Sally

Case Study

Jennifer Leinenger
April 5, 2015
ECE 1414
Jemal Larkins

Sally, nicknamed Sally, was born on November 3, 2010. Sally is four years, five months and two
days old. Sally is a female. Sally is approximately 42 inches tall and weighs approximately
40lbs. Sally has long brown hair and brown eyes. Sally has two older sisters; Addison is seven
years old and Peyton and is ten years old. Sally is a very outgoing young girl. She is very
comfortable talking and playing with her peers. On the first day of school she was very outgoing
and has made many friends. I chose Sally as my case study because her mother is very involved
with the preschool program where I am observing Sally. Her mother comes once a week to do
Motor Moms with the children. Sallys older sisters went to the same preschool and had the
same teacher as Sally, so her mother and teacher have a very good relationship.

Sally lives with her mother Anonymous, father Anonymous, two sisters Addison and Peyton
and two dogs Smooches a Toy Poodle and Lula a Shitzu. Sally and her family live in a tri-level
house in Waterford. Sally has lived in the same house since she was born. Sallys family comes
from middle class. Her mother has a bachelors degree, but has stayed home to raise her
daughters. Sallys dad Anonymous is a CAD supervisor. There are no known tragedies or
family crisiss. There are no recent changes. The mother and father have the same view points
on raising their three daughters. They believe in raising them to respectful and caring to others.
They have raised them to understand that family and school are very important. They said the
biggest thing they instill in their daughters is that their sisters always come first and they need to
always get each others back. The mother is with them more often since she is a stay at home
mom. They believe strongly in lots of family time, raising their girls to be independent and are
very much into sports. All three of their daughters are in dance, soccer and cheerleading.

Sally is a very healthy young girl. Her mother had a very healthy pregnancy and went to full
term with her pregnancy and delivered naturally. Sally has not shown to have any challenges
with developmental milestones.
Sally was never been in any other childcare setting before where I am observing her in the
preschool classroom. The preschool classroom has 16 students including Sally. There is a
teacher and a classroom assistant. She is in a full day program that goes from 8:15 A.M. to 3:15
P.M., Monday through Thursday. Her mother is involved at the preschool program. She comes
once a week as a Motor Mom volunteer to work with the students on their large motor skills.
She also comes to help out in the classroom once a week.

Physical Sally demonstrates great physical development in her gross and fine motor skills.
Sally is involved in many sports outside of preschool. During my observations of Sally in the
gym she was running and kicking the soccer ball (See Physical Notes). This demonstrates
developmentally appropriate gross motor development. Sally also has demonstrated
developmentally appropriate fine motor skills while cutting circles out of paper (See Physical
Notes). Sally also shows good personal care. She demonstrated this during time to go home
when she was able to get ready to go on her own (See Physical Notes).
Social Emotional - Sally shows great social and emotional development. Sally is expresses
her feelings very well verbally in a calm manner. When another student is doing something that
is upsetting Sally, she often tells them in words in a calm tone (See Social/Emotional Notes).
Also Sally demonstrates great conflict resolution skills. When Sally hears other students having
a conflict she will often try to help them resolve it, even if it has nothing to do with her (See
Social/Emotional Notes). Sally also helps remind friends of their classroom jobs. Sally also
engages in reciprocal conversations with her classmates (See Social/Emotional Notes) and her
teachers.
Cognitive During work time Sally has been observed making patterns in a variety of ways.
She made an AAB pattern with sounds and acknowledged that it was a pattern (See Cognitive
Notes). Sally has worked with a ven diagram, noting similar and different characteristics (See
Cognitive Notes and Art Sample), this demonstrates her ability to sort things according to same
and different characteristics. During recess Sally had observed and mentioned reasoning as to
why the snow had melted (See Cognitive Notes). This shows her understanding of the natural

