Observation Report on Physical Development

Observation Report

Observation Report on Physical Development

First Name of Child: Joshua

Date of observation: __10/10/13_____ Starting time:___11:00____ Ending time:_____1:00_  (1 pt)

Name of Teacher/Owner: Maureen

1.      Description of child: (2 pts) Joshua was about 3 feet tall and probably weighed around 40 pounds. In other words, he was of average height and weight for a child at 4 years old. He had a tan complexion (he was of Hispanic origin), dark brown eyes, and very thick looking hair that extended to his forehead. He was wearing light blue jeans, a red Power Rangers t-shirt, and black tennis shoes. Last but not least, he had very large and rather crooked teeth.

2.      Describe three gross motor skills observed. Include the setting in which you observed the skill. (6 pts) - The first gross motor skill I observed of Joshua’s occurred when the children were outside having their physical education session, where attempted to play hopscotch by jumping into the appropriate boxes on the floor that were drawn out with chalk. He was able to jump well with both of his feet, but sometimes messed up where he had to hold one foot in the air and jump with the other. He was incredibly fast though as he went from one side of the game to the other. Joshua seemed to be focusing more on his speed as he jumped rather than his footwork.

- The next gross motor skill I observed was also during physical education time. There was a small slide in the playground that the children were rather fond of, and Joshua frequently went on it. He would line up where the stairs were, climb up the stairs, seat himself at the top of the slide, and then come down with a huge expression of joy on his face. There was a teacher’s assistance standing nearby to supervise the children as they went down the slide, in case some of them happened to not be able to stop and hurt themselves on their way down. Joshua, however, was able to use his arms at the appropriate time to hold himself down on the slide as he approached the bottom, thus creating friction and slowing himself down gradually. He’d bend his knees, pull himself on, then run towards the beginning of the line again.

-The third gross motor skill I observed was when the children were inside the room. The children were playing a game of duck-duck goose. Joshua was a very fast runner and got up almost immediately after he had been tapped on the head, which proves that he had a quick reaction to things as well. When he was the goose, he would walk around the circle several times slowly, finally tap someone on the head, and then run away super fast.

3.      Describe three fine motor skills observed. Be specific about handedness. Include the setting in which you observed the skill. (6 pts)

- The first fine motor skill I observed occurred inside the room when the children had been instructed to go to their little desks for coloring time. The teacher gave them a blank piece of paper and crayons for two people to share. Joshua would grasp the crayon using the Pincer grasp. His index finger and thumb were the only ones at work when he’d be coloring, and the rest of his fingers were bended backwards.

- The second fine motor skill I observed occurred when the children were given short, simple books to look over and observe the pictures in. (There was very little reading in the books) This time, instead of pinching the page with this index finger and thumb and turning it, Joshua would use all of his fingers to turn the page. His four fingers would touch the page at the edge and his thumb would be a little farther apart. Then, he’d move the four fingers and thumb closer together to grasp the page and he would bend the page as he turned it over.

-The third fine motor skill I observed occurred when the children were given playdough to play with inside of the classroom. Joshua would use both of his hands at one time to squeeze the playdough until it got as flat as it could possibly be. His fingers would be spread out, and his palms would touch each other with a lot of strength and tightness. Also, he would bend all of his fingers to grasp new playdough from the tub that was available, as if he were clawing something. He would get this new playdough and add it to the rest of his creation. Then, he’d clap his hands together to flatten the dough even further.

4.      Describe three responses the child had to sensory experiences. (6 pts)

-The first response to a sensory experience occurred almost right after I arrived at the preschool, where the children were being given a small breakfast. There were small meat patties that were given to them, and I’m assuming they were still rather hot, since Joshua immediately opened his mouth for air after he took the first bite. He took a pretty large bite too, so it probably burned his tongue. Right after he bit it, he dropped the meat patty on his plate and opened his mouth to start taking in deep breaths.

-The second response to a sensory experience occurred when the children were outside running around. As Joshua was running around, the other kids were playing catch with a rubber ball. Suddenly, the ball flew towards his direction and bounced right in front of him several times while he was running. Instead of attempting to catch the ball, which was bouncing up and down pretty rapidly, Joshua slowed down his pace to steady himself in case the ball should come too close to him. Then, he gradually stepped away from the ball to avoid being hit.

- The third response to a sensory experience occurred when the teacher blew her whistle several times for the class to go inside. After the first blow, Joshua immediately turned his head and began walking towards the teacher. He was kind of far away from the whistle, so this proves that not only was he pretty alert, but he also had good hearing. When he got closer to the sound of the whistle, though, the sound obviously began to annoy him, because he covered his ears as he was standing next to the teacher.

5.      What did you notice about the child’s general health? Comment on presence or absence of illness, appearance of allergies, condition of skin and hair, appetite, alertness, height and weight. (2 pts) As I said before, the child had very thick and voluminous hair, which is a sign of good protein intake. His skin was also very clear. However, his nails were a bit longer than normal, which isn’t really his fault, because his parents are responsible for cutting them. He had a strong appetite, because he ate and drank everything that was given to him during breakfast and even asked for more! He did not seem to have any illnesses or allergies that day. He was very alert and responded immediately after the teacher or one of the children called out his name. Also, he would look down at the ground and all around him pretty often as he walked, which proves that he was paying attention to what was ahead of him so that he would avoid tripping or bumping into things. His height and weight were pretty average, but I’d say he was leaning more towards the chubby side than skinny, because he seemed to be thick-boned.