Ms. Zaleski's Teaching Portfolio



Child’s Name: ‘M’ Teachers Name: Kristen Zaleski

Age: 5 Grade: Kindergarten

Assessment for Child M

M is a wonderful child to have in the classroom. Her unique flare makes everyday enjoyable. M was born on March 30, 2007. She currently struggles from her parent’s recent divorce. Her father moved to New York where M visits every other weekend. She currently lives with her mother and sister in a small cottage located on someone's property. This is to be a temporary location for the family until they can get back on their feet. M shares a loft with her sister and from this doesn’t get much sleep. She will come into the class very tired and emotional some days. This is especially a pattern during the week that she doesn’t see her father. M’s father is a landscaper and her mother is a gardener and also teaches gardening to children. M loves books, writing, and dogs. She has a fear for technology. She will have breakdowns before technology class because of her fear of using the computer. With more experience with the computers, this fear should hopefully end.

Physical

Over recent months, I have observed M in all domains through photos, work samples, discussions, and notes. The first domain I will discuss is physical. “Kindergartners are fascinated with learning what their bodies can do- how fast they can run, how high they can jump, how skillfully they can movie” (Copple & Bredekamp, 188). Copple and Bredekamp believe that,

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).

M is successful in all these areas of physical development. She is physically healthy and active. M has great balance when running and moving in P.E. class. When dancing in the classroom she can successfully move forward, sideways, and backwards. She can also change direction quickly whether it is through dancing, following directions when asked to put her hands on her head or face the person next to her. She will mimic doing something very slow and then move really fast. This clearly demonstrates movement well. M tosses balls at morning meeting with ease and can catch it as well. In P.E. class, M can kick a ball successfully and with ease. Her momentary stillness is also really great. When doing yoga, M can balance on one foot for several seconds and concentrates on being still. She really loves yoga. I think it helps her feel calm and balanced in the classroom.

There are also fine motor milestones at the Kindergarten level. 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. M is developing increasingly with her fine motor. Her pencil gripping is always correct and her lines are becoming steadier as the year progresses. One thing I have notice when using colored pencils is her inability to stay in the lines. This could simply be rushing, but I would like to see her focus on really trying to color in the lines instead of scribbling on her paper. M can string beads with ease, button her clothes and tie her shoes, as well as work with clay. Over recent months, M has never used Legos, but when using pattern blocks during math; she can connect them with ease.

M is also aware of her health. She will comment on how cold it is outside and that if she didn’t have her gloves on, her hands would freeze. She will sanitize her hands without being told after using the bathroom or blowing her nose. M is also very aware of when she needs to use the bathroom. She always makes sure to ask if she can use the bathroom. She seems to have to go more than average on a daily basis. After each transitional activity she will ask to go. There have been no accidents in the classroom. Physically, M is in great condition and I see no setbacks or problems for the next school year.

Cognitive

The next domain to be discussed with M is 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). M is cognitively up to pace with the class. She can reason/problem solve and loves to gain in knowledge of her surroundings. When M is working with me during our daily reading rotations, she tries to figure out what to do on each page before I give directions. If she doesn’t understand, she will ask. M has a great use of memory during reading rotations as well. She will recognize an activity we have done before with a different sight word and will connect it to the current sight word knowing what to do. She will even tell her classmates that they can look at her paper if they need help. M can also pay attention really well. I have never had to ask her to quiet down. When at circle or in her seat, she is always listening and making eye contact. This is awesome to see.

A man who worked in the cognitive field was Lev Vygotsky. He 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. This is definitely seen with M. I have noticed a pattern during large group lessons. After giving directions to the class, M will call me over to clarify what the task is. Through some scaffolding, I am able to help M complete a task that she cannot yet complete individually. This is more common to see with M during math lessons. She does not need much guidance in literacy, science, and other subjects. Over time, my hope is that M will be able to comprehend directions in large group settings through modeling. Other than slight scaffolding, M is right on pace with her cognitive development.

Language

The next domain to look at with M is her language and literacy development. “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. They learn about 20 new words each day! Reading with adults enriches the experience of understanding the importance of books. “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).

M does well with literacy and language in class. This is not evident in her KLA, however. She scored very low with recognizing letters. She didn’t recognize the letter “a” or “v”, which are both in her first name. I do not think she was incapable of this, but it was more of a shy component when being testing. On a daily basis M writes her name correctly and will tell me the letters in her name. For this reason the KLA may not be completely telling of M’s developmental progress. Another assessment of the KLA was recognizing sight words. In class, M can recognize and say previous sight words, but on her KLA she knew none. Again, this may be a shy component. She seems to do well in class, but shuts down during testing.

