Observation/Get to Know You Log

Additional notes about John:

 He is the youngest child in a large family. His parents are divorced, and he spends
limited time with his father.
 Loves wresting
 Gets sent to the principal’s office a lot during lunch and recess time
Additional notes about Sarah:

 She is the youngest of 3 kids being raised by a single mom. Her mom works a lot, so
she spends most of her time at home with her older siblings.
 Sarah’s behavior has improved drastically since the beginning of the school year. She
has less outbursts than before.
 The teacher has created a behavior tracking chart where Sarah earns a stamp after
each activity of the day. If she earns enough stamps (7-8), she gets to play with puppets
or Playdough during free time. The school counselor meets with her a few times a week
to give her positive coping mechanisms.
 Sarah sometimes brings a stuffed animal to school. The teacher allows her to bring it
throughout the day because it helps regulate her emotions. Sarah makes the stuffed
animal do everything she is expected to do; sit nicely on the carpet, do morning work,
etc.
 She receives speech therapy services because of her expressive language delays.
Sarah has told me little things such as her favorite show is Gabby’s Dollhouse, she loves
pink, and she likes to draw cats. Most of the time, Sarah just enjoys holding my hand in
the hallway or sitting next to me to work.

II LOG Format
CHILD Day of the WEEK Content: Strengths Additional Thoughts:
with DATE and/or
Weaknesses

1.John (pseudonym) Tuesday 1/24 ELA (Phonics Drills) John struggles to pay
Strengths attention during lessons.
John was giving his best The teacher had to redirect
effort and participating when him a few times while they
the teacher prompted him. were engaging in the
Although he did not always lesson.
answer correctly, he still
attempted to segment and
blend the words.
Weaknesses
John had a hard time
paying attention to the
teacher. He often turned to
talk to his friends on the
 carpet. John also had a
hard time segmenting the
initial sound of CVC words.
The teacher had to prompt
him a few times in order to
find the correct answer.
Math (Centers) John just started wearing
Strengths glasses, his vision could be
John helped me prepare a factor his academic
and clean up the center gaps.
materials. He also listened
and attempted every
question on the worksheet.
Weaknesses
John struggled to find the
correct answer to a lot of the
questions. The task was
finding one less and one
more of a number. Most of
the time he guessed a
random number. If he did
say the correct number, he
wrote it incorrectly.
1.Sarah (pseudonym) Tuesday 1/24 ELA (Phonics Drills) When Sarah participated
Strengths individually and correctly
Sarah was able to correctly segmented and blended
segment and blend the the CVC word, the whole
CVC words when the class cheered for her. She
teacher prompted her to do seems to be a likable girl
so. and the class is proud
Weaknesses when she succeeds.
Sarah was easily distracted Sarah got a stamp on her
by various things on the behavior chart after
carpet. She was playing participating in the activity.
with a toy and moving it
around the letters on the
carpet. She was not
participating when the rest
of the class was.
Math (Centers) Sarah works well with the
Strengths other students in her
Sarah was able to correctly centers group. Although
identify one more or one she struggled to follow
less of a number. She wrote directions at first, Sarah
the correct number on the received a stamp on her
worksheet when prompted. behavior chart because
Weaknesses she successfully
Sarah did not always follow completed the task.
directions during centers.
 She used crayons even
when directed to use a
pencil.
2.John Tuesday 1/31 ELA (Reading Book) John was complaining
Strengths about having a headache
John was able to read the right before we started
sentence to the class when reading. This could have
it was his turn. The been an excuse to avoid
sentence was “I help the reading and go to the
teacher”. He used context nurse. John does not rely
clues and identified the on his decoding skills. He
word “teacher” from the relies on context clues and
illustration. memorization.
Weaknesses
John did not pay attention
when the other students
were reading their
sentences. He also did not
work well with his partner
when it was time to partner
read.
Math (Shapes Game) The class has been
Strengths working on identifying
John was excited to shapes for a few weeks.
participate in the game and John has been exposed to
help his team win. He the shapes and their
excitedly moved to the front names many times.
of the line and cheered on
his teammates.
Weaknesses
When it was his turn, John
struggled to identify the
shape name. He was able
to spin the spinner and
choose the matching
shape, but he could not
name the shape.
2.Sarah Tuesday 1/31 ELA (Reading Book) Sarah was upset about
Strengths transitioning from iPad time
Sarah read the sentences to reading time. She
aloud with the class when it wanted to complete the
was time for whole group next Lexia level. This could
reading. She followed along have been a factor in why
and flipped the pages at the she did not want to
appropriate times. highlight the words.
Weaknesses
Sarah did not want to
highlight her sight words
before reading. She tried to
 doodle with the highlighter.
She also did not volunteer
to read a sentence aloud.
Math (Shapes Game) There were only 4 girls in
Strengths the line for the girls’ team.
Sarah was able to identify Sarah had to take a turn
the correct shape and its many times during the
name. She was also able to game. She could have
drag it to an appropriate been tired of constantly
spot on the picture. participating. Sarah did not
Weaknesses receive a stamp on her
Sarah did not want to behavior chart after the
participate in the game after game.
a while. She returned back
to her seat and started to
play with the stuffed animal
she brought to school.
When the teacher asked
her to return to the line, she
said no.

