Observation Logs

ELA: As students are still getting acclimated to the new school year routing, they have been practicing name-writing for morning work as well as participating in read alouds in whole group settings. Child 1 is unable to correctly hold a writing utensil, does not know which hand he writes with, and cannot form any of the letters in his name. He also seems very distracted, spaced out and unwilling to read aloud discussions.

Math: As math is taught in the afternoon, the child seems less tired and more willing to sit through instruction during this learning time. However, he never participates in discussions or in response to questions. He is able to count to 10 and seems to understand math much more than literacy.

ELA: Child 2 is also unable to form letters of her name during morning work and name-writing practice time. She tends to get very distracted and frustrated easily. She often gives up and states she can't do something. She ignores directions and refuses to try with anything involving writing. 

Math: During math, the student seems to be paying for little attention to discussion. She does not respond to any questions or participate in discussion . She is also very talkative in whole group settings, such as math. It is hard to tell what she does and does not know as she often refuses to try and/or pretends not to know something for attention.

ELA: Child 1 had a really good day, overall, as far as attentiveness goes. He is still struggling to partipcate in discussion and with holding writing utensils. He did seem to enjoy the read aloud as he had a big smile on his face during parts of, "Pete the Cat! I love my white shoes!" While he still struggles writing letters, he does seem to be trying harder and getting less frustrated.

Math: The student continues to show willingness to learn and grow in math. He sits quietly and follows along while the teacher instructs, needing simple reminder to complete steps throughout lessons here and there. He seems to respond more effectively to step by step directions, given one step at a time, rather than all at once, especially during math time.

A speech therapist came to observe child 1 during whole group discussion today, as he also struggles orally. 

ELA: The child is still getting extremely distracted during literacy time, and ends up acting out because of it. She also forgot her glasses at home again today. This does not help her interest and willingness to learn during literacy activities. The student's dry-erase board was taken away during color word writing time, as she was not following directions or using her materials properly.

Math: The child enjoyed the counting by 5s activity during math time today. She participated in discussion and movement activities involving these concepts. Once it was time to move to math workplaces in small groups, she began getting very distracted and off task. She needed extra guidance and reminders often. She did not earn today's sticker for this portion of the school day. 

ELA: Child 1 is beginning to show rapid progress in his effort and attempts to write his name during morning work and other literacy activities. With his efforts, he is beginning to show some growth in his writing abilities as well. This growth is little, and not quite where he needs to be, but growth is growth! The teacher is excited to begin to see this and know the student is headed in the right direction.

Math: The child is also beginning to show some progress in number-writing as well. He is enjoying all of the positive feedback for his efforts, and I feel it helps keep him motivated to try, during math time especially.

ELA: During literacy activity, student of the day writing, child 2 lost their dry erase board privileges today due to failure to follow directions. She was then told to use her finger to write the letters in the air for practice. After a few minutes, she was given her board back as long as she agreed to follow along. She did a better job staying on task after this. 

Math: The student is beginning to show progress with counting skills during math time. When the teacher picked another student to come up to the ELMO to help demonstrate a math game, child 2 got upset and acted out because she was not chosen. With a little reinforcement and redirection, the studnet got back on task fairly quickly. 

ELA: Child 1 seems to off  today, and somewhat sick. He is, however, beginning to write his letters and following directions with simple reminders. The teacher has begun the paperwork for OT which whille strengthen his fine motor skills and provide him with an appropriate pencil grip to assist his writing.

Math: Child 1 was sent home before math time today.

ELA: Although the child did show up late today, she showed really good behavior throughout the morning and was made student of the day! This really got her excited for literacy time as the whole class would be writing her name. Great day for behavior!

Math: The student continued to behave well during math only needing reminded to follow along twice. She earned all 7 stickers for today and was very excited about this. She particularly enjoyed participating in the new math workplace game, "Beat You to 5!"

ELA: The child is continuing work with intervention specialists for writing and letter recognition practice. The one on one assistance seems to be improving his writing abilities, although his grip is still very weak. I continue to work one on one with him while writing on dry erase boards during literacy time. With reminders and some hand over hand help, he is able to follow along during this time. 

