Child Portfolio EARL216 Catherine Thomas by Catherine Thomas

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 02:39:46 UTC

D is 2 years old. He just turned 2 last month. He is the youngest of 3 children in his family. His mom says his favorite things to do would be to build with blocks, read books, and chase his siblings around. He also likes to play on his iPad.

After seeing him interact with his peers, he overall plays with all the children. I observed him sharing his toys and generally plays "nicely" as his teacher described.

He is behind on speech. He is not behind enough to have a speech therapist, however they are working with him both at home and school to use his words more with his peers and teachers. Typically when he wants something, he will either yell or point to what he wants.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 02:44:28 UTC

This was the first observation I did of D. He was talking a lot this day actually. All of his teachers were in the room that day. I notice if there is a floater teacher in the room he will not talk at all, maybe a couple words throughout my whole observation. Instead he will go over to a teacher and put both his hands up and make some sounds, indicating that he wants to be held.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 02:50:31 UTC

This is a sample of a lesson plan I did connecting language and literacy to dramatic play. In this lesson, D responded well and completed the gardening activity correctly and used all the materials as I modeled. This was unique compared to the other children because I had quite a few children who would just throw the materials or collect them all in their hands and run around. I personally believe that due to the fact that D has an older brother and sister, he is more likely to play with dramatic play materials properly.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 02:51:26 UTC

D loves to play outside. Whenever we are outside I can tell he is happy!

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 12:30:08 UTC

D loves play doh and other sensory experiences. The teachers encourage his speech in this center by using 1.2 OTJ Use expanded vocabulary in everyday speech. The teachers encourage him to use new vocabulary when discussing different textures and introduce new vocabulary by modeling the use of newly learned words and phrases.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 12:33:50 UTC

Lab #2. Lots of observations of D and the classroom layout to stimulate his growth and development.

Print Motivation

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 12:42:36 UTC

The children read a story everyday. This gets the children more involved in literacy skills. They are reading fun books and theme related books to get a love of reading from a young age.

Print Awareness

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 12:42:44 UTC

In the dramatic play area the children are often given the opportunity to explore with enviromental print. This specific day the children were given some juice bottles and snack boxes. They tried to identify the letters or the products that these bottles and boxes were.

Letter Knowledge

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 12:42:51 UTC

The children were playing "garden shop" in dramatic play. D was provided with a list of seeds and other materials that we see in a garden. By being provided with materials that have words on them, even though he can't read, being exposed to letters and words will help D in the future when it comes time to work on letter recognition and learning sounds/phonics.

Vocabulary

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 12:42:59 UTC

The sensory bin gives D lots of opportunities to communicate with his peers and expands his language. D is behind in his language skills and after some review, he is behind his peers in language development looking at his progress report. Throughout the semester I tried to have D use his words to communicate his wants and needs.

Narrative Skills

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 12:43:07 UTC

In our dramatic play area, D is given the opportunity to narrate the materials he is playing with and the actions he is doing. I have observed D explain to myself and the other teachers what he was doing in 2-3 words, but he does not verbally interact with his peers.

Phonological Awareness

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 12:43:23 UTC

I have not seen much evidence of D's phonological awareness since he is so young. However he has identified Letter D is for Dylan.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 13:05:22 UTC

The teachers in D's classroom interact with him and try to make him use his language skills by modeling the expectations that they have. The teachers can be the biggest tools in the classroom.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 13:07:02 UTC

D is playing in dramatic play. In the dramatic play center, the children use their language skills and develop their vocabulary.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 13:19:22 UTC

By matching shapes and colors, we are using our describing words. When looking at D's development, I noticed that it was tricky to get him to use his words. Throughout the semester, I would ask him things like colors and shapes to get him to start talking to me. This often led us to other conversations about what he was doing or some action words to get him to start talking.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 13:26:57 UTC

Puzzles engage the children in vocabulary development and memory skills.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-05 14:02:54 UTC

The sensory bin is a great way to link language and literacy skills. D got to feel multiple textures and tell us what they both look and felt like. This helps him develop more vocabulary and improve communication between D and his friends.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-07 17:39:58 UTC

D uses verbal language when he listens, understands, speaks, communicates, and engages in pretend play.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-07 17:46:46 UTC

D develops the ability to use the elements and structures of verbal languages when they articulate sounds, describe ideas and feelings, and tell stories.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-07 17:47:26 UTC

D represents and expresses ideas through verbal languages when he imitates friendly words, signs, gestures, and actions.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-07 17:51:26 UTC

D inquire and solves problems with the language and literacy when he observes (looks closely, listens to understand), makes connections, investigates objects and actions, and connect new learning to prior experiences.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-07 17:53:29 UTC

D builds relationships and understanding when he uses the languages of literacy to take care of himself, form attachments to primary caregivers, express emotions, form a group identity, play/work both alone and in groups and share materials.

1.1 OT.C Categorize familiar sounds

cetjune13 — 2025-05-08 18:56:47 UTC

The children were in this safari animal tent and had some animal masks. D exceeded in identifying animal sounds and correctly identifying what animals made which sounds. He imitated sounds when playing.

1.5 OT.A Engage in reciprocal conversations and interactions with peers and adults.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-11 17:53:43 UTC

Often times in the sensory bin, D will identify what toys he has to the teacher. This has him engage in conversational turn taking.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-11 18:16:45 UTC

1.5 OT.C Respond to questions, comments, or directions

cetjune13 — 2025-05-11 18:20:00 UTC

By participating in the dramatic play center that has been set up, D is engaging in the center and responding to adults requests showing understanding of what is being asked, as well as responding to a question with an answer or details related to the topic being discussed.

Interests

cetjune13 — 2025-05-11 18:44:19 UTC

D is very interested in cars recently. Often times to get D to talk, the teachers would ask him questions about cars and have him describe what color the cars were that they were playing with. By grabbing and pushing the cars, his strengthens the muscles in his fingers and wrists.

Interested In Sensory

cetjune13 — 2025-05-11 18:48:25 UTC

The teacher in D's classroom would have a different sensory experience set up in the classroom everyday. Water, rice, pasta, shredded paper, play doh, slime, and ice were some examples of what I observed D play with. Sensory play helped D's language and cognitive development. He was trying to describe the colors and textures that he experienced in the sensory bin.

Language Development

cetjune13 — 2025-05-11 18:49:44 UTC

As mentioned in previous slides, D's language development is behind what I have seen in other children in his classroom. I believe this is due to the fact that he has 2 older siblings who love to talk for him!! I think that foster more language development, D can be encouraged to ask for things with words rather than just pointing, which is what he currently does. By promoting independence I believe that D can be put on track to have an age appropriate vocabulary.

cetjune13 — 2025-05-12 02:00:34 UTC