Self-Assessment in Kindergarten

Today, I gave my first Self-Assessment to my Kindergarteners! My phonics group is working on digraphs, so we talked about what they know, and what they still need to learn. (See below)

They all were concentrating so hard to really see if they knew it. On the first section with telling if they know what sound each digraph makes, they said the letters, gave the sound and motion for each sound, and colored in the smiley face. One little guy was concentrating extra hard, and said, "s-h, man, I always confuse that one!" - he then colored the straight face! Another student had indicated that he sometimes had a hard time reading words with digraphs, and when we were done with our phonics lesson (focusing on 'sh' and reading words with digraphs), he said, "Boy, I am actually pretty good at reading these words!" 

They were so honest with themselves, and learned much more about what they were learning and how they were learning it!

Own Your Learning!

Like many other classrooms, we have to do testing to show student growth. In our district, one of the ways we measure student growth is with the use of STAR Early Literacy. My students look forward to this because they like tracking their own growth! They get upset with me if I do not give them their reports right away. We talk about their "bubbles" (scores), and why they went up or down. We have had many fantastic conversations about our scores that have impacted instruction.

ANYWAY, the other day during the testing window for the Spring Tests, a child came up to me during playtime and was all excited because "Derek" was taking a STAR test, and she wanted to take one too! I squeal, "Noooo!" Thank goodness, he had not actually started the test yet! (We had already taken ours, and you are only allowed to take it once during the window!) When I asked him why he was taking a STAR test, his response was, "I wanted to see my bubble grow again! ...... So, I can't take one now?" Bless his little heart. The other child was disappointed as well!

Now that is real ownership! I NEVER would have thought children would be excited to take a STAR test, but when you show them how important it is, they see how the test works into their instruction and learning, and THEY track it themselves, it is POWERFUL stuff!