Carrie Ella Maloney: September 2015

Mommy: Carrie Ella, can I have a hug? I haven't had one in a while.

Carrie Ella runs and throws herself at me hugging me tight.

Carrie Ella: I love you so much. I'll never ever ever break your heart.

She is such a sweet sensitive little girl!

She's been waking every night, sometimes twice a night. She says she's scared of the dark or had a bad dream. I typically take her back to her room and lay with her for a while sometimes falling sleep myself. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but the thing that's clear is that she needs me. So I don't get mad, but I sure am tired. I've been in bed with lights out by 9:30 a lot lately. Hoping I can get a good chunk of sleep before she wakes. Sometimes it's between 11:30-12:30 and then around 3:00. Most frequently it's just the latter.

Last night I tried something. I put a sleeping bag on the floor by my bed and told her if she woke and was scared or needed me she could come in my room and crawl into the sleeping bag. She loooooved this idea.

Last night at 3:45 I heard her feet padding into our room. She went right to the sleeping bag and got in. It took her a good 10 minutes to settle into sleep. We'll see how this goes for everybody. It can't make it any worse.

We received this in June and I'm only just getting around to posting it....

Preschool Spring Narrative Report

Child’s Name: Carrie Ella Maloney

Birth Date: 11-29-2011

Teachers: Steve Taylor and Taryn Lewis

Report Date: Spring 2015

Social and Emotional Development:

Carrie Ella continues to grow socially in the classroom. She has become increasingly socially motivated and she is comfortable working with many different students in the class. Her play is collaborative and she demonstrates flexibility in working with others to figure out who is playing each role in the game. She is particularly welcoming if a new friend decides to join the game, explaining what is happening to get the newcomer up to speed. Carrie Ella’s interactions with others continue to be warm and friendly. She is generous with classroom materials and is generally happy and productive during the school day.

Carrie Ella still gets sad from time to time, but less frequently and she recovers fairly rapidly. She sometimes brings the Talk Blocks to a classmate that is upset about something, helping the friend to feel better. Carrie Ella is able to express her own feelings verbally. She usually can describe her feelings independently and she is able to recognize feelings in others by reading faces or noticing the context of the situation. She continues to transition smoothly during the school day and she is productive and focused during Choice time and during teacher-led activities.

Large and Fine Motor Development:

Carrie Ella comes to the art table often and she enjoys working with a variety of materials. She is observant of others, often trying out projects that she sees other students creating. Carrie Ella uses scissors to open her snack items and she creates snowflakes by folding paper and cutting off some of the edges of the folded page. She sometimes holds her scissors upside down, but she approaches tasks such as cutting out a shape with determination and she has gained confidence and an ability to execute her ideas. Carrie Ella is able to write her initials, “C. E.”, on her art work. She is motivated to learn to write her whole name, and with some scaffolding from an adult, she can write all of the letters in her name.

Carrie Ella likes to ride on the swings on the playground. She is increasingly interested in riding on the tire swing, even though she is a little bit scared to swing too high. She likes to spend her playground time with her friends, sliding down the slides and working on recipes in the sand box. She often engages in pretend play on the playground, choosing roles with her friends and using the playground toys as props for the play.

Cognitive Development:

Carrie Ella continues to seek out opportunities to look at books and listen to stories. She likes to begin her day with a story, and she sometimes keeps listening to books as long as an adult continues to read. She is calm and focused at Circle Time and Story Time. She raises her hand when she has something to say and she listens to her classmates as they take turns talking. Carrie Ella has a strong vocabulary and she has gained confidence in her ability to express herself verbally. She recognizes her own name in print and the names of some of her classmates. She can also recognize the words ‘yes’ and ‘no’ in print. She can identify the alphabet letters and is increasingly interested in writing.

Carrie Ella continues to develop mathematical skills. She is able to recognize patterns presented by her teachers, and she can independently create an AB pattern, demonstrating an understanding of the concept. She is able to recognize a set of four items and she has shown an ability to sort items and to estimate a quantity of items in a jar. Carrie Ella asks her classmates for their opinions, marking their answers on an opinion graph. She is able to complete classroom puzzles with 12 pieces or more.

Creative Expression:

Carrie Ella continues to seek out opportunities to work on art projects. She is comfortable working in the art studio, and she enjoys working on art projects of her own choosing, such as making snowflakes, and art projects that her teachers have prepared, such as still life drawings of flowers. She likes the sensory experience of painting. She likes to mix the colors to make new colors for her art work. She also likes to paint her hands and make hand prints on her paper. She enjoys working with water at the water table and in the sandbox, experimenting with the water by moving it with a variety of tools.

Carrie Ella has blossomed in her dramatic pretend play. She is flexible in her play with her peers and she is motivated to join with others to create dramatic pretend play scenes. She participates nicely in the give and take of creating the play. She enjoys singing songs at Circle Time and spontaneously in the classroom. She likes to use the musical instruments with her friends to make music.