Laura Soto

December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL THE NAMES USED IN THIS REPORT ARE PSEUDONYMS
TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY AND INFORMATION OF EACH OF MY STUDENTS
Ivy (Child 1)
Description of Child:
Family Background:
Ivy has been identified and placed into a first grade English Language Development class
due to the following assessments that are further described below: Home Language Survey (1)
and AZELLA (2). She is a six year old female (3). I observed during our open house meeting,
on August 27th, that she has one little sister and a mom (4). On October 17th, I was informed that
Ivy was adopted. It was explained to me that her biological mother isnt allowed to see her and
there have been some family challenges regarding this. It isnt known if her younger sister is a
full biological sister or not (4).
Linguistic Information:
Ivy currently has an IEP and attends an IEP meeting with her speech therapists during the
following days in the morning: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (4). Further details on her
IEP will be discussed in her language development.
Cultural Information:
I havent heard Ivy speak another language and during the open house her adopted mom
spoke to me in English (4). However, I have made an anecdotal note underlining that Ivys
adopted mom receives important documentation, such as report cards, in Spanish (4).
Interests & Hobbies:

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TTE 357- Final Report
On September 29th, I asked Ivy what her favorite thing to do at home was and she
answered, Draw (4).
Assessment Tools Used:
(1) Home Language Survey: Registration card must include the question: what is the primary
language spoken in the home. If a response is any language other than English than a
survey goes home called Home Language Survey.
(2) AZELLA: If the survey comes back indicating that a student may not be proficient in
English then they have to take a English language proficiency test within 30 days of
registration or two weeks after their first day. AZELLA is one of those proficiency tests
used by Arizona that is used to place students in English Learning Development classes
to help them test out of the class.
(3) Roster: One of my assessment tools was a class roster that included their date of birth to
determine the childs age.
(4) Observation Binder: I have created an ongoing documentation binder that includes
observation made in the 1st grade/2nd grade combination classroom. There are currently
thirteen pages worth of hand written information that I have written during moments of
reflection and direct observation of this case study on Mondays and Wednesday. Specific
information that was referenced in the family background include: family background
which was documented on August 27th describing my interaction with Ivys mom during
open house, her IEP dates and times are documented on September 3rd after discussing
them with her speech therapist, a more in depth conversation with my mentor about Ivys
background and her adoption was documented on October 17th, a summary of her
quarterly report was documented on October 13th and her interest in drawing was

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
documented on September 29th prior to reading out of her book box. Other anecdotal
notes that were reference in the physical and social and emotional development include:
Ivys fine motor skills on September 29th for SERP 301C, the creation of the
development poster on December 1st, vocal and physical interactions during morning
meeting and during book box time was also documented on September 3rd, her
challenging interactions with the lunch lady on September 15th , the call home to discuss
the challenge Ivy was having with lining up on December 22nd, multiple interactions
with Salad on September 29th, November 10th , November 12th and November 17th.
Further social and emotional observations include: an interaction between the assistant
teacher on September 29th, interview with the speech therapist on October 20th,
November 10th Ivy was observed after getting in trouble for running in the hall, her IEP
goals were documented on September 24th, conversation regarding Ivys progress on
November 17th with her teachers, I observed her engagement in class on September 3rd,
8th and 29th. IEP interview on October 20th with speech therapist and my mentor teacher.
Observations of Ivys preferences were documented on: September 29th, October 20th,
October 22nd, October 30th, November 3rd, and November 13th. The following
documentation was observed and used for language development: On September 3rd and
15th I observed Ivys vocabulary strands to determine how many words she used to get
her point across. Her IEP goals were recorded during her IEP meeting on September 24th
and the interviews were which covered how Ivy asked questions occurred on October
20th. I observed Ivy asking questions during math on October 20th. On November 3rd, I
had a conversation with my mentor teacher about what happened during their Pumpkin
Patch field trip. The following documentation was used to assess growth in reading and

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
language art skills: On September 8th, November 24th and December 3rd, I observed her
reading out of her book box. On September 3rd it was documented how Ivy interacted
with her peers during Avenues, how she modeled the assistant teacher on September 9th
and how she interacted with the phonics lesson involving tile on October 20nd. Lastly the
interview with Caroline on October 20th and creating the poster with Ivy on December 1
and was documented to analyze Ivys engagement with language arts and her growths.
Math one-to-one observations were made on September 8th when I observed Ivy make
combinations, September 29th with pennies and October 13th with the timeline. Ivy
counting was documented on September 29th and December 1st. How Ivy answered math
questions was documented on October 13th, October 20th and November 17th. For social
studies, I am using documentation from September 15th with lunch lady, September 24th
when she avoided my question about her IEP meeting and September 29th when she cried
after being reminded by the assistant teacher to stay on task. December 3rd was when I
talked to Ivy about emotions during book box time. Science was documented on August
27th with their visit to BELL and on October 3rd on their fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch.
An interview with Caroline on October 20th is also referenced in this section.
(5) Photographs of Past Work: On September 8th and 25th I took a picture of two samples of
Ivys writing. The picture was taken with my I-phone and put into a file labeled Ivy.
One was her writing about the seasons and the second was her observations at BELL
(Borton Environmental Learning Laboratory).
Growth Analysis:
Physical Development:
Growth Analysis:

