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A Case Study of a Kindergartener

Autumn Paige BootonApril 27, 2015

EDF 218

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The student observed will be referred to as Winnie. Winnie is a kindergartener

attending a public elementary school in the city where she lives. She is six years old; her

age falls in the middle of that of her classmates because of her December birthday. She

lives with both of her parents, a younger, four year old sister, and an older, 23 year old half-

sister. Both of Winnie’s parents as well as her older sister are employed. Her mother is a

reporter for a local newspaper, her father is a coordinator for a local theatre group, and her

oldest sister has two, part-time, clerical jobs and also attends a local college. It can be

assumed that Winnie is part of a middle class family. By accounts by her teacher and

observations, she has a stable home life and a loving family who is involved in her

education and all other aspects of her life.

Physical Development

Winnie is one of the smaller girls in her class, but by no means appears

underweight. Female kindergarten students are between 42 and 45.25 inches tall and

weigh between 40 and 45 pounds (Morrison). Winnie definitely falls on the lower side of

both of those averages, but she looks healthy. She often packs a full of nutritious foods like

fruit, raw vegetables, a cheese stick, and her self proclaimed favorite food—a peanut butter

and banana sandwich. Sometimes, she also has a treat like a Little Debbie cake or a candy

bar; however, it is obvious someone at home takes care in packing her lunch with food that

is good for her and limits the not-so-good snacks she eats. Therefore, one can conclude that

she is well fed at home. Winnie is well taken care of in other ways too. Everyday, she

comes to school with her sandy-blonde hair in a neat ponytail. She is always clean, and she

wears clothes that are clean and comfortable to play in and appropriate to the weather—

more signs that Winnie is well cared for in a stable home with a good support system.

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Winnie’s fine motor skills have made great improvements as she gains more control

of her hands and fingers (Cratty 309). She neatly cuts out her work to paste in her math

journal and legibly writes numbers and letters (although she sometimes writes numbers

like “3” and “5” backwards. She holds writing utensils correctly without help and can

usually open the packaging her food is in without assistance. Her gross motor skills are

rapidly developing as well. Since she has grown throughout the past year, she is now able

to integrate more dynamic systems of movement because: she has gotten stronger; gained

more coordination in her shoulders, torso, trunk, and legs; and has a more developed

central nervous system (Cratty 308). Like most of the students her age, Winnie is a ball of

energy, especially at recess. On the playground, she runs, skips and gallops with a gaggle of

girls, and climbs on the playground equipment—all typical physical milestones for a typical

kindergartener.

Social and Moral Development

Outside, Winnie plays mainly with other girls. Her best friends are both girls from

her class. One friend she met when she started kindergarten. Winnie is often seen playing

at school with this friend. When choosing centers during their end-of-the-day-playtime,

one of the girls will ask to go to the station where the other girl is playing. Her other best

friend is her neighbor. Winnie has no problem getting along with this friend at school, but

they are rarely seen playing together. Winnie said that that student often come to her

house to play. Winnie’s younger sister also plays an important social role in Winnie’s life.

Due to their close age and the fact that the two are sisters, they are together often and have

a positive relationship. Although this behavior was not observed, it can be surmised as

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Winnie consistently mentions doing things with her sister when she is asked what she likes

to do at home.

Winnie is a loving child. She is warm and friendly to all the boys and girls in her

class. Once, when one child was visibly upset because no one was playing in her station

during centers, Winnie abandoned what she was doing and asked the other girl what was

wrong. Winnie then played with that girl for the remainder of centers because she “didn’t

want her friend to be sad.” Not only does Winnie get along well with her peers, but she also

has a positive relationship with her teacher. It can be observed the Winnie loves her

teacher. She often hugs her teacher and wants to tell her stories about her day.

Winnie is rarely reprimanded in class because she is very well behaved. She sits

quietly when students are working or participating in carpet time, raises her hand, does

not interrupt others when they are talking, tries to follow directions, attempts to adhere to

classroom procedures, and never has to be reminded to use an “inside voice.” Part of this

could be attributed to her quiet personality. Winnie is a child that one has to really listen to

hear in a conversation. She is somewhat shy and wants to avoid being in trouble. However,

she is not afraid to speak up when called on. Winnie can also be caught laughing and

playing with other students when it is appropriate.

