Child Literacy Case Study

7/30/2019 Child Literacy Case Study

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Denyse Fiero

ECED 343November 22, 2011

Reflective Narrative

Child Literacy Case StudyINTASC and NAEYC Standard:

Principle #10:

The teacher fosters relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger

community to support students' learning and well-being.

NAEYC Standard 2. Building family and community relationships

This case study was completed in my seventh semester. The assignment was to assess a typically

developing first grader using various assessment tools. The case study helped me to work

directly with colleagues and parents in determining a student's needs and strengths. This was a

very thorough process which spanned over two months.

This artifact represents INTASC principle 10 and NAEYC standard 2 because it assisted in

gathering data to help me, school colleagues and parents to work together to help the student

progress academically. This case study offers numerous resources such as beneficial internet

sites, at home activities, and book recommendations.

This case study provided me with great insight on how to properly assess a student with a battery

of different kinds of assessment tools in order to find individual needs and strengths. I firstcompleted an Interest inventory to find out the student's hobbies, academic and leisure activities.

Next, I completed the Garfield test which showed me the student's view of their academic level.Another, assessment that was given was the Phonological Awareness. The data gathered from

this test determines the students phonemic awareness level. The case study analyzed the invented

spelling section. I then gathered and analyzed all the data to determine the student's academic

level and make recommendations to help the student progress academically.

The student impact for the case study is the data received from the assessments that will drive

instruction. Another benefit for the student is personalized instruction that will be delivered attheir level. The student will receive more meaningful instruction that is centered around their

interests which will help engage the student. Conducting the Garfield, Reading Self-Assessment

and Meta-Cognitive tests, students are able to share their feelings about school and theirperception of what content they feel confident and where they need more reinforcement. The

advantage to the student in conducting the Phonological Awareness Profile is to assess vital

skills needed for a strong reading foundation.


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Child Literacy Case Study

Denyse Fiero

ECED 419

April 25, 2012

Child Literacy Case Study

Name: Eva

Age: 7

Grade: 1st

School: Jarrettsville Elementary School

Jarrettsville Elementary school is a public school located in Harford County,

Harford, Maryland. Qualification for case study, Eva was selected because of her typical rate of development.

She is very outgoing with her peers but very quiet in the classroom.

Interest Inventory

Based on completing the Interest Inventory I was able to see all of Eva's hobbies

and her social side. Eva likes the typical things that most seven year-old girls like such as


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mermaids, ponies and dancing. She loves anything that is pink, purple and sparkly. One

of her goals is to be a rock star so she can sing and dress in sparkly clothes. Thisinformation of Eva's interests will help with the selection of text that will motivate and

encourage Eva's love of reading.

Reading Self-Assessment & Meta-cognitive Assessment

In regards to the Reading Self-Assessment administered February 12, 2012, Eva's

responses reflected a lack of confidence in her reading skills. Most of her responses for her

reading ability were either "fair" or "poor." She only listed that she felt secure about knowingwhen to differ the speed of reading and making a mental picture when reading. Eva felt confident

writing stories and poems. Eva hesitated during each question which made me think that she was

thoughtfully thinking about the question. Each question that she answered in "fair" or "poor" she

said, "no, I am definitely bad at that." I wonder what is making her have such a low opinion ofher reading competence.

When Eva responded to questions from the Meta-cognitive assessment on February 21,2012, I was able to learn more about her strategies and thoughts about reading. Eva thinks that a

good reader can read chapter books. She also noted that most of her strategies to help her

understand text is to look for visual clues. She also pictures the story in her mind when reading.Another strategy is to ask for help. I was pleased to hear that she is not afraid to ask questions

and is aware that she needs additional support. Eva's strategy to become a better reader is to read

fiction and non-fiction books. Eva already is exhibiting a few best practices to develop herreading skills.

