I.

Observation 6:
Child Study

II. Grade Level:

Kindergarten

III. Setting:
Kindergarten classroom at a Somerset County Elementary School
20 students, 1 head teacher

IV. Pre-Observation:
The purpose of this observation was to describe and provide evidence of a child’s
developmental skills such as emotional developmental stage, physical developmental
stage, cognitive developmental stage, and social developmental stage. It is also to make
recommendations of what can help and further the child’s development in that specific
domain. To Prepare for this observation, I read chapter four, What Does It Mean to Teach
and to Learn? (Koch, 2016). By reading chapter four, I learned the specific
developmental skills of a child.

V. Data:
Child X is a female student and is five years old. Throughout the past couple of
weeks, I gathered a developmental checklist required for a five-year old. For Child X
physical developmental stage, during morning meetings, when the teacher makes the
children warm up, dance, or exercise, I noticed that child X is able to hop and stand on
one foot for a couple of seconds, walk forward and backwards. Child X can also walk up
and down the stairs with no help.
For emotional developmental stage, when there was a conflict, child X will
express her anger verbally and tell the teacher rather than solving it physically. Child X is
very polite and often laughs than argue with friends.
For social developmental stage, during play time, child X played with friends
which she enjoys very much and created a stack of blocks with her friends. Child X
enjoys and gets excited doing new things, she plays board games rather than fantasy play
and talks to her friends about what she likes and her interests. Child X does not always
share and takes turns, but understands what is right and what is wrong during a situation.
She understands rules/expectations and also understands that expectations can be
changed.
 For cognitive developmental stage,

(A) (B)

(C)

The following pictures (A), (B), and (C) show evidence of cognitive developmental
improvement from November-March of child X. In November, child X was able to
 identify sixteen out of twenty-six upper case and lower case letters. Child X could only
sound out eleven out of twenty-six letters, and only able to count six out of eleven
numbers from zero through ten. Child X was able to identify and pronounce sight words
in the month of November. Also, in the month of February child X was capable of writing
numbers one through twenty, but she wrote some of the numbers backwards. In the
month of March, there was a major growth. child X was able to identify twenty-four out
of twenty-six upper case and lower case letters. Child X could sound out twenty out of
twenty-six letters, and able to identify and pronounce nineteen out of twenty-four sight
words in the month of March. Also, child X was only able to blend, (which is when
beginning readers sound out words and slowly say each sound in a word) two out of five
words. Also, child X was also able to draw persons with bodies, use scissors without
hurting herself, named colors, and draw shapes. When the teacher read a story to the
children, child X was able to remember the story and explain certain situations from the
story. Child X understood time, space and effective coping skills during events; such as,
breathing (inhale and exhale) to relax, etc.

VI. Analysis:
Developmental milestones during a child’s growth is very important, it assures doctors,
parents, teachers, etc. that the child is healthy. For my data, I used a developmental
checklist provided by Dr. Benaroch (WebMD, 2016), and a developmental milestone
chart developed by The Institute for Human Services for The Ohio Child Welfare
Training Program. The developmental checklist’s provides a child’s emotional, social,
physical, and cognitive developmental skills that need to be met for a four to five-year-
old child. By using the checklist’s, child X was able to fulfill what is required for the
physical, cognitive, emotional, and social domains of a five year old.
For physical milestones it lists on both sources the development of gross and fine
motor skills such as, stand on one foot for more than 9 seconds, do a somersault and hop,
walk up and down stairs without help, walk forward and backwards easily, peddle a
tricycle, copy a triangle, circle, square, and other shapes, draw a person with a body,
stack 10 or more blocks, and take care of other personal needs without much help
(Benaroch 2016).
For social and emotional milestone it lists, enjoys playing with other children and
pleasing his or her friends, shares and takes turns, at least most of the time, understands
and obeys rules; however, your 4- to 5-year-old will still be demanding and
uncooperative at times, is becoming more independent, expresses anger verbally, rather
than physically most of the time (Benaroch 2016).
For the cognitive milestones it lists that a child should be able to speak clearly,
count ten or more objects, correctly name at least four colors and three shapes, recognize
some letters and possibly write his or her name, better understand the concept of time and
the order of daily activities, have a greater attention span, follow two- to three-part
commands (Benaroch 2016). On the developmental milestone chart, it also states that a
child should remember events from months/years ago, understand how their behavior
affects others, and using effective coping skills (The Institute for Human Services for The
Ohio Child Welfare Training Program, 2007).

VII. Recommendations:
 The child was able to fulfill the domains of a four year old, but need to work on
some things as well. For example, for the social developmental stage, I would
recommend child X to share and take turns. As stated by Dr. Benaroch, it is an aspect that
some children do at age four to five when being demanding, but should be able to take
turns and share. To show child X how to share and take turns I would advise, play games
that require taking turns, incorporate turn-taking into everyday routine, and practice
waiting as provided by the Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention.

VIII. Post-Observation:
Throughout the observation, I learned the different types of child developmental skills
such as emotional developmental stage, physical developmental stage, cognitive
developmental stage, and social developmental stage. As a developing teacher, I know the
importance of a child’s developmental milestone, it assures me that the child is
developing the right stages as they grow.

IX. References:
Koch, J. (2016). What Does It Mean to Teach and to Learn? In Teach (pp. 54-71).
California: Author.

Benaroch, R. (2016, October 9). 4- to 5-Year-Old Developmental Milestones: Cognitive,

Language, and Motor Skills. Retrieved April 11, 2018, from
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/guide/4-to-5-year-old-milestones#1

The Institute for Human Services for The Ohio Child Welfare Training Program (2007,
October). Developmental Milestone Chart. Retrieved April 11, 2018, from
http://www.rsd.k12.pa.us/Downloads/Development_Chart_for_Booklet.pdf

Jiron, A., Brogle, B., & Giacomini, J. (2013, November). How to Teach Your Child to
Take Turns [PDF document]. Retrieved from
http://cainclusion.org/teachingpyramid/materials/family/bkpk_turns.pdf