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TTE 357- Final Report
On September 8th, I observed that Ivys demonstrates the ability to color within the lines
and writes her sentences in a straight line (5). On September 29th, it was observed that there
wasnt any growth but Ivy continues to write in a clear and concise manner (4).
Strengths:
Ivy continues to refine her fine motor skills by printing letters, writing numbers and
coloring in her pictures inside the lines (4).
Future Growth:
Ivy should be encouraged to focus on the spacing of her words. Even when something is
modeled for her, she still writes them one after the other as is demonstrated on the poster (4).
Social & Emotional Development:
Growth Analysis:
This is Ivys third development area that we focused on and a lot of growth has been
observed and documented. This following analysis will focus on how shes grown in regards to
expressing her emotions, being distracted, following directions and further diversities.
In the beginning of the year, there were multiple observations of Ivy having a conflict
with another person and expressing her emotions. On September 3rd, I observed my mentor
teacher helping Ivy be a morning leader. The morning leader has to point to each letter of the
month and have the class clap it out. Ivy skipped passed all the letters. My mentor teacher
supported Ivy by inviting her to slow down. When this didnt work, my mentor teacher gently
held Ivys hand to guide her but Ivy pulled away and continued as before (4). Another incident
occurred later in the day when she pushed one of her peers. When my mentor teacher told the
other child to move, Ivy tried to follow the child to push them again (4). Lastly, on September
15, the lunch lady approached my mentor teacher with Ivy at her side. She explained that Ivy

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TTE 357- Final Report
wasnt following directions in the Cafeteria and when my mentor teacher went to approach her
about it Ivy covered her ears. While the two discussed the situation Ivy wouldnt make eye
contact. My mentor teacher explained that that hurts peoples feelings and maybe she could talk
to the lunch lady. Ivy didnt move. In fact, she didnt go to recess until both adults had left to
prove her determination (4).
Although some challenges still present themselves, weve narrowed a common factor of
escalated behavior to a peer named Salad (4). On September 29, my mentor teacher mentioned
that Salad (Salad being a pseudonym for one of the children in my classroom.) and Ivy should
not sit next to each other (4). Salads relationship with Ivy still causes challenges but Ivy has
learned how to manage her anger around him. On November 10th, Salad started taunting her by
poking her arm and she didnt give in. She waited for a teacher to intervene (4). However, this
wasnt the case on November 13th, when anger resulted in a physical altercation (4). I learned a
later date that Ivy was sitting in the front row; Salad wanted that spot and he punched her in the
face when she did not budge. Unlike previous occasions, Ivy did not reciprocate physically (4).
Aside from the interaction with this peer, Ivy has demonstrated that she has a higher
grasp of her emotions. On September 29th, I observed Ivy during math time. The teacher
mentioned to Ivy that they had already talked about her disengagement and that she needed to
pay attention. I watched as Ivy went to cover her ears. Then, suddenly, she started to tear up. She
removed her hands from her ears and wiped her eyes instead. Normally, she would continue to
cover her ears but she started to pay attention again (4). Another time I noticed her control her
emotions was when she got in trouble for running in the hall. Up until this point, when Ivy gets
in trouble, she completely shuts down and doesnt listen to any instructions past that point. She
knew she couldnt be first in line as a consequence and she did it anyway (not letting the teacher

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
take her hand to lead her to the back and not budging from the front). At the beginning of the
year, her anger would last for the rest of the day. However, after 30 to 45 minutes I asked a
question about finding someones book box to the general class. Ivy answered me by saying,
thats not Salads (4). Progress was also noted by her speech therapist during my interview
with her on October 20th. She informed me that she was surprised a year ago when Ivy got
frustrated and put her head down on the table. She didnt participate for the rest of the activity
but she hasnt seen her do it since (4). Lastly, both my mentor teacher and the assistant teacher
made a remark on November 17th about Ivys progress regarding her emotional regulation (4).
Another realm of growth includes her level of distraction and ability to follow directions.
In fact, following directions is one of her IEP goals (4). Ivy is very observant, I noticed her
observe others during multiple reading lessons. Some of these examples include: seeing how her
peers respond to instructions so she can mimic them, seeing that there is trash on the floor or
observing when peers need something. Unfortunately, this sometimes meant that she missed out
on the instructions (4). She also often missed directions because she was talking to her friends
during the lesson (4). My mentor teacher described her behavior on October 20 during her IEP
interview as follows: No, she isnt very attentive in class. Disruptive behavior that I have
noticed include: laughing inappropriately, looking at other children during lessons, fixated on
being first in line, gets upset immediately when shes not called on fast enough and has to have
particular people sitting next to her (4). Her speech therapist approached this characteristic by
explaining that she participates when there is a one-to-one teacher and student focus. If more
than one child joins the group then she starts to observe more than she participates. When they
join she starts to mirror their actions. Ivy is fairly attentive when she comes in here compared to
in the classroom. This is because my lessons are more simplified, she knows the activity, the