Garfield Reading Assessment

The Garfield Attitude Survey was completed on a different day than the Reading Self-Assessment. Eva appeared to be in a more positive frame of mind as reflected in her feelings

about her reading attitude. Eva circled that she was very happy about reading except when

reading during free time and recess. She looked at me and said, "no way I like to play" Anotherarea that Eva was not thrilled about was to take a reading test. Eva frowned at me on this

question. Eva's had such enthusiasm when she was circling each Garfield and she talked about

how she likes to read. She said she really likes all the books at school but the books at home areher favorite. Eva scored a 33/40 on the importance of recreational reading. She scored a 35/40 in

her interests in academic reading. Eva's reading attitude score was a 68/80 which put her in the

72% as compared in a study of students in 1989. Eva's score and enthusiasm talking about

specific books reflects a positive attitude towards reading for recreation and academically. Eva's

appeal to reading will be beneficial in helping Eva's negative self-reflection as a reader. Byselecting books of interest I will introduce strategies to improve her reading skills which will

help Eva change her negative reading self-image.

Summary of Interest Inventory,Reading Self & Meta-cognitive Assessment and Garfield Reading Assessment


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Overall, after reviewing all assessments, Eva shows evidence of reading for enjoyment

and has developed some strategies of a good reader. It appears that she has a positive outlook onreading and enjoys reading a variety of books. I will need to do more observations to look closer

at her self-image as a reader. I will look into the possibility of Eva just having a bad day or are

her feelings that she isn't a good reader and is struggling with her reading skills valid. I will

provide recommendations for helping Eva overcome her negative self-image as a reader andcelebrate each of her accomplishments.

The Phonological Awareness Profile Summary of Results

I administered the Phonological Awareness Profile to a first grader, named Eva. She was

selected by her teacher at Jarrettsville Elementary for being a conscientious student who isdeveloping at a typical first grade rate. The test was conducted on three separate days 3/8/12,

3/10/12 and 3/11/12. I stopped the session when I saw my student loosing focus and getting

overwhelmed. Each session of the assessment was conducted in my home in a quiet

environment. The first session was completed after school. This proved to not be the best timefor my child. She was already tired from attending school all day. So, I decided that the early

afternoon on Saturday and Sunday would work the best for this student. Eva, was more

productive on the weekend sessions and was able to keep her focus for a longer period of time.On 3/8/12 we assessed Rhyming to Isolation of Initial sounds; 3/10/12 was Isolation of final

sounds to Compounds and Syllables; 3/11/12 Eva was able to complete the last of the

assessment. Eva really didn't complain about the length of the test but she was excited to be done

with the test.

Summary of Results:

Category Emerging(69% and below)

Progressing(70-89%)

Proficient( 90-100%)

Percentage

Correct

Rhyming X 100%

Discrimination X 100%

Production X 100%

Segmentation X 82.5%

Sentences X 100%

Compound Words X 100%

Syllables X 60%

Phonemes X 70%

Isolation X 80%

Initial X 100%

Final X 80%

Medial X 60%

Deletion X 95%

Compounds/Syllables X X 100%


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Phonemes X 90%

Substitution X 90%

With Manipulatives X 100%

W/O Manipulatives X 80%

Blending X 100%

Compounds/Syllables X 100%Phonemes X 100%

Graphemes X 84.1%

Consonants X 100%

Short Vowels X 100%

Long Vowels X 100%

Vowel Digraphs X 40%

Diphthongs X 25%

R-Controlled Vowels X 20%

Consonant Digraphs X 100%

Consonant Blends X 81.81%

Decoding X 72.5%VC Words X 100%

CVC Words X 100%

Consonant Blends X 40%

CVCe Words X 60%

Vowel Digraphs X 100%

Diphthongs X 40%

R-Controlled Vowels X 40%

Consonant Digraphs X 100%

Invented Spelling

Word Student's Spelling

Unicycle Yoonl

Pecked Peked

Dumpster Dumser

Called cald

Dream Drem

Matter mater

Hole hol

Flowers flawrs

Church chrch

Shepherd shprd

Squish sqish

Late Developmental to Early Representation Stage


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Overall Ratings:

Overall, Eva was proficient in four of the eight Phonological Awareness categories. Shereceived a progressing score for the remaining categories. Eva's strengths were in rhyming ,

isolation and blending where she received a 100% proficient average. She also got a high

proficient score of 95% for deletion of compounds/syllables and phonemes. In addition, another

ability that Eva was proficient in was substitution with manipulatives and without. Eva's weakestarea of Phonological Awareness was the decoding category. She was in the low range of

Progressing. Eva's inventive spelling for this assessment was considered to be in the Late

Developmental Stage. Eva was able to sound a lot of sounds logically however, not all soundswere represented and the correct graphemes were not always used. She was aware of digraphs

and endings like "er" and "ish."

Preliminary Recommendations:

Eva's Phonological Awareness would benefit from more Decoding instruction.

Consonant blends would be an area to focus since she scored 40% which is the low range of

emerging. An idea that may help Eva to be more confident with her consonant blends is to use

the rubber band strategy. Another recommendation for Eva is to re-teach the R-ControlledVowels. Eva was not confident in this skill and wasn't sure how to sound out the words. Another

suggestion for Eva would be to work on diphthongs. This was another area of weakness. A funway to learn diphthongs is to use a flyswatter to swat a diphthong and say the sound in a word.

This will help her recognize diphthongs in a word and what sound they make. Syllables were

another area that could be strengthened. Eva had trouble with multi-syllabic words like

"watermelon" and "fantastic." Clapping each syllable will help Eva detect each syllable to helpher decode large unfamiliar words.

Writing Sample Analysis #1

February 11, 2012- Letter to a Friend

Stage of written expression: Eva's first writing sample was difficult to categorize into onestage. She touched on a few indicators of Stage five. However, overall I would not place her in

this stage of development. Eva demonstrated knowledge of common inflectional endings like -

ing. This was the only example that would fit in the Early-Functional Stage. After analyzing the

writing sample, I would place Eva at a Late-Developing stage of writing. There was evidencethroughout the sample of her ability to spell all words phonetically. Eva's entire writing sample

is written phonetically, so I can tell what words she may mispronounce. The writing sampleshows the use of long and short vowels. Her sight word vocabulary has increased and starting to

spell more of the words correctly. Eva also used some consonant blends in her writing sample.

Although, I observed that the two uses of-stare words that do not have /st/ in the spelling . For


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example the word dance is spelled "danst." I am wondering the reason for the -stat the end of

the word.

Stage of spelling development: The analysis of Eva's spelling stage is Transitional spelling stage

four. The sample shows writing that is readable. The writing demonstrates the awareness of

spelling patterns. For instance, the word "like" follows the rule of vowel consonant vowel.There is also evidence of using the ending -ing. Some sight words are spelled correctly.

Benchmark of writing: Eva and I brainstormed about what type of writing she wanted to do. Iasked her if she wanted to write about ponies or mermaids. She did notseem to enthusiastic.

Then, I asked her if she wanted to write a letter to her friend Emily. In turn Emily would write

her a letter as well and then they would share their letters with each other. Eva loved the idea andcould not wait to get started. She came up with the first few questions easily. Then, she seemed

to be stuck for ideas, so I prompted her by asking, What do you want to ask or tell Emily?This worked and she was off writing again. She was able to express herself in complete thoughts.

A goal for Eva will be the use of style in her writing. She repeated the wordfavorite three

times in her writing. She also did not use any descriptive words or personal voice. Anotherobjective for Eva is to work on the conventions of writing. The sample did not use capitals but

did have end punctuation. Eva knew to add a comma after the salutation. Eva spelled some sight

words incorrectly. She would benefit from using a resource like a word wall to help her with thespelling of sight words.

