Taylor Greene

Total Talent Portfolio

Monday, November 16

A) Status Information
Portville Central School
500 Elm Street
Portville, NY 14770
Michelle is a kindergarten student in Portville Central School District. Portville is located
Cattaraugus County. It is a small, rural district with about 900 students. The school has 22% of
their population that receives free lunch, and 12% that receives reduced lunch. The schools
population is 94% white. The schools mission statement is: Through continuous innovation and
long term focus, we as a school/community will motivate students to become lifelong learners
who will contribute positively to society.
The classroom has 22 students, the average class size in Portville is 21. There are two aides
in the room. One aide is in the classroom for 60 minutes in the morning. Her job is to help the
students come into the room and get their coats and backpacks put away while the teacher helps
with morning work, attendance, and lunch count. The other aide comes into the room in the later
part of the morning to help with centers. In addition, the teacher has at least one parent volunteer
come in each day to help during centers. During centers, a speech teacher or an occupational
therapist pushes into the classroom to work with students. They switch and come in every other
day.
The teacher uses Read Well for the literacy curriculum and the New York State Common
Core math modules for the math curriculum. Students are assessed using iReady program. Each
Friday the students are assessed on their phonics skills by the teacher.
I interviewed Michelle and her mother to find out more about her family and personal
interests. Michelle has two older siblings, one sister and one brother. She lives with her mom,
dad, and two siblings. A significant event in Michelles life was when her family moved from
Portville to Allegany following her maternal grandfathers passing. The entire family is very
close and are active in their church and the Portville community. Since Michelles mother is a
pre-k teacher in Portville Michelle spends much of her time in school or at school events.
Marissa is the youngest in her family which has helped her to build a strong academic foundation
before beginning school.
1) Grades:
a. Letter Naming: Proficient
b. Phonological Awareness: Proficient
c. Word Knowledge: High Frequency Words: Proficient
d. Listening Comprehension: Character: Developing
e. Writing: Nouns: Developing
*Proficient is above grade level.
For Michelles weekly unit reading assessment she has scored a perfect score on each
story in the two areas assessed (letters and sight words). On her first marking period assessment
she shows she is above level in the following areas: fine motor, personal achievement (birthday,
address etc.), vocabulary development, alphabet knowledge, blending, simple sentences,
rhyming, and letter sounds.

Taylor Greene
Total Talent Portfolio
Monday, November 16

The district assess Kindergarten using iReady and AIMSweb. Michelle scored above
level on her AIMSweb test which assesses early literacy. The district also used iReady which
assesses various aspects of early literacy and phonics. According to Michelles iReady test she is
Mid Kindergarten in phonological awareness and Early Kindergarten in comprehension
literature. Although this is lower than her other assessments there are many factors that should be
taken into account. First, this is Michelle, and her classmates, first time using iReady testing
which requires the knowledge of how to use the program and time to get used to it. Second,
Michelle was flagged for going too fast through the program. Kindergarten is not assessed using
state or standardized tests.
2) Observations
The student is gifted in the area of literacy. She is an exceptional reader, reading beyond
grade level. She is also very strong at letters, letter sounds, and blending. During a lesson I
observed Michelle, she was making words and blending letters. This was a skill that had not yet
been taught to her. During the lesson students were asked to letters or letter sounds and displayed
them on a magnetic board. Marissa was not only matching letters and their sounds but she was
making words. For example, she spelled tap and top because that week we had been working
on the letter t.
During another lesson where the students were participating in a whole group reading
discussion Michelle was very engaged and active. While reading I would ask students to find
words on the page that began with t. Most students just identified the word by the beginning
letter, however Michelle could sound out some of the words. She also pointed out other words
that she knew or pointed out instances where t was the ending sound and could point out
rhyming words.
Michelle is eager to learn and to share her knowledge. She loves learning and reading.
Her favorite books are by the author Mo Willems.
B) Social/ Emotional Behavior
1) SRBCSS
According to the SRBCSS that was completed with Michelle she is very strong in the area of
learning, motivation, and dramatics. This scale matched and summarized a lot of what I see in
Michelle during observations. Under the Dramatics Characteristics I see Michelle playing
pretend school or house often. She is very creative and silly, but knows when it is
appropriate to be serious.
Another aspect of the SRBCSS that was very accurate was in regards to Michelles intrinsic
motivation. She interested in a wide variety of topics but does not lose interest in them over time.
She mentioned to me several times her love of zebras and how she enjoys learning about them.
She loves to read and write. During whole class activities if she is finished early she will flip
over her paper and practice writing without being asked. Her Learning Characteristics category
was also very high. This is very evident throughout her school day. She understands concepts
very easily with little or no practice. She has a good understanding of cause and effect
relationships for her age. She recalls information and loves sharing facts with others.

