LITTLE 9’S BEGINNER LEARNING REPORT FROM DAYCARE

(Evaluated at the end of January 2009, age: 28 moths, beginner period 1)

 

I = Introduced

B = Beginning

D = Developing

M = Mastery

(JM = Mom’s observation and comments)

 

Part I. Language and Literacy

(JM: Little 9 is English and Chinese bilingual with preference of English.)

Speaking Skills

1. Uses short sentences to convey a simple idea – D
   (JM: Uses “I like/don’t like to…, I want/don’t want to…How about…Let’s do…I think…” very frequently to express her ideas.)

2. Understands simple sequence – D
   (JM: Understands and uses “first, later, finally”. Needs to expand.)

3. Answers what, where, and yes-no questions – D
   (JM: Has no problem to answer those questions when I ask, and she also asks simple question of what, where, and why.)

4. Understands and uses descriptive words – D
   (JM: Uses words such as “so beautiful, pretty, fantastic, great, ugly, too dark, scary, sleepy…”in both English and Chinese. Needs to enhance.)

5. Understands and uses spatial vocabulary – D
   (JM: Understands and uses words such as “over there, here, too far, left/right side, behind, in, out, in the sky, on the tree…”. Needs to improve)

Listening Skills

1. Follows directions with more than two steps – M
   (JM: She also gives me directions and orders.)

2. Distinguishes between sounds – D
   (JM: What types of sounds? She can distinguish and mimic many real sounds: fire engine, police car, helicopter, motorcycle, train, lawn cutter, trash truck, and almost all types of farm animals. I thought that’s one of her strengths.)

Literacy

1. Tells a simple story from sequences pictures – D
   (JM: Needs to improve. She likes to read picture books in her words, but not following the sequences well.)

2. Retells familiar stories in own words – B
   (JM: Definitely needs to improve. She can only retell part of the stories in her favorite books, DVDs and TVs, and needs my hints to continue.)

3. Recognizes the beginning and ending of a story – D
   (JM: She does well when I read books to her or she watches DVDs alone.)

4. Talks about characters and events in books – D
   (JM: Only in a few short sentences. Needs more practices.)

Comments from Teachers:

Kaitlyn has improved her vocabulary greatly! She follows directions and has great listening skills.

 

Part II. The World and Me

1. Verbalizes wants and needs – M
   (JM: Yes, she does well, and always orders me to meet her desires.)

2. Plays cooperatively with other children – M
   (JM: Especially with children older than her.)

3. Plays easy circle games with adult – M
   (JM: She loves to play with me.)

4. Plays alone for extended periods of time – M
   (JM: Sometimes she just doesn’t want adults to bother her.)

5. Takes turns – M
   (JM: Not always voluntarily. But will do when asked.)

6. Remembers simple rules – M
   (JM: I’m still fighting with her.)

7. Begins to share toys when asked – M
   (JM: More likely to share with younger children, voluntarily offer toys to them.)

8. Helps clean up – M
   (JM: That’s one of her honor jobs.)

9. Says please and thanks you – M
   (JM: Sometimes needs my reminder.)

10. Participates in rhymes, chants, and songs – M
    (JM: That’s one of her strengths, usually asks me to stop singing with her as she wants to solo. Ok, I’m a bad singer.)

Comments From Teachers:

Kaitlyn interacts very well with the other children.

 

Part III. Wellness

1. Begins to hold crayon appropriately – M
   (JM: Holds pen appropriately too, but does not write appropriately yet.)

2. Stacks 3-6 cubes – M
   (JM: She can easily stack small cubes more than 20 with a very good control.)

3. Strings large beads – D
   (JM: She can sort and string (not a very soft string) different shapes of small foam beads to make laces.)

4. Completes 3-10 piece puzzles – M
   (JM: Needs to enhance, she still needs minor assistance to complete 9 piece puzzles.)

5. Begins to cut with safety scissors – D
   (JM: She likes to pretend cutting paper with toy scissors. I did not offer her real scissors.)

6. Walks with confidence – M
   (JM: Yes, she shows very good sense of direction and likes to walk/run alone without guidance.)

7. Demonstrates balance skills – M
   (JM: She showed good balance skills on dinner table and chairs standing on one foot. She rides 3-wheel bicycle well, and walks on one-palm-wide curb without any support.)

Comments From Teachers:

Kaitlyn demonstrates great interest in class, she enjoys doing puzzles.

 

Part IV. Art and Music

Comments From Teachers:

Kaitlyn likes to paint and does very well with art.

(JM: Sure, she also painted her clothing, sheets, sofa, table, books...)

 

Part V. Mathematics

Numbers and Number Sense

1. Tells which is one and which is many – B
   (JM: She can figure out one and many. She uses “so many, so much, more than one”.)

2. Matches one to one – D
   (JM: What type of match? She likes to play hidden objects matching games. )

3. Repeats number 1-20 – D
   (JM: Easily Counts 1 to 10 forward and backward, but skips some teens here and there. Needs to improve.)

4. Understands the number concepts 1-5 – D
   (JM: She understands 1-5 very well.)

Relationships

1. Points to and names simple shapes and colors – D
   (JM: She can name many colors, but only a few shapes. Needs to enhance.)

2. Understands same and different – D
   (JM: Needs enhancement on distinguishing minor differences.)

3. Does simple matching of color, shapes and objects – D
   (JM: She plays “seek and match” in books very well. Sometimes she can beat me.)

4. Understands big and little – D
   (JM: She does understand and use them well: big, huge, small, little, tiny.)

5. Sorts a few objects based on color, shape, or size – B
   (JM: She sorts objects based on color and shape well. Needs more training on size sorting.)

6. Puts two halves together to make a whole – D
   (JM: Definitely needs improvement. I did not train her on this skill much. But she is good at “missed pieces matching” within a big picture. )

    

Reasoning

1. Explains everyday occurrences using simple reasoning – D
   (JM: Starts to do that. Needs to improve.)

2. Uses size words to describe an object – D
   (JM: Uses “big, small, huge, little, fat”. Needs to expand.)

    

Comments From Teachers:

Kaitlyn is learning the different shapes, colors, and numbers.