I've been assessing my students the past couple days and let me tell you this was no easy task! First of all I have 7 wonderful kinders who are all over the place, I tried to set up centers so that they could work while I pulled one at a time! Seems easy enough right? With in the first five minutes of independance I had blocks flying, a student locked in the bathroom, a huge puddle under the drinking foundation, and puke everywhere! Ohy!! I don't know how I survived it but I did, and much to my amazement when I looked back on previous assessments I saw something I was not expecting! PROGRESS!!
I know that sounds horrible I am suppose to expect my kiddos to grow right, but I have a super low group this year, many of them have not ever been to any kind of school before, and we have been working more on listening, following directions, and social skills, which aren't assessed on our report cards. We haven't done a whole lot of academic learning, I've used all the cool activities I've shown you here on my blog, and we've tried to plow through letters a, m, r and s, counting 1 to1 correspondence to 5, and identifying numbers 0-10, but it surely didn't seem like we were getting anywhere!! Yesterday I thought I would bang my head against the wall, we didn't even write our names correctly, we didn't make it through one lesson, we didn't sit down in our chairs for more than two minutes!! Then today after all the chaos was done and I got to take a look at the assessments I see PROGRESS and I am so excited!! Goes to show they pick up more than we think while they seem to not be listening at all!
All of my students counted to 5, knew at least 8 letters, identified numbers 0-10, knew all the colors and shapes, and wrote their names! I know it's not great for kindergarteners mid year but for them is AMAZING!! This is the reason I keep doing the job I do, because at some point they are going to get it and what I've done is going to make a difference!!
When I got home I had a package at the door, and everything inside was totally FREE, I recently sent home the Highlights magazine subscription notes with my kiddos and was able to use the forms to get some free stuff, look what I got...no money at all....not even shipping......
I got a large Primary Time Teacher Jr. clock, a bag of connecting people counters, 2 sets of animal stickers, 6 pair of fancy craft scissors and this organization station pocket chart! Love them all and can't beat that deal!
I am 1 follower away from 300, stay tuned for a great giveaway as soon as I hit the 300 mark, and thanks for following me!!
Did I just see Progress???
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Yay Progress!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
First Grade Blue Skies
Way to go! That's the best part isnt it???
ReplyDeleteI need to do that Highlights thing!Why havent I heard of it? Im so out of the loop!
Rachel
Ms. Rachel’s Room
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ReplyDeleteYeah, for progress!!!!!! Your kiddos sound like movers and shakers!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThat 299 is driving me bonkers...c'mon lurkers...FOLLOW! :)
Holly
Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade
I love progress! I also LOVE Highlights!!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
The First Grade Dream
That's AWESOME! I have a kiddo that might as well be a bouncy ball and it's so fun to know they're learning even when they're flying all over the place.
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Progress with your students and a package of cool, free stuff? Awesome!
ReplyDelete-Megan
First Grade Magic