Assessing Literacy Skills in Early Childhood: A Case Study

This case study explores the assessment of literacy skills in early childhood through the use of play-based and informal assessment tools. The study focuses on a four-year-old child named Caitlin and her experiences in a child care center. The findings highlight the importance of developing language skills and provide insights into Caitlin's literacy goals and interests. The study also discusses planning strategies for promoting literacy development in the child care setting.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Part 1
In this assignment we have chosen a four years old child named Caitlin and all the observations
has been taking place in a child care center.
The literacy content area that has been chosen in this report is English, reading skills.
Helping children to build and develop language skills to get what they need and want is a main
teaching task in the early childhood areas (McBride, 2015). Hence many important
developmental tasks are tied to the ability of the children to access and use language in the
correct way at the correct time. Developing language skills among children is of immense
importance for the success of the young children in the later life. While there are various types of
assignment tools used for assessing the sectors like the alphabet letters, comprehension of the
texts, concepts of prints, phonemes, listening and recalling, development of oral language,
phonological awareness and reading. Play based assessment tools can be used for the assessment
of the learning (Saracho, 2013).
Formal assessment tools use for assessing the child
The play based assessment tools that has been used for assessing this literacy content area
is the use of a picture book – “Little red riding hood”. A play based assessment is used as it is
helpful in developing certain areas of learning and development. It helps the child to develop the
social emotional skills, general cognitive development and the self-regulation activities (Earl,
(2012). Using picture books like “Red riding hood” can be an important way for the students in
the school to improve their English literacy skills. Earl, (2012) have pointed out that reading

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activity can be an important way for the students in the school to improve their proficiency in
English. Children often faces difficulties to read the narrative texts. Furthermore, as per the
researches it has been found out that the visual images in the text often gave dramatic effect on
the learners (Nicolopoulou et al., 2017).
My main aim would be to help the child developing literacy skills. Initially I would set up
the classroom corner just like the text, which I would be taking up for the classroom discussion. I
would use the standard techniques to read out a story to the children. The tone of the educator
should be able to set the stage for the story as much as the images and the words do. I should
often pause to let the child predict the next stage of the story, adjust the reading based on the
body language of the child (Bergen, 2014).
After reading out the story to the child, it is important to ask certain questions to the child
to comprehend his/her understanding, such as what are the main characteristics of the story or
who is the red riding hood (Essa, 2012).
Informal assessment tools
Informal assessment tools are informal tools that are casual and observation based tools.
Using this type of tool requires very simple preparations and no need for grading the results
(Earl, 2012). An informal assessment allows the teachers to feel much more relaxed and also
helps to pinpoint the strength and the weaknesses of the child. It assists the teachers to guide the
planning for the upcoming lessons (Earl, 2012). In the classroom informal assessments are
required due to the fact as they help to identify the unaddressed needs of the child and the
potential problem area.

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The informal assessment toll that has been used in case of Caitlin in an anecdotal report
of 5 minutes , where Caitlin has been playing with the equipments and the props present at the
corner of the classroom.
Time: 10 A.M- 10:45 AM
Anecdotal report
Caitlin walked towards the end of the room and collected a book of “three little pigs”. She
accompanied Laila to sit beside her. Caitlin started to turn over the pages of the book. She could
illustrate each and every demonstration of the images present in the book. She also assisted that
Laila to pronounce new words.

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Part 2
Profiling of the literacy learner
Findings from the literacy learner
From the observations and interactions with Caitlin, I became acquainted with the personality
and the developmental stages of the child. My main aim was to promote an effective learning
ambience to the student and improve the language acquisition skills and the phonetic skills of the
student. While I was reading the book, Caitlin had been paying immense attention to the whole
story and I could see wonders in those eyes. Children tend to absorb from and imitate the people
in their surroundings, be it peers or the families. While the story is being read out to the students,
they were being asked to pronounce the difficult words. This act was helping the students to
develop the pronunciation skills. Further Caitlin was also found to be having difficulty in
pronouncing new words. After completion of the reading the book Caitlin was asked to read out
the story books. Caitlin held up the books and turned the pages one by one. Caitlin pointed to the
texts and the pictures and illustrated each of the images, gathering each of the pieces and the bits
of the story. As she reached the end of the book, she closed it and said “the end”. Then turning to
the other children she said`, “Does anyone have any questions?”
Observing children as they handle books might give the teachers some insight to their
understanding of literacy. Buckley, (2012) have stated that watching how a children holds the
book, turns the pages and talk about pictures are some of the interest behaviors that an educator
should note.

