*(Please click on images for a closer and deeper look!)
The Full Story
With Liam's development, comes family, partnerships and some of the things he enjoys the most: working on his art. His love for learning comes from his social emotional development. As a child who started off to be shy and sometimes quiet I have made efforts to make Liam's family an exceptional partner in his development and my involvement has enhanced his ability to draw, and become well versed at his level with phonemic awareness; our District 2 3K/Pre-K Center goal.
Liam's Choice Time Experiences
Liam's choice time experiences consisted of his interests. When he started Pre-K in September 2022, he enjoyed playing at the Table Toys Center where he constructing different vehicles connected to his prior knowledge. I was able to fully support Liam to expand on his interests by visiting, playing and working in different centers around the classroom alongside peers who I ensured would support him "get out of his shell."
"During choice time, children have the freedom and opportunity to try out new ideas, seek answers, test predictions, navigate new social interactions, and experiment with a variety of materials in both structured and unstructured ways."
Dinnerstein, R. (2016). choice time: How to Deepen Learning Through Inquiry and Play, PreK-2. Heinemann.
Liam's Self Portraits
Please click on each self portrait and its description for the full content.
Liam's Name Sign Ins
Please click on each box to view samples of Liam's name sign-ins.
Morning Activities and Breakfast is the first part of our flow of the day right after children unpack their belongings into their cubbies. Within the Morning Activities, children sign in their name to state their attendance and work on letter recognition. They also expand on their skills that include cognitive skills as they identify and recall letters. They are also offered the opportunity to work with their fine motor skills and learn directionality of text. Liam is encouraged and invited daily to sign his name during this time of day and throughout the day on his work.
Liam has come into Pre-K with some knowledge around the letters of his name. He is able to identify them and write them in his daily sign in book. He is able to demonstrate his knowledge of print as he writes his letters from left to right. All letters of his name are visible here. I praise him and then show him some lower case letters to see what he knows. As he can identify them on paper, I challenge and invite him to use them to write his name next time.
Liam continues to use mostly upper case letters in his name (4 out of 5). He is starting to explore lower case letters as he is reminded that his name's only upper case letter is the first letter: L. In this sample, his lower case letter is the letter "i."
After consistency and encouragement, Liam starts to use some lower case letters to write his name. He is able to identify the letter "L" as an upper case letter. All of his letters mirror in size at this stage, even as the "i" and "a" are visibly lower case.
Liam starts to explore with writing his last name. He starts to identify the amount of letters he has in his full name (8 letters) and signs in twice during this sample. His first and last name are written as one word with no observed spacing in between. His letter J is written with hook facing to the right which is typical at this stage, as he has just started writing this letter.
Liam writes his name in a sentence strip and is able to identify his writing from left to right after I model how to write his full name. He is able to write his name and his lower case letters appear more distinctive than in his previous samples in both first and last name. His "J" continues to be with hook to the right and it is expected that this will change to reflect the correct "J" form soon!
Liam's Literacy Development
Teaching Strategies Gold Data Fall 2022-2023
Liam's name writing samples above done during the Fall 2022/2023 demonstrate his growth and his persistence as he continues to write his name every morning for Morning Sign-In. When assessed using TSG (see above), Liam scored at a Level 3 in 16a: Identifies and names letters and at Level 6 in 19a: Writes name. Even as Liam was performing at Pre-K level for both areas, I supported and challenged him to develop in these areas so that he could explore literacy through other activities.
What is your Favorite ball?
Liam creates art with pom-poms as a way to explore literacy as he identifies, and shares what his favorite kind of ball is! Liam is invited to create the first letter of his favorite ball using pom poms after writing it out with a pencil. In this activity, he chooses his pom-poms liberally and starts to trace his handwritten letter.
I encouraged Liam by modeling how to write the letter "B." Liam felt motivated to write the letter B independently! He was excited to choose pom-poms and we discussed other classrooms items that start with the letter B. After he completed his pom pom B, I supported him as he searched the classroom for other objets that start with the letter B. He was excited to find blocks, balls, books, and bubbles!"
"The basketball is my favorite because I play with my dad and my brother."-Liam
Liam's Literacy Development
Teaching Strategies Gold Data Fall 2022-2023
Liam's literacy development started at Level 3 in the Fall 2022-2023 in objectives 15b and 16a (see above). As I strategically provided supports around these objectives by including art (creating his favorite ball's letter with pom poms), I noticed Liam's ability to make connection to alliteration. I motivated him to explore "B" items in a B Hunt after this as he was prideful about the letter B he made.
