Assessment in Kindergarten

By; Prof. Marievic M. Violeta

Activity 1
Let us listen to the story by Eric Carle

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Activity 2

Group yourselves into 8. Work by centers according to multiple intelligences Choose a leader. Do the instruction written on a piece of paper. You have 20 minutes to do the task and present in front.

Comprehension Questions
What did the caterpillar eat first? What did the caterpillar eat last? How long did the caterpillar stay in the cocoon? Where did the egg first start out? How did the caterpillar feel after eating a lot?

Performance-Based Grouping
GROUP 1

STORY SEQUENCE: Provide a long piece of yarn, a hole punch, and patterns of the different foods (apple, pear, plum, strawberry, orange, piece of chocolate cake, ice cream cone, pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, lollipop, piece of cherry pie, sausage link, cupcake, watermelon) which appear in this story. Students will color, cut, and punch a hole in each food. Then they may sequence the story by putting the food on the string as they appear in the story. You may want to have your students do this while you read the story for the second time or you may wish for your students to try this after you have read the story.

GROUP 2 PHONICS: Use the patterns of the foods above. Make cards with the beginning letters (a, p, p, s, o, c, i, p, s, s, l, s, c, w) of the foods. Have students match. To make this more difficult. Place your food patterns in a pocket chart, say a sound, and then pick a student to come up and take one food item that matches the given sound!

GROUP 3 MATH: Initially, the caterpillar in the story is small. Provide each group of students eight caterpillars of various sizes (make out of construction paper) an 8 index cards for each caterpillar showing the inches of one of the caterpillars. Have the students work together to measure the caterpillars and then match the caterpillar to the correct index card. Walk around the room and check each groups responses. When finished have each student place all the materials from this activity in a ziplock bag. Collect each set and keep for future use.

GROUP 4 MATH/GRAPHING: The caterpillar in this story enjoyed many foods. Prepare a graph with the foods the caterpillar ate. Give each student a small sticky note. Have them write their name on the sticky note. Then have the students place their sticky note on the area of the graph that shows their favorite food. When everyone has placed their sticky note on the graph - ask graph questions: What food was choosen the most/least? How many apples were choosen?...

GROUP 5: SCIENCE: Use patterns of the life cycle of a butterfly and have students practice sequencing them. (little egg on leaf, little caterpillar on leaf, larger caterpillar on ground, very large caterpillar on big leaf, other leaves nearby have been eaten, caterpillar building a cocoon, caterpillar inside of a cocoon, butterfly emerging from a cocoon, and butterfly flying away)

GROUP 6 Cut out circles from different colors of construction paper. Decorate one to be the face. On the others, write the numbers from 5-100 when counting by 5's.

GROUP 7 Make a clay model showing the life cycle of a butterfly. GROUP 8 Act out or do a pantomime of the story

Analysis
What were the activities that you did with the STORY? Will this be applicable in the classroom? How do we grade the presentations given by each group? How do we assess the result of the learning activity?

What is assessment?
Assessment is for learning and of learning

Assessment is...
the gathering, recording and analysis of data about the students progress and achievements

Assessment is...
a process that enable teachers to determine how learning activities and strategies are working for Kindergarten

Effective assessment must be:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Respectful of the self-worth of each student on-going and continuous part of the teaching-learning cycle diagnostic, summative and formative reflective of both process and product

6. appropriate 7. bias-free 8. varied 9. communicated regularly to students and parents/guardians

Authentic Assessments

Provide teachers with a repertoire of vast array of tools to measure student growth

Performance-based Assessments
Is a non traditional assessment appropriate for todays classroom because
It is a continuous process embedded in instruction; It engages the students , promotes their talent and considers individual differences; It is multidimensional, and accommodates cultural diversity it measures meaningful understanding and develops HOTS among learners

Other Authentic Assessments

Whole class assessment Self portrait June, August, October, January and March Cut and color sheet One on one oral assessment Shape recognition Color recognition Number recognition Counts orally to ___ Letter recognition

Pre-K Student Portfolios

In our portfolios, I include photographs, art, stories, and other samples of childrens work. I take photos of children building with blocks, participating in science explorations, dramatic play, pretend-reading a story, etc. and attach it to a page along with a description of what the child was doing and quotes of things the child said while engaged in the activity. I sometimes also take photos of artwork or other projects that are too large or bulky to put in a portfolio.

