A Beginning of Year Assessment

Happy Sunday!


I know that I just posted yesterday.  But, I came up with a great idea at about 4:30 this morning.  I'm not sure why I get my best ideas during the night or in the shower but that is usually how it happens.  Anyways, I was thinking about the assessment that I give my students on the 1st or 2nd day of school and then again at the end of each quarter.  (This isn't an original idea, I have it on another teacher's website several years ago and of course I don't remember where I found it.  If you know, please let me know so I can give that teacher credit.)  The assessment shows how the student writes his/her name, draws a picture of himself/herself, and writes the letters and numbers he/she knows.  The paper has 4 different boxes for the students to write/draw in.  The boxes have shapes in the corner so the student can easily find the correct box.  Before, I just drew the lines to divide the paper into 4 parts and drew the shapes in the corner.  But early this morning, I thought it would be a great idea to make a worksheet that looked more professional.  So that is what I'm sharing with you today.


In the box with the circle in the corner, the student writes his/her name.  In the box with the triangle in the corner the student draws a picture of himself/herself.  In the box with the star in the corner, the student writes all the letters he/she knows.  In the box with the heart in the corner, the student writes all of the numbers he/she knows.  As the school year progresses, many of my students can write more numbers than fit in the box.  I let those students turn over the paper and write the numbers on the back of the paper.  Also, don't forget to write the date the students take the assessment on the papers.  This makes it easier to put them in the correct order when sharing with parents.


My school has student-led conferences at the end of the 1st quarter and the end of the 3rd quarter.  Even my most outgoing students can become VERY quiet when 2 or 3 adults are listening/watching them.  So this assessment is a great way to get my students to talk during the conference.  Both the parents and students (and I can't lie, me too) love to see the students' progress during the school year.  Many of my students come to school barely able to write their names and by the end of the 3rd quarter the student is able to write his/her first and last name (with correct letter formation). 


 Here is a link to get the freebie.

Assessment Freebie

Thank you for looking at my blog today.

I have linked up with Classroom Freebies Manic Monday.

Classroom Freebies

Assessments (and Mom Guilt)

This week was the first week the teachers at my school were back in their classrooms, setting them up and getting ready for the students to come on September 6th.  Since, I teach kindergarten, I like to begin getting my room set up a little early and spend this week trying to assess some of my incoming students.  It is much easier to do it this week, than to try to do it with a classroom full of students.  My favorite was the child that I would ask if he knew the letter.  He would whisper to me, "Tell me the word."  I would whisper the letter to him, for example, "B".  And he would say, (pretty loudly) "Oh yeah!  Its "B".  I knew that."  He cracked me up.


 I use the Houghton-Mifflin reading program and the assessment.  (I only assess upper and lower case letters and concepts of print.  I only expect them to maybe know a few letters from their names.  But since I have students who know more, I like to do this quick assessment.)  This year, I made the assessment easier for me to use.  I set it up in a table form, so I have a space to check or make a note for the beginning of the year and at the end of each quarter.  Here is a link for the assessment:(I thought someone else might be able to use it.)

K Reading Assessment

A side note:  I didn't find out my daughter made the JV volleyball team and had a tournament on Monday, until after I had scheduled 10 assessments for Monday.  So I had to miss her 1st tournament.  What guilt!!!  To all of the other teacher moms, please know you aren't the only ones trying to juggle 2 very difficult jobs.  If someone has some advice about how to do it without all of the guilt, please share.  

Good Luck to everyone who is preparing their classrooms this week,

A Beginning of the Year Freebie

I know its late and I  am getting up early and going to school to assess my incoming kinders tomorrow.  I'm sad that my summer is almost over, but I'm very excited that I will be meeting some of my new students and their families tomorrow.


So, I know another blogger had a worksheet on her website to have a student write his/her name and draw a picture of himself/herself.  But, of course, I couldn't find it.  I even used Google Reader to search "ALL" of the blogs that I follow.  So, to solve the problem, I made one myself.  I thought I would share it, in case someone else "lost" the same worksheet.  (Note to self:  I need to print these things out, or pin them, or save them to my Dropbox with a good label.)


Anyways here it is:

A Picture of Myself

I hope you can use it.