Template for FE Paper # 3

Physical Science and LEA

Name: Karlissa Firman
Name of lead teacher: Amy Smith
Age range of children in room: 3-4
Number of children in classroom on IEPs: 0
Dates/Times of observation:
Date

Time (startstop)

Length of center
time (must sum
to at least 135
minutes)

10/30

9:00 am-11:00
am
8:45 am-10:45
am
9:00 am-11:00
am

60 minutes

Total minutes in
FE
(must sum to at
least 340
minutes)
120 minutes

60 minutes

120 minutes

60 minutes

120 minutes

11/7
11/14

Total 180
Total 360
minutes
minutes
Note: You are only required to observe three times; an extra row is included
in case something occurs that interferes with your ability to log the required
number of minutes, and you return to the classroom for a fourth visit.
Note: For the Assessment portion of this paper, you may choose GOLD items
from Language, Literacy, and Science and Technology. Across the entire
paper, you must have at least one item from each area, and you may not
repeat items within an area. (An exception is when assessing a child on an
IEP. You may repeat a GOLD item that you used earlier.) You may use the
same anecdote to illustrate more than one GOLD item.
PHYSICAL SCIENCE EXPERIENCE
1. Description of physical science experience
(a) Describe the
The materials that I used for this experience
materials and your were ramps, marbles, and blocks. These
purpose for those
materials offer interesting challenges for
materials. Be
children of all ages and levels of development.
complete.
There were ramps of four different sizes. The
sizes helped a lot because the children were
more able to show their creativity by using the
different sized ramps, to build more
individualized and unique structures. The blocks

were used by the children to lift the ramps and

make it easier for the marble to continue to roll.
The ramp activities offer multiple opportunities
to integrate other curriculum areas. One of the
most valuable aspects of our ramp project that I
found was that it integrated mathematics. The
children engaged in spatial reasoning as they
decided how to position the blocks and ramps
and determine what would work best to make
the marble roll. They also determined how to
make the ramps work with turns by positioning
the ramps in a way that the marble would still
continue its route. Another aspect was that
literacy was greatly used as well. Children would
work together among themselves to collaborate
and come up with the best possible outcome for
the ramp structures. I also used an LEA chart. I
used this chart to capture the childrens thinking
on our ramp activity. The chart consists of the
childrens own words answering questions that
we as a class came up with related to our
science activity.

(b) Describe how

the activity meets
(or fails to meet)
the four criteria for
a good physical
science activity as
described in class.

(c) Describe the

variables that you
planned to focus on
in this experience,
how children could
manipulate them,
and how specific
changes in these
variables would
affect the
outcomes. Be
specific.

This activity met all four criteria. The activity

that I did with Amys class involved movement
of objects, the ramps and blocks in this case. It
was intriguing to all of the children who
participated and stimulated the childrens
curiosity and reasoning, which showed a lot
according to the LEA and the back and forth
communication with children. The children were
able to act on the ramps and observe what
structures they created and talk about them
amongst themselves. I found that when I
presented the ramps to the children they didnt
need much instruction they just began to build.
It was quite amazing. When the children found
that something was not working, they were able
to solve the problem on their own and come up
with a solution. I chose to use ramps because I
knew the children in my class would find it very
interesting, and I was right. It was nice to have a
few center times to be able to really watch and
assess the children.
There were a couple variables that I decided to
focus on in this experience. One of those
variables was the blocks. Children were able to
have access to the blocks to make their ramp
structures more creative, such as making a
higher incline or putting a block at the end of a
ramp so that the marble would stop rolling. If
children didnt use the blocks they found that it
was hard to get their marble to roll very fast or
to roll at all. Josiah found that if he put a block
down at the end of the ramp, he wouldnt have
to try and find his marble as it rolled far across
the floor into another center.

The other variable was that I added in a plastic

chair, for an extra high incline. The children
loved this! It allowed their marble to roll much
faster and farther. It also added a lot more
creativity into the construction of the childrens
ramp structures. This also made it possible for
more than one child to build a structure off of,
that way children werent fighting over someone
not taking turns or ruining their ramp structure.
It was nice that they were able to have their
own.

