Assessment Strategies for Child Observation Study

perspicacity Strategies for Child Observation Study sagacity in the ECE Curriculum Assignment 2My BeliefI potently believe that appraisement is not just based on teachers observations and comments. appraisal has to be interactive, together with pincerren and families, all of us leave behind be actively involved in the branch of documenting and analysing the information. As my domesticate is inspired by Reggio Emilia, I in like manner believe that documentation is authoritative as it induces up a schoolroom community. It engages p atomic number 18nts, kidren and teachers to think ab surface(predicate) the process of acquirement and adding value to the boors study (Seitz, 2008). estimate Tools and Techniques away world advised by the Nurturing primaeval Learners, a curriculum model, my enlighten has besides created their own set of elusion edge curriculum that entrust inform of the schools programme. The curriculum foc characters childrens langauge and communica tion skills, cognitive skills, creative expression, sensory and motor skills, and personal and amic equal discoverment (The Odyssey world-wide Preschool, 2014). The curriculum puzzles promote acquirement of skills, concepts and content by play, where children make grit of the world and people around them, investigate the world, form and engage in active companionable interactions (The Odyssey Global Preschool, 2014).The Nurturing Early Learners bring provided a frame sour and highlights the importance of ob do and assessing children. It is an on-going and part of the teaching and noticeedness process which includes observing, documenting and rendering information to find out what children know and sympathize and design to build on their erudition (MOE, 2012). Based on the instruction consume which I had planned, these are the opinion tools and technique I feel that it is distinguish to use to assess the children.Taking Photographs and DocumentationTeachers bay wi ndow collect information some childrens culture and development by dint of organised observations and documentation. Taking photographs is 1 of the useful ways to document down what did the child did in a particular activity. When a photograph is taken, teachers would need to reflect the date the take to was taken, together with the description of the specific activity and the exacting goals or learning disposition that the child has masterd or developed (MOE, 2012).Learning StoryThe learning explanation approach focuses on the childrens strengths within a social and cultural context, making childrens business leader much transparent and communicatoryized (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett Farmer, 2015). The learning explanation sets as a basis to give confidence to the childs competency, narrating the situations when children show interest, and communicating with peers and adults when they are challenged with a labor (Arthur et al., 2015). In Hatherlys research recomm ended that learning stories helped families to gibe the literacy that is embedded in everyday subsists within the first childhood setting (Arthur et al., 2015).When parents have the learning story, they laughingstock add comments and make suggestions to the learning story as families provides the childs learning experiences at firm. Learning stories give the sack also be created together with childrens words, drawings and photographs and children can contribute to the analysis and future plan (Arthur et al., 2015). In addition, photographs can be added to enhance the learning stories. Carr and Lee (as cited in Arthur et al., 2015) can be a tool for sustained shared out idea as it helps children to reflect their learning and to make connections amid past and familiarise experiences, thus providing continuity of learning (Arthur et al., 2015).ChecklistsAnother assessment tool I would use forget be checklist. The focus area which I give be looking for at pass on be more on the communication and language area and physical area. This assessment tool serves as additional information and a summary of the childrens development. As I have to observe a group of children, it is useful for teachers and in this case, the checklist allows me to regulate an everywhereall pattern in what the children are at now (Arthur et al., 2015). However, this checklist leave behind not be used alone. It pull up stakes set up the learning story and as well as the photograph documentation.There is a compounding of the assessment techniques which I will be using based on the assessment tools which I had discussed earlier. Assessment for learning is will be the principal(prenominal) assessment technique selected. There is an on-going process of documenting and analysing after observing the children and cooking for future learning experiences for the children to be engaged in. As assessment for learning is formative, the process of collecting information, interpreting t he information is continuous so that teachers can plan, reflect, and evaluate their learning (Arthur et al., 2015). In this case, the learning, mainly the skills which I would like to achieve in the learning activity will be cutting, pouring of issues, take the qualitys of preparing fruit pancake and introducing other types of fruits to the children. Language skills will also be involved when they interact with each other. The children would definitely need a period of time to acquire the skills hence, teachers will document the process and plan other activities to support the children to achieve their goals. In this case, if the fruits are slightly harder to cut, teachers can parcel out changing to softer fruits such as banana or strawberries.Assessment of learning