▪ ••

Elireating a Centers-Based
Environment
• • •

Setting the stage for portfolio assessment includes providing a centers-based

environment in which skill growth is possible and encouraged. Children feel more at
ease in this natural setting as they demonstrate their skills and abilities. You can
learn so much by observing children interacting within this safe and emotionally
secure environment. Children investigate using all of their senses as well as their
intuition. Using a centers-based environment allows you to assess skills that are
embedded in friendly and familiar activities.

The following 12 suggested centers each focus on a particular set of skills. However, keep in
mind that multiple skills, across a range of genres, can be developed in a single center. Each center
description includes suggested materials and typical activity choices.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •••••
• ABC Center •
•
• In the ABC Center, children learn about letters and how to put them together to make •
• words. They use magnet letters, foam letters, sticker letters, and Wikki® sticks. Children •
• •
• play wwiitt h alphhabet puzzlles, vocabullary picture cards, and ABC Bingo games. Chillddren can •
•
•
• choose an ABC book, sort upper- and lowercase letters, use letter stamps, and find letters •
•
• to build their names using cookie cutter letters. Interacting with these materials helps •
• •
• children learn that letters have certain characteristics, have names and specific sounds, •
• •
• and come in order in the alphabet. •
• •
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6 Assessment—A Portfolio Approach

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