Child’s Name: ‘P’ Teachers Name: Kristen ZaleskiAge: 5 Grade: Kindergarten

Assessment for Child P

P is an attentive and motivated student. She adds great diversity to the class with

her background. She was born on May 26, 2007. P is an Indian child that speaks English

as her second language. For this reason, the school was in the process of completing an

IEP for her language. P sees a speech therapist once a week to improve her speech. P

lives with both parents at home. While living in NH, her parents owned a food and

discount store. Her mother also just gave birth to a baby boy. This is P’s only sibling.

She currently lives in Massachusetts and no longer attends Westmoreland School. There

was no indication why they moved, but she longer attended Westmoreland as of October

24, 2012. P did not talk about home that often while in school, but did talk about her baby

brother a few times. P enjoys morning meetings and free choice where her favorite

activity is playing house.

Physical

In the time P spent in our classroom, I observed her in each domain by taking

photos, collecting work samples, and taking notes. The first domain I will discuss is

physical. Copple and Bredekamp discussed some milestones for Kindergartners.

By the end of the year, kindergarten children should be able to do things such as walking and running using mature form, traveling forward and sideways in a variety of patterns, changing direction quickly in response to a signal, demonstrating clear contrasts between slow and fast movement, rolling sideways without hesitating or stopping, tossing a ball and catching it before it bounces twice, kicking a stationary ball using a smooth continuous running step, and maintaining momentary stillness while bearing weight on various body parts (190).

P is has no setbacks when looking at her physical development. She is very active at

recess and runs most of the time. In the class she can move side to side in a variety of

patterns. P shows this during P.E. and when we do activities in the class such as yoga or

dancing. P sometimes struggles with changing direction quickly because of her second

language. At times she doesn’t understand what to do and will be slower than other when

reacting. She can roll sideways with ease as well. P can also toss a ball and catch it.

During morning meeting she can toss our passing pumpkin to the person next to her and

catch the one being tossed to her. Her momentary stillness is also on track. She is still

when the P.E. teacher blows his whistle and will hold her balance.

Children will be able to lengthen their attention span, improve with writing,

drawing, painting, working with clay, and construction with Legos. They will also

improve with sorting small objects, stringing beads, zipping, buttoning, and tying articles

of clothing. P is doing great with her fine motor development. Her pencil gripping is

always correct and she practices writing everyday with it. P is very steady with her

coloring and takes time to make her work neat. M can button her clothes and tie her

shoes when coming into school, going out for recess, and coming home. She may need

assistance at times when zipping her backpack because she tries to fit her coat in her bag

some days. P has been observed using Legos at choice time and can build efficiently

with them. P is also improving with her drawing as well. She likes to draw during

choice time and her lines are more steady and precise.

M is aware of her health, but sometimes does not take care of bodily functions.

She will sanitize her hands after using the bathroom or blowing her nose. P can use the

bathroom, but has had a few accidents during the year. They have all been while she is

out of the classroom. Reminding her of using the bathroom before leaving the classroom

for specials or recess may take care of this problem. Overall, P is in great condition with

her physical development and I see no setbacks or problems for the next school year.

Cognitive

“Compared with younger children, kindergartners show more flexibility in their

thinking, greater ability to conceptualize categories, advances in reasoning and problem

solving, and gains in knowledge of the world, ability to pay attention, and use of

memory” (Copple & Bredekamp, 200). When working with P, she does best when it is

one-on-one. I often point to the part of the page we are working on so she can connect

directions to that area. Since English is her second language, she often struggles with

conceptualizing categories. For example, I was teaching a science lesson and P thought

the bin we picked apples out of was called a beach. Simple mix-ups like these are a daily

occurrence with P. It seems she can understand directions and follow them, but when

vocalizing, she mixes up some categories. She can reason and problem solve with some

scaffolding. Asking questions helps promote her thinking. P has a great memory with

what has been learned. She knows all sight words and can write the entire alphabet. She

does not seem to remember repeated activities. For example, she doesn’t remember how

to do the same thing with sight words during reading rotations. She will complete a page

and ask, “Okay, what is next?” This is not a serious problem, but just an observation. P

pays attention very well, but may not grasp the directions all the time. She is very good

at raising her hand to clarify. If needed, she will raise her hand and repeat what has been

said to help herself understand. This seems to be a great strategy for her.

Lev Vygotsky believed that the cognitive development of children and

adolescents was enhanced when they worked in their Zone of Proximal Development.