is also part of the assessment technique when the checklist is used to assess the children. The children will be observed based on the milestone checklist provided by my school. This allows me to have an insight on h ow many children are able to tell the butter knife and cut the fruits.Childrens Involvement in Assessment ProcedureAs the learning experience will spread over a period of time, children will assess their own learning as they develop their own assureings. In assessment as learning technique, children will document their own learning and reflecting on their learning process (Arthur et al., 2015) by dint of various ways such as drawings, showcasing their skills to their parents.Parents Involvement in Assessment ProcedureIn order to have successful collaborative partnerships between teachers and family, both parties have to make a commitment to share germane(predicate) information and are built on mutual benefit (Arthur et al., 2015). In my school setting, are involved actively in the assessment mental process and in my school, various communication methods are available to reach out to the parents.Ongoing conversationsAfter the learning experience which the children were engaged i n, I do share with the parents verbally and would encourage the parents to extend their learning at home. The classroom will be the place where parents are welcome in to plow to any of the class teachers on their childs progress. Apart from verbal communications, emails and phones are available for parents and teachers to stay connected.Pre Parent Teacher Conference feedback / daub Parent Teacher feedbackThe feedback form will be sent to parents forrader the meet up and after the parent teacher conference. This is to better transform how the child is doing at home and how we can support the child at school.Sharing Thoughts on their Childs WorkWhen the documentation is beingness put up in the classroom, there will be a space for parents to share their thoughts and comments on the childrens work. These comments will then be read to the children and this created an interactive of involving parents in the assessment.EvaluationVygotskys described learning to social interactive, rath er to be taught individually (Arthur et al., 2015). Rogoff has also further argued that interactions and births are the core of effective learning environments and that there is a complex relationship between learning and development (Arthur et al., 2015, p. 91.). Rogoffs trine foci lenses have helped me in understanding childrens learning. Social cultural view has to be imageing when we understand the childs learning. Children from variant home and cultural context will build on their individual learning through guided intimacy in social interactions at the school. Drawing on Rogoffs lenses, social cultural activity can be analysed to understand how children learn through the transformation of participation (Bartlett, 2009).I felt that the assessment techniques used were appropriate. I am able to give unfavorable analysis of what the children have achieved through a series of documentation and photographs. The parents enjoyed reading the documentations of what the children ha ve experienced in this learning journey. They shared with me that pictures really helped them to understand the process that the children had went through, together with the description.From the learning experience which I implemented, I took pictures of children being engaged in exploring fruits to cutting of fruits. Apart taking photographs of childrens completed work, in this case the pieces of fruits that they had cut, I also captured childrens action and responses when they were exploring the fruits. These were documented in the classroom where children can revisit and reflect on their experiences. As the children were aged around iii years old, the photographs were used to document the childrens learning experiences will be a great way for children to learn. The children were also showed reflectiveness when they looked at the documentations. Even though some of the children are still developing their language skills, the pointed at the pictures shared with their friends. I ob served that some of them commented, I cut banana They enjoyed looking at the pictures and also shared their experiences with their peers and teachers.As my school is inspired by Reggio Emilia, observations and documentation is on the basis constructing new learning for children (American Journal of Play, 2011). using photographs will also help viewers to better understand the experience that the children were engaged in (Seitz, 2008). When photographs are displayed together with description, teachers and parents are able to see how the child has progressed through a series of photographs.The format of the learning story has also allowed me to write the story, focusing on the childs strengths and interest, physical composition down the interactions analysing the learning that has happened in the story providing opportunities and possibilities to follow up the childs learning at school and at home lastly, to reveal feedback from parents.When I was writing the learning stories for t he children, I recalled on how the child interacted with peers in the learning environment, building on their prior knowledge and skill and it had helped me to understand the child in another level. This is again drawing from Rogoffs three foci of analysis where I observed how children learn individually, with peers and the context which the child is at.The checklist has also given me a summary on the achievement of the childrens ability and together with the documentation. The checklist has further assisted me when I wrote their individual learning stories. As I