*Please click on images for a closer and deeper look!*
The Full Story
Sterling has learned to become a full version of himself as he stepped his way into Pre-K. He is one of very few African American boys in our site and his work and growth is worth praising. My support and encouragement for him has enabled his ability to answer questions, engage in Morning Meeting discussions and has also reflected on his performance through activities like Show & Share time. With providing support to his development he has enhanced our classroom community to significantly embrace experiences and transform them into dialogue that requires cognitive, language, and social emotional skills.
Sterling's social emotional skills were placed at the forefront as the invitation for other skills and activities to be put into practice were goals to enhance and prepare Sterling for the rigor of Kindergarten!
Sterling's Choice Time Experiences
A large part of the Pre-K flow of the day consists of Center Time/Choice Time. It is an opportunity for children to develop on the many skills that they already come in with. As I provide support for Sterling to expand on his prior knowledge, he is supported in the classroom to expand on and learn new skills. With Choice Time and many instructed activities, he is able to demonstrate what he has learned and I will continue to support him as much as possible so that he grows in every area.
Sterling's Daily Name Sign In
Please click on each name sign in for a description.
Sterling's Self Portraits
Please click on each self-portrait for a description.
Sterling's Physical Development
Teaching Strategies Gold Data Fall 2022-2023
Teaching Strategies Gold Objective 7a demonstrate Sterling to be at a Level 5 and Objective 7b demonstrate Sterling to be at a Level 4. As he engages in daily sign in and monthly self portraits, I work with him to ensure that he completes his sign in by proving him with supports that include: his name card that has his name and picture on it. I sit and verbally provide instruction on how to write letters for example "l" "We start at the top make a line going down the stop." As I am speaking I am also modeling my own letters on white paper to show Sterling how to write the letters of his name. I also encourage him to draw himeself as he looks in the mirror. As he is practicing this skill, I work with him to get him to perform at Pre-K level so that he can develop a greater connection to his work and learning.
What kind of potato chip will you create?
Sterling's fine motor skills are worked on in this activity as he creates a shape that he identifies to be a rectangle. When Sterling shared that he wanted his chip to be a rectangle, I asked him to find one and he got one from the block center. I guided him to use his fingers and hands to trace the rectangle with his finger. We talked about the sides and the corners as he traced with his fingers multiple times before painting enhancing his fine motor skills. I reminded Sterling to "make his hand look like a duck" to support his tripod grasp. He was able to do this with initial dependence on my hands to help form help his hands around the paintbrush. He was then able to complete his rectangle chip using his fingers and hands and utilizing drawing materials.
Sterling expands on his fine motor skills through "Cookie Making" in honor of chocolate chip cookie inventor, Ruth Wakefield.
Sterling spends some time in the Dramatic Play Center and explores his sense of self. He is engaged in creating chocolate chip cookies for play made with salt, flour and dough. With his fine motor skills being at the forefront of his development I attempted to enhance his skills around this by engaging him in shaping and molding the salt play dough mixture. He was later invited to paint the "cookie" by utilizing a paint brush and brown and black paint.
Sterling's Physical Development: Teaching Strategies Gold Data
As Sterling progressed (P rating) to meet his expectations during Checkpoint 1 of the 2022-2023 school year, he engaged in this and many other activities. I continue to support him to Meet Expectations of a Pre-K Student in this area in the near future with my supports and differentiated instruction.
With activities like these, Sterling was able to practice and utilize his fine motor strength. I was able to support Sterling by planning ways to support his growth through activities that were fun and engaging to him. With intent to always bring joy in learning, Sterling demonstrated to have fun painting "cookies" for our Dramatic Play Center. After modeling and guiding his hand to make a "duck mouth" (a phrase that made Sterling laugh), he was able to grip the paintbrush in this tripod way. I was able to support him with confidence as I see him being able to hold and develop a tripod grasp independently in the near future.
