No Stress Assessment

As we being a new school year, I am reminded for the 20th year in a row that there truly is "no tired like teacher tired"!

Before we get started with regular routines, it's important to set up my expectations within the first five minutes of meeting my new friends. I use a modified version of Whole Brain Teaching. I have found it to be an excellent resource because it provides structure and humor at the same time.

Once my expectations are in place, it's time to assess my new students to see where they are. I normally teach a multi-age class, so my students are usually working at levels K-2, and everything in between. It's important for me to understand the needs for fine and gross motor issues, basic counting and phonological awareness, number sense, and reading levels. 

I am certainly not about to sit them all down and test them formally in the first week of school; I feel this would negatively impact their confidence and impression of learning in my classroom. 
I can accomplish the same things by using building and manipulative work; group tasks involving blocks, crayons, paired reading, and list making. 
As they work, I walk around the room casually asking them to identify colors, count, build, pattern, or write. I recorded my assessments as I go along, and the results are very telling about how students perform when they feel like they are playing and sharing, as opposed to being "tested". 

More assessment happens out of doors! After all that "hard work", we managed to save some time for important things, like hunting for grasshoppers!

Together we found 22 grasshoppers and decided to race them! We used clipboards to fill out  graphs and tally marks to record the results...it was quite the event! I collected all the papers to see who had a good grasp on numeral formation, counting, graphing, spelling and basic math sense.

How did I have the energy to host and manage grasshopper races at the end of the first week of school? 

I don't remember - it's all a blur.  : )

Once we came inside, it was time for a quiet activity. Rather than read a story, I chose an online read-aloud. This allowed me to assess students ability to focus, share space, follow direction, as well as basic social skills, raising hands to share, basic comprehension and comfort levels sharing ideas with the group. 

I want to share with you my class' favorite online read aloud this week. It's Mercer Mayer introducing and reading his story "There's An Alligator Under My Bed". He introduces his story with such humor and enthusiasm that it's almost as entertaining as the book itself. 

There's An Alligator Under My Bed

This may not be the most traditional approach to assessment, but it works for me, and most of all, it's a wonderful way to start the school year for my students.