Back to School Assessments

It's the beginning of the year and there is a fresh batch of first graders sitting in your room.  While I believe that building relationships/setting up procedures and expectations should be #1, I also feel it is important to get a sense of where your students are academically (sooner rather than later).  I begin some whole-group and individual assessments about one week into the school year.  Our school district does not provide any assessments for us to give at the start of the year other than our state-wide assessment (MAP).  We just began using it last year as a trial year, so I am not certain on how to use it/look at the data just yet.  I also feel that computer assessments are not very accurate because they don't take into account a child's computer use/typing abilities.  

Because of this lack of data, I created my own beginning of the year assessments.  I included skills that I feel first graders should have upon beginning the year.  Some of those skills are: rhyming, segmenting, blending, letter sounds, letter names, color words, sight words, cvc words, numbers, rote counting, skip counting, and MORE.  

This assessment pack has been an invaluable resource for me and my first grade teammates.  It has helped us identify gaps that kids have when they arrive in our classrooms each fall.  I think this is going to be especially helpful next month, as I head back to school after COVID.  If you're interested in checking out this resource, you can click the cover below.

xo
Megan