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. It is also important to instill interest in print (Copple & Bredekamp, 209). M is very successful in reading comprehension. She tells me often that she loves books and enjoys reading. She also said that writing is hard, but fun. If only all children thought like this! She loves to read during choice time or be read to. M will make comments during the read aloud and connect with the book. This is excellent. Her literacy skills are improving successfully. Through upcoming months, it is important to keep and eye on her language development. Though she may do well in class, the KLA may show inability to retain some information. This is nothing serious, but something to be aware of.

Social and Emotional

Another domain is social and emotional development. In this domain, children are learning a great deal in school and in life. In Kindergarten, children will interact with their peers and engage cooperatively. Within the prosocial behavior factor of this domain, children will be able to cooperate, resolve conflicts, and follow rules. They begin to use negotiation to settle disputes, give guidance, and use proactive strategies to organize, direct, and sustain interaction with others. M interacts with all classmates and engages cooperatively. She is reserved at times, but will interact with peers during choice time, snack, lunch, and recess. She will solve problems with the children

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). Theorist Nel Noddings believed that ethics of care were very important in the classroom. She believed that, “Caring involves connection between the carer and the cared-for and a degree of reciprocity; that is to say that both gain from the encounter in different ways and both give” (Smith, 2004). M fits in well with Noddings theory. M is a child that needs to feel valued. With issues going on at home, she comes into the classroom very emotional some days. It is important to comfort her and to let her know that school is a safe place where she can be happy. M will come in crying, but with care, I can calm her down and have her join morning meeting to start of the day right. She has come a long way since the beginning of the year. There are fewer breakdowns and more smiles. The care factor of M’s development is crucial.

Communication skills and understanding of feelings also improve. Friendships are an important part to growing socially in the kindergarten field. Self-concept is also very important with social development. “Positive messages from adults about their growing knowledge, skills, and prosocial behaviors, as well as respect, warmth and positive guidance, enhance children’s self-concept” (Copple & Bredekamp, 195). M has trouble with her self-concept. Though she socializes with the class and is not shy, she has self-issues. She is always looking for approval. M is afraid of doing something wrong or messing up. She will raise her hand multiple times during a lesson and ask, “Is this right?” She knows she is right the majority of the time, but needs a definite answer to show approval. This may be an issue at home, but I would like to see M become more comfortable with her self and feel a higher level of confidence. She is a very smart child that should not be concerned with herself at such a young age.

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). M struggles in the area. As stated before, her parent recently divorced. This has been hard for M. Her emotions are very high in the classroom. On weekends she is able to see her father, she is happy for the remainder of the week. During the weeks that she doesn’t see dad, she is sad and reserved. Self-regulation is an ability kindergartners develop when they can control their emotions and behaviors. M needs to work on her self-regulation whether it be talking to someone during the day, or finding a hobby during choice time that may help her feel happier. Overall, M is developmentally stable in the social area, but needs more assessment and observation in the emotional area. She has been improving in this area over time, but still struggles with self-esteem and self-regulation.

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. Children are given the chance to be creative often and can express themselves in doing so. M likes to play house at choice time with friends. She also likes painting and working with materials in art class. M often uses the pretend food or picnic areas with the other classmates. She will also play outside on the playground in the “castle.” During crafts she does not take her time. M likes to finish projects as fast as she can and will scribble when coloring. I know she is capable of being neat, but her need to finish quickly gets in the way of doing a good job. I have noticed that if I ask her to take her time, she will color neater. M seems like she enjoys books more than anything at choice, so observing dramatic play is not always evident. Considering the observations I have seen, she is developmentally stable in the area and has nothing to be concerned about.

Literacy Assessment

When looking at a child’s literacy skills and development, it is important to review the milestones they will reach as Kindergarteners in this area. 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. During the emergent stage, children begin to practice and do many things. They, “Internalize purposes of print and understand that print is used to communicate and make meaning” (Combs, 2010, pg. 27). They also begin to appreciate different types of text and show an increasing interest in reading and writing independently. At this stage children also, “Develop concepts about print, including book-handling skills and an understanding of the permanence and directionality of print” (Combs 2010, pg. 27). M is very interested in reading. She chooses to read during choice time and loves to be read to. She internalizes print and has an increasing interest. She understands that books are read left to right and top to bottom. When assessing her reading comprehension, she said she liked the entire book, but if she had to choose a part, it would be the ending. To demonstrate what she remembered she drew a picture of the characters in front of a house which was seen at the end of the book. She also recognized patterns in the book being read and could predict what was to happen next. She is at the stage now where she is sounding words together. When she can read her first book alone I feel she will be ecstatic.

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. M scored 8 out of 11 on her KLA when looking at concepts of print. She could point out the front of the book, understood where to begin reading, made a return sweep to the next line, could point to just one word and letter, and could also point to the first and last letter of the word. What M struggled with in this are was pointing to the first word and last word and matching words by point to each word as reading. Her overall skills for concepts of print are great. When she is assessed in the spring she should reach all goal areas.

