Early childhood development

            On the day of March 25, 2004 I had the opportunity to observe a group of second grade students at West Liberty Elementary School. This process was very rewarding for me as a future teacher. Through this experience I was able to interact with the children as well as observe there physical, social, emotional, and cognitive skills. By observing this group of extraordinary students I was able to associate their levels of achievement with the predicted levels of achievement of various theorists. .
             First, observing the children's physical skills was somewhat difficult because of the class structure. During my observation time all of the children remained in their seats while they were read stories in the media room and given a math lesson in the regular education classroom. Despite the difficulty of monitoring their physical skills I was able to view the height and weight of both the males and females. As my class notes state, at this stage of a child's early childhood development males should be taller than females, and in this instance the statement holds true. The males in the class on average were two to three inches taller than their female classmates. Although females have a higher percentage of body fat it is said that males should also weigh more than females at this young age. This statement also held true. It was clearly evident that the males weighed more than the females because of there larger frames. Despite the females having a higher percentage of body fat their petite frames allowed them to have a much lower body weight. Besides obvious physical differences such as height and body weight, the children also displayed a great example of fine motor skills. When I first arrived in the classroom the children were completing a coloring activity which excited me a great deal; this was a great opportunity for me to observe fine motor skills. Every child that I observed held their crayons and markers properly and when they would make strokes to color their object they would move only their arm and hand as opposed to moving their entire body.