The ZPD is the range of tasks that one cannot yet perform independently, but can

accomplish with the help of a more competent individual (2005). With scaffolding, a

child can successfully improve a skill and be able to individually complete the task over

time. I do scaffold with P. She does better when I am beside her and guiding her through

the activity. Over time, she will be able to work individually. P has some struggles with

cognitive development, but for having English as her second language, she is doing pretty

well.

Language

“Kindergartners become increasingly knowledgeable about the features of

language” (Copple & Bredekamp, 206). They understand sentence structure and use

correct grammatical structures most of the time. The meaning of words and increasing

vocabulary is known at this age as well. “One ability strongly linked to mastering

reading is phonological awareness; that is noticing the sounds of spoken language-

speech sounds and rhythms, rhyme and other sound similarities, and, at the highest level,

phonemes, the smallest units of speech that make a difference in communication”

(Copple & Bredekamp, 207). P struggles in this area with her language needs. She

scored very low on her KLA. For the entire assessment, she knew 50%. She does not

recognize beginning sounds as well as rhymes. P has trouble with blending phonemes

and phoneme isolation. This will be closely looked at when assessing her academic skills

in the literacy section of the case study.

As reading comprehension and fine motor skills improve, the children move into

developing their writing skills. They are aware of upper and lowercase letters and may

use drawings or paintings to interpret their writing. As a teacher it is important to

introduce the structure and uses of print, basic phonemic awareness, and ability to

recognize and write most letters of the alphabet (Copple & Bredekamp, 209). P is

successful in writing. During the first couple weeks of observing, I asked the children to

write all the letters they knew and she wrote the entire alphabet in uppercase letters. She

then continued to write them in lowercase. She knows her alphabet very well. P cannot

write the sound she hears, but can write the alphabet. Once the IEP is completed, P will

be able to specifically focus on her struggle areas with language and literacy to be more

successful in the future. Her motivation is evident; it is just a matter of creating a plan

that fits her specific needs.

Social and Emotional

In the social and emotional domain, children are learning a great deal in school

and in life. Within the prosocial behavior factor of this domain, children will be able to

cooperate, resolve conflicts, and follow rules with other classmates and peers. They

begin to use negotiation to settle disputes, give guidance, use proactive strategies to

organize, direct, and sustain interaction with others. P interacts with all classmates and

engages cooperatively. On her last day, all the children made cards for her without

directions from the teacher. This is evidence that she made great friends. She became

very close with another child in the class. They played together at free choice and recess.

P often tells friends to not do something that is bad. For example, if a child works ahead,

P will tell them that they are not supposed to go ahead. She cooperates very well and

follows all rules. She is a great model for other children in the class.

Another factor is sociability. “Kindergartners learn best when they feel valued,

needed, and loved by the teacher, are confident that the teacher will meet their basic

needs promptly, and can count on the teacher to interact with them in intimate, playful,

and personal ways” (Copple & Bredekamp, 193). P feels valued in the classroom. I

always made sure to compliment her work to make her feel loved and confident. She

came to me when she needed help with tying a shoe or cutting something out. This

showed that P felt comfortable in the class as well as valued.

Communication skills and understanding of feelings also improve. Friendships

are an important part to growing socially in the kindergarten field. P communicates with

her classmates, but sometimes they do not understand her from her accent. This is not a

large issue because the children will ask her to repeat and will understand it the second

time. She made great friendships while she was in the classroom. She always had

friends to talk to at snack and lunch and always stayed with one specific friend during

playtime.

The emotional development is placed hand in hand with social development.

Children come to interact in positive ways with one another. “Vulnerable children who

lack a foundation of emotional security also are at risk for eliciting further criticism and

harshness because they show inappropriate behavior that is hard for teachers and peers to

respond to in positive ways” (Copple & Bredekamp, 195). P does is doing really well

with her emotional development. She has never cried in class and can self-regulate with

ease. Even after her accident in gym class, she kept composure and simply changed her

clothes. Self-regulation is an ability kindergartners develop when they can control their

emotions and behaviors. P does not argue with other children and is very cooperative

when solving problem. When she accidently stepped on a child’s hand, she apologized.

She understands problem solving and the feelings of others. Overall, P is

developmentally stable in the social and emotional area. There are no problems or set

back for the future.

