Assessment

One of the most difficult parts of the first couple weeks of Kindergarten is assessing the students to see what they know. I am way more into arts and crafts, storytime, manipulatives, music, and, you know, TEACHING. But, no.....I must test. I do appreciate knowing what my students students know. And I am always glad I did it when I'm done.
     I test on the basics during the first and second week of school.

1. Writing Names

2. Numbers

3. Colors

4. Shapes

5. Letters

6. Sounds

Here is a copy of my Kindergarten Beginning of the Year Testing.

Besides the information above, I use a running record testing letters and sounds. 

The way this spreadsheet works is like this: The date goes at the top of the column. If a child knows the letter name I put a diagonal line. If the child knows the letter name and its sound I cross the diagonal line to form an "x". As you can see in this picture this student knows almost all of his letter names, but needs to work on letter sounds. The next time I test I will use the next column and be able to chart their progress as they learn. I usually give this test once a month. This is my formal letters and sounds test. I will informally assess them with flashcards weekly. Grab a copy of this test HERE.