Completed by:

Dawn Cooper

EDUC 524

Spring 2012

I. The Child:Erin is seven years old and is in the 2nd grade. She regularly attends Flat Rock Elementary School. School is a positive experience for Erin and she loves the enriching environment that her teacher provides in the classroom.

She enjoys playing Barbie and other imaginative play activities. Playing on the trampoline and creative writing are other activities she enjoys. She actively engages in play with her friends and she gets along well with them. She will engage in conversations with adults and peers alike, but she will sometimes be shy at first. She will sometimes warm-up to the situation she is shy about, but other times she is happy with just playing by herself and not “opening up” to the “shy” situation.

Erin has a mother and father that are married, an older sister that is 10 years old, and a cat that is 13 years old. They all live in the same household, very close to Erin’s school. Mom and dad both work full-time.

Erin’s Dad & Mom Justice – Erin’s Cat

Erin & Her Sister

Erin

Erin is a shy, but she also likes to be silly and make other people laugh.

Creating her own projects, art, and library time are some of her favorite activities.

II. Reading Analysis

When using Jeanne Chall’s stages of reading development, Erin would be described as being at Stage 3, Phase A. Erin has passed the pre-reading stage, where she increased her spoken vocabulary and gained some letter sound knowledge. She learned the letters of the alphabet and the sounds that the individual letters make.

In Stage 2, she learned to take what she knew about letters, letter sounds, and spelling to read individual words and then stories.

Erin continues to practice and is currently in the 1st part of Stage 3. In this phase, Erin is reading to expand her vocabulary and to gain knowledge about various topics. She reads within different genres and writes in different forms. Her teacher choses to not use the basal text in the classroom and helps Erin explore numerous real-world reading application.

When using Tompkin’s stages of reading development, Erin would be classified as being in the end of the Beginning stage, currently merging into the Fluent stage. She has mastered letter names and sounds, has a vast bank of high-frequency words that she relies on, can self-correct errors, uses prediction skills, and can decode unknown words using beginning, middle, and ending sounds; all of which are Beginning stage behaviors.

However, Erin can identify words automatically, reads wonderfully with expression, makes inferences, and uses different reading strategies to gather meaning; but she is often hesitant to read silently and independently when at home, but will do it at school.

This seems to be a carryover from her lack of self-confidence in her reading skills. She also seems to enjoy the personal attention and interaction she gets when reading with a parent.

A running record was completed using Junie B. Jones since Erin is comfortable with this series. This particular book could be considered on the 2nd – 3rd grade reading level. Erin read very fluently and made 2 errors out of 111 words. One error was comprised of substituting the word “did” for “didn’t.” In the usage of the sentence, it was not semantically acceptable. Perhaps the beginning of the contraction was considered, skipping over the end. The second error reversed two words – “close up” was the miscue for the text “up close.” Again, it was semantically acceptable. However, in neither case did she self-correct. The miscues might be indicative of Erin wanting to read at a fast pace.

Erin demonstrated prosody by reading expressively. The book was determined to be at Erin’s Instructional Level.

Erin wanted a photo of her turning the pages of her Junie B. Jones book included in the case study. She is reading before going to sleep for the night.

Check the items that the child demonstrates as you read a book together.

Book-Orientation Conceptsx Shows the front of a book

x Turns to the first page of the story.

x Shows where to start reading on a page.

Directionality Concepts x Shows the direction of print across a line of text

  Shows the direction of print on a page with more than one line of print

x Points to track words as you read

Letter and Word Conceptsx Points to any letter on a page.

x Points to a particular letter on a page.

x Puts fingers around any word on a page.

  Puts fingers around a particular word on a page.

  Puts fingers around any sentence on a page

  Points to the first and last letters of a word.

x Points to a period or other punctuation mark.

x Points to a capital letter.

Erin really enjoys reading with someone else. She has a great grasp of book-orientation concepts, directionality concepts, and letter and word concepts. She will sometimes ask the meaning of a word if she is unsure, but sometimes she just wants to keep going in the story without stopping to find out. This can sometimes hurt her comprehension and vocabulary development. She is however always actively engaged in the story.

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Erin is still working on her confidence in her reading skills. She will tend to go towards Junie B. Jones books on a 1st and 2nd grade level, and she still loves Amelia Bedelia. She is capable of reading Magic Tree House books and books at a higher reading level, but when choosing a book on her own, she will go back to books that she is very comfortable with and that are below her reading level. She prefers being read to or taking turns reading.

Erin loves different forms of reading, so she really enjoyed the “Fred” book and was observed reading it often and independently.

