After we have gathered and recorded information about children and their play, we need to do what is called ANALYSING - this means looking through the photos, videos, our notes or what we remember happened/what the children said and then deciding what learning was happening.
These are some of the things you might look for when analysing your observations:
It could be to do with physical development
For Example:
how does the child move?
can they jump?
can they run?
what are their fine motor skills like?
It could be to do with emotional development
For Example:
is the child happy?
is the child sad?
is the child frustrated?
can the child self-regulate - this means can they control their body movements and sit and listen or do they run around in circles and hit things?
do they get over a problem pretty easily or do they chuck a tantrum?
It could be about communication development
For Example:
what words can the child say?
does the child speak in sentences?
can the child be understood by others? Do they speak clearly?
how does the child speak to others? Are they polite or rude?
It could be about social development or interactions with others
For Example:
how does the child get along with others?
can they take turns?
can they share?
can they work out problems between themselves and their friends?
do they have friends?
It could be about what the child already knows
For Example:
what ideas did they show they have?
what they are interested in?
did they talk about learning something at home?
It could be about the child's reactions to the play environment
For Example:
did they like it?
did they add something to it
were they bored?
how long did they spend playing?
If a child plays in the mud kitchen for the whole day, you could probably analyse that the child really loves it.
Once you have analysed the observations you have made of a child, then you have to record it - this is what is called documentation.
See the blog post Robbie Jumps on the Mattress for an example of an observation, analysing the observation and recording the observation that Kate did. This would be a good example to use for the assessment
TASK: Have a look at the above photo. What do you see? What do you think the children are doing? Where are they? What does this photo make you wonder? Do you have any questions about it?
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