The Education University of Hong Kong

Higher Diploma in Early Childhood Education (2-year full-time) – Year 1 Observation

Record Form for Visits to crèche and School Attachment

Record for Visits to crèche

1. Visit Date:
21-10-2021(Thursday)

2. Basic Information
Name of Education Organisation: Hong Kong Society For the Protection of Children Air
Cargo Community Day Crèche (HKSPC)
Address: 1/F ,387 Portland Street, Kowloon
Name of Principal/Director: Ji Ji Mock

Background Information of the Organisation: Non-profit/private

Established in 1926 , HKSPC is one of the largest charitable organisation which focus on the
care and welfare of children. It is a government subsidised, largest service provider in the
territory.

Teaching Staff Arrangement:

Professional and qualified staff, certified children care and training, registered to social
welfare Despartmentand education bureau.

Children Distribution in Class/Group:

The distribution of children was according to their age and needs,there were 99 children in
total and 5 rooms in total.First room had 29 children,2nd room has 18 ,3rd have 24 , 4th have
28 and lastly the 5th room is not a classrooom , it’s for other uses like parents-teaching
meeting or other activities.Each room have maximum 2 class teachers.The sizes of the
rooms are according to children’s ages and need of space.

The school’s requirements on teachers’ dress code, attendance, and leaving:

There were many requirements for teacher’s to follow.For the dress code, it was blue T-shirt
with organisation’s logo on it and black pants.The hairs should be tie up into a bun to avoid
any kind of accident or attraction of children.There are no extra holidays except red days, no
Christmas, new year holidays.For the leaving time of the teacher depends on the arriving
time , if they choose to arrive at 8 then they can leave at 5:30.

3. Observation of the relationship between school’s environment design and children’s

development
The design of the kindergarten is unique and the impact of the design and school’s
environment and design on children’s learning was meaningful and effective.There was a
corner for parents where a lot of QR codes were there on a wall, the parents can scan their
child’s class code and get to. Know what they. Are learning in the kindergarten, which
vocabularies or skills and many more things.By things method, parents can practice the
content at home to better understand and helps the children to easily make the base of that
topic or theme.The sitting area was according to the children capabilities,Some chairs have
the handles but some not, some were small in size and some were a little bigger than the
other one.The table were accoding to the size of chairs because children takes time to able
to sit properly and if not, they may have some back problems in the coming years in the
life.There were some classes for parents where they got to learn how to take care of the
children at certain ages like for example how to put on clothes for children. Especially winter
clothes because there are layers of clothes and sometimes if the clothes. Are not worn
properly , the children may feel uncomfortable.How to change the diaper with the proper
and accurate method, how to feed the children and in depth information which helped
parents in the betterment of children’s growth and development. (Benefits to parents 2019)

4. Describe one interesting children activity

One interesting children’s activity was messy play.In this activity, the teachers use many
different things to set up a fun environment, things like tissue papers, plastic, balloons. And
many different daily life objects.The children enjoy freely playing around with all these
things without the fear of making the place messy.The teachers said there are moms who
don’t allow children to make things messy and play at home so that is why the kindergarten
set up this kind of play to let children freely play ,enjoy and explore practically.Ths play will
make the place and the clothes messy but children learn a lot an have fun as well.The
kindergarten also organise theme birthday parties where children can gan knowledge from
the theme for example the theme ‘lines’, the children will wear clothes with line on them,
the class decorations is also with the matching theme , everything is in the form o lines.This
kind of theme based activities will teach and enhance their knowledge. (Reed, What is messy
play and why is it important? 2021)

5. What is the most important thing to learn in teacher-child interaction:

The most important thinsg to learn in teacher-children relationship is clear instructions.If
the teacher can clearly explain and guide the children through steps of an activity, the
children can do the activty or any kind of task smoothly.They will be able to understand
what the teacher want to teach them and follow the steps according to the clear
instructions given by the teacher and complete the task without any complications which
can be effective.

6. How did you experience being a crèche teacher?

Although a kindergarten teacher have many things to do such as handling a lot of
paperwork, making lessons plans, meetings with the school and parents.All this needs a
teacher to be passionate about the job they are doing.There were many children aged 2-3
months old as well, it was fun to look at them, imagine how ill it feel if we are actually in the
place of those teachers.Dedication, hard work and passionate are needed to become a
crèche teacher.
School Attachment Observation Record

1. School attachment time period: 11,18,25 Nov(SA) 29,30,1,2,3(ESA) (8 days in total)

2. Basic.information:
Name of the attached school/organisation: Sun Island English Kindergarten(Tung Chung Branch)
Address: K01, G/F, Coastal Skyline, 12 Tung Chung Waterfront Road, Tung Chung, Lantau Island
Telephone: 2420 1068 Website: https://www.sunisland.edu.hk/en/branches/tung-chung-branch/
Principal/Director:Ms Man Pui-Sze

Background information of the organisation:

Sun Island, founded in 1984, is a seasoned educational institution with nine kindergartens
dedicated to providing high-quality pre-primary education to children in Hong Kong Island,
Kowloon, the New Territories, and the outlying islands. Sun Island became a non-profit
kindergarten approved by the Education Bureau to join the Pre-primary Education Voucher
Scheme in 2007 and the Free Quality Kindergarten Education Scheme in 2017 in accordance with
the Hong Kong SAR Government's educational policy. Sun Island students have benefited from
government subsidies since that time. The nine kindergartens work together to create and
implement a shared curricular framework, as well as share teaching resources and experiences.