Math: The child is not understanding the patterning concept taught in math today. He seems to get distracted by simply playing with the cubes instead of following along and patterning with them by color. He needed lots of reminders and one on one help to follow along.

ELA: The child behaved well today, but is still having trouble staying on task during independent activities. Specifically during morning work, the students are working on writing in their handwriting practice books. Today's letters were M and N. Child 2 scribbled all over her book with markers and highlighter when she was supposed to be tracing and writing these letters.

Math: The child had an issue with another student during math time on the carpet today. She was asked to follow along from her seat because of this. She did not stay on task well sitting by herself far away from the instructing. Once she returned to the carpet, she did a better job of following along and working on patterning.

ELA: The child really enjoyed our new halloween-themed literacy stations and centers for this week. He actively participated in both stations and centers. It was refreshing to see him working on literacy activities independently without needing constant reminders and assistance. 

Math: The child struggled during a new math concept today, the number rack. He was to follow along with the teacher and class by moving beads across a pipecleaner will working on simple addition and subtraction problems. He did not follow along and was not moving the correct number of beads at the given times. We will continue to work on this concept at a later date. 

ELA: The child was excited to begin working with halloween-themed literacy stations today. However, she did not stay in her correct group for stations and therefore, had to sit for a few minutes. She is beginning to participate more in read aloud discussions.

Math: The child struggled staying on task during the number rack activity today. She ended up bending her pipecleaner and having it taken away from her. She, then, had to follow along using her finger and pretending. The student was not happy, but was made aware of these consequences beforehand. 

ELA: As we have introduced our first sight words this week, the student is struggling with learning and spelling these new words. He is progressing with letter recognition through intervention. The specialists will begin sight word practice with him at this time as well. 

Math: The student was struggling following along when discussing shapes in whole group setting today. I sat with him one on one and assisted using wooden block geometric shapes. He seemed to understand better after this, but will continue to need reinforcment. 

ELA: The student seems to enjoy practicing new sight words. She is following along better when practicing on dry erase boards during this literacy time. She is also doing much better with letter recognition with reading intervention specialists working one on one with her. 

Math: The student seemed to be craving lots of attention during math today. She acted out and wiggled around a lot on the carpet. We gave her some reminders, but she did not end up earning her sticker for this portion of the school day.

ELA: The student was reassessed and now knows 22/26 letters, which is awesome for him! As we are starting writing workshop, he is struggling coming up with things to write/draw about, and staying on task during this time. 

Math: We have begun introducing new geometric shapes in math today such as hexagon, trapezoid, and rhombus. The student struggled following along and so I spent a lot of time working one on one with him during math. He is starting to identify the shapes, but not yet able to compare/contrast them.

ELA: The student had a lot of trouble staying on task today both for morning work and writing workshop. We did have an aide in the classroom this morning that worked with her one on one to practice in handwriting books. This helped a lot as she was getting that extra attention she often craves. 

Math: The student participated during whole group shape comparing/contrasting in math today. It was refreshing to see her following along and adding to discussion. She seemed to enjoy learning about new shapes and was very attentive because of this.

ELA: Child 1 had a hard time following the turkey sightword page for morning work today. I sat with him to assist one on one for a long time, but he was not seeming to understand. This makes sense as he is still having a hard time learning sight words all together. RTI is continuing to work with him on this. We are also still in the process of getting him on a 504 plan, but the paperwork for it has been started.

Math: The student seemed frustrated during math time today. He did not want to participate in the add some/take some away activity, and he seemed to just space out during instruction. We will continue to monitor this behavior and reinforce as needed.

ELA: The student did a good job following directions and staying on task during morning work today, which is a nice change for her! During the sight word book reading, she did color her book instead of following along and highlighting words on pages. We gave her reminders and she got it together.

Math: The student sat nicely on the carpet and followed along during the add some/take some away lesson in math today. She seems to be doing better during whole group instruction as long as we actively engage her in the questioning and discussion.