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
questions arent as open-ended as they are in the classroom, I redirect her and give her the oneon-one when its needed. Sometimes classroom teachers dont have the time or ability to do this
with so many students. (4). I checked the growth of all of these remarks on December 2nd when I
made the growth poster with Ivy. She still didnt react to open-ended questions and needed
modeling in order to follow a task. She actively participated because we were working one-onone.
Ivys final growth has more to do with me than her. Ivy has unique preferences. These
preferences include: that she had to perfectly color in the pictures before she could move on in
reading (4), her fixation with being first in line (4), she lines her IEP stamps in a straight line and
facing the same direction (4). On October 20, it was observed that Ivy threw away her lunch with
very little eaten out of it so that she could be first in line (4). My mentor teacher also called home
about this fixation and the behavior that erupts when she isnt able to be first in line (4). After
making these observations, it was brought to my attention that Ivy might be facing more
diversities than speech. Sherry commented on my IEP overview with the following statement:
From your description of Ivy, I was wondering if she may be experiencing some challenges
beyond speech (4). After reading this statement, I really wasnt sure. Coincidentally, I had
another conversation with Sonya that reflected this same thought (4). My mentor teacher agreed
but said its hard to document all the occurrences (4). This was a growth for me with Ivys social
and emotional development because it opened a whole new window on how I viewed and
worked with Ivy in her development.
Strengths:
Ivy has demonstrated a strength in regulating her emotions and understanding that she
should not be around specific classmates.

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
Future Growth:
Id like to see Ivy take initiative and have confidence to explore following directions
without the fear of being wrong.
Language Development:
Growth Analysis:
Ivy has demonstrated a limited vocabulary and uses a strand of four or less words when
speaking. On September 3rd and 15th, I kept track of some of the things she said during the day in
my Observation Binder and they include: sit down, not gun [students name], pizza, I
know teacher, skip this one, and now read this one (4). Ivy still uses small strands of words
but she has developed one growth. Her speech therapist mentioned on September 24th that Ivy
knew how to ask functional questions but she didnt ask questions to further her understanding
(4). My mentor teacher supported this observation with her own experience and remarked during
her interview, She doesnt ask questions. Its very rare that she volunteers something. She
mostly speaks up when she telling me what someone did (4). However, during a math lesson, I
listened and observed as she took the initiative to try and further her understanding. Here exact
question was: why is 2 and 2 and 2? She was asking why the assistant teacher wrote 2 + 2 + 2 on
the whiteboard (4). Another development was in how Ivy carried herself in a conversation. On
November 3rd, my mentor teacher mentioned that she saw another side of Ivy during their
Pumpkin Patch field trip that she had never seen before, For the first time I heard her actually
having a conversation and not just being told something (4). These finding indicate that Ivy is
starting to feel more comfortable exploring language and its multiple functions.
In her IEP meeting on September 24th, the speech therapist had her state her IEP goals in
the beginning of session and they were: working on vocabulary, verb tense, L blends, S blends,

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
following directions, and the ends of words (4). At the IEP meeting I learned that she has made
progress with her goals concerning the ends of words. For example, she used to say ma and
now she says map (4). When we created the poster on December 2nd, I was checking her current
ability to follow directions. She still didnt react to open-ended questions and needed modeling
in order to follow a task (4).
Strengths:
Ivy is taking an initiative to explore different functions of language in order to create
relationship and further her understanding in math.
Future Growth:
Ivy still has room to grow with her vocabulary.
Reading & Language Arts Skills:
Growth Analysis:
On September 3rd, Ivy was observed during Avenues (the language arts program at her
school) and these were some of the things that were noted: she was playing with her hair (4),
talking to her peers (4) and getting distracted by what her classmates were doing (4). Her level of
engagement during language arts was very minimal. However, on October 22nd, my mentor
teacher remarked that she was getting interaction during the lesson (4). My mentor teacher was
really excited because she had just told me during an interview on October 20th that Ivy rarely
engages during lessons and was thrilled to report differently (4). The phonics lesson she was
engaged with used sound tiles with words. (For example: You would place three tiles on the
floor in front of you and say get. Then you would point to the first tile and say the sound for g,
next you would point to the second tile and say the sound for e and the same process for t. After
making all the sounds, the students then ran their finger under the tiles and blended the word as a