3.John Tuesday 2/7 ELA (Phonics Drills and This is a time of day that
Games) John usually exhibits
Strengths negative behaviors. He
John was able to correctly struggles with segmenting
identify most of the sight and blending CVC words
words that came up during so this could be the cause.
the game. He has been
practicing his CVC and
sight words at home and
was able to help his team
score points.
Weaknesses
John had a hard time
paying attention during the
phonics drills portion of the
lesson. He was asked to
move to the front of the
room next to the teacher.
Math (Centers) The other students in his
Strengths group grew impatient when
John was an active he failed to find the total in
participant in the center a timely manner. They
activity that his table was were reminded to let him
engaged in. He took his turn take his turn, but their
at the appropriate time and reactions might have made
completed the worksheet. him anxious/upset.
Weaknesses
 John struggled to find the
total amount of circles on
the ten frames efficiently. He
did not understand that one
frame=10. He counted the
circles one by one and
concluded the incorrect total
a few times. Once he was
prompted, he was able to
find the correct total.
3.Sarah Tuesday 2/7 ELA (Phonics Drills and The teacher had to redirect
Games) Sarah’s attention a few
Strengths times during this lesson.
Sarah was able to correctly She was able to pay
segment and blend the attention for short periods
CVC word when the of time. Sarah received a
teacher called on her. She stamp on her behavior
was also able to identify the chart after the conclusion
CVC and sight words during of the game.
the game portion. She
scored many points for her
team.
Weaknesses
Sarah was very distracted
during the drills by the
letters on the carpet. She
was tracing the design of
the carpet instead of paying
attention to the teacher.
Math (Centers) She had to be reminded to
Strengths let her group members
Sarah was able to efficiently take their turn and to wait
find the total of each ten while they were counting
frame. When she was given the circles on the ten
an example, she frames. She did respond
understood that one well to this redirection and
frame=ten and she should continued to take the cards
count on from that number. from her classmates.
Weaknesses
She struggled to take her
turn and wait patiently for
her group members. She
took the card from her
peers a few times because
she grew impatient from
waiting. She also took the
card after her group
members counted the
circles and re-counted it for
 them.

4.John Tuesday 2/14 ELA (Reading-C book) This student had a lot of
Strengths extra distractions today. He
During this lesson, he was was playing with his 100th
able to read the sentence day crown and necklace a
the teacher asked him to. lot throughout the whole
The sentence was “My dog day. This could have been
is lost!”. The student read it why he could not pay
with emotion and fluency. attention to the ELA
The student also highlighted lesson.
all of the sight words that he
found in the short story.
Weaknesses
When the students were on
the carpet, he had a hard
time paying attention to the
teacher. He was playing
with his necklace, glasses,
and 100th day crown. This
resulted in him not knowing
where the class was when
they were reading as a
whole group.
Math (100th day activity) This activity took place
Strengths right before specials time.
John was able to match the He was excited about gym
colors to the words and and distracted during math
create a code before he time. This could have been
began his worksheet. the reason he couldn’t
Weaknesses complete any of the
John could not match the worksheet.
numbers to the code on his
worksheet. The teacher and
I both prompted him to look
for certain numbers on the
page and color them in. He
would search for the
number for a while but
could not correctly identify it.
4.Sarah Tuesday 2/14 ELA (Reading-C book) This student was
Strengths interested in the photos
This student followed along that were printed on the
with the teacher and was page next to the story. She
able to highlight all of the was using these photos to
sight words in the short help her find the meaning
story. She was also paying of the words/sentences.
attention to the screen and
 read along with the whole
class. When she was called
on, she walked to the board
and read her sentence
aloud, pointing to each word
and using her decoding
strategies.
Weaknesses
When she was reading her
sentence aloud, she
struggled to decode a few
words. She was saying the
short vowel sounds when
the words contained long
vowel sounds. This resulted
in her not understanding
what the word was. The
teacher prompted her to
use the correct vowel
sound.
Math (100th day activity) She enjoys coloring so this
Strengths activity was fun for her. I
After a bit of prompting, she would suggest more
was able to successfully coloring activities to
color in the correct numbers engage her in different
on the worksheet. She contents.
found the number under the
code and colored it in on the
hundreds chart. She was
able to successfully find the
secret code.
Weaknesses
She struggled to
understand the directions
before prompting. She
started randomly coloring
different numbers on the
hundreds chart.