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Literacy goals for the child : 1) to encourage awareness of how reading and writing are
important
2) To develop listening comprehension skills
3) To develop excellent vocabulary and phonetic skills
Present level of performance in the child
Caitlin can read the picture book and can easily relate the images with the story. Her
pronunciation is not very strong and the Caitlin can relate the same story with some other related
stories. She cannot pronounce the tough words well and can express her wonder by her tones.
While narrating the story Caitlin had displayed a good sense of punctuations as she could very
well manage the pause in the sentence. Furthermore, through the anecdotal report, it is evident
that the child has both communication and the socialization skills, as she could very easily mix
with Leila, and explain to him about the story. It could also be seen that the Leila could engage
in brainstorming and complex thinking as she could easily relate the story that she was reading
with another similar story. It seems that Caitlin faces challenge while pronouncing certain words
like “trembling” , “crawling” and say tem properly, once they are repeated for a number of
times.
Interest of the child: Caitlin enjoyed the entire story telling activity and readily took part in re
activity. Caitlin took extra initiative and was spontaneously pronouncing each and every words
that the teachers asked her to say. Caitlin also found the classroom environment tallying with the
poem that she was reading and hence was thrilled with whole classroom décor similar to the Red

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riding hood. It seemed that Caitlin felt delighted as she read the entire story. She enthusiastically
pointed out all the images in the book and gave a wonderful demonstration of the entire story all
by herself. Caitlin, has admitted that she loves reading picture books so much as she feels that
the characters in the book would come alive and everything would become real.
As per the findings of the observation, Caitlin had demonstrated a positive sense of self
showing initiative and awareness of the skills and accomplishments. Throughout the observation,
it has been found that Caitlin readily cooperates with her pairs. Caitlin is capable of remembering
and imitating how her educators present and read books in front of the children. Caitlin speaks in
breaks but with correct grammatical sentences.
Caitlin, displays significant developmental strength in the observed situation and
develops a positive strength of sense by her initiative and awareness of his own skills and
developments. Her cognitive development is quite evident and her cognitive development is
evident. It is evident from the observations that Caitlin easily remembers how the educators
imitates and make sounds while narrating the stories , like words of exclamation.
Her social development is as per her age and she cooperates properly with her peers. This
is also one of the most important example of her emergent literary skills and her strong interest
towards the books. The verbal language skill of Caitlin has been good and can communicate
properly with her peers. Caitlin needs to work on some good sense of vocabulary, which was
evident at the time of conversation with the child. As evident from the anecdotal record and what
I had heard from her parents, she also practices storytelling activity with her siblings and often
reads about stories to them. Caitlin usually do not need assistance in handling the books.

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Part 3: Planning for the literacy learner
Planning
It is evident from the anecdotal records and the assessment tool of using picture books to
assess the literacy skills of the children, Caitlin was found to be having a little bit difficulty in
pronouncing certain words like ‘trembling’ and ‘crucial’ or ‘ crawling’. Hence, the planning
would be to read in groups, including a graphic organizer, for he children to understand their
need and to connect it to the knowledge. An K-W-L chart can be used by the educator that can be
used with reading. The “K” column represents what the child already knows about the book
topic. This lets her brain to remain engaged and ready for the reading. “W” stands for what the
child wants to enquire. The child might have several questions that she doesn’t have idea about
the topic. The column “L” happens after the reading has been over and what she had learnt from
the story. Graphic organizers can also be used to show the element of the story, like the settings,
characters, conflicts and the main events (Roskos, 2017). Furthermore, poems and the songs can
help the children to practice fluency and learn new vocabulary words. Instead of just singing the
songs, the lyrics of the songs can be printed off for the child. Poems have similar flow and often
contain rhyming words that increases the phonetic skills of the children (Roskos, 2017). Caitlin
cannot pronounce all the words easily, this can be done by using the techniques like echo
reading. In echo reading, the children can intimidate the skilled teaching of the children.
Developmentally practices like play will also help in improving the gross motor skills of child
that will helps in the physical development of the child (Yawkey, & Pellegrini, 2018).

