There were five children and two teachers in the toddler room. At meal time, the teachers washed the children’s’ hands and helped them sit in their chairs. The chairs were small wooden chairs that were appropriate with their weight and height. Additionally, there was a wooden, little, rectangular table. After situating the children, the teachers provided divided plastic plates for each child, colorful Sippy cups filled with whole milk, and iron forks. Their meal consisted of boiled broccoli, mandarin slices, a quarter of a slice of white bread and cheesy rice with chicken. The teachers served the children all their food and they didn’t let them serve themselves. On each plate they served a small ladle’s worth of each type of food (the boiled broccoli, the cheesy rice with chicken and the mandarin slices). The kids in the toddler room made quite a mess while they were eating and actually threw their food around the room. All of them used their forks and their fingers while they were eating.
There was one child without a right palm and one of the teachers was helping her eat. She cut the food for her in small pieces and tried to make it easy for her to grasp. The interaction between them while they were eating was not clear. Everyone was busy and wanted to eat. One of them was staring at me for a long time and sometimes he smiled. These children also drank their all of their milk and they finished almost all of their food. When they finished their meal they took their dirty cups and put them on a side table. However, they left their plates and their teachers collected them afterwards and put them at the same table. Then, the teachers washed the kids’ hands and prepared them for nap time. Finally, they mopped the table. In addition, they swept the floor around the table to clean up the food that had fallen. Overall, these kids were quiet and they didn’t speak a lot while they were eating.
The tows room
In this room there were five children and three teachers. At meal time they put a small chair in front of the sink to help the children wash their hands by themselves. They stayed in small wooden chairs and around a rectangular wooden table. Their dining furniture was the same as the toddler room. They provided each child with a small plastic cup, an iron fork and a divided plastic plate. Their lunch was a big ladle of boiled broccoli, a big ladle of mandarin slices, a big ladle of cheesy rice, and a quarter of whole wheat bread spread with margarine. Moreover, they gave them small pitcher of reduced 2% fat milk to give the children a chance to pour the milk for themselves.
Their teachers were eating with them and staying with them at the same table. The children didn’t finish their milk but each of them drank almost half of their cup. However, they ate their bread quickly and asked their teachers to give them more. But, the teachers refused and tried to convince him that the broccoli was delicious as well. The children were argumentative as they just wanted to eat the bread and the mandarin slices. Their teachers tried to convince them that the boiled broccoli and cheesy rice were “yummy” and they always eat it in their homes. In this room, the children were speaking a lot during the meal time. One of them was complaining during the entire meal because she had pain in her finger. She asked for help when she couldn’t grasp a mandarin slice without experiencing pain.
The children in this room were eating in a decent and efficient way. When they were almost done, the teacher provided napkins for each child. When they stopped eating and wanted to leave their table their teachers asked them if they wanted more bread and mandarin slices and all of them said yes. They just ate small portions then they finished their meal. They put their plates, cups and forks on a side table and went to clean their hands. Then their teachers cleaned the table and put the chairs back in their place.