Handwriting-letter formation and spacing: Eva was provided special lined to help with

her handwriting. I had seen her class use this type of paper before, and I asked her if she knew

how to write on this type of paper. She told me she had used this type of paper before. When I

observed Eva writing on the paper, she only wrote her sentences on half of the line. I proceededto model how to write on the lines, but she decided that she wanted to write smaller and only use

half of the line. Overall, Eva's letter formation looked acceptable. The letters were not allperfectly formed and neat, but it was evident that she knew the correct formation of each letter.

The appropriate amount of spacing was apparent throughout the writing sample. The spacing

was not consistent, some words had more space than others.

MSC-Maryland State CurriculumStandard 4.0 Writing

Topic

A.ObjectivesGenerate ideas and topics and make a plan for writing

Indicator

2. Compose oral, written, and visual presentations that express personal ideas, inform, andpersuade

Objectives


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Write to express personal ideas using drawings, symbols, letters, words, sentences, and simple

paragraphs

Md State Common Core

W2 Apply knowledge of story structure.

Produce complete simple sentences. (CCSS 1 L1.j)Use frequently occurring adjectives. (CCSS 1 L1.f)

Spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling

conventions. (CCSS 1 L2.e)Produce writing that is legible, including the correct formation of manuscript letters.


March 15, 2012- Shape Poem- Red Heart

Stage of written expression: Eva's second writing sample is a poem about describing a

red heart. The sample demonstrates the knowledge of sight words and some digraphs. She is able

to phonetically sound out words by representing the letter-to-sound correspondence for mostsounds. Eva has good spacing in between words and letters. I would place Eva writing stage in

between Late-Developing Stage and Early-Functional Stage. I see evidence of consonant

digraphs. This writing sample shows two examples of the common inflectional endings -s. There

is no evidence of more complex conventions in this writing sample such as silent consonants, r-controlled vowels or common roots, prefixes and suffixes.

Stage of spelling development: The analysis of Eva's spelling stage is in the very beginningTransitional spelling stage four. The writing sample demonstrates that all sight words are spelledcorrectly. This sample is difficult to decide Eva's awareness of spelling pattern because there is

only one word that would use a spelling pattern. The majority of the words used are sight words

or words that do not follow traditional spelling patterns. The sample is readable and easy tounderstand the purpose of the writing piece.

Benchmark of writing: I talked to Eva about what type of writing she would like to do. I recalledfrom her Reading Self-Assessment that she liked to write stories and poems. I asked her if she

wanted to write a shape poem. I knew that writing shape poems was something that Eva's entire

class just learned and loved. She decided to write about a red heart. The poem was organized

with a main idea with five supporting details about the heart. Unfortunately, she didn't title herpoem so the main idea was just verbalized and the details are the only part that is written down.

A goal for Eva will be to revise her original writing sample and check her conventions for

capital letters. I will give her a check list to review before she completes her writing in the future.

Handwriting-letter formation and spacing: There is a large amount of growth comparing

Eva's first writing sample a month prior to this sample. Eva has used the lines in the paper to


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help organize her letters. There is an appropriate amount of spacing in between each word and

letter.

MSC-Maryland State Curriculum

Standard 4.0 Writing

TopicA.Objectives

Generate ideas and topics and make a plan for writing

Indicator2. Compose oral, written, and visual presentations that express personal ideas, inform, and

persuade

Objectives

Write to express personal ideas using drawings, symbols, letters, words, sentences, and simpleparagraphs

Md State Common Corew2 Write several sentences using the facts that are all related to the topic.

Produce complete simple and compound sentences. (CCSS 2 L1.f)

Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently

occurring irregular words. (CCSS 1 L2.d)


April 16, 2012- Sequence of Events

Stage of written expression: The final written sample shows improvement in Eva's developmentof writing. In this sample, there is evidence of knowledge of diphthongs when Eva spelledflowers with an /aw/. Also, the writing sample has uses of digraphs as in the words; truck and

then. Eva has used blends in her writing such as in the words; blue, stickers and truck. The third

passage show lack of consistency of the use of capitalization letters. Eva exhibits the knowledge

of using ending punctuation in all three passages. I would put this writing sample in the Early-Functional stage.

