Key Terms

adaptations: Specific accommodations, modifications, or supports to assist children compensate for functional limitations and challenges.

anecdotal notes: short account of an interesting or humorous incident.

checklist: commercial or produced by teachers is a list of behaviors that make up a certain type of performance. If a particular behavior is present when an individual is observed, a check is placed next to that behavior.

developmentally appropriate: curriculum, activities, and decisions made based on knowledge about how children develop and learn; individual children's interests, strengths, learning styles, and needs; and social and culture frameworks.

Source: National Association for the Education of Young Children's Position Statement Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8.
Adopted July 1996. http://www.naeyc.org/resources/position_statements/dap2.htm

Individual Literacy Assessment: a 33-item observation tool for assessing children's literacy behaviors, available from the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood Education at Western Illinois University. URL http://www.wiu.edu/thecenter/

NAEYC: National Association for the Education of Young Children

NCREL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory

oral language: the reception and expression of the pragmatic, semantic, syntactical, morphological, and phonological aspects of language; involves listening and speaking.

PDA: “Personal Digital Assistant. A portable device that allows to user to store information such as addresses, data, and notes. Once information is stored on the PDA, it can be downloaded to the computer.

portfolio- a purposeful collection of a child's work, documenting the child's effort, products, and growth over time. It may include writing samples, artwork, computer products, digital pictures and a list of books read.

Source: Hutinger, P. L., Betz, A., Bosworth, J., Potter, J., & Schneider, C. (2001). ArtExpress (2nd ed.). Macomb, IL: Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood, Western Illinois University.

Project ELIPSS:a.k.a. “Emergent Literacy Instructional Program and Support Services“, a product of the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood Education.

Technology Portfolio: a collection of observational notes, results from assessment instruments, and copies of children's creations in an authoring software program, such as HyperStudio.