How can you dress the first letter of your name?
During this activity, Liam was invited to create the first letter of his name and dress it up anyway he would like using a variety of fabrics available. I encouraged Liam to explore the ways that his letter "L" can look. He used some sheer fabric to dress up his letter as he utilized popsicle sticks to create an upper case "L." After asking him, he was also able to describe the kind of fabric he used to dress his letter.
Liam's Literacy Development
Teaching Strategies Gold Data Fall 2022-2023
Liam demonstrated to exhibit skills around print concepts and offering him the chance to create his own print through the use of fabric and popsicle sticks was an opportunity to expand on his artistic interests and literacy skills. Teaching Strategies Gold Objective 17b) Shows awareness of various features of print: letters, words, spaces, upper- and lowercase letters, some punctuation presents Liam to have shown performance at Level 3 in Fall 2022-2023 performing at a Pre-K level. With Objective 16a Identifies and names letters and 16b,Identifies letter-sound correspondences, Liam's ability to identify letters was at a higher level than his ability to identify letter sounds. With activities like these, I worked to support Liam in creating letters using materials from the Art Center so that he could be able to use print concepts to enhance his knowledge around literacy.
Sale Signs for our Target!
Located in our Dramatic Play Center
Liam was invited to engage in this activity to enhance his social emotional learning and literacy! He creates a "pants", "shirt", and "shorts" sign among others. Liam was supported in this activity as he listened to letter sounds I provided him to write out the full words. His prior knowledge around stores and how they operate was reflective in this activity. He showed enthusiasm around creating sale signs and was challenged to spell words as he happily engaged in his already present interest to draw pictures. I encouraged Liam to come up with sale prices. This activity also allowed for him to use language and cognitive skills around what is cheap and what is expensive.
Liam:"This is $5 dollars"
Student in class: "No it's $10 dollars."
Liam: "No, $10 dollars is too expensive, it's gonna be $5 dollars."
Liam's Literacy Development:
Teaching Strategies Gold Data
Liam's literacy development grows as you may see the noted changes and progressions from Fall 2022-2023 to Winter 2022-2023. During this activity, Liam was able to sound out letters and then write out the letters to make out a word because of the supports I have been providing around literacy during read aloud, small group activities and the Heggerty phonics program. Liam demonstrated significant growth in Objective 16a) Identifies and names letters performing at Level 3 in Fall 2022-2023 to Level 5 in Winter 2022-2023. With being able to identify lower and upper case letters, Liam's writing skills could expand to write short 2-3 word phrases by the end of the school year. With my supports, he was also able to name letters and move in the TSG trajectory from a Level 3 to a Level 5: 16a: Identifies and names letters. His ability to notice and discriminate alliteration moved from a Level 3 to a Level 4 by the time Winter 2022-2023 came as I ensured to support and challenge Liam in this area with activities like these.
Teaching Strategies Gold Objective 17b) Shows awareness of various features of print: letters, words, spaces, upper- and lowercase letters, some punctuation presents Liam to have shown significant progression from a Level 3 in Fall 2022-2023 to Level 5 in Winter 2022-2023.
I will continue to support Liam so that he gets to the next level as I continue to engage him in the Heggerty phonics program and encourage writing alongside his art work.
Liam's Family-Home-School Connection
It is with great intention, that Liam's life and education connect with each other so that there are no gaps in his overall development. As a teacher who has worked in a previous field with families, I ensure that communication with families are open, effective, and collaborative. Liam and his peers are made aware that their families and I are in touch via email and phone calls. I also work to encourage my students to let their parents know if they wish to share anything via email; which may include photographs, messages or any other artifact that may let me know of what is going on in their lives outside of the school building. Please check out some correspondence below between Liam's family and myself.
Liam's Social Emotional Development
Teaching Strategies Gold Data: Fall 2022-2023
In the Fall 2022-2023, Liam was able to demonstrate that he was at the pre-k level with 2a) forms relationships with adults, 2b) Responds to emotional cues and 2c) Interacts with peers and 2d) Makes friends. I knew that Liam's development could go even further with events that supported his confidence, which would therefore positively affect his overall development.
Liam's work at home is welcomed to the classroom as his love of art is nurtured and supported. I have made his family aware that this love is encouraged and wanted in the classoom in order to support Liam with opening up and being less shy. Because of the family's partnership, I am able to ensure that his love and passion for art of various characters is supported in the classroom so that he continues to grow in his social emotional development and in this work.