Stage of spelling development: Judging from this writing sample; I can see that all the sightwords are spelled correctly. Also all the words in the passage are sounded out phonetically from

the beginning, medial and ending sounds. She is showing more awareness of spelling patterns

but not fluent in all the rules. An example of a rule that is not enforced is Eva's spelling of the

word, "paint" the long a could have been represented with the /ai/ or /a_e/ but it is just spelledwith an /a/ on the writing sample. The writing sample indicates development in the beginning

transitional spelling stage.

Benchmark of writing: The genre that Eva selected to write about was to sequence events. I

wrote the transitional words on a white board to give her guidance to the sequence of events. I

wrote First, Next, Then and Finally for a reference. Eva had a difficult time selecting an event to


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sequence. After brainstorming together, Eva decided to sequence when she and her father

painted and put together a Barbie car. Eva used a graphic organizer prior to the writing to helpsequence the events. Eva's writing sample shows her ability to sort events in chronological order.

A goal for Eva will be to revise her original writing sample and check her conventions for

capital letters. I will give her a check list to review before she completes her writing in the future.

Handwriting-letter formation and spacing: Eva's writing sample show correct letter

formation and the spacing in between the words and letters are appropriate. Eva used the lined

paper to guide letter formation.

MSC-Maryland State Curriculum

Standard 4.0 Writing

Topic A.Objectives

Generate ideas and topics and make a plan for writing

Indicator2. Compose oral, written, and visual presentations that express personal ideas, inform, and

persuade

Objectives

Write to express personal ideas using drawings, symbols, letters, words, sentences, and simpleparagraphs

w3 Apply the prewriting stage of the writing process:

o tell about a series of events in a logical sequence (See CCSS 1 RL 2, CCSS 1

SL4.)

Overview of Writing Samples

The three writing passages were written in the span of three months. Each precedingwriting sample demonstrated the working knowledge of spelling patterns and grammar rules.

The first passage did not show evidence of capitalization in the correct context, consistent word

spacing and the correct spelling of sight words. Each preceding passage displayed developmental

growth and the knowledge of more consistent grammar rules. A pattern that is present in all threepassages is the lack of consistency of the use of capitalization letters. In addition, passage one

and three show the use of capital letters in the writing when not necessary. One strength Eva

exhibits the knowledge of using ending punctuation in all three passages. The third passage

helped to demonstrate Eva's capability to sequence events. Another strength is how Eva is able toconnect her writing to her life which provides more meaning to her writing. One goal to help Eva

progress her writing is to work on capitalization and what instances to use it. Another goal for


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Eva is to continue to work on grammar conventions like r-controlled vowels, and "i" before "e"

and its exceptions.

IRI Results

Level of Pass. Word Lists Miscue Analysis Comprehension Score Identified Level

1st Independent Independent Independent Independent

2n Independent Instructional Independent Instructional

3r Frustration Instructional Frustration Frustration

Analysis of Miscues and Oral Reading Fluency

Word Passage Level 1- Air

Student: Eva, grade 1

Word list completion: First Grade

Test Administered:- Word List: March 29, 2012

- Word Passage: April 2, 2012

Word Attack: The student reached the independent level on the first grade word list. I had Eva

attempt the second grade word list and observed that it took more than three seconds to read each

word. She missed three out of the twenty words which put her at an instructional level for secondgrade. Eva's atomicity wasn't at a three second range per word so I selected a first grade

expository passage for Eva to begin our assessment. I chose the passage about Air because Eva

likes to fly kites and a story about air may piqu her interest. Eva had a total of four miscues out

of eighty-five words however only two of the miscues involved meaning change. Three of the

miscues were self-corrections and she had trouble decoding the word, "weigh." She triedmultiple times but had difficulty with the /ei/ and /gh/ combinations. I noticed that Eva didn't

hesitate pronouncing words. She would say a word that sounded like what the word looked likeand went back to sound out the words that didn't make sense from the context. Eva would

scrunch her face when she mispronounced a word that didn't make sense in the passage. She was

able to make self corrections. Due to this type of reading behavior I would consider Eva a risk

taker. Eva was able to successfully complete the first grade passage "Air" at an independentlevel.

