Formative Assessments
Kindergarten is unique because formative assessments happen almost instantaneously. Due to the young age of my scholars, independent work time is heavily supported by consistent teacher feedback, checks for understanding, and reviews of the lesson. To ensure that my scholars reach their reading goal of 1.6 years of growth, I use three types of formative assessments including progress monitoring, F&P formative scores, and Wonders worksheets.
Formative Assessment: Progress Monitoring
Progress monitoring folders are one way we measure students’ mastery of high-frequency and decodable words from our reading curriculum, Wonders. Throughout the week, Wonders lessons expose students to weekly high-frequency words and decodable words. During class, students receive formative daily check-ins through Wonders worksheets. Then, on Mondays, students take their Progress Monitoring folders home and practice until Friday. Students that require extra support based on the formative check-ins during class, also receive one-on-one support during RTI. At the end of the week, my co-teacher, educational assistant and I, test students and log their scores. Based on their mastery of high-frequency and decodable words, my co-teacher and I determine if they are ready to take the summative F&P reading test
Progress Monitoring Examples
Pictured Above: Student Progress Monitoring folders annotated during the formative assessment
Progress Monitoring is an interactive process with scholars. During the assessment period, scholars demonstrate their understanding of high-frequency words and decoding by showcasing the different strategies they use such as tracking print, identifying letter-sounds, and blending. As they are assessed, I record checks if they mastered the content or write dashes if it’s an area of struggle. Students are aware of the meaning of the marks. When they receive a dash, I use that data to create a quick review lesson, so students understand what they did wrong and they can continue correctly. The formative assessment, allows students to progress successfully. Parents are also able to see students scores with my written feedback (checks and dashes), so they can use the formative assessment data to practice with their scholars at home.
Pictured Above: Progress monitoring score log
Formative Assessment: Wonders Worksheets
To prepare students for the summative tests at the end of each unit, Wonders provides worksheets that coincide with the contents of each lesson. To assess scholars daily acquisition of knowledge, they receive Wonders worksheets as formative assessments. At the end of every lesson, students receive instruction and modeling on how to complete the sheet in a whole group setting. Then, students are released to their desks to complete the worksheets independently. Worksheets are formative assessments because scholars receive almost immediate feedback as they work. As a teacher to young learners, it’s important that I immediately help them when they misunderstand a question. By providing them with direct and specific feedback, students can learn from their mistakes, and together we work on the next problem so they can demonstrate their understanding.
Wonders Worksheet Examples
Pictured Above: This is an example of the Wonders worksheets used as a formative assessment after the lesson. In this model, students demonstrate mastery of their phonics skills. Students have to be able to identify the letters, say the sounds, and then blend the sounds to write the word. As students are working on their worksheets, I monitor the room and orally assess students asking them to demonstrate how they isolate the letter-sounds and then blend the sounds.
Pictured Above: This is a student work sample. This student was able to demonstrate mastery of isolating the letter-sounds and then blending the sounds to produce the word. If a student got a letter-sound incorrect, I would write the letter-sound they guessed below the letter. Although this student demonstrates mastery on their phonics skills, from this formative assessment, I can identify that their area of need is still letter formation due to the circled 't.' Despite the feedback, the student was still unable to produce a lowercase 't correctly.'
Pictured Above: Similar to the student example on the left, this student was able to isolate letter-sounds and blend the sounds to produce the correct word. However, the data from this formative assessment tells me this student requires more instruction on letter formation because they wrote their 'c' backward. Although it is typical for kindergarteners to inverse their letters backward, it is an identified area of concern because the student can reference several examples of a correctly written 'c' throughout the worksheet.
Formative Assessment: Whiteboards
My students love playing, “teacher” and whiteboards is a fun way to address their interests and help me complete quick checks for understanding on phonics, phonemic awareness, and sight words. The data collected from the formative assessments immediately informs me about the direction the lesson will go. I direct students orally, and then they write down their answers. For example, I might say, “Write the letter that makes the /t/ sound. When you’re done, hold up your boards so I can check your work.” Since students complete their work at all different times, I’m able to walk around the room and monitor students’ progress. Students who get the letter correct receive a thumbs up, students that formed the letter incorrectly or inversed it receive a circle around the letter, and students that haven’t written anything receive immediate one-on-one support. One way I provide instant feedback is by prompting them. In the example given, students need to name the letter that makes the /t/ sound. An example of a prompt is from our Zoophonics chant, which is as follows, “Timothy Tiger, /t/. What letter goes with Timothy Tiger?” If students require further support after the prompt, I make a note to provide them with added support during RTI time.
Whiteboard Examples
Pictured Above: This whiteboard sample is an exemplar. The instructions were to write down the letters which make the sound I say. The letters given were in the above order c,t, s, a, m, i, p. Then, students were told to leave their letters so they can refer to them when we began the next step of the activity which was to write the word they hear. This student was able to identify and write the letter names fo every letter-sound and produce the correct words.
Pictured Above: The formative data that I collected from this student's whiteboard tells me that the student needs support with identifying the letter that goes with the /a/ and /m/ sound since both letters are missing from the student's whiteboard work. The student needs support writing the letter 'p' because they are writing it as 9. This information tells me the student is struggling to differentiate numbers from letters since they are interchanging the two. Additionally, the formative assessment data shows me that the student will benefit from slower pacing and repetition since they only wrote the first word on their board. The data collected from this formative assessment helps me plan for future whiteboard lessons and helps me create small groups that I can pull for more support.