A is for Assessments: Fun Ways to Evaluate Student Learning

I'm sharing my bag of tricks for great assessment ideas for the classroom.

Here are some of my favorites:

 

Grade the Teacher 

 

This is by far my absolute favorite way to assess my students in the classroom.

It is so versatile and engaging and can be used for any subject. Plus it builds critical thinking and reasoning skills. Students get to "grade" the teacher's work, which is purposely filled with errors for them to find. It's great for an exit ticket and error analysis. Plus, students don't even realize they are doing ALL the work by correcting and reteaching the teacher! It is such a hit with the students. Grab it at my TPT store.

 

Carousel Writing

Create a set of questions related to a topic of study. Write them out on chart paper. These questions will be used as brainstorming sheets for a pre lesson assessment, and then again for a post lesson assessment.  Group students at one of the chart questions and have them discuss and record ideas. Upon a designated signal pass the charts to a new group and continue the same process. Each group will respond and add to all question charts.  The neat part of this is if you do the same questions as a post Carousel Writing you can see growth in ideas.  The samples below were for a science unit on Living Things. The pre lesson Carousel brainstorming was in red and the post lesson was in green.

Stoplight Vocabulary

This idea comes from the book Getting Into Words by Shira Lubliner.

Use this web link printable to color code vocabulary word familiarity in stoplight colors:

Red: If you don't know the word
Yellow: If you have heard the word, but not sure of its meaning
Green: If you know the word and can use it in a sentence

What are some fun ways you assess students?

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Place Value Activities and Games to Build Number Sense

My first unit in math is on place value and I made these place value windows that 

are just so handy and help reinforce place value number sense in a fun way.

I hang them on my white board and during lessons can easily ask students to help write and represent numbers in the correct place value position. They can be used to show standard place value form and you can write the expanded place value form underneath for a challenge.

I have a bundle of place value activities and games in my store if interested.

~Enjoy

Find more great ideas at my TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

SLANT Focusing strategy

Do you need some Hocus, Pocus for some focus in your classroom?
I make use of this SLANT strategy cue card for some of my students that need help with redirection and on task behavior. I tape it to the corner of their desks. All I have to say is, "Show me SLANT" and they know they need to get back on track.  More information about SLANT  can be found {at this link}. 

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

A Key Idea

As I was cleaning and reorganizing my room for the first day of school I ran across my key cup.
Here's a little background. A dear friend and previous classroom aide of mine witnessed on a regular basis my "loss of key moments".  I think she got tired of hearing me say to my kiddos, "Has anyone seen my keys? Help me find them." and made me this cute little ol' key cup.  I am not a lanyard wearing teacher, so this cup has come to my rescue ever since she gave it to me. Yippee, no more lost keys for me, only if I remember to put them in the cup!  Sidenote:  My worst "lost key" episode was when I laid my keys on the table in the staff room and a substitute teacher accidently picked them up and kept them in a pocket thinking they were his!  All day long I was searching everywhere for my keys and asking everyone if they spotted them. I even dug in the staff trash can.  I thank my lucky stars that  I asked the above mentioned sub on his way out for the day about my keys. He pulled them out of his pocket in surprise, and then proceeded to show me his own keys from his backpack that looked almost EXACTLY like mine.  So a word of caution to all of you this school year, watch out for key stealing subs. HA HA!

Pit Crew Bulletin Board

This is one of my fav bulletin boards to get up and running every year. It's simply adorable and it serves as an ongoing display space for work all year.  Students make a racer portrait of themselves flanked with a laminated piece of paper for the body. This is where I switch out the work to display.  The cutest feature is attaching the race flags to each hand. Now if you don't have a race theme you could do the same idea but say attach an Ipod if you're doing a Rock Star theme, or a mitt or ball for a sports theme.

I also have the students fill out a Get to Know the Pit Crew form.

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

Nifty Game Piece Pockets

So I've spent a good part of today printing, prepping and laminating games I've gotten from great blogs.
I found a wonderful Post It pocket that can hold all those game pieces or flashcards that miraculously always seem to go missing upon clean up time. The pockets are self sticking and can be removed easily and then reattached! Here's one of the games I prepped today with a pocket attached for you to see. Want your own pockets? I got mine at Office Depot.

Task Card Easy Does It Game

Grab an Easy button and play this game with a set of task cards.

Click image to get a free copy

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Homework Management

In 3rd grade responsibility is expected for my students to record their daily homework. Here is how I manage it. Students are given a weekly homework chart and as part of their morning routine copy down assignments from the board. It takes a few tries to get the process streamlined for some students, but it's a valuable skill learned.

Click image to get a copy

EZ Grader Slider Charts

I haven't stepped into a Dollar Tree store all summer, but today I did.  I am pleased that I did not go crazy with buying. But I wanted to share that I found some neat sliders for grading and math.

Does this look familiar?

Yep, the EZ grade slider that I got at Lakeshore for $6.99

How about this?

So cute and only a dollar.

Now I have one for at school and home.

Dollar Tree also had these sliders for addition/subtraction and multiplication/division

Keep in touch. Find me at:

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Task Card Battleship

One activity I use often with task cards is Task Card Battleship which is played in the same manner as the familiar game Battleship.  Click the image below to grab a free copy.

Looking for task cards for your classroom? I have many to choose from in my TPT store, including a MEGA bundle of all by Reading and Language sets (at a huge discount)!

40 sets at a 20% discount

Stop by and visit

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