2. Childrens experiences
(a) How did
The children were very engaged with the
children engage
materials. They would commonly have different
with the materials? explanations to why the ramp sizes were
Describe in detail.
different. They also would explain to me that
because of the certain ways they were laying
down the ramps, the marble would go faster.
When I pointed out that maybe the children
could use to chair, they became extremely
engaged in trying to find the possibilities of how
to build off of the chair to make an extravagant
ramp structure. Not only were they engaged
with the materials, they were engaged with
each other and what each other were doing with
the materials. They all helped each other make
the best ramp structure they could. You could
tell that the children were so fascinated with this
experience in the science center.
(b) How did
children vary their
actions to get
different results?
Describe in detail
the variables that
they manipulated

The children varied their actions in a number of

ways. One of the ways I found most fascinating
was when a child picked up a ramp piece and
overlapped it onto another ramp piece. It made
the marble run so much smoother down the
ramp structure. I was so impressed that the
children would come up with such a creative

and the differences

that they noticed.

(c) What causeand-effect

relationships did
children discover?
Describe in detail.

solution to a malfunction in their ramp structure.

Another variable the children found to
manipulate was how they could use the chair as
a beginning incline for their ramp structures.
This was also the beginning to many ramp
structures being built. One child said, Ill build
mine here and you build yours on the other
side! This helped a lot with many of the fights
that were happening when only having one
ramp structure.

(You can see if the background two separate

ramp structures)
The cause-and-effect relationship children
discovered was that the higher the incline, the
faster the marble would go. They discovered this
by trial and error. They began building and
connecting ramps on the ground, then by
adding blocks for more of an inline, and then by
adding the chair for an even greater incline.
Their discovery of this cause and effect
relationship made for more unique and creative
ramp structures.

The children also discovered that if they put a

block down at the end of the ramp, the marble
rolling onto the floor into the next center would
not be a problem any longer. As the inclines
increased, the farther the marbles would fly off
the end of the ramps across the floor. They
found that if they stopped it with a block, they
would also stop chasing after them. Josiah said,
Put that block down there TJ! Then it wont go
no further! It will stay put till I come and get it.

3. Planned
interventions
Plan three
questions that you
could ask children
to help promote
their reasoning.
Choose questions
from three different
categories of
productive
questions (from the

Question 1: What have you noticed about the

size of the ramps?
Category: Attention-focusing.
Rationale: I chose to ask this question because it
will help students fix their attention to the
significant details of the ramp pieces
themselves. They will construct the best ramp
structures possible on account of their
knowledge of the ramp pieces themselves.

Martens article).
For each question,
describe what you
hope to accomplish
with the question.

Question 2: How many ramps are in your ramp

structure?
Category: Measuring and counting.
Rationale: I chose this question because it will
help students become more precise about their
observations of the ramps that they use. They
will be able to count and know precisely how
many ramps they use to build their structure.
Question 3: What would happen if you used the
chair to make a higher incline for your ramp
structure?
Category: Action.
Rationale: I chose this question because it will
encourage students to explore the properties of
unfamiliar materials, such as the chair in this
situation. Children will be able to make
predictions and then act on them.

4. Your actions
(a) Describe what
you did to help
children engage in
this activity.
Include at least one
anecdote that
illustrates how you
intervened. Discuss
why you did what
you did and
whether or not you
thought your
intervention was
successful.

The first time that I presented the ramps to the

class and the first group began to play, I noticed
something right off the bat. The children werent
quite closing the gaps between the ramps,
causing the marble to get stuck and discontinue
in its route to the end of the ramp structure. I
intervened by showing children that if they
connect the ramps together, their marble would
be able to smoothly run down the entire ramp
structure. One of the students said to me, So
we put them together like this and the marble
wont stop? The student help two ramp pieces
up and pushed them together. I said, Yes! Just
like that. As they continued the play they
focused on the gaps between the ramps and
made sure that before they rolled the marble all
the gaps were closed. I chose to tell the children
early while learning about ramps and how they
work so that they would be able to make ramp
structures with ease by the third time that they
played with the ramps. I think the intervention
was very successful because that was the last

time I had to mention to close the gaps, from

then on children made sure to pass on the
message to their peers.

