Development in Early ChildhoodRuhi Vasanwala-Khan
Observation Date 5/02/
Journal # 5
Words of Wonder
I’m going to cook pancakes…
I need to cut the rice cakes…
I need to slice the melon…
My pizza is almost ready; first it has to go into the oven…
…I’m pretending!
~Eliza
Scene: pre-structured materials “his aim is self affirmation”
As I walked into the classroom today, I noticed that most of the children were choosing to play inside. Nandini had a group of 5-7 boys on the carpet all working together to build a floor puzzle. My observation here told me that the boys here were learning about cooperative play and helping each other find pieces of the puzzle that one child might have been looking for. I stepped back for a second thinking about how Griffen had described puzzles to be “pre-structured” material and wanted to take a mental inventory of the classroom materials. The manipulative table this morning was set up with another “pre-structured” activity where the child places ring onto the wooden rods. With the variation of rings and the height of the rods the child will make “a clear relationship by himself. A piece that is place wrong won’t go in (p 140).”
The children at this table seemed to be familiar with this activity playing individually and with concentration. The next table over also had some children who were working with stencils. I’ve been noticing the use of stencils more often lately. Initially, I used to see only the alphabet stencil, but recently I’ve seen insect ones as well (probably to go along with the class theme in West AM). Looking back at the children on the carpet with the floor puzzle, which was a more challenging task; the children here were working with each other and seeking more direction from the teacher. Griffen says, “When he (the child) finds a task too hard, he has two choices; he can ask for help or turn to something else (p 140).”
Scene: “Dinner for 3 at Bing ”
The majority of my morning was spent making dinner with both Eliza and Catharine in the dramatic play area of the classroom. When I first arrived, Eliza caught my attention as she softly leaned up against the counter next to a baby in a high chair. She was “chatting” on the cell phone with maybe a friend. Her hands were casually swinging around, her wrist was twisting back and forth, the way I do when I’m engrossed in a conversation and use my hands to make gestures thinking as if the person on the other side of the phone could see everything I’m doing. Eliza’s facial expressions were something else. The awe, the excitement, and most of all her wide eyes as she spoke told me everything she was saying. As she spoke I noticed that every so often she would pause as if there really was someone else on the cell phone. She soon hung up the phone and went over to the sink to cut the rice cake in half. She saw me in the kitchen and asked if I wanted to eat rice cake? I said, “Sure, what flavor are they (I have never eaten a rice cake and didn’t even know if they came in flavors)?” The looked up, paused and then said, “corn.” I took a bite and said thank you to her. I asked her what else they were making and Catharine said that they were having muffins for dinner. Next, Eliza thought I would like some melons and wanted to know if I wanted a slice. I said I would love one, but instead of just handing me the slice of fruit, which already came sliced, Eliza grabbed a knife and pretended to cut the peel of the melon. The reason why this was so impressive was the way she held the knife when she peeled it. Rather than holding the knife completely by the handle, she grabbed a the melon with one hand and with the other the knife laying her index finger across the knife the way I do when I peel an apple. As I watched this, I immediately thought she must watch her mom at home cook and she was modeling what she saw. Another thought could be she sees the teachers at snack time cut and peel the fruit. That afternoon at snack time I saw teacher Sarah peel an apple in one smooth circular motion (I can’t remember if Eliza sits at her snack table). Eliza, after she handed me my sliced and peeled melon, on her own will she showed me which way you have to hold the knife, because the other side is sharp and which side was okay to touch. Eliza who also had a pizza in the oven went to check it and only opened the oven door enough to see if it was done or not. I again thought of the way I am at home cooking. I also don’t open the oven door all of the way, because I don’t want all of the hot air to get out. I was fascinated by how closely her dramatic play follows real life. The pizza was not done yet, so she motioned to turn up the oven by turning the knob. I asked her, “What temperature did you put the oven on?” She looked puzzled at me, but only a second later busted out saying, “HOT!” That seems like a logical temperature for me. She may not have known about degrees of an oven, but she definitely knew it has to be “hot”. Before the pizza was out of the oven, she grabbed another piece of play-dough and said, “I need to make another small piece for the baby.” She didn’t put this piece in the oven, but then went over to the baby in the high chair and put the pizza on the tray.
