Data, data, data, I cannot make bricks without clay

It's progress report time again! How do you take data?

Sometimes it seems that there are nearly as many ways to take data as there are teachers. I have settled on a system that works for me. Each area of my classroom has data collection sheets on clipboards with my students' goals and objectives listed on them. I like to organize the goals by activity, so if a student has social/emotional goals like conflict resolution skills, data is most likely to be collected during leisure/recess time, not during daily living activities (there are always exceptions to the rule however). This system allows me to take data on any student during a particular activity.
When a student completes the task exactly as it is written in the objective, we mark it with a plus, if not then with a minus. My EAs understand that when the objective requires students to complete the task independently, it means that he or she must perform the task without any prompts (initial cues don't count as prompts). When prompts are used, we record it by writing a G for gestural prompt, V for verbal prompt, P for partial physical, and F for full physical prompt. This detailed data helps me assess student progress and adjust the program.

Some teachers create individual data sheets for each student and take data on 2-3 individual students per day. I find that my system works for me because there are less papers to keep track of and manage and none of the students get "forgotten". What works for you?

Finished early? You can....

 Every classroom has students who finish their work early, and ECE is not an exception! This is something I posted in an area of my classroom specifically for a student who often finished tasks early.

We practiced these yoga poses during circle time. Kids who maintain a quiet body, thinking brain, looking eyes, and a kind heart (see post on Whole Body Listening) throughout circle time got to pick out three yoga poses, which we did as a class. The kids definitely had their favorites including butterfly and airplane poses :-)

Whole Body Listening stategies

Last year my district sent me and other Early Childhood Education teachers to the Social Thinking Conference. It was a great experience, I learned a lot and acquired some goodies! One of them was this Whole Body Listening poster. It is posted in my classroom and I often refer to it in order to remind students of behavior expectation at circle.
We go over all of the "body parts" during the first weeks of school and talk about what it looks like to have "looking eyes" or "thinking brain". Since many of my students struggle with receptive communication skills, I try to use as many visuals as possible. We look at photos of people and talk about their body position, their gaze, etc. We also play a game where I look at something or someone and ask the kids to tell me who or what I am "thinking" about.

At the end of circle time, I ask one of my Educational Assistants to tell me who they think demonstrated best whole body listening skills. As a reward the child gets to pick out a song, or depending on the month, yoga poses, or animal moves which we do as a group.I got this idea from one of the Tasks Galore books.

Song menu

Morning greeting activities

How do you start your circle time routine?
I have used "get-to-know-me" songs like: "My name is Ms. Dina, Ms. Dina, Ms. Dina, my name is Ms. Dina, and who are you?"
Last year, students had laminated cards with their photos (with Velcro on the back) on their seats when they came to circle and when they saw their name displayed, they would come up and stick their name under it.
During the snowman unit, I had each student draw a part of the snowman as I called their names.
This year, I have been using Questions of the Day as a greeting activity. Kids "vote" for the answer using their name cards.