I noticed his interest in the other children in the room. He often looked over at the two other activities where the other children were. He made a couple of comments about them but did not make a physical attempt to join them. The one child who came over to interact with N quickly left after his toy was swatted away. These instances made me aware of his struggles with the belongingness. He seems to be in the beginning stages of level three which is another reason for his lack of confidence in this area.
I will continue to observe N and focus on his lack of interaction with the other children in the room as well as his constant “checking in” with adults.
Observation #1
Amy Emerson
ECHD 263
This is a short running record.
ReplyDeleteObservation #1:
9:20: E. is painting at the easel. Teacher writes her name on top of sheet without asking. Using brushes, E makes circles. A teacher is giving a lesson at a nearby table, which E. overhears. She says, looking at me, "I'm Emily Elephant".
9:23: "Look it, Miss D!" to me.
"What did you paint? Tell me about your painting."
"I made lots of circles".
9:24: E. walks over to table where teacher asks her to do a sorting activity. E. sorts pictures of real bears and pretend bears.
9:26: Teacher says, "Count the pretend bears". E. counts them with assistance from teacher (i.e.: teacher points as E. counts). She then did the same with the real bears.
9:27: High 5 from the teacher, which E. reciprocates.
Asks, "May I watch him?" as another friend is lacing.
Teacher, "Sure".
While watching, E. picks out the bear feelings puzzles, where she changes the bears' faces and clothing.
9:30: E. leaves the puzzle area.
Reflection:
As this was my initial observation of E. I was watching to not only see what E. was capable of; but, also, what was being done for her that she may be capable of doing. E's regular education teachers have expressed concern over E's cognitive abilities, which have been variable. At times, E. can be quite competent; at others, she does not seem to understand what is being asked of her.
During this observation, E. demonstrated that she understands shapes, counting, identifying feelings, and the difference between real and pretend.
E. is often stubborn and wishes to do things when she is ready to do them (not uncommon for a 3-year-old) but I see her as capable to do things that may not be expected of her, such as writing the first letter of her name rather than doing it for her. I also wonder if she can count using one-to-one correspondence when asked to slow down or after demonstrating exactly what that looks like. (I believe she can and will try to observe this).She did demonstrate a good understanding of counting by rote in this observation.
When observing in the future, I'll look for other cognitive skills such as color recognition, patterning, number recognition, and problem solving skills, though I am most interested in her social/emotional skills.
Subject DOB: 2/20/2005
ReplyDeleteAge: 3 years and 11 months
Setting: In a registered home childcare setting. 2 children (3years (L), 9 months(KA)), subjects younger baby brother K, 18 months(M), childcare provider, and adult helper. The infants are playing and investigating what older siblings are doing. Subject is playing with the other L. They are playing in the reading corner.
11:15 AM
Moving the computer bench. Making a wall with it.
“Hee, Hee…” Sitting in rocking chair. “They are our babies” “Drops, no are…Hey!” You come here!” standing up and hugging M (18month old). “M I am going to get you.” Returning to rocking chair. To L: “Make her get out of this house!”
L: “we don’t want M to play with us.”
S: “He look like he has a wet nipple.” “Whee….Hahahaha”
Sitting on the sand and water table.
Helper:” please do not sit on the table.”
Getting off the table.
L: “I am the badest you are the nicest .”
S: sitting down on floor then standing up. “Now I am standing tall.” Picking up a doll giving it to L. “Now I am chasing.” Skipping and then picking up antoher doll “Jason, Jason I got you baby.” Yelling “We got all the babies.” “ Whee Haaaahaaaa”
11:20
L:” Yea, we got all the babies.”
S: “We don’t have a cat.”
L:”Yea, let’s go get a cat.”
Walking into the other room and coming back. Dancing and singing.
S: “I got them in the house. I am going to push that red button. Rarrrr…..”
L: Let’s get them with a toe.
S is standing on computer bench. Falls off bench and starts to cry. Stands up and laughs. “Now we have a dog and a cat.” L gives her a toy. S stars at it.
11:25
Helper:” It’s time to clean up for lunch.”
S: picks up one toy and sings and twirls and puts it away. Picks up another toy sings and twirls and puts it away. Twirls around and bumps into baby brother. Baby starts to cry “I sorry K.” and Keeps twirling.
Helper: “S please stop twirling and finish picking up the toys.” (The other children have finshed cleaning up. They are in the kitchen and asking what their job is.)
S keeps twirling and starts to sing again. S picks up one toy and runs to the toy bins and puts it away. “I have forks today.” Going into Kitchen. Comes back with the forks. Goes to the table and passes out forks. “You get the elephant, I get an elephant, you get a giraffe.” Sits down at the table. “Where is my elephant?” Starts to cry. “I don’t have my elephant.” (At the same time the other children are passing out cups and plates).
Helper: “ Look next to you.”
S:” Where, Where? Oh!”
11:30
At the beginning of this observation the subject was engaged in pretend play. Some of her conversation was nonsense to me but made complete sense to her. She and her peer knew exactly what the other was saying. This is normal development of her age. Her attention was completely focused on the game they were playing. In the middle her attention was diverted to the toy the L gave her. She just stared at it for while until she was asked to clean up. This is typical behavior for her. Her attention can be distracted very easily and some times hard to get back. When she was cleaning up the toys it was clear that it was a challenge for her to stay focused on the task at hand. Out of all the toys on the floor she could only manage to clean up 3 toys in the time it took the other children pick up the rest.
Mom wonders if she may have ADD like herself and 16 year old older sister. There may be some symptoms displayed in this observation. I wonder if focusing on the toy for such a long period of time could be a sign. I think she should be able to play for a long period of time then ten minuets, be fore her attention is diverted. As well as not being able to concentrate on cleaning up. She displays the same type of behavior as she displayed cleaning up the toys displays when she is getting ready to go outside.
Daryl,
ReplyDeleteThis was a brief observation, a little too brief for me to get a sense of E.'s development and who she is. It left questions unanswered. Did she rote count correctly? until what number? From this observation, I couldn't see any behaviors that would lead me to consider her to be "stubborn". Remember not to box children into labels. Remain open when you look and listen. Also, what is a reasonable developmental expectation for a child E's age? Refer to the research cited in your text as well as your own thoughts.
Cindy,
I too found the children's conversations difficult to follow. Since this is a running record, it's fine (and necessary) to describe the actions as well as to record the language.
When reflecting on an observation, discuss what you see and hear, and then bring in some of the research and not just your impressions. Based on what you've written, I can't say that I saw anything that would lead me to conclude that she has a very short attention span for her age. (Obviously, this is only 1 observation.)
Hope these comments help.
Manuela