Assessment

Back to School: Getting to Know Your Second and Third Grade Readers

Essential Assessments for Second and Third Grade Readers Second and third grade is where the ‘rubber meets the road,’ so to speak. Much of kindergarten and first grade reading instruction focuses on building phonological awareness skills and applying the alphabetic principle. Comprehension and vocabulary are addressed primarily through read aloud. In second and third grade, students are…

Back to School: Getting to Know Your First Grade Readers

It’s Back to School time! Looking for some fun reading tips and activities your children will love? This post offers free printables that will make the first weeks of school a success for students and teachers! Essential Back to School Assessments for Early Readers Back to School is an exciting time for primary students! First…

Assessment | Back to School | Kindergarten

Back to School: Getting to Know Your Kindergarten Readers

Essential Assessments for Kindergarten Readers “Back-to-School” is the best time of year. The kindergartners arrive at the classroom door, shining and smiling in their new school clothes, eager to learn. There is a LOT to learn. First, they have to learn how to ‘do’ school. They have to learn where the bathroom is, how to share…

Assessment | Instruction | running records

What is the Best Way to Use Decodable Running Records?

The best way to use decodable running records, or any progress monitoring tool for that matter, is to use the results to inform instruction. We urge educators to move beyond the pass/fail mentality. Educators are diagnosticians. We must approach every assessment through that lens, and ask ourselves, “What does this tell me about what this…

Assessment | running records | Science of Reading

How to Assess Students with Science of Reading Aligned, Decodable Running Records

You know that assessing with leveled readers is just not giving you the information you need to help your students, but what is a teacher to do? The answer is to use decodable running records. Some folks are suggesting that running records are not a helpful assessment tool and teachers should not bother administering them….

Assessment | Instruction

The First Step in Teaching Reading to First Graders

The first step in your journey of teaching reading to first graders begins with assessment. Stay with me here. Think of assessment as your roadmap (or GPS). In order to ensure that you reach your destination of a classroom full of successful readers, you need a roadmap, so you (and your students) don’t get lost….