Liam's mother reaches out via email with notes that include his art work and work that they are doing as a family overall. I support Liam's family to encourage sharing what he does with his teachers as I work to continously provide a home to school connection.
Liam's family was encouraged and welcomed to come to the classroom to show and share anything that they found to be special. As a teacher, it was important to reserve a time for Liam to show something that he felt connected to and share with the class so that he could start to open up. As a way to promote language, cognitive, and social emotional skills, children are able to show just a bit more of themselves during this time, including Liam! Liam was bold and bright to share a significant amount when his parents were invited to come in to be part of one of his Show & Share times.
I warmly encourage Liam's family continue to foster the home and school connection! When Liam came to school I made sure to communicate and show him this image that his family sent to me. He was invited to share that he, his mom, and his younger brother worked on these kites together! One is a "Sonic" kite, while the other is a "Shadow" kite.
Liam is an active participant in the communication that happens between his teacher and his family as I encourage him by letting him know everytime his parents share outside activities via email or pictures like the one above! He requests and ensures that his teacher knows the activities that he engages in outside of the school community and on weekends due to the warm reminders I am able to provide him as his teacher to do so.
Liam's Social Emotional Development
With my delivery and appropriate supports, Liam's social emotional development has developed and has been connected to his family's involvement in our school community and education. I ensured to be proactive in Liam's home to school connection in order to encourage his ability to connect to his classroom, peers and teachers alike!
After I verbally invited Liam's family to come to the classroom for his 5th birthday, they joined us, (Parents and 3 year old brother) as our special guest. Liam family shows some baby pictures and his dad reads one of Liam's favorite Dr. Seuss books. Events like these support Liam's social emotional development, allowing for growth in other areas.
Liam's family comes into our classroom to deliver a presentation for our "Show & Share" time. Liam and his mommy talk about all of the holidays that they celebrate throughout the year while presenting a slideshow filled with pictures and titles. Liam does a great part of the presenting and with this, enhances his language and social emotional skills. Liam's connection to adults is seamless as he is close to his parents and keeps an open heart with other adults (including his teachers) as well.
Feelings Chart: Tool of Autonomy
I was able to provide supports for Liam social emotionally through the use of the classroom Feelings Chart. As Liam comes into the classroom, it is essential for myself as the teacher to sit by the Feelings Chart, making sure that Liam's feelings are not just a check in but a possible short conversation that could provide opportunities for him to show how he feels through his words and face expressions. I also encouraged Liam to be part of our Feelings Chart. I asked him which feeling he wanted to represent on the chart and he chose to take a picture for the "Excited" image of the chart. When he comes into the room, children place their picture next to the "Excited" and this has been observed to make Liam feel prideful as I praised him and thanked him for contributions our classroom chart.
Our Classroom Cultural Corner
As I worked to enhance Liam's social emotional development along with the class I encouraged him to share his cultural piece that I invited his family to send in. When I received the picture of Liam as a baby with his Dad holding him, I as excited to show Liam what I had received from his parents. After motivating him to do so, Liam proudly showed the class and talked about his parents watching soccer games a lot. He also talked about his mother being from Brazil and that they loved watching the team from Brazil.
Liam's Social Emotional Development: Teaching Strategies Gold Data: Winter 2022-2023
Liam's social emotional development is highlighted through out the day as with any child (and any human being), but shines whenever he is able to present or share anything with his family. As a child who appeared to be quiet and shy when we met, Liam has been able to thrive whenever he shares anything having to do with his family. As I took note of this, I encouraged his family to come in to our classroom whenever they could. When the home to school connection is presented in the classroom, with Liam's peers interested and present, Liam thrives in other areas and keeps the relationships around him joyful and prideful! Liam performed at Level 7 Fall 2022-2023 and went up to a Level 9: Winter 2022-2023 when it came to objective 2a) Forms relationships with adults. As this level (9) describes Liam: Engages with trusted adults as resources and to share mutual interests, it was evident that his increase in levels was due to the invitations delivered to his family to come into our classroom, share their cultures, and share anything that they did outside of school . He has demonstrated a more trusted and deeper connection with his teachers as well.
Liam's Heggerty Assessment: Pre-K Form A
I utilized the Heggerty phonics program to teach Liam phonemic awareness, segmentation, blending, and beginning and ending sounds. After 8 weeks of targeted instruction, I assessed Liam. He achieved a perfect score of 100% in every segment. In order to challenge him and support his development even further, I am differentiating instruction by creating lessons that support his phonics skills. Liam's ability to engage and perform is due to my daily delivery of instruction and praising of him whenever Liam responds and participates.