Cheenee's Progress Report ;)

I am proudly posting Cheenee's first progress report. I know, it would be only of perusing interest for us (it is

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long.. and 'boring' if you are not the parent, hehe)... we are happy how our 'suspicion',  that she is ahead of her peers, has been more than validated by this progress report by her US-trained teacher.

Name:  --Cheenee Chua

Age:  2.5 years old

Date: January 2009                                          

Level:   Toddler Level

Teacher: Arby C. Robles

DEVELOPMENTAL REPORT

I.          COGNITIVE REPORT

            Cognitive development refers to your child’s ability to process information and to relate this information to his own experiences.  This can be observed by his comments, ideas, stories he shares, the questions he asks, the way in which he responds to questions, and by the extent to which he can absorb and retain past lesson.  It concerns his ability o put together bits of data in an effort to understand himself and his environment.

            Cheenee is a very intelligent girl. She is a fast learner in class and is able to sit for long periods of time which allows her to more focus in class. She is also very aware of her surroundings which help her in learning more. She often asks a lot of why, what and where questions. For example, when teacher says that we cannot play outside even if it’s a sunny day, she asks why. Teacher says that it’s because a lot of her classmates have colds and teacher doesn’t want it to get worse.

To improve her reasoning and comprehension skills, teacher asks questions too. Like, what did she do over the weekend or where is mommy or daddy. She would also often do a roll call of her classmates once she gets to school! Teacher tells her that they’re on their way to school already, after which, questions about how her morning went or how is she feeling would be asked.

            During story time, one can find Cheenee huddled between her classmates, listening attentively to a book chosen by one of them. She just loves listening to stories. Cheenee displays an array of facial expression when listening. She shows a sad face, a happy face and a surprised face. Cheenee loves the book hungry caterpillar. For a time, she would say, “Teacher, I like hungry caterpinar”. She is very excited to hear teacher reading the book for them during story time.

            Cheenee also loves to sing and dance. She is able to remember the actions and the tune of the songs in a short span of time. When teacher asks the children for song requests, Cheenee excitedly says, “Teapot!” “Spider!” “Bus!”

            Lessons that are related to the theme of the month are introduced in class everyday.  The teacher arranges everyone in a “circle” around the mat and presents visual aids and age appropriate information about the topic.  The children are welcome to make comments, add information, or ask question during this time.    * Language ability is intricately entwined with cognitive development.

            During circle time, Cheenee actively participates in singing songs and finger plays. She is very attentive when teacher starts singing, “Who is wearing ….( a song that allows the children to be observant so they could answer the clue being illustrated), Cheenee looks for her friend being described and happily shouts her friend’s name.

            As the weather song is sung, Cheenee’s eyes light up with excitement! She loves to be the weather reporter. As she approaches the window to start her report, she could be heard saying, “Mr. Sun, Mr. Sun! Mr. Sun is outside!” She takes her place on the mat and starts singing with the whole class.

            Cheenee also loves to sing the Alphabet song with a corresponding picture book. She sings along with the rest of the class wholeheartedly. She is able to recognize each picture with the corresponding letter!

            Part of the cognitive development is the ability to focus one’s attention to the task at hand and to remain attentive despite surrounding distractions.

            Cheenee is able to concentrate on a task given to her very well. All her worksheets and art projects are done on her own. She observes the process of the activities done by teacher and when it’s her turn to do her own worksheet or art, she is able to accomplish it in no time! It is only when Cheenee is playing or engrossed with a certain activity that she is not able to concentrate on questions asked. She often replies, “Teacher, wiwi!” or would ask teacher to call on Yaya Tess because she needs to go to the bathroom.

            Lesson time is when we talk about the theme of the month and we often review previous topics so that the children can associate past lessons with the present discussion.  Learning games are used to help the children understand their lesson in a fun and interesting way.

            During the learning game, Cheenee is very eager to join and participate. She listens attentively to the lesson presented and observes the mechanics of the game well so she is able to do the activity without assistance. She enjoys it very much when the games include toys and music and movement. Teacher knows that Cheenee is paying attention by her excitement as she waits for her turn. Teacher reminds her at times to wait for her name to be called. She goes back to her place on the mat, but remains standing up to be able to give the game a try as soon as she has her turn.  

Since we started to talk about letters, Cheenee is one of the few who is able to help teacher lead the class in learning about letters. As soon as Cheenee recognizes the letter presented to her, she shouts it out loud with a big smile on her face. She even includes a corresponding object to the letter. “It’s letter F for fish!”

            Creativity is another aspect of cognitive development whether it is problem solving skills, dramatic play, using his imagination or making something out of varied materials.

            The choice area is one of  Cheenee’s favorite places to hang out! As soon as she arrives in school and drops off her bag in her cubby hole, she heads to the room to play with her favorite toys. She likes to pretend a lot which enables her imagination to work. She sometimes pick up blocks or she tries to push an empty push cart and pretend that it is heavy. She would say, “Teacher, it’s soooo heavy! UUUggghhhh!” She would match it with a facial expression on her face! She loves to play with the blocks and make a replica of her house, the school or a tower. In the choice room, she also likes to play with the tools, hammering and screwing on the tools as if she was making something. At times, she would be seen with a doll. Cheenee prepares the stroller with pillows and blankets and pretends to make the doll sleep. She even feeds it too!       

            Cognitive Development also covers the basic academic skills such as identifying colors, and shapes, saying the alphabet and identifying letters, identifying numerals and counting.

            From the start of school, Cheenee already knew her basic shapes but needed assistance with colors. She kept on mixing up the different colors she knew. After much practice, she is already able to identify the correct colors except for the color yellow. Teacher still has to give her clues when identifying color yellow. For shapes, she is familiar with, circle, square, triangle, rectangle, heart, diamond, oval, cross and star. For colors, she knows red, blue, green, purple, pink, black, brown, white and orange.