Comprehension: Eva displayed her vast prior knowledge about the concept of air and its

properties. She scored an eight out of nine on the concept questions. The thoroughness of her

answers made me wonder if this was a lesson taught in class. I was concerned about the validityof this assessment to gage Eva's comprehension. She was able to recall one part of the main idea;

"what air does." She was able to retell six details from the story. Eva made an inferencestatement about how she likes a windy day to fly her kite. Eva was able to answer all six

questions correctly. Eva completed the comprehension of this passage at an independent level.

Fluency: Eva had good fluency when reading this passage. Her reading was consistent

throughout the reading. She used her finger to track each word. She didn't lose track of her place


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or repeat a line. She paused after each sentence. However, each sentence started on a new line

which made it hard to tell if Eva knew to pause between sentences.

Results: After the completion all three parts of this assessment I have concluded that Eva is

reading at a first grade independent level. She scored at an independent level for word attack,

comprehension and fluency. Eva's next step is to read a second grade passage.

Passage 2

Word Passage Level 2 Narrative- What Can I Get for My Toy?


Word list completion: First Grade- Word List: March 29, 2012

- Word Passage: April 8, 2012

Word Attack/miscues: The second passage chose was a second grade narrative, What Can I Get

for My Toy? Eva had a total of one meaning miscues out of one-hundred and seventy one wordshowever she made eleven miscues total. Five of the miscues were self-corrections. There is a

pattern of self-corrections in both passages to be evident. Two miscues were a mispronunciationof a name. Two of the miscues were words that the reader left off the ending. Eva scored in the

independent level for miscues in a second grade passage. Miscue Analysis-1/171 words= 99%

Independent

Comprehension: Eva exhibited concrete prior knowledge of the concept questions about new

toys and the idea of trading toys. She scored an 8/9 which is an 88%. Eva needed prompting to

encourage her to retell the story, "What Can I Get for My Toy?" She was able to recall24/38=63% events from the story. The outcome of the post-assessment question was at an

instructional level of 7/8 which is an 87%. Eva answered all four implicit questions and three out

of four explicit questions correctly. Comprehension=79% Instructional

Fluency: In regards to Eva's fluency in a second grade passage; there was an increase of nine

additional miscue errors that affected fluency. One of the weakness that Eva encountered on this

passage was tracking the text. Eva used a bookmark when reading however, she kept lifting it upand losing her place. In addition, there was evidence in both passages of reading a word and then

going back and sounding it out if the word did not fit in context. Fluency-160/170=93%

Independent

Results: After the completion all three parts of this assessment I have concluded that Eva is

reading at a second grade instructional level. She scored at an independent level for word attack,

fluency and an instructional for comprehension. Eva's next step is to read a third gradeexpository passage.

Passage 3

Word Passage Level 3 Expository- Wool: From Sheep to You



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Word list completion: First Grade

- Word List: March 29, 2012- Word Passage: April 15, 2012

Word Attack/miscues: The third passage chose was a third grade expository, Wool: From

Sheep to You. Eva had a total 22 miscues which 16 of the miscues changed the meaning of theword. Eva had difficulty decoding words and mispronounced 15 of the 22 miscues. Eva would

benefit from more phonics instruction to help with decoding. Eva scored at a frustration level.

Comprehension: Eva achieved a 9/12=75% for her responses for the concept questions prior to

the passage. The retelling of the story was challenging for Eva which could have attributed to the

higher number of miscues. She was able to retell 5 out of 42 ideas which is an 11%. Eva hadmore success on the post passage questions. She was able to answer 2/4 explicit questions correct

and all four Implicit questions correct. Eva scored a 6/8 =75% in her post assessment questions.