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
group) (4). Comparing all of these scenarios, it has been noted that Ivys engagement in language
arts has increased.
On September 8th, I sat down to read with her during book box time and noticed she had
checked out a book with only one word on each page. At Borton, the students check out just
right books. The way they chose a book is by reading a page and if they get 3 or more wrong
its too hard. If they get one or less right than it is too easy (4) Before, I began to read the book
with her I noticed that her book was facing down on the table and she was talking to her partner
(4). On November 24th, it was observed that Ivy had a book that had 6 words on the page. I sat
down to read with her to evaluate if this was truly a just right book for her and she only
hesitated on the word monkey. The text was supportive because the pictures matched the text so
I helped her decode the text by asking her questions about the pictures and it helped her figure it
out (4). However, on December 3rd, a chapter book was detected in Ivys book box. We took out
the book and Ivy stared at it for a little but did not read from it. I looked at the book boxes
surrounding us and noticed that some of Ivys friends had chapter books from the same author. I
asked Ivy if she wanted to read a different book and she nodded (4). This could indicate that Ivy
only chose the book based on her friends and not the just right model. Ivys vocabulary is
starting to grow but she needs supportive text.
Writing is the next concept under scrutiny. On September 25th, I took a picture of the
following piece which describes her use of spaces, capital letters and spelling: Round nd an
aroundt summercomes hot and slow (5). I noted on September 29th, that she required the
support of the assistant teacher to model the writing for her and still her spacing was barely
visible. On December 1, I created a poster with Ivy to see how her spacing had developed but she
continues to writing with minimal spacing even when I modeled for her (4). Therefore, no

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
growth was observed in writing with spaces. It was also noted on December 1st that Ivy
continues to misspell her name.
Strengths:
Ivys vocabulary has grown and will continue to grow if she seeks out supportive texts
for an emergent reader.
Future Growth:
Ivy should be encouraged to work on finger spaces in between her words.
Math Skills:
Growth Analysis:
On September 8th, I partnered up with ivy to observe her make combinations of five. The
game was to hold out a certain number of manipulatives while your partner guessed how many
they were hiding knowing it would add up to five. I showed Ivy 3 coins and she counted the
coins. She didnt know the answer so I helped her by explaining that she could use her fingers. I
pointed to her five fingers and told her to put three down to represent my coins. She looked at her
remaining fingers and exclaimed that it was two. I continued to model this for her but she still
needed my support for one to one correspondence (4). On September 29th, Ivy was still having
trouble counting her marbles and creating that one-to-one association (4). A growth with this
concept was discovered on October 13th. Ivy was adding two number together using a timeline
and two dice (one had the numeric number and the other had dots). The strategy taught to her by
the assistant teacher was to match the numerical number with the one on the time line then count
up by the dots on the other die. Every time she jumped on the timeline she held out one finger.
This helped her keep track and create a one-to-one correspondence (4).

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TTE 357- Final Report
The next skill I have noticed a growth in was in number sense. On September 29th, this
was the conversation I had with Ivy: Me: What do you want to learn to do better? Ivy: Count.
Me: How high can you count now? Ivy: (I watch her lips move as she counts to herself.) Six. Me:
Thats a great number! How high would you like to count? Ivy (Stares at me for a bit.) Me: Can
you show me on that chart? (I was pointing to the hundreds chart.) Ivy (She smiles a big smile
and nods. Then she walks over to the chart and points to 20) (4). On December 1st, I asked Ivy to
count for me and she counted to 10. It wasnt her goal but it was four more than she could count
before (4).
Another growth Ive observed is her initiative to find resources to answer a question. In
the beginning of the year Ivy answered questions by looking off her classmates papers (4). My
mentor teacher told me during an interview that her classmates treat her like they would treat
anyone else except maybe they show her more and model more for her. For example, they show
her how to use the manipulatives during math and how they got their answer (4). The assistant
teacher even reminded Ivy not to copy off a friends paper on October 13th. In more recent dates,
Ive seen her rely less on this strategy and seek out other strategies. One example of this is that
shes starting to ask question like why the teacher wrote 2+2+2 (4). The next example happened
during a number sense lesson, On November 17th, Ivy used the hundreds chart as a resource. The
goal was to figure out what number her partner was hiding on their personal hundreds chart. Ivy
recorded what number was before the unifix cube. Then she went up to the hundreds chart that
we used for the introduction and found the number that matched. She then moved her finger to
the right and smiled and told Ed (her partner) the number. He nodded excitedly (4).
Strengths:
Ivy has found a new confidence with activities that are associated to number sense.

