Assessment Information

I just wanted to let you know what kinds of things we were looking for on our beginning-of-the-year assessment.

Reading and literacy are some of the most important things that we focus on in Kindergarten. Here is a guideline for where your child should be with regards to their literacy achievements as they come in to Kindergarten.  

Below Grade Level:
- knows fewer than half of the letter names
- knows few or no letter sounds
- cannot recognize or write their own name
 - does not understand concepts of print (front/back of a book, reading left to right, top to bottom, etc.)
- PALS score: 0-28

On Grade Level: 
- knows at least half of the letter names
- knows a few letter sounds
- understands concepts of print
- recognizes own name
- PALS score: 29-75

Above Grade Level:
- knows all letter names
- knows all or almost all letter sounds
- recognizes and writes own name
- knows a few high frequency words
- instructed at a level A or higher (this would be the reading level I work with them on in class)
- PALS score 76-102

If you would like to see the literacy grading levels for the rest of the year, you can find them here. Click on the link that says "Kindergarten Report Card Marking Guide." It is in a medium-shade, blue box, about halfway down in the right column.

We also completed a Math assessment this week. Here are the things I asked your child to do during the assessment:

-I showed a page with 4 shapes on it and asked the kids to tell me what they were. If they struggled to name any of the shapes, I named them and asked them to point to the shape.

-I gave your child 10 purple cubes and asked them to touch the blocks while they counted them.

-I asked your child to count for me. If we passed 20 and were running out of time, I stopped them around 30 or 40 rather than letting them keep counting since 10 is the benchmark for this point in the year.

-I showed your child a paper with three numbers on it (3, 5 & 7) and asked them to tell me what they were.

-I said a number 1 to 10 (out of order)  and had your child write the number without looking at a reference page. If they wrote the number backwards it is considered "on level" for the beginning of the year.

-I told each student that our purple cubes we counted earlier were going to pretend to be ducks. I asked them to make the ducks act out or "do" the story I told them. Then I told them a story problem (ie. there were 4 ducks in a pond, 1 had to go home. How many are left?) I was trying to find out if they could count 4 ducks from the group of 10 and then take 1 away. I told an addition-type story and a subtraction-type story.

Of course we did a quick-check for color recognition and writing our names as well.

Remember, if you have any questions, PLEASE don't hesitate to ask.