ProgressReportsinChildCare-Mass.Gov.ppt

* If you choose to record progress using anecdotal notes, you briefly describe what the child is doing. For example, is the child reading, drawing, writing, building a block tower, dressing up in play clothes, riding a bike? Describe how it is being done, giving lots of details: for example, how high is the block tower (how many blocks high)? How many different colors is the child using in the drawing? Is the child writing letters, words, sentences, a story? How well is the child able to ride the bike, or is it a tricycle? Does it have training wheels? Is the child able to start, slow, stop, turn without difficulty? Is the child working silently, or singing to himself, or talking to others nearby? Also, how did the activity come about? Did the child choose the activity independently, was it suggested by an educator, or did the child respond to an invitation from another child? Describe who is involved in the activity: Is the child working alone, working independently but in a group of other children doing a similar activity, or is the child part of a group of children all working on a block castle, or playing soccer or a board game? * Be immediate. Either take notes while you are watching the child, or take notes immediately after. If you wait until the end of the day or the next day to take your notes, you will forget important details. You memory will be impacted by everything that happens in between the time you observe and the time you document. Remember, carrying sticky notes, a small note book or a tape recorder will be helpful. Be objective. Do not venture opinions or try to explain why a child did or didn’t do something. Don’t say the child cried because mom left in a hurry. It’s enough to say that the child cried when mom left. Do not say the child was difficult or non-compliant: say that the child was unable to sit quietly at circle. And don’t say that it was because he stayed up too late last night. Your job is to report what yo