Embedded Files
Formative and Summative Assessment
Introduction
Introduction
Fundations, our phonics curriculum, offers many opportunities for students to prove their knowledge through formative and summative assessments. Students produce letter names and sounds whole group and individually in our daily letter-keyword-sound warm up. They also have individual opportunities to act as "drill leaders" and to lead the class in letter-keyword-sound review. I use this opportunity to see which students are able to produce these sounds using our small alphabet cards individually and which are reliant on group assistance. I take anecdotal notes of whole group and individual progress, and also encourage my students to reflect on their progress by reviewing our daily goals before and after each lesson to see what we have accomplished.
At the end of each unit, students also take a summative assessment to prove overall knowledge. We have not yet reached the end of unit one this year, but the daily formative assessments leading up to the unit tests and how I use them to inform instruction are outlined below.
Opportunities for Fundations Assessment
Opportunities for Fundations Assessment
Many of our Fundations activities provide opportunities for informal assessment both whole group and for individual students. I use this time to note which students are learning phonics skills faster than anticipate, as anticipated, or slower than anticipated. I then use these notes to inform my whole group and small group instruction choices such as which letters we should review and when it is time to introduce more advanced skills like segmenting and blending.
These are the letter-keyword-sound large cards used for whole group choral review. I watch each student as we perform this fluency practice to see if they are repeating. I may call on an individual student or small group of students to make a few sounds to ensure that they are pronouncing the sound correctly.
To the left in this picture are our small alphabet cards that my "drill leaders" use individually. Each day I call on a student and have them go to the cards to say the letter-keyword-sound while only looking at the letter. I choose a different student each day so that I can make note of how many letter-keyword-sounds they know and what remediation they may need with this skill during ESGI review or small group instruction.
Students also prove letter knowledge through letter sound recognition games using our magnet boards. Later in the year, students use these boards to create CVC words and demonstrate knowledge of segmenting and blending. As we use our magnet boards weekly, this is a simple summative assessment that lets me see which students understand these skills and are ready to build words. I always pull the two or three students who need the most direct support to the carpet during this time so that they can receive more guided instruction.
Fundations writing boards include labeled lines to help students understand how to write each letter neatly on the line. This writing example is from the end of the year, where a student used their understanding of sight words and phonemic spelling to create a sentence. These boards can also be used for letter formation, letter sound, and CVC practice. I use Fundations writing time to assess how students write on the line, if they follow writing conventions such as spacing, and if they are able to use developmental spelling to create unknown words.
Conclusion
Conclusion
I use all of these Fundations elements daily to assess student progress towards our end of year phonics and writing goals. I also communicate student progress towards these goals by giving direct, actionable feedback to my students during letter-keyword-sound practice, and as I circulate throughout the room during magnet tile and writing time. Additionally, my students complete a summative assessment at the end of each unit as a final test for how they have progressed in each of these skills. If I notice a student struggling with our daily formative tasks, I provide them with extra practice and can contact their parents about helping them practice particular skills before the summative assessment takes place.
Page updated
Report abuse