Observation #3

Name: Shyanne Butler

Class: FHS 1500
Assignment: Observation 3

Background Information
Child’s age: 7 years old
Name: Kayden (named changed for privacy)
Locations: Willow Canyon Elementary School
Brief Description: Observed child in a second-class room, with about 20 students, and one. I
observed the child for about an hour in half, which included activities such as reading, typing
cursive reading and recess time.

I choose to observe Kayden who is a 7-year-old second grader. I chose him because he
had been chosen as the “Big Kahuna” for the month.
Physical Development
One thing that stood out to me when observing Kayden, was how nice he looked, his hair
was nicely done and he was wearing clean, well fitted clothing. By his appearance I could see
that he is clearly being taught good hygiene. His clothing consisted of sport pants, a sports jacket
and soccer shoes. I assumed that Kayden was a very athletic child. His personal poster in his
class room proves my assumption was correct. It had several images of him playing soccer,
basketball and golf. Our text book states that “exercise advances physical, emotional, and mental
health” (Berger, 2016, Kindle Location 9725).
Kayden looked to be on track with his physical development, he was average height in
comparison to the rest of his peers. During middle childhood growth is slow and steady, growing
a little more than 2 inches and gaining around 5 pounds a year (Berger, 2016, Kindle Location
9713). Kayden’s BMI appears to be healthy and he is not overweight or obese. Overweight
children are defined as having a BMI above the 85th percentile and 95th percentile for obese
children (Berger, 2016, Kindle Location 9799).
At recess, Kayden played soccer with other students, observing him play a competitive
game with his peers shows that he has adapted to rules and boundaries (Berger, 2016, Kindle
Location 9743). His ability to run across the field and kick the ball, indicates that he has
developed many of his gross motor skills. He also showed that he has developed fine motor skills
when he was working on typing sentences on a small computer keyboard. He again shows fine
motor skills as he practiced his cursive writing, he was able to hold his pencil and write the letter
K in cursive repeatedly.
Cognitive Development
The class sat down together to read a short story on Abraham Lincoln. Some of the
students took turns reading from the pages, Kayden was one of those students. As he read from
the book, I could tell he was an excellent reader, he spoke clearly and accurately. Without
connections of neurons in the brain we are unable to learn how to read and in middle childhood
reading is an important intellectual accomplishment (Berger, 2016, Kindle Location 10007). By
observing Kayden read, I am able to see that he is developing brain maturation.
At the beginning of the class the students were to sit at their desk and complete some
individual work, this included completing a diary entry and practicing their keyboarding skills.
While Kayden worked on his own, I was able to observe his selective attention, which is the
ability to concentrate on some stimuli while ignoring others (Berger, 2016, Kindle Location
10049). For the most part he kept to himself, however he often became distracted by other
students and even the teacher. He wouldn’t socialize with his peers but he was distracted from
his work as he observed what other students were doing, he looked up from his work several
times to listen his teacher talk to other students at her desk. Kayden being unable to ignore the
distractions showed me that he is still working on developing selective attention. Our text book
says, “selective attention, improves with guidance and neurological maturation” (Berger, 2016,
Kindle Location 10049).
After the morning announcements the class stood up and said the pledge allegiance.
Kayden most likely learned the pledge of allegiance in kindergarten. I am assuming that this is
an activity that was repeated often throughout kindergarten, and then again in first grade,
resulting in automatization. Automatization occurs when a sequence of thoughts and actions is
repeated so often that it seems to be automatic (Berger, 2016, Kindle Location 10218).
Psychosocial Development
One thing that stood out to me the most when observing Kayden was how he carried
himself and the way he interacted with his peers. The child that is chosen to be the big kahuna
helps the teacher out for the week, one of Kayden’s task was to help sort out which students
would be eating what for lunch. He confidently stood in front of the class, and said “Good
morning class,” in which everyone responded. I was surprised by how confident Kayden was as
he spoke; most children are nervous when they have to stand up and talk in front of their peers.
I also noticed as Kayden walked around his classroom, he was respectful to the teachers
no speaking rule. Although, he didn’t speak to the other children, he smiled at them as he walked
passed. Kayden behaving properly in class to please his teacher and his peers by not being
disruptive, show that he is using Kohlberg’s stage three of his moral reasoning, where Social
approval is more important than any material reward (Berger, 2016, Kindle Location 12269).
Kayden seemed like he was liked by all his peers, and it was apparent that he is a very
friendly child. He got along with all of his peers as they played soccer at recess, he followed the
rules, and didn’t show any signs of antisocial or aggressive behavior. At recess he played with
both boys and girls, however, according to our textbook, by age 10 he will most likely choose
friends of the same sex (Berger, 2016, Kindle Location 12088). By the way Kayden interacted
with his peers and the fact that he seemed to be a very confident, and outgoing, I think that he
will be a very popular individual throughout his school years. “At every age, children who are
outgoing, friendly, and cooperative are well liked” (Berger, 2016, Kindle Location 12101).
References
Berger, Kathleen Stassen. Invitation to the Life Span. New York: Worth Publishers, 2016. Kindle
Edition.