Sterling's Physical Development
Teaching Strategies Gold: Winter 2022-2023
Sterling's physical development has developed overtime during his time in Pre-K. He exhibited skills that included palmer grasp of writing materials and a hold of scissors at a downright position whenever he attempted to cut any piece of paper. I realized he had interest in areas like the Table Toys and Water Table and so I took advantage of these interests by enhancing his experiences at these centers with small and safe items that he could hold and grasp. In addition, by providing a variety of materials such as play dough, water beads, pipe cleaners and child-friendly tweezers, his fine motor abilities have strengthened. As a result, his ability to draw increasingly detailed self-portraits and name writing have progressed. With many of these items , Sterling was able to develop and strengthen his pincer grasp ensure that items did not slip out of his hands while he was observing and manipulating items. These skills were naturalized and were generalized into other centers of the classrooms including the daily name sign in and monthly self portraits. Ultimately, these skills that included objectives 7a: Uses fingers and hands (Level 5 in Fall 2022 to Level 7 in Winter 2022) and objective 7b: Uses Writing and Drawing Skills (Level 4 in Fall 2022 to Level 5 in Winter 2022) developed and Sterling was able to expand on his interest and prior knowledge because of his ongoing growth through my prasing, encouragement and positive attitude towards his process and progress .
More Activities that supported Sterling's learning
Schedule Helper Sterling
With Sterling's skills expanding around his literacy, his social emotional development takes pride in his ability to stand up in front of the classroom and show off his literacy skills. As the designated schedule helper of the week, Sterling takes part in morning meeting and reads the Flow of the Day posted up on the front of the room with visuals and print below it. In the video (to the left) you will see my documentation and encouragement of Sterling who I support to successfully read and contribute to the classroom community by doing his job as a schedule helper.
Sterling's Literacy Development: Teaching Strategies Gold Data: Fall 2022-2023
To encourage Sterling's literacy development, I labeled classroom items with their name and an accompanying visual. Sterling has utilized many Tools of Autonomy, including the feelings chart and daily schedule to promote his literacy skills. His love for literacy is evident as he "reads" messages with visuals, refers to print around the classroom and enjoys taking picture walks in books. In all literacy objectives, my planned activities along with a structured and supportive classroom environment has supported Sterling's growth. All literacy objectives in the Fall 2022-2023 demonstrated Sterling to at the first Level of Pre-K level (in the first shaded blue area) with the exception of 18b (uses emergent reading skills). I ensure that these activities were provided as Sterling is starting to show growth through this skill with my instructions and support.
Sterling's Read Aloud
Sterling's social emotional development and connection to peers and adults is supported through read-alouds. Prior to this experience, (in the video) Sterling was experiencing some feelings where he went to the Cozy Corner, he was invited to talk about his feelings. (We were just transitioning from Rest Time). He said he did not want to come to the carpet for Story Time. Sterling's feelings were respected and he was invited to read a few pages of "Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Crockett Johnson. He accepted the invitation and read a few pages from the story. Sterling's ability to decode text and isolate sounds provided for this opportunity to enhance his social emotional development and demonstrate his appreciation for text.
Social Emotional Development: Fall 2022-2023
Objective 2a: Fall 2022/2023: Level 7 to Winter 2022/2023: Level 8: Sterling's ability to form relationship with adults is highlighted through this experience as he accepts invitations to read to the class. This experience highlights the teacher-student relationship and Sterling feels more comfortable to share his voice during large group meetings. Sterling's social emotional development was highlighted in this experience. It is with great success that my objective to strategically involve Sterling's social emotional development affected his literacy skills and made him an active participant of this daily part of the day.
Sterling's Show & Share Time!
Sterling presents his Show & Share images through the use of the Promethean board as I encourage families to support their children's Show & Share time through any form of media such as pictures they send via email (which can then be displayed on the Promethean Board) or by bringing in a tangible artifact. He is encouraged to talk about his activities outside of the school day that he is able to present in the classroom through his cognitive and language skills.
"My dream is for my mommy to come to school everyday with me." -Sterling
"I have a dream..."
In preparation for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, children were able to exercise their social emotional and literacy skills. After listening to a short story on MLK, children got to stand on our podium just like MLK did and share what their dream was. This activity was a way to bring in topic around equity. I also supported Sterling on ways to think about what could have been done differently during MLK's era. He was able to talk about what was happening as he made connections to what happens in the classroom.
