ENVIRONMENT OBSERVATION

Your evaluation is to include the following in the order listed.

1. School: ECE Lab School Program Telephone: (702) 651-4004
2. Teacher: Stephanie Ramirez Age/grade level: Pre-K / 3 to 5
3. Number children enrolled in the class: 15 enrolled / 10 in class
4. List all of the centers and the number of children each center can
accommodate.
• Book area
• Writing area
• Math area
• Block area
• House area
• Dramatic play area
• Art area
• Science area
• Music area
• Safe area
There are 10 areas in the classroom and depends on each area but usually 4 children
are allowed in each area but if it’s a big center more children can be in it.
5. On a separate page, draw a floor plan of the classroom with each center
identified.
6. c. Organize the items in your checklist into the following categories
1) Arrangement of Physical Space
1. All play area is visible
2. Materials are accessible to all children
3. Enough indoor space
4. Two types of playing surfaces
5. Dead space
6. Big space for group activities
7. More than 4 areas or centers
8. Noisy and quiet areas are separated
2) Learning Materials, Equipment and Furniture
9. Child-size furniture
10. Musical instruments
11. Dress up clothes
12. Display of books
13. Variety of art materials
14. Enough play house materials / dramatic play
15. Toys
16. Enough materials for centers
3) Storage of Materials and Equipment
17. Baskets
18. Cubbies
19. Shelfs
20. Containers
4) Other Elements of Physical Environment.
21. Curtains / blinds
22. Natural light
23. Clean environment
24. Sink
25. Bathroom

7. Using the organized checklist you developed, observe the physical

environment of the classroom. If an item on your checklist is present, evaluate
the quality of its presence in the classroom. If an item on your checklist is
absent, mark it as “not present”.
1. All play area is visible – from every point of the room all areas were visible.
2. Materials are accessible to all children – all material was near the ground, so
children were able to reach it.
3. Enough indoor space – there was enough space for children to play and move
around freely.
4. Two types of playing surfaces – there were two types carpet and tile
5. Dead space – Not present
6. Big space for group activities – the block area was used as group activities.
7. More than 4 areas or centers – there were 10 different areas in the room for
children to explore.
8. Noisy and quiet areas are separated – they were separated block area and was
separated from reading and art.
9. Child-size furniture – all the furniture in the classroom was child size
 10. Musical instruments- there was a variety of musical instruments like egg shakers,
gourds, tambourines, rhythm sticks, maracas and bells.
11. Dress up clothes – the children were able to choose between costumes and
matching hats.
12. Display of books- there were many books displayed for children to look at.
13. Variety of art materials – there was many art materials like paper, paint,
playdough, trays, collage materials, color pencils, paintbrushes, recycle materials
crayons and markers.
14. Enough play house materials / dramatic play – they did have enough play
materials like in house are the had tea set, dolls, cooking utensils, mirror with a
play kitchen and table. For dramatic play they had cash register, cameras,
keyboards, purses, baby bottles, blankets and dress up clothes.
15. Toys – they had stuffed animals as well as Legos people, baby dolls.
16. Enough materials for centers- they did have enough materials for each area they
seem to have different things for children to play.
17. Baskets – big things were put into basket like puppets, babies, stuffed animals,
toys and some material in smaller ones.
18. Cubbies – each child had a cubby to put their things inside like bags and clothes.
19. Shelfs
20. Containers – smaller things were put away in see though containers like legos,
blocks, animals, crayons and markers.
21. Curtains / blinds – the windows had blinds and curtains so natural lighting could
not pass.
22. Natural light – the classroom had plenty of windows and there was a lot of natural
light.
23. Clean environment – the classroom was clean always even when play time was
over and there was a mess the children would helped clean up and everything
when back to its place.
24. Sink – the classroom had a big sink and there was another one in the bathroom.
25. Bathroom – the classroom had a bathroom in the same room.

8. Describe and evaluate how the teacher represented the issue of diversity in the
physical environment.
The teacher presented the issue of diversity in many ways for example she had many
toys out for all the children’s interest, a big variety of books of all kinds of topics. There
where photos of many places in the world like Paris, Rome, Japan even Las Vegas.
There were pictures of the children and some with their family and there was a display
of their artwork.
9. a. Write a detailed observation of the classroom in action. Focus on how the
room arrangement influences the children’s social interactions, and the
children’s use of the room and its materials.
Most of the children choose to play outside but the one that stayed inside went to play
with the new things that the teacher had out for example a magnet game and a puzzle
game where they had to match the puzzle with a picture. One girl wanted to make a
cupcake with playdough. Then children came back in and were going to play into areas
that other children were in like the light table with some shapes. The teacher opened the
sensory table that was soap water and every child immediately wanted to play there and
they seemed to take turns because someone would come and another one would leave.
They seemed to go to area with other children in them like one boy decided to play with
blocks most of them went outside or chose other activities some children started coming
back inside and since the boy was really enjoying playing with blocks two more boys
when to play blocks because he seemed so entertained. They were all playing in the
same are engaged in parallel playing and in occasion two boys would play together to
build a tall building. Children seemed to be attracted to playing in areas that other
children were in and that allowed for social interactions to happened between children.

b. Write an evaluation of the room arrangement based on what you observed re:
the children’s use of the classroom/materials and their social interactions.
Include specific examples from your observation to support your conclusions.
The classroom was organized, and everything was near the ground for easy access for
all children it was well defined by shelfs and they had enough room to move in each
area it wasn’t crowded. Each center had a name that children new for example block
area or art area, children were very capable of finding things to do in each area without
having to depend on the teacher. The centers are all visible from every point on the
room, so the teacher is able to see every child in the room in every center. Noisy and
quiet areas are away from each other usually noisy areas were near each other and on
the other side of the classroom the quiet areas like music, blocks and dramatic play
areas were together and writing, art and book areas were near each other. The areas or
centers in the classroom had interesting toys or play materials that made children
curious for example the science center was used because one boy discover a new
game with magnet and there were a few that were interested and allowed them to play
together and also on their own. Same thing happen with sensory table with the soap
water they all wanted to play a least a bit in the water.
10. Write an overall evaluation of the Learning Environment.
a. Rating: Using a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best, if you were the director or
principal of this school how would you rate this learning environment?
The rating I would give the classroom is a 5 because there was a huge variety in the
classroom they had all kinds of toys and materials and children always seem to find
different things in different center to have fun and explore.
b. Strengths & Weaknesses: Specifically explain your rating by identifying the
strengths and weaknesses you observed.
Strengths of the classroom were block area, sensory table and science area because
children were mostly interested in those areas there were materials and toys that made
them interested and kept going to those. The weakness was math, writing and reading
areas they were not visited by all children just one children showed interest to math and
another one in writing.
c. Improvements: Identify specific improvements, you, as the administrator,
would expect to see.
I would add more engaging and interesting activities in the areas that children didn’t visit
or touched and have the teacher express more interest in those areas because that
seems to work for children if they see another person interested in something it catches
their eye and become curious and want to explore.