Kindergarten is an important step in a child's early education. It serves to bridge the gap between playing and learning, and it helps children develop important social skills. There are certain goals that a child must strive to attain before the completion of kindergarten. By meeting these goals, children will be better equipped to begin learning math, reading and other skills when they enter grade school.

Developmental Skills the Child Should Be Able to Accomplish

1. Reach the age of 5 years before he enters kindergarten. 2. Is easily understood when she talks. 3. Sleeps at least a full 8 hours a night.

Assessment for Kindergarten Readiness

Visual Recognition
Visual recognition of certain things is a key concept for children in kindergarten, and one that will serve the basis for more complicated skills, such as reading and math. By the end of kindergarten, a child should be able to recognize and name a list of basic colors, like red, yellow, blue, green, orange, black, brown, purple and white. In addition, a child should be able to recognize his own name, as well as a number of shapes, such as: square, triangle, rectangle and circle.

 Oral Communication
Another important aspect of kindergarten is learning to use effective oral communication. By the completion of kindergarten, a child should speak in complete sentences, share ideas on a topic, use appropriate voice volume, speak with clarity and articulation and use an extensive vocabulary. A child should also be able to listen to a story and recount the names of main characters, the setting and the plot.

Letters
An understanding of letters and of the alphabet are important to laying the groundwork for reading. By the end of kindergarten, a child should be able to write his own name, as well as be able to recognize all letters of the alphabet and understand the sound that each letter makes. A child should also have an understanding of print, such as the concepts of letters, words and sentences.

 Numbers
By the end of kindergarten, a child should be able to recognize and name all numbers from one to 20. A child should also demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of quantity, greater than, less than and basic addition and subtraction. Children should also proficiently count up from one to 20, and down from 20 to one.

Pre-reading
Identifying same and differences Pretends to read Draws and tells about his/her drawing Listens and responds appropriately for age Claps in time to songs or rhymes Can put together sounds heard p u s a Can tell a story from pictures pre

Fine-Motor Skills the Child Should Be Able to Accomplish

1. Hold a pencil like an adult. 2. Draw a square, circle and triangle completely on her own. 3. Complete a picture of a person, making sure the person has a head, body, arms and legs. 4. Use the proper utensils to eat with. 5. Take clothes on and off by buttoning, unbuttoning, zippering and unzipping clothing.

Large-Motor Skills the Child Should Be Able to Accomplish

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hop on one foot for at least 30 seconds. Skip for 2 or 3 feet. Ride by pedaling on a tricycle. Swing on a swing by himself using pumping motions. Complete a somersault. Walk a line using heel-to-toe steps. Throw a ball to the teacher or another child. Climb on a jungle gym with a minimum of assistance

Book awareness
Identifies the front of the book. Knows the print is to be read not the picture. Say Ill read the story, you show me where to read. Knows which way to read. Show me where to start. Knows to move from left to right. Which way do I read? Knows where to go at the end of a line. Where do I go after that? Knows concept of first and last? Show me the first part of the story last part of the story. First and last words on a line, first and last words in a sentence/page/book. Knows to begin on the left page. Where do I start reading?

Language and Thinking Skills the Child Should Be Able to Accomplish

1. Retell the general plot of a story that was just read to her. 2. Relive and tell an experience that he has experienced. 3. Appreciate a simple joke and understand why it is funny. 4. Begin to show empathy and feel for someone else from that person's perspective.

