Teachers of Kindergarten

through Second Grade have

an excellent resource in the

PARCC Formative

Assessment Tasks.

Excellent Resources can be

found on our Illinois

Classrooms in Action links:

Kindergarten

First Grade

Second Grade

Also consider visiting the

Illinois Teach and Talk for

Mathematics ideas for

Kindergarten through

Second Grade:

Teach and Talk

Social Emotional Charts for

Performance Descriptors/

Stages by Grade are available

HERE for K –1

HERE for Grade 2

Assessment Resources

PARCC Fully Meets Federal Guidelines

Another update from D.C.

that’s important to share is

that the U.S. Department of

Education recently

completed its peer review of

PARCC. PARCC is now the

first and only large-scale

summative accountability

assessment to fully meet

federal assessment

guidelines. This is an

extraordinary moment for

Illinois, as our state remains

committed to using the

highest-quality assessment

design. Illinois educators

were instrumental in

establishing PARCC as the

highest-quality assessment

and they are critical in

leading the future assessment

development.

Excerpt from:

Weekly Message - State

Superintendent Tony Smith,

Ph.D. - Jan. 16, 2018

February 2018 Volume 6 Issue V

The Teachers’ Newsletter

from Illinois Classrooms in Action Grade band lessons, ideas and information

February Focus: Assessment

Inside this issue:

ELA 2

Math 3

Science 4

Social Studies 5

Learning Support 6

Published monthly by

ISBE

Content Specialists

Kin

derg

arten

Th

rou

gh

Seco

nd

Gra

de

It was time for an update!

Capture the Core is now The

Teacher’s Newsletter from

Illinois Classrooms in Action.

The content will continue to

focus on grade band specific

information to support

classroom teachers.

In addition, we will have a specific

focus in each issue, to target your

grade band level concerns and

make it easier to search back

issues for specific topics.

Thank you for all your dedication

to our students.

-ISBE Content Specialists

New Name, Same

Great Content

Assessing student progress in

an early elementary

classrooms can be a challenge

because students have limited

ways to show what they know.

Formative assessment refers to

all the ways teachers check the

students for progress as they

learn new concepts and skills.

Formative assessments allow

teachers to adjust lessons or

reteach concepts based on

how the students are doing.

Teachers must employ a

variety of strategies to

monitor progress to ensure

all students are meeting the

grade-level standards and

benchmarks.

Formative assessment

information can help you

decide:

• How to plan future

instruction so that

student needs are met.

• How students should be

grouped for instruction

so that each student

receives instruction at the

right level of difficulty.

• If instruction is being

delivered at the right

pace.

• Which students need

individual support.

Allow students to use a

checklist to retell the events

of a story to a partner, a

volunteer, a parent, book

buddy or other individual and

use the checklist to

personally reflect on their

work. (Hoyt, 1999)

Retelling Yardstick/Rope:

Using a yardstick/rope,

teachers can note the

beginning and the end of a

story at each end of the

yardstick. Place Velcro along

the yardstick so students can

Storytelling Glove: Using a

gloves write storytelling

elements on each finger of the

glove: characters, setting,

problem, events or plot, and

solution. In the palm of the

glove, place a heart titled the

author’s message or lesson.

Students wear the glove when

retelling the story they have

read.

(Hoyt, 1999)

Retell

Checklist:

take cut outs of the story and

“stick them” in the correct

order in which the event

occurred in the story onto the

yardstick. These cut outs

should reflect the main events

of the story. The students can

retell a story by placing the cut

outs along the yardstick, or the

teacher can provide the

yardstick with cut outs already

placed on it so students who

need that support can have it.

Assessing K-2 Student Progress

Assessing Comprehension: Retelling Strategies

Page 2 ELA

Grades K - 2

Assessing Writing in the K-2 Classroom

Writing is a process. Writing

with young students can be

incredibly rewarding. It can

also be frustrating, for the

writer and for the teacher.

Reading Rockets has compiled

some of the best resources to

help the early elementary

student with writing. This

interactive tool is designed to

help teachers learn more

about writing. Included are

the following:

• Writing samples from

real kids

• Advice about instruction

based on samples

• Guidance on writing

assessment

• Classroom strategies

• Writing resources

• Video about writing

Click here to access Writing

for Kindergarten.

Click here to access Writing

for 1st Grade

Click here to access Writing

for 2nd Grade.

