Any child care experts! need help for childcare assignment!!?

Question

My niece is doing an early learning course & needs to know how to do an event sample & time sample child observation & is really stuck & I havent got a clue how to help her.

Answer 1

Galileo Child Observations



Policy



Staff will observe children on a regular basis and document observations as part of the on-going assessment and planning process.





Procedure

1.      Observations of children are the foundation of the Galileo developmental assessment.   Observations are a tool to adjust curriculum and plan learning opportunities to meet children’s individual needs.  Observations also help teachers and parents understand the different levels of Galileo mastery: what their child has learned, is ready now to learn, will be ready soon to learn and ready later. This information becomes the child’s individual learning path, or education plan.  All children will be assessed in the eight developmental areas using the 3-5 Galileo scales:  Early Math, Language and Literacy, Social and Emotional Development, Fine and Gross Motor, Physical Health Practices, Approaches to Learning, Nature and Science, and Creative Arts.

(The following information is excerpted from The Early Childhood Professional Development Series Module 1, by Jason K. Feld, Ph.D and John R. Bergan, PhD. Copyright 1994, Assessment Technology, Inc.  All rights reserved.) “To achieve this goal, it is vital that you observe and record children’s development on a continuous basis.  Observing children is a natural and enjoyable thing to do.  It is also the key for deciding which learning activities will most benefit the children.  Observation of children can occur at any time and in any place.”



Know what to look for

A teacher should have a good sense of the progression of capabilities for each area of development to be observed.  When it is known what comes before and what comes next in development, the observer knows what to look for.  For individual children, completing their baseline will help the observer know where the child is in the developmental continuum for each developmental area. In that way, the observer knows what to look for when observing.  



Involve Families

Children often display capabilities in one setting that may not be readily observed in another.  A child may be highly verbal at home and talk very little at school.  Insights provided by parents can assist in adjusting curriculum to more closely meet the needs of individual children.

Take Advantage of Moments to Observe

Children can be observed throughout the day as a natural part of what a teacher does.  Children are always doing and learning.  Simply keep your eyes peeled and your ears perked.  As you watch, activities can be adjusted to meet children’s needs.



Have a Focus

Having a focus means knowing what capabilities one wants to observe, which children will be observed, and where observation will occur.  The observer should plan “What do I want to observe?”  ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€ÂœWhich children will I be observing?”  ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€ÂœWhere will I observe?” “What strategy or method will I use to remember what I observed?”

Have a Purpose

Having a purpose means observations are conducted with a goal in mind.  Purposes may be to develop a weekly activity plan, determine how to individualize, or revise any activity.  Things to consider are, “What do I hope to learn from my observations?”  ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€ÂœHow will I use the information I have learned?”



Use Narratives

Narratives or anecdotal notes help describe what children do and how they do it.  These methods are also very useful for recording concerns, goals, plans, and successes.  When using narratives/anecdotals, the observer needs to always remember to be objective, accurate, and brief.



Use Time and Event Sampling

There are occasions when knowledge of the frequency of a behavior is important, i.e. how often the same child is laughing or sharing.  This information can be useful for planning interventions to increase or decrease particular behaviors.



TIME SAMPLING:  Use Time Sampling to record behavior over a short period of time.  

·        First decide which behaviors you wish to observe.  

·        Decide how often you wish to record the behavior.  Typically, you will want to record during 5minute intervals over a 20 minute time period.  

·        Observe and record the behaviors using tally marks.  You may use the Galileo Observation Records to record your observations.

EVENT SAMPLING: Use Event Sampling to record social interactions.  

·        Decide which interaction(s) you will observe.  

·        When the event occurs, describe what is occurring, what happened before, and what happened after.  Also record how long the event lasted and anything that was said.

MYTHS AND REALITIES: The age of a child is a good indicator of what a child can or cannot do and, therefore, what should be expected of a child.  A child’s progress on a development path is the best indicator of what she/he has learned and can look forward to learning.  Children learn best when valuable curriculum experiences are gauged to the children’s ages and developmental levels to guide planning.  Children learn best when teachers know where children are on a path and when learning opportunities consistent with their developmental level, interests, and pace of learning are provided.

In the Help area of Galileo, related topics for further information can be found under:

            The Assessment Area

            Observations

            Interpretation and Communication of Assessment Results



Guideline

1)      DATA SOURCE ITEMS:  The data source is the method of observation used to assess a child.  It helps to show “how you know and what you know” about a child.  ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€ÂœBest Practice” would include multiple data sources when documenting observations. This would demonstrate that multiple arenas, sources, viewpoints, learning opportunities, etc have contributed to the child assessment.  Examples of data source include parent input, work samples, direct observations, speech, home visits evaluations, and IFSP.  Data sources can be added or deleted and in the order in which they appear in the drop down can be changed.  The steps to change data sources can be found in the Help section of Galileo.

2)        ANECDOTAL CHILD NOTES:  

a)      Teachers will add additional information about the skills being observed.  

b)      The Notes on the Child Observation page allow elaboration on the observations that are made.  For example, a description of the circumstances under which a skill was observed as learned might be included.  These notes are available for every scale.

1.      It is best practice to document anetodals regularily but not required.

This policy complies with Head Start Performance Standard 1304.21; 1304.23(b)-(c); 1304.3(a5); 1304.40(e-f); 1306.30(b); 1308.4(c); 1310.21

It was approved by Policy Council on August 13, 2002.

Updated June 12, 2003

© 1995-2004. Head Start of Lane County. All rights reserved.

Answer 2

Easy to understand description, procedure, and example of time sample observation:

http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/~sp...