Work-over-time 1, 2008

On the last standard-based bulletin board of the year, Mrs. Conte/ Timmons/ Happ display the work over time of two students. The first student has three pieces on the top of the bulletin board and the second student has three pieces over the bottom of the board.Madison's first piece is from mid-September. When she entered Kindergarten she could recognize 40 letters and identify 26 letter sounds. She was a pre-emergent reader, able to retell a story but not able to use story language. Her phonemic awareness was at an emergent stage as well. Madison was able to draw a simple picture of a table such as the one above with lollipops, rainbow and water as well as her name (majority in capital letters).
Madison began to read conventionally (level A books) in January. She recognized 49 letters and 39 letter sounds (upper and lowercase). Her phonemic awareness grew by leaps and bounds. Madison began to choose appropriate paper for her narrative story, to use spaces between words, to use editing marks (circle misspelled words and correction written above), to spell phonetically (Oleckowluz = Ollie Koalas), and to use spelling strategies such as using the words from around the room (October). By spring Madison was reading at level B independently which is the end-of-the-year benchmark. She recognized most of the letters and letter sounds. She correctly identified at least 20 sight words and uses them in her everyday reading and writing experiences. Madison’s progression of work as an author is tremendous. She is now able to consistently choose paper with lines and multiple pages to fit her need, to use phonetic spelling, high-frequency words and spaces between her words, and to notice and use punctuation marks as well as a majority of lowercase letters in her writing. This multi-paged piece also shows Madison's stamina and fluency in writing.

This work is a good representation of the progress that kindergartners make throughout the year at Chets Creek!