Elementary School Children Exercises Essay

The paper begins with introduction whereby it briefly describes elementary schools and whom it they serve. In this part the paper attempts to show the changes that take place throughout elementary school period. The paper further outlines behavioral experiences of 1st graders through to 5th graders. In so doing the paper takes into account behavioral observation both in class and in the playground. Experiences both in class and playground are taken into consideration throughout the grades. The paper concludes by observing the general circumstances in the elementary school set up and how they can be improved. Introduction In the United States, a child between the kindergarten level and the 8th grade attends elementary schools for her/his education. However, the most universal grade range is kindergarten through 12th grade. Elementary schools in this country are also referred to as ‘grade schools’. Throughout their elementary school years, children experience imperative developmental transformations. Their way of thinking becomes more coherent, their concentration gets more compliant, their perception taking grows more complicated, and their understanding and math dexterity flourish. With admission into recognized schooling, children expend more time away from their relatives. Repeatedly, this time embraces many hours spent in schools and out-of-school time programs. During elementary school, children commence to assimilate knowledge from their exchanges with teachers, peers, and families so as to create identities based on their understanding of what they are good at as well as capable of doing. Behavior of grade 1- 5 children I observed a boy child attending elementary school through grades 1 to 5 and found 6 that and found this is the most period when attachments to friends grow. The child showed interest with best friend while he showed a sign of shunning those children who were fond of bullying others. Much activity centered on how to stay with friends as well as identifying those who are not co-operative. Majority of the child’s friends were of his sex. While in the 1st grade the child shows a tendency of seeking or dependent behavior toward older rather than same-age or younger children. As the child advances to second grade, he depicts a kind of need for peer assistance as opposed to teacher help. As a mode of attracting the attention of adults, the child develops tattling behavior. Through grades 4 to 5 this child tries to attract the attention of his peers as well as teachers so as to gain cognition. He puts more effort so as to lead others or win in whatever they are doing. The child tries to boss around and he seems not to be happy upon being defeated. In the playground the child tries to be attached to an adult such as a teacher, club leader, and caregiver or neighborhood teenager. The child shows competing enthusiastically so as to win the attention of this adult. Advancing through the grades a positive self-concept continues to develop with successful experiences. The child becomes more sensitive to personal criticism and does not know how to accept failure. The child shows self-control as well as patience in addition sharing and respecting the rights of others while in the 5th grade. It is at this stage that the child develops sequencing and ordering skills, preparing the way for problem solving math skills. Summarily, while in grade one and two the child exhibits, high active behavior, while not being modest he dislikes to loose, he appears to be self centered while seeking to be the centre of attention among portraying other attitudes. In the playground the child becomes sensitive about being called names, but calls others names, often pairs up and has best friend; tends to enjoy leaving out a third child. He shows some interest in games with rules and action but lacks skill, on top of this the child enjoys rough-housing but does not know when to stop and ends up being hurt, upset or exhausted. The child appears to like to know rules in as well as complaining about unfair treatment by peer playmates. While in the fifth grade the child wants to do things right, he erases and tries again and again, he begins to enjoy reading as a pastime as there has been success learning this skill. The child starts to show politeness and consideration; less opinionated and stubborn, he shows friendship by sharing possessions, secrets and time together. The child appears to develop attitude towards opposite sex a combination of liking and hostility. Elementary school and the children Children in elementary schools encounter a number of problems orchestrated by their peers. This can be in form of including undirected anger, such as tantrums, and lashing out at others; ‘bullying’, which is targeting someone thought to be weaker; and ‘hate bullying’, which is oppressing someone of a different (and perceived to be inferior) gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation (U. S. Department of Education, 1999). Young children encounter an immense and mounting range of challenges as they try to build up pro-social competencies and a pacifying, peaceful approach to life. They not only suffer from a lack of closeness with adults, but also from an excess of coverage to explicit violence in the news and entertainment media and, progressively more, in their homes and communities. All these forces have an effect on the disposition of children, and each child conveys a distinctive set of responses to probably provocative conditions. One of the most acknowledged features in schools across America and the rest of the globe are bullying. Bullying is not only destructive in elementary school children, but also adolescents in high school. Studies carried out indicate that the most common locale for bullying is on the playground, closely followed in occurrence en route to and from school. These studies show that bullying that took place on a playground was observed by monitors as well as adult playground assistants. On the playground, the number of time assistants had to intervene was only 17% of the time, and monitors intervened in only 23% of the observed cases. Noting that bullying in bullying is common in elementary schools; action should be taken to make school playgrounds a safer place for all children. This can be achieved if administrators, teachers, staff, as well as other adult stakeholders work to sustain a stricter measure of management on the playground, particularly in areas that appear to be prone to harassment, in addition to these same persons endeavoring to build a more cooperative and engaging school environment. Playground affords recess to the elementary school children. Recess can be described as a break period, typically outdoors, for children. In comparison to the rest of the school day, recess is a time when children have more free will to decide what they want to do and with whom. Through a 1989 study carried out by National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) it was acknowledged that schools in 90% of school districts had at least one recess period during the day. It is however articulated via American Association for the Child’s Right to Play (IPA/USA), many school systems have done away with recess since 1989. Among the reasons for such decision are safety and liability concerns and fears that recess would interrupt work patterns. Eradication of recess among elementary schools is also associated with the requirement for more instructional time while in some instances m principals and teachers suggest that they feel pressured to pack more instruction into the school day because of new calls for accountability. Abolishing recess in elementary schools was detrimental to both the social development of the child as well the academic well being of the children. This is due to the fact that recess may be the only chance for some children to connect socially with other children. Many classrooms permit very little interaction. In addition, latchkey children, who lock themselves in at home after school glued in TV and computer games as cohorts, frequently have no peer exchanges once they leave school. A good deal of what children do during recess, counting the sharing of folk culture, making choices in addition to developing rules for play, has bearing on the development of social skills. During elementary school recess, it was observed that children manage their own games, choosing on the rules and formatting which team goes first or who is â€Å"it†. Even though game playing can take place in the classroom as well as on the playground; however recess offers a more â€Å"open setting† with freedom of withdrawal as opposed to the classroom where it is typically â€Å"closed setting† and children cannot withdraw from the game. Playgrounds afford the children with the ability to learn to resolve conflicts to keep the game going, resulting in low levels of aggression on the playground. The fact that recess is only time in the school day when there is free peer interaction it is a important time in which adults can examine children’s social behaviors, their predisposition to bully and fight, in addition to their leadership and pro-social behaviors. Seeing how their students cooperate socially can assist teachers and other playground supervisors intercede in situations involving hostility or social isolation. Reference U. S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights. (1999). Protecting students from harassment and hate crime: A guide for schools. Washington, DC: U. S.