In combination of the three assessments; Eva achieved a 53% for comprehension.

Fluency: In regards to Eva's fluency in a third grade passage; her fluency was affected by thenumber of words that were un-decodable for her skill set. She lost her place twice even with a

bookmark. In addition, there was a pattern as in the first and second passage of reading a wordand then going back to decode it. However, this strategy wasn't as effective due to the size of the

words. She demonstrated frustration when attempting to decode words. Eva's fluency was at 22

miscues which is at the frustration level.

Results of three passages: After the completion all three passages I have concluded that Eva is

reading at the independent level in first grade passages. She is reading at an instructional level in

second grade passages. She reached her frustration level in 3rd grade passages.

Analysis of Comprehension

Eva's comprehension is linked directly the amount of meaning miscues that occurred

during each passage. Eva was able to provide more retelling of events for the first two passageswhere the miscount number was lower. Her weakness in decoding the third grade passage

resulted in not having strong recalling and comprehension skills. Eva's retelling proficiency in

sequencing the stories events was a strength. She was able to recall almost every detail in the

order of events from the beginning, middle and end for the first two passages. The first passage Ididn't have to prompt Eva to recall the events of the story. As the passages progressed with

difficulty so did her ease of retelling the sequence of events. The third passage wasn't indicative

of the comprehension level of the previous passages. It was difficult for Eva to extract meaning

from the text due to the high amount of miscues. In addition, there was a pattern in all threepassages in the ability to answer explicit questions. She also had a more difficult time recalling

inferential information from the passages. Eva tested as first grade independent for

comprehension. She tested at the instructional level for second grade and the frustration level forthird grade comprehension.

Portrait of this Reader


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Based on the Miscue Analysis and fluency, Eva is reading at the independent level in

second grade level. She is able to decode and self correct reading. Her automaticity for the wordlist was leveled as first grade. Comprehension results demonstrated that Eva is at a first grade

independent level. Eva is a beginning reader. She understands basic punctuation when reading

she is able to read for approximately twenty minutes before losing focus. While analyzing the

three passages, Eva is able to identify most sight words and self correct when the word does notmake sense in the context. She was able to identify the characters and events in Air and What

Can I Get for My Toy?

Educational Activities

To get more practice with diphthongs the student can play a rhyming game. Provide adiphthong and have the student write down as many words rhyme with the word. An

example of this would be brown; crown, town, frown and clown.

A fun activity to get exposure to R-Controlled Vowels is to play r-controlled vowel bingo

where students can learn r-controlled words that are altered by the r while playing a funand interactive game.

Syllable Sort is a great activity for a child to strengthen their syllable skills. Based on the

syllable count the students sort words in four different piles. The piles will be numberedone to four based on the corresponding number of syllables. The first student to complete

the sort correctly wins.

Flashcard capital game-Make a deck of flashcards that include the use of capital letters.In the game, students decide whether flashcard used the capital correctly or not. The

student with the most cards wins.

To help Eva with answering explicit questions; I will give her short passages to read and

highlight any explicit information while reading. This exercise will help Eva to be able tofind the resources to answer explicit questions.

Bibliography-Activities

Erin Schreiner. (1999-2012). Interactive Educational Syllable Games.

http://www.ehow.com/list_5993911_interactive-educational-syllable-games.html#ixzz1stID6LSj

Linda Basilicato. (1999-2012). Diphthongs.www.ehow.com/list_6063240_activities-diphthongs-primarygrades.html#ixzz1stDbOhCh

Lanternfish ESL. (2007). R-Controlled Vowel Bingo-Bogglesworlds.http://bogglesworldesl.com/rcontrolledvowelbingo.htm

Book Recommendations

Stories for R-Controlled Vowels & Diphthongs Book by EDU Press is a 48 page book

that contains stories with r-controlled vowels and diphthongs. In addition, there are

activities for the student to work on independently at home or in the classroom.


