The beginning of the school year is such an exciting, yet chaotic time. You are meeting 20+ new smiling faces, teaching all about your routines and procedures, reading fun (yet educational) back-to-school books, and of course, trying to squeeze in all those beginning-of-the-year assessments.
I know that that last part can be a bit stressful to manage. Beginning-of-the-year (BOY) assessments are crucial for getting a baseline and are typically required by your school district. But, how are you supposed to get individual, one-on-one assessments done when the rest of the class can‘t yet work independently?
Here are 9 helpful tips and simple things I’ve found that will help you fit in and manage all those back to school assessments.
1. Make a schedule
Find out when each beginning of the year assessment is due (or when you’d like to have it completed by) and then make a schedule! Figure out how many students you’d like to test each day in order to finish on time.
This will save you a lot of stress so you aren’t cramming every single assessment in at the last minute.
2. Test for short blocks of time
I know most teachers want to finish every BOY assessment in one sitting, but your other students will have a hard time staying on task for that long, especially since they can not yet work independently.
Use the deadline schedule you determined above to block off short time periods throughout the week to finish all assessments.
3. Teach (and reteach) rules and expectations on day one
This one is important for all aspects of your classroom, not just beginning-of-the-year assessments. It’s crucial to start teaching your rules and expectations on day 1… and reteaching every day after that.
By doing so, your students will know exactly what is expected. So, even if they cannot completely work independently, they will still be following the classroom rules which will allow you more uninterrupted time to get a few assessments done.
4. Use technology
Kids these days love technology and know exactly how to use it. Utilize educational online games and resources during your assessment block. Most districts have preferred online learning softwares that will be accessible for your class! I’ve used Prodigy, Education Galaxy, and Typing games in the past.
5. Utilize engaging review activities
At the beginning of the year, your class likely will not be able to work independently on grade-level work but may enjoy engaging review activities. I’ve always liked to find work that involves coloring with an educational aspect for these purposes.
6. Allow collaborative work
This one will take some modeling, but if you allow your students to whisper while they work it will decrease the interruptions to your testing. While working collaboratively, they are able to ask their peers for help vs. running up to you when stuck.
7. Complete beginning of the year assessments early in the morning
There’s likely no science or research behind this tip, but every single class I’ve ever had is 100 times quieter (slight exaggeration) for the first 2 hours of every day. Try to plan your BOY assessments in the morning to take advantage of the sleepiness of the rest of the class.
8. Ask your administration if there are any additional resources to aid in the process
A lot of districts have aids and teacher assistants that are available to help during this time. It doesn’t hurt to ask!
9. FREE Grammar assessments
Looking for a beginning-of-the-year grammar assessments?
I created this complete FREE Grammar assessment toolkit for teachers that is designed to go hand-in-hand with my comprehensive Second Grade Grammar Curriculum.
I hope you will find these tips to be helpful as you start the new school year!
If you are a seasoned teacher, I’d love to hear if you have any other tips for getting beginning-of-the-year assessments done when your student cannot yet work independently. Leave me a comment below!
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