Kindergarten Report Cards. Sooner then you’d expect, a big envelope will be headed your way with your child’s kindergarten report card in it. In some cases, just the sheer size of that bulging envelope is a shock. As you tear open the package to find out if the teacher thinks your child is as wonderful as you do, you might think to yourself, “What is all this? Surely the report card itself is not six pages long!” In fact, it may be. National standards for education have had a big effect on the way educators report a child’s progress.
While in the past, schools may have formatted their report cards based on what was important for parents to know and what they could understand, these days report cards are often formatted based on the level at which your child is meeting state standards. Kindergarten report cards are usually broken down into two major components: academic skills and social ones. Familiarize yourself with the grading scale. Article Justification. Reference. YCOnOurMindsOnline0510. Article Justification. Reference. Tests for kindergartners on their first days in school: Oregon piloting a system to screen every pupil's readiness. View full sizeBruce Ely / The OregonianGilbert Park Elementary teacher Jessika Evers guides kindergartner Delila Ortiz Ponce through a timed exercise testing on letters and letter sounds. By the end of the year, Evers expects her students to read simple storybooks on their own and to write a short research paper.
With that much ground to cover, she values knowing what her pupils already know -- and where she needs to customize her teaching -- at the start of the school year. Five-year-old Lolo DeLeon didn't hang back on his first day of kindergarten at Gilbert Park Elementary in Southeast Portland. After watching his teacher summon a few other students one by one to answer a series of questions, Lolo stepped forward and asked to go next. His teacher, Lindsay DeFazio, pointed to a capital M and asked the boy to name the letter.
But C wasn't as easy. "Kuh," Lolo said. "That's the sound," DeFazio said. "Cat? " How did he know so much on his first day in school? "My mom," he said. -- Betsy Hammond. Reference. Article Justification. 201004_enewsletter. Reference. Article Justification. Tests? In the First Weeks of Kindergarten?! As the parent of a child entering kindergarten, you're sure to be shocked and amazed by what's changed since your days on the story rug. Kindergarten isn’t what it used to be. Good news though: while many of the changes you observe make kindergarten a more challenging and potentially pressuring stage, it’s all in the name of teaching your child more effectively. If the buzzword assessment has popped up as you and your child prepare for school, you are not alone.
Schools across the nation administer all types of assessments to students of all ages. Simply put, an assessment is a tool that teachers use to guide the way they teach. Yes, they come in the form of “tests,” but for kindergarteners, they're not the kind of pencil and paper examinations you may be anxiously picturing.
The types of assessments that teachers use vary depending on the school in question. What kinds of skills are assessed in kindergarten classrooms across the nation? • Alphabet: Can your child recite the alphabet? Reference. Article Justification.