Pre-Assessment for Differentiation - Reading Grade 1

What is a Pre-Assessment?

Before we go deeper into this important topic, I believe it is relevant to understand what Pre-assessments are.

To pre-assess, a student is a great way to tailor your instruction for your students. It helps a teacher to understand what the students know about a specific topic/subject before creating a lesson, which saves more time for teaching. When combined with summative assessment methods, it's an effective way to show student growth. Pre-assessments should be:

- Quick

- Able to check student's understanding before teaching a topic/subject

- Not graded

- Focused on the topic/subject

To better pre-assess, and place each student in a correct reading level, I will use Reading A-Z online platform, which consists of a three-part assessment process:

Part 1: Students will read the following Benchmark Passage (level C), and I will capture their reading behavior on Running Records; 

Part 2: Students retell the text, and I will use Retelling Rubrics to score their comprehension. 

Part 3: Students take an oral or written Comprehension Quick Check Quiz, and each question's answer tells what skill it assessed to help identify comprehension skills for additional practice.

The next time each student logs into Kids A-Z, they will see the assessment I have previously assigned to them. After listening, and score the running record and retelling task, as a result of the pre-assessment, each student will have future assignments according to their individual level.

For Emergent readers, students who have developed an understanding of the alphabet, phonological awareness, and early phonics, I will have them repeat a similar assessment every 4 to 6 weeks. Early fluent readers and fluent readers, who are students whose reading is more automatic, with more energy devoted to comprehension than word attack, I will assign this assessment every 6 to 10 weeks. 

After the pre-assessment I will group my students to promote differentiated learning  experience in the following way:

1. The 5 students who completed the assessment correctly, shown fluency in their speech and a high comprehension level. Because fluency is the link between recognizing words and understanding them, effective readers can make the link between words, sounds, and meaning more quickly. Through the following activity, students will be able to discuss their own experiences and relate them to a story.

Students will read chapters 1- 2 of Geronimo Stilton "Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye".  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrhVjcalR_k

While reading, they will be asked to think about:

• How is the character like you?
• Do you ever feel like this character?
• How is this character different from you?
• Has something like this ever happened to you?

 

They will then complete the worksheet "Making Connections".

• When I read the words...
  • write the sentence or sentences from the book that you made a connection to.
• It reminded me of...
  • write about how the character is like you or how something like this has happened to you.
• Draw a picture...
  • draw a picture about how the character is like you or how something like this has happened to you.

2. The 12 students who demonstrated some knowledge and ability to complete the assessment, but still show a clear need to develop higher-order thinking skills. Through the following activity, students will be sharing their understanding of what a fluent reader sounds like. 

Each student will choose any 📙 book or 📋 text of your choice; then they will use the 🎤 mic option to record your reading with accuracy and expressions/voice modulation, following the punctuation marks while reading. 

They will try to maintain a pace which is neither too fast nor too slow while reading; once the read-aloud is completed, design a creative🎇  poster with the title "What does a fluent reader sound like?" for teaching your peers about fluent reading

3. The 5 students who have shown limited knowledge, abilities to complete this assessment, a new assessment would be assigned every week until their level has shown improvements. 

For the 3 students who are struggling with language and have different reading levels, I will assign them a 20-minute reading assignment every day on Kids A-Z taken their individual levels. Aside from increasing their daily reading time, I will have the students work on an activity named Picture Prompt Writing, which will help them to improve their writing using pictures, to use their imagination while writing, and to use question words.

Students will be asked to choose any one picture 🖼 from the pictures given, and in the template given, add details by using ‘wh’ question words-who, what, where, when, why, and how. They have then to write📝a short paragraph based on the details they added.

Once they have complete their writing, they will upload 📎 your work on the Toddle Student App, adding an audio comment 🎤 to share a little about the picture prompt they have chosen and why you chose it. 

For the 2 students who have little to no comprehension of the topic and need to be tested further for special needs, I believe the following activity will help students' reading and comprehension development. Students will have to create a visual story and narrate the sort to their peers using a story collage they will create.

This activity is named "Picture is worth a thousand words!" Creating a collage with as many pictures they want and create a story collage around it. 

 

Each student will collect different pictures 🖼 from old magazines and newspapers and cut ✂️ them out. they will then arrange these pictures and paste them onto a blank sheet suing the template given. They can use at least two pictures for each part of the template. Using the collage created they will audio record 🎤 their story on the Toddle Student App. Also, Upload a picture 📸 of your final work. After sharing the story with a friend, they can ask them which pictures in your Story Collage did they find the most interesting. 

How to Keep up with all my students' learning progress?

In Grade 1 we have on a weekly basis 45 minutes, four times per week, where students will rotate and work in different stations. Each student will spend 10 minutes on the  "read to self" station, 10 minutes on the "Word Word" station, 10 minutes "Listen to reading" station, and 10 minutes with me in small conferences.

To access my mind map for this Assignment, please click on the link below:

https://coggle.it/diagram/X84MuUvpCFpKaO9E/t/-