(b) If you were to

implement this
activity again with
these children,
what might you do
differently?

If I were to implement this activity with these

children again I would do one thing differently. I
would make sure that there were only two
children playing with the ramps at a time. Even
when there were just three children at the
center, there were many more fights over
someone knocking down someone elses ramp,
etc. I would set a limit of only two people also
because that way those two children would have
even more room to make more extravagant
ramp structures.
5. Writing and Interacting with LEA

(a) Describe the

focus of the LEA.
What was the
question?
(Insert photo of LEA
here)

There were four questions the class and I came

up with for the LEA. They include:
What makes the marble roll faster?

(b) Describe the

process of how you
and the children
actually created
the LEA.

(c) What did you

learn about
childrens thinking
as you created the
LEA with them?

(d) In reflecting on
this LEA, what
might you have
done differently?
Why do you think
that might have
made a difference?

Why are there different sizes of ramps?

How would you use blocks when building your
ramp structure?
What is one thing you learned?
The process of us creating the LEA was done in
a large group during carpet time. First I
reminded them what we had done and we had a
small discussion on what everyone thought
about it. I then got the four most popular asked
questions that children wanted to discuss and
wrote them down. From there, I was able to get
childrens exact responses and I placed them
below the question with the childs initials
printed.
I learned so much to be honest! It was so fun to
see childrens thoughts about what all we had
done and how much they had learned and
remembered. Creating the LEA with them
showed me that they had gotten a lot out of this
physical science activity, much more than just
playing with ramps. By that I mean children
were able to express to me their beliefs on why
certain things happened. For example, during
out discussion Kavian made the comment, I
wanna talk about the different sizes because if
we would have only had the small ones that
wouldnt have been as much fun! I wouldnt
have been able to make a turn. Him saying that
showed that he had an understanding about
why it was so important that we had more than
one size of ramp.
If I had to choose something I wouldve done
differently I wouldve done only two questions. I
would do this because I didnt get to write many
of the childrens responses down because there
wasnt enough space to do so. I think this
wouldve made a difference because more
children would have been more focused and
volunteered to state their thoughts. There were
a few children that got upset that there
response wasnt put on the LEA chart.

6. Assessment
For the GOLD assessments, write directly in the boxes below
the prompts.
At least one of these assessments must refer to your child of
focus (please note which one).
GOLD objective
Brief anecdote
Rating (written out in
(write out objective describing what one
full) and justification for
and dimension in
child did related to
rating:

full)
-Cognitive-Objective 11
-Attends and
engages
(Focus Child)

GOLD objective
(write out objective
and dimension in
full)
-Mathematics-Objective 10
-Counts

this GOLD item:

As Josiah, Kinlee, and
TJ began to make one
large ramp structure I
noticed that their
marbles were rolling
very far unless they
gave them a big push.
I asked Josiah, What
do you think would
happen if you used
that chair and set the
ramp on it? Josiah
said, I bet it, it, it
would go much
faster! He ran over
and grabbed the chair.
He said to me, So I
put it like this? I said,
Yes, have one end on
the chair and the
other end touching
the ground. Josiah
listed and did exactly
what I suggested. The
other children
watched as Josiah
rolled his marble down
and it flew across the
room across the ramp
structure they had
already built.
Brief anecdote
describing what one
child did related to
this GOLD item:
While TJ and Kevin
were building their
ramp structures, I
overheard TJ counting
to himself. Although it
was somewhat out of
order, he was
counting the blocks he
was stacking, and
then the ramps he
was adding on top of
the blocks. TJ said, 1,
2, 3, 5, 8, 7. I got 7

-4-Sustains interest in
working on a task,
especially when adults
offer suggestions,
questions, and
comments
-I chose this rating
because as I was giving
advice and suggestions
Josiah became very
interested in what I had
to say. He used my
questions and advice to
find that by making an
incline his marble would
roll much faster down
the ramp.

