Dana Wolinski

READ 366
Retelling Write-Up:
On February 23, 2016, Zoey, a student at the Young Childrens Program,
performed a retelling activity based on the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The activity
was described to her ahead of time, including details about what the assessor would do
and what she would be asked to do throughout. When the activity was introduced, Zoey
seemed thrilled she was chosen to participate because she was already familiar with the
story and was excited to hear it again. She was attentive through the entire reading and
even asked questions about the characters, showing her interest in the story. Although she
had heard a similar version before, she shared that some parts were different and laughed
at certain silly parts of the story. Zoey was engaged until the story came to an end, and
was extremely eager for the next step of the process. Getting Zoey to transition into each
stage was simple and it was evident that she liked being part of the activity.
After the assessor told the story a second time using the character cut outs, Zoey
asked if she could now retell the story based on her memory. Her actions showed
initiative and proved that she was ready to show what she knew. As she went through the
sequence of events, she did not need any assistance or prompts to help her remember
what came next in the story. Her description of who was involved, what the problem was,
and the solution they used was accurate and followed closely with the real story. She even
included voices for the different characters and had a smile on her face the entire time.
Zoey breezed through this part of the activity with no difficulties and asked how she did
when she got to the end. She was confident in her version that she retold and was proud
of herself when she heard the task was complete.
After the entire activity was over, she received a score based on how well she was
able to retell the story after hearing it twice. Out of fifteen possible points, Zoey earned
fourteen, placing her in the strong retelling category. Her score indicates that she is fairly
advanced in her abilities to follow a story and remember the events accurately and in the
order they occurred. She was able to provide detailed accounts of the story and although
she lost one point for a partial ending, she was successful in giving complete descriptions
for every other set of events. Since she did not need assistance or appear to be nervous,
this also shows she is most likely read to tackle more stimulating tasks. Overall, Zoey
performed very highly on this assessment.
Literacy Assessment:
Zoey is a preschooler who is a an all around eager student. When asked to
participate, she shows enthusiasm and is excited to read and learn about new things. She
seems to learn best when working on her own, and when she does work with others, she
wants tasks done her way. Zoey shows strong signs for being rather advanced compared
to many of her peers, but of course still has a lot ahead of her to learn.
Since Zoey is a preschooler, she only participated in a few tasks for the literacy
assessment. On March 9, 2016 Zoey was asked to draw a picture, write her name on it,
and describe it to her observer. Right away she knew was she wanted to draw, and began
to pick out the colors of the rainbow. She explained that she wanted to draw a rainbow
because she had never actually seen one before, and she drew until she had one. She also
explained that it was sunny outside and hoped to see one later on in the day. After she
finished the rainbow, she asked if she could do more on the page. She was encouraged to
do as much as she wanted and continued her drawing by adding two heart balloons with

Dana Wolinski
READ 366
Z inside each for her name. When she was complete, she was asked to write her name
on it, which she did so on the top.
The next task Zoey was asked to complete was the concepts about print. Again on
March 9, 2016 Zoey participated by indicating where certain parts of a book were and
how you would go about reading it. The observer used a book she had with her for
another assignment, and Zoey seemed very interested in pointing out details of the book,
even without being asked. Although Zoey ultimately scored 12/12 on this section, she did
struggle with a few parts of the task. When she was asked to point out the first and last
letters of words, she took a little longer because she really had to focus on specifics. She
showed slight confusion on the differences between words and letters, but after pausing,
was always able to figure it out. She needed some encouragement throughout, but was
successful on this section of the assessment.
After being asked about the book, Zoey got involved in a rhyming activity. After
observing her for many weeks, it was determined that she could probably engage in this
activity even though it was listed for kindergarten and above. She sat patiently as she
went through the worksheet with the observer on March 9, 2016. As the task was
described to her, she seemed to understand and was eager to begin. The observer
explained the first practice set of rhyming words as she followed along. Overall, Zoey
scored 8/9 on this assessment because she was unable to find the rhyme between bear,
keys, and cheese. Since this was the first question on the assessment, she could have
easily just been flustered or confused. After she was reminded what the task was, she got
back on track and answered the rest correctly.
Again on March 9, 2016, Zoey was asked to look at pictures on a worksheet and
determine which words had the same beginning sounds. The practice round went well
and she understood what was being asked of her. Each question seemed to get easier and
easier for her as the observer helped her with what the pictures were, and in the end she
scored 8/8 in this category. When the task was over, she even shared how easy it had been
for her.
The final assessment for Zoey on March 9, 2016 dealt with identifying letters. She
was shown the worksheet with the 26 letters in the alphabet and was asked to tell the
observer what each letter was. As she went through, she was extremely confident about
most of them, but had to come back to a few she couldnt remember. When she saw S
she claimed it was C and thought R was P. Although these mistakes could be
because she doesnt know the letters, she could have also been confused or looked at
them wrong. In addition to these mistakes, she was never able to name M, N, or D.
This part of the assessment was extremely interesting because Zoey normally seems more
interested in the task at hand, however seemed distracted and not herself. This could have
contributed to her score of 21/26, but may have been unrelated. Either way, even with a
few mistakes, Zoey was fairly successful.
Based on both the retelling and literacy assessments, there are a few suggestions
about how to help Zoey improve on her literacy development. Since she does seem
advanced in her abilities to follow a story and retell it in good detail, write her name on a
picture she drew, recognize parts of a book, rhyme, match beginning sounds, and identify
letters, it would be a good idea to challenge her more. She should be required to write her
full name every day for sign in and hear read alouds of more advanced stories. Her
memory and abilities to follow or guess what to do next without being told are above the

Dana Wolinski
READ 366
other children she is surrounded by. Although she shows signs of needing more
stimulation, it would be hard to identify her as a beginning reader just yet. She may have
some qualities that would place her in this category, however she is missing concept of
word, which is necessary to move from emergent to beginner. Since she is still young and
working her way to this next stage, her diet should still consist of 20% of her time in each
of the following: concepts about print/comprehension, alphabet, phonological awareness,
concept of word, and writing. If parents and/or teachers also see her strong skills in these
areas, it would be wise to pose more challenging questions, encourage her to write more,
increase the amount of site words she recognizes, and help her form concept of word.
This is clearly a time of transition for Zoey as she prepares to enter kindergarten in the
fall. Zoey is a strong student, who will continue to grow and succeed if she is encouraged
and given the right resources in years to come.