Grace Ann Franco

Case Study





Marsha Barton
Oakland Community College

















Grace Ann Franco who is lovingly called Gracey by her family and friends, she was born
on a cold December day on December 4, 2008. She has dark blond hair and deep blue eyes. Her
birthday is two weeks away she will be five years old, she is 44 inches tall and weighs 37
pounds. She is the first born of the three girls they have. Grace has a sister named Kennedy
who is three years old, and a baby sister who is four months old. They all look alike but have
very different personalities. Grace is the shy one it takes her awhile before she warms up to
someone. Once she knows you and starts to talk she is such a chatter box. The reason I chose
Grace for my case study is because I have known her and her family since she started with the
program at the age of three months. I took care of her as a baby, at fifteen months she moved
out of my room to the young toddler room. Her parents are Greg and Mandy Franco, Greg
works for the great lakes building company, and Mandy works at JPRA. They are considered to
be upper middle class, they live in the Berkley area is why they chose Berkley Building Blocks at
Tyndall to be their day care center. They chose to continue putting their children in our care
because of the high quality care they receive. We are a high scope based center.
When asked if they had any pets they said no because mom Mandy is highly allergic to
most pet dander. Besides this there are no other family concerns. Mandy said she had an easy
labor with Grace, and no complications with the pregnancy. Mandy is the tough parent she
wants them to strive and work hard to do good were a Greg is more of the laid back easy going
type, he goes with the flow as he puts it, after all he is the only male in the house he said this
will be complicated in later years. They both equally want their girls to be happy, I see them as
being well adjusted.
It seems to me that Grace is hitting all of her developmental milestones. She walked at
nine and a half months, and mom says she has never slowed down. She learned sign language
way before she could talk it is started in the infant room when they are very small. Ms. Susan
Graces teacher is a good head start teacher she has been doing it for fourteen years now.
Grace is always by Ms. Susans side. Ms. Susan is very passionate about what she does, the
whole center is child-friendly and family oriented, the environment is a very positive one.
I asked Grace what her favorite color was she said purple and green. During my time
with her she drew me two pictures, one was a lovely purple outlined house with green siding.
The other one was a picture of myself as she saw me. Grace likes using colored markers and
crayons. She uses stencils to trace pictures to color. I think what I like the most about Grace is
her warm smile and the sincerity of her feelings. I was allowed to take pictures as she worked in
small group. She cut out pictures from newspaper ads of food they liked to make a Thanksgiving
Day place mat. Some of the things I noticed she cut out was: pop tarts, cake, and chocolate
milk, candy bars and juice. I asked her was she not going to cut out a pie or turkey she just
shrugged her shoulders. From this activity she went to cutting strips of colored paper to glue
onto the class turkey, from there she went to working with floam rolling it out or into balls.
Ms. Susan asked Grace what area she would like to go to next giving her a choice of
what she wanted to do, she picked the kitchen area. When she got to the kitchen area some of
her other classmates were already there so three of them started to make salads. I asked her if I
could have one with tomatoes. Grace said yes and I would have to pay three dollars for it, I said
ok but I also want a chocolate milk. She charged me two dollars for just the chocolate milk, then
I asked how much was it together, she replied five dollars I gave her a ten and asked for singles
and change back, this took her a few minutes to figure out, but she gave me three singles and
eight quarters. Grace told me that one day she was going to own her own restaurant.
Physical
I noticed multiple ways in which she displayed physical development. For example when
she spread her arms out to fly like an airplane, or kicking a soccer ball back and forth with her
friends. She plays dress up every day she will put on a princess dress and swirl around showing
off her flowing gown. Grace will make all sort of animal gestures she will pounce and bark like a
dog or act like a monkey. She follows direction very well when Ms. Susan tells her to get in line
at the door she will stand very still until told she can move. Grace shows her physical ability in
her dancing to music. (See physical notes)
Social-Emotional
I feel Grace has exceeded in this category, she is able to put on her own coat and shoes,
and take them off again and replace her own coat on her rack. At nap time Grace brings in her
nap sack removes her bedding and puts her own sheet and pillow with her blanket on her cot
for nap. Then she stores her nap sack in her cubby inside the room until nap is over. She is
capable of opening up her own milk carton and putting her straw into it. She shows her
emotions when she says I love you to Ms. Susan or I have a stomach ache. Grace forms many
relationships at school, she will ask her friend Julia can we hold hands and skip on the
playground? I also watched her create a game out of Legos she was able to solve problems she
encountered with them falling down. When it comes to social conflict she was able to express
she was unhappy when Will pushed her down, she said please do not do that again it hurt
me. During story time with Ms. Susan reading about the pilgrimage of thanksgiving she was
able to tell Ms. Susan what she was thankful for. She could answer many questions that was
asked of her. It is easy to see she can participate in large groups.