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TTE 357- Final Report
Future Growth:
Ivy heavily relies on direct modeling and needs help conceptualizing some of these
concepts.
Social Studies Skills:
Growth Analysis:
Ivy hasnt shown a lot of growth in this area. As described in her social and emotional
development, Ivy has trouble expressing her feelings. Her outlets have been to get mad in the
past (4), avoidance (4) or in more recent dates to simply cry (4). Therefore, our development in
this realm of skills is to help Ivy connect to literature and express herself through them. On
December 3rd, I started by asking her how the characters felt and she answered by say sad or
happy (4). Though it takes prompting from an adult, its a leap forward for her to try and answer
and not avoid the question.
Strengths:
She is slowly starting to feel comfortable answering questions and expressing herself.
Future Growth:
Ivy could use help connecting to the text and identifying her feelings.
Science Skills:
Growth Analysis:
As Caroline mentioned in her interview, Ivy rarely asks questions and models after her
peers (4). This was the same case for science. The children got the opportunity to go to BELL
(Borton Environmental Learning Laboratory) and see a turtle named Rango. They wrote down
observations when they got to the classroom and presented. Ivy wrote: I gottotouchRango. She
wrote this modeling what her peers wrote (4). However, on October 3rd, the class took a field trip

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TTE 357- Final Report
to the pumpkin patch. My mentor teacher made a remark that for the first time she heard her
actually having a conversation and not just being told something. They were talking about the
pumpkins and what they saw (4). Ivy was able to explore and create her own observations in the
second scenario.
Strengths:
Ivy is a social learner but shes learning not to completely model her friends thoughts.
Future Growth:
Id love to see Ivy asking more questions in science like she does in math.
Ester (Child 2)
Description of Child:
Family background:
Ester is my home visit child, therefore, I have learned a lot about her background. During
my first home visit, I learned that one of Esters funds of knowledge is books. Aspects that
underline this fund of knowledge are: Ester showed me her favorite books (on her own accord)
and a book that she created (4), Mom was excited to share that they love to read and were
hoping [Ester] would get that little bit of us (4), and Dad explained that during Moms baby
shower guests were prompted to bring their favorite childrens books as gifts (4).
On my first home visit, there was a picture hanging on the wall. Mom took it down and
explained that Ester drew this when she was three. She continued on to say, This is her family
or what she considers her family. We have a really great neighborhood. This is her daddy, Ester,
mommy and her Tio Eduardo who is my brother. Nina Catherine which is my fathers neighbor
but shes also her godmother. Uncle Jaime, he is Nina Chriss husband. Abuelito is here (Moms
dad). This is Tio bill, my brother, and Billy which is my brothers son. Mrs. Devin who is also

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
my fathers neighbor and shes a high school teacher so she takes a part of it. She got other
people in here too like Mr. Connor who recently passed away. So they are all people who live
here in our neighborhood that are really a big part of our lives. We are fortunate that she has a
really great support system. She even put Mr. Kevin and Mrs. Peggy who live on the corner (4).
Linguistic Information:
Ester has been identified and placed into a first grade English Language Development
class due to the following assessments that are further described below: Home Language Survey
(1) and AZELLA (2). She is a six year old female (3).
Esters home environment has a preschool like atmosphere that supports Esters learning
in the classroom. Mom and Dad take the initiative to have learning opportunities at home that
also allow Ester to explore her individuality (4). Some of these learning experiences include:
preparing for DIBELS, teaching her the sound Tion makes, time, and maps (4). Throughout
my three home visits, I have spotted supportive learning techniques and functional print around
the home (4). Some of these include: signs that say Im in first grade, her favorite pictures and
writing are on her door, a book that she created on her own with pictures and all her art supplies
were labeled (4).
Cultural Information:
One of the quotes that really encompass this family on the third home visit was when
mom said they were traditional with modern views. They are catholic but dad and Ester meditate
in a Buddhist temple (4). They really cherish their Hispanic background and want to expose
Ester to that culture. Her parents have read to Emma in both languages but sometimes Ester says
her tongue doesnt work that way (4). The majority of the community described in the family
background is bilingual including her Abuelito who speaks Spanish and is a huge part of Esters

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life (4). Esters first word was agua. She learned Spanish and English at the same time but
English is her primary language (4). It was interesting to learn that Esters dad only knew formal
Spanish before he met Esters mom. He learned by immersing himself in this community and has
assimilated to the traditions (4).
Interests & Hobbies:
Ester has indicated that she enjoys drawing and ballet (4). She even took the time during
each home visit to show me how she draws and what she draws (4).
Assessment Tools Used:
(1) Home Language Survey: Registration card must include the question: what is the primary
language spoken in the home. If a response is any language other than English than a
survey goes home called Home Language Survey.
(2) AZELLA: If the survey comes back indicating that a student may not be proficient in
English then they have to take a English language proficiency test within 30 days of
registration or two weeks after their first day. AZELLA is one of those proficiency tests
used by Arizona that is used to place students in English Learning Development classes
to help them test out of the class.
(3) Roster: One of my assessment tools was a class roster that included their date of birth to
determine the childs age.
(4) Audio Recording: On September 17, I audio recorded my first home visit through Audio
recording with an App on my I-phone call Voice Memos. During this visit I talked to the
family, played with Ester and learned about their family background. On October 1st, I
audio recorded my second home visit through an App on my I-phone. During this visit,
we discussed the pictures that Ester took, the backpack that was sent home and what

