The Evaluation Of The Book Alphabet Trucks By Samantha R. Vamos

During the first two practicum data sets, I have learned quite a bit about my learner regarding his current reading skills. Through two read alouds and planned activities, my learner has taught me countless elements of how young children learn and develop literacy skills. For the third practicum data set, which focuses on alphabetics, I chose to read the book Alphabet Trucks by Samantha R. Vamos and illustrated by Ryan O’Rourke. This book is a wonderful source to use for children learning letters of the alphabet, as well as, the alphabetic principle, and beginning to write letters.

Before we began reading the book, I talked to my learner about letters in the alphabet. This was meant to be a non-structured conversation and could serve as a formative assessment of my learner’s knowledge of alphabetics prior to completing the alphabetics and writing activities. To start the conversation, I asked my learner what the alphabet was. He told me the alphabet was made up of letters and then he began singing the ABC’s. I told him he did such a great job singing the alphabet song, then I asked him what his favorite letter was and why. He told me his favorite letter was C. When asked why, he responded saying because his name started with C. I then asked him the sound the letter C make, making the correct sound in response. By asking him these simple questions, and based on his responses, it told me that he knows some aspects of the alphabetic principle. According to Scanlon, Anderson, & Sweeney (2017) children gain an understanding that letters in words found in print have corresponding sounds in spoken words, which is known as the alphabetic principle. Based on this, my learner understood aspects of the alphabetic principle.

After our conversation, we began reading the book. My learner was instantly interested in the book by the trucks on the front cover. We took a brief picture walk, looking at the pictures on each page, with my learner getting increasingly excited about all the different trucks in the book. After we looked at all the pictures, we were ready to begin reading the book. Like the other two read aloud with my learner, he interrupted often to tell me something about what was happening on the page or telling me which truck his favorite was. I enjoyed these interruptions because it allowed us to engage in a conversation relating to the books and the trucks that were in it. The interruptions also allowed us time to discuss the letters that were on the trucks. After we read the page, I would ask him what letter we just read about. On occasion, he remembered the letter, whereas other times, he did not remember the letter we just read. When this happened, I would go back and tell him the letter. I would say “This is the letter E. What letter is this?” In response, he would say “E!”. I kept a record of the letters he did not remember while we were reading, so I could go back to these letters when we were done reading the entire book. After we were done reading, I asked my learner to tell me some things he remembered from the book. He mostly responded with certain trucks that he remembered from the book, not the letters associating with them. We went back to the trucks he said he liked and looked at the letters the corresponded with them. Some of the letters I would ask him who he knew with the name that began with that letter. I did this for him to make a connection between the alphabetic principle and people he knew.

Overall, this book was a great to see what my learner knew about alphabetic and the alphabetic principle.