The Anecdotal Observations

Observing and documenting my portfolio child was very important

because it told me about her characteristics and needs. Watching
her during free choice play, showed me how well she interacts with
other children and how she engages sociably. They also helped me
identify problems or issues she may be facing developmentally and
allowed me to explore the environment she is exposed to on a
daily basis.
I was able to observe Jakayla on every occasion. Most of the
times observations were performed inside the classroom. The
interactions with the teacher were little or none. It seemed as
though she lacked classroom management skills and assumed it to
be just a job. I did not observe much conversation with the teacher
to the children.
The classroom environment was well organized, set up with a few
learning centers, and very clean. The atmosphere seemed calm at
times and noisier during free choice centers. The children had
access to all materials and was not designated to assigned centers.
The outdoor playground was very wide open with enough room for
the children to run around. It was not crowded with a lot of
playground equipment.
Developmental Checklist
The checklist was important in helping me assess the child and see
where she was at according to the developmental domains. It also
served as a milestone chart to see the childs strengths and
weaknesses in order to get her where she should be.
It was very useful to chart times when a skill was mastered. It
helped me recognize Jakaylas characteristics and needs. Some
skills were not observed because they were not yet intended or
offered.
The checklist was completed as I observed the child during certain
periods of the day. If I noticed a skill Jakayla had achieved, I
documented the date on the developmental checklist.

Work Sample Collection

The work samples were important in recognizing the stage of writing

Jakayla performs and her artistic development stage. These stages
are also skills assessed in charting developmental milestones.
It was easy to encourage the child to draw and allow her the free
choice. It was difficult to get her to describe what she was drawing
and recognizing the stages was not easy.
I was able to complete this project in a free choice time frame.
Jakayla was not forced to produce the work samples, but she
enjoyed doing them and showing off her work. Materials used were
collected from the art center. The one on one attention Jakayla
received from me, allowed her to feel free to express herself and
be happy.