Show What You Know!

I'm trying real hard to wrap my head around the fact that it's almost time to go back to school.  It's not hard to do that though when it's all you see when you walk into Wal-Mart or Target these days.  Thanks guys for sucking the life out of what's left of my summer!  In all serious, I have been doing a little bit of work.  I'm trying to get ahead of the game a little bit because once it starts, it won't stop again until that last day!   

 

Once we make it through the first day, and the first week, I always start thinking about where my kiddos are academically.  Cum files, last year's report card, IEP's, and teacher talk are great ways to learn more about your students.  But I know with me, I don't feel like I truly know their potential until I sit down with them and start to work with them on an individual basis.  That's so hard to do.  I  mean, it's the first few weeks of school.  You more than likely haven't started any "formal" centers or stations.  And the likelihood of them working independently for any amount of time is next to none!  So after some brainstorming on my part, I can up with an idea to assess my kiddos in small groups.

 

 

In this activity, I've included 20 task cards and 1 recording sheet.  The task cards contain several different ELA and Math concepts. 

 

 

With this activity I want to find out if my kiddos understand the language of the task cards, AND, if they can complete the tasks independently.  Thus, the reason why I chose to use it in small group setting.  It will give me immediate feedback on who knows/understands what.  My fantastic teaching buddy, and editor, even suggested using white boards for this activity in place of the recording sheet.  I think that's an absolutely GREAT idea!  That's even BETTER feedback.  And for time's sake, because we know the attention span of our new first graders, you could just pick and choose which task cards you want to hit first.  This activity would be great for you Kindergarten teachers to use at the END of the year.  And for you Second grade teachers, maybe you want to use this as a Scoot! or Walk the Room activity to assess what your new kids remember from 1st grade. There are so many different ways you could use this activity.  It all depends on the type of class you have.

 

If you would like a copy of this activity, head on over to my TpT store and download it for free!