Kindergarten math seems simple enough to an
adult, but for my young students, it is important that they have a solid
understanding of these basic concepts as a foundation for their future
learning. One such concept is the ability to sort items by a common measurable
attribute. Here is an objective for a math lesson that I teach in kindergarten:
Students will be able to identify the tallest/shortest, heaviest/lightest of a group of objects with 95% accuracy.
Since it’s autumn, I like the activity of
comparing 3 pumpkins. I’ve written more in-depth about this activity before,
but here’s a quick summary:
There are three pumpkins of obviously varying
height, width, and weight. The students work together to measure the pumpkins
and record all of their data on a poster chart. Part of this project would
involve the following formative assessments to check that students understand
and meet the objective.
1.
Think/pair/share
a.
When I ask a question, for example: “which pumpkin is
the heaviest and which is the lightest?” students take a few seconds to think
of their answer, then turn to their “elbow partner” (the person next to them)
and talk about their answers. Then each group shares their answer(s) with the
whole group(Dyer).
b.
This allows students to confer with a partner and
explain their answer before sharing with the group. Less confident students may
feel more comfortable working in pairs and may learn from their partners this
way.
2.
Mini-whiteboards
a.
When I ask the students—for example—which pumpkin is
the tallest, they write their answer (Pumpkin #1, #2 or #3) on their
mini-whiteboard and flip it around to show me the answer(Wees, 13).
b.
This gives every student a chance to answer the
question (which allows me to quickly assess each student at once). The fact
that the students are writing their answer means shy or less confident students
can still participate without feeling pressured to share out loud to the whole
group.
3.
Doodle it
a.
With this specific activity, my students would draw the
pumpkins in order from shortest to tallest (for example), labeling each one with
their corresponding number(Wees, 17).
b.
This is a more time-consuming formative assessment, but
still allows me to check for understanding and gives students a chance to
visualize how and why the pumpkins are different and in
what order they need to go.
As Rick Wormeli says, I need to ask myself,
“how will I get students feedback, and how will it inform my lessons?” These
formative assessments (as well as others) will allow me to check for
understanding and either review ideas as a whole group, or plan for
differentiation in my small group meetings throughout the day or week.
References:
Dyer,
K. (2013, July 12). 22 Easy Formative Assessment Techniques for Measuring
Student Learning. In Teach. Learn. Grow.. Retrieved October 29, 2016,
from https://www.nwea.org/blog/2013/22-easy-formative-assessment-techniques-for-measuring-student-learning/
[Stenhouse
Publishers] (2010, November 30). Rick
Wormeli: Formative and Summative Assessment [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJxFXjfB_B4
Wees, D. (2012,
December 10). 56 Examples of Formative Assessments. In Edutopia.
Retrieved October 29, 2016, from https://www.edutopia.org/groups/assessment/250941
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