Rating (written out in

full) and justification for
rating:
-1-Verbally counts (not
always in correct order)
-I chose this rating
because TJ made it
quite obvious that he
was able to count,
although he didnt
realize the numbers
were not in order, he
still wanted approval
from me.

GOLD objective
(write out objective
and dimension in
full)
-Mathematics-Objective 22
-Compares and
Measures

GOLD objective
(write out objective
and dimension in
full)
-Social-Emotional
-Objective 3Participates
cooperatively and
constructively in
group situations
(Focus child)

here! He looked at
me for approval and I
just smiled.
Brief anecdote
describing what one
child did related to
this GOLD item:
Jamayla and Kyrie
were building a ramp
structure together.
Jamayla said to Kyrie,
grab the big one!
Kyrie picked up the
longest ramp and
brought it over to
Jamayla to add on to
their structure. Kyrie
then said, I think we
gotta have a small
one here and then add
a block. Kyrie then
went over again to the
ramp pile and chose
the small ramp.

Brief anecdote
describing what one
child did related to
this GOLD item:
While Josiah and Kevin
were building their
ramp structures, I
overheard a
conversation between
the two of them. I
heard Kevin say, My
ramp! He tried to
grab it back from
Josiah. Josiah handed
Kevin the ramp that
he had and said, Its
okay, you have this
one and it can be
yours. Im gonna get
another one from the
pile. A shorter one.

Rating (written out in

full) and justification for
rating:
-2-Makes simple
comparisons between
two objects
-I chose this rating
because Kyrie showed
that she knew the
difference between the
big ramps and the
small ramps.
Although they called
them big and small,
they knew that one
ramp was short and one
was long and that that
is what made them
different. Kyrie was able
to pick out of all of the
ramps what Jamayla
asked her to.
Rating (written out in
full) and justification for
rating:
6
-Initiates the sharing of
materials in the
classroom and outdoors
-I chose this rating
because Josiah
demonstrated many
times that he knew how
to share; this was just
one example that I
happened to write
down. Josiah showed
that he knew that there
were more ramps that
were the same and he
didnt even fight with

GOLD objective
(write out objective
and dimension in
full)
-Language-Objective 9
-Uses language to
express thoughts
and needs

GOLD objective
(write out objective
and dimension in
full)
-Social-Emotional-Objective 1
-Takes care of own
needs
appropriately
(Focus Child)

Just add that to yours.

Okay Kevin? Kevin
walked away and
Josiah went to get a
different ramp piece.
This happened
numerous times
throughout play with
Josiah.
Brief anecdote
describing what one
child did related to
this GOLD item:
Daniahs and Kinless
were building a ramp
structure together.
Kinlee placed a ramp
off of the chair.
Daniahs said, Hey we
sit on that! Kinlee
said, Yeah, but we
are using it for ramps
today! Daniahs
repeated her saying,
Yeah, we can use it for
ramps today.
Brief anecdote
describing what one
child did related to
this GOLD item:
Josiah, Kinlee, and TJ
were all working on
building a ramp
structure. Josiah
started to build his
own structure and
said, Im going over
here, you stay on that
side! TJ came over to
Josiahs ramp
structure that he had
started and added on
a piece. Josiah yelled,
No TJ! This is mine! I
dont need your help!

Kevin, although the

ramp piece was actually
his. He simply allowed
him to have it and went
and got another one.
Thats a rare sign of
maturity for pre-k.
Rating (written out in
full) and justification for
rating:
-6-Describes and tells the
use of familiar items
-I chose this rating
because both Kinlee
and Daniahs showed
that they knew the use
of the chair. They knew
that it was used to sit
on, but in that instance
they were using it as a
base in their ramp
structure.
Rating (written out in
full) and justification for
rating:
-4-Seeks to do things for
self
-I chose this rating
because its quite
obvious that Josiah
seeks to do things for
himself and often
doesnt like others help,
especially if its
someone of his own
age. Josiah very much
wanted to challenge
himself and work on his
own building his own
ramp structure. This
was especially relevant

when another child

would accidently knock
down his ramp
structure.
CHILD ON AN IEP
1. Childs actions
in this center
Describe in general
terms what the child
did in this activity.
Include descriptions
of variables the child
may have
manipulated and the
effects the child may
have noticed.

