Kaitlin Jenkins

October 21, 2014

ECE 450

ECERS Report

Dear Director,
Thank you for providing me the opportunity to use the Early Childhood Environment
Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) to assess the toddler classroom, A Class, in U-NOW. By
using ECERS-R, I was able to focus on the critical elements that make up an early childhood
classroom environment. Based on my observations I gave many excellent or close to excellent
ratings for various areas including: space and furnishings, personal care routines, and interaction.
I gave several lower ratings for language-reasoning, activities, and program structure.
To begin, I gave an excellent rating for space and furnishings in the toddler classroom.
The classroom space is well maintained, clean, and in good repair. There is a lot of open space
for the children and adults to move freely within the classroom as well as space for privacy,
when needed. One of the spaces for privacy is next to the library which offers soft pillows and
toys for the children to use for relaxation. The teachers also have the ability to make the room
physically comfortable throughout the day by controlling the natural light by adjusting the blinds
as well as fresh air by opening the windows.
The furniture in the classroom has been designed for the children to be comfortable
because it is child-sized. The children are able to easily sit and move the chairs on their own
when sitting at the table because the chairs are small, like them. In addition, each chair has the
childs name and picture, so the child can recognize his or her chair. The classroom environment
contains a variety of images at eye level for the children in the form of picture displays and
mirrors. Although the teachers have arranged the classroom by interest area such as: blocks,
dramatic play, reading, and manipulatives, visual stimuli are present for the children in each of

these areas. Some examples of visual stimuli in the classroom include: pictures of animals,
pictures of food, pictures of children with disabilities, and pictures of children of other races.
Another way the classroom contains visual stimuli is through the variety of books available to
the children. The children can choose and look at books in the classroom library because the
books are on a stand that is low to the ground. The overall space and furnishings in A Class
indicate close to excellent ratings.
Another essential component of an early childhood classroom that I observed was the
personal care routines in A Class. When napping, a designated mat is provided for each child
including clean sheets and any soft toys he or she would like to sleep with. The mats are placed
about three feet from one another and the teachers position themselves in close proximity to a
cluster of children. When the children sleeping nearby the teacher wake up or have trouble
sleeping, the nearest teacher can quickly attend to the children. While the teachers often rub the
childrens backs to soothe them, soft music is also played to help the children fall asleep.
Once the children wake up from napping, two teachers prepare snack while two other
teachers have the children wash their hands. Each teacher washes her hands, as well as each
child. The children then sit in their chairs at the table for snack. As the children eat snack, they
frequently want to interact with the children sitting at their table. The teachers often discourage
the children from speaking to one another and say, Stop talking and eat. I would like to see the
teachers encourage the children to talk, for snack time should be a time for conversation. Once
snack is finished, the tables are cleaned and sanitized, as well as any bowls or utensils used.
Once the snack routine is finished, the teachers change the childrens diapers or monitor
the children who use the toilet. The bathroom consists of child-sized toilets and low sinks for the
children to use without much assistance needed from the teachers. The teachers and children

wash their hands after diapering occurs and the changing table is sanitized. The teachers
pleasantly interact with each child during toileting/diapering and encourage self-help skills as
each child is ready to move from diapering to toileting. The toileting/diapering routine I have
observed in A Class reflects an excellent rating.
Not only do the teachers pleasantly interact with the children during toileting/diapering,
but also throughout the day. Although the teachers do not promote the children to interact much
during snack, the overall interaction between teacher-child and child-child for a majority of the
day deserves an excellent rating. It is clear the teachers truly love the children, for they tell them
and often show them in the form of hugs and kisses. The teachers are willing to help the children
when they need assistance with a toy or an activity and are able to supervise the individual as
well as the whole group of children whether in the classroom or outside. When interacting with
the children the teachers extend their thinking by asking them questions and having the children
elaborate on what they say. When the children are interacting with one another and a problem
arises, the teachers encourage the children to solve the problem amongst themselves. When
problems arise, the teachers also take the time to model good social skills. The teachers only
speak to the children firmly when they are being disciplined because something they are doing is
not safe. Overall, the teachers consistently provide positive and warm interactions with the
children.
Even though the interaction between teacher-child and child-child is excellent, I would
like to see a stronger emphasis on language-reasoning in A Class. One way the teachers could
improve childrens communication is by linking their spoken communication with written
language. As the children are speaking, the teachers could write down what they say and read it

to them. The teachers could even give a childs parents his or her writing to further encourage the
link between what the child says and written language.
While I observed the teachers encouraging the children to use language to develop their
reasoning skills during play, the children should be able to reason beyond play by sequencing
actual events and experiences. For example, the teachers could teach the children sequence by
having a discussion about what they experience in a typical day. At times I observed the teachers
reasoning for the children, so I would like to see the teachers provide more support in order for
the children to develop their reasoning skills. For instance, the teachers can introduce reasoning
skills as a response to the childrens interests at a given time or to help solve a problem. Placing
a greater emphasis on language-reasoning in A Class will improve this important element of
the early childhood environment.
Throughout the day the children are involved in many activities in the classroom. While
many activities occur on a given day, art and music/movement could be given more attention.
Although the children do art, they do not have access to the art materials for at least one hour a
day. When the children do art, they mostly use drawing materials such as crayons, paper, and
paint. Also, the artwork that is hung in the classroom reflects only two-dimensional work. The
children could create three-dimensional pieces of art by using three-dimensional materials and
collage materials to even further expand their individual expression. The children could use clay
or play dough to create an art piece or safe scissors to create a collage. By providing the children
more time to work on art, having more art materials available, and creating three-dimensional in
addition to two-dimensional work, art will be enhanced for the children.
Another activity that could be enhanced is music and movement. While music is played
each day for the children during nap, the students should be actively exposed to music for at least

one hour per day. I have only observed a handful of times where the children participated in a
musical activity involving singing and dancing. The students do have simple instruments
available to them, but there are not enough for each child. To incorporate music and movement
more frequently in the classroom, the teachers could teach the children songs by genre or in other
languages. The teachers could also have a dance activity in which the children act out the
movements in a song or ask them to individually create their own dance moves to express
themselves. Exposing the children to music and movement will add to their classroom
environment because creativity is encouraged during this activity.
The overall program structure for A Class is appropriate for the classroom, however
most of the activities throughout the day involve whole-group gatherings. The children should
be given opportunities to choose which group they would like to participate in either a wholegroup or small group, and even individually for some activities. The teachers seem to struggle
keeping the attention of the children in a whole-group gathering, so perhaps having the children
in smaller groups would be beneficial. Different groupings allow a change of pace for the
teachers and children each day.
The early childhood environment for A Class at U-NOW scored highly on the ECERSR in terms of space and furnishings, personal care routines, and interaction. With several
improvements to language-reasoning, activities, and program structure, A Class is a good
example of what is best for young children.
Sincerely,
Kaitlin Jenkins