Preschool Teaching Assignment

Preschool Teaching Project

Lisa R. Salinas
NSG 231 Concepts in Nursing III
Instructor: Mrs. Mitchell, MSN, RN, ICCE, IBCLC
October 2, 2014

Preschool Teaching Assignment

Preschool Teaching Assignment

Health care may be considered a need by most in our society today. It can begin as early
as birth and last throughout a lifetime. Having good health is a concept that can begin with
preventative measures. These preventative measures can be instilled into people as early as the
preschool years when children begin to have that inner voice that warns them of danger. This is
the stage where children explore the physical world and they develop a conscience (Perry, et al.,
2010). One very important concept these children should learn is fire safety. Two nursing
students named Lisa and Michelle, conducted a fire safety teaching session to a group of
preschool children and instructed them on what to do if they are in a fire. They taught at a
preschool called Prescott Head Start located in Prescott, Arizona. The ages of these children
were in between three and five years old.
Teaching important concepts to preschoolers requires good communication between the
instructors and the preschool children. Normal communication in children can be classified in
ranges, due to the variations in development. These ranges have been developed to help people
understand an idea of when children may express certain communication characteristics. These
ranges can also be broken down into stages. These stages are the perlocutionary stage, the
illocutionary stage, and the locutionary stage. The perlocutionary stage is when the child can
communicate, but unintentionally, which is from birth until about nine months old. The
illocutionary stage is when they are communicating intentionally with gestures, which happens at
about nine months to fifteen months of age. The locutionary stage is when children can use
symbols and behaviors to communicate, which is at age one to two years old (Perry, et al., 2010).

Preschool Teaching Assignment

Preschoolers are usually between the ages of three to six years old. This is an age where
communication can be achieved through special methods, such as role play.
Lisa and Michelle decided to follow a teaching plan that would be appropriate for this age
group, which included role play. They focused directly on three objectives. These objectives
included getting the preschoolers to understand the risks of fire, guiding the children into fire
safety skills by using positive re-enforcement, and demonstration by role play. These concepts
included the display of how firefighters were good and safe. Using role play is a very important
technique that is used to teach this age group. The imagination of a child in the preschool years
gives educators an opportunity to relay special messages in a way that they can understand (Role
play in early years settings, 2011). The teaching tools that Lisa and Michelle used were age
appropriate toys that included colorful rubber ducks, and plastic slinkys. Other tools used were
matches, a lighter, a red ribbon, a grey blanket and a firefighter uniform.
The teaching session began by Lisa asking the preschool class several questions to find their
level of understanding of what a fire is, how it can hurt, and what a person would do. After
asking the class these questions, she placed the rubber ducks, the slinkys, the matches and the
lighter on the floor. One object was picked up at a time and the class was asked to say whether it
is a toy or a tool for a grownup. She asked them how a fire felt, and explained how it would burn
and hurt. She then told them that she was going to pretend to be child that was in a house fire.
She used a red ribbon to place on her clothing and told the class that she had fire on her. She
then explained to the class that it was not good to run, but instead to roll the fire off. Lisa then
stopped, dropped to the floor and rolled the fire ribbon off. Melissa used a chair and a shelf to
hold the grey blanket to form a tunnel. Lisa then told the children that there was a lot of smoke

Preschool Teaching Assignment

in the house which was the blanket. She then crawled under the blanket, explaining that smoke
can hurt when you breathe it in. Lisa then ran toward Melissa, who dressed as the firefighter,
and hugged her. After Lisa completed the demonstration, she asked the class if anyone wanted
to volunteer to be the child on fire.
The effectiveness of this teaching was determined by the children returning the demonstration
by playing it out. They also recognized the differences between the matches, lighter and toys by
choosing and verbally acknowledging which one was a toy and which one was a tool for an
adult. Each child was given the opportunity to stop, drop and roll off the red ribbon because it
might burn or hurt, imaginatively speaking. They then crawled under the grey blanket, and ran
toward Melissa, the imaginative firefighter, to hug her. The children were continuously
reminded by Lisa and Melissa that firefighters were good and safe to go to. Lisa explained to
the class that the firefighter would take them back to safety, and that children should not be
scared of a firefighter.
To prepare for this fire safety demonstration, Lisa and Melissa had to come up with a plan on
how to effectively teach this group of preschool children. Two days before they were scheduled
to go to the school to teach fire safety, on September 30th, 2014, they met for their appointment.
They discussed different strategies, and then came to an agreement. Melissa determined that she
could be the firefighter because her husband had a suit that she could wear. She also agreed to
bring the grey blanket that would resemble the smoke. Lisa agreed to bring the toys, matches
and lighter, along with the red ribbon that would resemble the fire. She agreed that she could
pretend to be the child that caught on fire and demonstrate it by placing the ribbon on her body.