“The first

fundamental

principle of

effective

classroom

feedback is that

feedback should be

more work for the

recipient than the

donor.”

Dr. Dylan Wiliam

PARCC released a set of

formative performance tasks

in October, 2015 that are

aligned, engaging, and ready

for use in K-2 classrooms.

These items have been

around for a while, but we

wanted to remind you of

their value and their

location. This material used

to be accessed through the

PRC but is now posted on

Classrooms in Action here:

www.ilclassroomsinaction.o

rg/k-2tasks.html

The FAQ document that

accompanies the materials

includes the following

information regarding the

features of these tasks:

“The Standards for

Mathematical Practice play

an important role as each

task embeds one or more of

the mathematical practices

that can be developed as

students engage in the tasks.

Each task also discusses

how to support students

that may be struggling as

well as ideas and resources

to extend the learning

experiences of more

advanced performing

students that are ready. In

addition, tasks contain a Get

Ready, Get Set, Go! feature

which includes research-

based information regarding

how students learn the

mathematics involved in the

task as well as common

student misconceptions and

errors. This feature also

includes a step-by-step chart

describing the steps of the

task and things for teachers

to keep in mind while they

facilitate the task. To

accompany the step-by-step

charts, each task includes

observation checklists that

teachers can use to record

how students are doing with

the mathematics involved in

the task. The checklists

were carefully designed so

that teachers can quickly

capture where students are

at in a learning trajectory.

Finally, each task contains

ready-made printable

materials and templates for

teachers to use which

reduces the amount of

preparation time and helps

guide the facilitation of the

task.“

K-2 Mathematics Formative Tasks from PARCC

Pairs that Make 10—A Kindergarten Task (follow the link to the complete task)

The only way to

learn

mathematics is

to do

mathematics.

~Paul Halmos

Mathematics Page 3 Volume 6 Issue V

Grades K-2

The Concord Consortium

has partnered with Michigan

State University and The

University of Illinois at

Chicago to create Next Gen

Science Assessment, an online

interactive NGSS assessment

exemplar. Sign up for a free

account to review task items

at https://ngss-

assessment.portal.concord.org/

assessment into classroom

activities. For a free

download, visit the

National Academies site at

https://www.nap.edu/

catalog/23548/seeing-

students-learn-science-

integrating-assessment-and-

instruction-in-the

Alexandra Beatty and Heidi

Schweingruber, writing for

the National Academies of

Science, provide an easily

readable, example-laden book

on creating three dimensional

assessments. Get tips on how

to design NGSS aligned

assessments, what data to

pull from students and how

to use it, and how you can

integrate more formative

Interactive, Aligned NGSS Assessments at Concord.org

Seeing Students Learn Science: Three Dimensional Assessment

Stanford NGSS Assessment Project

The team at SNAP provides

an excellent resource for

educators looking for aligned,

three-dimensional NGSS

assessment examples. In

addition to grade banded

examples, they provide

research papers and

professional development

materials. Via https://

snapgse.stanford.edu/

"Equipped with his

five senses, man

explores the

universe around

him and calls the

adventure

Science."

Edwin Powell

Hubble

Page 4 Science

Grades K-2

A great way to get students

out of their desks and moving

is the four corners strategy.

Some students learn better

when they are moving so this

strategy appeals to their

learning preference. In

each corner of the room,

provide a label. Label one

corner, “Strongly Agree,” one

corner, “Agree,” the third

corner, “Disagree,” and the

final corner, “Strongly

Disagree.” (Instead of words

pictures could be used such

as thumbs up, thumbs down,

thumb in the middle). Call

out a fact or statement about

a social science text. Students

should go and stand in the

corner that matches their

response. Encourage students

to share their reasons for

choosing the response. Have

one or two students from

each corner share their

answers with the rest of the

class. While listening to the

students as they discuss their

reasons and share them with

the class, the teacher is

provided with information

that can guide future lessons

response. Then have a

discussion about the correct

response and why it is the

correct response. The

teacher will then model

reading directly the part of

the passage to prove the

answer. After multiple

experiences with teacher

modeling students could

independently find the

support in the text. Students

Red/Green Signal Cards:

Students have two signal

cards. One is red and one is

green. The teacher asks a

question from the Social

Science text and calls on a

student for a response.

Students will raise the green

card if they agree with the

response or the red card if

they disagree with the

can be in a whole group,

small group, in pairs or

assessed independently with

this strategy.

