Early Classroom Observation

I observed a child at Lawton Chiles Elementary School for 15 hours. I observed EJ, a five years old African American child. On my first day, I walked into the kindergarten classroom to start my observation. Throughout my days of observing EJ, I noticed that he did not know all of the colors in a rainbow. He could not count to the number ten neither. His attention span was short and he was very hyperactive. EJ does not pay attention to the teacher’s instruction. The teacher had to repeat the instructions multiple times, she also had to cue EJ to pay attention, and engage him in the activities they were working on. EJ was trying to read an age appropriate book but could not make out all of the words. He was not as enthusiastic as the other students regarding job duty assigned to him. He had a hard time adjusting to the other children in the classroom. EJ The teacher instructed the students to create color cards to show the zone of regulations. Before the students could start working on their project, EJ started to point at the door asking for his mom while crying. He picked up his backpack and started walking toward the door. The teacher assistant walked toward him and tried to calm him down. EJ started making noise …show more content…
According to Piaget (1983), at this stage, children learn through pretend play. That is stage is called the Preoperational Stage. Children at this age also struggles with understanding the ideal of constancy. For example, the teacher took a handful of playdough and split it in two. She smashed one flat and roll the other one into a ball. She then asked EJ to take one. Because EJ is in the Preoperational Stage, he picked the smashed clay. That happen because he thinks the smashed playdough is bigger than the rolled up one. Children in this stage also uses language and symbols, including letters and