5. Speak in complete sentences with a minimum of 5 words in each. 6. Know and recite numbers up to 10. 7. Identify a minimum of 6 different colors. 8. Recite the alphabet with only a few mistakes. 9. Uses tenses correctly and give a sense of an order of events.

Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills

The DIBELS measures assess the 5 Big Ideas in early literacy identified by the National Reading Panel: Phonemic Awareness Alphabetic Principle Accuracy and Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension

Phonemic Awareness Assessment - Kindergarten Rhyming Words Teacher: I am going to say some rhyming words. Tell me a real word or a made up word that rhymes withdog and log (teacher responds with hog, bog, jog). Now it is your turn. Tell me a real word or a made up word that rhymes with. cat, hat. (Student tells the rhyming word. If the student doesn't understand the concept, give other examples and then continue with the assessment.)

ACTIVITIES FOR ALPHABETIC PRINCIPLE 1. Divide students into two or more groups, with at least six students in each group. Say a word. Groups must then arrange themselves to create the shape of the letter that represents the words initial sound. 2. Select an object in the room. Think of its initial sound. Tell students, I spy something that begins with the letter _______. If a student has a guess, he or she should raise his or her hand and wait to be called on. The first student to guess the correct object selects the next object.

Alphabet assessment
Each student should be assessed 3 or 4 times a year to track progress. Teacher has a list of the letters on a clip board. Student names and gives the sound of each letter, capital and lower case.

ACTIVITIES FOR FLUENCY AND ACCURACY Phoneme Segmentation Letter Sound Fluency Letter Naming Fluency Nonsense Word Fluency Word Scavenger Hunt

Activities for Vocabulary

"Colorful Words" Wall Teaching vocabulary is important. We have space for furniture and equipment; we have space for books, backpacks, and writing utensils. If words are important, then finding places to organize and display words should take prominence in the structure of your classroom.

Activities for Comprehension

Teacher reads: Aling hayop ang may apat na paa? She tells the class. Bilugan ang tamang sagot.

How good are you for assessment?

Make practice sheets for your group in the mothertongue adapting the necessary skills to accommodate test content.

Skill Based Assessment Practice Sheets

1. Visual Discrimination: Matching Shapes 2. Auditory/Visual Discrimination: Number Concepts 3. Auditory/Visual Discrimination: Number Concepts 4. Auditory/Visual Discrimination :Identifying Objects 5 . Visual Discrimination: Recognizing Likeness & Differences

Skill Based Assessment Practice Sheets

6. Visual Discrimination: Classifying & Categorizing 7. Visual Discrimination: Letter Recognition 8 .Auditory Discrimination Hearing Directions 9. Auditory Discrimination : Rhyming 10. Making Judgments and Comparisons: Recalling information 11. Making Judgments, Recalling information: General Knowledge, Noting Details, Spatial Concepts

Appropriate Assessment Strategies in Kindergarten

Diagnostic assessment is used to determine what the students currently know and can do and to identify strengths and weaknesses so that suitable instruction can be provided.

Methods of diagnostic assessment used in Kindergarten include:

running records inventories surveys Ready to Learn checklists

Formative assessment is the on-going assessment of student learning used to inform and improve performance and instruction.

Methods of formative assessment used in Kindergarten include:

observation student journals portfolios self and peer reflection questions and answers discussions Ready to Learn checklists

Summative assessment provides a cumulative description of student achievement and assists students, parents and teachers to plan further instruction and learning activities.

Methods of summative assessment used in Kindergarten include:

performance-based tasks learning logs conferences checklists

Assessment data on a students progress are gathered using a variety of strategies in the context of daily classroom experiences.

In conclusion Always remember that the medium of assessment is the same as the medium of instruction.

References
The Multigrade Teacher Handbook Burke, Kay. 2009. How to Assess Authentic Assessment Boegehold, Betty.2004. Getting Ready to Read NPSCDkindergarten assessment@yahoo.com http://www.teachingheart.net/veryhungrycat erpillar.html http://www.wjcc.k12.va.us/djm/vste/kinderas sess.pdf