Kristin Hensley

ELM-305 Foundational Literacy Skills and Phonics

Kelli Moore

3/20/22

Clinical Field Experience B: Student Needs and Instructional Planning

The students that we’ve identified to work with range from above grade level to below

grade level. Kendall is above grade level in literacy and can identify all her letters and sounds.

Maddie is on track for her grade level in literacy and knows all her letters and their sounds. She

knows how to tap out words, but is inconsistent, and lacks self confidence in this area. Jacob

measures in the low to average in his academic ability in literacy. He has been diagnosed with

ADHD and struggles with writing. He is currently receiving interventions to build muscle

strength to assist with his grip of a pencil. Jacob can recognize 23 uppercase letters and 21

lowercase letters; he can also pronounce 21 letter sounds. Jacob falls in the low range for

processing speed and verbal comprehension on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. He

can tap out words, but he occasionally loses the beginning and ending sounds when trying to

blend. Jacob can only recognize 8 out of the 27 sight words and is struggling with decoding texts

and pronunciation with certain words and sounds. Jonathan has been enrolled since February 14th

and was not previously enrolled in kindergarten. He is measuring at well below grade level and

was only able to recognize the letter x, with no ability to pronounce any letter sounds. Since

enrolling, Johnathan can now identify 4 uppercase letter, 3 lowercase letters, and 1 sound. He

can write part of his name.

 We’ve agreed to use the book, The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Gandone to create a

lesson plan to measure student’s comprehension, vocabulary, and writing activities. I can

differentiate my lesson activities for lower-level learners by including word banks and multiple

choices for comprehension while giving grade level and above grade level learners open-ended

questions to evaluate comprehension and writing skills. Jacob can be supported by having his

comprehension answers dictated and can practice his handwriting skills by rewriting his dictation

on handwriting paper. We will read the story together while pausing throughout to work on our

phonemic awareness skills, identifying vocabulary words and their meanings, and reviewing

material for comprehension verbally before completing literacy activities on paper.