and physical world, and her understanding of cause and effect. During work time Sally was
playing with dominoes, when Ms.Jenni mentioned she wondered how many Sally had, Sally
counted them, pointing to each one as she counted and then said she had twelve dominoes (See
Cognitive Notes). This demonstrates knowledge of members with one-to-one correspondence.
During a small group, Sally was able to blow bubbles from a soap dish through a straw and then
choose a measuring device to measure. Sally chose the ruler and was able to use units of
measurement to express how tall her bubbles were (See Cognitive Notes). Sally also is able to
transforms shapes to create other shapes, this shows her understanding of geometric shapes (See
Cognitive Notes) Sally has demonstrated that she can navigate her way through a map, and also
she has led the class on a trip through the school, showing how to get to the office, gym and extra
bathrooms (See Cognitive Notes). This demonstrates her development level in social studies is
age appropriate.
Language - Sally shows many great strengths in language, literacy and communication. Sally at
breakfast time shares many stories with her peers and teachers. Sally shared a story about her
trip to Florida (See Language Notes). This demonstrates her great language skills. Sally enjoys
writing and learning to read. She often picks books of preference (See Launguage Notes). She
often can retell a story that has been read to her (See Language Notes). This demonstrates her
level of comprehension. Sally also often chooses to write at work time (See Language Notes).
Sally signs her name every morning for check in (See Sample). Sally has been working on her
phonological awareness (See Language Notes).
Approaches to Learning

Sally loves to play in the house area during work time with her friends. She often assists in ideas
for imaginary play scenarios (See Approaches to Learning Notes). This demonstrates her great
initiative and planning skills. When Sally notices a friend needs help she is always there to try to
help. When a friend was sad because they were having trouble working a hole punch, she
stopped what she was doing to help her friend with the hole punch (See Approaches to Learning
Notes). This demonstrates her great problem solving skills. Sally often shares stories of her
wonderful experiences. She told of her story of going to Florida. She told many details (See
Approaches to Learning Notes). This demonstrates her ability to reflect with great detail.
Creative
Sally expresses her creativity in so many ways. Sally often chooses to do art projects at work
time. She shows great detail in her art (See Creative Notes and Art Sample). Sally also shows
her creativeness through pretend play (See Creative Notes). She collaborates well with her
friends when creating different roles for their play scenario. Sally also loves to dance and sing.
Sally and her friends often sing the theme song to Frozen. Sally sings all the words to the song
and modifies her voice for different parts of the song (See Creative Notes). This demonstrates
her music and movement abilities.
Conclusion
After observing Sally for many months she has demonstrated she is whwere she should be
developmentally in other KDI areas. Sally has shown growth in all of the KDI areas. Sally has
demonstrated great strength in her fine motor skills in her ability to hold the pencil with a tri-pod
grip, and also when she cuts shapes out of paper, she uses one hand for cutting and the other
hand for turning the paper. She also shows great gross motor development. She demonstrates

this when playing soccer and running and kicking the ball. Sally also has great personal care and
healthy behavior development. She demonstrates this in her ability to put all her winter gear on
all by herself. She also makes great choices with washing her hands before eating and after
using the bathroom, without being asked. Sally is currently where she should be
developmentally
Sally has shown she is right where she should be with her social and emotional development.
She is great at expressing her feelings with words. She is very caring to her friends and always
tries to help when conflict arises. She has built great relationship with her friends and teachers.
She is such a kind and caring person. She shows her sense of responsibility to her community
(classroom) by always taking pride in doing her classroom job and reminding her friends of their
jobs.
Sally is also right where she should be developmentally with her cognitive development. She
recognizes all her numbers up to 20. She counts to 20 with a one to one correspondence and
states her total. Sally is able to name all the two-dimensional shapes and can transform shapes
into other shapes. Sally has demonstrated her ability to use a ruler and name the units she is
measuring with. Sally has demonstrated her knowledge of being able to create a complex
patterns on her own through her use of pattern blocks and through creating patterns through
sound with music sticks. Sally also demonstrated her ability sort things based on different and
similar chrcteristics. Sally also demonstrates her knowledge of the natural and physical world
through talking about her observations of the changing environment outside with the seasons
changing. Sally also demonstrates her know of social studies with being able to navigate aound
a map of the zoo, and navigating around the building in the school. Sally also uses the terms
yesterday and tomorrow correctly, showing her knowledge of history.

