First Grade- Assessment for Learning

Overview

Our learning is often provisional and frequently changes with time. Students have an ever-increasing ability, with intentional time, space, and support to set goals, assess learning, track progress, and present their growth - creating an environment where they are co-designers of their learning.

Support students to identify their strengths and challenges by building structures to support them in reflecting on their learning. Include opportunities for students to respond to peer and teacher feedback within instructional arcs. 

By reflecting on their own learning and that of their peers, students are better equipped to ask for what they need and to use this information to make decisions about their goals, their learning, and their future.

Empowering Students to Own The Assessment Process

Assessment for Learning - Celebrating Learning

Kindergarten teacher Carol Stephenson brings us back inside her classroom to share how she honors her students' work at the end of an inquiry-based exploration. Carol teaches at the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, the lab school at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto).

Kindergarten - Student Led Conferences

Kindergartner, Trinity, shares her academic progress, supported by evidence from her portfolio, with her parents and teacher, Jennifer Rocker, at Delaware Ridge Elementary School in Kansas City, KS.

Supporting Assessment for Learning

Use these practices, and practices like these, to support student thinking and academic ownership
Document with blank squares to record goals and note completion

Goal Setting

First-grade students' goals will most likely need to be concrete, short-term, and related to their immediate interests. Here are a few ways to promote goal setting with students: Record the goal on paper, then take a picture once the goal has been achieved. Ask the student to list the steps they took to achieve the goal. Share goals that you have created and update students as you meet those goals. Create a group goal and plan a celebration once the goal is reached. During the celebration, review the steps the students took to meet the goal...

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Think, Puzzle, Explore

This routine activates prior knowledge, generates ideas and curiosity, and prepares students for deeper inquiry. It works especially well when introducing a new topic, concept, or theme in the classroom.

Instructions

Tell, Ask, Give - Feedback

Students tell their peers what they liked about the work.  Then, students ask a thoughtful question. This takes some modeling. Last, students give a positive suggestion to improve the work. 

I used to think... Now I think...

This routine helps students to reflect on their thinking about a topic or issue and explore how and why that thinking has changed. It can be useful in consolidating new learning as students identify their new understandings, opinions, and beliefs. By examining and explaining how and why their thinking has changed, students are developing their reasoning abilities and recognizing causal relationships.

Instructions

Models, Critique, & Descriptive Feedback

Ron Berger from EL Education demonstrates the transformational power of models, critique, and descriptive feedback to improve student work. Here he tells the story of Austin's Butterfly. First-grade students at Anser Charter School in Boise, ID, helped Austin take a scientific illustration of a butterfly through multiple drafts toward a high-quality final product.

Reflection Questions

  1. How can prioritizing assessment for learning develop academic ownership and honor students' experiences?
  2. Where does assessment for learning currently show up in your practice? What is working well for students? How do you know? 
  3. What are the implications for your own practice? What will you do first?

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This page was last updated on May 17, 2023