Teachers are constantly assessing students, and it almost becomes second nature. When I refer to assessments, I’m not talking about formal assessments. I’m referring to those we can do quickly and easily, but that can effectively help us plan and understand where our students are with reading. Unfortunately, when assessing on the fly, we can’t just run and grab a notebook to write it all down. So, we must have easy assessments that can give us a better idea of our student’s reading levels.
Also, I think it’s important to note that we don’t have much extra time to be grading, so having activities and resources that make it simple to assess is essential. There are times when we are covering a ton of material in a short amount of time but having simple and easy ways to assess students in reading, helps us effectively plan because we understand where our students are.
Low-Pressure Activities
We all know that not every student is a strong test-taker, so we need to apply this same attitude to formal assessments. Therefore it’s crucial to incorporate low-pressure activities that allow us to observe and record throughout the day. And then the pressure to perform is off the student because they don’t feel like they are being quizzed.
Reading Comprehension and Rubrics
Reading rubrics have saved me a ton of time and effort for comprehension. This rubric will allow you to assess connection, prediction, story sequencing, and main idea. The best part is that they can be used repeatedly with any book, chapter, or article. It allows you to gather the data to track growth, which is very useful for parent-teacher conferences. And to have an idea of the growth patterns your students are making. It’s also helpful to have a repeated resource for assessment that can be used as your go-to!
Exit Tickets
There are so many components to teaching reading and comprehension. I know that I struggled to find an informal assessment to squeeze into what felt like an already jam-packed day. I love the idea of using exit tickets to quickly assess students on what they just read. Exit tickets allow for quick data collection, and you can easily make them part of your routine or as a transition before another lesson. The best part is that exit tickets are entirely customizable to your classroom.
Nonsense Reading
Nonsense words are a critical aspect of assessing phonics. It’s an essential tool because it reveals a student’s ability to decode a word. When using nonsense words, we remove any context clues and really hone in on their ability to decode. This resource includes activities, assessments, and games that help build oral fluency.
Index Cards
A quick and informal way to keep track of all the things is using index cards. I love keeping index cards on a 3-ring hanging in easy-to-grab spots to quickly write things down as I walk around and can easily refer. It also helps when it comes down to report card time because I can run through those index cards.
Organized System
Find a system that works for you, and then keep it organized. Without a system, you will find yourself with a pile of stuff and whole lot of stress! I have been teaching for a long time, so I have done a ton of trial and error with different organization tools, but I promise that finding out what works for you will save you time and stress. Check out my reading group organization to help you out.
Running Records
Running records are a great way to quickly assess a student’s oral reading and identify error patterns. No, not msv – we don’t do that anymore. I’m talking phonics patterns, speech patterns, fluency patterns. They are ongoing assessments to help you find strengths and areas of improvement. This resource will give you passages and running records to help you stay on track and organized.
Graphic Organizers
Assess students’ reading comprehension with graphic organizers that require students to plug in what they have learned from the story. It’s an excellent way to check up on their reading comprehension skills. This set is perfect for using right around now as a mid-year assessment and this set is a great end of the year assessment.
Book Talk
A simple yet easy way is to ask students questions after reading. Ask them a simple question like “What was your favorite part of the book” “I like the ending because…”. It is just a simple way to hold students accountable for what they just read and find out how they comprehend it.
Games
Games
Along with low-pressure activities, games are one of the best ways to informally assess where
your students are. Games are a part of our everyday routine and it allows me to get a glimpse
into the levels my students are working at. But, also my students don’t realize that I am
assessing them, so there is no pressure to perform. Games boost student confidence so it’s a
great way to also work on skills. Scoot is one of my favorite games to play with my students,
playing Scoot allows students to work on skills and I can get a quick assessment done!
Remember when we have simple assessments…it cuts our grading time down. As much as I would love to do one-on-one assessments all the time, it’s just not feasible in my classroom so having quick and easy ways to assess is extremely important for monitoring growth within my students. When it comes to assessing reading, we want to evaluate more than just one area of reading which is why we use various tools, strategies, and activities to help us monitor growth and plan lessons accordingly to levels. Assessments allow us to see the bigger picture to target areas we need to work on. What is your favorite way to assess reading?