            For her age, Cheenee is ahead with her knowledge of letters and numbers. She is able to identify all the upper case and lower case letters. She is also able to give corresponding objects that start with each letter of the alphabet! i.e. A is for apple, B for bus, C for chicken, D for dog, E for elephant, the list goes on. These objects that she matched aren’t typically seen in the classroom or told to her by teacher. It actually changes every time teacher would ask her.

            The toddlers are practicing to count from 1 to 10.  Cheenee is able to count perfectly from 1 to 30. She is able to do it on her own without anyone cluing her on the next number. After the number 31, Cheenee starts again with 21, 22, 23 and ends at 40, 41, 42, 41,42, 43… Cheenee just needs a bit more of practice after 30 though; she made so much progress for a child her age.

II.        LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

            Language development is your child’s ability to communicate and express himself to others. This is the key to intellectual development and the key to expressing thoughts and feelings. Language development refers to the ability of the child to listen, understand, and speak which eventually leads to reading and writing.

Cheenee is a very expressive child. She is able to express what she feels, what she wants and what ideas she has. She also loves to tell teacher stories about her experiences when she is able to remember it. One morning, as she was putting her things in the cubby hole, she was giddily saying, “Gymboree teacher, gymboree! I played with telescope!” Yaya told teacher that sometimes during her free time, Cheenee goes to Gymboree. Cheenee is very excited to share with teacher about her experiences over the weekend. She is able to express herself very well that she can handle short but meaningful conversations with an adult.

During circle time, Cheenee loves to volunteer as the weather reporter. She likes saying, “It’s a sunny day! We can go outside later!” She also loves to participate during learning games and would always ask teacher if its her turn already! She is very excited to join the games, as soon as teacher is done demonstrating the process and would say, “I want to try!” or  “Cheenee’s turn!”

Cheenee is also able to say her full name, as well as all of her classmates name. As soon as she gets to school she does a roll call of all of her classmate’s names.

III.             SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

            Socio-emotional development concerns your child’s social and emotional character. How does your child socially interact with other children and with adults? What is his general behavior? How does he react to certain situations? Does he have a positive self-image? Does he take pride in his abilities and accomplishments? Your child’s emotional make up greatly influences his social skills. Social skills include sharing, cooperating, and following rules. Emotional development includes a child’s feelings and his ability to express these.

            When classes started, Cheenee had difficulty separating from Yaya or Mommy. Teacher thought that she didn’t like coming to school because of the many days that she cried when Yaya or mommy left her. All she needed was a little time to adjust with her new environment and new faces she encountered in school. As soon as she was able to be feel comfortable with her new surroundings, Cheenee showed that she is very sociable with her friends and participates in all the activities prepared for the class.

Cheenee is now very sociable. The more kids she sees, the more excited, talkative and playful she gets. She just loves talking and playing with her friends, even with a Nipponggo speaking classmate! When getting hurt accidentally or if she is the one at fault, Cheenee never forgets to say sorry to her friends. A little hug or just hearing the word sorry is enough to bring back the smile on her face.

Cheenee is always ready to join in the fun! When she hears the music playing, she sings along with the songs she is familiar with. As she hears the beat to the music she likes, she would start dancing. She would always be involved in the activities!

            There are still times that Cheenee has to be reminded of sharing and borrowing. If she gets a toy from her friend, Teacher reminds her to say borrow and almost immediately she runs back to her friend and say, “May I borrow please?” She smiles and runs along to her place on the mat.

IV.  PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT                                     

Physical development is your child’s ability to control bodily movement, both gross motor and fine motor movement. It is said that gross motor skills develop more rapidly than fine motor skills.

A.  FINE MOTOR SKILLS

            Fine motor movement is basically hand and finger coordination. Writing, painting, cutting and pasting, crumpling, tearing, sewing, and playing with small connective toys are skills that exercise these muscles.

             At the start of the school year, Cheenee already knew how to hold the pencil and crayons correctly. Her control over pencil and crayons has also greatly improved. She has shown preference using her right hand. When encouraged to write sleeping, standing lines and circles, she is able to do it properly. Surprisingly, she can also draw loops and crosses.

Painting, pasting crumpling, and tearing also enhance fine motor skills. Cheenee is able to do all easily. When it comes to controlling her fingers during counting, she tries her best to control her fingers to show the number being asked. Teacher practices them with songs that include numbers or by questions to indicate their age and the number of objects that are shown to them. 

B.        GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

Gross motor covers movement of large muscles such as walking, running, climbing, biking, pushing/pulling, hopping, jumping, crawling and balancing. As they move, they develop strength, coordination, body awareness, self-control and confidence.

            Cheenee is a very active girl. She is able to do a lot of things for her age. In the playground, she likes to try out a lot of activities. She is able to walk, run or jog around obstacles without loosing her balance. She is able to catch and throw a ball, climb up and go down the slide, ride the teeter totter and ride the bicycle on her own.

Cheenee loves to play tag or just run around the playground with her friends. Her laughter exudes excitement which mirrors off to her friends as they chase each other on the play ground. She can balance as she hops, jumps and runs. She is able to maneuver around people or toys with ease. If at any time she falls down, Cheenee is able to muster courage and strength to stand up and continue playing with her friends as if nothing happened! ☺

After circle time, the toddlers stretch and dance. They sing different songs with actions. Cheenee’s favorite song is Animal Action and Do the Monkey. She loves to mimic the sounds and actions of different animals. She is able to roar like a tiger, gallop like a horse, scream and scratch like a monkey and crawl like a snake. She is so full of energy! Cheenee is a very happy child She has a very happy character that everyone loves to be around her!