5.John Tuesday 2/21 ELA (Phonics
Drills/Game)
Strengths
During the phonics drills
and games, he was sitting
close to the teacher and
paying attention to the
lesson. He was participating
with the class and giving the
activity his full attention.
This was the first time I
lead the phonics drills. A
change in the routine could
have made him want to
pay attention and
participate.
 Weaknesses
When asked to blend a
word on his own, he
struggled to include all three
sounds. The word was cat
and he said ‘ca’.
Math (Centers) John is the youngest child
Strengths at home. His siblings are
During math centers, John much older than him, so
took responsibility and he does not have many
leadership in his group. He leadership opportunities at
respectfully gave his peers home.
instructions for how to build
different 3D shapes.
Weaknesses
John was not very open to
the ideas of his peers.
When they wanted to build
something a different way
then him, he would tell them
no or re-do it to his liking.
5.Sarah Tuesday 2/21 ELA (Phonics Sarah brought her stuffed
Drills/Game) animal Chase to the carpet
Strengths for phonics time. I called on
Sarah was able to chop and Chase to answer a few
blend every CVC word she questions, increasing
was given. She also was Sarah’s engagement in the
participating with the class activity.
as they said each word
aloud during the second
half of the lesson.
Weaknesses
Sarah tends to sit far away
from the class on the
carpet. At the beginning of
the lesson she was playing
with her stuffed animal and
not paying attention to the
lesson, this changed as the
lesson progressed.
Math (Centers) There is not a lot of math
Strengths instruction that takes place
Sarah enjoyed building the in this classroom. The
3D shapes from the math math lessons are mostly
manipulatives. She was just review of old concepts.
very quiet and engaged the This could have been why
whole time. Sarah was able Sarah was struggling to
to use her problem-solving identify the names.
skills when a shape did not
 fit or wasn’t working.
Weaknesses
Sarah wasn’t able to name
all of the 3D figures that she
built. A lot of sections on her
recording sheet were either
blank or written incorrectly.
She failed to look at the
reference sheet when
completing the activity.

6.John Tuesday 2/28 ELA (Reading) When the class

Strengths transitioned to the carpet to
During this lesson, John read the story, John
was able to highlight all of struggled to pay attention.
the sight words in the He did better when he was
passage. He followed along at his seat.
with his classmates and
highlighted the correct
words as the teacher said
them.
Weaknesses
When asked to read a
sentence in front of the
class, John failed to use his
decoding skills to sound out
the words. He struggled to
read both the unfamiliar
words and familiar words.
For example: the word turtle
was repeated many times
throughout the passage, but
he still was unable to read it.
Math (Centers) John struggles to pay
Strengths attention when directions
During math centers John are given and follow those
was able to help his group directions. This could have
mates pass out the center been the confusion with
supplies. He also followed the number sentences.
along and was able to take John usually doesn’t have
his turn. a problem with that.
Weaknesses
He struggled to put the
numbers in the correct
order in the number
sentence. If he was adding
3 blue blocks to 2 yellow
blocks, he would write
5+2=3.
6.Sarah Tuesday 2/28 ELA (Reading) Sarah loves to doodle on
Strengths her papers. She struggles
When asked to read a to stay on task when she is
sentence in front of the given a crayon, highlighter,
class, Sarah was able to other writing utensil.
use decoding skills to help
her read unfamiliar words.
Sarah also was able to read
the familiar words with
ease.
Weaknesses
When the class was
highlighting words, Sarah
was not paying attention.
She was drawing pictures
on her page with the
highlighter. When it was
time to transition to the
carpet, Sarah tried to
highlight her words.
Math (Centers) Sarah wanted to hurry and
Strengths complete the math center
During centers, Sarah was because she wanted to
able to put the number play a game on her iPad.
sentences together without
during the counting cubes.
She was able to place the
numbers in the correct
order and solve the
problems.
Weaknesses
Sarah struggled to follow
directions and do all of the
required steps. This
included using the counting
cubes and writing the
number sentences on both
the white board and the
paper.