This activity was right up Josiahs alley. He got

so excited when he saw me bring in the ramps
the first day we used them. During this activity
I found that Josiah often wanted to work on his
own, he would get upset when others came to
try and help him build because he claimed
they were ruining it. Josiah was the first
student to use the chair incline and by his
facial expression you can see that he was quite
thrilled. Josiah would get down on his hands
and knees and push his face against the floor
trying to fix every gap in between each ramp.
He wanted his ramp to be perfect every time.
He wouldnt roll his marble until every single
ramp was connected. One thing that really set
him apart was that he discovered that if you
place the ramps overlapping each other you

dont even have to worry about the

unevenness of the ramps and the marble
stopping. The marble will just glide right over
the ramps when they are overlapped.
3. Your actions
(a) Describe what
you did to help this
child engage in this
activity. Include at
least one anecdote
that illustrates how
you intervened.
Discuss why you did
what you did and
whether or not you
thought your
intervention was
successful.

To help Josiah engage in this activity I wanted

to help him make his marble roll faster. I
pointed out the plastic chair across the room
and his eyes lit up. I said, What would happen
if you put one end of the ramp on the chair
and the other end on the ground and then
connected the end on the ground to other
ramps? Josiah said, It will, it will, it will go so
much faster! He placed the ramp on the chair
as I had suggested and then rebuilt his ramp
structure. He rolled his marble and it shot to
the end of the last ramp and flew across the
room. This is when Josiah came up with the
idea that if you use a block at the end, you can
stop the marble from rolling across the room. I
intervened because I wanted to add a new
challenge into Josiahs ramp structure, the
challenge of speed. I think it was very
successful because from that point on out his
structures were more and more creative. Soon
after he began to discover curves.
(b) If you were to
I would not do anything different. I think I
implement this
interacted just enough to help Josiah make the
activity again with
best ramp structure he could, but not enough
this child, would you to where I was helping him do everything. I
do anything
think I recall myself touching the ramps one
differently, in terms
time to demonstrate something to the
of your interactions
children. I think its important as a teacher to
with the child? Why
just observe. I believe this because close
or why not? Would
observation is one way that we are able to
you change the
design appropriate interventions and
activity in any way?
variations for children. If we interact too much
Why or why not?
we wont be able to see the childs true
knowledge about what they are learning.
EVALUATION/REFLECTI
I learned so much from this experience. I
ON
learned that children are more capable
What did you learn from
that I thought to do things on their own. I
this experience? Write a
am so used to being hands on and
paragraph that
showing them what to do if they cant
demonstrates your
figure it out. If you are asking them
thinking. Do not simply
questions and listening to their responses
recount events; rather,
and discussing with them solutions and
ask yourself so what?
possibilities, children are more than likely
to solve their problems on their own. Its

amazing to witness and I witnessed it

more than I thought I would by doing this
activity. I really do believe that hands on
activities allow children to learn so much
more than just simply playing with ramps.
(In this situation) Children learned
aspects from all over the curriculum and
that is so important. The neat thing about
that is that even though they are learning
so much, they just think theyre playing
and having fun. Teaching is so incredible
in so many different ways, this only being
one of the many.
LIST OF GOLD ITEMS ASSESSED IN THIS PAPER
(list area, objective #, and dimension (a, b, c, etc.)
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
1. Cognitive
ACTIVITY
Objective 11
Attends and engages
2. Mathematics
Objective 10
Counts
3. MathematicsObjective 22
Compares and Measures
4. Social-Emotional
Objective 3
Participates cooperatively and
constructively in group situations
5. Language
Objective 9
Uses language to express thoughts and
needs
6. Social-Emotional
Objective 1
Takes care of own needs appropriately
Scoring Guide
PHYSICAL SCIENCE EXPERIENCE
1. Description of physical science experience
0-4
5-8
9
Description of
Brief description is
Clear, brief
materials is missing OR given for materials,
description of
incomplete.
but reader may still
science activity and

have questions.
Explanation for how
the science activity
meets (or fails to meet)
the four criteria is
missing or inaccurate.

