Literacy Assessment Assignment

Cody Polk
JMU YCP
Student: Charles
Literacy assessment was taken over the course of a month with Charles. Charles is a fouryear-old preschool student in JMUs YCP program. He typically really enjoys daily activities of
the classroom, as well as reading stories and telling them as well. Whenever a story is being read
to him, whether in a read aloud or alone to him, he is always making comments, and adding to
the overall story experience. When asked what he likes most about stories he replied, I like that
something fun happens, usually. First, a retelling assessment was done with Charles.
The story, Three Billy Goats Gruff was read to Charles. After the story was read, it was
then modeled using colored cutout figures of each character from the story. The models included
the troll, each goat brother, and a bridge. Charles was then asked to model the story by himself.
The child showed much excitement to hear the story, both in the initial reading, modeling, as
well as the childs retelling. He was smiling while retelling the story; even adding emphasis on
the troll being head butted and used a different voice for the troll. In the childs retelling, the
introduction and the story problem were both skipped. The first episode was told, So the little
brother trys to cross the bridge. The troll said Im going to eat you up. The goat said to wait for
my big brother. Episode two was described, So the bigger brother trys to cross the bridge. The
troll says Im going to eat you up, then the goat says wait for my big brother. Lastly, episode
three, the resolution, and reactions of characters was told as, So the very big brother trys to
cross. The troll says Im going to eat you up, youre yummy. And so the goat blasts him away,
BANG! The end.
Charles showed strength in modeling with the props. In each section of the story that
Charles covered he was able to effectively use props to convey what was happening. The three
middle episodes were told with knowledge of the overall sequence of events of what was
originally told. The only difference was his use of words to describe what was happening. The
resolution was also correct in the terms of what happened; however, different terminology and
language were used. Charles showed weaknesses in the setting and story problem in that he
skipped them altogether. The reaction of the characters or ending was also skipped and replaced
with, The end. The total score was a four out of fifteen. Charles received a three on the
sequence of major events for knowing the general idea of what was happening and using some
similar language. A one was given on the resolution for saying and acting out the idea that the
goat head-butted the troll away, but skipping the goat brothers reuniting as well as the idea that
the troll was thrown off the bridge. Lastly, zeros were given in the setting, story problem, and
reaction for skipping them. No assistance was given during the retelling.
A picture and name task was completed with Charles. Charles was asked to draw a
picture on a blank sheet of paper and write his name on the bottom. He was then asked to tell me
about the picture he was drawing. Charles began by asking what my favorite animal was, to
which I responded with a dog. After Charles drew the dog, he then asked me what my favorite
color was and if I wanted to be with the dog. I responded with brown and that I would indeed
like to be with the dog. He talked himself through each step of drawing the picture. For example,
He needs a body, now I just need a head, some legs, some paws and A dog has three legs!
After the picture was completed, Charles said that he doesnt know how to write his name. When
asked if he could try, he began by talking himself through each letter of his name beginning with

the first letter. With each letter, he asked how he was supposed to make it. For each one, I
showed him an example.
A print concept task was completed with Charles. First, he was told that I was going to
read him a book and that I needed his help. While handing him the book, as well as throughout
the reading, there were twelve total questions asked to Charles. He was able to quickly locate the
front of the book, as well as the back. When asked to show me the title of the story, he instead
pointed to the author's name. He also indicated that the story starts on a blank page with the
copyright date on it, instead of the first page of the actual story. Points were not given for these
two questions. Throughout the story, Charles was able to point out all but one question asked of
him. For instance, when asked to show an uppercase letter, Charles stated, Its a big letter, but I
dont see one on this page, but I do on the next page. Even though he passed up an uppercase
letter on the first page, he correctly indicated one on the second page he was referring to. After
each question was asked he responded with, I think theres one right here then pointed to the
correct answer. The only question Charles was not able to answer after the story started was
finding a period. He was unsure what a period was, so I was able to show him one and explain
what it is for when writing and reading sentences. Overall, he received a nine out of twelve on
this assessment.
Lastly, Charles was assessed in terms of letter identification. This assessment required
him to respond with the correct letter when it was pointed to. Charles was unable to answer
correctly with M and P, but answered correctly when asked S, O and C. However, after that
point, he was unable to identify any other letters. When he was asked each letter, he responded
with, Umm, Umm, Umm, I am not sure. Charles asked me to identify the letter Q for him,
which was farther down on the list. After a few incorrect responses, he asked to skip to the letter
Q. I asked him what it was and he quickly responded with the correct answer. He then asked if
he could go play.
Based upon the assessments, Charles was identified as an emergent reader. This was
determined due to the fact that he knows half or less of the alphabet, he is still learning to write
his name, and that he makes marks and letter like figures in his writing. Recommendations for
teaching would be divided into percentage segments of focus spent. This breakdown included
20% concepts about print/comprehension, 20% alphabet, 20% phonological awareness, 20%
concept of word and 20% writing.