have only have a few experiences in writing learning stories, I felt that I would need more practice so that I can give better critical analysis of the childrens learning and be more proactive in engaging parents in the learning story. Through writing of learning story, I feel that I can better understand each child in my class and drawing out their strengths and finding opportunities and possibilities to further support th e child.With the space on the wall for parents to share their thoughts, I am able to hear parents view on how they felt around their childs learning at school. From there, I can continue to include parents in the assessment to better facilitate their childs learning at school.AssessI would improve by having a variety of assessment tools when I observing the children. Apart from taking pictures, I would definitely consider taking videos of the children when they are engaged in activities. I would also consider being more innovative in documenting childrens learning experience to create interest to the children, families and community. I would definitely assess children through comb the three techniques, assessment for learning, assessment of learning and assessing as learning.One of the methods which I would want to improve on the assessment will be the adopting a literacy or numeracy quilt where families are encouraged to write, draw or montage on post it notes or photographs of l iteracy or numeracy experiences that their child engages at home (Arthur et al., 2015). From the sharing of home experiences by the parents, this provides me additional insight to plan appropriate learning experiences at school. In this way, I can build on the connection between school and families.ReferencesAmerican Journal of Play. (2011). Play and the light speed languages of children An interview with Lella Gandini. American Journal of Play, 4(1), 1-18.Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., Farmer, S. (2015). Programming and planning in early childhood settings (6th ed). Australia Cengage Learning.Bartlett, J. (2009). Fabric and Fanfare Design and Ideas Technology in Early Childhood, unpublished thesis, Monash University.Ministry of Education. (2012). Nurturing early learners A curriculum framework for kindergartens in Singapore.Seitz, H. (2008). The violence of Documentation in the Early Childhood Classroom. Young Children, 63(2), 88-93.The Odyssey Global Preschool. (2014). glasshouse 1 Curriculum.Retrieved March 21, 2015, from http//theodyssey.sg/nursery-1/curriculumAppendicesDiagnostic AssessmentAge 3 years oldSetting ClassroomA group of five dollar bill children were engaged in play dough activity. They were using the hands to knead, orbit the dough. The children were given tools to manipulate. They showed interest in their favourite fruits and began to serve their food (play dough) on plate. Bananas, watermelons and apples were some of the fruits which were mentioned. They will pretend to wash the fruits, cut the fruits then to serving them.With that interest in mind, I would like to implement a little chef project with the topic on will be on fruits From this learning experience, children will gain experiences in exploring more fruit choices such as dragon fruit, star fruit, strawberries etc through their senses smell, taste, touch, sight and finding out the different ways of preparing the fruits mini fruit pizza, fresh fruit popsic les or fruit yogurt. In this project, children will be developing cooking skills and process term preparing the dishes and exploring different ways of eating.In this learning experience, children will also learn about food safety and hygiene when handling kitchen utensils and be informed of healthy eating through food pyramid.The plan that I have developed for the Learning ActivityLearning goalsChildren will learn about healthy eating based on the food pyramid. They will kick downstairs the types of food eaten at different times of the day. They will also learn new fruits such as kiwi, dragon fruit. Children will gain experience being a little chef while preparing the food dishes and exploring how fruits can be eaten, as well as selling their food as a culminating event Little Chef Day.Skills which the children will be learningChildren will develop fine motor skills throughScooping the fruits on the pancakeCutting fruits (Kiwi, Strawberry, Banana) strip BananaSpreading maple syru p on pancakeListening and mouth skills Children will be sharing their thoughts in short phrases or 3 5 word sentences. They will listen to one to two step instructions and tunes.Math Children will explore colours and shapes of the fruits such as banana, dragon fruit, kiwi and strawberry.Music Children will participate and sing to the song FruitsIn this project, children will be developing cooperative skills as they work in small groups to present their dish. The skills that will involve during the activities include wrench taking, sharing, accepting and sharing responsibility. The children will have to take turns when they take on different role on little chef day or being engaged in a task such as airstream hands, tasting of fruits, cutting of fruits. They will be sharing utensils and be amenable of their task.The children will also develop self-management skills when they handle fruits and utensils. The project also challenged their perseverance, and difference of opini on on a task. This project also created awareness for children to understand about healthy eating, personal safety and hygiene.In terms of communication skills, the children will be listening to instructions and to others, expressing their ideas verbally, speaking in front of their friends.ActivitiesAn face of Assessment ToolNames Loo Si Hui (25687514) Page 1