To complete some of my observation hours, I attended the NAT Daycare center. My older cousin works there so it was easy to get access, although I did not observe her class. I saw wonderful, yet surprising, things as the three-year olds sat in their teeny-tiny desks and ran around the play area. The count included nine students: three boys and six girls. Also, the teacher was a younger girl. She was only nineteen years old, but seemed to be amazing at her job. The children loved her. Along with watching them play, “Ms.R” also taught them minor school lessons. This kind of annoyed me, because I am going to school for four years just to do the same thing as she is doing now without a degree. The daycare is open from 7am-6pm, but in just three hours I got to see tons!

The class starts off the day with reviewing the colors, numbers, and alphabet. They even sung a song about the color of the day, red! It included the spelling and a few objects that color. I watched the kids got so excited when Ms. R held up an item and gestured for the students to say the object’s name and announce that it was red along with the rest of the objects on red day. The items included: plastic apples, cherries, strawberries, a stop sign, and a cartoon drawing of fire, which lead into a huge discussion of how “fire is bad, and it can really hurt you.” As I looked around while the song was going on, I noticed that not a single child was on the same rhythm. It was funny how they all knew the words, but couldn’t quite get them out at the same time. This is because they have not developed their rhythm finding skills yet, some people actually never develop them that’s way some people are “tone-deaf”. 

The second thing I really paid attention to was that most of the children would jump at the chance to talk. One would say something, and most of the students would agree with him/her. “I love chocolate milk” and then you would hear several, one at the time, little voices say “me too”. The reason this happens is because these children cannot pick up on social cues. Most of the time if you are having a conversation, you can pick up if the other person is less interested or has stopped listening. So you cater to that physical suggestion. Children are not aware of these yet, so they just keep talking until someone tells them to stop and sometimes not even then. Also there was a student in the class who had just happened to turn three, so he was a lot younger than the rest of the group. The teacher called him the “why kid”. In this child’s case, he was still in his curiosity stage. In this stage, the child is really trying to say “That’s interesting to me. Tell me more, please?” They are innately and unendingly curious about the world and want to better understand the things we see, hear, and do. Ignoring the questions kids ask may suppress that curiosity and desire for knowledge, something we as teachers do not want to do.

The one of the last things I saw that really infuriated me is that most of the children were not saying yes/no ma’am. I had a few short talks with the teachers, and they explain that when I was that age every child that came through those doors either had been taught or was in the process of learning when to say yes/no ma’am. Now most teachers can’t even enforce it in the classrooms. Some parents just don’t believe in say yes/no ma’am. And I guess that’s their right to raise their child how they want, but I don’t agree. A student that doesn’t respect their teacher won’t respect anyone.

          Next, I followed the children outside for morning recess. Right off the bat as I walked outside, I noticed something that I learned in another EDUC class and I wrote a paper about in my sociology class, as well: “girls are touchier.” The teacher explained to me that during recess the students are allowed to go as far as the fence. The boys would usually spread out and play a game, while the girls liked to play on the equipment and touch and get right on top of each other. Most girls have no problem with sharing their personal space with other girls. Boys, on the other hand, are taught that this is bad. It goes back to the old saying that boys are not supposed to be “soft”, and letting someone invade your personal space conveys that.

I then trailed behind the sweaty kids to lunch where I saw the typical boys on one side and the girls on the other. I was then delighted to notice one boy sitting with a group of girls, but at this age that did not seem right. I assumed that he was not comfortable around boys and that’s why he sat with the girls, because at that age they are much more welcoming. I was then filled in by the teacher that the little boy lives with his mom and little sister, so he’s never really been around a bunch of boys and that’s where student factors come in.

Summary: Although I will not be specializing in children this young, I still learned a lot. When I did my observations, it’s like the reading material came to life. I want to be a first grade teacher, and I have to understand that some of the students will come to me completely immature, so I have to know the stages they are at before they come to me, to ready them for the next grade.