When comparing Winnie’s behavior with Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial

development, she falls to the end of his “Locomotor” stage and the beginning of his

“Latency” stage. During the “Locomotor” stage, children age three to six struggle with the

conflicts “Initiative versus Guilt.” Children in this stage continue to be more assertive and

take more initiative. However, when children are too forceful they feel guilty (Berk 16).

Winnie exhibits this behavior when she takes pride in days that she is the “leader” in the

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class. Although her shy turn is a personality trait, this stage could also account for her

leeriness to be vocal during class for fear of being too forceful.

The “Latency Stage” occurs when a child is between ages 6 and twelve. The primary

conflict for children in this stage is “Industry versus Role Confusion” in which the child

struggles with the demands of learning new skills at the risk of feelings of inferiority,

failure, and incompetence (Berk 16). Children in this stage, like Winnie, are starting

elementary school, and family members are the most important people in a child’s life.

Although Winnie is friends with her peers, has a positive relationship with her teachers and

others outside of school, her primary relationships are with her immediate family members

at home. At school, Winnie is learning to work cooperatively with others, another

characteristic of Erikson’s stage. Doing things independently makes Winnie feel successful,

but getting in trouble and other negative experiences lead to feeling of inferiority—all

traits of Erikson’s “Latency Stage.”

Winnie has reached most typical social-emotional milestones of kindergarteners.

One of these is an improved ability to interpret, predict, and influence another’s emotions

(Berk 367). Winnie demonstrated this ability when she comforted the girl who was upset

because no one was playing in her center. Gender-stereotype ideas are a common

development, and can be witnessed as kindergarteners begin to prefer same-sex playmates

(Berk 394). Winnie, typical to her age has two best friends who are girls and is usually

seen playing with mostly girls at school.

Kindergarteners also begin to develop moral based rules and behaviors (Berk 378).

Children age five to six are developing a stronger sense of right and wrong. Although most

adults determine right and wrong in accordance with their situation and in a way to

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accommodate others, children view justice as a matter that has no shades of gray. Winnie’s

moral development is consistent with this statement. Winnie was presented with the

Kohlberg’s Heinz Dilemma. When asked if Heinz should go to jail, she emphatically replied,

“Go to jail, he stole!” This indicates that Winnie is the Kohlberg’s earliest stage of moral

development: “Obedience and Punishment”. This is the first tier of Preconventional

Morality, the first level of morality. During this stage, rules are fixed and absolute, and

these rules should be obeyed to avoid punishment (Cherry).

Cognitive and Language Development

Winnie’s teacher says that Winnie is right on track for being promoted from

kindergarten to first grade. She knows all of her letters and their sounds. A lot of times,

she can put these sounds together to make words. She recognizes blends and diagraphs,

but sometimes forgets rules like “silent e” and “two vowels go walking.” She proudly

boasts that she can count to one hundred, and she can add and subtract if she is using

pictures or counters. It is evident that Winnie loves to draw and color. Most times when

asked to choose a center to play at she will choose the coloring or painting center. She

often paints or draws simple pictures of things like flowers or rainbows using lots of blue,

pink, purple, green and yellow colors; her pictures often include stick people and are

always neatly colored. Winnie is very meticulous about doing her work. During math or

journaling assignments where drawing a picture is necessary, she is the last student to

finish. It is not because she is struggling with the activity, but because she is extremely

particular with the details of her drawings.

Winnie also had a part in the kindergarten program. She was able to memorize a short line

and sing a small solo. Other activities she enjoys during centers are playing house or office

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and helping class mates build with play planks (a center that has large wooden planks that

easily stack together that the children use to build).

Winnie appears to be in Piaget’s Pre-operational stage. Children in this stage

demonstrate intelligence using symbols (Berk 318). Their language is rapidly maturing

and they have a more developed memory and imagination. On the other hand, their

thinking can be non-logical and non-reversible, and these children are very egocentric.

Piaget’s theory accounts that children in the preoperational stage use make-believe and

imaginative play as a way to practice and strengthen their newly developed

representational schemes. Piaget also says that although children in this stage have

developed more advanced reasoning, but can struggle to overcome perceptual appearances

(Berk 327).