Cognitive Mathematics/science and technology
Graces class went on a bug hunt Grace found a tree worm which she put into a shoe
box that contained grass and twigs, the box had holes in the lid. When the class returned to the
room Grace put her tree worm into a big tank that had twigs, grass and rocks. She got to watch
it for the rest of the day. They released all of the bugs that were caught at the end of the day.
Grace took her tree worm back to the tree she found it on. Grace kept looking at my watch she
finally said Ms. Marsha your watch has a snake inside of it. I said yes it does it is a medical
alert. It notifies medical staff that I have allergies to certain medicines, it also tells them I am
diabetic, and have asthma. Grace smiled and said thats good. I do not know if she really
understood what I said, but she seemed to. As I helped Grace cut out her color strips for her to
glue onto the classroom turkey she lined her strips up by size and color. I asked her if she had
enough red strips she looked at what she had then counted them and said I better cut more.
This showed Graces sorting, matching, and counting skills. Grace uses wooden blocks to build a
house, she used rectangular, square, and triangle it came out a little lopsided, but her and her
baby dolls had fun inside. Grace showed she could problem solve, she has the ability to fit
things together, she can problem solve in lots of areas. As Grace played a restaurant owner she
showed she had the ability to count money. Grace was able to go from one part of the day to
the next with ease. She would look on the daily schedule board to see what was next. When
she was asked to recall her day she could tell Ms. Susan what she had done and in what order
she done it in. (see cognitive notes)
Language
Throughout the day I would hear Grace telling a story as she played, or telling one of the
staff how her weekend had went, I recall her telling Ms. Kendra about her mom taking her to
the zoo, and how she really loved the monkeys. She said they were funny with red butts. This
showed she was able to talk about meaningful experiences as well as describing events. Grace
will get a book and try to repeat the story she has heard a million times and add new parts to it.
Grace is able to use the stencils to trace object to color. She even has the ability to write her
own name. (See language notes.)
Approach to Learning
Being a high scope center all lesson plans are done to high scope standards, which
includes letting a child plan for some of their day alone without being told what to do by an
adult. They explore and figure things out on their own. During lunch as I sat next to Grace to eat
with her I asked her what she was planning to do after she ate, she said I will paint with my two
favorite colors purple and green. I then asked her what she was planning on painting, she
replied a picture of my family. I noticed as children played together Grace was able to solve a
lot of problems on her own.
Creative
Grace loves to draw pictures, and build things with her hands. Grace has a great
imagination for creating things. Her favorite things to draw is of her house and family. Then
during song time she will do animal sounds and show how she can move and act out jesters the
animals make. Grace uses the cash register and play money showing she knows how to pretend
play using money to buy merchandise. I also noticed when Ms. Susan would put on a CD Grace
would start to dance and sing. She plays a lot of the different instruments in the room, like the
drums or symbols. Grace will entertain her class mates by holding a microphone to her mouth
and dancing in circles like she is performing on a live stage. (See creative notes)
Conclusion
After spending a month with Grace in her classroom I learned new things about her I did
not previously know. I got the chance to see how much she has improved since I last spent time
with her. I feel she has met all of the KDI key development indicator. I feel she has really
succeeded in her physical development. She has the ability to describe what she is doing and
acting upon direction. She can easily express her feelings. She can move music with a steady
beat. She is very active on the playground she rides bikes, kicks a soccer ball, climbs on the
jungle gym and makes sand castles in the sandbox.
Grace is striving in her social and emotional development, she is so very capable of
taking care of a lot of her needs. She is dressing herself, using the bathroom, washing her
hands, brushing her teeth and much more. She is very open with her feelings she can express
them in words, she is also sensitive to others feelings. Grace does not like to see anyone sad or
upset, Grace has built so many relationships with her class mates, and all of her teachers. I
noticed that Grace will be the first one to participate in group routines.
As for cognitive development Grace enjoys counting, sorting, matching items. She can
also distinguish her shapes and talk about the by describing what they are. Grace can handle
money and give change in the correct amount.
When it comes to her language development Grace can carry on conversations with
others about her feelings, she can share stories about what has happened at home or on
vacation. She writes well enough to put her name on her art work. Grace will sit on a bean bag
with a couple of dolls and read them stories from memory. I personally heard Grace discuss all
the details of her trip to the zoo with her mom, or when she got sick last week and threw up on
her shoes. All of Graces drawings has a story behind them. As I listened and spoke with Grace
her language is well developed she can carry on meaningful conversations.
With creativity I feel this is her best developmental area Grace can be found every day
drawing/painting or building houses with blocks, pretend playing restaurant which she loves to
do so much. Grace will dress up in a chefs hat in the kitchen area and start to prepare food.