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Madeline (Madeline Series) has earned the honor of the Caldecott Award. It is a

children's fiction picture book that offers multi-syllabic words that a student can readaloud and clap the syllables of the words to define the syllables.

Night Creatures, by Wade Cooper is a Reader Level 2 which is developmentally

appropriate for my student. I would recommend this non-fiction book to help develop

answering explicit questions about nocturnal animals. The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! by Mo Willems is an interesting book that has a interesting

sentence variation and attention grabbers. This book will help model interesting writing

and sentence variation. This sentence variation was on recommendation for Eva's writingskills.

The book, Cow Towns by Raymond Bial lends itself nicely to identify diphthongs. The

nonfiction book is recommended for beginning readers. Cow Towns provides greatexposure to diphthongs which is one of suggestions to expand Eva's reading level. This

book will help Eva be introduced to a larger variety of genres while incorporating

exposure to diphthongs.

The Clown in the Gown Drives the Car with the Star: A Book about Diphthongs and R-

Controlled Vowels is another great book to help Eva with learning about the r-controlledvowels and diphthongs.

Internet Resources

Here is a website to reinforce r-controlled vowels and other phonics and phonemicawareness lessons. This website is developmentally appropriate for Eva since it ranges

from kindergarten to second grade. http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-

read/load.htm?f

The website The World of Brian P. Cleary has a lot of interactive games and books to

help enforce grammar conventions like the r-controlled vowels and diphthongs. There are

funny books on the website to help tohttp://www.brianpcleary.com/phonics/index.html

A recommendation for help in learning when to use capital letters is the websiteBrainpop. This is a link to several activities, a kid friendly video, and an assessment of

the information. The website Brainpop has many additional resources and activities to

help enforce good grammar conventions.http://www.brainpop.com/english/grammar/capitalization/

Parent Recommendations

In respect to enforcing capital letters based on Eva's three writing samples; she can use a

diary or a journal to write down special thought to events during the day. She can practice

using capitals for the beginning of sentences or proper nouns. Eva can even date herentries so you can monitor her progress.

A fun and easy way to help with syllables is to talk a walk outside or in your house with

your child. Have your child point to an object and say its name. Then have your childclap out it's syllables. This is a great way to practice syllables.

To help Eva's development in diphthongs and r-controlled vowels based on the PAP,

parents can create flashcards using diphthongs, and r-controlled vowels. This includes the


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letter combinations: diphthongs- /oi/, /oy/, /au/, /ow/, /aw/, /oo/, /ou/ r-controlled vowels

/ar/, /er/, /ir/, /or/, /ur/. The child will say the sound that the letters on the card make.

ConclusionWhile completing this literacy study, I learned the complex process to assess a child across all

components of literacy development. Conducting this case study was an immense undertaking. There

were so many elements to evaluate and data to analyze. Each assessment tells the story of the child's

literacy and their developmental stage. I found analyzing writing samples to match specific criteria an eye

opening experience. I was able to see my student's development from her word choice. I saw very simplewords and grammar conventions to intricate spellings. Observing my student helped to show how a

student thinks and processes information. I also was reminded that my subject was a small child who was

subject to having a bad day or doesn't have the capacity to focus for long periods of time. It is ethical and

right to reschedule an assessment if a student isn't prepared mentally or physically. The case study

showed how to find the student's strengths and weaknesses and help provide recommendations to

strengthen her literacy skills. The results of these assessments are imperative to get to drive instruction

and activities to strengthen skills. Individualized educational plans can be developed for students. I

gained valuable insight on the development of a child's literacy and the teacher's role in cultivating their

growth.

Reference Page

1) Culham, R., & Avery, C. (2005). 6+1 Traits of writing: primary grades. New York City, NY:

Scholastic.2) Gregory, G. H., & Chapman, C. (2007). Differentiated instructional strategies (2nd ed.).

California: Corwin Press.

3)Wortham, S. C. (2008). Assessment in early childhood education (6th ed.). New Jersey:

Pearson.

Documents

Child Literacy Case Study