Observation Report: Learning about Amara

On this observation I get to focus on my little sister Amara, she a 24-month-old, she attends to Watt Learning Center. I observe her for like 2-4 hours in the classroom and outside. I will be talking about her physical development and how she loves riding toys, her trying to catch the ball with her teacher. I also will be talking about her social development with interacting with one of the students who was tried to play with her. I pay attention that she not engaging with other students in her room and that she very distant. After that I focus on her emotional development with the baby dolls, calling out for our father on when she going to pick her up. Lastly, I observed her cognitive development. She very develop on this department, on this observation she know how to make animals sound, knowing the difference between height.

Observation

The first thing that I do is concentrated on her physical development since Amara is a toddler “Between ages 2 and 3 years, young children stop 'toddling,' or using the awkward, wide-legged robot-like stance that is the hallmark of new walkers. As they develop a smoother gait, they also develop the ability to run, jump, and hop. Children of this age can participate in throwing and catching games with larger balls. They can also push themselves around with their feet while sitting on a riding toy.” (Para.1) Amara does love riding toy once when she goes play outside and over 2 months, she has learned the way to push the riding toy by pushing her feet on the bottom. I do realize that she does observe other children in her class trying to see how the other play with the riding toy, she does be listening to her teacher who is trying to help her with instructions. With the help of her classmates and her teacher, she can successfully move the riding toy by pushing her feet. My sister also likes playing with the ball or throwing it. Usually, she will throw a ball in the hoop and her teacher will stay next to her. Amara will have this pretty smile when the teacher catches the ball or when the ball goes through the hoop. Amara able to throws the ball, but not catch it when the teacher throws at her. I observe that when she tried to catch the ball she will run after the ball that slowly rolls away from her. Amara is not able to catch the ball because it not developmentally appropriate for her age (p.66). When she older it will be easier for her to throw and catch the ball. I also observed her physical development inside the classroom. When she plays inside the classroom, she likes to pull all the toys off the shelf at once and carry as much as she can hold from one place to another. Instead of choosing the toys one by one she will take all the toys with her hand to the table. Since she carries all her toys at once they will fell to the floor. Based on my observation on Amara physical her development is appropriate for a toddler.

Now since I'm done with her physical development, I start to observe Amara’s social development. Social development is important for toddlers. “At this age, your toddler is probably happier playing alongside rather than with other children. But it's important to introduce new playmates. Socializing with other children is an excellent way to foster your toddler’s social and emotional development (para.1).” Toddlers begin to form their identity on the messages they receive from classmates and teachers. When a toddler starts to develop their social skills “they work very hard to understand social rules and get things right (p.66).” Since toddlers are learning how to be socially, they are also figuring themselves out in the world. Social development requires a different type of behaviors that toddler is likely to exhibit, however, Amara does not fit into the social development behavior that appreciates for a toddler. For example, toddlers her age “actively seek out their friends and especially enjoy imitating each other’s behavior and engaging in group activities (p.67).” Instead of her playing with other children she likes to play alone by herself. She does not engage when it's time to do a group activity compares to the other children. Usually, a toddler likes to engage with each other, but Amara is to herself or she is playing with the teacher. I observed that when other children tried to play with Amara it a conflict “what is mine” and “what is yours” (p.68).” When another child comes and shares toys she will yell “mine” and the child well yell back at her “mine” both toddlers became upset because they believe that the toys are there. I hope in the next few months she will be more socially and play with other children and “develop rituals, favorite games, and deepening affections and attachments with other toddlers (p.67).” It is important for her to interact with other children so far Amara’s social development not appropriate for her age.

Now that I finished physical and social development, I also observe Amara’s emotional development. It shows that “toddlers can use words to express strong feelings and to evoke what is not the present (p.66).” When I saw this, I thought of her saying “Daddy coming” throughout the whole day. She doesn't say it in a phrase as in question or even an exclamation, she is expressing her feeling when her daddy is not with her or she just can’t wait for him to pick her up. Amara was holding a baby doll and I got a better sense of her emotions. Bredekamp and Copple (2009) found that “even very young toddlers are capable of empathy and touching kindness in their own ways.

Their interactions with children and adults may at times seem very sophisticated, for example, when they imitate a gentle adult and comfort a hurt friend or tenderly pat a baby.” (p.67) When I observe Amara holding the baby doll, she was very gentle, holding the baby in her arm. While I was paying attention to her holding the baby, she started crying according to bredekamp and Copple some toddler shows “at other times, fatigue, anxiety, or other distress overwhelms them, and they burst into tears or full-blown tantrums (p.67).” I went up to her and ask what wrong and she told me “I don’t know.” Two weeks ago, one of her classmates had a birthday party. The teacher bought the child cake so they she can lit the candle. While the teacher lit the candle, Amara started to have a tantrum. She began shouting “no cake! no cake!” she was shaking her head and that when I notice she was having pure fear of the candlelight. “Around age two, children enter the preoperational stage where they learn how to think abstractly, understand symbolic concepts, and use language in more sophisticated ways. They learn to use words to describe people, their feelings and their environments.” (para.2)

Since I'm done with physical, social and emotional I also observe her cognitive development. According to the article of The Stages of Cognitive Development “Around age two, children enter the preoperational stage where they learn how to think abstractly, understand symbolic concepts, and use language in more sophisticated ways. They learn to use words to describe people, their feelings and their environments. “(Para.2) Amara repeats words such as “daddy” or “mommy.” Amara will repeat words that her teacher says numerous of times. However, Amara will pick up words when she is reading a book. According to Bredekamp and Copple, it’s important “Toddlers love books especially sturdy ones they can easily manipulate, with clear pictures and lots of things to do textures to feel, holes to peek through or poke fingers into, sounds to make, actions to imitate (p.66).” Amara looks at the same book that includes animal fur to touch. She also touches the fur in the book. She makes a sound that each animal makes, for example when Amara sees a cow she will say “moo” then will touch the fur after. After Amara reads the book, she will get all the rubber animals out of the basket and she will take out the horses. Once she finishes getting the horses out, she will line them up by height. First, she will start with the shortest horses to the tallest horses. When I observed her, she did not prompt the teacher or one of the children to help with lining the horses. Based on my observation, Amara’s cognitive development is considered to appreciate for a toddler. Amara’s classroom encourages her to explore her mind in a variety way. Her brain developing, the fact is she able to master mind using especially when she plays with her toys or even reading a book.

By observing my little sister Amara, I have learned that she reminds me much of myself when I was a child. I have a more connection that I get to see how she is developing through physical, social, emotional, and cognitive. Her physical is good and appreciate for her age, she is doing find on her social development, she just need to work on interacting with other children. With Amara emotion, I get to see more of her emotion for the time at school.