Admission structure of the organisation (can use graph):

Sun Island is committed to delivering high-quality pre-primary education to children ages two to
six years old. As a basis for life-long learning, we want to build their self-esteem, self-care, and
self-learning abilities.

Work division of the teaching staff:

The number of the teaching staff in the kindergarten is 13 including teachers and principal.Each
classroom has 2 teachers to handle the class.And there are some staff working in the office to handle
other school issues and paper work.

Class information and number of students:

There are 5 classrooms in the kindergarten.Each classroom have around 18-20 students with 2 class
teachers as the teacher to student ratio according to the school website is 1:9. There are 3
categories of the classes which includes Nursery class,Lower class and upper class, all of them have
AM and PM classes but no Whole day classes.

Dress codes for teacher:

Kindergarten has it’s own uniform for teachers which includes a red T-shirt , black trousers and black
coat school’s logo on them.Practicum students were required to wear blue navy T-shirt.

Requirements for reporting for duty and leaving:

The reporting time for teachers is 8:30am.The leaving time is 5:30.The attandance is taken by the
card machine which automatically note the timing of arriving and leaving the kindergarten.

Arrangements for lunch:

Teachers are required to prepare their own lunch and have it in the assigned rooms during that
period. Kindergarten provide all the kitchen services like preheating the food, etc.
Overall Learning Environment Design and Setup (can use graphs):
(the use of colour, space, and sites)

The kindergarten have many different facilities for children to play and explore.It has 2 playground
Indoor and outdoor.Playgrounds contains many different toys for children to play and enhanced
their physical development.Outdoor is mostly for gross motor skills like running around jumping or
doing some kind of activities.Indoor playground have cycles to ride, balls and basket to play with
etc.Everything is dry colourful and attractive.The place is a little small but teachers managed to set
the timing according to their timetable to avoid any clashes.Teacher will also conduct dance
practices and PE classes in these playgrounds according to children’s mood and weather.

Indoor playground Outdoor playground

Other than 2 playgrounds, there is another play area for children to play but it’s not children to sit
and play with different toys.There are 2 tables and 6 chairs for each table for children to sit with
their friends and play with different toys.The toys provided there are blocks, slime and a lot
more.These toys can develop children’s fine motor skills.Teachers also use this corner for conducting
the small groups activties as it’s in a corner where children will not get distracted.There is a mini-
library in that same corner, different books are there for children to explore and enjoy reading.Books
like full picture books , vocabulary books , etc.

Play area Music room

There’s a music room for children to have music and dance lesson there.Nursery songs play an
important role in children kindergarten life.It is important to have a separate music room to
conductance these kind of activties there.The room is well designed.It has many different
instruments place in different cabinets .There is a piano as well as a projector for teacher to play the
songs and music on a bigger screen for children’s better vision. (How can classroom design create an
effective learning environment?)
3. Routines Procedures

Children’s age groups:K1(3-4 years old) Time/date of Record: 2nd December,2021 8:45 am
During school attachment, take down the general requirement for the attached group of children:
 Arriving school
The arriving time for children in the kindergarten is 8:45am , the gates open sharp on time.The
children are lining outside the kindergarten.

 Health inspection
After the gates open, the children come in , there’s temperature machine installed for children to
check the temperature.After that, theres’ an automatic sanitizer machine where children have to
sanitize their hands proper.After doing this, the children are guided to go to washroom to wash their
hands before entering the classroom.

 Breakfast (depending on the attached class)

There is no breakfast provided for children, they can only drink water in the water break.

 Indoor activity
There are 2 different play areas for children to do indoor activities.After taking attendance and
drinking water, the teacher guide children to make 2 lines and go out to do dancing.After that,
teacher will let children to play in the play area for a while.

 Outdoor activity
Outdoor activities contains many different activities such as going out in the outdoor playground to
play.Dancing , playing with the slide, hide and seek , running around and a lot more.Sometimes the
games depends on the theme the children are learning.

 Refreshments
There is no refreshments provided, only water is allow during the water break.

 Lunch (depending on the attached class)

The kindergarten only have AM and PM classes, there is no whole day class so lunch time is only for
teachers and staff.

 Nap (depending on the attached class)

No nap time as children are only for AM or PM classes.

 Washing
Children go to washroom three times during the school hours.