Sally is developing beautifully in the language, literacy and communication areas. When
speaking Sally uses term such as When or Since, demonstrated her development in language.
Sally shows a great enjoyment for stories and often can retell stories with great detail. This
demonstrates she is right where she should be developmentally with listening and
comprehension. Sally is very eager to learn to read and has shown her phonological awareness
when recognizing two words rhyme, or start with the same sound. Sally can recognize and write
all her letters of the alphabet, she demonstrates great alphabet knowledge. Sally has been
working on writing, she has sounded out how to spell mom and dad.
Sally is right at the appropriate developmental level she should be for the approaches to learning.
Sally can sustain playing or working on the same thing for longer than twenty minutes. Sally is a
great problem solver; she often helps assist friends when they have difficulty with the tape or
hole punchers. Sally is great at taking the initiative on making plans when playing with friends
during pretend play. Sally loves to share stories of her experiences; she does this with great
detail. This demonstrates she is at the appropriate developmental level with reflection.
Sally is a very creative young girl in many different areas. Sally shows great detail in her art
work. She shows a true appreciation for drawing and music. Sally loves to sing in class and is
able to sing all of the words to her favorite songs on her own. Sally often dances with her friends
when they sing their songs. Sally shows a lot of creativity in her pretend play scenarios. She
works collaboratively with friends on creating different roles for their pretend play.
Recommendations Sallys level of development in all KDI areas is age appropriate. However, there are things that
can be done to encourage her wonderful continued growth. For Sallys continued growth in the

Physical area I would recommend talking more about healthy food choices and why it is
important to eat the healthy foods. Also for her gross motor skills she could work on hitting a
pitched baseball with a bat, or a tennis ball with a racquet. For Sallys fine motor skills she could
practice tying her laces.
To continue Sallys wonderful growth in the social/emotiuonal development I would recommend
talking about how people can feel differently about situations. This will expand her vocabulary
on emotions and give her a deeper understanding of others feelings and that its okay that they are
different than hers. I would also talk about how everyone has a part in the community, outside of
the classroom.
To continue on Sallys path of cognitive development I would supply her with more vocabulary
of three-dimensional objects. I would label more three-dimensional objects in the room. I would
talk more about composing and decomposing numbers through the use of tallies or even number
sheets where she can place a number of objects on either side of the addition sign to see what
they equal. I would also work on data analysis. I would offer more opportunities in the
classroom for children to collect data and discuss their findings.
Sally is very eager to learn to write and is developing wonderful phonological skills. I would
continue to work with phonemes. I would give her more opportunities to write stories and work
writing into more play areas. This would give her more opportunities to practice her invented
spelling skills. Also, when looking at books together discuss the sentence structure.
To work on further developing her in the Approaches to Learning area I would recommend
giving her projects that last longer than two days. Supply the classroom with different art
supplies to aid in creating art projects that would take more than a day to finish. Create more

dialogue with reflecting. When Sally is sharing some of her stories, say I wonder why that
happened to help get her on the path of explaining deeper.
Sally is very creative when it comes to creating art. I would recommend adding more art
supplies to the classroom. I would recommend more use of the musical instruments in the
classroom also. This would expand her musical vocabulary and also help her to recognize the
different sounds of different instruments.
I have had the most enjoyable time observing and working with Sally. She is well on her way to
a very bright future. I would like to thank Sally for letting me be part of her wonderful adventure
in preschool. I would also like to thank Sallys parents Anonymous, you two have raised such a
wonderful young lady. I want to also thank all the staff for their support through my
observations.

