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Stephanie Martz

A. Perdue

READ 366

11 November 2014

Literacy Assessment

The literacy assessment is a combination of tasks to assess where the child is as a reader,

emergent or beginner. The child chosen for this assessment is considered the highest in the class. He is

the same child that was chosen for the story retelling assignment, which he performed well in. This child

is 4 years old in a preschool class at Stone Spring Elementary. Since he is in Pre-K classroom, he was

asked to complete 8 separate tasks. He fully completed 7, only not competing 1 due to missing more

than the required number of 5-6. After the assessment and reviewing the work of the child, the child

was placed in the category of an emergent reader. The child showed competency in areas such as

concept of print and letter formation, however, he does not show competency in being able to read by

recognizing words yet. This places him as an emergent reader versus a beginning reader.

The first task James* was asked to complete was the picture and name task. The child is simply

supposed to draw a picture, write his name on it, and explain what he drew. James loved this task

because he is interested in art – drawing is his favorite hobby. He instantly began drawing and asked,

“Can I turn around so the picture will be a surprise?” When he was given permission, he immediately

turned around and began working diligently. After he was finished he said, “Ta-da!” He was reminded to

write his name at the bottom. Once he did so, the child was asked to explain the picture to me. He said,

“It’s not a truck, it’s a school bus. Driving on the grass and the flowers.” He was very proud of his work

and asked if he could keep it and put in his backpack to take home.

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James considered the next two tasks, rhyme and beginning sounds, games. This made him very

excited to play and “win.” In rhyming, he got a total of 6 out of 9 correct. He answered each question

confidently, even the ones he got wrong. He was not intimidated by the task whatsoever and answered

each one with words instead of pointing. For example, when answering number 2 he said, “Bed, bread.”

Like the rhyming task, the beginning sounds task was also fun for James. He answered 6 out of 8

correctly and again, always answered confidently. When answering number 1, he said, “Nose, nine. Duh!

That was easy.” After completing these tasks he was ready to see what game was next. It was great to

see a child his age turning learning into something fun and exciting.

In letter identification, James performed very well for a Pre-K student. He answered 22 out of 26

correctly and attempted 25 out of 26. The only letter he answered “I don’t know” for was the letter Q.

The teacher has not covered the letter Q in class yet. The other 3 that James answered incorrectly were

the letters G, T, and D. The mistakes that he made in answering these were very common however such

as answering that the letter G is J. He did answer that the letter J was in fact a J. He answered all 22

confidently, however, the 4 that he missed he answered by starting, “Umm…” and then making a guess.

James also enjoyed this activity but did not call it a game as he did before.

The next 2 tasks, letter production and letter-sound production, were the hardest for James. In

both he missed more than 5-6 but I only ended letter-sound production. Out of curiosity, I allowed

James to finish letter production because he did not show signs of frustration or confusion. He correctly

wrote 15 out of 26 letters with only 3 reversals that were counted correct. He wrote P, S, and F

backwards. He has the basic concept of M and N but did not get these correct because he drew to many

humps for each one (see assessment sheet). James did enjoy this task as well because it was like art to

him. He wrote the ones he knew and had no problem saying “I don’t know that one,” for the ones he did

not know. In letter-sound production, James was beginning to lose focus. He was being much more

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playful instead of focusing on the task at hand. After he missed 6, the task was ended. If this part of the

assessment had been re-done on another day when his focus was not lost, he may have performed

higher.

The final task was concept of word with the “Teddy Bear” poem. Because of lack of attention in

the prior task, this task took the longest to complete. The child struggled to remember the last 2 lines of

the poem so we practiced it multiple times before it was grasped. James showed some knowledge in

areas such as directionality and matching the picture to the correct line of the poem. He often got off

task and began to tell stories about his own teddy bears instead of working on the task at hand. He was

allowed him to tell his stories to let out some of his energy as was allowed before in the letter-sound

production task. It helped to finish the task. This child scored 12 out of 32 points on this assessment.

Concept of word is the hardest task for this child.

Overall, James did very well on the literacy assessment and impressed all of his teachers with his

work and knowledge. His skills and knowledge showed that he is definitely an emergent reader. He has

the skills that fall under emergent readers such as: finger-pointing, listening to and retelling stories,

phonological awareness, and letter formation. A teaching plan for James would include continuing to

teach new letters and their sounds by incorporating alphabet games and activities, allowing time for

drawing, pretend writing, and writing letters, listening to stories and doing activities with stories such as

flannel boards, and rhyming activities. To work on his concept of word, memorized rhymes with finger-

pointing and repeated readings of small books will help to improve his skill. It is clear that James has had

exposure to all these activities and more because he is able to show his knowledge and perform quite

well in this literacy assessment. James will soon be able to move to a beginning reader once his class has

covered all the letters of the alphabet and their sounds and practiced more with concept of word.

*Name has been changed.

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