Parent Report Essay, Research Paper

Mary is an eleven year old, sixth grader at Ft. King Middle School. She is an

average student with no apparent reading problems. She is in the general

education Language Arts program and receives no special instruction for reading.

Mary has perfect attendance and is "a fluid reader," as stated by her

Language Arts teacher. Mary lives at home with her mother, father, one brother

(age 20) and her brother’s dog. Mary also has two other brothers (ages 23 and

30) who do not live at home, but visit regularly. Mary’s mother is an avid

reader and many reading materials; including newspapers, magazines and books are

available at home. Mary has had no major illnesses during her life and her birth

was normal to the best of her mother’s knowledge (Mary was adopted at age 3).

Mary enjoys dancing, watching TV, listening to music and playing with friends.

She states that she can read fine, but does not enjoy reading. Mary is not

forced to read at home unless directed to from school. Test Results: Word

Recognition: Independent level – grade 5 Instructional level – grade 6

Frustration level – grade 7 Silent Reading: Independent level – grade 4

Instructional level – grade 5 Frustration level – grade 6 Oral Reading:

Independent level – grade 5 Independent level – grade 6 Frustration level -

grade 7 Listening: Independent level – grade 4 Instructional level -grade 5

Frustration level – grade 6 Analysis: From the Informal Reading Inventory that I

administered to Mary, I found that she has no extreme deficiencies in reading

ability. Mary scored at or near her age and grade level averages for Word

Recognition, Oral Reading comprehension, Silent Reading comprehension and

Listening comprehension. Mary is a good reader for her age group and shows no

weaknesses. Teaching and/or Learning Activities: We "team" read James

and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl We wrote down any words we were unsure of and

looked them up after reading I had Mary write me a one-page story about a dream

or adventure she once had, using some of those new words I had Mary draw me a

picture of that dream or adventure We researched Roald Dahl on the Internet

Observations: During our sessions I felt that Mary was enjoying reading the

story. The sessions were meant to be reading for pleasure, so there was little

pressure and the story was fun. Mary was a fluid reader and showed no

weaknesses. She is also a good artist. Recommendations: Because Mary is a good

reader for her age group, the only strategy I can recommend is to allot time for

Mary to read for pleasure. I would suggest taking Mary to the public library

once every other week, to start, and allow her to pick a book to read. Continue

this until she wants to read more. I would also suggest showing her books that

deal with subjects she is into now, such as dogs, gymnastics or one of her

favorite music artists. Allowing Mary to read as many books as possible is not

necessary, but can only help to make her a better student in the future.