Creative Expression

The last domain is creative expression. Children at this age will use dramatic

play using their imagination, props, blocks, or anything they can think of. Children

expand their creativity through drawing, painting, and crafts in the classroom. They are

given the chance to be creative often and can express themselves in doing so. P really

enjoys choice time. At recess she runs around and is active, but at choice time, she

engages in several activities. This shows her creative expression. Some days, P will play

house with her closest friend in the class. They will do this using play food. She has also

been known to play with Legos as well and build houses for dolls. Of all activities at

choice, P is most seen drawing with crayons or markers. She makes people, animals, and

objects in the classroom. When I asked her to draw a pumpkin somewhere in the room,

she drew the entire shelf. Not only was her drawing recognizable, but also it was also

accurate. She shows her imagination and creativity most during choice time. Even

throughout the day I will see impressive drawings on her worksheets. P is very creative.

Considering the observations I have seen, P is developmentally stable in the area and has

great imagination and creative expression.

Literacy Assessment

With a balanced literacy, many components are involved. This includes reading

aloud, literature study, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, shared and

interactive writing, guided writing, independent writing, and word study. These are all

areas that begin to develop at the emerging, developing, and transitional stage.

Emergent reading is a term used to describe gradual development of literacy in

children around ages birth to five. Using the balanced literacy elements, emergent

reading is detectable. Children begin to, “Internalize purposes of print and understand

that print is used to communicate and make meaning” (Combs, 2010, pg. 27). P has

trouble in this area. Since her second language is English, she does not always

understand meaning. She understands that print is used through story and

communicating, but doesn’t know how to communicate with print. She will say, “What

happened?” A concept P understands very well is the alphabet. When looking at her

KLA, she scored 26/26 with knowing uppercase letters as well as a 26/26 with lowercase

letters. I know that P sees a speech therapist a couple times a week to focus on her

literacy and language. P says that she practices her letters all the time. One of her work

samples attached shows her knowledge of writing the uppercase alphabet. She is very

familiar with letters, which is really great to see this early in the year.

Phonological awareness is also beginning during the emergent stage. Children

recognize that a book is read left to right and from the top of the page to the bottom of the

page. When looking at P’s KLA, she scored a 5 out of 11 with concepts of print. When

looking at what P did know, she could find the front of the book, start on the left of the

page, move left to right across the page, and make a return sweep to the next line. She

could not match words by pointing to each word as reading, point to just one word, point

to one letter, or point to the first and last letter of a word. It may be helpful if P worked

with a specialist to meet her needs with concepts of print.

During this stage, children also, “Recognize that the same letter shapes reoccur

from word to word and can appear in different places within words” (Combs, 2010, pg.

27). Sounds and words are also noticed in how they have a relationship. Children also

notice how there are spaces between words in a sentence. This emergent stage is very

important for children. They learn and retain so much information during this time.

When looking at the concept of a spoken word, P scored 5 out of 6. She scored 3 of 6

when recognizing rhymes. She knew that top and hop rhymed, bed and said rhymed, and

that run and soap did not rhyme. She did not see that hand and sand rhymed, funny and

bunny rhymed, and that bat and base didn’t rhyme. When producing rhymes, P could

only produce 1 of 6. This shows that P is familiar with rhyming, but may not fully

understand what a rhyme is.

“Developing readers typically function somewhere between early/mid first-grade

and early third-grade level” (Combs, 2010, pg. 76). In this stage, children are learning to

look at print and create word-to-word matches. “They are intent on generalizing their

concepts about words in print and letter-sound patterns to the world that dominate their

reading texts” (Combs, 2010, 76). P does very well with sight words. After explaining

the meaning and working through an activity, P will remember most sight words studied.

She completes the activities with ease.

By the end of this stage some can become proficient in reading two and three

syllable words. “As writers, these students are gaining control over their conventional

spelling of one-syllable words, particularly predictable vowel patterns” (Combs 2010,

76). They also gain skill in representing second and third syllables in longer words.

When looking at P’s KLA, she was able to blend 6 of 6 syllables. Examples include pen-

cil, rain-bow, and side-walk. She also completed 6 of 6 with syllable segmentation.

With this, P would push up a chip every time she heard a syllable. What she struggled

with was syllable deletion. She could down separate syllables such as town from down

town of af from after.

