Running head: School age observation

School Age Observation

Bradley W. Holsten
Ivy Tech Community College

School age observation

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School Age Observation

At Woodbrook Elementary in Carmel Indiana, I observed a group of 8

children ranging from the ages of 7-8 playing on the playground while I was at work.
These particular kids I have known for quite some time so I am familiar with their
individual behaviors. All of the children involved have very different behaviors,
backgrounds, and work ethics. During recess, the group of children seemed to be
playing some sort of ball tag that involved occasional kicking of the ball high up into
the air. The small motor skills that I observed during the game was gripping of the
fingers on the ball, catching and throwing. During the game I had also noticed that
the large motor skills showed substantially well. There was a lot of running from
every child participating, jumping from the playground equipment, and throwing the
ball to get someone out.
The industriousness showed throughout the entire play time. The skill showed
when they pulled their arm back to aim and throw the ball, the precision seemed to
take quite a bit of effort. Hiding and the stealthy way they worked themselves
around the playground to avoid one another from getting tagged was full of
diligence. During homework time at the after school program that I work at, the
industrious side displayed itself heavily especially when certain students were
working on math homework or were trying to help one another understand a
problem. They kept trying and trying to understand something if they could not in
the first place.
There were a few students who were working on a presentation for class
together about continental drift. Each child gave suggestions on how they think the
poster should look, what it should say, and which super continent they should use

School age observation

for the poster. Eventually they picked Pangaea and worked together on the outline
the best they could. While outside observing the after school care programs recess,
I had these same kids play a 10 minute game of basketball. Universal rules that
most children of this age should know. Although a lot of the kids complained about
other children not following the rules yet the same ones who complained didnt
seem to follow many of the other rules that go along with the game. There were
many kids who traveled and would call out the other team for it and deny that
they ever did the same. The group generally did a good job of following the main
rules of the game but still I think most of the rules that were broken was because of
a lack of skill instead of it being intentional.
Although I did not observe the children in a classroom but with the Facilitators
in the room during after school care, most of the children are well behaved but
when you have an orchard you are bound to have a few bad apples. Depending on
the child, most are non confrontational but others tend to tease or cut others down
without a second guess. There are some children who will tell a facilitator if
someone is doing something wrong. Sometimes others will enforce the rules and tell
them that they shouldnt be doing whatever they are doing. Disputes sometimes are
handled by physical violence unfortunately but most of the times they are level
headed enough to talk it through before things become out of control. All of the
friendships that I observed and asked the history about, they all seem to have
commonality between their closest peers. Whether it is drawing, Pokemon, sports,
or movies, all these kids have strong bonds between one another.

School age observation