 Leaving school
The leaving time for children is 4:30.Before that, children will get together and sing the goodbye
song.
4. Observation Record
Classroom design/setup (can use pictures/photos):
(setting of desks, chairs, and cabinets; corner design; use of floor; design of walls; colour; lighting;
space, use of venues, and communicating channels with parents, etc)

There are 5 classrooms in total.All of the classroom are well designed according to children’s need
and better growth.The atmosphere and environment should make children comfortable and
warmth.Each classroom have 4 tables an 6 chairs for each table.Each table represent different group
name and the sticker of the group name in in the middle of each table.During the play-time, the
tables will turn into different play areas for example one table will be a silent corner for reading and
doing homework.Only table for playing with teaching aids , one table for playing with toys like blocks
, card games.One table for doing the art activities.There’s a corner where soft mads are place there,
children can also play there with bigger toys like kitchen set.There classrooms are decorated with so
many stickers and pictures of the theme children are learning.All the walls have children’s
artwork.Cabinets are placed indifferent corners to pu the things. Like papers and teaching aids to
avoid mess in the classroom.Some cabinets are for children’s toys and homework.All the cabinets
contains soft pads all over the corners to avoid any accidents.There is a big TV for children to enjoy
and learn things.

This is parents mobile app, through this , teachers and parents can interact easily.There is a calendar
part where parents can check all the upcoming important events and get prepared for it.

5. During school attachment in Semester 1, briefly write down 4 activities for teaching reflection
learning.

Date Activity Title Content (can choose from interesting Individual Learning
conversations)

30/11/2021 Float and Sink The activity’s aim was to let children get Children can ge the real
some real experience but doing different experience of observing
experiments. the items which are float
Teacher prepared a huge bucket full of and sink inside the water.
water and towel for clean up.There were
many different items to experiment
which includes
orange,lemon,broccoli,kiwi,grape,instant
raw noodle,egg.
Teacher put the water bucket in the
middle of the table and ask children to
make a circle around that to see it
clearly.
 After the whole set up, teacher call out
each group one by one to try this
experiment.Techer ask children to
choose the item they want to put in the
water bucket and ask them to put that in
the water.Children were excited each
time they put the item in the bucket.
For after activity, teacher prepared a
worksheet for children to tick in the
column of sink or float after experiment.

01/12/2021 Animal race It was a theme-based learning.Children Children’s physical

already started to learn about different development will grow
animals. and they can better
This activity was to enhance children’s understand different
physical development and to learn animal sound and their
different animal noises and the way actions.
animal walk.
The teacher gathered children in the
indoor playground and place the soft
mads on the floor.After that, teacher ask
children to make a line and listen to the
name of the animal teacher will
say.After listening to animal’s name ,
children have to pretend like that animal
and go to their part of the playground.
Teacher named animals which includes
dog, cat, sheep,lion, rabbit and a few
more.
Children were having their physical
exercise as well as theme based
learning.Lastly , teacher ask children to
make the noised of their favourite
animal and ask other children o guess
the name of the animal.

02/12/2021 Matching Animals This activity was conducted in the They can learn to
Chinese lesson, children were learning accomplish different task
the names and some basic with certain
characteristics in simple Chinese as well. difficulties.They can learn
The teacher used flash cards with to deal with their group
different pictures of animals and their mates.
names on them.
Teacher divide the activity into different
rounds, in total there were 5
rounds.First round was the easiest and
the 5th round was the hardest.
They had competitions among different
groupswhere they have to match the
names of the animals with the pictures
and in different rounds they have to
 match. The food picture together with
the name of the animal.After that, thy
have to say he animal name verbally to
pass the round.Next round was for
adding the action of that animal.The
final round was to do all the steps at a
time.
They learn to cooperate among their
group and learn new things with
different games because reading word
to word can be boring sometimes.
03//12/202 Animal Concept This activity was the last activity for the Children can learn to
1 mapping theme learning. Children were almost make simple concept
done with learning things about animals. map , they can always
Teaching used huge size of white papers look back to heir work,
to conduct this activity.It was a group summarise whatever
activity where the whole class did it they learn.
together.Making a concept map of what
children learn about animals using
different colours, they were allow to add
pictures , words or draw out whatever
they knew.Animals name, shape, colour,
food, where they live , etc.
This a was a conclusion activity to sum
up what they have learned from the
theme, this enhance children social skills
, they have learn how to work as a
team,cognitive development as well.
Reference

Reed, A. K. (2021, March 1). What is messy play and why is it important? It's a Mother
Thing. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.amotherthing.com/what-the-
heck-is-messy-play-and-why-is-it-important/

Government of New Brunswick, C. (2019, February 5). Benefits to parents. Early Learning
and Child Care Curriculum. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from
https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/education/elcc/content/curriculum/
benefits_parents.html

How can classroom design create an effective learning environment? Vertis Buildings. (n.d.).
Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.vertisbuildings.com/blog/how-to-create-
an-effective-learning-environment