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Esters parents wanted me to focus on developmentally for this project. November 3rd, I
audio recorded the third home visit with an App on my I-phone. During this visit, I
interviewed Esters parents about language, read the guided reading book and was invited
to stay for dinner.
(5) Observation Binder: I have created an ongoing documentation binder that includes
observation made in the 1st grade/2nd grade combination classroom. There are currently
thirteen pages worth of hand written information that I have written during moments of
reflection and direct observation of this case study on Mondays and Wednesday. Specific
information that was referenced in the physical development include: observations of
stretching on August 27th and October 13th, contorting on November 24th. Social and
emotional development notes were taken on: presenting her Disneyland book on October
13th, conversation with my mentor teacher about fostering friendships on October 1st,
conversation with Ester about Marley on the playground on October 20th and creating the
poster with Ester on December 1st. Documented observation for language development
include: September 8th when we read a book about winter during book box time,
September 15th when Abuelito dropped off Ester at school and December 3rd when Ester
read a book called The Snow Child during book box time. Reading and language art
skills were documented on: October 3rd when I did the guided reading lesson with Ester
in class, October 13th when Ester explained to me why reading is important, reading the
word lift during book box time on October 13th, Listening to her read why and myself on
and large words on September 15th and October 13th . Lastly, I used the documentation
of when we created the poster on December 1st and when she read The Snow Child on
December 3rd. Documentation that support math findings include: math interview with

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TTE 357- Final Report
Ester on October 13th and using unifix cubes during a measuring lesson on November 3rd.
Social studies notes from this binder include a quarterly report summary on October 17th.
Science related documentation includes a conversation with Emma about her mental
model of the pumpkin patch on October 13th.
(6) Photographs of Past Work: On September 8th and 25th I took pictures of Esters past
work. The pictures were taken with my I-phone and put into a file labeled Ester. The
working documented through photograph included: a writing sample about the seasons,
her writing the letter t and T, Ester drawing with chalk on September 29th, her
observations and writing sample at BELL (Borton Environmental Learning Laboratory)
on August 27th, and a writing samples from December 1st regarding what she likes.
Growth Analysis:
Physical Development:
Growth Analysis:
Its been observed and heard multiple times that Ester loves to draw. Mom explained
during one of the home visits that Ester has been drawing since she was three (4).Ester takes the
opportunity to draw me something new every time I visit her home (4). I have noticed that she
consistently uses her left hand (4) and crosses her little ts and big ts on the correct line of lined
paper (6). This indicates wonderful fine motor skills. Ester continues to seek out opportunities to
draw and has shown a growth in her drawing from stick figures when she was three to people
with clothing demonstrating attention to detail (4).
On August 27th, I observed that Ester stretches when shes in line demonstrating balance
(5). She continues to do these stretches in line (5) and Ive more recently observed that Ester
contorts her body during lessons or read aloud on the rug showing that her flexibility has

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increased (5). Her family encourages her gross motor skills with ballet classes, getting her a
jungle gym and entering her in the jump rope competition at her school (4).
Strength
Ester continues to explore outside of her comfort zone to learn new techniques and
practice them.
Future Growth:
Due to the fact that Ester shows a self-motivated tendency to practice her skills in this
developmental area, I can only suggest supporting this growth by giving her more opportunities
to do so which I know her family does.
Social & Emotional Development:
Growth Analysis:
During our first home visit, Dad mentioned that Esters kindergarten teacher thought she
was shy (4). Ive observed this disposition myself. During some points in our visit, Ester would
whisper something to her mom so that her mom could tell me (4). On August 27th, her class had
the opportunity to go to BELL (Borton Environmental Learning Laboratory) and see a turtle
named Rango. They wrote down observations and then presented. She presented so quietly that I
could barely hear her (5). When asked if she thought she was shy on our second home visit, this
was her response: I was not shy! Okay, I admit maybe I was a little shy but then I was and then
I wasnt (4). On October 13th, I was really able to see Esters growth in this developmental
area. During break, Esters family went to Disneyland and they wrote a book about the
experience. Ester stood up and presented it to the class. She had a strong voice and with
prompting from my mentor teacher she was able to explain the pictures (5). There was a
noticeable growth in her confidence in front of the class.

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During our second home visit, mom and dad asked me how Ester was doing with making
friends at school (4). I explained that on October 1st my mentor teacher mentioned that she was
doing specific things to foster friendships in the classroom (5). One of these things was
consistently sending her on errands with certain people to foster that relationship. By October
20th, Ester was telling me about her friend Marley on the playground (5) and she drew her on the
development poster on December 1st (5).
Strengths:
Ester has shown a new confidence in the classroom with speaking to friends and
presenting.
Future Growth:
I hope to encourage Ester to take initiative when presenting and talk about her projects in
detail without prompting from adults.
Language Development:
Growth Analysis:
On September 8th Ester and I had a conversation about a winter book: Ester: Its a girl.
Me: Why do you think so? Ester: Pink sometimes means girls and blue sometimes mean boys.
Me: When is winter? Ester: I think its after Halloween and after Thanksgiving. Me: Does our
winter look like this? (Pointing to the snow) Ester: No! Except, for one Christmas I did see snow
but it was brown (5). Ester continues to show this level of reasoning skills when we read books.
On December 3rd, we read The Snow Child and Ester explained why she though the couple
should have a spring child instead of a snow child: Ester: That way when it was snowing
outside she could sleep inside and then play outside when it was actually spring.