With phonemes, P understood isolating the initial sound, but struggled with

isolating a final sound as well as blending phonemes. She also failed to blend phonemes,

segment phonemes, and delete phonemes from the initial sound. Moving on through the

test, P also failed to delete phonemes from the final sound. She scored 1 of 6 with adding

phonemes and 2 of 6 with substituting phonemes of the initial sound. Since this KLA

was taken in the fall, it is not a huge deal that P doesn’t understand phonemes that well.

However, she should have the idea understood to an extent.

Goals for Literacy

The first major goal for P is to improve her phoneme scores by at least 50% by

the spring. She will understand uses of phonemes, deleting phonemes, and isolating

phonemes. A recommendation to reach this goal is to sing a song that practices with

isolating phonemes. When singing the song, the child will guess the sound and beginning

of the word and the sound at the end of the word. From here P can advance into deleting

phonemes. Another way to reach this goal is by creating a sorting activity with objects

and sounds.

Another goal for P is to improve her rhyming scores by 50% by the spring. To do

this there are several recommendations. First, reading books with rhyming will certainly

help. P can first listen to the story, but going through it again she can try to help

complete the rhymes. Again, matching cards can help with sorting rhymes. If cards are

flipped over, P is to find two words that rhyme. If she doesn’t get a match, she flips the

cards back over and tries again. This technique has seemed to work with her before when

looking at 6 beginning sounds. To include her family with helping, it would be great for

them to read a book to her that has rhyming. Much of the enrichment in school comes

from reading to children. At home this would also be great.

Mathematics Assessment

In Kindergarten, math concepts include numbers and operation, algebra,

geometry, measurement, data analysis & probability, and process. At a national level in

the numbers operations concept, students should count with understanding and recognize

things like "how many" in sets of objects; use multiple models to develop initial

understandings of place value and the base-ten number system; develop a sense of whole

numbers and represent and use them in flexible ways; connect number words and

numerals to the quantities they represent, using various physical models and

representations; understand and represent commonly used fractions, such as 1/4, 1/3, and

1/2 (NCTM). P left early in the school year so not much has been able to be assessed. Of

what I have observed and collect, P can count and recognize how many. In her math

journal, she was to find how many legs there were with one rat and one hen. After

drawing a rat and hen with the correct amount of legs, P counted and wrote the number 6.

Here she is using drawings to help her keep track of counting. Another entry in the

journal was to figure out how many pets there were if there were 3 dogs and 3 cats. P

again drew the animals and counted 6. She does very well with understanding how

many. With P moving, there was no assessment of her ability to understand place value

or connecting numbers to words. She is able to count and write numbers through at least

15. Beyond that is unknown.

In the algebra concept, students should sort, classify, and order objects by size,

number, and other properties; recognize, describe, and extend patterns such as sequences

of sounds and shapes or simple numeric patterns and translate from one representation to

another; analyze how both repeating and growing patterns are generated. P struggles

with different kinds of patterns. She did well during the introduction lessons, but after

discussing multiple types of patterns, she seemed to lose track of which was which. She

does well with pattern cubes, but has trouble with class worksheets. For example there is

a worksheet I had her do with drawing which shape would come next. On the sheet I

used 6 different patterns. Of the 6 she answered 3 wrong. Another pattern activity I had

her do was to create a pattern using stickers. Her sheet has stickers, but there was no

pattern detected. She used the same stickers for her pattern. This is a struggle area for P.

Following algebra is geometry. In this concept, students should, recognize, name,

build, draw, compare, and sort two- and three-dimensional shapes; describe attributes and

parts of two- and three-dimensional shapes; investigate and predict the results of putting

together and taking apart two- and three-dimensional shapes (NCTM). P knows her

shapes and can sort them well. She can also describe the attributes. She notices that

triangles have points and that circles do not. She can also separate the difference between

a rectangle and square. She can also explain attributes of three-dimensional shapes such

as a ball or a cube. P has no struggles with the geometry concept.

In the next concept, measurement, students should recognize the attributes of

length, volume, weight, area, and time; compare and order objects according attributes;

understand how to measure using nonstandard and standard units; and select an

appropriate unit and tool for the attribute being measured. Following the measurement

concept is data analysis and probability. At a national level, the expectations here show

that students should pose questions and gather data about themselves and their

surroundings; sort and classify objects according to their attributes and organize data

about the objects; represent data using concrete objects, pictures, and graphs. Within the

process standards, students will use problem solving, reasoning and proof,

communication, connections, and representations. P used measurement and data analysis

and probability during teddy bear week. Here, she matched her teddy bear to someone's

in the class and looked at the difference. She classified her bear based on attributes and

then preceded to measure the length of her bear by her hand size. She was able to

measure the bear accurately she how much smaller her bear was to her partners. She

demonstrated basic knowledge of data analysis and probability.