Preschool Teaching Assignment

She would simulate the stop, drop, and roll that ribbon off to get rid of the fire. She would also
play out the part of crawling under the blanket, and going toward the firefighter.
Throughout the day, Lisa and Melissa were assessing the childrens health-care,
developmental knowledge, knowledge deficits and risk patterns. This required the methods of
observation and direct communication with each child as an individual. During observation,
they learned that one child had just turned three years old and that she understood the Spanish
language better than the English language. This gave the nursing students the problem of a
language barrier, along with the youngest age of the preschoolers. This child also had only been
in preschool for two days. She was new, had a language barrier, and was the youngest of the
preschoolers. The fire safety teaching plan would have to be modified in some ways to
accommodate her learning needs. This was done by allowing the teachers aide to translate
important information to her during the role play presentation, and allow her to sit closer to the
play. Lisa used direct eye contact in some instances, while showing an assuring smile to comfort
her.
While evaluating the effectiveness of the fire safety role play, all learning objectives were met
successfully. The objectives were met because the children responded by displaying a generous
amount of feedback of how a fire can hurt. They each lined up one by one to return the fire
safety demonstration willfully. They were happy to stop, drop and roll off that fire ribbon and
crawl under the blanket smoke. Lisa and Michelle praised each child for completing the return
demonstration. Approximately 95% of the class participated and ran up to Melissa, while she
was dressed in the fire uniform to hug her. Most of the class was not afraid of Melissas uniform
and verbally acknowledged that she was safe to run to and that she would take them to safety.

Preschool Teaching Assignment

The other 5% that were afraid to hug Melissa, who included the Spanish speaking child, stood
only to watch. They received just as much praise as the other children. Their learning responses
were positive because they continued to play the stop, drop, and roll game even after Lisa and
Michelle were completed with their presentation.
Normal growth and development patterns in children younger than 5 years old focus
communication only on themselves as an individual. They need to touch and examine articles in
order for them to know how things feel and what they can do themselves. They do not
understand the experiences of others, and they need to experience it for themselves. Another
normal growth and development pattern in this age group is that these children are able to
communicate by using their hands, or body language, to transmit ideas without using words
(Perry, et al., 2010). During the teaching session that Lisa and Melissa demonstrated, the
preschool students met these norms by actively examining the toys and tools that were displayed
by Lisa. They also verbally labeled each toy and tool category appropriately. The children also
used their own body language to transmit their ideas. They demonstrated this concept by rolling
the fire ribbon off and by crawling under the blanket smoke.
According to Eriksons psychosocial development, the childrens developmental tasks,
anticipated by the nursing students, ranged from autonomy verses shame and doubt, and
initiative verses guilt. This was due to one preschooler who had just recently turned three years
old. She was in the later stage of autonomy verses shame and doubt, and in the beginning stage
of initiative verses guilt. This specific student displayed this late stage of autonomy verses
shame and doubt because she was observed by the nursing students as mostly imitating the
activities and behaviors of the other students. The other students that were older displayed the

Preschool Teaching Assignment

initiative verses guilt because they demonstrated a strong imagination. They expressed this while
playing with toys and pretending that they were real life objects, such as making a garage for
their cars, driving down a block highway, and making spaceships with toys. All of their play
was simulated as real life events.
The whole preschool experience for these children is stimulating the aspects of their child
development because it provides the role play environment. This is critical for normal
development. They have an abundance of resources such as a large playground, a play gas
station, a play ATM, lots of blocks and many other toy materials. Their preschool lifestyle
incorporates the idea of play and learning together. Music is used while describing shapes and
colors, and ideas of imagination are encouraged by the teachers.

Preschool Teaching Assignment

Research Article Summary Page

The research article, Symbolic Play of Preschoolers with Severe Communication
Impairments with Autism and Other Developmental Delays: More Similarities than Differences,
determines the play differences between preschoolers with autism and the developmentally
delayed. This article focuses on researching the understanding of why autistic preschoolers are
described as not having the same play skills as others, even children that have developmental
disabilities. The author gathered other studies from various groups, and then compared that
information with a current study that included one group of children with autism, and another
group of children that were developmentally delayed. This current study included sophisticated
techniques. Toy sets were made available to the children and their play level was measured.
As the children were observed, it was recorded on an online play coding program, which coded
their playing behaviors in several different ways. Cognitive and language measures were
included in these coding categories. All information gathered was then analyzed by comparing
the two separate groups. Nearly every test that was conducted, the students with autism did not
show any significant differences in their play skills as the other children that were
developmentally delayed. Nurses can utilize this information by understanding that an autistic
child patient can be offered the same types of toys, or play as a developmentally delayed child.

Preschool Teaching Assignment

References
Perry et al., (2010). Maternal Child Nursing Care.

(4th ed.). Maryland Heights, MO: Mosby

Elseiver.
Stewart, D. (2011). Role play in early years settings. Teach Preschool: Promoting Childhood
in Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from http://www.teachpreschool.org/2011/06/roleplay-in-early-years/
Thiemann-Bourque, K., Brady, N., & Flemming, K. (2011). Symbolic Play of Preschoolers
with Severe Communication Impairments with Autism and Other Developmental Delays:
More Similarities than Differences. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders,
42, 863-873. doi: 10.1007/s10803-011-1317-7

Preschool Teaching Assignment

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