Center for Young Children Observation Report
             On February 23, 2005, I visited the Center for Young Children at the University of Maryland. During this visit, I gained vast amounts of knowledge about different aspects of a young child's classroom environment.
             During my visit to the Center for Young Children, I observed a classroom of approximately fifteen children ranging in ages from about four to six. The classroom that I observed was not really diverse. There were mainly Whites and a few Asian children. There were no Blacks, Hispanics, or Indian children in the classroom that I observed.
             The classroom that I observed was known as the Green Room. In the classroom were three adults supervising the children. One adult was sitting on the floor with about three other children reading aloud to them. Another adult was sitting at a table doing arts and crafts with children, and the other adult was walking around helping out wherever she could. All of these activities going on are ways that the children were occupying themselves, and in essence, learning.
             During my observation, I realized that there are many different ways that children learn. The most obvious way is through lecture, or just being told about something. But for children ages four through six, lecturing is probably not the most efficient way to learn. Through observation, I have come to the conclusion that young children learn most effectively through play. In the Green Room, there were different learning stations set up around the classroom for the children to participate in. These stations were the block area, the literacy area, the art area, the dramatic play area, the mathematics area and the science area. All of these areas were labeled and at eye-level in the classroom.
             The block area was set off near the window. In this area were building blocks where the children could build different things using blocks. This allows children to be creative and to use t...