When looking at M’s phonological awareness, she scored 3 out of 6 with concept of spoken word. With three sentences she was able to count the words in the sentence and push a chip forward for each word while reading it. M did great with rhyme recognition. She scored 6 out of 6 in this skill area. She also completed 6 rhymes by filling in the last word. Also in the rhyming area, M completed 5 out of 6 rhyme productions. This is really great to see. Many of the books she asks to be read contain rhyming. She may retain much of her knowledge from these books. She did, however, struggle with sight words. Out of a list with several words, M could not recognize any sight words. She does well with them in class, but during testing she could not recognize any.

With recognizing uppercase letters, M knew 17 of the 26. With lowercase, she knew 15 of 28. What concerns me here is that M could not recognize several of the letters that are in her first and last name. She can write her name in class and spell it out with letters, but again, the testing didn’t show this. When discussing this with the cooperating teacher, she believes M was shy and nervous during the testing which may have altered her KLA results. She does not struggle in class, so we do not worry for her based on the results.

M scored 6 of 6 with syllable blending, syllable segmentation, and syllable deletion. She clear understands the concept of syllable. For example, she could put pen-cil, pop-corn, and black-board together and say downtown without down and skateboard without skate. M is doing really great in this area. With phoneme isolation, M could isolate the beginning sound of a word 6 of 6 times. When isolating the final sound, she could only say 1. She knew k was the final sound of pick, but had trouble with words such as same, tooth, and bug. She was able to blend all six phonemes such as /s/ /un/ and /f/ /ish/. With phoneme blending, M could blend /m/ /e/, /m/ /u/ /s/ /t/, and /sh/ /o/ /p/. She couldn’t blend /b/ /e/ /d/, /h/ /a/ /t/, or /p/ /l/ /a/ /n/ /t/. M did great with phoneme segmentation, but struggled with phoneme deletion of initial sound and final sound. M also struggled with added phonemes like adding an f to it or an n to ice.

Her overall score was 107 out of 191. This is 56%. What M needs to focus more on is her alphabet and working with phonemes. She clearly understands rhyming and syllables. With more focus on practicing letters and saying the alphabet, M will be able to raise her scoring and retain more information.

Goals for Literacy

Suggestions for creating a literacy-rich primary grades classroom include reading to children, reading with children, reading by children, writing with children, and writing by children. Other suggestions include word studies, music and games, sorting activities, and dramas. For M, a goal would be to have her point to letters in order as she says the alphabet. When saying the letter, she will be able to memorize what letter goes with what she is saying. Another goal is to ask her to: make the sound of a phoneme that is used by a particular letter of the alphabet and write the letter that represents a particular phoneme” (Combs, 2010, pg. 51). I would also suggest have M sit with her family and go through the sight words we have done. She will take home cards with the word study of the week. These cards will have a hole punched in them and be kept on a metal ring. Over time the words will add up and she can review all words each time a new one is added. M loves reading and puts in the effort to learn, she just needs a little scaffolding to get her where she needs to be in certain literacy areas such as letters and phonemes.

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 "how many" in sets of objects; develop initial understandings of place value and the base-ten number system; develop understanding of the relative position and magnitude of whole numbers and of ordinal and cardinal numbers and their connections; develop a sense of whole numbers and represent and use them in flexible ways, including relating, composing, and decomposing numbers; 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). M has little struggle with math. As stated before, she clarifies if she is doing something right, but I rarely see her get anything wrong on her math worksheets. If M makes a mistake, she will announce it out. M’s math journal shows her progress. When asked how many dogs were red if there were four dogs and one was black with the rest red, M correctly wrote 3. To show her answer, she drew three red dogs and one black dog above the word problem. When another sheet said that there were three cats and three dogs, M wrote that there were 6 pets total. To work out this math, M drew three cats and three dogs and then counted how many animals were there. These work samples show her knowledge of how many and whole numbers. She shows knowledge with place value when counting to the teens. She will notice the one comes before the 5 when looking at the number 15. Another sheet M worked on was with the number 5. She was to count the number of objects and write how many there were. She can write 5 facing the correct direction. Sometimes her 2s are backwards, but she will erase and fix them.

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. M had demonstrated knowledge of patterns really well. After finishing my patterning unit, I took a look at her worksheets. She successful created an ABB and ABC pattern with no mistakes. When creating a pattern by size, she completed an AAB pattern using big circles and little circles. She was able to sort and extend patterns. She also classifies by size when we talked about what ball was bigger and smaller during a group activity.

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). M can draw most shapes, but struggles with a triangle. When drawing one, she curves her edges creating no pointed edges. This can be fixed with dotted line activities. She is able to compare shapes and sort them as well.