Sally Observations
Physical Notes
3-2-2015 At the end of the day when packing up to go home, Sally put on her boots,
snowpants, coat, hat and mittens on by herself.
3-9-2015 - During gym time, in the gym, Sally was running and kicking the soccer ball.
3-9-2015 During small group, at the zebra table, Sally was holding a paper in one hand,
scissors in the other hand and turning the paper as she cut, to cut out circles.
Social/Emotional Notes
3-17-2015 During work time, in the play area when another student kept following Sally
around, Sally said, please stop, your making me mad.
3-18-2015 During work time, in the art area, two students wanted the same hole punch. Sally
walked over to them and said, Why dont you guys take turns.
3-19-2015 - During work time Sally talked with her friend about her trip to Florida. Her friend
said her grandma lived in Florida. Sally and her friend talked for twenty minutes about asking
their parents if they can go to Florida together and what they would do there.
Cognitive Notes
2-4-2015 During small group, Sally talked with a friend about characteristics they had in
common and things that were different. They then used a ven diagram to paste their
observations. Sally said, we have the same color hair and eyes. Sally said, you are a boy and

I am a girl. She then pasted the girl picture on her side and the boy picture on the boy side, to
show they were different.
3-3-2015 During work time, in the block area, Sally used the music sticks to create a pattern.
She tapped the sticks to each other twice then the floor once, she repeated this sequence and said,
I made a pattern.
3-4-2015 During small group, at the zebra table, Sally blew bubbles with a straw from a soapy
dish, she then measured with a ruler how tall her bubbles were. Sally said, my buubles are 5
inches tall.
3-5-2015 During work time, at the table toys table, Sally was working with with shape tiles.
Sally put two triangles together and said, I made a diamond with two triangles.
3-5-2015 During work time, at the table toys table, Sally had lined up the dominoes. She
counted them while pointing to each one. She counted 12 dominoes and said, I have twelve
dominoes.
4-1-2015 Sally said at recess, All the snow is gone. Ms. Jenni said I wonder why that is.
Sally said, Because its warm out.
3-31-2015 During work time, in the house area, Sally said, I am collecting all the big red cups
to have a party.
4-1-2015 During work time, at the block area, Sally showed Ms.Jenni the zoo map. Sally
pointed to different locations on the map and said, This is where the butterflies are, here is
where you see the bears.
Language

3-17-2015 During large group at the carpet, Sally said, Marcos and Maxx starts with the same
sound.
3-17-2015 During book look Sally chose The Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed Book.
Sally said, I like this book, its fun to sing. Sally then sang the song while looking at each
corresponding page.
2-24-2015 During work time, at the block area, Sally put together a alphabet puzzle. Sally
pointed to each letter and gave its name. Sally knew A-Z.
2-25-2015 During work time, at the art table, Sally wrote MOM on her drawing she made for
her mom.
2-25-2015 Sally signed her name on the sign in sheet in the morning.
2-25-2015 During breakfast Sally told Ms. Jenni about her trip to Florida, Sally said, When
we went to Florida we seen a mermaid. Sally also said, We also seen dolphins and touched
them. We watched the whales.
Approaches to Learning
2-26-2015 During work time, at the house area, Sally and two of her friends pretended they
were running a restaurant. Sally was the server. Sally said to her friend, you should be the
cook. Sally went to the writing area to get a clip board to use to write her orders on. She then
came back and took her friends order. They played in the restaurant for twenty five minutes.
2-4-2015 During work time, at the art table, Sally noticed a friend having trouble with the hole
punch. Sally showed her friend how to empty the hole punch. Sally said, Now it should work
easier. Her friend then was able to use the hole punch.

2-25-2015 During breakfast Sally told Ms. Jenni about her trip to Florida, Sally said, When
we went to Florida we seen a mermaid. Sally also said, We also seen dolphins and touched
them. We watched the whales.
Creative
2-26-2015 During work time, at the house area, Sally and two of her friends pretended they
were running a restaurant. Sally was the server. Sally said to her friend, you should be the
cook. Sally went to the writing area to get a clip board to use to write her orders on. She then
came back and took her friends order. They played in the restaurant for twenty five minutes.
2-3-2015 During work time, at the art table, Sally drew a picture of her mom. She included
details such as, Long curly hair, Barrett for hair, eyes, mouth, necklace, arms, hands, body, legs,
feet, dress.
1-13-2015 During work time Sally and her friends sang the theme song from the movie Frozen.
Sally knew all the words.
1-13-2015 During work time, Sally danced to the theme song from Frozen. As the song slowed
down so did her dance movements, as the song went a little faster and louder she moved faster.
Her dance movements went in sync with the speed of the music