7.John Thursday 3/2 ELA (Phonics Game)
Strengths
During the sight words and
letter sounds games, two
kindergarten classes
compete against each
other. John won the first
round he participated in
because he was able to
John was very excited
because the other
kindergarten class was in
the room. This could have
been why he did not stop
talking when asked.
 identify the sight word faster
than his opponent.
Weaknesses
John continued to break the
rules and talk during the
game. The teacher gave
him multiple verbal
warnings and even gave
the other team points as a
consequence. None of this
worked and John was
asked to leave the game
and return to his seat.
Math (Writing Numbers) John was able to write the
Strengths numbers the correct way
As John sat and watched after watching the teacher
the teacher write the model the steps to create
numbers on her white the number on her white
board, he was able to copy board.
her movements and write
them correctly himself.
Weaknesses
John continuously reverses
his numbers when writing
them. After watching the
teacher write the numbers
the first time, John still wrote
reversals.
7.Sarah Thursday 3/2 ELA (Phonics Game) Sarah knows her sight
Strengths words, it just takes her a
Sarah was able to pay while to process and read
attention and wait her turn in them. She was becoming
line to play the game. She visibly frustrated because
also tried her best to use she was not winning the
decoding skills when game.
necessary to read the sight
word given.
Weaknesses
Sarah was not able to
identify the sight words
automatically. This slowed
her down and resulted in
her opponents beating her.
Math (Writing Numbers) Sarah does well when the
Strengths teacher brings her to the
Sarah was able to correctly front of the room and tells
write the numbers on her her she is going to help her
white board when given the teach the kids. She told
time to practice. She Sarah that she needs to
 watched the teacher as she write her numbers very
modeled how to write each neatly to show her
number. classmates. Sarah listened
Weaknesses to this and tried her best.
Sarah was upset during this
lesson and was refusing to
write her numbers. The
teacher allowed her to sit
next to her at the front of the
room. Sarah was willing to
participate after that.
8.John Tuesday 3/14 ELA (Sight Words This lesson occurred right
Practice) after lunch and recess.
Strengths This could have been the
John was able to write the reason John was
sight words on his white distracted and hyper
board as the songs were during the activity.
playing. Each song spells
the word for the students.
Weaknesses
John was easily distracted
by his classmates during
this exercise. He was
writing on other students’
boards and talking.
Math (Centers) Estimation is a new
Strengths concept for John. He has
John was able to identify not yet mastered that
the bigger number when concept.
comparing the
measurements of various
objects. For example, he
was able to conclude that
119 was larger than 90.
Weaknesses
John was not able to
develop an accurate
prediction when asked to
predict the length of objects.
He would continue to give a
very large number even
after given examples.
8.Sarah Tuesday 3/14 ELA (Sight Word Practice) Sarah was having a bad
Strengths day and was defiant
Sarah was able to correctly towards her teacher
identify the sight words and multiple times during the
write them on her white day. She often talked back
board. She wrote neatly when the teacher
and in the correct size to fit corrected her behavior. I
every word. am not sure what caused
Weaknesses this negative behavior.
Sarah moved both of her
stuffed animals to the carpet
and was yelling at her
classmates when they
touched them. She was
then asked to come to the
front of the room and sit with
the teacher.
Math (Centers) Sarah was very upset that
Strengths she could not pick the
Sarah was able to make objects that were to be
accurate measured. She might have
estimates/predictions when responded to the activity if
asked about the length of she was given the chance
objects. She was also able to measure random
to identify the larger number objects before or after the
to determine which object is exercise.
longer.
Weaknesses
Sarah was not following
directions during this activity.
She would pick up random
objects from the table,
different from the two that
the instructions stated. She
also picked up her scissors
and was swinging them
around in the air.