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I have noticed some confusion with suffixes. For example, during our first home visit,
Ester said: I putted nothing in it when talking about the pumpkin in her room (4). On
September 22nd, I noticed that Ester called her Abuelito Abuelita when he dropped her off in
class and talked to me about him (5). When I went to the first home visit, I was aware that she
referred to him as Abuelita instead of Abuelito again. Mom corrected and modeled for her the
correct way to say Abuelito (4). By the third home visit, I observed that Ester was using the
correct ending (4).
Strengths:
Ester expresses herself with great fluency and demonstrates wonderful reasoning skills.
Future Growth:
Suffix errors are developmentally appropriate based on the readings in TTE 319.
However, I encourage the adults in Esters life to continue modeling the correct way to say
words, especially, past tense words that dont end in Ed.
Reading & Language Arts Skills:
Growth Analysis:
Throughout all of my home visits, I have noticed that Ester is very aware of the function
of print. She has a pretend office where she creates a list to help people, she created a fun sticker
chart, she created a sign that said Im in first grade, she created a pretend menu, she created her
own book made out of pictures, she has a door full of her favorite pictures and writings and her
mom labeled all her art materials (4). However, the best demonstration of this knowledge was on
October 13th when Ester came up to me during class and explained that she is reading all of these
books to become a better reader (5)

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One concept that Ester continues to confuse is writing her ds as bs. It was observed on
September 29ththat Ester confused these letters (5). On December 1, she wrote about things she
likes to do (5). Within the writing sample she wrote Rib vs Ride and bonot vs do not. Later that
day, we created the developmental poster and she wrote saveb instead of saved. Based on the
reading in TTE 319, this is a common confusion at her age but confusion nonetheless (5).
It was documented that Ester has shown reading confusion in suffixes, the confusion can
be demonstrated by how she spells out the following words: observed and lookd (6).When
she was reading a book to me and came across the word lifted; she read it as lift. After I
corrected her, she read it a second time and again read it as lift (4). We did a guided reading
lesson on this concept on October 3rd, the standard we focused on was: know and apply grade
level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. The objective that we worked on was:
Student will read, highlight, and sort words with the inflectional ending (-ed) into 3 categories
based on their sound (/ed/, /t/, /d/). She was able to successfully complete this objective. Ester
was able to read the guided reading book and complete the objective (5). On December 3rd, Ester
read The Snow Child to me and it had a lot of Ed words in it. She was able to read most of the
Ed Words except for kissed. However, when I covered the Ed to chunk it, she read kiss with
fluency and then I showed her Ed and she was able to blend them correctly (5).
Other concepts that Ester is having difficulty with is reading words with the letter y. I
have continuously seen her stop on words such as why and myself(5). However, on
December 3rd, I documented that Ester was able to read why correctly when reading The Snow
Child.
The last concept I scrutinized was semantic checks. When Ester reads a large word she
uses phonics with the initial constants but not with the middle or ending constant. (Examples: she

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
said fascinating instead of fancy, interesting instead of inciting, no guess for idea, and because
instead of best) (5). This is a great skill for a progressing readers but she isnt checking that the
word makes sense in the sentence after she reads the word.
Lastly, I have observed that Ester is evolving from a progressive reader into a transitional
reader with some of her strategies. With prompting from an adult she can decipher a word and
self-correct (5). She uses pictures as a scaffold but has begun to rely less on them (5). She
adheres to punctuation and changes her voice inflection based on the punctuation (5). She
sometimes forgets to put an end punctuation mark when she is writing but it isnt consistent (6).
Strengths:
Esters strength is that she understands the importance of reading and is continuously
working to improve herself in this area.
Future Growth:
Her biggest growth areas are applying semantics and differentiating between the letters b
and d.
Math Skills:
Growth Analysis:
Ester and parents had a conversation during out second home engagement that
demonstrated their concern for math. Due to the familys interest in literacy they were worried
that Ester would lose interest in math (4). Therefore, I made an extra effort to observe Ester is
this area.
On October 13th, I conducted a math interview with Ester for TTE 316. She got all the
problems right on in the interview except the Join Change Unknown problem. For this question,
we used the numbers 7 and 4. It was interesting because Emma knew how to do the problem but