Goals for Mathematics

There are a few goals for P with her academic skills in mathematics. The first

goal is to help her distinguish the different types of patterns. Since her problem area is

working with sheets, a recommendation would be to use objects before transitioning to

sheets. P could create a pattern using blocks or other objects in the classroom. She could

also look at patterns with body movements or sounds. Focus on a specific type of pattern

each day until she grasps it and can individually make a correct pattern. The hands-on

approach will help P understand better. P could also work on making patterns at home

with her family. Conferences to talk about Ps progress may also inform her family of

where she is at and what could be done at home to contribute to success. With more

assessment, I could better create some goals for P. Since she left in mid October, there is

not much to assess and see if there needs to be improvement. P seemed to be following

along great with math besides her understanding of pattern. If she continues as she has

Other Academic Areas

Other academic areas in the classroom include science, social studies, art, P.E.,

health, and technology. With such a strong focus on literacy and mathematics, there are

fewer observations noted in these areas. With P leaving early, there are even less

observations. There is not much time devoted during the school say towards these

subjects. With what I have seen in the month P attended our school, she actively

participated in P.E. P practiced with her gross motor when running in P.E. and focused

on balancing. When a whistle was blown, P always froze in a funny position as if she

was captured in time. P is also aware of her health. During health class she will

contribute to discussions. During a discussion about family, she pointed out a baby in a

picture of a whole family. This may have been because of her newborn brother that she

recognized him as a family member and related him to the lesson. P is aware of self-care,

but did have an accident while in P.E. This may have been because there was no

bathroom near the gymnasium that she didn’t want to walk alone to find the bathroom.

In art, P shows great interest and ability. She takes her time when painting or

drawing and uses many different colors. It is evident that she has a vivid imagination and

it is captured through her artwork. This is not only seen in art class, but also in the

classroom during centers and free choice. The art teacher believes that P does very well

in her class and does not struggle. P did well in technology too. She did not get to use

any technology since she moved so early, but she comprehended books read to her during

class time and raised her hand to contribute to discussions. An observation noticed

during specials is that when the class is noisy, P will give the quiet sign with her finger

raised in the air. She demonstrates rule following and respect by doing this.

M seems to enjoy the socials studies and science academic area. We did a unit on

apples, which was very fun. We first read a book about apples. P seemed confused

during this introduction. She sometimes mixes up vocabulary out of confusion. She said

she went to an orchard and picked off the beach, when she meant to say out of the bin in

reality. She comprehends the reading, but doesn’t know how to respond at times. Again,

with English as her second language, this is very normal for her age. During the apple

activity, students were to color code apples based off of my directions. We then

classified apple tastes into three categories: like, so-so, and don’t like. The children

marked off what they thought of each apple and shared their answers. P had trouble with

this sheet. She marked up her entire page so I couldn’t even translate it when looking

over worksheets. Based on observations, I know she enjoyed all the apples because she

took her friends share when he turned them down. She marked different answers on her

paper, which shows that she may have been confused. I tried to walk her through the

worksheet and when I walked away and returned she didn’t follow directions. Though

she struggled with the sheet, P followed a procedure and was able to classify her apples

by attributes and tastes when speaking about them. We used social studies in this unit by

discussing apples, how they grow, and what they are used for. It is important for P to

engage in social studies because of her languages. Enrichment of the environment will

help P adapt to the vocabulary of this culture.

Goals for Other Academic Areas

For these academic areas I have a few specific goals and recommendations. My

first goal is to have P focus on classifying science experiments on a worksheet. To do

this, a recommendation would be to first have her describe her classifications out loud

and then record on her worksheet. Speaking out may help her categorize where to mark

off areas on worksheets. A second goal is for P is to engage more with social studies to

help with her vocabulary expansion. To do this I recommend incorporating social studies

into curriculum areas. Reading a book about something or talk about an interest of the

class each week will contribute to P’s success. Also keeping contact with P’s parents will

track her progress with her speech therapist and figuring out how to meet her needs in the

classroom. P was a motivated and positive student at Westmoreland. She will grow and

blossom at her new school as she began to here. With proper assessment and

observation, she will do great in her new location.