When given the QRI-5 Assessment, Erin enjoyed identifying the words and the story that she read. The word lists identified an Independent word identification level at Level 3, Instructional consistent at Levels 4 and 5, and a Frustration level at Level 6. When she reached the Frustration level of 6, she started sounding out the words and using word identification strategies and skills which would not allow automaticity.

Independent FrustrationInstructional

Erin was given an expository passage at Level 4. She had a total of 9 miscues, with only one of them being a meaning-change miscue. This again identified an instructional level of 4.

Erin enjoyed the expository reading, but seemed to be stressed over the retelling portion. She could recall information to answer the questions, but she did not want to go back into the story for “look-backs” to fully complete her answers.

III. Writing/Spelling Analysis

When administered Richard Gentry’s “monster” test, Erin was found to be at Phase 4, having knowledge of spelling chunks, basic phonics, and access to the code, which has helped her move into fluent reading.

She exceeded expectations on 6 of the 10 words. One word, eagle, was given a rating of 3 and the other three words were given a rating of 4.

Erin completing the “monster test.”

Writing Sample 1 This piece of writing was taken from a notebook that Erin and her sister created to hold some of their most recent creative writings. In here, Erin used short sentences and descriptive words, capitals and punctuation and used invented spelling even though she spelled some of the words correctly on her own also.

Writing Sample 2

Erin created a “plan book” that she wanted to use to help her organize what she wanted to get accomplished during the day. She marked off her agenda as she completed each task. Again, we see her writing a piece that she and others can read, uses invented spelling to write independently, and spells some words correctly. She has added punctuation, moves from left to right and from the top of the page to the bottom.

Writing Sample 3 – Letter to a Friend

Again, we see her writing pieces that she and others can read, she used invented spelling to write independently, and spells some words correctly. She still has punctuation, moves from left to right and from the top of the page to the bottom.

Writing Sample 4 – Compare and Contrast

Writing Sample 5 – Becoming a Song Writer

Writing Development Stage

Erin would be considered a Stage 6: Standard Spelling when referring to Marie Clay’s Developmental continuum. When looking at her writing, she would be a Beginning Conventional writer. We can apply this stage of writing to her because she does the following:

•Writes pieces that she and others can read•Begins to write recognizable short sentences•Uses descriptive words to write about

observations and experiences•Writes about observations and experienceswith some descriptive words

•Begins to use capitals and punctuation•Forms many letters legibly•Uses phonetic spelling (invented spelling)to write independently

•Spells some words correctly

Writing Sample 6 – Year of the Monkey

Writing Development Stage (continued)

The samples tell us that Erin has a good grasp on the phonological cueing system. In her writing, she uses invented spelling, rhyming, and onomatopoeia.

We can see from the writing that Erin did that she enjoys creative writing just for the purpose of writing. She doesn’t have to have an “assignment” to write. She created a song, wrote a letter, and overall generally enjoyed writing in different genres.

Using invented spelling, Erin was consistent in her spelling errors. When she misspelled a word, she misspelled it the same way the next time she used the word. For example “proget” in the plan book, or “cenfused” in sample 1.

Writing Sample 7 – Writing about her favorite food, Erin knows she isn’t at school and let’s the handwriting slip!

IV. Recommendations Section

After assessing Erin’s reading, writing, and spelling ability, we can see that Erin’s literacy development is on track. She does a great job of applying decoding and chunking skills. When we look back at the Concept about Print chart, we can she also has a great grasp of book orientation concepts, directionality concepts, and letter and word concepts, and can demonstrate them.

Referring back to the QRI-5 assessment, we saw an instructional Level of 4. An instructional reading level of 4 would put Erin slightly ahead of grade level (she is currently in 2nd grade). However, the ability to apply the phonetic skills she has seems to be possibly leading to being able to read the word, but not necessarily understanding the meaning or the context within it is used. The running records given with an independent book on the 2nd – 3rd grade level showed that it was in her instructional level.

Erin’s writing corresponds well with her reading level. Looking at the variety of samples, we can infer that Erin enjoys writing and does so for pleasure in her daily life and not just for school. She has written songs, letters, and lists for herself because she wanted to, not because she had to. Using Gentry’s Monster test, and achieving a Level 4, we continue to see Erin’s use of invented spelling, such as “chocolet” in Writing Sample 7. She continues to chunk and phonetically spell the words.

