The Learning Ladder A Reading and Writing Curriculum for Early Care and Education Teachers, Children and Families

The Goals of Observation

Observation is much more than looking at what a child does. When we observe we need to pay attention to details of the child's behavior and carefully record what we see. When we observe a child in our classroom, we can reach a better understanding of how that child is developing.

The goals of observation and documenting are:

• learning more about each of the children in our classroom
• seeing how children are using the materials and areas in our classroom so that we can make necessary changes
• measuring children's development and ability to master skills over a period of time
• identifying and documenting children's issues and understanding areas of need or concern
• watching for possible causes of difficult behaviors
• providing information that teachers and parents can share

Finished? Then, go to the activities for Part 2.

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