Case Study for Portfolio

I had the privilege to get to know Sam who is a student in Mrs. Jaspers first grade class at
Basket Elementary School. Hes an adventurous boy who sometimes loves to read and write, but really
enjoys drawing, indoor recess, and trees. He also enjoys the movie Cars, Curious George books, and
giving good hugs. The first day I met with him all he wanted to do was draw, so I gave him a piece of
paper and he drew a tree house. When I asked him why he drew a tree house he explained that he
loves trees. I then made it my goal to find books that involved trees for us to read together. The only
ones I found were some Bernstein Bears books and The Giving Tree. For one of my lessons I had him
read a book on an iPad. Sam was familiar with the iPad but told me he would rather have an actual
book to read instead of on a screen. I figured he had used an iPad before because he knew how to zoom
in and out, and he mentioned using his moms at home. I am assuming that his life at home is very laid
back because Mrs. Jasper mentioned to me one time, when he wasnt cooperating, that at school he
doesnt get away with misbehavior, but at home he does. I was impressed by his engagement in reading
and writing after he had the talk with his teacher about participating whenever I came to read with him.
Sam and I worked on many different elements of literacy, so reading and writing werent the
only things in our lessons. I performed some assessments on him too. An informal assessment that I did
was listen to him read. In the beginning of the semester he was reading at a slower pace than he is now
at the end of the semester. I noticed with the book A Fly Goes By that Sam was reading the repeated
sentences faster and faster each time. He even asked me did I read that fast? It seems that he has
been working on his fluency. The purpose of this informal assessment is for me to have a better idea of
his progress in reading each week. It is also important that I have a way of comparing his reading at the
beginning of the semester to his reading at the end of the semester.
Another informal assessment that I performed involved using comprehension strategies. The
purpose of this assessment was to determine if Sam really comprehends the books we read or if hes
just reading the words. Every time we read a book I would stop and ask him what he thought was going
to happen. I encouraged him to make predictions and ask questions as we would read. If I was reading I
would model my questioning for him, and he caught on because he started asking questions as he was
reading. After we had completed a book I would ask him to tell me what happened. Most times he
could tell me the plot of the book or answer my questions about the book correctly; however there
were a couple of times he couldnt remember what had happened like with the Fly Went By book. We
had to finish the book the next week, and when I asked him if he could remember why the animals were
chasing each other he did not know why.
A formal assessment I did with Sam was a running record. The purpose of this assessment was
to determine what reading level he was. I started with a level G book and quickly discovered that it was
too easy for him. I then gave him a level H book and after getting two pages into it he quit and decided
he didnt want to read anymore. I didnt get to complete this record to see if level H was a better fit for
him. Mrs. Jasper had Sam read a level book to me after she found out he didnt want to participate. He
made about 5-8 mistakes. I didnt get to properly record markings for this reading because Mrs. Jasper
was holding the paper while he was reading. It also would not have been a proper assessment because
she helped him with words and comprehension as he was reading. In a real running record I would not
be able to do this. From what I could tell level I seemed to be the perfect level for him, but I still wasnt
sure. I performed one more running record to determine his reading level. I gave Sam a choice
between two leveled books to read, and he chose the level G book because it looked more interesting to
him. This was not the level I should have been testing. I should have had him read a level H and I book.
Obviously he completed this running record at an independent level. This was the last running record I
performed on him. After completing this last record I decided that he was a level I and began searching
for level I type books to read. This seemed like an appropriate level based on the fact that he was flying
through the G and H books.

Level Title Results
G Bonks Bad Dream 177/184= 96%
Independent level
H Grasshoppers Gross
Lunch
Didnt complete
I A Broken Leg for Bonk Mrs. Jasper had him
read it to both of us so I
couldnt record on the
paper for a score (from
what I could tell an
instructional level)
H Tag-Along Goat Started but quickly
decided he wanted to
read a different one
G Troll Bridge 192/196= 98%
independent level