Social Emotional Development Fall 2022-2023
Sterling's social emotional development in these areas include objective 3a) Balances needs and rights of self of others and 3B) solves social problems. During the Fall he is falling under Pre-K level and my supports and enthusiasm to get him motivated to pre-k level are done through these activities. He is demonstrating to be progressing and near the "meets expectations" levels of Pre-K (falling below blue shaded area). I developed this activity (above) in mind to support his social emotional development so that it positively impacts his literacy and overall development. I created activities based on his needs, my observation notes and data collected about Sterling which led to opportunities for him to come up with ideas and solutions that were important to his development. This MLK activity that I created provided Sterling an opportunity to offer solutions to what MLK was experiencing. I was able to encourage Sterling to make connections to his classroom to ensure equity and fairness which is a big goal for my classroom environment.
Sterling's Social Emotional Development: Teaching Strategies Gold Data Winter 2022-2023
Sterling's social emotional development has progressed in Winter 2022-2023 (as per blue shaded area). He has demonstrated himself to be capable of flexibility around social emotional development and he now represents to be meeting expectations of a student at the Pre-K level representing a jump in levels from Fall to Winter 2022-2023. With activities that foster social emotional connections, Sterling has demonstrated to thrive and make connections that include his prior knowledge and experiences at school. Objective 2a: Fall 2022/2023: Level 7 to Winter 2022/2023: Level 8: Sterling's ability to form relationship with adults is highlighted through this experience as he accept my warm invitation to read to the class. Objective 3a and 3b also highlight Sterling's growth as moves up two levels from the Fall 2022-2023 from Level 3 to Level 5 in the Winter 2022-2023. This experience highlights the teacher-student relationship and Sterling feels more comfortable to share his voice during large group meetings. Sterling's social emotional development was highlighted in this experience. It is with great success that my objective to strategically involve Sterling's social emotional development affected his literacy skills and made him an active participant of this daily part of the day.
Sterling's Literacy Development: Teaching Strategies Gold Data Winter 2022-2023
All areas in literacy were supported as Sterling was able to show growth from the Fall 2022-2023 to the Winter 2022-2023. Objective 16a demonstrated a growth of three levels while Objective 16b demonstrated a growth of two levels. Objectives 17a demonstrated growth in one level along with objectives 17b and 18a. Objective 18b demonstrated growth of two levels. Sterling's growth has been due to the engagement and commitment I have delivered in his direction so that he thrives and is ready for the next steps in Pre-K and eventually in Kindergarten before our school year closes out.
Sterling's Heggerty Assessment: Pre-K Form A
Sterling's level of assessments in the Heggery phonics program (Assessment Form A) demonstrates his level of readiness to read soon! He is proficient with four out of six areas (see above) and surely will keep increasing his abilities around Blending Onset and Segmenting Onset with my intentional teachings and small group instructions to increase his abilities to perform at the Proficient level in all areas.
Communication with Sterling's Family
Sterling's mom is an active participant in his learning in and outside of the school building. I ensure to warmly connect with her and remind her that her participation makes a difference in our school community and la She ensures that his experiences are rich and filled with opportunities to reflect on the classroom. She and I have also worked together to ensure that he receives her desired Kindergarten placement. I have worked to support her wishes by putting Sterling's educational and social emotional needs at the forefront of it all. Sterling is accepted into all independent schools after my recommendation form completion/submissions.
In this email (see left), Sterling's mom reaches out to compliment our Pre-K field day where parents got to come in and celebrate the Ball Unit of Study! She also shares information about her residence as we kick off the Building Unit with family collaboration by having them send an image of children in front of their building.
Sterling and his mommy play basketball during Ball Unit of Study field day.
Making the Home to School Connection: Special Guest: Sterling's Mommy
Sterling's mommy is invited to help us celebrate Black History Month by being a special guest in our classroom. She is invited to read a book connected to the event to support children's learning and most importantly Sterling's development is supported as he sees his family in the place where he learns all day!
Sterling's mommy is invited to celebrate Sterling's 4th birthday. Sterling reads some bits of a story that she brings in while his mommy reads most of it! Sterling shares he reads it with mommy at bedtime. Our children are encouraged to have conversations about what they dream to be and what they dream about and with this Sterling's home to school connection is being fostered.
Sterling's mommy is invited to support Latin American Heritage month and reads a story of her choosing. She engages our class and we get to discuss ways to welcome people no matter where they come from. Our children see themselves in this story and our Latinx children talk about where their families are from.