As a kindergarten teacher, I’ve struggled with how to assess my students. We use standards based grades for our report cards so students get an “M” for meets standard, “W” for working toward standard or an “E” or “N” for exceeds or not at grade level. This has always been tricky for me because I never knew the best way to assess for these standards. I felt like each year, I would try something different, and I would end up scrambling during report card time to ultimately assess each student one on one.
I struggle because I can’t just give a kindergartener a stapled packet test and tell them to go. (If you’ve ever tried to give a kindergartener a test, you know what I’m talking about!) And, as much as it’s nice to assess students one on one, I hated feeling like I was scrambling to assess and then get grades in on time. Finally, after 4 years in my kindergarten classroom and playing around with different ways of assessing, I’ve found an assessment strategy that works for me and my kindergarteners. And the best part is that it fits into my guided math schedule!
How to Assess Student Learning During Guided Math
Exit Tickets
After I teach a lesson in guided math (I take two days per lesson, read more about my guided math schedule here) I give my students a one or two question exit ticket. This is just a quick assessment of what we’ve just learned, that students can complete in a couple minutes. This gives me an idea of who has mastered the standard and who still needs some support. This is also an easy way to assess kindergarteners because there’s only one direction.
Assessment Binder
I organize my exit tickets in a binder that is organized by standard. Each time I give an exit ticket, I put all the students who still need support with the particular standard on top and the students who have mastered the skill underneath. That way, I can quickly look at the stack of exit tickets and know who needs more support when we visit the standard again or when it comes to report card time.
Standards Checklist
Most of the kindergarten standards can be assessed through my exit tickets, however, some are just easier aloud. For these standards, I created a checklist with each student’s name and a box for the standard. When the end of the quarter is near, I pull students one on one (or my assistant teacher helps me) and assess them aloud.
How do you assess your students for math? Any kinder teachers have strategies that helps them assess based on standards? Comment below!
For more about guided math…
Everything You Need to Know to Launch Guided Math in Your Classroom
How to Write Differentiated Lesson Plans to Use During Guided Math
Guided Math Centers: What are students doing when they’re not meeting with me?