Grace displays her love of music by singing songs and playing instruments. Grace can be heard
imitating sounds of animals along with their actions.
When it comes to learning for Grace it is simply just fun, it never seems to be a task for
her. Everything she does seems to be an adventure, she is very energetic. I feel grace is ready
for kindergarten with her love for school and her caring ways. I think she will be able to make
many loving relationships that will last a life time. Grace works hard at school and is very
exceptive to new things I know the transactions through her life should continue to go as
smoothly as they do now.
Recommendations
Although Grace is developing really well I think a change of a classroom to kindergarten
will expand and strengthen all of the skills she now holds. I feel that reaching the next level will
keep her interested in school. Her growth will intensify greatly my hope for Grace is that she
will continue with her singing and dance, she is like a beautiful butterfly when she strolls across
the room in her long gowns. This will be for her physical development so I hope her teachers
will encourage her creativity this will be helpful for her future.
In Graces social and emotional development I would like to see more group activities,
such as children working more closely to solve problems instead of her doing all of it by herself.
Maybe one suggestion would be to have a couple of children carry a large basket full of stuff to
count. They could dump it out together then sort it out and count together.
With Graces cognitive learning I feel there could be more matching and comparing of
items would help her with her memory and organization and order. Ms. Susan could put out
tunnels in the room with different objects at the end of each tunnel, then see if they can match
the item the found to someone elses item.
With aiding grace in her language development encourage her to talk more with people
she does not know. She is shy and hides when she sees someone new. Ms. Susan can make a
game and have fun when introducing new people to grace. Graces learning can be enhanced by
helping her focus for longer periods of time on challenging tasks like sitting longer to focus on
her letter writing. Maybe if Ms. Susan discussed the contents of the letter with Grace she would
get involved in what she wanted to put on paper.
Creativity is definitely not something Grace is lacking in, as I mentioned earlier she loves
to draw/color and do hands on building. The only suggestion I could possibly make is to add
new things to the art area such as feathers, cotton balls, even pipe cleaners they are pliable and
can be bent in numerous ways.
Within the month I observed Grace I learned so many new things about her I cherish the
time that we spent together. She has such a warm heart and personality. She shows how she
cares about others, she is so entertaining with her singing and dancing. She is so fun to watch
the expressions she gets on her face along with the grown up things she does was so hilarious I
almost laughed out loud a few times. I would like to thank Ms. Susan, and Ms. Kendra for
allowing me to be a part of their daily routine for so long. I would also like to thank Mandy and
Greg Franco Graces parents for allowing me to take pictures of their child, and for answering
all of the very personal questions I had to ask them. Most of all I want to say to everyone you
have helped me to complete a hard assignment I had to do to get my degree. As you already
know I cherished every minute with Grace.
Physical Notes
10/28/13 during music time Grace held her friend Julias hand as they danced around to the
freeze song, when they heard freeze they would stop then continue when the music started
back up.
10/29/13 during outside time Grace got the soccer ball and kicked it around with several
friends.
10/30.13 during play Grace stiffened her arms and legs and walked around saying I am a robot I
am a robot.
11/4/13 at choice time grace went to the dress up area and put on a princess gown she
gracefully twirled around the room.
Cognitive Math/Science and Technology Notes
11/5/13 at work time Grace counts money at the cash register and gives change.
11/6/13 at work time names the shapes of triangles squares and circles when Ms. Susan asked
her which one it was she could identify it.
11/7/13 at work time Grace sorts out buttons by size and color while counting.
Social-Emotional Notes
11/8/13 during work time Grace describes to Ms. Marsha that she was building a house for her
and her dolls.
11/12/13 during outside time Grace shows she is upset with her friend by having a sad face and
telling him you hurt me do not push me down any more.
11/12/13 during work time Grace3 asks Ms. Susan what the name of a fruit is so she can cut it
out for her Thanksgiving Day mat.
Language Notes
11/14/13 during lunch time Grace talks about the day her mom took her to the zoo, and the
monkeys had red butts.
11/15/13 during work time Grace will participate and add to the conversation.
11/15/13 during music Grace participates and sings along to the music, she even makes animal
sounds.
Approaches to Learning Notes
11/19/13 during work time Grace Plans two things to do and follows through with her plans.
11/20/13 during work time Grace can identify a problem with her project of building and
eventually solve it on her own.
11/20/13 during recall time Grace is able to recall everything she has done and in what order
she has done them.
Creative arts
11/20/13 during art time Grace can draw pictures to represent home and school life.
11/21/13 during music time Grace will sing all the words to a favorite song.
11/21/13 in dance Grace is very creative with her movements she twirls and bows.
11/22/13 at pretend play grace uses props such as a cash register to exchange money while
wearing her chefs hat and apron.