Strengths Growth Areas

Blending Segmenting Words

Onsets and Rime R-controlled Vowels

Prosody Decoding Unfamiliar Words

Figurative Meanings Homonyms

Predicting Summarizing

Summary of Erin’s Literacy Strengths and Growth Areas

Recommended Instructional Techniques for Erin1. Phonemic Awareness

Segmenting words – Erin needs to continue practicing segmenting words as she increases her vocabulary and reading level. A good technique to use for this would be the usage of Elkonin Boxes to help segment syllables in multisyllabic words.

From: Literacy for the 21st Century, (pages 97 and 102)

This technique would be helpful for Erin because it would give her a strategy to use when she is moving into the next Instructional Level. She started trying to do this on her own when we moved to Level 6 – which is her Frustration level. This would be a tool that she could use on her own when needed.

2. Phonics

R-Controlled vowels – A good technique for Erin to use to help her grow in the area of r-controlled vowels is to play the Reach for a Star game. Words can change as needed.

From: http://www.wordway.us.com/BossyR.htm and Literacy for the 21st Century, (pages 108 – 111)

This activity will help Erin since she has recently been identified for speech services. Her speech service is not part of the case study, but it is an area of growth for her. To ensure that her speech does not start impacting her spelling and reading of words with r-controlled vowels, Erin must continue to practice identifying and working with them as she increases her reading level. Not giving attention to this area could lead to her avoiding words with r-controlled vowels.

3. Fluency

Decoding unfamiliar words – A sorting game using words with suffixes would be beneficial for Erin. Erin could then apply the suffix meanings as she encounters new words with the same suffixes.

From: Literacy for the 21st Century, (pages 152 – 153, 156 – 157)

Erin is already relying on decoding strategies to help her with unfamiliar words, primarily though phonic analysis, analogy, and syllabic analysis strategies. Morphemic analysis would be a wonderful strategy for her to use to help as words become longer and more in-depth.

Recommended Instructional Techniques for Erin continued…

4. Vocabulary or Word Study

Homonyms – Erin would benefit from this interactive pop-up game focusing on homonyms.

From: http://www.quia.com/pop/3311.html and Literacy for the 21st Century, (page 182)

Working with homonyms would be a good challenge for Erin. She is already good at figurative meanings of words, in part due to her great love of Amelia Bedelia books. Using homonyms would help her in her spelling and writing ability.

5. Comprehension

Summarizing – Somebody Wanted to But So…..is an activity that would help Erin with her summarizing skills.

From: http://www.ehow.com/info_10007969_fifth-grade-reading-activities-summarizing.html, http://www.lkdsb.net/program/elementary/intermediate/di/files/12Strategies(SWBS%20Summarizing).pdf

and Literacy for the 21st Century, (page 203)

This technique would help her take all of the ideas of what she is reading to help identify what is really going on in the story. Summarizing would help lead to being able to remember what she has read. As her chapter book readings get more extensive and longer, this technique is one that Erin could practice on her own to help keep the information and story alive for her and to help keep her interest focused on the reading.

Recommended Books for ErinPark, B. (1999). Junie B. Jones and the mushy gushy valentine. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.

-Erin really loves Junie B. Jones due to the fact that she can relate with Junie B. and the things that she has to deal with on a daily basis. It is a great book for Erin because she does recognize when Junie B. is using incorrect grammar and it leads to wonderful discussions on what the appropriate grammar usage should be.

Matheis, M. (2010). Nickelodeon iCarly: Prank Lewbert. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

-This book incorporates a television show that Erin enjoys. For her to read it independently she would be challenged. The content however, would make her interested and would help her want to apply the reading strategies that she knows and should extend. This would be a good book to help her with summarizing skills.

Recommended Books for Erin continued…Danziger, P. (1996). Forever Amber Brown. New York,

NY: Random House, Inc.

-Forever Amber Brown would be a good book for Erin because it seems to take on the qualities of Junie B. Jones to some extent. Erin would be able to identify with it. However it would take Erin up to the 4th grade reading level where she seems to be hesitant to read independently; perhaps it would help her gain her confidence in her reading skills.

Pilkey, D. (1997). The adventures of captain Underpants. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.

-Erin seemed to enjoy the humor that was in the “Fred” book mentioned earlier. Captain Underpants uses humor also. It would be a high-interest book for her to want to read it independently and work on decoding words.

Recommended Books for Erin continued…Terban, M. (2007). eight ate: a feast of homonym riddles. London: Sandpiper.

-Eight ate would be a good book for Erin to help work on her usage of homonyms. The reading level would be on her independent level, but since homonyms can be tricky, it would be best to encourage her to ask questions about the words after she has read the book. Perhaps to help with comprehension, independent reading, followed by reading with a peer or adult would be a good technique to be used.