Assessment of Student Understanding

Formative Assessment Strategy: Red/Green Signal Cards

Formative Assessment Strategy: Agree/Disagree

the main idea. As ideas are

pulled out of the bag, have

students agree or disagree.

Students can agree or

disagree by raising their hands

or by walking to one side of

the room or another that has

“agree” and “disagree” signs

posted. Students must be able

to support their decision with

a reason. Student can make

their own bag with a main

idea and details (Harvey &

Goudvis, 2000).

Agree/Disagree:

Tell students what the main

idea is of an informational

text about a topic such as

community me. Have that

main idea written on a lunch

size bag. Provide strips of

paper with details on them

inside the bag. Ensure that

some details are provided

that do not belong or support

The more you teach

without finding out

who understands

the concepts and

who doesn’t, the

greater the

likelihood that only

already-proficient

students will

succeed.

Grant Wiggins, 2006

Social Science Page 5 Volume 6 Issue V

Grades K-2

Community

members

include...

Comprehensive System

Of Learning Supports

Check us out on the web:

Illinois Classrooms in Action

Student Voice in Assessment

How can we develop partnerships in assessment that lead to empowered autonomous learners?

Choosing the assessment method could be negotiated and broadened beyond the traditional written

account to include methods that give educators confidence in the abilities of their students. The

main concept of Student Voice is the communication of student feedback to educators. Feedback can

assume a great variety of forms, and effectiveness of different feedback methods may vary. Findings

suggest that the use of digital technologies in Student Voice context is likely to be highly effective

due to the overwhelming positive attitude of students towards these tools.

The dialogue between students and educators should be thoughtful, reflective, focused to explore understanding and conducted so that all learners have an opportunity to think and to express their ideas.

Assessment feedback should be about particular qualities of work, with advice on what students can do to improve, and should avoid comparisons with other students.

For formative assessment to be productive, students should be trained in self-assessment so that they can understand the main purposes of their learning and thereby grasp what they need to do to achieve.

Zou, D. and Lambert, J. (2017), Feedback methods for student voice in the digital age. British Journal of Educational Technology,

48: 1081–1091. doi: 10.1111/bjet.12522

Strategies for Student Voice in Assessment

Prediction—When students predict, they

connect what they already know with

text or visual information. This is a

form of activating themselves as

learners and taking more

ownership of their learning. They

also have the opportunity, after

learning, to check their

predictions and verify those that

were correct and those that were

off, as well as the whys for each

position. As a formative assessment

strategy, the teacher could use “check

in” to note what students know and

identify potential misconceptions before

getting started, and then again at the end.

•Anticipation Guides (k-5)- http://bit.ly/2DZcT7a

•Anticipation-Literacy(6-12)http://bit.ly/2E06XuF

Admit Slips—Admit Slips are similar to Exit Slips,

but are done prior to or at the beginning of

instruction. Students may be asked to reflect on their

understanding of their previous night's homework,

reflect on the previous day's lesson, make comments

about the material being studied or answers

questions. Admit slip responses can be presented in a

variety of formats depending on personal preferences

and/or class needs. If admit slips are used as part of

cooperative or collaborative learning, students develop

some motivation for completing the slips.

•My Favorite No—http://bit.ly/2DWK5fr

Collaborative—Formative assessment in a

collaborative activity can be both teacher

observational data and student/peer self

assessment of skills. The skills assessed

in a collaborative activity can not only

be the content area standards, but also

social and emotional standards that

students need to be successful in

college and careers. Rubrics and other

forms can be used for teacher

observations and student self

assessments of their skills and abilities.

•Peer Assessment Rubric- http://

bit.ly/2DXXQdS

•Collaborative Rubric—http://bit.ly/2DXyzQW

Invent the Quiz- Students get excited when they

help you with test questions because they feel like they

have inside information! Instructions: Teachers ask

students to prepare problems to create a summative

assessment of the content being taught. Students

model problems after their homework or class work.

The students must solve peer’s problems and return

them to their teachers for evaluation.

Based on the quality of responses from the students,

teachers may choose to use the problems for a quiz, an

in-class game or contest, or to create a summative

assessment. Regardless of how the student-generated

problems are used, teachers can integrate them into

the curriculum so students get a chance to see their

work!

I think a lot of

teachers feel

like they're

teaching to a

test. Our response is you

teach to a

student, you

really teach to

the kid.

Erin Gruwell American Writer