It’s that time of year again! Back to school! I don’t know about you but I have a mix of feelings. I love the loose schedule of summer with lots of time to read, shop, garden, and catch up with friends, but the school year brings structure and discipline for me. I feel I operate better with a schedule.
The hardest part of the beginning of the year is getting to know my students. I sooner I get a grasp of their academic levels, their interests, and behavioral tendencies the easier it is to establish structure and routine. Kindergarten doesn’t have the advantage of using data from the previous year to get started. We do screen our incoming kinders but that was months ago. In the five year old world, that is a long time!!
Each year I look for a tool that can help me gather the information I need to get us in a groove. I’ve created a screening tool that I can use over the first few weeks of school that will get us all acquainted! Additionally, this tool can be used throughout the year to give you an idea of how your student is progressing. I love tools that are uncomplicated yet give me valuable information to guide my instruction.
Contents of Assessment Tool
The assessment tool contains:
- Cumulative skills cover sheet
- Literacy skills assessment
- Math skills assessment
- Academic behavior checklist
- Sight word assessment
SETTING UP THE ASSESSMENT TOOL
To set up the assessment, I have made a copy of each sheet for each student. I put the sheets in the prongs of a two-pocket folder with prongs. I put a label of the student’s name on the top corner of the front of the folder. This way it will be easy to have all the student’s information whenever I need it. In the pockets, I can keep student’s work samples.
ADMINISTERING THE ASSESSMENT TOOL
This assessment tool is administered in several ways: whole group paper/pencil assessments, one to one assessments, and behavior checklists. I would break it down over the course of the first weeks. I would not attempt to administer all it in the first few days. One to one assessments means the rest of the students are busy with other activities. At the beginning of the year, this time is limited as far as how long the students can be doing activities on their own.
Whole group assessments would only be done one or two at a time. Whenever I do a class assessment, I hand out “ student offices”. These “offices” are legal size file folders stapled together to create a desk cubby. The kids love using them. These are used to make sure I know what each student knows and not the student next to them.
The behavior checklists are done throughout the day during such times as whole group literacy instruction, centers, or exploration time.
This assessment tool can be used throughout the year to monitor how your students are doing. I will administer this at the beginning of the year, at the end of the first quarter, second quarter, third, and the end of the year. Each time I administer it, I will use a different color pen/marker. I will make notes/comments right on the same sheet so I can easily see the progress and also know what I need to cover in my instruction.
- Letter Naming (Uppercase and Lowercase)
- Letter Sounds (Including diagraphs sh, th, ch, wh)
- CVC Word Identification
- Sight Word Identification
- Rhyming Words (Word Given and Independent Rhyming)
- Knowledge of the Parts of a Book
- Name Writing
- Sentence Dictation
- Color Identification
- Color Words
- Days of the Week
- Months of the Year
- Rote Counting (1s, 10s, 5s, 2s)
- 1-to-1 Counting
- Number Identification (1-10 and 1-20)
- Quantity Discrimination
- Number Words (1-10 and 1-20)
- Shape Identification (2D and 3D)
- Pattern Completion (AB, ABB, AABB, ABC)
- Pattern Identification (AB, ABB, AABB, ABC)
- Pattern Construction (AB, ABB, AABB, ABC)
- Money Identification