Field Experience Portfolio

Ashton Stringer

Concepts of print
Definition: Concepts of print refers to the ability of a child to know and recognize the ways in which
print works for the purposes of reading, particularly with regard to books.
A concepts of print assessment helps teachers to see where his or her students levels of understanding
of print conventions are. It also helps teachers by showing them what the students already know and
what they need to focus on when teaching literacy.
I pulled one child from my pre-k placement and gave him the concept of print assessment we did in
class. He scored extremely well. I let him choose from two books, and he chose the book Leaves. He was
a bit hesitant at first because he didnt know what I was going to ask him to do. Once we started he
answered my questions immediately with no thought or hesitation. At one point he seemed a little
bored or annoyed with answering such simple questions. The only thing he was not able to tell me was
what the period was, but after I told him what it was he said that he had heard about it before. This
shows me that he has a high level of understanding of print conventions. If I were his teacher I would
not need to teach any new concepts/conventions to him. I would most likely start giving him more
difficult books and assess him again based on more advanced print conventions such as commas. It
would also confirm that I would need to differentiate my reading instruction to help all levels of readers.

Phonemic Awareness
Definition: Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual phonemes. Phonological
awareness includes this ability, but it also includes the ability to hear and manipulate larger units of
sound, such as onsets and rimes and syllables.
I did not see any phonemic awareness in my pre-k placement. They seemed to jump right into phonics
by connecting sounds with letters. However, I do remember that the preschool I helped in during high
school did do phonemic awareness. We had a phoneme song that we sang every day at circle time. The
song went through and sang lines such as this: Apple, Apple, /a/ /a/ /a/, Baby, Baby /b/ /b/ /b/ This
song did not reveal any letters; it only focused on the sound at the beginning of each word.
The video below uses the Phoneme song, but it adds in the letters, which would make it phonics.
However, in my classroom we did not view the video, we only listened to the audio; therefore it could
be considered as phonemic awareness.

Phonics
Definition: Phonics is a method of teaching people to read by correlating sounds with letters or groups
of letters in an alphabetic writing system.
Each day during center time at my pre-k placement the head teacher would pull two students at a time
to do an activity called Wet, Dry, Try. This activity involves the teacher writing the letter they are
working on for the week on a small chalkboard and asking the students what the letter is and the sound
it makes. Then the students would have to erase the letter in the way that they would write it, dry it in
the way they would write it, and finally they would write the letter with the chalk. This is a part of
phonics because it involves attaching letters to sounds.
The video below is not from my class, but it is a great example of the Wet, Dry, Try activity.

Vocabulary
Definition: Vocabulary refers to the words we must know to communicate effectively. In general,
vocabulary can be described as oral vocabulary or reading vocabulary. Oral vocabulary refers to words
that we use in speaking or recognize in listening. Reading vocabulary refers to words we recognize or
use in print.
In my fourth grade placement they had a unique vocabulary activity that they did for different units in all
different subjects. The activity is displayed on the smart board. Each slide has a word and the definition
of the word each covered up by circles, and a picture of the vocabulary word. Before revealing the word,
the students are asked to predict what the word means. Then, the teacher will reveal the word and
definition by moving the circles they are covered by to see if they are correct. In many circumstances the
teacher has the students repeat the word and definition out loud with hand gestures to help aide
memorization. They often use this as review as well later on in the unit.
Below is an example of vocabulary words used for this kind of activity. (I was unable to get the actual
activity because it uses a SMART board application, and I dont have that or the ability to open those
files.)

STORY Heat Wave

By: Helen Ketteman

VOCABULARY
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Be sure you know the meaning AND are able to use them in a sentence!
crinkled wrinkled
resist fight the urge for
horizon line along which the earth and sky seem to meet
snagged caught on something sticking out
dog-paddled swam holding head above water, paddling with arms in front, and kicking
miscalculated figured incorrectly
whiff slight wind, especially one carrying a smell
singe to burn slightly
frisky lively and playful
pasture land used for animals to graze (eat grass)
trough a long, narrow container that holds water or food for animals
spirits - moods

Fluency
Definition: Reading fluency is the power to read quickly and accurately. The more fluent a reader, the
more he or she automatically groups and recognizes words. Fluent readers excel at oral reading, which is
highlighted by smooth and natural expression.
Hillary and I conducted a fluency assessment with two student like the one we talked about in class. We
had the students read a page out of their book, and we would time them for one minute. After reading
we recorded how many words they read, and we subtracted the words they got wrong. Then, we asked
them what the text they read was about to check for comprehension. Although we told them not to
rush, they both sped through the reading to finish before the other. It would have been better if we had
done them each separately, and told them to take their time and read like normal with expression in
order to read with full comprehension. The number of words read per minute is not enough to measure
fluency completely, one also needs to take into consideration of comprehension and expression.
Book: Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain by Robert Burch
Page Number: 51
Student Score: 189 words per minute (193-4 incorrect words)
Student Response: The part I read was about a group of kids playing a game, and one boy didnt like the
game.

Comprehension
Definition: Comprehension is the action or capability of understanding something.
Hillary and I saw a wonderful comprehension lesson on making inferences in our fourth grade
placement. This lesson was implemented after a Making Inferences pre-test was given to the students.
The pre-test consisted of two paragraphs and questions that required making inferences. After the unit
on making inferences the students had to take the pre-test again to show what they learned and if they
had mastered the subject. The lesson we saw take place is below. (I recorded this as I watched the
lesson.)
Making inferences is a huge part of comprehension. In order to make an inference a child has to know or
understand what is going on in the text they are reading, and use context clues and prior knowledge to
come up with inferences.

Lesson topic: Making Inferences

To begin, the students watched a short Pixar film called Partly Cloudy. After watching the film they had
the following questions to answer in a Making Inferences chart:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Why is the grey cloud separated from everyone?

Describe the relationship between the grey cloud and his stork
Why does the stork keep coming back to the grey cloud?
Why does the stork fly away? Where does he go?
How did the dark cloud react to the storks actions?
What was the stork really doing? Why did he do that?

Evidence (Clues we find from the

film)
1. The dark cloud made a
shark, an alligator, and a
porcupine
2. The stork returns. The
dark cloud cries when he
leaves
3. Cloud kept making
animals
4. Other cloud made the
stork football gear

Schema (Info we already know)

1. The animals the dark
cloud made were
dangerous
2. Friends dont leave
3. It was the storks job
4. Helmet and pads are for
protection

Inference
1. He was separated
becasuse he made
dangerous animals
2. They were good friends
3. The stork and cloud
were good friends, and
the other clouds so he
could keep working

This video had only picture reference, no text evidence, and no talking. After doing this activity, they
used the making inferences skills they learned to read paragraphs and make inferences.