In my first-grade classroom, I use a variety of Evan-Moor daily practice titles for quick lessons and easy assessments. While I don’t always use the lessons sequentially, I’ve found that these titles are valuable to help students practice a skill in class or for homework, and provide me a great way to check understanding every week.
Here’s how I’ve used Daily Phonics for assessment. My first graders were learning inflectional endings and I felt they were grasping the concept.
- I decided to assess my students using Daily Phonics (grade 1.) My goal for the assessment was to break my students into groups so that I could challenge them with irregular verbs and possibly re-teach the few that needed it.
- My students completed this weekly unit (Monday through Friday activities) in one 20-minute period. After grading their work, I realized that I was VERY wrong. My students had not learned inflected endings as I’d thought. Without the assessment piece, I would have kept moving along. Instead, I learned that I needed to re-teach inflected endings.
- Next, I incorporated basic practice activities to re-teach the students, such as writing dictation sentences with inflected-ending verbs, hopscotch, and vortex-sorts using a Smart Board notebook.
- Then, after a few weeks, I re-assessed my students with Daily Phonics
By using my weekly Daily Phonics assessments, I am able to quickly and easily assess my students’ understanding and differentiate my teaching based on their levels and needs.
Christina Sciarrotto has been an elementary school teacher for 13 years and currently teaches first grade in New York. She also serves as a mentor teacher and has served as a summer school principal for 8 years.