Explanation is given
for how the science
activity meets (or fails
to meet) the four
criteria; some may be
Description of variables weak or inaccurate.
and the effects of
manipulating those
Variables and the
variables is missing or
effects of
inaccurate.
manipulating those
variables are
described, but
description may be
unclear or partially
inaccurate.
Childrens experiences
0-4
5-8
Description of what the Description is given of
children did during the what the children did
science activity is
during the science
missing or unclear.
activity, but may be
somewhat unclear.
Description of the
variables the children
Description of the
manipulated and the
variables the children
differences that they
manipulated is given,
noticed is missing or
but may be somewhat
unclear.
unclear.

materials is given.
Clear explanation is
given for how the
science activity
meets (or fails to
meet) the 4 criteria
for a good physical
science activity.
Variables and the
effects of
manipulating those
variables are
described clearly,
concisely, and
accurately.

2.

Description of the
cause-and-effect
relationships that
children discovered is
missing or unclear.
Description uses
primarily subjective
language.

Description of the
cause-and-effect
relationships that
children discovered is
given, but may be
limited, unclear, or
incorrect.

Description uses
primarily objective
language, with some
subjective language.
3. Planned interventions
0-4
5-8
No questions, or
Fewer than 3
questions do not
questions are
conform to Martens
included; question

9
Description of what
the children did
during the science
activity is clear and
concise.
Description of the
variables the
children manipulated
and the differences
that they noticed is
clear and concise.
Description of the
cause-and-effect
relationships that
children discovered
is clear and concise.
Description uses
primarily objective
language.

9
Three questions are
included; each
question is from a

categories.
Focus is on factual
questions and/or
questions that can be
answered with one
word.
Information about
purpose of questions is
missing.

may be from same

category, or category
information is not
included.
Some questions focus
on higher-order
thinking skills.
Some questions
require more than a
one-word response.
Purpose of questions
is unclear or not
clearly related to
childrens learning.

3. Your actions
0-4
Description of what
you did during the
activity is missing OR
description is very
weak.
Anecdote is missing.
Suggestions for what
you would do
differently are not
included or are not
appropriate for age
level or situation.

different category
All questions focus
on higher-order
thinking skills.
All questions require
more than a oneword response.
Each question has a
clear purpose that is
related to childrens
learning.

5-8
A description is given
of what you did during
the activity, but
reader may have
questions.

9
A concise description
is given of what you
did to help children
to engage in the
activity.

Anecdote is included,
but discussion may be
weak.

One anecdote
illustrating what you
did is described and
discussed
thoroughly.

Suggestions are given

for how you would
change what you did,
but they may not be
appropriate for the
situation.

5. Writing and interacting with LEA

0-4
5-8
LEA has no apparent
Focus of the LEA chart
focus or focus is
is unclear or
inappropriate.
somewhat
inappropriate.
Process of creating the
LEA is not described
Process of creating
the LEA is described,
Descriptions of what
but reader may have
you learned about
some questions.
childrens thinking are
missing.
Descriptions of what

Appropriate
suggestions are
given for ways you
would have changed
what you did.
9
Focus of the LEA
chart is a question
that is appropriate
for the activity and
the age of the
children.
Process of creating
the LEA is described
clearly.

Ideas for improvement

are missing or
inappropriate.

you learned about

childrens thinking are
included, but may be
lacking in detail or
weak.

Detailed descriptions
of what you learned
about childrens
thinking are
included.

Ideas for improvement Ideas for

are lacking in depth.
improvement reflect
depth of thought.
6. Assessment
0-6
Numerous GOLD areas,
objectives, or
dimensions (if
appropriate) are
missing OR incomplete.
Anecdotes are
primarily written in
subjective language.
Most anecdotes lack
correspondence to the
objectives.

7-13
One or two GOLD
areas, objectives, or
dimensions (if
appropriate) may be
missing or incomplete.
Anecdotes are
primarily written in
objective language,
although some
subjective language
may appear.