At this time, Catharine filled up three bowls with water and placed them all around the table. “This is our soup,” she says. “What kind of soup are we having?” I asked. I don’t think she thought of the type of soup, just that we were having soup. There was a long pause. I began to feel bad for asking the question, and just as I was going to give her a suggestion such as, “Is it chicken noodle?” she quickly said, “It’s orange soup.” Personally, I have never heard of orange soup, but maybe there is such a thing. The reason I think she said it was the bowl of soup in front of me was the color orange.
“The inner world of fantasy and the other world of reality are not clearly differentiated by the young child (p 144).” Dramatic Play is one area that allows me to see just how closely the children are watching us. I think that as the adult we are there to only watch the children, but it’s ironic how it is also the other way around. I would bet Eliza’s mother or another figure in her life is very animated when he/she speaks on the phone.
You can’t say you can’t play
I found Vivian Paley’s book to be liberating and brilliant. I bought this book when it was suggested to me after a class discussion we had about how I disagreed with the philosophy being supported in Griffin’s chapter Group Climate. I thought it was wrong for the teacher to allow her children to say that others couldn’t play with them for whatever reason they had and tried to just help those children who were treated as outsiders to “cope” with the situation.
I read an article today in a paper, which again put Paley’s book into a very frightening perspective for me. The title of the article is, “Georgians Plan Whites-Only Prom Party.” Shocking? It was to me, a high school in our country that still segregates their prom! When I read, “parents and students organized separate proms for whites and blacks after school officials stopped sponsoring dances, in part because they wanted to avoid problems arising from interracial dating”, all I could think about is that the year is 2003 and how are they getting away with this? It stops my heart to see the way we treat each other in the 21st century. With wars killing each others, with gun violence at a high, with people hating each other over of religious beliefs and most of all the ignorance that is shaping these very people’s minds. I’m tired of our future generations learning to hate and not learning to read and think. I’m tired of our children being brainwashed that they are not good enough and lowering his/her self-image. Then I think what if Vivian Paley’s philosophy went to the children in Palestine and Israel? I don’t know the answer to that, but it makes me think. We have children dying, teenagers bombing and joining the army to fight; why can’t those children play together like Lisa, Angelo, and Nelson. What would have happened if this rule were implemented in Taylor County thirteen years ago when these seniors were in kindergarten? Would they support a “white only prom” now? I also don’t know the answer to that. But, I do know that someone should implement “You can’t say, you can’t play” rule to the current kindergarten class in Taylor County and stop this crazy cycle. After reading this book, I told my husband about it and said that I too want to follow Vivian Paley’s lead and one day make a sign which says “You can’t say You can’t play” and put it in our children’s room.
There are so many points in the book that I found fascinating and pertinent, again, not only the situation in Ms. Paley’s classroom and the one at Bing, but the world in general.
Thoughts and Questions to grapple with from the reading
“You can’t say you can’t play is fair…but it just isn’t human nature (p 4)”…why is this so true? Why do we train ourselves at a young age to believe this is the way it just is?
“The rejected children know who they are (p 15)” Last week, when I was with a child named Yasmin, she must have pointed to three different children and said, “They don’t like me.” Teacher Peckie told me later that she says that about everyone, but what gives a child such a low self-esteem at such a young age?
In general, the approach has been to help the outsiders develop the characteristics that will make them more acceptable to the insiders. I am suggesting something different: The group must change its attitudes…(p 33)” I find this statement to be so powerful. I know there are times even at Bing, I hear see how Teacher Peckie turns a situation where a child is not wanted to help them play besides the other one beginning a new activity that will allow the other children to accept the unwanted child, rather than saying, “you can’t say, you can’t play” directly.
Two Rules: Is the new rule fair? Can it work? (p 33) interesting how she got the opinions of the older children. I love how Vivian went to the other grades to find out how they felt about the rule. I also found it fascinating how the children seemed to reflect back on their own experiences in kindergarten and shared their own touching stories.
“I find myself disturbed by this unchallenged acceptance of a boss (p 46)” I too was disturbed by this, but I look around Bing and I can see who the “boss” is of a group.
“We’re much meaner than in kindergarten…It’s too late to give us a new rule”
This line brought tears to my eyes. It also makes me realize even more how important the philosophy of this book is.
Reference for the Segregated Prom in Georgia:
Page 1 of 6