Formative Assessment

I used the thumbs up/thumbs down formative assessment today in 4k.  We were reading the book I am Fire  and discussing good fires vs. bad fires.  The children were engaged from the start because they were active while we were reading the book.  The thumbs also gave me a good idea if they understood fire emergencies vs. people using fires in a safe way. The thumbs helped lead the discussion for why and why not they thought that.

With parent teacher conferences only a few days away I collected some assessment information from the children by having them around the room.  My co-worker Mrs. B was testing classifying objects with a language explanation.  My other co-worker was watching for understanding and following oral directions by leading a Clifford magazine, and I was able to test counting.  Normally, I would not be able to complete this amount of testing in a typical 30 minute time period.  Although I did not get to see each student at each place in the room, I was able to work with every individual for one spot.