Winnie can write and understand letters and numbers, and she draws somewhat

realistic pictures. This supports her standing in the Preoperational Stage; she can

demonstrate her intelligence using symbols and pictures. When she plays house or office

during centers, Winnie is practicing her already developed schemes. Engaging in

sociodramatic play is a way Winnie exercises an understanding some of other people’s

roles and thoughts (Kavanaugh 319). This reflects development of both Winnie’s cognitive

and social skills. Winnie demonstrates advanced reasoning skills as she plans out what

kind of “house” she plans to build with the play planks, but also struggles with some

perceptional reasoning. For example, when estimating how many cubic units (each cube

has 1 square inch sides and weighs about the same as a penny) it would take to equal the

weight of common classroom objects, Winnie had difficulty guessing a logical number and

was very surprised when her guesses were extremely off.

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Although accurate, Piaget’s theories are seen as incomplete because it disregards the

importance of language in development. Vygotsky’s theories claim that in early childhood,

children participate in in conversation and linguistic interactions with others who are more

advanced than they are in order to master culturally important tasks (Berk 329). Children

improve the complexity of their thinking and begin to control their own behavior better as

they begin to communicate with themselves the same way they converse with others.

An element of Vygotsky’s theory is the use of private speech—utterances directed to

one’s self (Berk 330). Winnie could be caught using self-utterance when working out math

problems when she would count to herself out loud or when building as she asked herself

out loud, which play plank she would need next. Intersubjectivity is another element of

Vygotsky’s theory that Winnie exhibited. Intersubjectivity when two participants

engage in the same activity with a different understanding of the task at

hand, but end with a shared understanding (Berk 331). Children in early

childhood have conversational skills that are ever increasing, so they are

constantly asking for assistance as they strive for affirmation. Winnie, too,

exhibited this behavior. She often raised her hand while working on written

work to ask if she was doing her task correctly.

Conclusion and Reflection

Winnie appears to be a typical kindergartner. From her appearance at

school, her life at home can be assumed to be safe, stable, and loving.

Although small, she is healthy and continues to refine both her gross and fine

motor skills. At school Winnie plays with her youngest sister, and at school

she plays primarily with other girls her age. She is kind to others and well

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behaved. She believes in doing the right thing, so she will not get in trouble.

Winnie is academically on track, and has developed good communication

skills. She is physically, socially, moralistically, cognitively, and linguistically

on target for her age.

Personally, I enjoyed getting to know Winnie as I observed her

kindergarten class over a two month time period. At first I though she was

bashful, but as I got to know her and as she got used to me, I learned this

sweet girl had plenty to say. She recognized that I was close to the age of

her oldest sister and asked me questions like if I had a car or a boyfriend

because her big sister has a car and a boyfriend. She also liked to talk

about her theatre experiences. Since her father is so involved in a local

theatre group and because Winnie often wanted to talk about shows that she

has been in, I can tell that the arts are important in her house. She is a very

artistically minded child. Her music teacher even mentioned that she gave

Winnie the most difficult part in the kindergarten program because she

recognized this talent. What I liked best about Winnie is her affectionate and

caring demeanor. After she got to know me, she would always want to

squeeze in a hug or high five. She regarded her teacher, the class aid, and

her peers in the same way, often putting an arm around a friend. It warmed

my heart up when she comforted the girl who did not have someone to play

with in her center. Winnie tries to be a friend to all-- a quality that I hope

continues grows with her.

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Works Cited

Berk, L. (2012). Infants, Children, and Adolescents (7th ed., p. 16, 318, 321,

327,329, 367, 378, 394). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Cherry, K. (2015). Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development. Retrieved April 26,

2015, from

http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/kohlberg.htm

Cratty, B. (1986). Perceptual and Motor Development in Infants and Children. In

Infants, Children, and Adolescents (7th ed., p. 308, 309). Englewood Cliffs,

NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Kavanaugh, R. (2006). Pretend Play: Handbook on the education of Young

Children. In Infants, Children, and Adolescents (2nd ed., Vol. 7th, p. 319).

Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

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Morrison, G. (2010, July 20). What are Kindergarten Children Like? Retrieved

April 26, 2015, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/what-

kindergarten-children-are-like/

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