Assessing Literacy Skills in Early Childhood: A Case Study

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.