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Importance of teaching this in the day care center
It has been already mentioned that poems and rhymes gives kids chances to practice
fluency and to learn new vocabulary words. Many of the day care centers often incorporate
music and other play based assessment tools in the classroom to improve the literacy skill of the
children (Paris & Hamilton, 2014). Poems and songs have been found to go well with repeated
readings as children often likes to enjoy listening to them and reading them several times
(Yawkey & Pellegrini, 2018). Again retelling is an approach that is used to improve
comprehension of materials. After the commencement of reading a story, a child should be made
to summarize what the story is about (Spencer et al., 2016). This can be done verbally or they
can be made to retell them verbally or draw pictures for showing the main event or acting out the
drama in the story. If a child is unable to retell the story, it means that he has not understand what
had he actually read and this mainly occurs when the text is too long and the child is spending
too much time to read out the story and thus missing the main point of the story. Such activities
might be helpful for children having speech difficulties Wright, Diener & Kemp, 2013). Story
telling activities can be introduced in day care centers, as they help to promote a feeling of
wellbeing and relaxation .It increases the children’s willingness to communicate via thoughts and
feelings. It encourages the children to participate in all classroom based activities. One of the
most important benefit of storytelling is that it increases verbal proficiency, encourages the use
of creativity and innovative ideas (Wright, Diener & Kemp, 2013). Again, the stories reveals
about the universal truths about the world. Through stories children can realize how different
people have the same life experiences and how human nature can transcend culture.

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Resources required for the learner
The different resources required for implementing this in the childcare setting includes different
picture books, different models, animal cutouts, video players and audio players, red riding hood
costume.
Justification of the plan
Reading together or shared reading activity is a group activity, where children learn to
predict and make meaning out of whatever that is not expressed directly. Such activities will not
only enhance the speaking skills of the students, but will also help to develop a sense of
community , Group reading or shared reading helps to develop pleasure among the children
(Paris & Hamilton, 2014). According to the ELYF framework children are social learners and
learns from the environment. Hence, here the educator acts as the macro environment for the
child. These play based group activity would be important for Caitlin. As stated by Piaget, paly
can be defined as a mode of assimilation or the effort of the child to make the environmental
stimuli match his own concept (Blake, 2015). On the other hand, Vygotsky’s theory states that
play facilitates cognitive development (Blake, 2015). Children not only practice what they
already know, also learn new things. The activity selected will also enhance the socialization
skills among the children, as Caitlin will be able to develop socialization skills with the other
children (Blake, 2015). Repeated learning will be helpful in teaching children like Caitlin who
are having mild speech difficulties, who face difficulties in pronouncing English words. It is
important that each of the activity of the activity has to be meaningful.

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References
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early childhood, 9-21.
Blake, B. (2015). Developmental psychology: Incorporating Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories in
classrooms.
Buckley, B. (2012). Children's communication skills: from birth to five years. Routledge.
Cameron, C. E., Brock, L. L., Murrah, W. M., Bell, L. H., Worzalla, S. L., Grissmer, D., &
Morrison, F. J. (2012). Fine motor skills and executive function both contribute to
kindergarten achievement. Child development, 83(4), 1229-1244.
Earl, L. M. (2012). Assessment as learning: Using classroom assessment to maximize student
learning. Corwin Press.
Essa, E. L. (2012). Introduction to early childhood education. Cengage Learning.
McBride, C. (2015). Children's literacy development: A cross-cultural perspective on learning to
read and write. Routledge.
Nicolopoulou, A., Cortina, K. S., Ilgaz, H., Cates, C. B., & de Sá, A. B. (2015). Using a
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emergent literacy, and social competence. Early childhood research quarterly, 31, 147-
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