Taylor Greene
Total Talent Portfolio
Monday, November 16

2) Observation
Michelle is very intuitive and mature for her age. During a center where students were
working with magnetic boards to identify letters when given the letter sound. Michelle worked
quietly and thoughtfully rather than yelling out or looking onto her peers. She asked the teacher
if she could spell words for her. This demonstrates very controlled behavior. Rather than yelling
out answers she works quietly. She does not become frustrated while waiting for her classmates
to finish, rather she asks her teacher if she can challenge herself. At times she will ask other
students for help too.
During free time, Michelle sat the table and colored and wrote stories with a few of the other
girls. After a little while, she got up and played a game of teacher where she pretended to be a
teacher and the other students pretended to be students. When she noticed one girl was upset, she
went over to make sure she was okay. While playing it was clear that she is a natural leader.
However, Michelle is not bossy or mean. She plays fair by letting other people take turns and she
compliments her classmates pictures.
C) Interests
Based on the Interest-A-Lyzer, another interest inventory, and an interview with Michelle her
interests range from a variety of activities. Michelle loves princess books, and her favorite book
is Cinderella. When asked if she could write a book about anything she said she would write a
book about cooking or puppies. Michelle used to dance before kindergarten and next year when
she is old enough she will participate in cheerleading. She likes playing baseball/tee ball and
soccer. She also likes playing football with her brother. Her favorite TV show is Sofia the First.
She has two dogs named Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker. Her favorite animal is a zebra. She
likes to play Duck Duck Goose and princess video games. She also likes playing pretend
games such as House or Teacher. If her class could go anywhere on a field trip she said she
would want to go to watch a baseball game or go to the zoo to see a zebra. When she grows up
she said she wanted to be the ice cream man.
Based on a conversation with Michelles mom, at home she enjoys playing on the computer
or iPad. Michelle and her sister enjoy going into her moms classroom and pretending to play
teacher. Michelle likes to help her mom and dad with certain housework, especially cooking or
outdoor chores such as raking or gardening.
D) Style Preferences
The student enjoys working with pairs or in small groups. Michelle is a social girl who
enjoys working with her classmates. She also works well by herself. She participates in reading
discussions. She enjoys doing activities where she is actively engaged to answer a question, such
during centers.

Taylor Greene
Total Talent Portfolio
Monday, November 16

E) Student Goals
After talking with Michelle, her mother, and regular classroom we decided together on a few
goals to help Michelle academically.
1) Work with an occupational therapist (who pushes into the classroom) on handwriting skills.
2) A wider variety of reading materials, and add in non-fiction books on Michelles interests.
These could include things like zebras, dogs, or technology. These materials will also be at a
First Grade level.
3) Incorporate more activities with technology. For example, allow her use technology to
display her learning or give her projects where she could use technology to research and find
for more information.
4) Work with speech therapist (who pushes into the classroom) on r.
All of these goals are put into place to foster her drive for learning and love of school.
F) Action Plan
1) To help Michelle become better at handwriting she will work with an occupational
therapist who pushes into the classroom twice a week. The goal is not need an
occupational therapist in First Grade. She will work with her on techniques to strengthen
her hands and improve her writing.
2) To incorporate more challenging reading materials, the teacher will ask Michelle her
interests and then choose books at a first grade reading level. The teacher will use
different reading inventories to assess Michelle weekly on her reading level to ensure she
is being challenged correctly. Instruction will be differentiated to challenge her by using
higher order thinking skills during activities. For example, if discussing a story she might
be asked to say similarities and differences between another story, or asked to predict
what might happen next if the story were to continue.
3) Michelle will have more opportunities built into her academics to use the classroom
iPads. These will be incorporated into centers. She will be given more challenging apps
to use. Another way technology will be incorporated is when she assessed in reading. For
example, if she is recalling events from a story, she can create a presentation on the iPad.
Another example is by having an opportunity to work with a partner to create a story on
the iPad so that she is still working with her peers while also being challenged.
4) Michelle will work with the push-in speech teacher to work on the letter r. She will
work with her twice a week and get assessed twice a month. The goal is to not need help
for first grade. She will work with other students during center time on activities designed
by the speech teacher.
Each of the goals can be done within her regular classroom setting. The goal is not to single
Michelle out and still give her chances to work with her classmates, especially since she is a
social girl. Since her mom stressed about not pushing her too hard, the emphasis on her goals is
to foster her love of learning and introduce her to as many new ideas as possible.