8/26/09
Stephanie Davis
First Grade
1. What specific assessments do you use to assess your student’ reading and writing at the beginning of
the school year? Please list the specific assessments and state what they measure.
2. How do you use the initial assessment information? What does it enable you to do with regard to
teaching reading? Are you satisfied with your current beginning – of – year assessments? Why or why
not?
Formal Reading assessments
Running record – This assessment gives a specific reading level so the teacher has a guide to begin
instruction. The teacher can see what specific reading strategies that a child is using or not. It shows
fluency and comprehension. I use running record information to help me form small groups for reading
instruction. This info helps me identify reading strategies already in use and how to target instruction.
It is very useful for identify students who are word callers (comprehension component) I find all the
information in a running record extremely valuable. I don’t like is that this county will not let the
classroom teacher be the official assessor. I really like to hear the students read and watch how they
attack words and try to solve problems they encounter. It is hard to get that info from another
assessor’s written notes.
Phonemic Awareness – This assessment shows letter sound knowledge. (beginning, ending sounds,
digraphs , blends) I use this assessment to help me with instruction. I can quickly see who has
beginning, middle , ending sounds. It is very telling – it is a valuable tool to guide me with reading and
phonics instruction. I can individualize lessons or put the students into groups. I know how to pace
instruction – what to review and what to spend more time.
Letter Assessment – Students call letters, write upper and lower case letters called, they also name a
word that begins with each letter. I don’t like the layout of the assessment recording sheet on this one,
but it shows which students know all letters, some letters (etc). It can show if a student recognizes a
letter but cannot write it. I can see if a student is having fine motor difficulties or if they reverse letters.
This one helps target children who will need extra help – since most students will do well with letter
knowledge.
Slosson – This test shows word recognition. It is quick paced and a good reference to show which
students have a bank of known words. I like the Slosson test and have found it to correlate with the
running record.
Informal Reading assessments
Nightly reading homework – I have a student reread a home reader. I note strategies used, fluency,
tracking skills, decoding/blending, memorization, use of picture clues. I take notes throughout the year
to note growth.
Self selected reading - At the beginning of the year this helps me to see what kind of books the students
are interested in (fiction, nonfiction) or if they are even interested in reading. I look for the same info as
I stated above. This time really allows me insight because the stories they read in class will be “new”,
not read with someone at home, this can be an eye opener. I walk around and take notes, listen to
readers and often wonder why students pick books that are way too hard for them.
Read aloud stories, at the beginning of the year, clue me into comprehension abilities. I can see right off
the bat – who gets it! I can identify students who are less confident, just observers and the over zealous
participators.
I think each one of these formal and informal assessments are puzzle pieces that I can put together to
get the whole picture. They are all valuable in helping me target skills and I can determine what needs
to be done in small group or whole group (or both). I can also communicate to special teachers.
Assessment drives instruction.
Writing
Formal
We use the state of North Carolina writing stages rubric. A child is given a writing prompt . They write
on the topic without any guidance. This assessment shows what stage of writing a child is in. I can
gather lots of information from this baseline writing piece. Does a student write on topic, can he/she
include details, varied sentence patterns, along with phonetic and formal spelling abilities. I don’t like
the scoring rubric that our county created. It is hard to follow. It would be more helpful to have a
checklist of skills in each stage to date when mastered.
Informal
Daily journal writing -At the beginning of the year, I am using daily journal writing to see the above
things along with independence .
#3 – Based on your past teaching experience, consider tow groups of students – a low group and an
average group. Where do you expect each group to be performing by the end of the school year – in
contextual reading and in phonics?
Low group – Beginning of the year
Even in this group, I find a wide range of struggles and abilities. They are usually early
emergent/emergent. Most students in this group know (recognize most alphabet letters. They are
familiar with most letter sounds, except for x, qu, w, y, u . They have been exposed to short vowel
sounds informally, they know a says a but not that it is short. They always struggle with short a, I, e –
not in isolation, but attacking words in stories. They have trouble with decoding and blending skills.
They don’t have knowledge of blends, long vowel patterns etc. They don’t really come in with any
reading strategies. They may use picture clues to help - but everything is teacher guided. My true goal
for these students is to help them acquire different reading strategies so that they can read with
confidence. I know that this will be key to help with continued growth. I want all of these students to
be solid with letter knowledge and sounds, by the end of first grade. They should be well able to read
CVC words and know all short vowels. I would hope that a struggling reader, coming in at B & P
awareness or level ½ would make it to level 9/10. Some go well beyond this level some only make it to
7/8.
Average group – Beginning of the year
Usually, these students come in reading at a 5/6 or 7/8. They know all letters and most sounds , with
the exception of y, u, v, w, x, qu. Their automaticity with letter sounds helps them pick up decoding and
blending quicker – which in turn leads to usage of other strategies sooner. I expect that these children
will be on or beyond grade level (15.16) with the right reading instruction. Sometimes, in this group, I
find a student who begins to struggle with fluency or who does not use reading strategies as effectively
as the others in the group. I also see students who fly! I could really relate to the teacher in the article
that we had to read – her students were all over the map. Students come in with a wide range of skills
and abilities.