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December 4, 2014
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she forgot the last step. I read the problem and this is how our conversation went: Ester: So he
has four of these and he needs so he has 4 and he needs 7 more. Me: Can you show me how
you got that answer? Ester: Well because if you have 4 and you need 7, you need to count up
to it. Me: So whats the answer? Ester: 7 Ester arranged the manipulatives in a line of
seven. Comparing between the strategies of Counting On or Joining To; I deducted that
Ester used the latter. I reason this because she added onto the number four. Due to this strategy,
my conclusion is that she lost sight of the original number and said the answer was seven
because that was the number that was ultimately left in front of her. In fact, Childrens
Mathematics points out that a child must somehow be able to distinguish the counters that join
to the initial set from the counters in the initial set (1999, p.16). Ester wasnt able to do this. We
learned in TTE 316 that some children do this because they model the actions of the problem but
they dont plan ahead on how they are going to use this model to answer the question (5).
Knowing that Ester was still limited to Direct Modeling solutions, I tried to expose her
to counting on methods. On October 20th, I started to see Ester grasp the idea of counting on with
an activity in class. In the activity they had two dice: one with dots and the other with the written
number. The object was to roll and add the numbers together. I observed Ester consistently count
up from the written number. However I had a setback on November 3rd, we were measuring
objects with unifix cubes. Once Ester had laid the unifix cubes out to reach both tips, I asked her
to separate them into groups of ten so that we could count by tens. She didnt understand why
and proceeded to still count by ones even when we separated them into tens (5). I knew she
could count by tens because she showed me on her white board during our second home
engagement (4). Nonetheless, I wanted to re-check the join change unknown problem to see if
she could do it. I asked her to perform the problem for me again on November 24th. This time she

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
kept the two categories separate and gave me the right answer of 3 dollars. The question used
and how Ester modeled it is on the poster we made on December 1st.
Strengths:
When adding Ester is showing her knowledge on how to count on as opposed to joining
all.
Future Growth:
Id like to see Ester continuously using the counting on method, especially, as we move
into counting with base 10s.
Social Studies Skills:
Growth Analysis:
Ester is really great at using the pictures in the book to interpret the meaning of the text
and her own feelings. Ester brought me a book called Bad Kitty and School Daze and started
reading it at our first home engagement. However, she wasnt reading the words; she was giving
me summaries by looking at the pictures. She pointed out the silly faces in this book and even
made some silly faces herself. The topic of the book allowed us to go into a conversation about
being nervous about school and she explained, For first grade I was really nervous, because I
didnt know how the older kids were going to act. I knew from science but I didnt know for real
how wed work (4). Next she brought me a princess book and explained that she liked the
pictures with silly faces. Jasmines pet tiger was making a silly face and this led us into a
conversation about her cat and the silly faces her cat makes (4). Ester continues to a show me
that she is thinking about the characters feelings and relating them to her own. On October 3rd,
our school had a surprise lock down rehearsal in the classroom, Esters first reaction when it was
over was to point to a picture in a book and explain that this was the face she made when she was

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
scared (5). I have also had the opportunity to share many books with Ester during book box time
where she is able to talk to me about characters and their feelings and predictions for what they
will do next (5).
Another area of this development was documented on October 17th when Ester received a
three in the area of social studies. Its main description was her ability to discuss how each
neighborhood or community is different and use maps to locate local places and continents (5).
Dad explained that they were specifically supporting her in learning about maps during our third
home visit (4). I noted the growth in this skill when I read Ester my literacy map for TTE 319 on
our second home engagement. I asked her to locate a city using geographical landmarks and she
pointed to the right city. Then her dad asked her to find where some of her family lived and she
was able to find that city as well (4).
Strengths:
Ester demonstrates a wonderful understanding of characters feelings and using them to
understand her own emotions.
Future Growth:
Ester is great at pointing out similarities between herself and characters within literature.
Id like to see her start to point out difference while still keeping these similarities in mind so that
it can lead her into comparing different cultures, communities and their traditions.
Science Skills:
Growth Analysis:
Ester makes observations in science that demonstrate a big vocabulary. For example, the
class got the opportunity to go to BELL (Borton Environmental Learning Laboratory) on August
27th and see a turtle named Rango. They wrote down observations when they got to the

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December 4, 2014
TTE 357- Final Report
classroom. Ester wrote: We observed Rangos habitat. It looked like a pan and it was dark (6).
She described the scene in detail. Ester continues to use very specific descriptions in science. On
October 13th, Ester created a mental model about what the pumpkin patch would look like when
they went to visit. She explained that there would be a big fence and large pumpkins. Her
drawing illustrated different color and sizes of pumpkins. She created this hypothesis based on
literature that had been read in class and what my mentor teacher had described.
Strengths:
Ester demonstrates the ability to make detailed observations based on past experiences
and record information through drawings and writing using different tools to gather information.
Future Growth:
The next step for Ester is to start constructing reasonable explanations and give proof.
Presentation Parent Involvement and Explanation:
People who participated in creating the poster: Ivy, Ester, Esters mom and myself
Ivys Tasks: She followed directions and wrote the following titles with modeling and support
from me: Math, Reading and Language Arts Skills, Social and Emotional and Isabella (3 times).
She also drew the smiley face to represent her feelings.
Esters Mom Task: She supported Emma in decided how she wanted to draw and represent each
region.
Esters Tasks: She drew the pictures on the yellow, red and green paper.