Anecdotes mostly
No explanations for
correspond to the
ratings, or explanations objectives, although
do not correspond to
may be slightly
the indicators or make
unclear at times.
no sense.
Explanations for
No assessment
ratings
includes child on an IEP Correspond to the
or child of focus.
indicators only
minimally or
correspondence is
unclear.

24
All GOLD areas,
objectives, and
dimensions (if
appropriate) are
written in complete
form.
All anecdotes are
written in objective
language.
All anecdotes clearly
correspond to the
objectives.
Explanations for
ratings clearly
correspond to the
indicators and are
well justified.
At least one
assessment includes
a child on an IEP or
the child of focus.

At least one
assessment includes a
child on an IEP or the
child of focus.
CHILD ON AN IEP
1. Childs actions in this center
0-3
4-6
Description of actions
Description of childs
lacks depth and does
actions is sometimes
not reflect close
insightful, but
observation.
sometimes suggests

7
Description of childs
actions is insightful
and reflects close
observation of child

Description is primarily
written in subjective
language.
2. Your actions
0-3
Description of what
you did during the
activity is missing OR
description is very
weak.
Anecdote is missing.
Suggestions for ways
you would have
changed (or not
changed) what you did
are missing OR
suggestions are
unjustified or
inappropriate.
Suggestions for ways
you would have
changed (or not
changed) the activity
itself are missing OR
suggestions are
unjustified or
inappropriate.

minimal observation.

over time.

Description uses a
mixture of objective
and subjective
language.

Description uses
objective language.

4-6
A description is given
of what you did during
the activity, but
reader may have
questions.

7
A concise description
is given of what you
did to help child to
engage in the
activity.

Anecdote is included,
but discussion may be
weak.

One anecdote
illustrating what you
did is described and
discussed
thoroughly.

Suggestions for ways

you would have
changed (or not
changed) what you
did are included, but
reader may have
questions about
reasons or
appropriateness.
Suggestions for ways
you would have
changed (or not
changed) the activity
itself are included, but
reader may have
questions about
reasons or
appropriateness.

EVALUATION REFLECTION
0-4
5-8
Evaluation is missing
Evaluation
OR is primarily a redemonstrates some
stating of observations; learning that took
writer does not does
place, but writer
not demonstrate that
frequently restates
learning took place.
observations without
making connections to
Evaluation lacks depth practice.

Appropriate
suggestions for ways
you would have
changed (or not
changed) what you
did are included and
explained clearly
and thoughtfully.
Appropriate
suggestions for ways
you would have
changed (or not
changed) the activity
itself are included
and explained
clearly and
thoughtfully.
9
Evaluation
demonstrates
several instances in
which learning took
place; the writer
goes beyond restating observations
to make clear

of thought.
Evaluation sometimes
lacks depth of
thought.
LIST OF GOLD ITEMS
0-2
Two or more required
areas of the GOLD
(Language, Literacy,
and Science and
Technology) are
missing.
GOLD items are
repeated (except for
the Child with an IEP or
child of focus).
OVERALL WRITING
0-2
Writing is poorly
organized; format is
sloppy and hard to
follow; does not follow
format.
Many spelling and
/usage errors; spelling
and usage errors
detract from the
meaning.
Run-on sentences and
sentence fragments
result in loss of
meaning.

3
One required area of
the GOLD (Language,
Literacy, and Science
and Technology) is
missing.
No GOLD items are
repeated (except for
the Child with an IEP
or child of focus).

3-5
Writing is organized,
but at times the
reader has to work to
make sense of the
flow; some parts
deviate slightly from
the format.
Several spelling
and/or usage errors;
spelling and usage
errors slow the reader
down.
Some run-on
sentences or sentence
fragments cause the
reader to work to
make sense of the
writing.

Late penalty 10% per day

Total Points

connections
practice.
Evaluation reflects
depth of thought.
4
All 4 required areas
of the GOLD
(Language, Literacy,
and Science and
Technology) are
represented at least
once.
No GOLD items are
repeated (except for
the Child with an IEP
or child of focus).
4
Writing is well
organized and easy
to follow; follows the
format.
No more than two
spelling/usage
errors, but they do
not detract from the
reading.
Sentence structure
makes the paper
easy to read.