After running records were completed I gave Sam a level I book called Soup and a Sandwish. He
read through this book with no problem. There were a couple words he didnt know such as jiggly,
gigantic, Monterey, and ladder. I also noticed that he said sandwich instead of sandwish, but for
the most part this book seemed to fit his instructional level.
Reading was not the only thing I assessed. I had Sam do some working with words activities as
well to see how well he knew how to spell and make words. First, I gave him words to spell using letters
written on notecards, and he sounded out the word by himself before arranging the cards to spell it.
Every time Sam would get a word right he had this look of confidence on his face. In fact, he even asked
to write a couple new letters on notecards so he could spell some more words. This simple word
assessment showed me he is a great speller. I also had him do some writing to assess his spelling and
knowledge of composing sentences. Almost all his sentences included periods at the end of them, and
there were only minor spelling errors. This was another way to show me he is a good speller and might
need a challenge with writing and spelling.
Sam has many strengths in literacy. He is one of the higher readers in his class and can spell
words on the second grade word wall list already. I know this because most students in Mrs. Jaspers
first grade class are at a level F or G for reading. Sam is at a level I and reads quite fluently; however he
does need to work on comprehension a little more. When I ask him things that happen in a book or why
they happened he can sometimes tell me, but if a week has gone by since we read a book he has trouble
remembering what happened in it and why things happened.
A second strength that Sam has is spelling. I would say reading is the strongest and spelling is
his second strength. Whenever I would ask him to write a sentence about what we read he wouldnt
ask me how to spell words for him because he was already spelling them correctly. Even though he is a
good speller I would say his second greatest need is to give all books a chance. There were a couple
times with the leveled reading books where he started reading, but quickly decided that he didnt want
to read it anymore after the second page. It is important to be interested a the book, but it is also good
to read books that might not sound interesting at first, so he knows the types of books he enjoys.
A third strength that Sam has in literacy is his ability to ask lots of questions and make many
predictions while reading a book. I found that as we were reading we were stopping a lot for him to
make predictions based on the pictures in the book. He would also stop to ask me what words meant
that he didnt know. These are good comprehension strategies that he is using. If he continues to use
these strategies it could help his long term memory in comprehending books. A third need that Sam has
is learning to stay focused on the book in front of him. Many times if I ask him a prediction question he
will start flipping through the pages to figure out an answer based on the upcoming pictures. I want him
to be able to make those predictions without spoiling the book by skimming ahead. There are also many
times when he accidently skips reading a page of words because he is so focused on the pictures on the
page. This causes him to forget what he had just read on the previous page which messes with his
ability to comprehend the book.
In order to address Sams comprehension needs I would ask him many questions before, during,
and after the book to get him thinking and wondering about what was happening. I also had him write a
sentence about what we had read (Soup and a Sandwish book in the lesson plan for practicum 5). He
remembered the sandwich needing a crane to lift the top slice of bread onto it, and then decided that
he would write about that page in the book and draw/color a picture to go along with it. I was trying to
include something he loves to do (draw) in the lesson to make it more interesting for him.
Something else I did to help him with comprehension was ask him questions that might trigger a
connection he might have with what was happening in the book. In the lesson for practicum 3 we read
The Bernstein Bears and the Bad Dream. As we were reading the book together I asked him if he had
ever had a bad dream and how he felt during that dream. In the lesson for practicum 6 he read a non-
fictional book about sharks. As we were reading this book we would stop a lot and think about the
information we were reading. I could tell this helped him begin to think about the material because he
would start asking me questions like what is seaweed? or do sharks eat people? Sam was starting to
become engaged with what he was reading and really think about what he was learning.
Sams second highest need is having the ability to motivate himself not to become distracted
while doing any form of literacy. To address this need I decided to do a working with words activity and
give him stickers for staying on task. We worked on guessing covered words that were in 5 different
sentences on a poster board. Sam would write down each sentence and then try and guess the covered
word. He was asked to spell the word based on how he thought the letters sounded before he got to
see if he was right. Each time he guessed a word right (which was every time) he could pick an animal
sticker. The simple motivation of a sticker seemed to make him super excited to finish guessing the rest
of the sentences. There were a couple times when he got a little distracted and would start rolling
around on the floor, but after I asked him if he wanted to get another sticker to join the other ones he
was already wearing he got right back to work. It seems that if kids are given a purpose other than
saying because I said so they are more willing to work harder at the task they are given.
Recommendations on how to work with Sam:
1. Select a level appropriate book to read to him and begin by asking him questions about
what he thinks will happen based on the cover and title of the book. This will help with
his better comprehension need. Make sure you are asking him questions or he is asking
questions/making predictions at the beginning, middle, and end of the book.
2. Read a variety of genres with him. Informational text might generate more questions
and wonderings for him to help with his need to improve his comprehension. Since he
likes to look at the pictures reading non-fiction might be better for improving
comprehension so he is connecting the pictures with real facts to add to his prior
knowledge.
3. Have him write about something that interests him like tree houses. He could write
about what his own tree house would look like if he ever built or designed one. He
could also write a fictional story about something he and his friend might do in their
tree house. I think Sams writing and spelling are strong enough to challenge him to
write more than a couple sentences about tree houses. He could write a paragraph and
then add a paragraph a day to make a full story. It doesnt even have to be on tree
houses. It could be about another topic of his interest.
4. Have him work with more words from the second grade word wall list and possibly
throw in a few from the third grade list. I think he needs a challenge with words
because he has proven that he can master making new words out of given letters and
spell them correctly almost all the time. Maybe make a list of the words he keeps
getting wrong and throw them into the activity so he learns to master those certain
words. Sam seemed to have some trouble with the ea, -ee words so give him several
of these to spell so he begins to recognize the correct way to spell them even though
they sound the same.
5. Once he has had more work with tougher words, challenge him by selecting higher
leveled books. It is important to build his confidence first with independent books
because he tends to lose interest quickly if the book seems too hard or uninteresting.
Once he masters level I books, have him go up a couple levels to challenge him. It might
also be beneficial for him to start reading some chapter books that have a few pictures
in them. This could help with his comprehension because it doesnt give him a picture
all the time to rely on for comprehending the story. Chapter books would also have a
continuous plot which would get him to start remembering or writing down what has
happened in previous chapters so he can tie the whole plot/story together in his mind.
It has been great working with Sam, and I know he is going to continue to be a great reader and
writer. With a little extra help with comprehension he should be on his way to becoming a successful
second grader. I am confident that he is ready to tackle the next grade.