Ashlyn Weaver

HDFS 3460

Vollenweider

12.6.2022

Final Portfolio – Holly Czismar

Holly is a bright and talented child. We noticed right away that she moves quickly and

engages with a lot of different activities in a short period of time. It took her no time at all to

memorize all her classmate’s names, and she was even quicker to recognize each of their water

bottles. We often hear her repeating short phrases that she hears in the classroom, such as

corrective phrases we use with other classmates. Holly is quick to engage with any activities

involving arts and crafts. She loves to draw with chalk and markers, and makes multiple

drawings whenever those materials are available. She enjoys dramatic play, particularly in our

kitchen area. She will act out kitchen scenarios, as well as laundry and other simple dress up

scenarios. She has a preference for a Princess Anna costume as well as a superhero cape.

Outside, she often requests bouncy balls and bikes. She challenges herself with climbing

materials on the playground and persists with those challenges, even with help.

Holly’s family consists of herself, her mom and dad, a younger brother, and two half

sisters that are around 10-12 years older than her. Holly’s mom works at home full time and her

parents spend a lot of time with their family. Holly’s family is Christian and describes

themselves as pretty normal in relation to what holidays they celebrate. Holly’s mom tells me

that there are little stressors that would have an impact on Holly and their family is very open

about problems. Holly’s mom describes her parenting as hands off- as long as Holly is safe and

happy, she is free to do what she pleases. This environment predicts that Holly will continue to
be independent and solve problems on her own. We see her do lots of creative problem solving

in the classroom and she does not often request assistance from her teachers. We continue to

encourage this in the classroom and allow Holly to be independent. She also joins in play easily

with others, a trait often seen in kids with siblings in the home. With Holly having 3 siblings at

home, this will improve her ability to interact with other kids and show an interest in playing

with them.

Holly is an active child and shows interest in many activities in a short time span. Some

of the activities she regularly returns to include those with music and arts. As an infant, Holly

showed a particular interest in any toy that contained music and lights. She has continued this

interest through songs and movement, and memorizes words and melodies to songs quickly.

Holly went right to walking with little to no crawling. The interest in walking started when she

started pulling on furniture. Mom put her in a walker and she took off! This milestone was hit

around 12-14 months old. Most children crawl first and slowly learn to pull up and walk, but

Holly was ready to go. Until about two years old, she was mostly babbling and making noises

rather than full words. Her first word was her older sister’s name, “Charlotte”. Mom predicts this

came from her yelling the name all the time. This is a big word compared to other first words,

which usually consist of a lot less syllables (ex: dada, mama). In the classroom at this stage,

Holly repeats many words and phrases that she’s heard in school or at home, and can identify the

majority of her letters. She speaks clearly and with purpose. Holly has a generally happy

temperament. She only fussed as a baby if she was hungry or needed to be changed. At school,

Holly rarely shows negative emotion and doesn’t get angry or upset easily. She didn’t need

comfort or rocking to sleep, and has a secure attachment style. This is evident in the classroom as
she takes off to play as soon as mom drops her off. Most other kids are able to do this at this age

well, or with little resistance.

Holly runs with ease in the classroom. She stomps to the beat of songs and jumps around

when she is excited. She can manipulate small objects such as markers and small balls with ease

and usually with full arm movements. She climbs on the playground steps and tries new ways of

climbing as she explores. Some kids in her class are challenging themselves in the same way, but

Holly usually does so out of genuine curiosity. Stomping to the beat is uncommon at this age,

especially with such accuracy. Most of her classmates will stomp but in a random rhythm. Music

really seems to resonate with Holly and she can recognize and repeat those sounds.

Holly has an incredible memory. She often repeats phrases she’s heard in the classroom

or at home. She can identify child by name, by their photo, knows their cubby location, and their

water bottle. She can identify the majority of her letters and match an object that starts with that

letter. She remembers songs such as Dinosaur March and Pete the Cat’s New Shoes with ease.

She can complete puzzles with assistance and enjoys looking at pictures in books. She can

recognize the emotions in one book and tell you what the biggest word page is supposed to say.

As Holly was interested in musical toys as a baby, this interest in memorization through song

makes sense.

Holly plays well with other kids and recognizes the needs of others. She has grown a lot

this semester in the way she refrains herself from taking a toy from another child while they are

using it. She helped a child clean up his tower that had been knocked down by another playmate.

She can remember what toys and activities her classmates like and seeks to make sure they are

included in activities they enjoy. Holly rarely shows negative emotion, but can recognize and

make faces based off emotions when prompted. For example, when looking at an emotions book,
I asked her to show me her sad face and she frowned. She was able to do this with multiple

emotions and a little guidance. Holly’s mom let us know that if there was something wrong,

Holly does well about communicating her frustrations at home.

Holly speaks clearly and with a purpose. When a classmate is doing something she

knows is wrong or does not like, she repeats the phrases we use in the classroom to redirect

them. For example, a friend was using the same toy as her and not taking turns. She said, “Nuh

uh [name], nuh uh”. A teacher in the classroom confirmed she had used this phrase a few times

the week before. She did a drawing on the chalk board, stood back, presented it to me and said,

“I love it”. Her word application is logical and she understands most of what she is saying

without being prompted.

The two social-emotional goals I chose for Holly Czismar started with routine. I wanted to

see her adjusting comfortably without resistance to the classroom routine. She is happy to be doing

what everyone else is doing, but when it’s time to transition to a new activity, sometimes it comes

with resistance. She also has a hard time sitting still for circle time. I have noticed that with

encouragement and added excitement, she does better with routines. She also does better in

transitions when we give her a warning ahead of time. She often repeats the time allotted a couple

times and when the time is up, she understands it’s time to do something new. I would love to see

her sit still for times when we’re all together. She’s very hyperactive, which is common among

lots of the kids. Holly has done a great job over this semester adjusting to routine and participating

in the activities provided as a class. She still needs a little redirection, but generally she goes with

the flow.

The second goal I had for Holly is for her to better express her emotions. This one is

challenging because Holly rarely experiences negative emotions in the classroom. Occasionally, a
toy will get taken from her or she may be asked to do something she doesn’t want to. In these

occasions where she is experiencing negative emotion, I wanted her to be able to identify the

emotion and vocalize it. For example, if another toy is taken from her, rather than making noise or

just an angry face, I wanted her to be able to say, “I’m playing with that”, or, “It made me mad

that he took that”. Holly’s mom told me that Holly does express her sadness at home by crying or

“showing her frustration” at home. She tells me that if Holly was experiencing a negative emotion,

she would let us know. Holly showed particular interest in a book that displays an array of emotions

and the faces that accompany those emotions. I think this is the beginning of a great emotional

development for her, giving her some tools to help identify some emotions she might be feeling.

Discussing goals for Holly with members of my class was most beneficial to be with

other lab students in the two year old room. They may not observe Holly as closely but they

interact with her and recognize her personality traits. It was also beneficial to compare and

contrast goals that we had for this age group and bounce ideas off of each other. I did not spend

much time discussing these goals with my lead or assistant teacher but I like to hear the way they

speak about Holly in the classroom, considering they spend much more time with her than I do.

Because Holly is so physically active, I think she would benefit from some sort of regular

physical activity related class. Gymnastics would be a fun class for her to take, considering she

takes on challenges with ease. I also think KidStrong would be a great place for Holly to improve

her social and physical skills. She’d be challenged in her physical ability and have increased

interactions with other kids. This would assist in her routines adjustment and challenge her

physically. KidStrong is available for kids who are walking to age 11, so it is an activity her baby

brother could eventually join in.