In the next concept, measurement, 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. M does not have much experience with this idea. An activity that did show her understanding was comparing the size of her teddy bear to another child’s. She measures how many teddy bears it took to make the one she was comparing hers to. She also classifies the bears by color, height, and size and drew a picture of her bear with the other child’s bear. She has no struggles in doing this. M has little struggle with mathematics. M already is above average with her mathematics, but with help on her numbers, she will be in a great spot for first grade.

Goals for Mathematics

My goal for M is to have all of her numbers facing in the correct direction by the spring. This can be done through dotted line activities that move toward individual writing. Writing in shaving cream or air drawing may also promote practicing her writing with numbers. Games and books are also suggestions mathematics to help M acquire skills and concepts in the curriculum. Another suggestion to help M work on her shapes is to have her outline triangles in a picture and giving the directions to stay as close to the line as possible. This will promote her hands to move with the shape and get her used to drawing the shape of a triangle. Again, using shaving cream or air drawing will promote this as well. M has no trouble with mathematical thinking. She is on track and is doing great.

Other Academic Areas

Other academic areas in the classroom include science, social studies, music, art, P.E., health, and technology. With such a strong focus on literacy and mathematics, there are fewer observations noted in these areas. There is not much time devoted during the school say towards these subjects. With what I have seen, M actively participates in P.E. She is aware of injury and risk. M always walks when told. M is also aware of her health. During health class she will contribute to discussions. During a discussion about food, she said that soda and ice cream are not good to eat. She also recognized family members in a drawing as well as body parts in another diagram. M listens during health and is aware of what some aspects of health are. For example, she knows to wash her hands after the bathroom or before eating. She also knows to brush her teeth three times a day. M does really well in both P.E. and health. In music, M participates, but does not sing loud. She will sometimes come into the classroom singing a song she just learned. This shows that she has an interest in music.

In art, M has difficulty with taking her time. She scribbles and uses one generic color when drawing. The art teacher is working on having her expand to 3-5 colors. She enjoys painting, but does not like the feeling of glue on her hands. A goal for M in this area would be to take her time when coloring and expand the amount of color she uses. M also struggles with technology. She enjoys the class days when all they do is reading comprehension or just a simple read aloud. When someone mentions using a computer, M freezes up and has a breakdown. I am not sure if her parents do not like technology, or if she had an accident with a device, but she fears using a computer. We sat down with M and explained the importance of technology and that everyone will use it at one point or another. This relaxed her, but she still has trouble going to technology.

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. M related the book to our recent apple orchard trip and said that apples grew on the trees. During this 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. M correctly followed directions and filled her sheet out correctly. She would say I kinda like it, but I sorta don’t, so I’m just going to mark it in the middle. M successfully met the curriculum standards of this activity. The first was: S:SPS1:2:3.2: Follow a simple step-by-step procedure and the second was: S:SPS1:2:1.5: Sort and classify object materials and events based on one or more attributes; and explain the methods used for sorting. M followed a procedure and was apple to classify her apples by attributes and tastes. She also represented her information correctly. We used social studies in this unit by discusses apples and how the grow and what they are used for. M connected apples to apple cider, knew they grew on trees, and could label some of the parts in an apple. She enjoyed learning about her natural world. Her parents may influence this since they both work in the gardening industry. M shows a natural attachment to nature and the environment.

Goals for Other Academic Areas

For these academic areas I have a few specific goals and recommendations. My first goal is to have M bring some coloring sheets home to work on with her family. Her family will model coloring in the lines to help promote M taking her time with coloring. This will help M in the future with neatness. A second goal is for M to become more familiar with technology. Using the smart board can help her become comfortable with technology. She will be interactive with it and lose her fear over time. My third goal for M is to be able to use a computer by spring. Taking time to individually work with her in the computer lab may giver her more self-esteem with using technology. With one-on-one time, she will feel more comfortable and be able to use the computer by herself. This is an important goal for M because she will be using a computer for the rest of her life. She needs to overcome this fear and gain confidence when using technology.

References

Bredekamp, S., & Copple, C. (2009). Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early

Childhood Programs (3rd ed.). Washington, D.C.: National Association for the

Education of Young Children.

Combs, M. (2010). Readers & Writers in Primary Grades: A Balanced and Integrated Approach

K-3. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

Copley, J. (2010). The Young Child and Mathematics (2nd ed). Washington DC: NAEYC

HexFailure (2002). Piaget's theory of moral development. [ONLINE] Available at:

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National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Standards, Curriculum Focal Points



Offord, L. (2005). The Mozart of Psychology Lev Semenovich Vygotsky. [ONLINE]

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Smith, Mark (2004). nel noddings, the ethics of care and education. [ONLINE] Available

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